My experience with the cheese: It was super strong. I ate it by it'self, maybe that's why it was so strong. If I ate it with a piece of bread, or something, it might be better. To be honest, it was absolutely disgusting. I tolerated it, but it was so hard to get it down. I saved half of my toast for this reason. If the cheese was too hard to get down, I would have the toast there to hide the taste. Oh it was absolutely awful. Tomorrow, I am going to try it with some crackers for lunch. Breakfast filled me up. I love peanut butter in the morning. It helps fill me up so I am not full an hour after I eat. With the apples, I am seeing a change in my skin. It's more 'glowy'. During the summer, I ate an apple every morning for a week. My skin is starting to look like that again! "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"... my saying, "An apple a day gives that perfect glowy look to your skin and keeps away blemishes."
After breakfast, I went and changed into my leggings, tank top and ballet wrap for some yoga. It was freezing this morning, and the pellet stove takes a long time to warm up. I grabbed my mat and prepared to do some yoga.
I found a new yoga app. This app is way different from yesterday's yoga app. Yesterday's yoga app showed a silent video of the pose changes. The app today actually talked to you. It told you when the transition changes and pose changes were happening. It was way easier to relax, breathe, and keep my head up or down. It was nice. I ended up buying the full version. I did a lot of stretching today too. I loved feeling that stretch in my muscles. By tomorrow, I am hoping to touch my head to my knee. I was trying to do that today, but you don't want to rush stretching, and you don't want to strain yourself trying something you aren't physically ready for. Hopefully by tomorrow I can do that.
My yoga session was awesome though!
After my yoga session, I dug into a tofu frenzy. I was actually kind of scared of the tofu... opening it. It was hard to open, so I used a fork and stabbed the wrapping. I drained it, and touched it with my finger. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. I don't even know why I was scared of it in the first place. It was just a new thing to me, new thing to try. Something very different, but it turned out great!
I found a really simple recipe for teriyaki tofu. I made into my own. It's really simple.
These are the ingredients I used: Olive oil, Teriyaki sauce, and soy sauce. The tomato is for a different part of the lunch. I drizzled olive oil over some tomato slices, and sprinkled basil on the slices. It turned out great!
You cut up the tofu after it is drained. Cut them into 1/4 inch slices. Then take paper towels and press lightly on them. I re read the recipe and it said to absorb moisture out of them for 30 minutes. I didn't really have 30 minutes, so I did it my own way. I decided take two slices, cut them in half into squares. I saved the rest of the tofu in a Tupperware container filled with water, then put the container in the fridge. I dabbed up the moisture from the four little tofu squares I cut up and dipped them in the marinade.
The marinade is super simple to make, just combine the soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and olive oil together in a bowl. I just used to tofu container and had the tofu squares marinate in there for a little while. During that time, I prepared the tomatoes. After they marinate for about 6 minutes (you can do more, but I was on a bit of a time crunch). I put the tomatoes and tofu on a tin foil covered pan, put the pan in the oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Every ten minutes, I drizzled some more of the teriyaki marinade over the tofu. Adding more flavor to the tofu.
Soon, the meal was done, and it was ready to dig in. I was kind of nervous. I remember uttering the words, "Here it goes."
It ended up being really really delicious! The tofu was softer than I expected. I think next time I am going to get firm tofu. The tofu is better hot than cold. But it was really delicious! The tomatoes were a little soggy. I think I won't add as much olive oil next time, I will just do a little shower or misting of olive oil. The tomatoes were still good.
After lunch my sister went on a run, and since she isn't allowed to go by herself, I went on a power walk right behind her. Since I had just eaten, I didn't want to full on run. That doesn't work well with me. One time at a track meet, I made the mistake of eating chicken strips right before the relay race. BAD IDEA. I had to back out of the relay and our relay team was scratched. I'd rather that than throwing up. The power walk was great! I felt it in my abs and my legs. Worked some different muscles from power walking than just from regular walking. When we got back home, I started on the dinner. Meatless Zucchini Lasagna. I was really excited about it! I started early so I could take pictures and keep the day light. I like taking pictures with natural day light. There ended up being a lot of steps, my hands were constantly wet from chopping up watery veggies, or rinsing off pans. It was hard to take pictures of the steps. I got so stressed out during the cooking process, I had half a brownie. I needed chocolate! I feel like I messed up all because of that fall, but I don't think it's that bad. I had a whole brownie total sweets today. The chocolate helped a little and I finished the lasagna. The kitchen was a mess by the time I was done. I cleaned the whole kitchen, my back was hurting a lot, I was ready to sit down. Once I smelled the lasagna, I was proud of my work. I was worried with how it was going to taste. It looked great! Looked really great, and I was sure it was going to taste fine, I just didn't want the zucchini to be soggy or the noodles to be under cooked. That wasn't the case at all though!
It looked even better after it was out of the oven! The cheese all melty on top, the smell of the spices. The smell of the cheese. A complete vegetarian meal.
It's great to go meatless.
My mom came home, and she was really happy that dinner was done and ready to be eaten. She had to leave again to take Brittney to her bible study. She had a slice of the lasagna and she exclaimed, "This is so good, Courtney!" That made me really happy. I stopped coloring in my 'Wreck This Journal', and decided to have my dinner. A perfect slice of Meatless Zucchini Lasagna. I ended up having three big slices. They aren't very filling, but when you have had three, they are. I feel like a fatty for eating three. I am sticking with my diet though.
For dessert, I had the other half of the brownie. I have been meatless for 2 days now. I know that doesn't seem like much, but you have to start somewhere. I am taking big steps, already buying soy milk, soy cheese and tofu. Trying new things. It's been great! I feel amazing and awesome. I have a lot more energy and I haven't felt the sluggish feeling in two days. Being meatless for a little while isn't horrible. It feels awesome! I don't want to confuse anybody, so I am going to lay it out on the table right now. I am mostly going vegetarian with a little bit of veganism thrown in. I am not going completely vegan. That is too hard for me. I am making vegan meals, I had two vegan meals today. My dinner was vegetarian because there was dairy in the lasagna. Milking a cow does not hurt the cow. Taking eggs from chickens is not killing baby chicks. If you have a rooster in the hen house, then you will get baby chicks. Other than that, you are just getting eggs. But I still like vegan meals. I hope I can still keep this up during school. I am excited to be creative. To be honest, I am starting to stress about school again. I have a lot going on already, and to throw this new way of eating in, it's going to be a lot. I can take it though. I won't be sluggish! I won't have the burning feeling in my stomach. I will feel amazing! I already do feel amazing! I am really proud of myself. I have been reading the ingredients label on the products and reading what is in them. I am still educating myself on the safety of this diet, but I am being safe and cautious. I feel wonderful! Oh, and the water bottle count: 3 and 1/2. Still working on the other half. I can't honestly say 4 yet.
Today was a great day! I am excited for tomorrow. Tomorrow, I work on homework! goody. And, I will get that lasagna recipe up on my blog soon. I need to have my mom help me with it so I can take pictures of the process. I feel the pictures of the process help people so that they know what it's supposed to look like.
Only 2 more days of Christmas break. :( I am not ready for it to end AT ALL.
Can't wait for Spring break....
I hope everyone had a great day today! I know I did!
If you have anymore questions about the recipes in this post, just leave your question in the comments.
