Day 1

It's day one of my new healthy lifestyle.  Yesterday the family went to Fresh Thyme and loaded up on fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as dry beans.  This week we will be having black beans, kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils.  The only real challenge we had was finding ripe enough avocados.  Hopefully they soften for later in the week.  And of course, we did forget something (as usual), almond milk!  Evelyn, our 2 year old, has a dairy intolerance, as do I, and we've always used almond milk instead of cow's milk.

Breakfast wasn't too different.  For me it used to consist of oatmeal with honey and strawberries, and two scrambled eggs with cheese.  Instead of honey, I used agave nectar, and for protein I added some chia seeds to my oatmeal.  It was delicious!

Being a breastfeeding mom, it wasn't long until I was hungry again.  So I threw together some almond milk, kale and banana and made a green smoothie.  Evelyn insisted on trying it and she raved about it.  Right now I can only make one smoothie at a time because the lid to my Ninja blender is broken.  (Side note: The release button stopped working and I had to break it to open it up. If you need to replace a BL660 pitcher/lid, don't go directly through Ninja.  They charge over $60 while Bed Bath & Beyond charge $35).  Once my replacement arrives I'll experiment with more ingredients.  It's just too hard to fit much into those single serving cups.

I was very excited about lunch.  Ever since I made the time-depleting Pinterest discovery I have almost completely relied on it for recipes.  So I used this site as a guide for my first vegan lunch: http://hurrythefoodup.com/how-to-make-a-buddha-bowl/

I enjoyed cilantro lime rice (white, because I don't know how anyone can choke down brown rice), lentils and spinach topped with spicy-orange vinaigrette.  Look at how pretty it was!

It was amazing.  Especially with the cilantro, which is one of my favorite flavors.  The sriracha had a nice kick, but it wasn't overpowering, and the slight tang from the orange perfectly balanced out the spiciness.

I'm very much looking forward to dinner, which will be a Mexican chop salad with avocado dressing.  It has black beans, corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, green onions, avocado and a delicious sounding creamy avocado dressing.