Eco Magpie

Today I forsee being alot harder than before. Yesterday I was in the comfort of my own home able to pick and choose what I ate.

It's the first day back at work after new year and I can see it being a new challenge.

My day started off well. I made my oat milk coffee in my bamboo travel mug and packed my lunch and even added an orange as a snack. What with everyone being ill in the office always good to be careful. During my lunch break I popped out and grabbed some houmous and carrot sticks. Doing veganuary has really made me be more adventurous with my frood choices and not going for my usual go to meals and snacks.

Lunch went really well and my stew tasted better the second day which was a nice surprise. There are a few other vegans in the office so we swapped recipes and hints and tips which was nice as I got myself some recommendations to help me feel fuller and fun ingredients to try.

Everything was going to plan, my houmous snack was delightful and my orange slices went down a treat. That was until the birthday cake popped up. I tried to stick to it and had just a strawberry from the top. It didn't take much to break my resolve. A simple "are you sure you don't want a piece" and it was over.

It's definately a wake up call that I only lasted 1 and a half days before my first slip up. But I'm trying not to beat myself up over it because things like this happen. I don't want to slide too much so I'm putting it paste me and decided to look into some nice sweet treats I can keep in my desk drawer or new recipes I can bake to satisfy my sweettooth so I won't make the same mistake again.

Dinner was alot simple as I didn't feel like cooking so I went with a avocado on toast bruschetta mash up.

I started with my toast and rubbed with garlic. Crushed my avocado. Made my salsa with on the vine tomatoes and fresh basic from my windowsill garden. Bit of olive oils and the remaining garlic clove. I throw on some red Peppers too and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Waking up this morning I opened my eyes and I had a coffee on my nightstand. At first I didn't think anything of it, it's just like any other day where my hubby makes me a coffee since he always wakes up before me. That's when it hit me. We don't have plant based milk in the house. This coffee had skimmed milk in it.

That was the first time it really hit me that I'm actually making a big change to my diet and essentially my lifestyle.

Breakfast was a nice treat. I made myself a banana smoothie with peanut butter and oats. It was a lovely breakfast smoothie that was really filling. Normally I would add honey to make it sweeter but that would be very vegan now would it...so I added a spoonful of sugar instead since the peanut butter is made without palm oil and slightly bitter than your usual peanut butter.

Breakfast out the way I started getting pecking in the afternoon.

Once my breakfast settled I made oat milk from scratch; a recipe I'm sure I'll share at some point or another.

I made my coffee and it was okay. I didn't really notice the substitute since I've been slowly cutting down milk in general.

For lunch I got peckish and made myself a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. A simple lunch that kept me going and didn't take much thought.

For dinner I thought it would be good to make the most of the month and break it down into 4 parts.

1st week One Pot Wonders

2nd week It's A Rainbow

3rd week Made from Scratch

4th week Vegan on a Budget

So today's dinner to start the One Pot Wonder series is a "Mum's Green Bean Stew" made with a tomato base and carrots. Seasoned with lightly fried garlic, cumin and paprika.

It's a lovely family recipe passed down from my mum and her mum and so on. It was a step back to my roots and the perfect way to start my Veganuary dinner. I did a big batch so I can take some to work tomorrow and put what's left in the freezer for a later date.

Day 1 summed up

Overall it has been manageable and wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The substitutes I made were pretty small and I didn't feel like I was missing anything.

Tomorrow would be a bigger challenge since I'm going to be out and about. Today has been a lazy day at home and only cooking for myself.

Tomorrow I'll be making dinner for my hubby too (who still eats meat)

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Welcome to my immersive blogging experience. Blogging my journey though Veganuary....

Is it something I'll be able to do?? Or has being a meat eater been too heavily ingrained into my brain and my identity?

As I get closer to veganuary I begin to realise every meal I have has some kind of meat or animal product in it. Whether it's meat with my main meal, egg for my breakfast or cows milk to feed my tea addiction.

Every year I set myself a resolutions, some years I've been able to stick to them, others not so much. So this year Veganuary is the challenge I'm setting myself.

To do veganuary for the full 30 days with minimal to no slip ups.

I'm calling it a challenge because that's exactly what it's going to be. So I felt the best way to get me through this is to break it down into 3 stages.

1. Preparation

2. Inspiration

3. Accountability

First stage is Preparation. 

I've been scouring the Web for recipes to try and keep January simple but still interesting. Looking for the one pot meals that are quick and easy. Finding meals I can bulk cook and mix up a few bits with minimum effort. When going through and looking for alternatives to my usuals I've worked out my main hurdle; strangely enough isn't going to be the meat but actually the dairy, but more on that realisation in tomorrow's Post.

Second stage is Inspiration

There are now so many places to draw inspiration from. Whether it's Instagram and scrolling through the countless #vegan pics of beautifully prepared colourful meals or Pinterest boards with amazing recipes to try and make at home. All this inspiration is really fuelling me to keep going and stay on track. There are soo many reasons to make the change to vegan or veggie that it's becoming hard to ignore.

Lastly Accountability

It's easy to give up when no one knows about it, easy to slip when no one is watching. So this blog is my accountability measure, documenting it all no secrets. It's my open book diary. There will be no lies, no bullshit and nothing but honestly.

Keep watching this space for Day 1 uploaded tomorrow. Posts will be every odd day of January 2020 because why not. So put your notifications on to keep up to date.

For everyday updates on my journey don't forget to swing by my Instagram @ecomagpie for fun memes inspirational quotes and a Veganuary food diary.