Scribbles and Scrambles Thirty Day Vegan...Day 5

Xta has asked for more info. And Kim has thrown down the dreaded gauntlet-like..."you aren't making Veganism appealing what with the BOOGER tea...." or some such comment that was worded better and with less sarcasm.

Ladies, sit back whilst I blather a bit.

Veganism, boiled down is this (and this is my understanding, no doubt someone may quibble) you don't eat stuff that comes from things with faces or with mothers. (Not to be confused with MOTHER i.e. the Booger tea).

So. Meat, dairy products including milk, eggs, butter, cheese, etc. and honey are no-no's in the Vegan lifestyle. And Vegan is a lifestyle not a diet. Most people choose to be Vegan out of respect for the creatures whom others eat or harass for food. I bought a Vegan cookbook at a thrift store and later went online to see the reviews. While paging through the book I was surprised to see fish recipes but shrugged it off. The reviewers DID NOT. The reviewers were NOT AMUSED. And it gave me another layer of how seriously folks take this lifestyle.

We, however, are maybe better called....hmmm... well, click here and you can see all the options. http://www.ivu.org/faq/definitions.html I guess we'll go with Strict vegetarian (or Pure Vegetarian) when it is all said and done. When our month of Pure Vegetarian eating is finished. We will proudly call ourselves flexitarians.

Our goal is to try and to explore the benefits of being as animal by-product free as possible to see what difference it makes in our lives. When the next month rolls around and we are faced with graduation parties and wedding season, none of us are going to laser stink-eye holes through each other if we succumb to wedding cake. Our digestive tracts may punish us enough. I, personally, think I will remain pretty much meat and dairy free. Once I find the magic balance of plant proteins and am able to make items that taste delicious (to me) I really will have no reason to go back.

The cake thing is that there is likely butter, eggs and or/milk in the cake or frosting. Rumor has it (I've heard but not looked for myself) that Oreos and Fritos are Vegan i.e. made with non-animal products. This doesn't necessarily fit the goal we are going for. : ). Kind of like the guy who got his stomach stapled and lost 200 lbs and lived off Coke and Cheetos because he only had so much room in his tummy pocket, and he didn't want to fill that pocket up with anything but those two little vices he'd grown to love.

As far as Booger Tea, Kim. That's just an extra bonus activity. That falls into the category of fermentation. Which is one we've barely looked into but are intrigued with, it's up there with raw. Both have terrific benefits but are also things that will take a lot of work and time to look into. In the interim it makes for a great ice breaker though (and fun to write blog posts). Really. And I have to admit that the gross out factor is way fun for me. And as crazy as it sounds, I kind of like the shot of Booger Tea to start my day. Gluten free and Paleo eating are items I've run across that I'd like to explore a bit more, too. And then there is the word macrobiotic which I've seen pop up and don't have the first clue about....

As for what we ate today. I ignored a lot of junk at the office and felt good about being a good girl and snacking on my orange, salad and leftover pizza.

Tonight I made potato casserole (pictured) with organic potatoes, artichokes, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and a little quinoa covered in a bubbly "cheese sauce." The "cheese sauce" was made of cashews, water, lemon juice and nutritional yeast. I need to tweak it a bit and will post the recipe when I get the creation to the taste and texture I'm happy with. (I didn't think the potatoes were soft enough and it was tangy enough that I think I need to add less lemon juice.) Rob and 24 loved it....and I liked it quite a bit....but...there are a few tweaks I need to make before I post the recipe.