Day 7

Heyo.

Last night for dinner Jeremy and I ventured out to "Veg-n-Out"...a local (North Park) restaurant specializing in vegetarian and vegan cuisine. We were both excited to try a restaurant that specialized in meat-free dishes; I think we (I) thought that it would offer us some exciting new ideas, etc. Anyway, it was a little disappointing. I had a vegan chili dog with a side salad and Jeremy had a vegan burger with two different side salads. Neither of us felt as good/light after leaving that restaurant as we did after eating other vegan meals. I think what bugged me was that the meals were based on vegan imitations of meals that would normally include meat. Why not just have meals that are vegan solely because they do not include animal products? More on that later.

We finished the vegan cookies last night.

Today was our agreed upon "cheat day" if we were feeling it.

I slept in then had a piece of sprouted grain bread with peanut butter for breakfast before taking the dogs on another long walk/hike on the trails. For lunch, Jeremy and I headed to the local farmer's market to hit up the Green Truck for some fast vegetarian/organic food. We both had the breakfast tacos - scrambled eggs on corn tortillas with cheddar cheese, chipotle sauce, arugula, avocado, and...I can't remember what else. Maybe that was it. Anyway, it was ridiculously delicious. I don't think I realized how much I missed eggs. I didn't think I'd miss eggs as much as I do. And cheddar cheese? Omg. I don't care what people tell you - vegan cheese is NOT THE SAME AS NORMAL CHEESE. It's just NOT. So anyway, it was obscenely delicious.

We ate them on the way to the dog beach in Coronado where Mugsy ran around stealing tennis balls from other dogs and Ronin ran away from us almost all the way back to the car (about a quarter mile away) because he knows that the beach is the place where Jeremy throws him into the ocean against his will. So that was a big failure.

After that, we made our grocery list for the week and went to Sprouts to pick everything up. I think we did pretty well - we got a TON of fruits and veggies (fresh, canned, and frozen) along with other items such as hummus and pita chips. It was way less expensive than I anticipated it being, and while Sprouts was out of control busy, it was manageable because we split the list up by sections of the store and then divided and conquered. Teamwork, high five!

We had a snack of edamame in the late afternoon while watching the Oscars red carpet and then I made this dish for dinner and we LOVED it. (For those of you who don't want to click the link, it's "spicy quinoa" in avocado bowls). I didn't make mine quite as pretty as the picture - I just made it into a salad. But it was delicious nonetheless! And I think my favorite part honestly was the cashew "sour cream" made by putting a cup of cashews in the food processor with some apple cider vinegar and water. It was actually really tasty. And while it tasted nothing at all like sour cream, it was still a nice accompaniment to the meal. So if you're looking for a good salad (vegan or not)...use the recipe in the link. Lesson of the day - taco seasoning makes everything taste better.

And then, to cap off "cheat day" I had a bunch of Thin Mints. Because really, how could you pass that up? I think it'll be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow compared to days after eating 100% vegan.