The Last Supper

My belly is full...my heart is happy. After enjoying a delicious sushi pizza from a great little place in Milford, PA (and some cocoa citrus ice cream...which was simply the best thing I have ever had) I must come back to reality and prepare myself for tomorrow.

Yesterday was a day of prep for my adventure. I spent about 4 hours getting everything ready to start my week. However, before I could do anything I needed to clean out my cupboards. This is everything that I either donated to friends or put away into a "DO NOT TOUCH" section:

I made my list of food for the week and went shopping. Tomorrow night I'm making a spinach, wild mushroom risotto...and lunches will be sandwiches with crudites.

Let's start with the sandwiches. Since I am severely lacking in the "I make awesome bread" category, I decided to memorize a recipe before starting this adventure. I love bread and am not really willing to live without it...so I needed to have some place to start. This recipe will be a good jumping point for me (at least I hope). On top of the bread I will do homemade hummus (1/2 lb garbanzo beans, 3 cloves garlic, juice from 1/2 a lemon, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1t kosher salt, 2t black pepper and water as needed for consistency), roasted red bell peppers (olive oil, salt and pepper), baked tofu (sliced, pressed, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper), lettuce and tomato.

As for the hummus. I opted into buying dry garbanzo beans because I was just curious how it would do. Not going to lie for a second...canned garbanzo beans are freaking easy...but I think the taste overall is way better in the end! The only issue I had were the skins of the beans not fully breaking up in the food processor. Any suggestions?

I'm excited for dinner tomorrow night. I have made a similar recipe before, but have NO idea on the amount of ingredients I have used. I'm also switching it up a bit...so we'll see! I decided to go ahead and make my own vegetable stock:

I know, technically I could say it is an ingredient...but what's the fun in that? I have always wanted to try this (not that it is that difficult). After taking a little sip about two hours into simmering....I think I actually shouted out loud "holy cow that is awesome!" You must do this...freeze it...use it right away...just do it. The flavor is just fantastic and you can alter it in whatever way you want based on the veggies and/or leftover pieces that you have laying around. Here's what I used:

4'ish quarts of water
1T Kosher salt
1 potato
5 carrots
4 stalks celery (tops included)
1 tomato (might use more next time)
1/2 a large onion

That just about sums up my afternoon and evening.

Next in line after the risotto...granola (I need some snacks and other breakfast options) and possibly banana bread (I have an old banana that's just begging to become something awesome).

And so it begins...

It's the middle of winter here in Northeastern PA and it's just plain cold. That being said, when you are looking for something to do, there are two primary options: drink or eat.

A few months ago I had this idea to fight the winter blues and avoid packing on those winter pounds. I can't say that I'm going to stop drinking, because quite frankly, that isn't going to happen. However, I have decided to challenge myself and switch things up for the entire month of February. I know, I know. February just happens to be the shortest month...but it also happens to be the best month to do my experiment.

I must give a quick shout out to my friend and former co-worker, Karen, who told me I should blog about this experiment. In all reality, it will be fun to share my experience and hopefully keep me on track.

So here it goes...the rules.

1. No eating out for 1 month (February 1-28, 2011)
2. All meals must be made from scratch (not including leftovers)
3. Cannot purchase, nor eat, anything pre-made or prepared (not including beverages or basic ingredients for my recipes. Ex: tofu, peanut butter, mustard, etc.)
4. Must use fresh ingredients if available (if not, canned ingredients may be purchased)
5. Must make everything without the use of recipes (recipes from memory must be altered in some way to make "original")
6. May not use any meat or dairy in any meal

Now for the purpose:
1. For the challenge and fight the winter blues
2. To compare grocery/eating out costs from January to February
3. To create healthy, new original recipes
4. To show how exciting and tasty a vegan diet can be

So...there it is. I think it is going to be very challenging, but I'm ready for it. I have enjoyed cooking and eating vegan since I switched in October 2008. However, the past few months have not been so good as far as eating habits go. I think this will be a good jump start into not eating out so much and watching what I put into my body.

I'll post my recipes, share my thoughts and put lots of pictures of the journey. I'm currently getting ready for Tuesday's start because I will be enjoying my last night of freedom tomorrow night having a very special dinner! :)

Until next time.