Vegan Kickstart: Sick Days

So remember when I called my boyfriend a big baby for whining about his 102-degree fever? Well, I'm eating my words. Turns out, he had a really bad case of bronchitis, and now I have it too. On Thursday (Day 13 of the Vegan Kickstart Plan), I woke up feeling just fine. I ate this bowl of Fruited Breakfast Quinoa, and it was just okay. Kinda plain. The only sweetener was dried apricots and raisins, so I added some maple syrup and that helped:

Lunch was this lovely Ethiopian Tomato Salad (cherry tomatoes, onions, jalepenos, and lemon juice) and Pita with Asian Guacamole. The guacamole had ginger and Thai chili oil, and it was tasty. I prefer regular old guac though:

My snack was edamame, but I forgot to take a picture. I never made it to dinner though. According to the Kickstart plan, I was supposed to have Black Bean Chili and Easy Cornbread Muffins. I was really looking forward to that chili, but when I got home from work, my boyfriend's fever was back. The night before, the doctor at the minor med mentioned that he should go to the ER and get checked for meningitis. The boyfriend was having neck pains along with the fever, and those are symptoms of meningitis.

Unfortunately, getting checked for meningitis means getting a freakin' SPINAL TAP!! Like in The Exorcist! He chickened out that first night, and after his fever went down, he figured it was just a cold. But since his fever was back the next day, he thought he really might have meningitis. So we went to the ER on Thursday night, and he got his spinal tap. The good news? He was negative for meningitis. The bad news? He has a really bad case of bronchitis and he got a spinal tap for nothing!

As for dinner on Thursday, I grabbed a Sunshine burger on the way out the door. We were at the ER for 5 1/2 hours and I was still hungry after my burger, so I hit up the vending machine for some pretzels. Not the best dinner, but pretzels were the healthiest option in the snack machine.

Friday
I woke up Friday morning feeling fine. But since I'd stayed at the hospital so late the night before, I opted to swap out Friday's tofu scramble breakfast for Saturday's easier oats. I added raw Macadamia Nut Butter and Maple Syrup to my bowl of Oat Bran:

Lunch was Pasta Salad made with whole wheat shells, kidney beans, artichoke hearts, red pepper, and sundried tomatoes:

By mid-afternoon, I was starting to feel a little icky. I had been so sure that I wouldn't get sick. I thought my Kickstart diet of healthy foods and my regular workout routine would act as some kind of shield. But not even this DIY Fruit Salad of pineapple, honeydew, and strawberries could ward off the impending sickness:

By the end of the work day, I was full-on sick. I rushed home after work to take some Thera-flu, and that made me feel a little better. I was thankful that my Kickstart dinner was this bowl of DIY Beans, Greens, and Grains. You pick your favorite bean, green, and grain and make a meal of it. I chose brown rice, collard greens, and black beans. This wholesome dinner made me feel a little better:


Saturday
On Saturday morning, I awoke feeling like complete ass. But I had all the ingredients to make what was supposed to have been Friday's breakfast — Zucchini Scramble with Corn Tortillas and Homefries. Both dishes were oil-free, and while that worked for the scramble, the homefries were a little blah. You really shouldn't make homefries without oil:

Lunch was leftover Pasta Salad, which was still pretty tasty despite my sicky tastebuds. Dinner couldn't have been more appropriate for a Saturday night with bronchitis — Spicy Thai Soup made with fresh ginger, garlic, jalepeno, bok choy, broccoli, and mushrooms:

I made the Easy Cornbread Muffins that I was supposed to have with Thursday night's chili. They were oil-free and really, really dry. I wouldn't recommend this recipe at all. But they were sorta decent dipped into the spicy broth. I made quite a few of them so like them or not, I'll be eating them for a few days:


Sunday
Sunday morning started with another bowl of Smart Bran with soymilk and blueberries. It didn't taste so hot with my messed up tastebuds. But my lunch of leftover Spicy Thai Soup and a Baked Sweet Potato really hit the spot:

Sunday's snack was Roasted Red Pepper Hummus with Pita. If there's one thing I love to do when I'm sick, it's eat. So I appreciated this hearty snack:

And dinner may have been my favorite meal on the Kickstart plan to date — Buckwheat Pasta with Seitan. I used my own seitan recipe for this stroganoff-like dish. The creamy gravy was the perfect match for chewy seitan, tender mushrooms, caramelized onions, and buckwheat soba:

I was also scheduled for a dessert on Sunday night, but I didn't eat dinner until 9 p.m. So I'll save my dessert for tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll feel better by then.