Struggling

I haven't posted anything in a while.  Honestly, it's been rough.  One dog diagnosed with three kinds of cancer, back pain, losing another dog...I've had a hard time taking good care of myself.

This sweet girl...who blessed me with her love for over 13 years (she was 21 years old and had an amazingly long life), moved over 15,000 miles with me back and forth across the ocean, and saw me through love and heart break and joy and pain...her loss is tremendously painful both to me and to the other dog.

Every time I think I'm back on track something derails me. 

Yeah...pretty much what it feels like right now.

Half the time I can't even get on track. But I can't pin point what's wrong.  Sometimes it's emotions. Sometimes it's physical pain. Sometimes it's boredom with what seems like the same meals mixed and matched over and over.  Lately I don't feel like preparing food but when I don't I eat crap and feel tired and headachy (oh, really bad migraines have also been a thing lately).  When I do prepare food I end up not wanting whatever it is that I prepared.  Then I feel guilty for wasting food.  I'm just struggling.

I've struggled before but this seems to be a particularly funky funk.  I'd love to go for a run which used to be great for shaking the cobwebs out of my brain but back pain has eliminated that option.  I wish I had some exciting new recipes to try or ... I don't know...*something* 

What do you do to shake off a funk? 

I Have Too Much Stuff

All my earthly possessions are here and have been for a month.  I haven't unpacked all the boxes yet.  I have too much stuff.  I know I wanted my stuff but now I don't.  I mean, I want my bed and a couple other things but the rest...it's amazing how quickly I can dirty a whole sink-full of dishes! 

Before my stuff got here, I was able to clean the kitchen in 10 min.  Now...lordy how I can make a mess and a massive amount of things to clean.  By the time I'm done I'm too tired to clean it all up. 

I'm not saying I want to go back to having one bowl, one spoon and one fork but I'd like to find some sort of happy equilibrium where I have enough so that I'm not super restricted in what I can do but not so much that it becomes too much.  I don't know what that looks like.  I like being able to cook all my meals and snacks for the whole week and have them all in the fridge (its a squeeze in my tiny European fridge here).  I'm not really sure what I could get rid of.  Hoping I can find a way to simplify the kitchen...somehow.

If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Witchcraft Food

I live in Italy!  And Google, in its infinite wisdom, didn't want to let me log in here because it didn't recognize my location.  Very frustrating.  Finally got it sorted out. Only took 3 weeks. 

Anyway, I'm excitedly learning new words and how to say things like, "I'm a vegetarian/vegan."  I'm also learning the Italian words for lots of foods.  Although I might have eaten lentil nuggets with a side of lentils for dinner last night...not entirely sure about that. Either way it was healthy, if not diverse, and tasty.

Fortunately, there's a tiny organic market Right. Across. The Street!  from my hotel.  When I asked at the front desk if that's what it was the guy said, "They sell these biological (European for organic) food stuffs...you know, witchcraft food."  I was a little confused...not sure if it was an organic market or an herbalist who was going to give me a sack of dried stuff and tell me to drink a tea from it 8 times a day.  Turns out it's an organic market. 

A good way to learn new words is to look at familiar products in their packages.

The other day when I thought I inquired as to what kind of sandwiches were available, I realized I used the word for sweet roll instead of sandwich when I heard the waiter say "fragola." 

 

They had quite the selection of tofu flavors (smoked, olive, basil, Black Forest (not sure what this is) and Red (tomato and pepper) along with plain), vegan "meats" and non-dairy milks.  I don't know what everything (especially the "meats") was supposed to be but it's been interesting trying different new foods.  I don't usually eat a lot of packaged foods but given my minimal ability to prepare food for myself right now, I'm doing what I have to. 

 

My zero-waste life goal is temporarily on hold as I have to eat out or eat something I can prepare in my tiny hotel room right now.  I can say that I haven't taken a single-use drink container (even if it is recyclable) the entire time I've been here.  That means I'm drinking only water, coffee or tea but I'm surviving :P

 

I'm excited to try more new foods and to learn the words for foods I already know I want!  We move into a house next week and I'll be even more excited to start really cooking again!!  Stay tuned for new foods and new recipes :D

64 Cents

Healthy

Vegan

Zero Waste

Local

Organic

Convenient

Affordable...

How do you decide what is most important?

Example: I eat a handful or raw almonds on my drive to work.  I can get organic raw almonds from the bulk bin of my favorite market or Whole Foods.  And they cost about $14.00/lb.  No packaging.  Or I can get them from Trader Joe's for approx. $10.65/lb. But they come in a plastic bag.  I'm not rich.  I live on a budget like most other people.  I do not want to buy things in plastic bags. I do not want to spend over $3/lb more for almonds.  What to do?

Some decisions are tough.  Some are easier.  It costs about 64 cents for a cup of raw organic soy beans from the bulk bin.  I put them in an empty container so there's no waste.  A cup of dry soy beans is all you need to make soy milk.  It does take a little time which reduces the convenience factor but as long as I'm planning ahead (and I always try to plan ahead) then it's well worth the cost and packaging savings to make my own.  Then I just put in in a glass bottle that I have on hand and keep reusing. Think about how much you pay for soy milk or almond milk or whatever kind of vegan "milk" you use.  Now think about the packaging; most of which is not recyclable. 

I wish all decisions were this simple. 

Do you have any great swaps that save both money and packaging?

What I Ate Wednesday - Vegan String Cheese

Last WIAW I talked about my search for a vegan goat cheese.  I'm still searching. I've tried a couple things out there but

1. they weren't that good and
2. they were very expensive (and I was buying local, organic, fancy goat cheese which was not cheap).

So I'm still not particularly enjoying my salads (they just lack something that the goat cheese provided and if I can figure out what it is I'd be really happy.  It doesn't necessarily need to be a cheese substitute...just something to give my salads what they are now missing.

I also talked about my 10 o'clock string cheese.  You could almost set your watch to it.  I've long wanted to find a substitute for this snack because of all the plastic involved.  I looked into making my own (not vegan but at least getting rid of the packaging) but don't remember finding a recipe that I wanted to try.  Last week I decided to try roasted chickpeas instead of string cheese. I've had roasted chickpeas before but I didn't know if they would be satiating enough.  I'm happy to say they are!  And if you make them yourself (I buy my chickpeas from the bulk bin so no packaging and much cheaper than buying canned) they're a very cheap snack (if you buy roasted chickpeas they're crazy expensive compared to the cost of making your own). There is some effort involved (more than opening a string cheese and more if you use dry vs. canned chickpeas) but it's worth it for such a yummy snack that is super healthy and vegan!

Last week I made them with turmeric, rosemary and cayenne. This week I tried turmeric and garlic salt.  I liked last week's better but I'm looking forward to trying lots of varieties!  I found my new string cheese!

So, my menu this week:

Breakfast (in addition to my handful of almonds on the way to work) is baked oatmeal.  I use soy milk (although I really want to find a vegan option that comes in packing that is at least recyclable so for the time being I've decided to stop buying soy milk...I'll be in trouble come next week!) and I mixed in 2 scoops of Plant Fusion protein powder and some chopped up granny smith apples.  I can provide the recipe if anyone is interested.  It is very filling and can be eaten hot or cold.

These two love apples and are never far when I cut into one. I don't mind sharing :)

Hard to get a still shot when a dog is very interested in what you have! 

 

10 O'clock Snack Roasted chick peas!!! I start with 1 cup of dry beans and that makes snack for 5 days.

Lunch Same salad as always with a soup containing carrots, sweet potatoes, white beans and spinach. 

This boy loves carrots and is always waiting for a piece to go flying off the cutting board!  The girl is not a fan of carrots. However...

She loves sweet potato and hangs out to see if she's going to get any (of course she's going to get some!!)

Pre-Gym Snack Banana (I teach on Wednesdays (and Tuesdays and Thursdays and sometimes Mondays) and need a snack to hold me over. Even with that I'm sometimes ready to gnaw off my own arm on my way home from the gym which is why it is vitally important to have dinner already made and requiring no more than a couple minutes to heat or else I will start shoving anything remotely edible into my face!)

Dinner What I call "Sushi Roll in a Bowl." I love to cook and don't mind things that are rather involved but sushi rolls...I'm not making those at home. However, the contents of a sushi roll (brown rice (I use germinated brown rice...read about it here http://www.naturalnews.com/031148_brown_rice_nutrition.html#) carrots, cucumber, avocado, pickled ginger, wasabi) can be thrown together in a bowl and eaten with a spoon. I add some baked tofu for protein. I soaked the carrots and cucumber in rice vinegar. I add the wasabi to some soy sauce, mix it up and use it as a dressing.  This bowl is seriously delicious!  So delicious that I can't stop eating it long enough to take a picture :D

So, I've found a vegan substitute for string cheese.  Still need something in my salad to replace goat cheese. Looking for a plant-based milk (preferably high in protein unlike almond milk (which I do like and can find in a recyclable container)) that doesn't come in a tetra-pak that isn't recyclable. 

What did you eat today?  Have any suggestions for a salad addition or milk substitute?