Vegan Kickstart Day 12: Sushi Night!

Day 12 of the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart plan started with my least favorite breakfast — a smoothie. Nothing against smoothies, but I view them more as snacks than meals. No matter how much I cram into a smoothie, it never fills me up for more than 2 hours.

Anyway, my Mango Delight Smoothie of mango, banana, orange, soymilk, and hemp protein was pretty tasty:

But my tummy was growling by 11 a.m. Even still, I waited until lunch for this giant Baked Potato with Coconut Butter and leftover Farmhouse Salad:

The plan didn't suggest coconut butter, but I feel like I could really use some good, healthy fats. I haven't even had peanut butter in 12 days! That might be a record for me. I believe the Kickstart plan is designed for people looking to lose a few pounds, but that's the last thing I need. Besides, coconut butter makes the world's best topping for a sweet potato.

My snack was Curry Popcorn, but I forgot to take a picture. I'd never thought to season popcorn with curry powder before, but it was delightful. I'll be subbing curry for nooch next time I make popcorn.

Dinner was Dining Out: Sushi Night! My boyfriend and I had plans to eat at Blue Fin sushi lounge downtown, but he called after work saying he didn't feel so hot. He had a 102 degree fever, and seeing as how he's a dude, this meant he thought he was dying. Guys are such babies when they're sick. So we went to the doctor instead of going out for sushi.

The doctor visit lasted 2 hours and I was starving! Luckily, I packed a Ginger Snap Larabar in my purse. Not in the plan, but since it's just dates, nuts, and ginger, it seemed perfectly appropriate. And it held me over until dinner. By the way, the boyfriend's fever went down and he was negative for the flu, so it's likely just a bad cold.

We were both famished after the appointment, so we swung by Midtown's Sekisui for to-go sushi. I ordered a warm bowl of Miso Soup:

And a Veggie Roll and Soybean Roll:

God, I love sushi! I would eat it every day if I could. But I'm always too lazy to make it at home. Inari is my fave but I didn't see it on Sekisui's menu. The soybean rolls, also called natto rolls, are a close second though.

What's your favorite veggie sushi?

Vegan Kickstart Day 3

I'm in my third day of PCRM's 21-Day Vegan Kickstart meal plan, which as I mentioned yesterday, I'm following as a way to make up for my crazy holiday gluttony. It's all about whole foods and no refined sugar. I'm using the Kickstart iPhone app to guide my meals each day.

This morning started with another bowl of Apple Cinnamon Oats:

This is same dish that started my cleanse on January 1st. Though the plan doesn't repeat meals too often, I do like that you eat the same thing on occasion. Since I only cook for myself, I like to make the most of the ingredients that I buy. This makes the plan somewhat more economical than other healthy meal plans I've seen.

Lunch was a Hummus & Veggie Sandwich:

When I first saw that lunch was just a sandwich with no chips, I panicked a bit. I always eat chips with sandwiches. What would I do without my precious salty crisps? But alas, I realize that I'm banned from enjoying potato chips for now. My sandwich — loaded with Cedar's Roasted Garlic & Chive Hummus, avocado, red bell pepper, tomato, cucumber, and spinach —was quite filling on its own.

By the way, you'll notice my pita is made with white bread. I couldn't find whole wheat pita that didn't either contain l-cytasine or honey, both animal by-products. Whole Foods carries sprouted grain pitas, but that was too far of a drive last night when I was planning lunch. Oh well.

For my snack, I was allowed to have soy yogurt with berries. I happily chowed on this So Delicious Agave Sweetened Blueberry Yogurt with frozen blueberries at my desk around 4:30 p.m.:

I hit the gym after work where I spent 30 minutes on the stationary bike, followed by a little arm weight action. I was famished when it was finally time to eat dinner — Curried Lentil Soup with Couscous Confetti Salad:

Once again, tonight's meal made use of the leftover couscous salad, which I originally made for Saturday's lunch. The lentil soup was a simple combination of brown lentils, crushed tomatoes, brown rice couscous, onions, celery, and curry powder.

I feel pretty great on the Kickstart plan so far although I did experience some chocolate cravings tonight. Luckily, I was able to get that under control with an agave-sweetened cup of hot Samurai Chai from Teavana.