Feeling Fantastic!

 OK, there is something I have realized about myself that I would have been shocked to have discovered just a few short years ago: I like rules. 

It turns out my husband and I both like rules.  As in, 'Let's not drink alcohol for the entire month of January!'  'Let's eat only vegan food for at least 3 weeks in January!'  'Let's cut out white sugar!'  Still working on the white sugar part, more on that later.  But doing great on the not drinking and eating vegan.  And, not a big surprise here, feeling really fantastic.
As in sleeping deeply and well,  waking up alert, not groggy like I usually am, and having lots of energy.  Enough energy that we thought, why aren't we members of a gym anymore?  And promptly signed up at the Y and have gone 4 times this week. 

It's not like we made these lifestyle choices overnight.  That would be really hard.  If you have been reading this blog, you will know that I have been eating more and more vegan for the last 6 months and trying to run half marathons a couple times a year.  But I wasn't feeling that different eating vegan and I realized that most of the vegan cookbooks I had bought weren't really that healthy just because they got rid of animal products.  Many of them fell into the same Western diet trap of eating tons of white flour, white sugar, processed foods like fake cheeses and meat---a couple of them even recommend tofu "sour cream" which is full of trans fats!  Not a way to feel better at all.  

So I am turning to some online resources to find some mostly whole foods recipes.  In no particular order of favorites:

+Deliciously Ella: Not only vegan whole foods cooking, but gluten free as well. I modified her sweet potato brownies to pumpkin and we ate them right up. 

+One Ingredient Chef:  Great for beginner cooks, this has a lot of whole foods ideas for simple recipes.  His cauliflower "alfredo" sauce is delicious and we've eaten it on zucchini pasta and mixed in tofu scrambles.

+Earthsprout: Her raw food, no white sugar desserts are really inspiring me in the kitchen and pictures of the buffet from her vegan wedding make my mouth salivate.

+101 Cookbooks: Great whole foods recipes with outstanding ideas for kales, soups, whole grains.

+Marin Mama Cooks:  I just discovered this site last week but the tofu banh mi sandwich recipe (below) was so delicious, I've already made it twice!  I just subbed vegan aioli for regular mayo.   

I made these tofu scramble with cauliflower "alfredo" sauce and faux parmesan tacos today for lunch.  Hearty and filling!  

Here's the cauliflower "alfredo" on zucchini pasta.  I wanted to make garlic bread on white crusty french bread so I decided we didn't need any additional normal pasta with the meal. 

Here's one of the ugliest dishes I have made so far, and one of the weirdest, but it tastes really good!  Sunflower buckwheat "pizza" crusts with caramelized onions and mushrooms.  I might not ever serve this to a guest because of my hostess standards, but I will make it again for myself!  

I hope I tempted you to try some whole foods recipes!