Days 13 and 14: The end of Week 2

I have been animal free for 2 weeks and I feel so energetic and alive. And light in both mind and body.

Pancakes for breakfast on Sunday were quite a treat, as I had not had pancakes in going on 18 months. Using the vegan recipe from The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook by Dr. Neal Barnard, (find it easily on Amazon), I added fresh raspberries which are still ripening on the bushes in our backyard. Three decently sized pancakes with real maple syrup and one link of Field Roast vegan breakfast sausage with a piping hot cup of coffee (avec coconut creamer, of course) made for an amazing breakfast. 

The recipe has nothing weird in it, just a bit more baking powder than you might expect to make up for the lack of eggs. I used ½ unbleached white and ½ whole wheat that I grind about once a month and keep in the freezer.  My Kitchen Aid mixer has a grain mill attachment, which allows me to always have fresh whole-wheat flour on hand. For those of you who hate whole-wheat flout due to the bitter taste, you are eating old, rancid flour. Freshly ground flour is the key to great tasting whole-wheat products.

The flavor was classic pancake and the syrup, warmed slightly, was heavenly. Admittedly, though, I was worried that my sugar would spike really high and then crash. Although I didn’t feel my body reacting, I nevertheless tested my blood sugar an hour after eating. 109. For those of you familiar with blood sugar ranges, that is amazing. 2 hours after eating that gourmet breakfast, it was 89. Even more amazing. I’m looking forward to my Tuesday appointment with my nutritionist, Kim, to go over the blood sugar records I’ve been keeping. They seem balanced and stable to me.  I’m also expecting my weight to be down. My weekly trip to the scale Saturday morning, after breakfast, showed a 4-pound loss over the last 2 weeks. We will see what Kim’s scale says Tuesday morning.

Looking back over the past 2 weeks, I can honestly say that part of the ease Peter and I have felt is due to preparation, planning and trying new recipes. I have found Barnards cookbook, as well as Meg Wolff’s to be reliable in producing tasty, filling and easy-to-prepare dishes. We have tried something new almost every day, relying on homemade soups, Blue Mango Burgers and hummus to fill in the blanks.

Last night we tried a pasta dish with broccoli rabe, walnuts, garlic and spicy peppers over whole-wheat fettuccine, and salad with a creamy avocado pesto dressing. I made up the dressing based on suggestions in an article I read in Whole Living magazine. Here’s the recipe:

One very ripe avocado

1 large clove of garlic, peeled and cut into a couple of pieces

6-8 fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces

1 Tb olive oil

1 tsp. lemon juice

Place everything in a blender (I have a small blender attachment to my immersion blender) and blend until smooth. For a thinner but still creamy dressing, add some almond milk. This also made a terrific dip, which I tried out as I was making dinner and watching the Patriots crumble in the last 2 minutes of the game.

I’m thinking Belichick needs to put the team on a vegan diet.