Friday Night Bites

Steve and I decided to brave the disgusting weather this Friday (after both skipping the gym) and head out for a nice dinner.  We decided to try Mi Lah Vegetarian on 16th and Locust.  I have wanted to go to Mi Lah Vegetarian for about three years now.  It always comes up on my Yelp search list.  However something about Mi Lah, probably the uninviting (or lack there of) decor.  I had this idea that it was just a vegetarian buffet or something, and buffets creep me out.  After Steve's suggestion I decided it was time, let's just try this out.

OHhhhhh.emm.G.  Ridiculous.  It was so so so so so good.

And everything is vegan/vegetarian and most items can be made gluten free.  I was in my glory.  I had so many options.  Typically, I have one maybe two options at every (non-vegan) restaurant.  How was I going to decide!!!

I had the Grilled Marinated Tofu in Red Wine and Cranberry Sauce with plantains and fingerling potatoes

While Steve had the Roated Brussel Sprouts with Butternut Squash and Potato Cashew Gratin in a lemon buerre blanc

Both we simply amazing and I highly recommend this restaurant.  I cannot wait to go back.  Oh an if you are vegan and living in Philly, they have Vegan Beignets on Sundays.  Seriously.

Cauliflower Rice

Last night was my first attempt with Cauliflower Rice.  Rice is honestly one of my most favorite things to eat so it was hard to eliminate from my diet.  I am okay to eat Brown Rice but I am still trying to stay as grain free as I can.

There are so many different things you can do with Cauliflower Rice.  I chose to have mine hot and simple because I cooked a bunch of veggies to go along with it.

Here is what I used...and I used a bit too much garlic (and I am a garlic freak) so you might want to cut it in half.

1 head of Cauliflower (feeds about four in total)
2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
A handful of cilantro
1 Tsp of smoked paprika
1.5 Tbsp of Olive Oil

Honestly all I did was pick the cauliflower off the head and put it in my food processor.  And added everything.  I chopped up the stuff really quick, because you can't let it get too food processed or it will be not "rice" like.

Mine came out more like couscous but that was fine with me.

I added a bunch of veggies with it :: zucchini, onions, mushrooms, celery.

For my mans...I cooked all the remaining meats from Thanksgiving that were in our fridge.  I really hate wasting any type of food regardless of what it is.  Luckily both he and I are not opposed to mixing a ton of random shit together at any moment.  That actually is how I cook majority of the time.  He is constantly surprised with how I make a complete full meal when there is barely anything in our fridge.

Turkey, Chicken, and Brisket.  I chopped them all up added a tiny bit of Vegan Mayo (I know go figure but he is obsessed with it) and cooked it all together.  He said it was amazing, but I would never know :)

I will be altering this recipe over and over again and might start living off of cauliflower.

Wheat Envy

So this whole gluten free deal, yea well I don't like it.  I have really been struggling with it.  Especially over these holidays.  I developed this mentality that maybe if I just follow the no gluten thing "most of the time" I would be fine.  Well yea, I will be physically living yes, and that is fine, but I will be in pain.  And lots of it.

I keep referring back to the fact that I used to eat all these things and it was okay.  But I tend to forget that I was constantly feeling crappy.  And after detoxing from gluten for a couple weeks and seeing how great I felt, I should not be okay with having this "most of the time" mentality.

This holiday I over indulged in plenty of foods that included wheat.  Even though I thought I did pretty well, the affects of it are not pretty.  I am still recovering.  Almost a week and I am just about free from indigestion, cramps, and bloating.  I have all these aches and pains throughout my body.  I constantly think, hey I worked out too hard at the gym, or hey I am just overly stressed, when really it could just be the affects of my lack of dedication to MY healthy eating habits.  The more and more I read about the negative affects of gluten the more it resonates that this is why I feel crappy.  I have a medical professional tell me I have an intolerance for a specific food and I continue to remain in denial about it.  I continue to make excuses.  And I certainly, continue to feel crappy.

NO MORE.

(and still in my head I think, "well maybe just sometimes")

I am going to use this blog to document my struggles with this and my journey towards being strong and feeling healthy.  All these other "wheat free" blogs are so inspirational but sometimes I feel like, "don't you ever mess up" and "how do you live this way all of the time?"

As a vegan, it is even more difficult (I think) to eliminate gluten.  I mean what the hell else is there left for me to eat.  And it actually makes me sort of angry inside.  I have thought about adding some animal products (such as eggs) back in to my life to make it easier, but it makes me really uncomfortable still.  I still think about this daily, but I am not there yet.

Oh and on a side note...my fiance found out he is allergic to gluten as well.  Which seems great right?  We can live this hell together??  Not so fast.  He decided that with this whole gluten hell thing, he is going to try out the Paleo diet.  And it makes me want to crawl into a ball and cry.  And cry some more.  How can this be, how can this even work?  Why me, why me? Over and over and over again.

But I am living, and for that I should feel thankful.  And not pissed off at the world because wheat makes me feel horrible.  It honestly is not the end of the world.  And even though sometimes I might feel like it is, life will go on without it.

So here I will be documenting, and struggling, and winning, and probably struggling some more.  But at least this can be my motivation to be a Super Stellar Healthy Eater/Blogger that rarely makes mistakes...Paleo and Vegan and Gluten free.

Wish me luck.

This is actually how we feel

Here is a quick and easy test to get an idea if gluten is affecting your health
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/gluten-sensitivity-self-test

And if you think it is please make an appt with Cheryl Broad for Allergy Testing here
http://www.artofwellnesscenter.com/

And if you then are hit with the worst news ever (according to me) here are some websites that have really helped me so far.

Against All Grain http://www.againstallgrain.com/

Wheat-Free http://www.wheat-free.org/

Inspiralized http://www.inspiralized.com/
*** soon to be the basis of my whole existence once I receive my new spiralizer in the mail***

Food Babe http://foodbabe.com/

Mama Q

Really?!
I’ve left my daughter at my sister’s house for a couple of day& I’ll be collecting her on Saturday when I go over for the farewell bbq before my sister moves to Italy. My daughter has messaged me that she’s just overheard my sister, her husband & their friends discussing vegetarianism, likely because my daughter & I are vegetarian. I say discussing, what I actually mean is trotting out bollocks comments about how vegetarian food is processed & unhealthy & they don’t understand why veggy food is all ‘meat shaped’. Now granted, I’m pretty tired so I am a tad grumpy but really?! Fuck off. No doubt there’ll be some of this at Saturday’s bbq & the word that springs to mind is ‘tedious’. For the sake of keeping the peace at family events & because I’m generally a nice person, I don’t shove my views in other people’s faces & I answer all the questions I am asked, politely, calmly & in a way that I hope leaves people with a less negative view of vegetarians. Because it’s usually the anti-vegetarian that demands I justify my choice & bombards me with the questions. But it’s gotten really old now & I’m finding it rather tedious. If just one person at that bbq asks me why my vegetarian sausage is meat shaped then it’s quite possible I’ll be sticking said sausage where the sun doesn’t shine.

Source: mama-q

In response to mama-q....

Same old shit, ya know?

Now I don’t fucking get it. Why meat eaters insist on constantly insist on challenging vegetarians/vegans on what they eat. Who the fuck cares? I rarely ever comment on the fact that you are not only eating a once living animal, but rather a processed piece of growth enhancing hormones. Let us eat what we want to eat, and believe what we want to believe.

I was at a party not too long ago and around 4 am I took my tired ass to the couch. While some “friends” were nearby chatting they decided to discuss my eating habits/choices not realizing I was 1. in the room and 2. still awake. They came to a conclusion which noted, that “Laura is just a vegan because she lives in the city.” Now what the fuck does living in the city have to do with what I eat?  And do they realize I was a vegetarian for seven fucking years before moving out of the suburbs. Oh not to mention, where I live in the city is full of god damn meat. I live in the Italian Market for god sakes. It’s like I’m breathing meatballs each and every day.

No one ever gets it. Common question “well what are you going to eat??” How about some fucking lettuce, maybe a carrot, or a tomato or two. Get the fuck over it. I eat what I eat because I want to. I will figure it out, trust me. How about you spend less time questioning my eating habits to only research what your little chicken fried nuggets actually have in them. Meat? Yea not even much.

Good luck.

Have a nice day now.

And yes, I smoke cigarettes. Get the fuck over that too. This vegan has to have some sort of vice once and a while.

Williamsburg

Justin and I decided to head to Brooklyn for the day to check out Emeli Sande and Selah Sue.  We got on the road a little later than we had expected which gave me less time to catch up with my love Kerry while we were out there.  Regardless we got our quick hour of catch up before she showed us to this amazing vegan spot, Bliss Cafe. 

If you have not been to Bliss Cafe, GO.  I could have just sat here all day and ate every meal.

Everything is vegan and incredibly delicious.  I tend to not eat out much because there are always a limited number of vegan dishes, most of them being the same repeated dishes at every restaurant.  I cannot explain how sick I am of seeing Tofu Scramble or Seitan Sandwiches of some sort.  Well, whatever that is another topic...which I probably will never discuss, simply because I would just be not only annoying myself but possibly every person reading about it. 

The point is, Bliss Cafe got so creative with their dishes.  Basically, they thought like a vegan and developed their menu like a regular?? cafe.  They turned every normal dish you would see on a menu "vegan."  They even used creativity, yes you heard it, to cook some veggies and pair them with different sauces and add on options.  It's that simple people.  There is so much you can do with a vegetable.  Wow.  Who woulda thought?

Anyways, I was super excited about the vegan nachos because they had sour cream (dairy free) on them.  As a young fat American teenager, I would eat sour cream off of the spoon if it was available.  When I made the decision to give up dairy I never thought I could go without it.  Well I have, but I have missed just the consistency of sour cream on my tacos, nachos, burritos, etc.  I have not had a vegan version of sour cream yet so I was stoked.  And they were gooooooodddd.

Next up, I got my entree, which I could have skipped considering I was already full from our nacho plate.  However, it was amazing, and I stuffed my face until I could not take anymore.  We sat there for like an hour and half trying to fit as much food in as we could.  The Harvest Plate was so amazing and I highly suggest getting it if you ever venture there.  The Lemon Miso Tahini dressing was the perfect addition to this dish.  And the tofu was perfectly done, which I rarely ever say. 

After dinner we headed over to the Cove, which was also creepily awesome.  $1 beers and the Goonies (in Espanol) on the big screen.  I mean come on.  Best ever.

Finally, we made it to the show.  Selah Sue opened and I was amazed.  I could not even grasp the sounds that were coming out of this beautiful girls mouth.  I will for sure become slightly obessed with her for the next few months.  I cannot wait for her album to drop sometime in the near future.  She is so different and creative with her vocals I can't stand it.  Check her out.

Emeli Sande.  The vocals.  The lyrics.  Everything about her is beautiful.  I tend to forget how important lyrics are to me.  Whenever I hear music that I enjoy I ask myself what draws me to it.  Well with Emeli it is her talent to tell a story and to make you feel the emotion in each particular song.  I identify so much with her words making every minute that much more special to me.  There were moments that were so powerful I found myself on the verge of tears.  I loved it.  Every single second.

I am glad to have ignored my annoying sickness and pushed on through my adventure to Williamsburg with Justin.  Williamsburg is such a cute little part of Brooklyn, hipster or whatever, I love it. 

On Hip City Veg

Me: I looked at the Hip City Veg Menu and I don’t think I can go

Friend: Why?

Me:  There are too many options and I want everything.  You know, I don’t think about it often but its kinda easy on me being a veg head and all, because there are limited options.  And I can’t make a decision.  Ever. On anything.  So it’s easy, but now it’s hard.

Friend: Yeah.  I’m real bad at decision making.

Me: I don’t think I can go.

Friend: I heard the fries are really good.  Just place an order before you go.

Me: Fuck

Friend: Commit Laura.  We can go back another day.

Me: That does not help.  I still have to make a decision. Whatever, fuck it.  I am ordering one of every side, and then some.

Anyways....I went to Hip City Veg and I was able to make a decision.  I am not really into the fake meat shit, seitan, tempeh, etc. so it was not as difficult as I had originally imagined.  I got the Buffalo Bella and it was amazing.  Jac got the Bistro Bella, which would have been my other choice, and it was just as good.  Sauteed Kale, Sweet Potatoe Fries, Banana Whips, and Green Tea Lemonade were also consumed.  Everything was really good and I am happy to have a junk food spot I can hit up on the reg. 

The decor and design of the joint and its menus, etc were all designed a friend of ours Mike Smith who seems to be super fucking fantastic when it comes to his work.  So mad props to him.  I'm trying to convince him anyway that vegan is what will work best for him, but he does not seem to think giving up pulled pork sammies could ever be an option.

So...get to Hip City Veg if you haven't already because its legit.

 http://philadelphia.menupages.com/restaurants/hipcityveg/menu

                                                      Photo Credit: Crackerjax IG