Food diary - Oct. 8

Breakfast - Oatmeal with peanut butter, seeds, almond milk
Lunch - Toast and chili
Snack - Potato chips
Supper - Salad with sprouts, seeds and vegetables, sweet potatoes, bun, carrots, beets, Black IPA, Rye IPA, Lenny's RIPA (Thanksgiving @ Josh and Josie's)
Snack - Crackers and hummus, banana

Beer Purchases!

I might have gone to a wine tasting, but I walked out with beer instead!  I got myself a 4-pack of Bittersweet Lenny's RIPA from Schmaltz, Imperial Stout and Hop Stoopid from Lagunitas, and Westmalle Tripel.  Hop Stoopid is the "lightest" beer, at a mere 8% ABV (and 102 IBU).  This will not help me lose weight, but beer is vegan...

Food diary - Oct. 7

Breakfast - Oatmeal with peanut butter, seeds and almond milk
Snack - Pear
Lunch - Wrap with veggies and hummus, raw vegetables, orange, watermelon
Snack - Apple, handful of potato chips
Supper - Chili pizza (pita, vegan chili, nutritional yeast), Black IPA
Snack - Wine tasting - a large selection of Pinot Noir, some slices of bread (avoided the cheeses and salmon with pinot sauce)
Later snack - Triscuits and hummus, pickle

Food diary - Oct. 6

Breakfast - Oatmeal with seeds and almond milk, piece of toast with peanut butter
Snack - Almonds
Lunch - Thai green curry with rice, plum, snap peas
Snack - Apple
Supper - Vegetable and tofu stir fry with peanut sauce, black rice
Snack - Popcorn, watermelon

Food diary - Oct. 5

Breakfast - Oatmeal with almond milk, peanut butter and seeds
Snack - Pear and almonds
Lunch - Raw vegetables, hummus and crackers
Snack - Apple
Supper - Indian buffet (mattar paneer definitely not vegan, other dishes may have had ghee or yogurt)
Beer club meeting - pint of Royal 100 from Wild Rose

Almond milk

First off, let me say that I really can't stand the taste of soy milk.  Never have, likely never will.  That is odd, since I do like tofu.  Not such a big deal, but soy milk is really the default non-dairy milk-substitute out there.  However, even my local Safeway has started realizing that milk-avoiders are shoppers too, and have started carrying different options.  I had tried rice milk before, and was underwhelmed.  This time I decided to try almond milk.  The taste is not offensive, although none of these substitutes really tastes like milk.  But really, they aren't supposed to taste like milk. 

Being a do-it-yourself kitchen kind of guy (I make my own beer and used to make yogurt), I figured I would see about making almond milk.  It is actually quite easy to do.  I soaked a cup of almonds in water for a few hours, then threw them in a blender with a few cups of water (I read that 3:1 is the proper water to almond ratio).  Put it in a blender, pour it through a nut bag (I actually prefer the term "nut sack", but realize that might be off-putting to some).  Squeeze your nut sack until all the white creamy liquid comes out and there you have it - almond milk.  The homemade tastes a bit different than the store-bought - I suspect the store-bought has some thickeners in it for texture that mine lacks, so mine is more watery.  Perhaps because mine is so fresh, it tastes nuttier and less 'fake'.  Quite good, actually.  Plus, a lot cheaper.  I will stick with the homemade, I believe.

I will have to break out the ice cream maker and try my luck with a chocolate peanut-butter almond ice 'cream'.  Maybe ginger as well.  Or a nice green tea almond ice.  Lots of options to replace the ice cream cravings.

I actually made myself a hot chocolate with cocoa and agave nectar tonight, and it was quite delicious.

Food diary - Oct. 4

Breakfast - Oatmeal with almond milk and seeds
Snack - Apple, handful of almonds
Lunch - Quinoa and bean burrito, salad, plum
Supper - Raw vegetables and hummus (cauliflower, peas, carrots, red pepper, cucumber), borscht, toast, pickles and olives, 1/2 piece sweet potato pecan pie
Snack - Hot chocolate made with almond milk, cocoa and agave syrup, pear