Off the wagon...

So, after 6 weeks, I fell off the vegan wagon.  Did you know that Friday was National Spaghetti Day?  Neither did I until I saw a tweet from Giada DeLaurentis with an amazing sounding spaghetti recipe.  I was having dinner at a friends anyway so I sent her the recipe and she decided it sounded good too, so that's what was for dinner.  Here's the recipe:

 

Now, tell me that doesn't sound amazing?  We improvised a little - left out the zest (because I forgot it), used fresh lemon juice from my juicer, added cherry tomatoes and used 1/3 cup regular EVOO and 1/3 cup Basil Olive Oil which I got at my new favorite store The Olive Tap Crystal Lake.  

I decided that a little bit of Parmesan never hurt anyone, so I went for it.  Bad idea.  Let's just say, my tummy is not happy with me and I have been paying for the last few days. 

So, at least now I know that I cannot cheat here and there.  This is a good thing for me because if I know I can cheat, I will.  

While I have stayed true to my 99% Vegan ways, I have not been as cautious about portion sizes and snacking while on winter break.  I have eaten at a few restaurants and had quite a few drinks (read: Tequila shots on New Year's Eve).  I only lost about 3 or 4 pounds since school let out for break.  I'm getting back on track tomorrow.  Here's how I'm starting off...

Last night I spent a good amount of time prepping food for the week.  I washed, chopped, diced, peeled just about everything I had in my fridge and got nice and organized so making juices will be easy and preparing healthy dinners will be, too.  I made 5 of my new favorite go-to lunches: Mason Jar salads.  Cliche, I know, but tasty.  This week's recipe includes:

Zucchini
Cherry Tomatoes
Green Pepper
Broccoli
1/2 Cup Quinoa
Spring Mix Salad
Honey Chipotle dressing:

• 1/3 Cup Chipotle Olive Oil (from The Olive Tap)
• 1/3 Cup Plain Olive Oil
• 2/3 Cup Honey Balsamic Vinegar (from The Olive Tap)
• Salt and Pepper
• Put it all in a jar - seal it up and shake like crazy

  I think they look pretty good if I do say so myself.  The key to these is to put the hearty stuff on the bottom with the dressing, then put some sort of divider like cheese, quinoa, pasta, whatever and then the lettuce on top.  I have had them keep for 6 days in the fridge if they don't get tipped.  I don't eat them out of the jar - I dump it all in a bowl and mix it up.

Also, I got baskets to organize my refrigerator because it is really annoying to have a bunch of bags of vegetables all layered on top of one another on the bottom shelf.

Looks good, huh?

Hopefully all of the prepping I did yesterday and today will get me off to a great start for this half of the school year.  I'm going to start making my juices at night to save time in the morning even though I know you are supposed to drink it right away.  The way I see it, if making it the night before means I will drink it, then that's what I'm going to do.  Maybe someday I'll be a morning person...maybe.  Probably not...