YUMMY FOOD :)

Tom and I got up really early this morning and drove to Cleveland to go to Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market. It's about 1.5 hours drive, but it's well worth the selections of food compared to around here. Now that Tom is eating completely vegan also, there are so many things he wants to try. He said if he can figure out a way to make his favorite foods vegan style, he will be happy to continue this for the rest of his life. I still can't believe he switched, I am so glad, it's just hard to believe when someone says I will never give up meat or dairy and then right there after watching a movie, he was ready and now with the way he feels he doesn't want to go back. 

When we got home we immediately made this smoothie. It was incredible! It's made of 100% pineapple juice, 2 frozen bananas, 2 large handfuls of fresh strawberries and 2 tablespoons of flaxseed ground meal. It had so much flavor and was so good, especially right now with the hot weather, this was perfect.

 When we were at Whole Foods Market, Tom found these Vegan Sausages and Hot Dogs. I myself do not miss meat at all and usually don't choose vegan substitutes. Every once in awhile I will have a bean burger or vegan hotdog, but it's not something I crave. Tom on the other hand just went from the biggest meat eater I know to this new lifestyle, so I understand. He wants to try to create all of his favorite foods in a vegan version. I told him, most things I will try, but there are just some I don't even want to try because I never even liked meat that much. He grilled the Mexican Chipolte Sausage on the grill with Onions and Green Peppers, and also made homemade Wheat Hot dog buns. These were so good, had a nice spicy kick to them but not too spicy. We put some homemade mustard relish on them. You can check out the ingredients here. They are $5.00 for a pack of 4.

For dinner we bought 2 packs of Vegan Pizza dough. My son Gage loves to make homemade pizza from scratch, but we picked these up for $1.19 at Trader Joes, might even be cheaper than making the dough. My boys eat cheese so Gage made a Cheese pizza with Basil, Italian Seasoning, Minced Garlic and Hot & Spicy Seasoning. Tom and I had the Garlic & Herb Pizza dough and he put olive oil and minced garlic instead of sauce, then he put Red & Yellow Peppers, Mushrooms, Red Onions, Fresh Basil, Oregano and Thyme that we are growing, Nutritional Yeast (we just found out about this on Rip Engine 2 and now on a lot of Vegan sites) I only sprinkled a little bit on because I wasn't sure if I would like it. It's said to have a cheesy taste, but completly Vegan. It's also packed with nutrients and vitamins and protein. The pizza came out so good! We sprinkled some red crushed hot pepper on afterwards.

Well it's storming out right now so we are all taking turns doing the treadmill. Tom is down 22 lbs in almost 3 weeks. He has been eating so much food too, just all the right foods.