Vegan Adventures on the Go

It's almost done!  My month of vegan eating has not been quite as hard as I thought, but my desire for cheese has reached an all time mammoth sized craving.  Some things are frustrating, like that only the cheap white flour brand of english muffins are dairy free AND they contain high fructose corn syrup.  The whole wheat ones have egg and milk in them, boo!  Also, I don't want to have to shop at whole foods to purchase vegan bread crumbs.  Seriously, no brand at Kroger was dairy free.  I ended up buying kroger brand shake'n'bake instead because although it had every other chemical known to man in it, no dairy!  Issues like that seem to defeat the purpose of eating healthy in the first place, so to sustain this type of diet, I would have to stock a vegan pantry with lots of forethought and planning.

Here's the other thing that made it easier.  I've only eaten away from home a handful of times this month.  Once to Pei Wei, where they were incredibly accomodating and almost excited to help me find a vegan option.  Once to Panera for lunch on the very first day (which I shared with you on FB!) and failed.  Once to Mexico Chiquito and once to Chuy's, and oh gosh once to Razorback Pizza.  Here's what I had.

Panera - Corn Chowder (FAIL!) and Greek Salad- order black bean soup in stead and get a vegan bread option because the little mini baguettes are not

Pei Wei - Pad Thai w/no Egg (Success! and YUM!)  There are just a million calories in it.

Mexico Chiquito - (Half Fail) Veggie tacos which consisted of black beans only because I ordered them with no cheese dip.  The half fail is because their lettuce/tomato/cheese mixture for topping is all mixed in and I couldn't get the powdery goo off of my taco.  I also got guacamole and chips which were tasty.

Chuy's - Veggie fajitas (SUPER DELICIOUS!), OMG their tortillas are so good and the veggie fajitas with some quacamole and salsa honestly left me feeling no sadness for the lost sour cream.  The only thing I didn't like was paying (sortof, we had a gift card) $12 for veggies on a skillet.  They should adjust the price if you are only ordering veggies I think.

Razorback Pizza - Spanish Pie w/no cheese or meat or sour cream (EPIC FAIL OF SADNESS) Seriously, I have had taco pizza at Larry's before and it was delish and needed no cheese or meat at all.  This stuff at Razorback pizza was awful.  The beans are mixed with chili powder and tomato paste to create a bitter, vinegar flavored awful paste stuck to stale crust topped with big hunks of salad bar lettuce and tomato wedges and olives that seemed way past their fresh by date.  They gave me half off the pizza because I couldn't even get the kids to eat the cheesy/meaty goodness side of the thing.  It was awful and in the bathroom, there was this photo.

Talk about adding insult to injury!! Needless to say, that was a tough day to stay vegan. Later that night my church hosted their annual homemade ice cream and dessert bingo night. I ate my black bean burrito wrap from home with great sadness as everyone chowed down on ice cream and brownies. If I'd had the time I would have made myself a vegan treat, BUT I was too busy shopping for new pants and treated myself to a pair of red high heels. So although it didn't feel quite as good as those treats probably tasted, I vaguely understand the phrase!