Broadening my culinary horizons

Well, it is day 5 of the vegan challenge, and it is still going great. I'm not missing meat at all, and I don't feel deprived or hungry, either. One obstacle I've encountered is that I kind of have to relearn how to cook and find recipes. I can't just pull any cookbook off the shelf and choose a recipe, because I need to be vigilant that there are no animal products in what I cook. Finding vegan recipes is not that difficult, but finding vegan recipes that don't require a trip to the grocery store is. I am slowly stocking a vegan/vegetarian kitchen, but money is a concern in our home, so I can't just run out and get every ingredient. If I don't have all but one or two items, then I am not cooking that dish.

I had a wonderful weekend that was chock-full of healthy happenings. We took the dogs on a 2+ mile walk on Saturday which, needless to say, they loved. We also finally made our way to an international grocery store fairly near our house. I've been meaning to stop in there for ages, and wow - I really like that place! It doesn't look that big from outside, but their use of space is excellent and we wound our way around the aisles for at least a half an hour. I found a package of an Indian paste for rice and Jason bought a package of seasonings so he could make tandoori chicken.

 

 I added a potato, green beans, carrots, and half of an onion. I would definitely 

add a LOT more veggies next time, especially more potato. I also didn't have
lemon curd (oops), so I just put lemon juice in it. Oh well. Yum!

HOLY COW, I am not used to eating Indian food! The spices built up until my mouth was melting, but it was so delicious! Jason seemed to enjoy his tandoori chicken, and we both loved the zucchini that Jason grilled. We had enough food to have generous helpings and still plenty of leftovers.

I've not really been an Indian food fan in the past, but this was SO good!

Sunday was pretty much a lazy day. Jason spent an hour or so getting my bicycle in working order again. My poor bike has just sat in the elements for who knows how long. There are a few things about me that you should know: I hate exercising, and I have not really ridden a bike since I was a kid. That said, today my bicycle works, but I don't. I only went around a few blocks, but prior to my bike being back in good shape, it was stuck in high gear. I'm kind of embarrassed to say that my knee is somewhat stiff now. I'm determined to stick with it, though. Gas prices are ridiculously high and our income is still the same, not to mention the amount of weight I gained last year (for no good reason) and this year (since I quit smoking).

I also tried my first (intentionally) vegan convenience food today. It's from Simply Asia and the kind I tried was Sesame Teriyaki. I intentionally chose the mild kind, because after two days of Indian food, I needed to give my digestive system a break. :) Anyway, I thought the noodle bowl was pretty good. The amount of sodium was ridiculous, though. All in all, not too shabby.

Tasty but sodium-laden. Despite this, it's handy on lazy days!