End of 22 Day Vegan Challenge

This post is 2 weeks overdue..arghh! I have been super busy with work so didn't have time to blog about my final week of the vegan challenge. It's better late than never :)

Despite being busy, I still made sure I was eating right. So moving on to my food diary.

 On day 15, I made a really refreshing and detoxing breakfast smoothie made with avocado, cucumber and apple.

Lunch was buckwheat noodles with french beans and tofu. Garnished it with some sesame seeds. I love sesame seed, it makes anything tastes good.

Day 16- Strawberries and hemp over night chia oat. I love over night oats as they save so much time. This is good for people who are always in a rush in the morning but still want a good healthy breakfast to go. I soaked a cup of oats,  1 tbsp of chia seeds, a scoop of pea protein and some chopped strawberries in hemp milk. I soaked it overnight in the fridge and it was thick and creamy the next morning.

Day 17. Breakfast smoothie/ post workout shake. I woke up at 6:30am to get to gym at 7am. I made this smoothie with avocado, banana, kale, carrot, vegan protein, almond and almond milk. So so so good.

So since I've made a bit of vegan Chinese, Italian, and other types of cuisine. I thought lets make a vegan turkish dish. Vegan Imam Bayildi. I love this and I love aubergine! 

Day 18. Another overnight oats. These cherries are home grown. I have a massive cherry tree in my back garden. It's been there over 10 years so you can imagine how tall and how much cherries I get each year. I actually picked the cherries in the morning for this as well. Lol! But I soaked the oats the night before. Together with the oat and cherries I made a creamy coconut and cherry overnight oats. 

This was lunch. You might think I'm crazy for having a smoothie as my lunch but it's not the regular smoothie. I was working from home and my dad had made some peanut and black sesame seed paste. This is not like the almond milk in the supermarket where you only get 3% of almond nuts. My dad didn't filter the pulp so was really thick, super filling and packed with protein!

For dinner, I made the oven baked tomato risotto and asparagus soup. The slice wholemeal bread on the side is homemade.  My dad really enjoyed this vegan dinner. During our dinner, my dad told me that he used to be a vegan but for only a year and a bit. I decorated the soup with almond milk. I tried to make a swirl but the milk was too light it just kept sinking lol.

On day 19, I made Superberries and Cream over night oats. This has strawberries, super fruits (gojiberries and baobab powder), coconut cream, hemp milk, chia seeds and oat. This was delicious!

This was such a good snack. Sweet potato tortilla sandwich. I pan fried some shallots, mashed up a baked sweet potato (I had baked sweet potato the night before but didn't take photo). Added a pinch of salt and mixed the shallots in. I then spread the mashed sweet potato between two tortillas and then toasted both side on the pan. One word, delicious!

On Day 20 my breakfast was peanut and black sesame seed porridge. This is basically the remaining of the paste I had on day 18. My dad made a big pot of this. The porridge wasn't exciting enough so I made a smoothie to go with it. I call it a sneaky green berry smoothie as I added some spinach which you can't tell right? Other ingredients include raspberries, strawberries, almond milk and coconut cream.

Because I spent so much time on my breakfast- not eating it but making it and trying to take the perfect photo- I didn't have time to make a sophisticated lunch to take to my PT class. I quickly made stir fried broccoli, cauliflower and tofu. And yes the broccoli was stinking in my bag lol

On day 21, I had oat porridge with a green fruity smoothie. After decorating my porridge I thought it looked like mozzarella cheese with tomatoes. But it's actually strawberries and banana. The green smoothie had kaki, avocado and spinach.

On Day 22. I made an avomango smoothie bowl. Avocado, mango, chia seeds, baobab powder and almond milk. Decorated with slices of apples and mango. 

To finish off my last day, I went to Thai Square and had stir fried glass noodles with fried bean curd, carrots, baby corn, mange tout and bell peppers. 

Throughout this challenge a lot of people have been asking:

1. "How you finding it?" " How did you find it?" 

2. "Do you miss meat?"

3. "Do you think you will be a vegan full time?"

4. " What do you eat?" "What do you have for breakfast?"

5. "Are you still doing the vegan challenge?"

6. "Have you noticed any differences?"

7. "Why are you doing this?"

8. "Why 22 days and not for a whole month?"

My answer to those are:

1. I like this vegan challenge although I do struggle with coming up with new ideas. Although I use vegan blogs and Instagram to give me inspirations but sometimes you have to go to those healthy food shops to get certain ingredients if I wanted to make a particular dish. But of course I can always make something where ingredients are more accessible. But I want to explore and try new things. Also, a lot of vegan dishes are beans beans beans and I'm not a big fan of beans. 

2. I do not miss meat at all. I haven't been a meat lover and don't really eat meat so this was not a problem for me. 

3. I cannot be a full time vegan because I love lobster and prawns lol. Actually, I would call myself a part-time non vegan. That's the best way to call me.

4. I eat more or less the same things, squash, vegetables, starchy vegetables, whole grains and pulses.  But I have become more creative with food though. My breakfasts have been vegan most of the times before this challenge. Not on purpose just the choices I happen to make. I normally have porridge and /or smoothie. Before the challenge, I often had eggs though. 

5. During the challenge, some people thought I would give up and so kept asking whether I was still doing it. I was posting pictures daily of my meals and after the challenge most said they were really impressed that I kept it going. I seriously did not think it was that hard. 

6. I do feel a bit of difference. I felt more energetic. Occasionally I would be tired in the afternoon but didn't have that during the challenge. It also had an affect on my digestive system. Not going to go into detail. lol

7. I did it because I was curious. I wanted to know how my body will change. I also wanted to test my  discipline. 

8. I actually mentioned this before. They said it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. Did I make or break a habit? Yes I did. I used to crave eggs. But now, I see it in the kitchen every morning and I don't even think about having it. I don't fancy eggs at all. I also used to have eggs for the protein but now I try to get most of my protein from plants. I've always had hemp protein but will rely on that more and other plant based protein. 

Also during this challenge, a couple of people told me that they have decided to do the vegan challenge because of me. They said the food I made looked so yummy and didn't think vegan food can be like that. It's always a good feeling when you have a positive affect on others. 

Have you tried the vegan challenge before? Are you considering it? Let me know if you do :)

Week 2: 22 Day Vegan Challenge

It's been 2 weeks now, less than half way.  On Sunday, I went to Sushi Samba for my Dad's birthday. No I didn't do anything naughty. They had a vegan menu. 

As it's been two weeks, I have not missed anything. I don't miss cheese, egg, butter and others. Talking about butter I am actually enjoying Biona's olive oil butter, it is so good. 

I did have some struggles though last week. I struggled a bit with knowing what to make for lunch or dinner. Breakfast is never an issue for me though; I have tonnes of ideas. It made me realise the importance of planning the meals a week in advance- I didn't write one last week so I made sure I've written one for this week. 

Day 8

Protein smoothie to start my day; kale, peanut butter, banana, baobab powder, oat and almond milk.

For lunch I made avocado, apple, spinach and pomegranate salad. Garnished with some walnuts.

For dinner I made something really simple but yummy. Although the dinner was simple to make, but I actually spent an hour in Morrison deciding what to make. I was buying lots of produce but just couldn't figure out what to make with them. In the end, I turned to Vegangela.com for help and found this delicious oven baked tomato risotto.  I added some kale to ensure I have my greens.

Day 9

Breakfast was coconut porridge topped with banana and coconut. I opened a coconut the night before and blended the pieces of the coconut with some oats and almond milk. I blended almost 1/4 of the coconut but there's hardly any taste of it.

For lunch I just had left overs of the risotto. For dinner I made vegan butternut squash mac and cheese. Found this recipe from Ohsheglows.com. I'm not too sure about the taste. I reckon I put too much nutritional yeast. 

Day 10

Just a simple avocado, coconut and banana smoothie for breakfast. 

I had found a new way of having avocado. Mango, cherry tomato, avocado and spinach salad. The sweetness of mango and tomato masked the taste of avocado so I managed to enjoy this. For those who don't know, I don't like avocado but I eat it because it has good fat and high in fibre. 

Day 11

I didn't take picture of the breakfast as I was in a rush to go to work. It was just a protein shake. The picture below is my lunch, rice noodles with oyster mushrooms and green veggies. This lunch cost no more than £2! I got all the ingredients on sale!! Rice noodles for 19p, broccoli for 19p, green peppers for 40p, and oyster mushrooms for 90p.

This was not my breakfast, this was my dinner. Yes I had pancakes. I went to my parent's home and they had nothing to eat for dinner. I found rye flour, chia seeds, and oat milk so decided to make vegan pancake. I made the chocolate sauce and peanut sauce myself. I just mixed dark cocoa powder with a bit of water and cane sugar, mixed peanut butter with water. 

Day 12

I had a smoothie for breakfast but didn't take picture, sorry.  For lunch I went to the food market near my work place, I had a vegetarian paella. It was super hot that day and so had to sit outside to get my doses of vitamin D whilst munching. 

My dessert, strawberries and coconut cream. This was so yummy. I 'm sure it was the coconut cream, it was like pure indulgent. 

Day 13

It was hot on Saturday but I still had a warm porridge- apple pie porridge- and a honeydew and banana smoothie. 

That strawberry and coconut ice lolly had got me wanting more. So on Saturday morning I decided to  make my own. This was pomegranate and grapefruit. 

Day 14

I made a peanut butter and banana protein shake, I added a tablespoon self- milled hemp seed for an extra boost of protein. The grapefruit was the second part of the breakfast.

I was happy to find out that Sushi Samba had a vegan menu. I admit that seeing the regular menu did make me feel I'm missing out on some dishes, e.g. their shrimp tempura. But I was good.

To start, I had miso soup and edamame beans. Then I had to watch my parents and my brother eat until my grilled asparagus came followed by aubergine in mustard miso sauce. The aubergine was really good. The asparagus was £9.50, seriously not worth that price. I could have made that myself, it wasn't anything special. However, I did like the pinch size seaweed salad- that's the black fluffy object on the side of both plates. It was real seaweed.

 

Then finally my sushi, a selection of veggie nigiri and maki. I did like this and I like the coloured rice paper. I think they are rice paper, didn't taste like seaweed. In total we ordered 14 courses, 5 of which were vegan. I was still hungry after this. I would definitely come back again to try out the regular menu but I will only have sushi and skip the appetisers as they were overpriced. According to my parents the gyoza and others appetisers weren't that special but the shrimp tempura was different in a good way.  So I will definitely want to try that.

For dinner, I had stir fried grilled tofu with green peppers and bean sprouts in black bean sauce served with some rice.

I am happy that I learnt about the tomato risotto and the mango avocado salad. Since I'll be busy revising for my first PT theory assessment on Sunday the risotto will be a good quick meal. Did you have any vegan food this week? Or have I encouraged you to? 

Week 1 of the 22 Day Vegan Challenge

Today marks a week of me being a full vegan and I am finding it so far relatively easy. I guess probably because I eat like a vegetarian most of the time and I am just cutting honey, butter, cheese and egg out of my diet. I've stopped drinking diary milk ages ago so that wasn't a concern either.

The only two struggles I have are not being able to just buy anything when you're hungry whilst out and about and making sure there's variation in most meals. Although I made a meal plan on Sunday but I didn't follow it 100% as time and availability of certain ingredients were limited so I had to come up with alternatives.

One of the advantage of this diet is the discovery of delicious food, for example on Monday I have made this amazing avocado, grapefruit and pomegranate salad. The bitterness and the sweetness worked so well together!!  My colleague tried it and she loved it. She even had it for her lunch the next day.

Another good thing is I like how this diet is making me think more about the food and nutrients I have. For example, as the week went by I realised I wasn't having enough starchy carbs. It was like a low carb vegan diet and so this week I will make sure I have more carbs like sweet potatoes, cassava, beans, etc.

Also, it has enabled me to explore more vegan meals. So if I was ever to have a dinner party and had some vegans round, it would be easy peasy for me.

I asked my boyfriend if he would do this challenge with me and he said he will try and I must say he did well this week.

If you don't follow me on Instagram then you probably won't have seen my food but no worries you can see it in this post. (My insta is @in_da_pink. )

Day 1- Monday

For breakfast, I had my usual smoothie. All my smoothies has been mainly vegan in the past so this wasn't something new to me.

This smoothie had strawberries, fresh coconut (I opened it myself), banana, oat, and almond milk.

This lunch is the one I was talking about earlier, avocado, pomegranate and grapefruit. So so goooooood.

For dinner, I made quinoa stuffed bell peppers which had mushrooms, baby corn and french beans. My boyfriend loved this.

Day 2- Tuesday

I had a white grapefruit to start the day with a strawberry and kale smoothie.
The smoothie had strawberries, banana, kale, oats and coconut milk.

Went to Planet Organic to buy some vegan products. I had finished my hemp protein and so decided to try this Warrior Blend vegan protein. Also bought olive oil butter and vegan cheese. I was curious about how the "cheese" would taste like.. keep reading to find out.

Had the cheese with grapes and it was really good. But the cheese itself was ok. It did taste a bit like cheese but the taste of coconut oil was quite overwhelming. I don't think I would get it again. 

For dinner I made aubergine, courgette and tomato stew with pasta.

Day 3 Wednesday

For breakfast I made an apple and cinnamon porridge topped with banana and a mix of milled chia seeds, linseed and hemp seeds. I also mixed in a scoop of Warrior blend protein powder.

I cooked the apples in a sauce pan with a tablespoon of water. Added oats and almond milk once the apple have turned brown. Then just cooked the porridge like I normally do and added cinnamon powder. 

I didn't take a pic of the lunch as it was just left overs from Tuesday night's dinner. In the evening, my boyfriend took me out on a date night at a vegan buffet restaurant, Thibits. The food was average and pricey and you were charged by the weight of you plate. I doubt I will be going back there.

Day 4- Thursday 

I had an exotic smoothie for breakfast. Papaya and banana protein smoothie. It was so yummy!

I tried to make zucchini pasta. I didn't have a spiralizer so used a vegetable peeler instead, making fettuccine. Lol I thought it was a bit plain so added carrots and kale too. I bought vegan pesto for this and I mixed in a mashed avocado to make it creamy. The pine nuts complimented everything!

I went back to my parents on Thursday evening and was expecting to cook dinner as I thought they probably have made meat dishes. But in the end, I didn't have to cook because my dad had made some hearty Chinese desert, mung beans, red beans, barley and kelp sweet soup. I thought all these beans are nutritious enough to be my dinner. 

Day 5 Friday

Found some choi sum leaves in the fridge so used it for my morning smoothie. I also milled a pack of hemp seeds. In the end I made this smoothie with; choi sum, banana, chia seeds, hemp seed, pea protein and rice milk.

I worked from home on Friday so I was able to have something hot and fresh. Although at work we have a microwave but I don't really like heating my food like that. The wholemeal pitta bread gave me the idea of making vegan kebab. The filling was just simply stir fried cherry tomatoes, baby corn, mushrooms and onions seasoned in worchester sauce. 

Day 6 Saturday

I made something different for breakfast on this day. I made strawberries and pomegranate chia pudding.

I didn't take a picture of my lunch or dinner as it was something I've had already in the week and not very interesting. For lunch I made the avocado salad and dinner I just had a mushroom chow mein. 

Day 7 Sunday

I made sure I started my day with plenty of zinc by making a banana, strawberries and cacao nib smoothie.  I needed zinc as it is an essential nutrient for growth and development. Strict vegetarians and vegans lack zinc as it is mainly found in red meat and shellfish. However, cacao nib is a rich source of zinc, anti-oxidant and magnesium.

I used hazelnut fortified milk and added chia and hemp seeds. The fortified hazel milk is also important as it contains vitamin B12 and this vitamin is also something that vegetarians and vegan lack. B12 is essential for our immune system so the only way V & Vs get B12 is either by taking supplements and fortified food.

For lunch I made rice noodle, asparagus, baby corn, mushroom and dwarf beans salad.

Finally for dinner, I made something quick and easy. Mashed potatoes, barley and stir fried asparagus with dwarf beans. 

That's it. More to come next week!