Going Vegan - Sort of...

We are hitting the studio next week and in preparation for having the "cleanest" voices that we can we are abstaining from dairy products (dairy produces lots of flem -- bad for singing). For those of you who are lactose intolerant, I now understand the difficulties that you go through. I mean, there is dairy in everything. Giving up dairy is like giving up happiness.

Well, shortly after deciding to give up dairy temporarily, Jacob came to the decision that he was going to solve his acid reflux and major sinus allergy problem by taking out foods that typically cause those symptoms and then reintroducing items one at a time to see what is causing the issues. Which means, in addition to the dairy, eliminating gluten and eggs. Simultaneously, I am getting serious about my own hormonal health and it was recommended to us to try a vegetarian diet....Hey, no problem... so we can't eat meat, wheat, or dairy....sure....umm.... seriously? I don't think I can do this.

Honestly I don't know how long I can endure. The first week we did this, I could think of nothing but food - I was day dreaming about sausage, cheese burgers and butter, oh sweet butter, and ice cream .. . . gulp.. ... delectable ice cream.

We are now at 11 days on this diet and things have gotten easier. In fact, this has forced us to eat healthy, immaculately healthy, and that feels good. Finding things to eat has also gotten easier. At first, all I could think of was salad and lentil soup...and the lentil soup didn't turn out so great. This week we have gotten more creative - vegetable and tofu curry (tofu is not as bad as I always thought), stuffed green peppers (see recipe below), and roasted portabella medley. These dishes have been quite enjoyable. My sister pointed me to a vegan blog that has been helpful. Plus we found a vegan restaurant here in East Nashville called The Wild Cow. We ate there last night and thought it was super tasty. They really know how to prepare great vegan foods. In fact if you are looking for a delicious cake, they have a chocolate cake that was AMAZING. It was gluten and dairy free (I have no idea how they did it) and it blows away most other chocolate cakes I have ever had. It was made by a local baker, Aunt April's Bakery and is sold by the Wild Cow.

Anyway, the reason I am sharing all of this is so you can feel sorry for me.....no, just kidding. I just think its an interesting story. I guess I always thought that people who were vegan were a little bit, shall we say, extreme. But now I realize that there are all sorts of reasons for doing it. And it's a good exercise in learning to eat more healthy. Even when we do start eating meat again, we will know how to prepare more vegetable-based foods, which will keep us living longer.

So, here is a recipe that I invented tonight with ingredients that I had in my fridge. It turned out really well and could be a main dish or a side dish.

Stuffed Green Peppers - Vegan Style
2 large green peppers
1 cup chopped portabella mushrooms
1 cup cooked rice (any variety)
1 med. tomato, diced
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup of chopped zucchini
4 ounces of hummus
salt
pepper
olive oil

Mix together mushrooms, rice, tomato, onion, zucchini, hummus, salt and pepper. Cut out core of the green pepper and stuff with mixture. Or you can cut the green peppers in half and stuff each half.  Brush the outside of the peppers with olive oil. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. (For a non-vegan version, add turkey sausage or ground beef and feta/or other cheese)