Day 4: Home sick but still E2ing!

Well it's Day 4 and I'm home sick! My cold got worse and I switched shifts to take the day off. Just feeling congestion, a bit of a sore throat and the left side of my face hurts. Nothing a plant-strong warrior can't handle though!

Resting with my dear cat/nurse

For breakfast, I enjoyed another helping of my homemade granola and unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Still as delicious as ever!

Later, I had a little snack for "lunch". I mashed up some avocado with cilantro, red onion, garlic powder, lime juice and liquid aminos. I ate it with an Engine 2 Original Flavor Crispbread. Since I'm not feeling well today, I don't have much of an appetite, but it still tasted good! Rip told us to use nut butters and avocado as condiments so I need to keep that in mind. I ate more than a condiment serving...but it's still healthier than frozen pizza!

Speaking of what Rip said, here's some more information from him.

In yesterday's blog, I mentioned the 5 diseases that are the biggest killers of Americans. Today I'll share more of Rip's info on Heart Disease. 

Heart Disease

• 51% of Americans will die from a heart attack or stroke

•First sign of heart disease in 50% of patients is sudden death. 

•It exsists because we feed it the fuel it needs to thrive

•You CAN halt and reverse heart disease with a plant-based low fat diet

This info just makes you want to run out and eat a cheeseburger, right? Speaking of cheeseburger, Rip informed us last night that one egg yolk has the same amount of cholesterol as two Whoppers! Two! Ahh!

Heart Disease killed my grandmother. She had a heart attack. So, this information hits close to home.

After a long nap that got me feeling a little better, I decided to get to work on dinner. I've got a little more food from Lisa, but I'll save that for tomorrow's lunch! Tonight, I made a huge pot of mushroom stroganoff. I looked at the E2 recipe and put my own spin on it. Here's my recipe:

Heather Jean's Mushroom Stroganoff 

1 lb crimini mushrooms

8 oz button mushrooms

1 medium red onion

1/3 bag frozen califlower 

1/2 cup red wine

1 1/2 to 2 cups low sodium vegetable      broth (depending on how thick you like your sauce)

2 tsp liquid aminos

1 tbsp Penzey's mural of flavor spice 

4 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 tbsp garlic powder 

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 box whole grain rotini noodles

Roughly chop the red onion. Place in deep frying pan and sauté on med/high adding a splash of red wine to deglaze the pan each time they start to stick. Repeat process until the onions are tender. 

Slice all mushrooms, place two handfuls in a seperate bowl. Add the rest of the mushrooms to the pan with the onions and cook until tender (adding a splash of wine to deglaze pan when needed.)

Add the rest of the spices and stir. Next, add the frozen califlower and vegetable broth. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 min. 

Remove sauce from the heat and allow to cool a bit. Meanwhile, get your water boiling for the pasta. When the sauce cools a bit, blend it in blender until smooth. Set aside. 

Place the sliced mushrooms you set aside in a pan and sauté, using wine to deglaze the pan. Put the blended sauce back on the heat and add the sautéed sliced mushrooms. 

Boil your pasta, drain and spoon into a single serving bowl. Add as much sauce as you'd like and eat it up!

The crushed red peppers added a nice bit of heat and the small amount of liquid aminos added the salty flavor I crave.

Looks a little messy, but it was goooood!

This was the night I really fought back the urge to give in. Being under the weather, I didn't want to cook, and wasn't in the mood for the stuff I had in the fridge. I had a very very kind friend offer to pick me up something, but I live far from her and felt guilty taking her up on the offer. Thank you, though, Amanda! You're so sweet!!

It would have been easier to get fast food or a can of chicken noodle soup. But, I called my mom and sister and they both told me not to give up. Then I read a comment from a reader who called me "inspiring", so that was all I needed to skip the drive-thru! 

One more thing. They said I couldn't do it...pop popcorn on the stove with no oil...but I did! I literally just put the popcorn kernels in a covered pot, brought the heat to medium and continually shook the pot back and forth to avoid burning. It popped and was delicious! I typically put oil on the popcorn then shake it in a brown paper bag with nutritional yeast, garlic powder and a little salt. Since I can't do the oil and salt, I just filled a small bowl with nutritional yeast and garlic powder. This sounds gross and probably looked silly, but I'd lick a piece of popcorn then dip it in the topping mixture. If you haven't had nutritional yeast, it's a tangy flavor similar to cheese. It's vegan, full of fiber and protein! So, I don't care if I looked silly licking my popcorn, it was good!

And one LAST thing! My blog was featured on the Engine 2 Facebook page today, which really boosted my pageviews! I reached 1,000 and then kept on climbing! It was so exciting!! Hello to all you new readers! Thanks for following my journey! 24 more days left!

Today I felt: Like giving in until I got a few pep talks, Thrilled about being featured on the Facebook page, Proud of the mushroom stroganoff and NOT giving in!! 

Day 4: You did NOT want to see the hair under that hat! :-P