The Vegan Experience - Update

So it's been awhile since I posted about our Vegan Adventure. I had grand plans to post recipes and ratings but those, obviously, have not come to fruition.

The success or failure of this experiment depends entirely upon who you ask. And since this is my blog, you're asking me - and I think it's great.

Although if I'm being realistic then I have to acknowledge that Penelope has only tried the vegan baked goods and Bryan has only sort of liked one dish (the vegan "mac & cheese"). Penny wouldn't even try the mac & cheese.

I have liked 90% of the things I've cooked. The quinoa salad is perhaps my favorite... followed by the pumpkin cake. Then there's the black bean soup, the rosemary foccacia, the mac & cheese, the chocolate cookies, the banana bread, the saffron rice (so good), the curried veggies... I'm making myself hungry!

The only thing I wasn't impressed with was the marinated portobello mushrooms, but they really should have been served like hamburger patties. On their own they were only ok. The broccoli polena was just bland - but if I use a sauce then it might turn out better.

This week our vegan meal will be another round of the "macdaddy" (i.e. the vegan version of mac & cheese). I might make curried veggies again since I though it was amazing.

Bryan's been a good sport about the whole thing though. He eats what I make and only rarely complains.

While I'm not technically dieting, I've lost about 6 lbs so far. I could probably loose more if I kicked it up a notch and started really exercising, but that would require effort and energy.

Going Vegan

We're not actually going Vegan (although a part of me would like to) but one of my New Years Resolutions is to eat healthier and expose the kids (and Bryan) to a wider variety of foods.

So for the holidays I received Veganomicon a Vegan cookbook. Some of the recipes are a little odd (for me, a lifelong meat-eater) but many of them look absolutely delicious.

I'm planning on cooking at least one completely vegan meal a week and then having vegan side dishes to compliment some of our meaty meals.

I will, however, be cutting back on our meaty meals and for a variety of reasons. Meat is very delicious, but factory farming is not. I cannot, in good conscious, continue to purchase meats so unethically and unhealthily raised and slaughtered. And we can't afford to buy "range-free" "grass fed" meat for every meal. So we're cutting back on the meat while still keeping it in our diet. Besides, Penelope isn't much of a meat eater.

Tonight's Menu? Marinated portobello mushroom caps and broccoli polenta.

I may or may not take pictures. I have a friend with a recipe blog who posts amazing recipes and takes beautiful pictures - I would love to emulate her, but my kitchen is a mess, my camera is crappy, and I don't want to commit to pictures of every meal since I doubt I'll remember.

But I will post later about whether or not it was a hit. The mushroom caps are marinating right now and it smells DELICIOUS.