All American Break Fasting O' Champions

Oh my freakin' gourd, I am sooooooooooooooooo sorry I have denied all ye fellow plant-eaters out there for so long. What is my blogdarn problem? They say habits take 21 consecutive days of practice to form, (some say 28, tho, and some say 7), but my writing practice is so rusty that I can't seem to come up with more than 50 words per week. That being said, this will again be a sadly unprolific post, as I am currently hanging with the family unit back in ol' Weirdginia Beach, and there is much spelunking and cavorting to do.

Before continuing, however, there is one thing I want to make clear. Being holed up for 5 days amongst 10 extremely flesh-eating fanatics (half of who have animal companions that they, like, totally love), the vegan mind tends to roll certain topics over and over inside the skull, keeping one awake at night in silent conversations, and constantly on their toes during the daytime, either running away from horrific visions on plates or putrid smells of searing carcass, or straining to keep mouth shut regarding inconsistencies and hypocrisies in the carnivorous lifestyle. These thoughts led me back to this blog, in which I suddenly realize that I have as yet to make the point to all my fellow readers and bloggers out there that I have, FIRST AND FOREMOST, chosen the vegan lifestyle for ethical, compassionate reasons. While my focus here so far, and perhaps, mostly, is to show the world how enticing, healthful, and varied eating a plant-based diet can be, I still have my ingestion vices, and I did not choose veganism for "health" reasons (altho many a long time ago I did, and guess what? it was not the glue that stuck me to it). It is the fundamental obligation to others---in this case other species---that is the casein-free adhesive that binds.... On that note, as someone who tries to live compassionately in whatever way I can, I also believe in being compassionate to myself (admittedly, these words at times speak louder than my actions); taking care of my body in turn takes care of my mind, and, yes, feeds my soul. The purely plant-based diet (vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, seaweeds, etc.) is the most beneficially healthy way to stuff one's gullet in a temperate clime, ......which is just my set-up to boast to you that after my blood panel last week, the doc said to me "You are disgustingly healthy"; in fact, she said "disgustingly" in such a dramatic, drawn out way that I thought for sure she was about to give me horrible news about my state of health!

O.k. Now we can move on...these pics are from the last week and a half from my life. For some reason, I switched to an "Americanized Diet", in the vegan vein, of course, for several days. This includes your typical meal staples: cereals with "milk" and fruit, waffles, sammiches, tots, crap like that. So, even though I just went on above about how yummy and creative vegan food can be, I am not really offering up a lot of creativity in this post. Solly. Better luck next time! But to keep you abreast of my mouth-shoveling habits, here goes:

I bought a huge batch of blueberries which I ate almost every morning for breakfast. Here, thrown over a bowl of wheat-free granola. I had no plain beanjuice in the house, so I used a little chocolate soymilk as my "wettener", and oddly, the flavor combination was awesome!

After eating so many blueberries, it is necessary for one to take a long, hot bubble bath to release the toxins...

salad and spanakopita from Cafe Life. yum.

oh yeah, my token lounging felines pics:

another extremely simple breakfast: brown rice cakes, nanners, and cinnamon.

see how easy it can be when you need to take a break.....fast?

extremely blurry picture of a durn good stirfry: rice, swiss chard, purple peppers, daikon, carrots, broccoli, almonds, and I-d0n't-remember in a garlic-ginger-shoyu sauce

more of those blue balls!

I made brown rice with a coconut curried dal, and topped it off with tamari sweet pertaters and collard green rolls. the filling in the rolls is simply leaf lettuce hearts in an almond/coconut "dressing". OMG they were soooooo good!

and of course, one needs pappadam to scoop up the curry.

sammich time! it was tasty, but sorry for you, I don't remember what-all went in it. use your imagination.

below are 2 different versions of an interesting meal: soy nuggets served with creamy pesto, sweet potato/carrot/garlic mash, and pesto yellow squash mash. don't knock it. it was super-tasty, so much so that we were still talking about it the next day. the pesto is a cashew, parsley, basil, chive mixture (with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt)

Ok, there is a svimming pool calling my name, so in the words of a band from long ago that I sadly can't remember the name of now in my old age: "that's it tell next time, yellow-bellied toadsuckers!" (eh-hem, which I hope none of you really are)

keep on rockin in the free animal world of our hopes and desires!