Eager Vegan

If you've been reading my blog lately, you know from a previous post that I recently decided to change my diet to a plant-based diet (i.e., I'm a vegan) for health reasons. I had checked out some books from the library to get started and learned a lot about what to eat to make sure I have a balanced diet. After my 3 weeks were up, I returned the first round of books (after a brief scanning spree at my computer of the recipes I liked and thought I might like) and checked out my second round. Who knew there were so many vegan cookbooks to choose from? Maybe you did, but I sure didn't.

Here are the books I have now. The Kind Diet is mine and was a gift from a dear friend. It's a really good book. I highly recommend it. The Sicilian Collard Greens with Pine Nuts and Raisins is amazing! I've never eaten collard greens before, but have made this recipe 3 times in the last 3 weeks! Yum!

For some reason I can't just check out one or two books, I have to leave with my arms full. And this last time I had to leave a handful of other books on the shelf (I'll get them during round 3). When I got home with these books I set them down and realized that 7 books was a bit much and I got completely overwhelmed. I started to feel like I have to make as many things as I can in the next 3 weeks. I flipped through the books, tagged the pages that sounded good, made a grocery list, then got home with the groceries and forgot which ingredients I bought for which recipes. The problem was that I didn't just tag a few recipes for the week, I tagged too many and forgot which ones I was shopping for. Poor planning. Don't worry though, I've learned my lesson and now plan ahead for just two or three recipes at a time. And I write them down. And I'm also finding that if you keep your pantry stocked with essentials, you can make most anything without having to go out for too many ingredients. I'm learning a lot and having so much fun with this. And I'm grateful I have the time right now to devote to this. Because of all of the fresh ingredients, there is a fair amount of chopping and prepping for some of the recipes. I will be a meal planning pro by the time my treatments are over and I'm ready to go back to work.

Here are a few recipes that I've made...the good and the not so good.

Unruly Tabouli - pretty good but I need to practice the bulgur wheat to water ratio. It was a little mushy.

Chocolate cake - Looked good but the taste . . . not so good .

Zucchini,  mushroom, and onion pizza - GOOD!! My first attempt at making dough in the food processor (super simple!!) and using a pizza stone. I think the pizza stone made all the difference. The crust was really good. And vegan mozzarella is actually not bad at all.

Potato Stuffed Portobellos - good! This was super simple and very tasty if you like portobellos. Husband not a portobello fan but humored me and ate almost the entire thing. He did like the potato stuffing so it wasn't a total loss. 

This eager vegan can't wait for dinner the rest of the week. Teed up next are Sweet & Sour Tofu and another enchilada recipe. Yum yum!