Letting go of lust, gaining mindfulness

I am nearly to the end of the vegan month-long #Eatlikeasuperstar challenge hosted by @heart-to-heart and playing some major catch up on my entries. I'm happy to announce I'm still very much in the challenge and my diet hasn't faltered, I'm just behind in writing posts as I have had a hectic work week filled with traveling and bouncing straight into a vacation in France (starting today!). So let's get started!

Day 6

4-13-2018

I decided to start writing the dates on my posts as I'm using the dates on my notepad, and am getting lost between what the date is and what day of the challenge we're on. I started the day with the way I like to start every day - a large bowl of granola with raisins and nuts, cinnamon added in, blueberries on top, and filled with almond milk. There are a lot of breakfast foods I miss (EGGS! I eat eggs every other day usually), but I am content as long as I have a nice large bowl of granola with lots of added yummy healthy things on top:)

For lunch I made the carrot coriander base soup again, this time with a little spin on it that definitely made it a favorite contender of recipes so far. Carrot coriander base soup, with grilled sliced mushrooms, spinach, couscous, lots of herbs, and a pile of diced beet roots with fresh basil on top. It was mouth watering and definitely a dish I plan to make again!

For an additional midday snack I opted for an apple and clementine from my bowl of fresh fruit that I bought at the farmers market. Fresh fruits and veggies are so cheap in the northern UK!

Later that day I made an avocado on toast recipe I havent tried before and turning it into a full on sandwich. One slice had the avocado with my new favorite tomato chutney on top, the other had fresh spinach with sliced tomatoes and chutney, and then I put them together and it made a delicious fresh tasting sandwich:)

I had recently bought British style baked beans at the grocery store for added protein I was lacking, however I have no idea how to make them fancy or add things to it. Normally in the US my choice are black beans and I can make blackbean burgers or veggie tacos using the beans instead of meat, but baked beans don't quite translate dishes in the same way. So I simply added some spices and herbs and just ate it as is. In England, they would normally have them for breakfast with eggs and toast and ham and this gross thing called black pudding (dont even ask me what it is), but most of that I can't eat on the challenge! So here is a simple baked beans for dinner instead - making the most of my "lots of little meals throughout the day" instead of 2-3 large ones:)

Day 7

4-14-2018

Day 7 started off great with a healthy bowl of granola, with a pile of strawberries and blueberries on top, as well as a healthy dose of cinnamon.

For lunch I had to finish off the rest of the avocado I opened the day before, so I used half of the avocado and made an avocado on toast with the tomato chutney on top again, alongside a bowl of tomato basil soup with mushrooms and spinach, and fresh basil. Again, a lot of the same ingredients but I live alone and if I dont eat it, it will go bad! And I refuse to waste perfectly good delicious food;)

I was going out that night with friends drinking since it was the weekend, and I was hoping that the soup and avocado on toast would hold me over, but lo and behold leaving the club at 2am and my group of friends wanted to eat late night fast food. I was really hungry and luckily managed to find a falafel place open late, and miraculously remembered to drunkenly document my falafel veggie wrap at 2am (no post its were available and I was not sober enough to remember ;p). Also I will note that I was getting some definite stares from other people in the place wondering why and heck this weird drunk girl was "instagramming" the least attractive looking falafel ever;p

Day 8

4-15-2018
No surprise here, I started Day 8 with a large bowl of granola, blueberries and cinnamon with almond milk (I literally never tire of it).

For lunch I had butternut squash soup, with fresh basil and herbs added on top, alongside some avocado on toast with tomatoes, chutney sauce and spinach on top .

I had a snack later on which was peanut butter on toast. After realizing I didnt have any jam to add to the peanut butter sandwich, I put fresh strawberries on top. Healthy, but not the best tasting hahah, and not a sandwich I'd like to have again ;)

Later on I made a fresh spinach salad with tomatoes, beets, and grilled mushrooms on top for a nice light supper since I wasn't very hungry from spacing out my many small meals:)

Day 9

4-16-2018

Day 9 would definitely start the beginning of an entire new series of challenges since I was leaving for London for a work trip, so I would be no longer in the comfort of cooking at home and making my own recipes. For breakfast, I ate the last of my granola with almond milk mixed with water (because I was almost out!), with lots of strawberries and cacao powder on top.

I ate an early lunch before heading off to the train station, which included the last of my spinach, some beets for a salad, and the leftover baked beans on top. Nothing spectacular, but it made for a good filling lunch to last me through the day as I would be arriving in London very late that night.

I also packed a bag of fruit to have snacks on the train and to have handy.

After a long train ride to London, I arrived at London Euston train station and my host where I was staying was another 45 minutes outside the center. It wasn't until after 10pm that I arrived, and my hosts thoughtfully waited until I arrived to start making dinner. After learning about my vegan challenge, they were so kind as to try to prepare a vegan dish for me, but I was really lucky they hadn't already made something with meat, or even decided to make something non vegan and I would not have been able to eat that night. They bought a bunch of vegetables and mixed it in with some curry sauce with coconut oil added, making a delicious vegan coconut curry dish. It was late, I had dropped my bags and when we left for the kitchen I didnt have my slip, but take my word for it - it was incredible!;)

Day 10

4-17-2018

I had one free day before the conference and because it was so beautiful outside (and the perfect temperature - felt like summer!) I decided to walk as much across London as possible. For breakfast I grabbed a gluten-free cranberry and peanut butter snack bar. It was to small of a breakfast, but my host didnt have breakfast foods and it was the only food I had besides a few leftover fruits that were starting to be questionable.

Before leaving for the long day of walking all across London, I had a big vegan burger wrap lunch that I was stuffed from eating at a restaurant attached to the building my host lived in, which overlooked the beautiful canal. The veggie burger was made from black beans and chickpeas with tomato and lettuce in a falafel type wrap, and there was also a side of sweet potato fries.

After a long day of walking over 6 miles across all of London, my legs were exhausted. I ended up meeting a local and we went for a beer and by the end of the night we were hungry, so we found a diner open later in the night, and I found one vegan dish which was called a "Veggie Mash", with potatoes, tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, and topped with asparagus and a delicious sauce. It was very dark in the diner, so the photos don't do it justice, but it was an incredibly tasty meal and most definitely something I want to try to make myself!

You can read more about the challenge here:
https://steemit.com/contest/@heart-to-heart/eatlikeasuperstar-100sbd-giveaway-challenge-starts-now

Are you vegan? Have you ever thought about being vegan? I would love feedback and to know that I'm doing right or any improvements I can make, or suggestions for recipes, as well as your experiences being vegan and the challenges and temptations you might have faced.