Clean Eating Vegan Challenge

After a crazy stressful and too-busy winter I've decided that it's time for a clean eating challenge during this Lenten season.  After reading an article in Cooking Light (http://www.cookinglight.com/food/vegetarian/cooking-light-food-editor-vegan-00412000087133/) where the editor was challenged to go vegan for a month, I realized that I want to get more veggies into my diet, which means I need to learn how to cook them.  Thus, I decided that I'm going to go vegan for the next four weeks in order to force myself to explore the world of vegetables and clean eating, (limiting the processed food).  I'm already partly vegan from being dairy-free and shellfish-free, so we'll see how hard it's going to be!

There will be some exceptions...I'm not going to worry about making life complicated for the Swim Team banquet, and I'll be making corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day on Monday, but otherwise I'm going to attempt, and be blogging about it, mainly for myself to keep track and be able to see how it's going!

I've done some recipe hunting and planning of meals already: for breakfasts I have oatmeal and cereal with almond milk, and soy yogurts with fruit, basically what I already eat.  Weekend brunch will be harder, but there are a ton of ideas online and Pinterest has been a great resource too.  Lunches will mostly be left-overs (what I already do), and making sure that I have peanut butter or almond butter to go with my apple or celery.  I don't think protein will be an issue, but something to watch just in case.  Eating out might be difficult, and if I have to, vegetarian will be an acceptable substitute, but I'll try to keep to it even when eating out.

It all starts tomorrow (Monday!)

The first recipe I'm going to try is:

Curried Tomato Lentil Soup (Shorba Addis)

Serves 3

This recipe is based on an Ethiopian soup with a rich, deep curry flavor and complex textures. It’s easy to make in a big batch for the week ahead, but it’s so good, don’t expect it to last more than a couple of days.

1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder (berbere is preferable)
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup brown or green lentils
1 Yukon Gold potato, diced
1/4 cup whole wheat orzo pasta

Over medium-high heat, sauté the onion until it is brown. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the carrot, ginger, garlic, curry powder, and fenugreek, sautéing them for about 1 minute. Add the veggie broth and tomato paste, stirring until the tomato paste is thoroughly combined with the broth. Bring the soup to a simmer. Add the lentils and stir. Once the soup comes back to a simmer, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook the soup for 20 minutes. Add the potato and orzo; cook the soup, covered, for 5 more minutes.

Making It Simple: Bring the veggie broth and tomato paste to a simmer, making sure the tomato paste is thoroughly combined with the broth. Add the onion, carrot, garlic, ginger, curry, fenugreek, and lentils and proceed with the above recipe as if you had just added the lentils.

The Gourmet Touch: This is an Ethiopian soup, so its flavor is best created using berbere—an Ethiopian curry mix.
Core Concepts: The key to this soup is timing when you add the ingredients. Lentils require time to cook, while diced potatoes and orzo pasta need only a few minutes; these are best added to a soup during the last few minutes of cooking.

from: http://www.pcrm.org/kickstartHome/mealplan/meal_plan.cfm#VVV  (Day 1)