I figure you’ve all seen a whole lot of Vegan For a Day, so I switched my title up with a little español.
Shocker, I know.
Before I get to jueves, tengo una pregunta:
Have you entered my Nutridel giveaway?
No? Probablemente you should do that today.
Porque those galletas are DELISH.
And also FREE! For what more could you wish?
Now that I’ve gotten that hankering for un poco self-promotion and poetry out of my system, let’s discuss ayer.
I rolled out my yoga mat, fixed a cup of coffee and plopped down to tackle my Google Reader.
(You’ll notice I didn’t mention any yoga acción. This is because none occurred. You see, I’m a little obsessed with the yoga mat I won from Erica. So, sometimes, on mornings like yesterday when I have no intention of actually doing yoga, I bust it out just to lay/read because it makes me feel relaxed and productive. Yo sé, I’m weird.)
Within seconds of opening my Reader, I learned of Vegan For a Day and was immediately intrigued.
Intrigued, but not sold.
So I sipped some (coincidentally) vegan-friendly coffee as I looked to some of my favorite vegan bloggers for affirmation.
You can spy a little OhSheGlows action behind coffee cup numero dos.
And it was actually Angela’s A.M. post—specifically the fact that she’d be posting her meals and me encanta the way that chica eats—that convinced me to go Vegan Por Un Día.
Veganism has always seemed entirely doable for me; but it’s never seemed desirable. It’s seemed doable in the sense that I have very strong will-power, and I’m a very competitive person. So, if I commit to something, I commit. However, it’s never seemed desirable because I love food. And a lot of the foods I love fall into non-vegan terrain. I so admire all of the vegans and vegetarians that commit to these dietary lifestyles for their ethical and social importance—but I’m not sure I could ever make the commitment.
That said, I figured one day of veganism—even if I hated it—was nada in the long run. Plus, like I said, I love a little competición.
I partook in a several ridiculous Google searches in an effort to come up with vegan breakfast.
I got lost in that for about 30 minutes—but still had no idea what I wanted.
Actually, I knew exactly what I wanted.
Greek yogurt with melted banana and granola.
But since Greek yogurt is, you know, dairy—that was a no-no.
While I waited to be struck by vegan brilliance, I decided to go for the melted “banana nuggets”—as Allie’s dubbed them.
I’ve been wanting to try them since first drooling over stumbling upon them on her blog—and I figured they’d be a good hold-me-over-til-I-think-of-something-divine nosh.
1 banana, nuggified—then microwaved in a tbsp. maple syrup for 22 seconds (I always pick random numbers because I’m a loca like that) and topped with cinnamon
SO GOOD. So good that I knew I had to integrate them into whatever fabuloso breakfast was to come.
When I realized that I’d officially pondered breakfast for 1.5 HORAS—to the point that I needed a pregame—I decided to keep cosas simple and just throw my new banana amor into a trusty bowl of oats.
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats cooked in 1 cup water, 1 tbsp. maple syrup and 1/2 a thinly sliced banana. Topped with the other 1/2 of the banana, nuggified in another tbsp. maple syrup (microwaved for 16 seconds since it was only half) and cinnamon. Devoured with a peanut butter spoon.
Banana nugget center. Maple syrupy magic.
Drowning in syrup, sinking banana nuggets.
Drowning in syrup, sinking PB spoon.
I usually leave my PB on la cuchara [spoon] to ensure a little with every bite—but since it was melting/sinking, I decided to get crazy and mix it in.
Which was una buena idea because there were PB pools like the one below covertly dispersed throughout the bowl.
So, this breakfast kept me full for close to five hours. When I eventually broke for lunch, I wasn’t even actually hungry.
I’m not sure if it was the fact that breakfast included two grande bananas, or if this was just a very powerful oat combo, but if you ever need some trusty staying power—hit this desayuno up.
Throughout the morning, I sipped some sugar cookie sleigh ride.
Which I knew was vegan porque esta chica downs it like it’s her trabajo.
As did I. I had tres copas—one with Truvia, which was divine. Sugar cookie sleigh ride sweetened takes it to a whole new level.
Oh, and then I almost blew Vegan For a Day on a VITAMIN.
Juuuuuuust before unwrapping that little chocolate chew, I thought to myself, “Chocolate? Dairy?”
So I checked the ingredient list.
Correcto. Nonfat milk. Along with lots of terrible ingredients that I now know I consume on a daily basis.
Lucky for this vegan temp, I had these little guys.
Which after a little label reading…
..and a lot of Googleing, I learned were vegan.
Vegan bears? How ethical.
When it was getting into the almost-too-late-for-lunch realm, I turned to my favorite soup.
Which I quickly learned was vegan!
BUENO.
This Amy’s Alphabet soup is hands-down my favorite canned soup—and it literally kept me alive during college.
You’d think that after four years of overdosing on a canned good, I’d never want to touch it again.
But you’d be mistaken.
It’s a tomato-based veggie soup filled with alphabet pasta.
What more could a 22-year-old who wishes she were still 10 ask for?
My lack of comida throughout the first half of the day caught up with me during the second half.
Vegan snacks included:
My new favorite nut mix.
And a massive bowl of grapes and fresas.
After spending so much time coming up with a vegan breakfast that I was in the mood for, I did not want the same to happen con cena.
So throughout the day I conjured up a delectable dinner of cheetahs, green cheetahs and carrot fries—a fry trifecta, if you will.
Except when I checked out my sweet potato stash, I found this.
MOLD.
Mucho, mucho mold.
Malo.
Dreaming a perfecto meal—and mentally tasting cheetahs all day long—only to have mold snatch them away from you is triste.
However, sweet potato sob story was upsetting but not tragic, as I still had my green cheetahs and carrot fries.
Wrong.
Whichever power circuit supports my toaster oven went out—and me attempting to fix that on my own just wasn’t in the cards.
Apparently the fry gods were pissed that I was trying to create so many faux fry versions and decided to run a little interference.
I forfeited and went on to think up a no-kitchen, no-toaster oven dinner.
Ensalada was the obvious solution—but I’d gotten myself so in the mood for cooked/baked veggies that a raw veggie salad sounded entirely unappealing.
So I decided to take my standard veggie ensalada down a path I’d not ventured since the seems-like-forever-ago summer.
Una fruity ensalada.
Baby spinach, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumbers, red grapes and strawberries.
I threw some hot salsa en el centro for an interesante sweet and spicy flavor contrast.
And I switched up my normal honey-balsamic dressing mix for a vegan-friendly maple syrup-balsamic concoction.
This ensalada was excelente. The spicy salsa went so well with the fruit—especially the strawberries.
And I looooooved the maple syrup substitution in my standard honey & balsamic mix.
Again, the strawberries worked so well with this flavor. I love marinating strawberries in balsamic vinegar—and the maple addition complemented this sabor [flavor] interaction so wonderfully.
La ensalada obviously wasn’t going to cut it for dinner.
So I made something I’ve been thinking about making for quite some time.
I introduce to you…
H2Oats (Hummus & Hot Sauce Oats)
I cooked 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats in 1 cup of water. When it was finished, I stirred in 2 tbsp. hummus and steamed baby spinach. Then I topped with mas baby spinach and, obviamente, mas hummus. Sriracha hot sauce atop.
Ok. HUMMUS + OATS = BRILLIANTE.
With a Sriracha cherry on top.
I’d initially planned on adding mucho mas Sriracha post-photography, but a little bit went a long way for this bowl. Having just a hint of hot sauce allowed the Sabra to be the star that it is.
The creaminess and flavor of our beloved hummus blended into our beloved oats is something I wish I’d discovered long ago.
If nothing else, THANK YOU Vegan For a Day (and the sweet potato and toaster woes) for leading me to finally try this.
Anyhow, you know what I wanted for dessert.
But after mucho tiempo Googleing, I learned that neither Jolly Time’s nor Orville Redenbacher’s Kettle Corn popcorn is vegan-friendly.
So, I had fresas y azucar.
Which I usually love.
But when you want popcorn, and you eat strawberries… strawberries and sugar are suddenly very disappointing.
So, pensamientos on Vegan Por Un Dia…
I loved the idea of trying something new food-wise—especially something that has such important ethical and environmental causes attached to it. However, I can’t shake the fact that eating a vegan diet felt like a diet the entire time.
You guys know how I feel about diets. And yesterday brought me right back to my South Beach-in’ sixteen-year-old self, going loca over carbs and what was and was not allowed.
At so many points throughout the day, I knew what I wanted but ended up thinking way too much about something else to eat—simply because I “couldn’t” have it. I really honor the whole “follow your body’s cues” approach to eating—and I didn’t like the feeling of denying myself what I was craving.
That said, I can’t stress how much I support and respect those who commit to making these sacrifices—be it for their personal well-being, or the well-being of animals, the environment or our society.
It was divertido—not to mention discovery-provoking (HEEELLLOOO, banana nuggets & H2Oats)—to experiment with veganism. And though I know—as I knew before yesterday—that right now, it’s a dietary style that’s not for me, I’d definitely be interested in further experimentation. I think I’d do better with it and be less frustrated by the dietary limitations if I tried it out for a bit longer—and was doing it with the goal of finding out if a dairy-free diet did anything to benefit my health.
One more gracias to all the vegan bloggers on whom I relied for foodie inspiration yesterday. And to todas who participated in Vegan For a Day!
Bueno, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
-Sarah
34 Comments
November 21, 2009 at 12:49 am
hells yah vegan por un dia! no puedo hacer este competencia porque estaba (gahhh, i cant remember the spanish word for sick!)…pero su hummus + oats y fresas con azucar parecen muy bien.
me encantan todas sus ideas fantasticas!!!!
November 21, 2009 at 1:56 am
looks like you had great eats while being vegan for the day
jenna
November 21, 2009 at 2:14 am
First
sugar cookie sleigh ride is still not freakin available in AZ. It IS THE HOLIDAYS now groc store gods, bring me my flippin tea. Stat.
Next
PB Pools in your oats. Yeah. That works. Slurp.
Thanks for the honorable mention as one of your fave vegan bloggers…swoon
I love you.
Next the whole vegan/feeling deprived thing. Ok so I have been vegetarian my whole life but could never shake the feeling deprived thing b/c I would crave yogurt or cheese or something that still was veggie, not vegan. It wasnt til I upped my protein massively thru Sun Warrior or Jay Robb p. powders that I was able to transition. It took 6 mos of doing that and now, I hardly ever even use them.
And when you’re consciously trying to go vegan, it seems that the cravings I had were insane and I was always hungry, til I really amped the protein up. Part of it was detoxing from my allergens though, i.e. dairy, gluten, soy. So needless to say, I hear you. I had to though b/c of my health issues but yeah, it wasn’t this blissful easy thing in the beginning but now it’s second nature and truly is easy.
xoxo
November 21, 2009 at 9:05 am
Hummus & Oats?! I would’ve never thought!
all your vegan eats looks delish!
November 21, 2009 at 10:37 am
LOVE the look of those oats
Good on you for taking on the challenge- I didn’t do it because like you said, I thought it would feel restrictive to me having rules about what I can/can’t eat, and I’m trying to break out of that. Turned out my breakfast and lunch was vegan anyway so it’s all good 
have a great weekend!
November 21, 2009 at 10:47 am
Hummus and oats is something that I could really get behind. Brilliant idea.
.I had to get really creative with my eats on my vegan dia, but like you – it yielded some amazing results.
Also, I always set my alarm clock to random times, like 5:02 or 7:36…it reminds me of your rando microwave seconds.
November 21, 2009 at 10:50 am
Congrats on being vegan por un dia!! I should really try it out for a day… just curious, was this an actual vegan day? Or did some people in the blogworld just come up with a challenge? I’ve seen it on a few blogs, just wasn’t sure where the idea originated from.
Hummus and oats?! Ok, it’s official. You are a BRILLIANT foodie!
I can’t wait to try this out!! 
November 21, 2009 at 11:19 am
What. The. fuuuuh. Why have I never thought to have hummusy oats? BRILLZ.
Aww, thanks for the mention as a fave vegan blogger. It’s so odd, because I rarely think about “I’m a vegan” anymore. It’s pretty natural for me. As soon as I went vegan, I didn’t necessarily feel restricted. In fact, it was quite opposite. I’d had certain food demons in my head, but as soon as I went vegan I though “oh my gawd, I can eat anything and everything as long as it’s vegan!” It was freeing.
However, I know I’m going to eat Greek yogurt, cheese and froyo every now and then. I’m OK with this as long as it’s not like erryday. I still believe that by not buying dairy and meat regularly (or for meat, ever) I’m still helping the animals and the environment.
Whew, felt good to get that off my chest. Sorry! Haha.
Anyway, I’ll see you in a few hours. GAHHHH.
Love youuuu! xoxoxo
November 21, 2009 at 11:39 am
Delicious vegan eats!
November 21, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I could not be vegan. I, too, don’t like being restricted. It makes me want the restricted item(s)more. I also believe it following your body’s clues.
November 21, 2009 at 12:07 pm
okay that porn banana needs to get in ma belly-that made me drool!! GREAT vegan eats girl. have a great weekend beautiful!
November 21, 2009 at 12:20 pm
You rock… your vegan for a day certainly looks amazing to me. I used to feel restricted when I first when vegan, but its bc I wasnt getting enuf fat and protein. Enter: almond butter, brazil nuts, tempeh, and some b12 supplements … I still have days where I might feel crappy, so I know I need to up it!
November 21, 2009 at 2:21 pm
You made vegan look good! I tried it too but didn’t do as well as you did- hello H2Oats! Brilliant!
November 21, 2009 at 2:34 pm
hummus and oats do sound MUY fabuloso!!!
your eats look fantastic….that nuggety banana oatmeal seriously had me drooling!
happy weekend, gal!
November 21, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Oh. em. gee. Those banana nuggets look seriously intense. I need to get on that!
November 21, 2009 at 4:19 pm
looks like you were the perfect vegan for a day!! i love the greek yogurt mess especially
hope you have a great weekend
xoxo
shelley
http://findinghappinessandhealth.wordpress.com
November 21, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Are banana nuggets absolutely amazing or WHAT!? Seriosamente!!
November 21, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I could never do the vegan thing – I’m a slave to the greek yog.
I love and appreciate your insight on the whole sitch. I tried the atkins in HS .. no carbs?? I’m pleading temporary insanity for that time period in my life. redic.
mi amo mucho, senorita!
November 22, 2009 at 10:15 am
I love this post Sarah! This is kinda how I feel about any kind of diet… even if it’s not a “diet” to lose weight or whatever. Every time I try to do vegan, vegetarian, macrobiotic, raw, whatever.. I just end up thinking about food all the time and what I can and cannot have. I like to listen to my body and figure out what I really want. And even if what I really want is not that great for me, I’ll have a little bit and forget about it. If I ever try to avoid eating what I want I just end up eating a bunch of other stuff to try to replace it.
Anyway, great post.
Happy Sunday!
November 22, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Great job on your vegan day! You are too funny!! I do love your oats, they looked really good
oats are such a staple food for a lot of people cause you can easily jazz them up!
PS I need to try that tea! I didn’t see it at my grocery store, I did get the sugar plum one…..but not the cookie! How is it??
XOO
Kris
November 22, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Sarah!! Genius move on the H2O oats! Can you believe that I STILL (stilllllll) haven’t tried any version of the savory?? Que es la problema!? Well, I can’t make ‘em here…so they’ll just have to wait till i’m back home over t-givin’ or xmas break!
Hummus-y oats w/ lots of sriracha sounds absolutely fab. I bet adding some melty feta cheese would be divineee in that bowl! Try it?
And yum. Now i’m craving some Amy’s alphabet soup! I’ll be on the hunt, while home (again)…since I never find that variety at stores near my school.
Enjoyed seeing you go vegan for a day, except I love my dairy-LOVIN girl just as much! Excited to see some popcorn, greek yog and cheeeeese in the next post!
November 22, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I’ll be trying the banana nuggets tomorrow with my oats. Se miran deliciosos!
November 23, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I’m with you… veganism is totally doable, but I need my Greek yog!
My sweet potatoes were moldy last week too, and I’d just bought them! Grr.
Hummus + Oats = LVP heaven. Must try.
November 23, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Banana nuggets sound absolutely fabulous. I’m with you on not wanting to go vegan, but it’s certainly fun to try something totally different for a day :O). I think you did very well in the creativity department!
- Beth @ http://www.DiningAndDishing.com
November 23, 2009 at 5:07 pm
great job on vegan for a day! everything you ate looks delicious! i just read a bunch of your posts, and i feel like i’m learning a little Spanish… yummy food pics + spanish vocab lessons = awesome
November 23, 2009 at 9:43 pm
well done on vegan for a day! and i loved your insight at the end! that salad looks amazing, definitely want to try that soon!
November 24, 2009 at 12:38 am
Bueno! Congrats on completing Vegan por un dia! You had some very creative meals and I enjoyed reading about your experience. Your oats looked like whoa! And those strawberries weren’t so mala either
November 24, 2009 at 12:57 am
i loved seeing everyone’s take on V4AD.. including yours! you really did a great job and knew how to approach it!
November 25, 2009 at 12:16 am
I absolutely loved meeting you tonight at the magical place that is WF; how we have not yet been acquainted before now is a mystery to me, but after swapping some ridic college stories, I know we must meet up again soon for some NYC adventures!!
November 25, 2009 at 12:40 am
That’s my favorite soup too! Love the letters.. makes me feel like I’m in elementary school.
I totally agree with what you said about the vegan day. I mean no offense to anyone at all who is actually a practicing vegan, but as a fellow non-vegan who tried for the day, to me it DID start to feel like I was trying to stick to a diet, and it was kind of uncomfortable. Anyways, hope you had a great day!
http://www.joelygolightly.wordpress.com
November 25, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Wow! I never thought about doing Vegan for a Day but after seeing you go through it I think it would be really interesting! Congrats on making it through- all of those meals look delicious and I’m definitely gonna have to try the salsa-strawberry combo in the near future! Looks too good to pass up.
November 25, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I can totally see myself WANTING greek yogurt but not being able to eat it. Kudos to you for eating vegan for a day and not succumbing to your non-vegan cravings!! I think I could possibly go vegan if greek yogurt was classified as vegan. hahah Not gonna happen I think.
I am so intruiged by all your savory oat ideas. Being from Asian and all, we eat savory porridge alot, but never with the types of combinations that you concoct! I’m loving them!! I love the way they’re making my noggin’ spin!
Thanks for the idea Sarah!!
November 29, 2009 at 10:19 am
Being vegan is more than just a diet.
Vegans don’t consume or use any animals, animal parts or excrements. This includes food, clothes and accessoires, body care products and everything else.
So if you just did the food aspect, then you weren’t vegan for a day sadly.
Being vegan isn’t something you do for a day because it is cool, being vegan is a protest against animal exploitation. And animals are exploited EVERY DAY.
November 30, 2009 at 10:12 am
¡Que rica! Your vegan eats look fabulous