Midwest Vaygun

More Porn!

midwestvaygun — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:03:00 +0000

i guess there were more food pictures on my camera! enjoy!

stew!

delicata squash, kale, carrots, chickpeas, and leeks floating in a lightly seasoned broth

TLAT Salad!

TLAT salad, but with kale and smoky eggplant strips instead of lettuce and tempeh bacon. on the side are GF flax crackers with raw cashew cheese

4-part epic!?

tarragon and balsamic grilled portobello cap, roasted mashed sweet potatoes, grilled peppers and string beans. i marinated the portobellos in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, braggs, dijon mustard, and tarragon. i reduced the marinade with white wine to make a simple pan sauce.

Food Porn! The Post-Fast Edition

midwestvaygun — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:32:26 +0000

hello all! it’s been almost a whole week since i broke the fast, and i have to say, i’m doing pretty well food-wise. i’ve discovered that i may be sensitive to soy, or at least the consumption of fried tofu definitely contributes to breakouts. i also notice that wheat/gluten doesn’t digest nearly as efficiently as say, oats or quinoa. so for the time being, i’m keeping their consumption to special occasions, or ‘treats’. in other big news, i’ve only had 4 cups of coffee in the last 3 days! this is HUGE for me as i normally had a minimum of 32oz per day. yes, thats roughly 92+ gallons a year. i’ve been incorporating more whole/raw foods into my diet-instead of tempeh ‘bacon’ on my TLAT salad, i made the PPK’s eggplant ‘bacon’ instead. this has definitely been a positive experience.

but on to the porn!

juice!

i think this was carrot, ginger, apple and kale?

garlic chili stir fry with tofu from the king and i thai

my first ‘processed’ meal after the fast- white rice (replaced by brown when reheated) and tofu, and whatever it’s seasoned with.

orange scented rice pudding with raisins

my first “sweet”, leftover white rice turned into rice pudding. the recipe needs tweaking, and i think either arborio rice, or maybe even brown rice for more flavor?

raw tostadas from the ecopolitan

oddly, i ate a LOT of dinners out after the fast. the food from the ecopolitan was my redemption- light, nutrient dense, and raw. oh, and if its made with raw nuts and apples, dessert is healthy, right?

raw 'caramel' apple pie from the ecopolitan

i had a food date this past monday with one of my (only) vegan friends, bryan. with the hubby being out of town i really missed how eating out with other vegans means you can share everything on the table.

chickpea salad with mustard oil- gorkha palace

the chickpea salad came compliments of the house- i think it’s because we were obviously snapping pics of everything we ate the mustard oil gave it this savory-zippy kick, almost like wasabi/horseradish.

veggie pakora- gorkha palace

shredded cabbage, onions, and peppers breaded and deep fried?-yes please!

Aaloo Bhanta- potatoes and eggplant- gorkha palace

potatoes & eggplant cooked in a tomato-onion sauce- it was smoky-sweet!

Aaloo Bhindi- potatoes and okra- gorkha palace

this was some tasty, tasty okra. i noticed that almost all of the curries have potato in them. it must be for the midwestern clientele?

'lara bars'!

i LOVE lara bars, but i hate paying for them so i followed Amy’s lead and made my own! i quadrupled the peanut butter and jelly recipe and pressed them into a brownie pan. i think my bars got a wee bit too big- i think i could have easily gotten 12-14 from the one pan. easy!

Solid Food!

midwestvaygun — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:57:46 +0000

Woo Hoo!

it’s funny, i thought ‘breaking the fast’ was going to be some sort of remarkable experience, but it was anticlimactic. for some reason i had this half cooked idea that the moment i put something whole in my stomach that the world was going to come to an end, or my stomach was going to revolt. something. but nope, i’ve had my last green juice for breakfast, and a half a pint of blueberries, an orange, and an avocado spread out whenever i felt the need to eat them, and i don’t feel crazy hungry or different. what i do feel though, is the urge to shovel mass amounts of food into me. not because i need to, but because i can. i just had a basic smoothie of cashews, banana, and some frozen fruit and i’m satisfied, but i’m wondering how long i can hold back a crazy gorge fest, or worse, a pile of fried food. wish me luck!

Juice Cleanse: The Final Countdown

midwestvaygun — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:38:10 +0000

welp, day three has come and gone. at least the juices have gone. today was, for lack of a better word, great! i wasn’t hungry, i couldn’t care less about chewing and i have so MUCH energy. i did all green juices today plus the lemonade and cashew milk, and even though i had to use quite a few green apples to fill out the jars, i think i can safely say i really enjoyed the taste of liquid produce. but, my damn juicer about died on a lemon, and it’s getting harder and harder to watch it massacre greens like the wood chipper in Fargo. so, although i really wanted to get at least another day in, i’m calling it quits after today and reentering the world of solid foods. i have one last green juice in the fridge that i’ll knock back for breakfast, and perhaps i’ll gnaw on some berries or an avocado for lunch? what i do know is that i plan on eating much cleaner from here on out, juicing daily if i can, and drinking way less coffee (hopefully). i think i’m going to consider removing gluten from my diet too- or at least not reintroduce it for awhile and keep my intake down with it as well.

all in all, i think this was a success, and one we get a masticating juicer i plan on doing this bi-monthly.

what’s a post without a pic? here’s my dirty fridge, haha!

dirty vegan fridge

Juice Cleanse, The Real Day Two?

midwestvaygun — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 03:14:33 +0000

i’ve decided that i’m going to count only fasting days as cleansing days, that way i can push my self to keep with it until friday. today i added one more green juice, and dropped one fruit/beet juice. tomorrow i plan to do all 4 juices as green juices, along with the spicy lemonade and cashew milk, with the same on friday. the last day. as much as this isn’t all that bad, i really, really want to chew on something, and ‘chewing’ my juice doesn’t cut it.

i suppose you’re wondering what i may have noticed, or any perceived benefits i may have, so here are my observations thus far:

when i sleep, i ‘pop’ awake rather than groggily waking up. regardless if i’m waking to use the bathroom, feed the cats, or it’s my alarm- regardless of the time and whether i was in deep sleep or not. it’s super weird to me.

my joints are super fluid right now, and my vertebrate are popping and moving like never before. my knees weren’t nearly as stiff during last nights workout. i’m curious when i go to add food back in, what the culprit might be.

i feel and look less bloated- most noticeably in my arms and stomach.

i feel more energized in general, but i have yet to feel ‘clarity and focus’, i’m still as scatterbrained as usual.

i’m not starving. really! i’ve noticed that the feeling i have is the same as when i’m bored, which would explain my incessant snacking when i have nothing to do, but yet i can plow through a work day on my normal amount food and feel fine. i think i need to work on my boredom eating big time.

the one smell that turns me inside and and makes me want to kill for it? COFFEE. i could cut a bitch for a cup, not for the caffeine, but for the taste.

this was a little more expensive than i had thought. i buy pretty much only organic produce, and kale is 2.50-3.00 a bundle, and i go through almost 2 a day when i drink only green juice-even with the apples, romaine, parsley, ect this still was quite the grocery bill. i definitely would have shaved some pennies off if i had been smart enough to buy the bulk bags of apples, lemons ect. hopefully by the next cleanse we’ll have a more efficient masticating juicer, and a garden chock full of kale to pick.

Juice Cleanse: Day Two-ish

midwestvaygun — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:25:48 +0000

i woke up completely headache free and spritely today! thank gawd! it’s about 1:30 and i’m 2 juices in- i’m trying to have one every 2 hours, ending with my last at 8pm so that i can digest before i hit the hay. i’m also going to ~~attempt to~~ work out after work today; maybe some sweating will help cleanse my skin?

heres my juice rundown, i’m missing one because i’ll make it later when i get home after i hit the gym? or before? we’ll see.

juice army

L -> R

1. double batch of green juice: a bunch chard, cucumber, 4 stalks celery, a d’anjou pear, several fistfuls of spinach, a crown and stalk of broccoli. i forgot, and missed, the knob of ginger. this will be my first and third juices of the day. i might do a fruitier version for a later evening juice.

2. beet juice! 2 red beets, 1 orange, 4 carrots. my second juice of the day.

3. spicy lemonade. 1 peeled lemon juiced and then added to 1 tsp raw agave and 1/4 tsp cayenne. tomorrow i will use 2 lemons and some ginger, too! *it’s pink from being made after the beet juice

4. raw cashew milk. 1/3c soaked cashews, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, cinnamon and a dab of agave, pureed until smooth. i think this is supposed to be that last down the hatch? i’m assuming the fat and protein content of the nuts will keep my stomach satisfied while i sleep.

birthday porn!

midwestvaygun — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:23:18 +0000

ahem, food porn.

cold bustin' juice

i had an awful cold so the hubby made me some super C juice to kickstart my birthday last week. we used 1 giant ruby red grapefruit, a lime, and a helluva lotta oranges. so, so good!

birthday brunch!

‘fronch toast’ vegan with a vengeance style, smoky ‘facon’, and broiled tater tots!

vegan stuffed shells

shells stuffed with cashew ricotta and daiya.

sexy close up

i didn;t write it all down, but heres roughly what i used:

1/2 c raw cashews, soaked overnight in water, drained

10oz extra firm tofu

2tbs nutritional yeast

juice of 1/2 a lemon

salt and pepper, dash each of onion and garlic powder

puree all of them until almost completely smooth, then fold in 1/2 bag of daiya. this filled 24 pasta shells.

Juice Cleansing: The Final Frontier

midwestvaygun — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:12:31 +0000

so, i started a juice fast. well, sort of. i watched ‘fat, sick, and nearly dead’ awhile back and a quote from the director/main guy really stuck out. i can only paraphrase, but it was to the extent of “when you cut yourself, your skin heals the injury, so why cant your insides heal when they’re sick?” or something like that. but anyways, it got me thinking. lately i’ve noticed, without going into TMI mode, that my skin was getting dull and i was developing acne along my jaw/neck/chest ect, which i’ve been told can be from stagnation in my liver, as well as dealing with some, uh, long term lady issues that can also be linked to my liver as well. i’ve had no formal diagnosis from an acupuncturist or anything, but i figured i’d still do a juice fast and see what i could find out on my own. so, i just ate my last whole meal for what i’m hoping can stretch to 10 days. i guess i sort of started yesterday because i ate 50/50 solid food and fresh juices, and drank some liver cleansing tea. today i ate 1 whole meal along with 3 juices, a lara bar, a few blueberries, and an avocado. baby steps. thankfully, my parents gave me a jack lalanne juicer that was gathering dust, otherwise i would have been out some serious cash for the fancy pants omega masticating juicer that i really wanted, but if i can stick to this cleanse, i think i’ll be able to better rationalize that purchase in the future.

the method to my madness is sort of a one-off of the blueprint cleanse. i’m going to drink roughly 5 juices a day, raw cashew milk, water, and liver cleanse tea. to make life easy, i’m going to juice everything that i plan on consuming at work before i leave the house, and pack them into mason jars on ice. i already toted a few juices around today, and it wasn’t a huge inconvenience. i have a waterproof backpack so doing this in the summer should be a snap too. surprisingly, giving up chewing isn’t that hard at all. my only issue thus far is that i made no changes to my caffeine intake prior to today, so i’ve had a very, very horrid headache since 2pm. hopefully this subsides by tomorrow as i plan to start working out again. *between getting tattooed and having an awful cold, i’ve been out of the gym for 7 days!

last nights dinner, the 'green meanie'

6 Kale Leaves
1 Cucumber
4 Celery Stalks
2 Green Apples
1/2 Lemon
1 piece of ginger

breakfast!

mmmm beet juice

juice #2

1 d’anjou pear

6 leaves romaine

1/2 granny smith apple

1″ knob ginger

4 carrots

juice #3

1 stalk + crown of broccoli

1/2 granny smith

4 stalks cellery

6 kale leaves

handful of parsley

i never liked raw broccoli before, but it’s so much sweeter in juice form!

wish me luck!

pho-nomenal pho from the jasmine deli

midwestvaygun — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:01:54 +0000

pho-nomenal pho from the jasmine deli

*there was 1/2 a bahn mi too, but it was too good to save for a photo-op!

Food Porn! JOOOOOOOZZZZZZZZZING!

midwestvaygun — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:29:48 +0000

this is a small blip compared to the last photo dump! we just got a hand me down jack la lane juicer from my parents- we plan on upgrading to an omega masticating juicer when we have the funds, but the JLL has been an awesome gadget to play with! we anticipate doing a 10-14 day ‘reboot’, ‘fat sick and nearly dead’ style this february so it’s kind of nice that we didn’t have to plunk a bunch of change down to start it.

carrot, ginger and lemon juice

avocado toast and coffee, my favorite breakfast

1/2lb kale, ginger, tangelo, honeycrisp, granny smith, comice pear

bangkok curry!