Day 15 Vegetarian

Well it's been 12 days since my last post, and that is wayyy too long! I have been insanely busy with work, and when not working I am sleeping!
Here's what I have noticed in the last 15 days without meat:
1. I am eating WAY more bread then I did before. I'm guessing that I am trying to replace the meat with something "hearty" and bread is the easiest most affordable "filler" that I have access too.
2. I feel slimmer in the stomach area.
3. I am running out of things to eat! I have def. reached a point where I need to invest in a vegetarian cookbook, or just hit up some online recipes and get a little more creative.

What have I been eating?
We tried out a variety of faux meat processed products, which I am sort of on the fence about. I am beginning to feel guilty about eating them because they are processed. We decided to try them out because we went out to the cabin, and wanted some easy go-to meals that required little preparation. So we bought a vegan italian "sausage" with roasted red pepper by Tofurky brand, and "meatless" burgers by Gardein. We ate the sausages initially in buns with ketchup and mustard and cheddar cheese and they were phenomenal, then we had them the next night cut up in a tomato sauce with whole wheat pasta. The meatless burgers were fantastic and we ate those on a whole wheat bun with all the fixings..When we got home we bought some breaded "chicken" cutlets, and have been eating those in BUNS. SOOOOO ALL I'M EATING IS BREAD BREAD BREAD. I also feel weird about the chicken burgers, because they really really taste like chicken, and I don't want to eat chicken!!! so why am I eating them?!!!! I think it's been fun to try these products out, but after out current stock depletes, I won't be making these products constants on my grocery list. I will keep them reserved for summer BBQ's.
I have also been eating:
1.Stir fried veggies with basmati rice
2.Stir fried veggies with rice noodles
3.Grilled cheese and soup
4.Veggie burgers (homemade) out of kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, garlic, cinnamon (initially a mistake thinking it was curry but turned out well) curry, siracha sauce, egg whites, and chopped up kale, chard and spinach. They turned out to be pretty tasty, but I literally had to bake them for an hour to get that burger consistency- other wise they would have fallen apart. So the result was over cooked- especially when re-heating in the microwave at work! I ate a few with bun, but now am eating them by themselves, they or OK, but due to the dryness need a dipping sauce, which adds calories and fat I don't want in my diet.
5.Kale/Chard/Spinach greens with tomato, green peppers, onion, hemp hearts, and store bought balsamic vinegarette.
6.TOAST for breakfast

I have been trying to cut down on my coffee, sugar, and cheese consumption. I have been mildly successful in each category. The sugar being the hardest vice to cut out.

My goals for the next 17 days:
1.ADD IN Tofu (cube and put in stir fries) to phase out processed meatless products
2.ADD IN superfood smoothies to phase out boring toast for breakfast (get blender)
3.ADD IN Tea (no milk, no sugar) to phase out coffee from my daily regime
4.ADD IN Fruit!! Fresh!! like mango, strawberries, blueberries, apples, oranges, peaches, papaya to phase out candy, chocolate, cookies
5.ADD IN Goji Berries (to tea)
6.ADD IN vegan butter spread phase out margarine, and mayonais
7.ADD IN Water. This is so difficult for me at work and not having a water bottle, I may need to bute the bullet and buy one this week. FOR REAL?!!!!!

My main obstacle right now is that we are leaving on our trip to Thailand in 17 days, and we are on spending lockdown. Meaning- NO SPENDING MONEY on anything but absolute necessity (gas, tampons, bills, basic food requirements) This doesn't include throwing out the margarine I already have and purchasing Vegan spread, or throwing out the loaves of bread in the freezer. So I am going to have to make do with Shaun bringing home trays of veggies from work so we can make stir fries. I can def. honour the majority of goals on my list though :)