My Plant Based Month - I Failed!!

Right before the clock struck midnight, I made a decision on December 31st to eat plant based in January.

I had a fridge and freeze full of meat and dairy products from hosting 10 people over the holiday season. I always have dairy free options because Hubby has been dairy free since about 2011. I had not planned out that week's groceries nor had I thought it through. I just took off running into veggieland.

I never knew what this transformation was going to mean to me.

Breakfast

First thing I took into consideration was my mornings and afternoons. It is so easy for me to fry an egg and chicken sausage and call that breakfast. I do smoothies each day, but once morning passes, I usually don't make one.

So I set out to transform the most important meals of the day. First I switched my coffee creamer. It took more than half the month to find one that I like.

Silk coffee creamer in Sweet Cream flavor did the trick. I love that it isn't too sweet and that there isn't a weird after taste. Their Pumpkin Spice latte flavor this fall was not too bad either. But nothing compares to the sweet cream flavor.
LunchOnce I figured out Breakfast. It was on to lunch. Lunch with a baby is hit or miss. Some days I actaully eat lunch and other days, well, it's a distant memory as I prepare dinner.I have to be careful that everything I bring in the house is gluten free or can be wrapped separate. I discovered that Aldi sells veggie burgers that do not contain gluten. These burgers were actually good!! I heated them in a pan without oil and they got a nice crisp around the edge. I topped the burger with lettuce, bbq sauce and gluten free crunchy onions. 

 Another favorite plant based lunch that I began to eat nearly weekly last summer is stuffed potatoes or sweet potatoes. I would bake these off in the oven without seasoning. On the day that I eat them for lunch, I will put in spinach, broccoli or kale. I also threw in some corn, black beans, salsa, guacamole, peas or whatever else I can find. The rest of the lunches through out the month were either salads, or left over dinners.

Now onto dinner.

This meal was the hardest to eat meat free. I was not successful all month. I made lots of mistakes and often gave in. I just couldn't think of enough ideas. I was not use to meal planning around a veggie. I use to meal plan around meat. I would think to myself, "Tuesday will be ground beef. How do we want it?"

It took about half the month to realize that I just needed to flip my thinking. I mimic a few meals around my favorite YouTube creators and was able to crank out more tasty meat free dinners.

This is the base of a soup I made. It is celery, onion, corn that I sucked and froze last summer and massaged kale. I added veggie stock, lemon pepper seasoning and white beans. ** Not all veggie stocks are equal. The one from Trader Joe's has a heavy tomato taste. The Target brand is light flavored. My favorite is the Audi brand and Kitchen Essentials.**

Can't go wrong with meatless chili. We can't eat chili often in our house as Hubby is allergic to nightshades. He has smaller reactions to tomatoes and chili peppers than potatoes. But I modify this by making my own seasoning and only adding in a tablespoon. Check out those chunks of veggies!

Dessert

My favorite meal of the day. My NEW goal is to cut out dairy in 2018 and I had to start with my favorite all time food, ice cream. Last summer I expanded upon my dairy free journey with ice cream. I found one that I liked and never brought any more. This month, I gave two companies and two flavors a try.

Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy Cherry Garcia is so good! I thought that they could use a bit more 'cherry'
flavor but I love the chunks of cherries and chocolate. Ben & Jerry's has 9 other non-dairy flavors. It is my duty to try them all.

Like I said in my IG post, Breyers is a family favorite. I grew up on a scoop practically every Sunday after dinner. My grandfather would buy every new flavor and we would just enjoy a scoop each night until it was done.

Breyers only has 2 non-dairy flavors. I know that more has to be in the works. And when they are out, I'm hunting them down and enjoying a scoop every night until it's gone.

So what's the verdict of my plant based month?

If it was a contest, I had lost. Big time! But I feel like I came in second place. I limited more meat from my diet than I'd ever imagine. I feel great. I feel confident that I can make 14 out of 20 meals a week, meat free.

Will I ever be completely plant base/vegetarian/vegan?

I believe that is my future.

I can see myself living without chicken, turkey, and beef. (I already gave up on pork.) I have educated myself too much on the horror stories of the meat industry. I purchased meat from a family farmer last summer. My goal is to make meals for others as I don't believe in throwing food away. (If you do, go visit a third world country.)

My biggest obstacle is that I love seafood. I know that I shouldn't eat it, but that will be the largest hump of my journey.

I am so glad that I took the time to eat more plants. It has been the biggest transformation of my life. On to the next meal....