And so it begins...

Had my first vegan breakfast today, which wasn't that much different from my normal breakfast. (An aside: I'm not a big breakfast guy, at least as far as eating it regularly. Don't get me wrong, I really like breakfast food, and in my younger days, was always up for a late-night Waffle House hit (scattered, smothered, and covered, thank you), but most mornings, I'm not motivated enough to do more than 3 cups of coffee, and maybe a banana or something. Maybe that's why I'm a little sick feeling by lunch time, but I digress)

Anyway, I figured I'd ease into the whole experience with something simple, which for me meant "smoothie". I admit, it's a little weak, and not really blog-worthy, but it's better than "I had an orange". I think I've given a smoothie recipe before, but if I haven't, here's today's version:

Mixed Berry/Banana Smoothie:
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1/4-1/3 c silken tofu
1/2-1c frozen mixed berries
1 banana

Combine in a blender, blend until smooth. Drink.

My usual smoothie is milk and yogurt (and a little honey to take the edge off the yogurt), so soy milk was a natural to replace the milk, and I figured silken tofu would be a good thickener. Since vanilla soy milk is sweet anyway, and there's no yogurt tang from the silken tofu, I skipped the honey. (and I guess honey is technically an animal product, so that should be verboten). I'll have to check the nutrition label for soy milk, I'm curious as to how much sugar is in it. I know that when I took a food class in college, the professor was talking about low-fat food (which was the fad at the time), and how "low fat" != "low calorie", since a lot of times, replacing fat meant jacking up the sugar content to get the same mouth feel. I wonder if makers of soy milk employ a similar trick to make it taste better.

So far, no real challenges (even though it's just been one meal). I did have to remind myself as I made the kids' sandwiches not to snack on turkey (or cheese), but that's not a big deal. I think the constant checking of things, and reminding myself that a lot of stuff I like to eat (cheese, meat, a lot of condiments, a lot of chinese food, sushi, etc) is off limits for the week is going to be a pain, though.

I told my oldest about the vegan thing, and she said "we don't have to eat tofu do we?!". I assured her she was safe, and that when we had dinner together, there would be a meat option.
Then we had this exchange when Bridget came in the kitchen:
Bridget: "what happened?"
Gretchen: "Daddy's a vay-gan"
Me: "Vee-gan, not vay-gan, get it right".

(I thought it was funny)

Next up, the thrilling experience of lunch....