I cheated :(

So one of the really difficult things about this diet is that once a week I go have lunch or dinner with my grandfather at his retirement community... It is SOOO hard to eat vegan at a retirement community!! The options for dinner were either pot roast or a chicken and eggplant Parmesan, I chose the chicken and eggplant parm. I did not eat any of the chicken, and I only had half of the one piece of eggplant, it was covered in bread crumbs and CHEESE. I also made myself a salad and had some fruit... Doesn't bother me too much if only one meal out of the week isn't vegan, I still pretty much ate vegetarian except for any chicken juices that were left on the eggplant... Afterwards I had horrible indigestion and couldn't stop burping for the life of me... My body was not ready for that lol... I just thought it was interesting how much differently my body reacted to eating that compared to eating a vegan diet. 

Late dinner

I didn't get out of class until about 9 o'clock tonight and then hit up the Y. So I didn't get home until after 10 and I was starving. Earlier today I made some very basic braised cabbage with unsalted veggie stock, some coconut oil and onion, then when it was finished I tossed in some vegan butter, I paired that with a lentil and sweet potato loaf I made yesterday ( I'm gonna post the link to the recipe at the end of this) it's by far the best "meat"loaf I've made yet and I will definitely make it again. Before bed I made some chia pudding that will be ready when I wake up by mixing some almond milk, blueberries, chia seeds,vanilla extract and black walnut extract... Last night I made a chocolate chia pudding with half coconut milk, half almond milk, molasses, vanilla extract, cacao powder (NOT COCOA notice the difference) and of course chia seeds. It was delicious, I mixed up some banana with it while I was eating.  It was delicious, the chia puddings are something I'm already comfortable with experimenting with different flavors. I think I'm going to try out my powdered peanut butter tomorrow and make a peanut butter flavored chia pudding . Having control and knowing exactly what I'm putting in my food is pretty awesome 

Hey, I am the Veggie Cadet aka "Drew" and I have recently decided that I'm going to live on a vegan diet. Due to certain health issues (kidney stones in particular) I just want to start eating clean and healthy. My New Years resolution was to start eating a vegetarian diet and sometimes eat fish (okay so it would be pescetarian, but I live in WV so the option to have delicious, good quality seafood is a no go). After my first couple of days and really looking at what is even in products that contain dairy I have decided that it is in my best interest to just go vegan... and gluten free too.  I have had many people question why I'm doing this and I had just told them that I want to be healthy. After eating like this for a couple of weeks I have learned that not only am I doing this to be healthy, but I also have realized that I would rather eat good, wholesome, healthy food and feel great all of the time, instead of eating a bunch of crap processed food that only makes me feel good while I'm eating it (kinda makes me feel like the whole American culture is based off of a gluttonous perception of eating the most fatty, taste bud exploding experience which usually ends up having more calories in one meal than what are required for a whole day and then feeling like crap afterwards).

I want to use this blog to help other people who are new to starting a healthy vegetarian or vegan diet, share some of my troubles and triumphs, to share recipes I am using or have come up with, and also to share my experiences buying my groceries ( I have had some of the hardest times finding certain ingredients in the supermarkets, and being a student I am on a tight budget) so I will do my best to also be cost assertive with my choices.

I hope to get feedback from anyone and everyone with tips and tricks, or questions that I can do my best to answer.

Thank you for checking me out :)
-The Veggie Cadet