The end of Stephanie's vegan nightmare.

Well Stephanie successfully completed my challenge, in that by day four she was done being vegan. Hey, at least she gave it a shot!   It all came to an end when Elephant and Castle said, hey, have some french onion soup and pretzels.  I've been there, sister. Here's her narrative!~

So it's Monday, day four of back to normal life.  As I write this I'm snacking on my favorite gorgonzola crackers (from TJ's) which have been giving me the stink eye from the top of the fridge for the past week.  Today I had the same oatmeal that I ate last week, but I got to have cheese in my lunch!  That's what I missed the most last week.  Not bread, surprisingly.  Cheese! 

Overall, even though I had some tough times last week and eventually gave in before a full week's time, I am glad I experienced veganism.  I've never put my body through something so restrictive before.  I am the type of person who spoils myself and allows myself treats and indulgences so it was really hard to tell myself I couldn't have things when I wanted them. 

Here is a recipe of something good that game out of being Vegan: Cupcakes!

So they're actually called Margarita Cupcakes but I had so many oranges that I chose to change it.  Here's the recipe for what you ate on Sunday:

1/4 cup orange juice

1 1/2 tsp. orange zest

1 cup soy milk (or you can probably use almond milk if you prefer but it might affect the taste a little

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar (it's only vegan if you make sure it's a beet sugar brand)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/3 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-24 minutes.  I tend to eyeball things instead of timing though and it's great as cupcakes or a cake.  For the frosting I just mixed 1/4 cup butter (vegan or non if you're not in the vegan mood), 1 tbsp soy milk, 3 tbsp orange juice and 2 cups confectioners sugar.  If you want the frosting to be thicker just add more powdered sugar.  And there you go!

Last week definitely made me think about ingredients that you (well me) might not realize are in everyday foods.  I think going forward it's going to make me very conscious about knowing what exactly I'm ingesting.  And that's a good thing, so really this was a good experience.  Thanks for challenging me to do it!

Here picture of the faux meat that broke this camels back.

~This is Lauren again.  Just as an FYI, Steph thought this was disgusting and wound up giving me her chicken version that she couldn't even bear to eat. BEAR or bare.  I'm not sure, actually I think it is bear. Anyway, I had it for a lunch today and it was awesome.  BOOYAH.  Vegan whattt!  I wonder what I'll challenge her to next.

I think I have the perfect quote to send us out of this post....from my favorite kitten youtube video.  "I want pie.  I want beef jerky!"  We all just want a little meat...or maybe bone char in our sugar.  Mmmm.