Eating Out: Subway's New Avocado

I was never a huge fan of Subway, even in my meat-eating days. In my opinion, their meat is some of the grossest, lowest quality meat- probably the lowest of any "sub place" I can think of. I actually switched to veggie subs there years ago, but since going vegan, I've stayed away because I've heard that their bread has a lot of additives, and I don't like the idea of not getting any protein or healthy fats in my meal now that I have to watch that stuff closely!

All of this aside, Dustin and I have been pretty eager to try Subway's new avocado, since we're both VERY new fans of guacamole. We have found that drastically changing our diets has in turn changed our tastes pretty drastically. We have both begun to like a lot of things that we used to hate! I wasn't sure if plain mashed avocado would be good or not, so I made sure to get jalapenos so it would be more like guacamole. Here's what I ordered: a veggie sub on white bread (I heard their wheat isn't vegan, but it might just be because of honey. More importantly, the wheat is also lower in protein and higher in sugar,) with all veggies except olives, sweet onion teriyaki (probably full of sugar, but vegan and delicious,) and avocado.

It definitely surpassed anything I've ever had from Subway in tastiness, and I can even imagine craving it pretty often. I'm so excited to have another fast food (sort of) option that is vegan, delicious AND healthy! (Although I do wonder how they keep the avocado from turning brown... but that's the reason I cook my own meals most of the time now!)

Image is courtesy of Ingestibles @ tumblr.com, because I inhaled my sub before I had the chance to snap a photo! Whoops!

Super Easy Recipe: Zucchini Pizzas

At a red light on my way home from work today, I googled "zucchini recipes" because we have so much of it right now. HUGE ones were still only 75 cents each at the farmer's market, so of course, I thought I needed to buy like 4 of them for this week. I found a photo of something someone called "zucchini pizzas" and got really excited. I told myself that there was no way that they'd be as good as they looked, but I was going to try to knock them off anyway- just in case. Well, they were every bit as good as they looked... better, actually!

I sliced the zucchini, then topped each circle with Mid's pizza sauce, a tiny bit of garlic salt, all three kinds of Daiya, and some basil. Then I baked them at 350 degrees for like 20 minutes, then broiled them for a few more. Next time I make them, I will pre-cook the zucchini on the grill, because they ended up soggy and had to be eaten with a fork. Grilling them would crisp them up enough to be used as vessels for pizza toppings! Doing it this way was still really tasty and I'd definitely eat it this way again, but I think it'd be better suited as a healthier alternative to chicken or eggplant parmigiana (since it's not fried) on a sandwich or with pasta.

Product Reviews: Pancake Breakfast!

For Saturday breakfast today, I made this:


In addition to fresh, organic blueberries and real maple syrup, I used two different new products in this one:[image courtesy of wellsphere.com]This is one of my most exciting finds yet, because I LOVE ice cream. Everyone else seems to make a huge deal over cheese, which I also love, but I feel like vegan ice creams are usually not only not good replacements, but they're usually not even EDIBLE. (Seriously, have you tried vanilla Rice Dream? It made the ice cream lover in me weep!) Anyhow, Trader Joe's Soy Creamy vanilla is the BEST commercially available vegan ice "cream" I have found yet (Chicago Soy Dairy's chocolate is AMAZING, but there are few places that sell it, and they are restaurants.) I see that Trader Joe's also makes a chocolate, but our store appears to only carry the vanilla, cherry chocolate chip (which is also great, but has limited applications,) and mango vanilla (not a fan of mango.) I'd prefer chocolate, but the vanilla is more versatile anyway, and I'm completely amazed by the perfect combination of texture and flavor. The texture is spot-on; it's creamy and has the same mouthfeel as one expects from ice cream. The flavor is still a little soy-ish at first, but after a few bites, that goes away. I'm glad that my search for a good vegan ice cream can finally end. I'm tired of throwing away containers of overpriced, inedible crap. Now I'll be buying Trader Joe's exclusively!

Believe it or not, this one was a find at Big Lots! I don't usually buy Bob's Red Mill Stuff because I think it's overpriced, but this 7 Grain Pancake and Waffle mix was too good of a deal to pass up. I'm glad I got it, because I was able to use soy milk and Ener-G egg replacer to make some really tasty, dense pancakes! Ever since I stopped eating exclusively white bread, I've found that I don't expect everything to be "light and fluffy." In fact, I'd rather something feel heavy and dense, because that usually means it's more nutritious, filling, and flavorful! I'm really happy with this stuff and will be buying it again, because it's worth the money.

These all combined really well and made for an awesome 400 calorie breakfast(this photo is of Dustin's plate, and I gave him a little more of everything!)

Forks Over Knives - Official Trailer

"If the truth be known, coronary artery disease is a toothless paper tiger that need never, ever exist and if it does exist it need never, ever progress." -Caldwell Esselstyn, M.D.

Food Reviews!

I lost a pound already! Also, I reset my weight tracker to start at 235, because even though I've lost 14 lbs. total, I feel like I am really starting over this week.

I start the Insanity program tonight... that should be interesting!

Here are some awesome foods I made this weekend:

Lemon rosemary "chicken" (high protein soy/wheat gluten) with smashed potatoes and gravy (all vegan, of course!)


I was skeptical of Hain's vegan brown gravy mix packets, but my friend Holly loved them so much that I decided to give it a try. I'm SO glad I did, because it's amazing! I haven't been vegan long enough to forget what real gravy tasted like, and this is almost exact... only better because you know it's not made from gross fat drippings! You can get these at Whole Foods.


This was also the first time I've purchased Gardein Chick'n Scallopini, and it's also fantastic. The cutlets are frozen and are SO easy to cook. I also breaded and fried them like chicken parmesan yesterday, but I scarfed it before I thought to get a pic. Oops! Maybe next time. :) Anyhow, it's the closest thing I've had to chicken that's vegan, so yay! I wish I had more thumbs so I could give this more than two thumbs-up!


Field roast "lunchmeat" wedgie with pepper jack Daiya (HOLYCRAP good,) Vegenaise, lettuce and tomato.


I think wedgies might be a Pittsburgh thing, but I'm not sure. It's basically a sandwich on a pizza crust. I used a Kontos Pocketless Pita bread for it, and it turned out SO much better than I expected! The "lunchmeat" was Field Roast Smoked Tomato, which I was happy to see were wheat gluten based instead of soy. Once again, this was a great find at Whole Foods. It's about the same price per oz. as Tofurky (you get fewer thicker slices,) but doesn't have that strange dog foodish aftertaste.


The pepperjack Daiya is by far the best vegan cheese I have had. It tastes more like cheese, and I like how the shreds are wider and flatter for some reason. And, of course, it melts and (sort of) stretches better than any other vegan cheese!


After this shopping trip, we decided that we definitely need to make it a point to shop at Whole at least every other week. It's a pain to get to from our house, but the selection is great and we really need the protein that's in meat replacements like these. Also, our total cost was $106, and that included 10 Go Max Go candy bars @ $2.50 each. They're amazing enough that I still buy them despite the price and their unprofessional and downright nasty responses to critical reviews on candyblog.net. I hope they've improved their attitude and are willing to be a better representation of vegans!


(Excellent photo courtesy of alisacooks.com!)

Healthy Lifestyle Challenge!

My friend Amanda over at Diary of a Mad Fat Woman is doing a healthy lifestyle challenge- with prizes! (Don't be afraid to send her your entry fee- I've known this girl for years and she's a 100% stand-up person! She is trying to do her best to motivate us all!)

Diary of a Mad Fat Woman's Healthy Lifestyle Challenge!

Expect updates from me about my vegan meals, calorie tracking, and maybe even some pictures of me being less fat! Yay!

My First 5K!

Today I ran my first 5K, thanks to my friend Amanda at Diary of a Mad Fat Woman! Thanks for being such an excellent motivator, Amanda!

I feel AMAZING! I finished in 41:57, which was faster than my 45 minute goal! Since I've only done the entire 3.1 miles ONCE before that (and on a treadmill!) and it took over 45, I thought that it was a good goal. I was so unbelievably happy with it, especially since I didn't even push myself as hard as I could have because I was worried about pacing myself. I'm going to do as many 5Ks as I can this summer. I am seriously so excited!