Vegan MoFo 31: The Final One

Well Friends, It's been an honor to participate in this Vegan Month of Food with you. I've been blessed with ideas and advice and friends and I feel like such a fortunate, if small, part of this community. 

Here's just a little photo recap of some of the great food enjoyed this Vegan Month of Food. 

This month I celebrated my One Year Veganversary as well as My Birthday, and made some progress on My Wedding. I wonder what November will bring. Not to worry ... I'll tell you more than you care to know I'm sure. 

Thanks again for the great Month of Food!

Vegan MoFo 30: Halloween Hemp Milk

Hemp Milk. A few years ago I would have said, "What? I make bracelets out of that stuff. And I hear people smoke it. Snort it? I don't know. Whatever. People don't drink it weirdo."

So what did I do today? I made hemp milk. 

After my visit to 118 Degrees, I wanted to crack open my raw food cookbook, but I wanted something super simple. I'm not "going raw" any time soon, and I didn't want to buy a bunch of new ingredients that I wouldn't use before they went bad. I was also limited by my lack of a dehydrator. (Can you use an oven on a low setting?) 

So ... I happen to know my local health food store sells hemp seeds in the bulk bin, so I bought some on the same outing that I went to buy some extra lets-not-get-egged-by-the-neighbor-kids candy.

I just followed the recipe in Raw Food Basics, but a little googling will give you some variation of 1:1 water to seeds with about a tablespoon of sweetener per cup seeds (or cup water) pretty much across the board. After straining, I think maybe I didn't blend well enough, or possibly should have just kept the grit. I'm afraid I've left nutrients behind. Next time I think I won't strain it. After saving most of it in the fridge, I added some canned pumpkin and spices to a little sampling. Yes, adding the pumpkin makes it no longer raw. But also delicious. 

Verdict: Good enough for any raw witches, ghouls or ghosts that come knocking.

Happy Halloween!

Vegan MoFo 29: The Final Fitness Update

At the beginning of Vegan MoFo I planned to give the occasional update on my workouts, if for no other reason than to remind myself that a healthy counterbalance to all kinds of Month of Food eating is regular exercise. It also happened that Vegan MoFo fell during my outpatient/elective rotations, and I've had a little more time to work it in.

So how much exercise actually got done?

Well, here's the summary - in calendar form, because who doesn't love a calendar?

Oct	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
1st	-	-	-	-	-	-	Off
2nd-8th	5 mi run	DVD	4 mi run	3 mi run	swim	4 mi run	Off
9th-15th	5 mi run	3 mi run	4 mi run	swim	swim	4 mi run	Off
16th-22nd	6 mi run	swim	3 mi run	5 mi run	swim	4 mi run	Off
23rd-29th	7 mi run	swim	3 mi run	5 mi run	swim	4 mi run	Off
30th->	5 mi run	swim

       

Intentional days off are Saturdays, and then the red workouts are those that were planned but didn't happen. 

Putting it all together like this, I'm actually impressed. I did a pretty good job. I think week by week I often feel like, "Oh, I missed that workout. I'm such a slacker." And in the big picture, maybe this is another area in which I can work on being kinder to myself. 

Did you have any fitness goals for Vegan MoFo? How did they go?

Vegan MoFo 28: Native Foods ... Again

I've talked about Native Foods before. In fact, I mentioned it in my last post (for dessert). For my first visit I got the Gyro Bowl. The second time I got the Tempeh Bacon Cheeseburger. I also got the Ghandi Bowl at some point, but I'm not sure if I ever wrote about it. 

If I say I'm making it a goal to try everything on the menu does that mean I can go more often? Okay. Great. I really want to review everything on the menu. 

Today John and I started the day by opening a registry for our wedding. 

I've never had so much fun agreeing on dishes.

But after all that hard work - Native Foods.

I got the Soul Bowl today and it's guaranteed my favorite thing I've tried so far. John got the Twister Wrap. 

"Here Fiance. Have a bite of this."

4 down, um ... a lot to go? Don't even worry, John lives there. I have to go visit him right?

Do you have one of those restaurants at which you just want a chance to try everything? 

Vegan MoFo 27: 118 Degrees

Last night I went on a romantical (real word? Eh, I use it anyway) date with Fiance John to 118 Degrees - a vegan and raw restaurant in Costa Mesa. 

John was totally adventurous, but at one point he did say, "Hmm. This tastes ... raw." Which is true, but it was also delicious. 

We started with the Fried Avocado Mini-Tostados. I think this was actually my favorite part. It had seed-battered avocado over greens with a spicy pepita sauce, sundried-tomato pate and a dehydrated buckwheat cracker. 

For my entree I chose the Florentine Lasagna. Wow good.

John picked the Pesto Tortelleni. It was really nothing like tortellini, but still really good. I definitely ate about 3/4 of mine and 1/2 of his. 

Service was also great, with just the right amount of time with each course that we had time to talk and enjoy it. 

After 118 Degrees we walked over to nearby Native Foods for dessert. Every time I go I eye the desserts but I'm always too full from my meal. I picked the Peanut Butter Parfait, and it may be the best thing I've eaten in ages. Sort of like peanut butter pudding, plus nuts and chocolate, and just the right size so I wasn't overly full (plus I could share). It came with a free drink because we started a rewards card, so we tried the Watermelon Agua Fresca, which was good but a little too sweet. 

This meal really made me want to cook out of my raw food cookbook - Raw Food Basics. 

Any raw food recipe recs?

Vegan MoFo 26: Island Hopping

Today I'm in Irvine. Why? Because tomorrow is the Registry Party at Crate and Barrel. On the one hand, it's going to be full of too much cute coupleness to handle. On the other hand, I'm in one of those couples - and there's free food. 

In the meantime, today we did some island hopping. 

We started at Balboa Island.

Lunch at Picante Martin's: Taco Salad 

Pretty awesome chips. 

Then we went to Fashion Island. I walked through the Athleta Store, which really just made me want to go skiing. And by extension, made me sad it's still 75 degrees outside. 

And then, since we'd been to two islands, we stopped at Islands Restaurant for an iced tea. 

It's almost November, but here in Southern California, you can island hop anytime. 

We also stopped by a Garden & Nursery. It made me wish I could at least keep bamboo alive. 

Guess where we're going tonight? 118 Degrees - It's a raw restaurant in Costa Mesa run by Jenny Ross, and I have one of the cookbooks from the owner - Raw Basics. I've been looking forward to going ever since I bought the book and realized that the restaurant was so close to John's apartment. The menu is enormous and I have no idea what I'm going to pick. Guaranteed I will eat too much and love it. 

Anyone been to 118 degrees? Or any other raw restaurant? What should I get?

Vegan MoFo 25: It's My Birthday!

So today I'm 24. A huge thanks to all my friends and family for the birthday wishes/fun/embarrassing songs. It wouldn't be complete without you.

I started the day off as one should on a birthday - with pumpkin pie. Okay, pumpkin pie overnight oats.

We started a tradition in our house (it actually started on my birthday, thanks to Katie) a couple years ago of birthday signs that you get to wake up to on the morning of your birthday. Here are some highlights:

A note from the animals of the world. I am their favorite vegan apparently. I'm sure that's a temporary designation for my birthday, but I'll take it.

This is a party rock, because I am a party rocker.

I am also sunshine. 

And a note from my future patients - oh the children I will save. 

I spent a few hours at my rotation, then Fiance John surprised me by arriving early. Where to go? It's October 27 - the Pumpkin Patch!

Following a browsing of the place we picked a couple small pumpkins that I'll eventually eat. Maybe another slow cooker recipe? We also saw an outrageous number of kids having an awesome time.

And apparently they have a problem with pumpkin-sitting children. Don't do it. 

For dinner I was blessed to have lots of my friends come together and we went out to Eureka Burger. 

Their Loma Linda Veggie Burger is made with beets, so it looks bright pink like a rare burger - but it's totally vegan as long as you get it without the bun. Side of sweet potato fries. 

Thanks again everyone, you're the best!