Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Vegan-Bound, "Julie and Julia"-Inspired

Ok, back from my son's house and a memorable 6-day Christmas visit (thank you Pat and Kate!) and back onto the vegetarian/vegan path.  Since I've been reading my daily emails from http://www.pcrm.org/ about the 21 Day Kick Off that I wrote about in a previous post, I am gearing up for this three-week vegan program. 

And I was about to go, "Oh, hell.  I've tried to do stuff like this before and haven't stuck with it.  Do I really want to expend the effort again?"  So, I took a break and went to read my email when, lo and behold, I encountered today's horoscope (oh, just humor me....I get them daily for fun): 

Tuesday, Dec 29th, 2009 -- You are usually able to cut your losses and move on because you have such a pragmatic outlook on life. But now as you face the prospects of not reaching your goal, consider talking yourself into trying one more time. Although the odds don't seem to be in your favor yet, they could dramatically turn around in just a few short weeks. If you don't give it one more shot, you'll never know what you might have accomplished.

Hmmm, see how I can immediately apply that to the subject of this post?

So I'm going to spend the next couple of afternoons at the local library, printing out what to stock my pantry with for this venture, along with many of the recipes listed at their site. If you want to join me, or attempt any of the recipes yourself, go to http://www.21daykickstart.org/.  And I'm going to blog about it, just like Julie Powell did in the Julie-Julia Project, her blog which inspired the movie (hence, this post's title.) 

Except I'm not expecting anyone to offer me money for movie rights.



5 comments:

ebeth said...

ok, I know you can do this. I've been vegan for over two years and it's really not that hard. Well, at first it can... my advice is cook, cook, cook.... you can make anything vegan these days :)

Here are some websites that might help you out.

http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/default.asp

http://www.compassionatecooks.com/recipes.htm

http://www.fatfreevegan.com/all.shtml

Barbara said...

Thanks, ebeth. Only you're talkin' to the wrong lady when you say "cook, cook, cook"...I mean, I'm more interested in it today than I've been my entire life, but it's still not something I love. If only restaurants served vegan dishes. Eating out is my "social life" since I live alone. But I'll give it a go.

Barbara said...

And I'll check out your websites, too! Thanks!

ebeth said...

hmm, I eat out a lot too and you just have to ask the server if they have any vegan options....no butter, no cheese and cook with water instead of chicken broth :)

You can order soup, salad (no dressing), and breadsticks (no butter) at Olive garden. PF Changs has a few vegan options, Mellow Mushroom serves LOTS of stuff and the servers all know what "vegan" is :), and Panera has a fabulous black bean soup.

Barbara said...

I love black bean soup! Where is Mellow Mushroom? I want to try that place. Why no dressing at Olive Garden? Isn't their dressing just kind of "oil-and-vinegary" stuff? I don't have a problem with butter, as I never use it...but I do like scrambled egg whites and believe in their nutrition (it's the yolk with the cholesterol and saturated fat). Hate oatmeal and cereals. So I'll try scrambled tofu and tempeh. Do you like tempeh?