Day 23: Good News

Well, good news is that I have finished repairing my sprinkler system in the back yard, so it's now working again.  What a pain in the rear end that was.  If you ever need to fix some straight PVC pipe, pick up one of these bad boys, you'll save yourself a lot of time for just a few bucks.  It worked awesome, and it only took a few minutes to perform the repair, which was awesome, since it left a lot of time to get in a workout and even for a few minutes of down time, if you can believe that.

The workout last night was arms and back, which kicked my butt.  I was gasping and wheezing at the end, and was light-headed enough to skip most of the ab routine.  It was enough to get me to basically collapse on the floor after we were done.  Needless to say, I slept really well that night.

Menu:


Breakfast:
Protein shake

Snack:
Cliff Builder's Bar

Lunch:
Vegan lasagna
side salad

Snack 2:
Pistachios

Dinner:
Grilled tofu
grilled zucchini and squash
1 cup cherries
banana

As you may notice, I've been increasing my intake of fruit lately.  It's crazy for me to limit myself to a single serving of fruit, especially when I have so many tasty peaches in the fridge.

Day 22: Seriously?! That Thing is Huge!

Since we had two days of rest, it was a pretty good day to get down to business and do some yoga.  Our schedule wasn't quite as busy today, just work, library, dinner, then workout.  No digging up crazy broken pipes in the ground or planitng gardens, just a straightforward day.  It was a nice change of pace for us.  The only thing unusual about today was my wife's trip to GNC to get some protein powder.  I was going to get the chocolate soy powder this time, but she was nice enough to go get it for me from the store.  When she got back, I saw this on the counter:

Holy moly!  That's a huge container of protein powder.  It makes me look like I'm training for the Mr. Universe contest or something.  The one I had before was a small container that fit nicely in my cubbord, the new container's like the previous one's big brother packed with enough steroids to kill a large horse.  Seriously, this thing contains 1.275 kg of protein.  That's more protein than some animals have in their whole bodies..  I guess it's a good thing, since it will last till the end of my training, but damn that thing is huge.  (That's what she said.)

I guess there was one lowlight of the night.  My wife was cleaning out the freezer and put a tub of homemade vanilla ice cream on the counter for me to empty out and wash.  The call of it was too much for me to resist, and I rationalized it to myself that it would be even worse to throw away perfectly good and delicious food, so I chowed down on it.  Tasty, but I didn't need the additional fat right before the workout.  On a side note, I wonder if I could make vegan ice cream some time.  Damn, they've thought of everything.

Menu:

Breakfast:
Protein shake (Natch, going to be drinking a lot of these for a while.)

Snack:
Cliff Builder's Bar

Lunch:
Vegan Lasagna
Side salad

Snack 2:
30 pistachios

Dinner:
3 veggie dogs
sauteed spinach
roasted red potatoes
3 small peaches

An odd dinner, but it was leftover night and I didn't want to have lasagna three times in a row (lunch, dinner, lunch), so I had to get creative.

Day 21: Plumbing Issues

After the disaster that was trying to plant flowers in my backyard this weekend, the wife and I tasked ourselves with fixing our own mess.  After breaking a pipe in our sprinkler system, we needed to replace a good section of it.  Instead of hiring someone to do it, we figured that we could do it ourselves on the cheap.  Unfortunately, with cheap comes time.  I am now realizing why mechanics and plumbers charge you $400 for a repair, and use $10 in parts.  It's cheap, but it takes forever.

We dug up sections around the pipe and fit some new pipe in there.  Sounds simple right?  Not when the pipe is 2 feet down.  It took us till 10PM working basically from the time we got home till then to get the piping in place.  Beyond that, I'm not even confident that it will work.  When we spent hours fitting and digging and cutting, the 30 seconds that we had to attach the pipe before the glue dried were the most crucial, and we managed to not fit them quite right.  Ugh, beyond the fact that it started raining not long after we finished and it's now a backyard pond, we had 0 time to work out.  So it was another "rest" day for us.  At this rate, the program's going to take closer to 120 days.

Menu:

Breakfast:
Tofu scramble with mexican seitan, mushrooms, spinach and tomato

Snack:
Cliff Builder's Bar

Lunch:
"Bologna" sandwich with veganaise, cheddar "cheese", arugala and tomato on wheat pita
Side salad
3 small peaches

I tried my sandwich with a slice of the vegan cheddar I got from the store.  It wasn't bad, and had a vaguely cheese-like flavor, but the sandwich could have done without it.  I also had some great peaches from the farmer's market.  They are so ripe and tasty.  I don't know if I can stay with just eating one serving of fruit with peaches like these.

Snack:
1/4 cup cashews

Dinner:
Pizza with mushrooms and "pepperoni"
Side salad
3 small peaches
cup cherries

I tried out this Daiya cheese from Whole Foods for my pizza.  I know, I know, pizza is not part of the diet here, but I couldn't resist.  I thought the pizza was great, the cheese melted very nicely and really did taste like mozzerella, closer to the lower quality Kraft mozerella than a fresh block of Italian that my wife had.  The peperoni that I got could be skipped, and I forgot that I had bought Field Roast italian sausage, so maybe I'll do sausage next time.  Overall I thought it was good.  Though I'd like to do a blind taste test with some of my vegan food to see if it actually tastes good, or if I just think it tastes good.

Day 20: Life with One Car

So a couple of months ago, I dinged the door of my car against a yellow Mustang in a Home Depot parking lot. The wind caught the door when I was getting out and I wasn't paying attention.  In those few seconds, I just cost myself a good chunk of money.  Today was finally the day to get the door fixed.  So we dropped the car off at the shop and said goodbye.

Another challenge to getting in a workout is timing.  Sharing a car limits your ability to get from A to B when you choose to do so.  So we tried to plan a bit ahead.  Unfortunately, with working a bit late, and working at the library after that, I didn't get to even start making dinner till 7:45 PM.  After eating dinner, I still had to go to Home Depot and get some PVC to fix the pipe I busted in the yard yesterday when planting our huge flowering bush.  After all of this, I was home at 10PM.  Way past the time that anyone should start working out.  Since it was yoga tonight, and that is a 1 1/2 hour workout, I decided to just cash it in and catch up on my blog posts before bed.  I guess I'll just have to bring it even harder in the coming days to make up for it.

Menu:


Breakfast:
Protein Shake

Snack 1:
Peanut Butter Cliff Builder's Bar

Lunch:
Lasagna
Chef Salad

Snack 2:
1/4 cup cashews

Dinner:
2 apple sage Field Roast sausages with sauerkraut
grilled zucchini and squash
steamed broccoli
roasted red potatoes

I overdid it on dinner.  By the time I got home, I was starving, which is a sure way to overestimate how much you need.  I could have easily done with one sausage and skipped the broccoli, but I couldn't contain myself.  In fact, I ate at a little after 8, and right now, at 10:50, I still feel stuffed, not a good feeling.

Recipe: Vegan Lasagna

Vegan Lasagna

1/2 box lasagna noodles (most should be vegan so long as they aren't the no boil type)

1 package soft tofu

2 Field Roast Italian sausages

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup Italian seasoning (or combination of basil, oregano, and parsley)

2 cups vegan mozzarella (Daiya makes some good vegan cheese)

1 28oz can peeled tomatoes (San Marzano are my favorite)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Boil the lasagna noodles, you'll want enough for 3 layers, at least 9 noodles, depending on the width of your pan.
3. While noodles are boiling, combine the soft tofu, seasoning, and 1 cup of mozzarella in a food processor, blend till mostly smooth.  I don't usually measure spices, opting instead to add enough so that the mixture looks tasty, but you can just use the approximate amount above.
4. Quick chop the tomatoes from the can.  Set aside the juices from the can.
5. Once the noodles are al dente, drain and dry the noodles.
6. Oil the bottom of the pan and place a bit of the tomatoes and juices.
7. Place a single layer of noodles down, top with tofu and spice mixture and about 1/3 of the tomatoes, as well as half the mushrooms and one of the sausages, either crumbled or sliced, your choice.
8. Continue layering evenly.  I use 3 layers, so you use half the ingredients on the first layer of noodles, the second half on the next layer, and a final layer of just noodles.
9. On top, place the last of your tomatoes and juices.  Top with 1 cup of vegan mozzarella.
10. Bake in oven covered for 30-40 minutes.  
11. Uncover, bake for another 10 minutes.

Let this guy sit out for a bit before eating.  It will fall apart if it's still too hot.  I had some issues with too much water in the lasagna, which some get around by using pasta sauce instead of tomatoes, or paste in place of the tomato juice.  Either way, a night in the fridge and a warm up the next day make it even better.  You have to love left over lasagna.

There are probably much better recipes than this.  Mine I modify and add in some layers of eggplant or some spinach.  Make it your own and have fun with it.

Day 19: Home, Home On The Range

Sunday was a hot one here in Austin, so Steve and I decided to hit the driving range early.  Well, early for us anyway.  We got there at nine and much to our dismay, they changed the hours and now didn't open till 10.  He and I scooted to Round Rock Donuts, where he got a few sweet treats and I refrained.  Those things are almost certainly non-vegan and definitely not on any sort of diet plan other than Paula Dean's Get You Fat Now Diet.

So we hit the driving range for about three hours.  Probably not the greatest idea on shoulders and arms day, but it's when I had time to do it.  From there it was a pretty normal day.  Got some groceries not available at the farmer's market, including some vegan cheese I've heard is quite good, as well as some other tasty treats for the vegan eater.  I'm hoping to mix it up a little this week.  You're probably as tired as I am of seeing protein shake, salad, soup, and grilled veggies.

As a final note, if you have a sprinkler system, and are planting in your yard, don't go all crazy with the pickax, no matter the consistency of the dirt.  Had to learn that the hard way.

Menu:


Breakfast:
Tofu scramble

Lunch:
Vegan Lasagna
side salad

Snack:
Cliff Builder's Bar


Dinner:
Grilled Portobello mushroom (brush with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, salt and pepper to taste)
Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary
Grilled Asparagus

Day 18: Hoeing and Hip-checks

Saturday was a wonderful day out for some gardening.  The wife and I got up early to check out the selection at the farmers market, spying some wonderful smelling basil, as well as a bunch of other tasty veggies.  She even got some steaks from local, pasture raised beef.  I think all my bleeding-heart animal welfare-ism is starting to rub off on her.

We not only picked up some locally grown food, but we are beginning to grow our own in the new community garden at work.  We stopped by a nursery, after spending quite a bit of time trying to find their location, as they had moved and not put up an obvious sign at the old location.  With a bit of digging and some heavy lifting, we planted some nice rows of tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber, and peppers.  Should be a good harvest in a few months.  If we don't kill them.

After the gardening, it was time to get our workout on, and even though we had already spent a few hours sweating outside, we needed to get our sweat out indoors.  It was back to plyometrics, and we both definitely brought it this time.  The wife was able to get through the entire thing without feeling ill, which is quite an accomplishment for this workout, as I am usually feeling at least light headed and at worst am grabbing for a bucket.

We got that in, then it was off to watch the Texas Stars kick the pants off the Hershey Bears to take a 2-0 lead in the Calder Cup finals.  I wisely ate before the game, as there wasn't a single item at the stadium that was nutritious and didn't contain animal products.  It was still tough to resist the call of frozen custard after the game, but I stayed strong.  It was made easier by the sweet taste of the Cliff Bar I had mid-game.

Menu:


Breakfast:
Protein shake

Lunch:
"Bologna" sandwich with tomato, arugala and veganaise on a wheat pita
2 cups tomato soup

Dinner:
Vegan Lasagna
side salad
1 cup veggie soup
watermelon

Snack:
Chocolate Cliff Builder's Bar