No longer a carnivore...week one in pictures

AHHHHmazing GFV Ice Cream Sandwich

It's been almost one week since I started this vegan quest with my best friend Bex in order to take control of my health and huge risk factors related to cancer and high cholesterol. I'll admit I was skeptical and a bit nervous about the huge change to my diet and to my lifestyle. I'm already gluten free (for over 2 years now) so taking away another huge component of my diet was a daunting task. But armed with knowledge, recipes, and a healthy dose of motivation I embarked upon the week with a sense of adventure and a desire to cook up some good gluten free vegan (GFV) grub. Monday was the weekly bed date and Bex had the fabulous idea of "tuna" melts...so I scoured for recipes and finally settled upon this fabulous recipe from Happy Herbivore. I had also picked up some GFV chocolate chip cookie dough and Bex again came up with the idea to make them into ice cream sandwiches (with coconut milk chocolate ice cream). As you can see from the picture above, they turned out amazing. As did the tuna melts...we were off to a great start.

Although I can't map out every meal of the week, I can show you some pics of the goodness that ensued.

Pesto stuffed portabella mushrooms...I made the pesto in the Cuisinart. Lots of basil, olive oil, garlic, almonds, nutritional yeast...all pureed and mixed with vegan Daiya mozzarella cheese and stuffed into a cleaned out portabella mushroom and baked. Served them over quinoa cooked in No Chik'n Bouillon. Amazing meal!

I then used the Cuisinart again (it may be my favorite GFV appliance) to make vegan chocolate pudding. I then made almost a game out of it at work by making nearly every nurse taste it and try to guess what it was made out of (avocado). Only one nurse got it (go Jenny!). It was so, so yummy...really took care of any chocolate craving I could have possibly had...but small doses, because it's rich!

The above skillet concoction is a fair representation of how most of my meals for the week looked. Basically I just threw veggies and tofu into the skillet with whatever spices I fancied and possibly of soyrizo...and then plated it over rice, quinoa, or potatoes. Or maybe I was feeling adventurous and wrapped it in a corn tortilla (rice and beans are a fav...or my own GFV chili).

GFV french toast. Gluten free bread soaked in coconut milk egg nog and mashed banana, then pan "fried". Seriously amazing...didn't even require syrup!

Cashew "sour cream" served over my GFV chili or portabella mushroom fajitas was a total hit! So much so that you can see the finger tracks through the bowl!

Not everything I made this week was from scratch. This banana bread was so simple. Just add some Ener G egg replacer, warm water, and 2 mashed bananas...and voila! Amazing, moist, fresh GFV banana bread straight from the oven. It's really, really good!

So that about wraps up my first week as a non carnivore. Here's hoping the rest of the weeks ahead are as flavorful and fun!