Dustin’ Off the Blog

I am a horrible blogger. In fact, I may as well delete this whole page. But I will give it one last whirl.

 

I’m pregnant with our second child. About 12 weeks along and feeling sick and tired, which is par for the course for me when I’m pregnant, apparently. This time isn’t as bad though, luckily. I’m actually able to eat food, healthy food, so I haven’t lost any weight this trimester. Woohoo! Hoping the nausea ends soon.

 

Our family still eats a plant-based diet. Little Arthur, who is almost 3 now, is thriving. He’s smart as a whip and I basically watch in wonder each day to see what he does next.

 

About 4 weeks ago or so, I was having really rough nights, waking up and feeling nauseated and starving at the same time, and having these ridiculous food dreams. Worse still, the dreams were about meat! One night I was enjoying a huge plate of spaghetti and meat sauce. I woke up starving and feeling so sick. I also started craving a Burger King Croissanwich during the day. I was like, wth?? A lot of people would have probably told me I should give in to the cravings, it’s what the baby needs right now, blah blah blah. Did my baby need a Croissanwich? Of course not. I figured out that I probably wasn’t getting enough calories in the day, so I added a protein shake to my nightstand and every time I’d wake up, I’d take a few sips. Problem solved!! No more meat dreams, no more cravings. 

 

Baby Arthur Owl

Well, I neglected to post anymore on my vegan pregnancy. Time just goes too fast and Arthur arrived before I knew it. I decided to devote this blog to raising him vegan and all things related. For now, not much to update, except that I’m still vegan (duh), and all Arthur eats is my milk, so whatever I’m eating, he’s eating. So far so good…

 

 

Bad blogger! 33 weeks

I apologize for not blogging lately. I have to admit, when I took on this project of blogging about my vegan pregnancy, I thought I’d be really good about it. I even thought I’d blog every week! Well, that’s shot to shit. But really, nothing has changed these past few weeks, except that my digestive system has gone to hell in a handbasket. I blame my overly crowded bowels and stomach, because my eating habits haven’t changed a bit. Heartburn is basically the enemy that won’t quit, and lately I’ve had some stomach pain that feels like I have a fire-breathing dragon inside of me (maybe I do?). Like you needed all that info. Oh, but I think I may have found a solution to my heartburn problem: papaya enzyme. Seems to be working!! It’s a good thing too because I don’t think I could ever eliminate Sri Racha from my diet.

At any rate, I’ve been eating like there’s no tomorrow, despite these issues. I’ve never loved food so much in all my life. The good thing is, I still haven’t blimped out, which makes me feel like I can continue to eat however much my little heart desires. Being vegan is awesome!!! Here are some things I’ve been enjoying:

Vegan pizza from Mellow Mushroom (artichoke hearts and buffalo tofu, topped with Daiya)

Homemade mac and no cheese (recipe soon)

Baklava!

BBQ soy curls, Italian sausage, potato salad, kale and fruit salad, biscuit, and choco chip cookie

Cupcake from The Shoppe

Pigs in a blanket, mini quiches, cream cheese rollups (all vegan, of course)

Almost 29 weeks!

Last Wednesday I went to my 28-week check-up. I can’t believe I’m 7 months along already! At this appointment they did a glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. I had to drink 10 oz. of this orange stuff that tasted just like thawed out Otter Pops. Delicious if you’re 10, not so much if you’re 29, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Then they took some blood. Everything turned out great, no diabetes, no signs of anemia. Just vegan power coursing through my veins! 😛

Anyway, after last month’s 10-pound gain, I was worried I would continue that trend and blow up like a giant vegan cupcake. But funnily enough, I didn’t gain so much as a pound this month. Weird! I think this baby boy is sucking all of my calories up now that he’s packing on the baby fat. Makes me feel better about stuffing my face 24/7 though.

Speaking of, here are a couple more pictures of some of the yummy dishes we’ve been eating. I read that the fetus tastes whatever I eat about 2 hours after I eat it. I love thinking about little man eating what I’m eating. It feels nice knowing I’m nourishing him with delicious nutritious food.

BBQ tofu with a Vegenaise dill sauce concoction

Tofurkey Philly cheese steak with curry potatoes and peas

BTW, these weren’t from recipes, I just whipped them up at random. For the BBQ tofu, I marinated extra firm tofu slices overnight in a sauce made of plank rub spice mix from a local spice shop, olive oil, liquid smoke, apple cider vinegar, paprika, brown sugar, and sri racha hot sauce. Then I simply cooked them up in a pan until they were crispy. The Vegenaise sauce was just Vegenaise with dill, lemon juice, and a teeny bit of apple cider vinegar.

For the cheese steaks, I sauteed green peppers, onions, and a package of Tofurkey Philly Cheese steak style slices (chopped up) with some black pepper. The curry potatoes- sauteed garlic, a jar of diced tomatoes, curry, coriander, cayenne, cumin, cinnamon (my quintessential quintet of Cs or something like that), sea salt, black pepper, potatoes and peas. It was amazing, let me tell you.

More things I’ve been eating

I’m terrible at blogging.

26 weeks, eating like a champ, feeling baby boy kick like crazy all day long, and nesting. That’s what’s going on in my life these days. Things have been good.

 

Things I’ve been eating

I am such a food whore lately. I spend my days scouring the internet for baby stuff and recipes. That’s seriously all I do with my free time.

I made the most delish potato salad that I found on Peta’s recipe website. This site is a great resource for me when I’m feeling bored with my go-to faves.

Topped with a little paprika, I ate this as a side to my veggie paninis (I think I forgot to mention that sandwiches are my favorite food of all time). I put a little Daiya cheese on a piece of ciabatta, top it with marinated artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers, and throw it on the Foreman until the cheese gets all melty. Then I added some greens- I couldn’t remember which greens I picked at the store…frisee maybe? Anyway, I ate this for like 3 days straight.

Today I made Pad Thai from a recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance:

I’m in the mood for something new…

Protein

I get tired of people asking me how I get my protein, because the people that ask me seem to think the only sources of protein available are meat, eggs and cheese. What about beans, nuts, seeds, soy (tofu, etc.), whole grains, quinoa…..? Those are great sources of protein and generally healthier ways to obtain it than through meat. So I brush it off and get on with my life, knowing I’m getting just what I need to be healthy.

That said, yesterday I went for my 20-week appointment and ultrasound (p.s. it’s a boy!) and asked my OB if there is anything I should be doing or supplementing other than my prenatal, B12 and DHA. Guess what she said? “Make sure you’re getting enough protein because you need a lot more when you’re pregnant.” At first I was going to ignore this as another silly protein-obsessed American comment. But when I asked her how much I should be getting daily, she told me 75 grams. Do I get 75 grams per day? I had no idea, but assumed I was somewhere close. I decided to keep track. Guess how much protein I ate today, give or take a few grams?

About 45. That didn’t include the 3 peanut butter cookies I ate, but still, that’s not even close to what doc recommended.

Yikes.

So what did I eat today?

• frozen flax waffles, Earth Balance, and agave maple syrup
• 3 peanut butter cookies
• 2 mini bagels with Earth Balance and peanut butter
• 1 piece of kugel (made with tofu)
• 1 bowl of posole (hominy and pinto beans contained protein) and a tortilla
• bowl of granola with soy milk
• glass of vegetable juice

This was a bad day for veg intake, but I’ll try not to beat myself up over that too, and vow to do better tomorrow. Anyway, I was basically eating all day, so I couldn’t imagine how I could get 30 more grams of protein in without drinking a supplement.

Starting to worry, I decided to consult one of my favorite vegan lifestyle websites, The Kind Life, and find some info on the protein issue. My worries were put to rest when I read what a couple of experts had to say. As my daily caloric intake increases, the protein issue will take care of itself. Everything we eat contains protein, except fruit. So as long as I’m eating a well-balanced diet with whole grains and all the other stuff I’m already eating- and not a bunch of empty calories (hi, peanut butter cookies)- then I should be just fine.

*Phew* That’s a load off. Now I can go back to obsessing over which kind of cloth diapers to buy.

Cookie Monster

Argh, these pregnancy hormones are making my nearly non-existent sweet tooth ache like never before! Every dessert, brownie, cookie and cake is just begging to be put in my mouth. I’ve been trying to keep it at bay, but need to indulge on occasion. I guess I take back what I said about not having cravings. I want sweet!

Baking some peanut butter oatmeal chocolate raspberry cookies.

I dreamt it:

And made it happen:

Oh so delicious…

Posole

Mmm…if there’s any particular food I love slightly more than the others, it’s Mexican. Unfortunately, eating out at Mexican restaurants is tough, as most traditional establishments use lard in their beans. So I make a lot of Mexican food at home. My boyfriend says he can’t eat burritos as often as I want to make them, but I can’t help it. They’re just so damn delicious.

Anyway, this isn’t about burritos, it’s about posole. Posole comes from Mexico, and from what I can gather from a Google search, was invented by the Aztecs. Since it’s kind of hard to find some of the chiles in a traditional posole at the grocery store, I took the lazy route and bought one of those packets of spices. Into the crock pot goes a big can of hominy, pinto beans, diced tomatoes, green chiles, a large onion, 4 cloves of minced garlic, and the spices. It’s starting to simmer as we speak, and already smells amazing.

The best way to serve it is topped with a dollop of Follow Your Heart vegan sour cream, and a flour tortilla (props to you if you make them homemade). I prefer Follow Your Heart over Tofutti because they use non-GMO soybeans, and I can’t find that info anywhere on Tofutti’s website or labels. I’m struggling with buying anything that lists palm oil as one of its ingredients though, as the cultivation of it is destroying orangutan habitat. So this time I’m going without sour cream. Oh the dilemmas of an environmentalist!

Shalom!

Hey all, it’s Passover, and as a step-Jew I attended the Pesach seder last night. If you aren’t aware of what people eat for Passover besides unleavened bread, let me just tell you that basically none of it is vegan. It’s kind of like attending Thanksgiving dinner or any other holiday with the relatives. You watch while everyone eats everything and you eat some bread and cranberry jelly, or in the case of Passover, matzo and horseradish. Well this year I decided to take one of my favorite dishes, kugel, and veganize it. It wasn’t hard since I had my trusty ol’ Veganomicon cookbook. There is an amazing spinach and noodle kugel recipe in it. I promise to branch out from this particular cookbook in future posts, but this truly is a cookbook that will keep you busy in the kitchen for a long time.

Anyway, here’s the final result. It was a real non-vegan Jew crowd-pleaser. I didn’t bother to tell my step dad that it contains tofu, as he usually forms a negative opinion about tofu dishes before he even tries them.

I know it looks kinda weird- kugel isn’t the most photogenic food in the world (poor kugel, I know). But it’s pretty damn tasty.