Pizza! Pizza!

There are two major reasons I decided to start this blog:

1. To hold myself accountable to my new vegan lifestyle and my goal to lose 60 pounds in a year. I will be gloriously honest with all of you over the course of this year and hope to think of you as a source of encouragement- my cheerleaders, if you will.

2. To de-mystify the vegan lifestyle. Although the city I live in is primarily liberal and open-minded, I keep running into individuals who look at me as though I'm an alien when I tell them I don't eat meat. Is it really that strange to you? Some of the things I hear around the water-cooler at work are mildly offensive and just proposterous and, moreover, indicate to me that many people don't even know what it means to be vegan and jump to their own conclusions. I am not a hippie. I'm not a free-spirited-Berkinstock-wearing-fairy-loving-spiritualist. I am a young professional working in corporate America who wears suits to work and drives a Chevy Impala. You don't have to be a "type" of person to be vegan. Yet, people who don't understand lump us into a category and treat us as "different." I get frustrated and angry, but what's the point! This blog is to help educate so that I can turn that anger into something positive.

Ok- so are you ready for yesterday's menu? It was wicked good, I promise! And I must tell you, I hopped on the WiiFit last night and found that I've lost 2.5 lbs in 3 days- horrah! Clearly eliminating cheese from my diet is doing some good.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Fruit Compote
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup of water
pinch of salt
The left over fruit salad from last night's dessert
1/2 cup Almond Milk

Cook the oats, water, & milk in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir in the fruit salad from last night's dessert (never let anything go to waste!) and microwave for 30 seconds. Pour the almond milk on top and eat!

Lunch: Left-over rice with broccoli and snap peas
Left over rice from previous night's dinner, about 1 cup
1/3 cup homemade veggie stock
Handful of broccoli
Handful of snap peas
You can use whatever veggies you have on hand!
Pinch of sea salt

Put it all in a bowl and microwave for 2-3 mins. Yum!

Dinner: Pizza! Pizza! Night
1 lb pizza crust--- we got ours at the food store and used Portland Pie Wheat Dough (this may not be a completely vegan dough, but we were in a hurry; you could make your own vegan dough)
Stuff for pizza!

We made 2 pizzas- one with a sauce made from a diced tomato, pesto, and garlic then topped with vegetarian sausage and orange bell pepper and the other made with a base of pesto then topped with sauteed onion, tomato slices and fresh spinach. Bake them in the oven on a pizza stone for about 20 mins at 400 degress---Belissimo!

Dessert: Chocolate Surprise Brownies (From Vegan on the Cheap, with my modifications in red)
Makes 16 brownies

1 cup cooked or canned black beans, drained & rinsed
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp canola or other neutral oil
4 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ripe banana
2 Tbsp instant coffee (we didn't have instant so we just very finely ground 2 Tbsp of Coffee by Design's Ethiopian coffee)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegan semisweet chocolate chips (we didn't have vegan chips, but had a ton of regular since I run a baking service)
1/2 cup walnut pieces (optional) (we did not use these- the boyfriend HATES walnuts!)
1 cup frozen mixed berries, thawed in the microwave

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and set aside. In a blender or food processor, combine blackbeans, sugar, & oil and blend until smooth. Add the banana, coffee, cocoa, and vanilla, and blend until smooth. Scrape the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnut pieces, if using. Fold in mixed berries. 

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 25-30 mins.