[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month

I can’t believe that I have made it through two weeks as a vegetarian! Honestly, I am a little surprised – I haven’t cheated at all! Not a single piece of meat. Not even chicken broth, because I was worried that would count.

Not that’s it’s been a total breeze…

By far the most difficult vegetarian moment for me this week was when one of the clubs I’m in had a group dinner… at Chipotle. Now, I know a lot of people like Chipotle, but I love Chipotle. LOVE. Their meat is one of my FAVORITE things in the whole wide world. I don’t even need a burrito; I could be totally content just eating their meat plain… straight out of those silver serving buckets.

So to say it was a wee bit challenging to go in there and not get my favorite Steak Burrito doesn’t really do my feelings justice. I thought about getting a vegetarian burrito, but I’m not a big fan of their beans and  thought it would be too empty without meat. So I went with a veggie quesadilla instead. Not exactly the world’s healthiest option, but it kept me perfectly satisfied while everyone else chowed down on their delicious and meaty burritos.

Point: Emmy.
And things only got better from there.

While the meatless Chipotle run wasn’t easy, by far the highlight of my week was discovering all of the awesome vegetarian substitutes out there. Who knew all this stuff existed?! While I wasn’t able to find the chicken substitute called Quorn in either of our local grocery stores, I was able to track down some of the MorningStar Farms Chik’n Nuggets and Chik’n Patties that everyone commented about last week. And wow, they are DELICIOUS! I’ve actually eaten their Chik’n Nuggets with kids I nanny for before, and I had no idea that they weren’t actually meat! I also tried their Spicy Black Bean Burgers, and I was surprised how much I liked those too!

I also tried cooking tofu this week…which wasn’t quite as successful as the MorningStar Farms situations. Not that I’m blaming tofu, though; I have a feeling this was probably just a failure on my cooking skills. Dinner was still alright because the pad thai noodles I made were delicious enough to stand on their own, but the tofu…disaster.

I’m not giving up on tofu, though. I’m definitely going to try again next week (but maybe I’ll get it from a restaurant this time…). Boca Burgers are also on my list to try, and that’s a big one. For some reason, I’m a bit more skeptical of those than of the Chik’n Patties and I don’t know exactly why. With the breading around the Chik’n things, it’s easier to camouflage the slight difference in taste and texture from real meat.

I’m so…..scared.

But I’m also super proud of how far I’ve come. And surprised by how much I’m liking it.  Maybe I can do this for more than a month! It’s not that hard and I feel great. Though I’d better hold out to see how these next two weeks go before I make any commitments!

[Check out the other One Month Challenges we've taken on! And if you've got a challenge you want to tackle, email us and we could feature you next month!]

Unfortunately, your favorite pizza/ burrito/ burger/ neighborhood CVS closed 30 minutes ago and you are left to fend for yourself. Right. Because you could barely get your key in the front door, let alone boil water for some mac and cheese. (Mmmmm mac and cheeeeeese.)

Even a frozen pizza is much too difficult to figure out right now. Turn on an oven? To 350? Then wait 30 minutes? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!

Lucky for you, the food industry has been busy creating products for people on the go, which also happen to work quite well for people who are too-drunk-to-function. Yes, that would be you. Just stock up on any and all of these little guys and you are good to go when the Beer Pong tourny is over and you can’t remember your name (or how you made it home with one shoe and a missing bra…):

Uncrustables:

Because making a peanut and butter jelly sandwich requires you to find bread, find peanut butter, find jelly, and then use a sharp object. Uncrustables simply requires you to open your freezer. Done and done. Peanut butter and jelly bliss.

Peanut Butter Slices:

If frozen PB&J isn’t your thang, maybe a slice of peanut butter is better. Easy to slap between two pieces of bread? Absolutely. Gross? Totally. Not quite as gross when you are drunk and just need something to soak up all that Jaeger? Yes please!

Mac and Cheese Crackers:

Back in my day we had to pour water into a bowl with noodles and microwave it for 2 minutes if we wanted some late night Mac and Cheese. Oh the horror! Not anymore, people. Now if you are craving a cheesy post-bar delicacy, all you need to do is open a box. These crackers taste just like the real thing without all that pesky work. No measuring. No cooking. No waiting.

Bagelfuls:

Just like its cousin, the PB&J sandwich, the bagel and cream cheese is just really hard to master after hours of deblitating debauchery. Ever tried to cut a bagel sober? Yeah, hard enough. Thank you, Kraft! You took the work right out of this so drunk kids everywhere could carb up without fear of losing any fingers.

Cereal and Milk Bars:

Because we all love a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch after the bar, but can’t quite get the milk into the bowl/not all over the floor. Thankfully, General Mills fixed that problem by putting milk and cereal together into one delicious late night bar.

Now if only we could get some pre-packaged Vodka Tonics.

Two guys, in the dining hall, sitting over empty plates:

“What are we doing tonight?”

“Dan’s probably going on a beer run. I think there are a few parties up at the apartments. I wanna get crunk.”

“Definitely, man. Gonna rock it.”

After a moment:

“We’re playing Magic tonight, aren’t we?”

“Yeah. Probably.”

Two girls at a party:

“It’s not ‘yes’. I’m drinking. It can’t be yes if I’m drinking.”

“Can you just say ‘yes’ now?”

“But I won’t be be able to say ‘no’ later.”

“You wouldn’t say ‘no’ anyway, would you?”

“No. No, I probably wouldn’t.”

Nearby, the boy with his arm around one girl looks terribly uncomfortable.

One frat boy, from across the library: “Burrito?”

Many frat boys, holding burritos: “BURRITO!”

“So, like, bondage?”

“No, no. How about this. We pretend the bed is a rocket ship, and that we’re all astronauts. And we can only talk with our short-wave radios. And every time we talk dirty, we have to say ‘over and out’.”

One dude talks across a lunch table:

“Talking about relationships is easy. I think drawing diagrams really helps.”

A pause.

“Maybe I’m not the best person to be talking to about this.”

Outraged girl, storming over to the table with a newspaper:

“Since when are furries animals?”

The girl, upon further inspection, has a tail attached to her belt.

At a party, a couple is on the floor, in the middle of the room, making out.

Bystander: “Are they fine?”

Other bystander: “How are you guys doing?”

They keep making out, despite the circle of people around them.

“Yeah, I think they’re fine.”

I can honestly say that I’m getting used to eating vegan, although I did wake up in a cold panic last night thinking I’d accidentally had nonfat milk instead of soy milk in my morning coffee yesterday, so maybe I take that back…

Breakfast: Breakfast is definitely the hardest meal for a vegan. I think cereal with soy milk is an acquired taste (or maybe just always gross), and as I found out yesterday, scrambled tofu is just plain nasty. I looked up some vegan recipes online, but everything requires baking. You can make versions of muffins, waffles, pancakes, etc, but who has time for this when running out of the house in the morning? Today, I have oatmeal and a Starbucks soy latte for breakfast… again.

Lunch: Nothing. Nothing.

Dinner: I meet up with some friends at Real Food Daily in West Hollywood after much convincing. I’m starving because I didn’t eat lunch, so my plan to order something small and light goes out the window and I get myself a “Supreme Burrito” with ranchero sauce and taco mix (tofu spiced like taco meat, I think). I devour it so quickly I forget to take a picture first (for College Candy, not because I’m some food obsessed freak), which is why it looks so gross in the pictures. But believe me, it was delicious.

If you live in a city where there are vegan restaurant options, you’re seriously in luck. It’s great to be able to just look over a menu and order whatever you want without having to worry about it being vegan. If there aren’t vegan restaurants in your area, look for vegetarian ones, or check out a website like vegetarian-restaurants.net for their advice on vegan-friendly restaurants in your area.

[photo from veganyumyum.com]

My type of Mexican feast definitely has a taste that is a bit different from your normal greasy burrito. So here’s the secret:

You’ll need:

1 box of Mexican Rice (with seasoning)

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 jalapano pepper

1 jar of hot salsa

1 bag of cheddar cheese

1 tomato

1 can of black beans

Whatever meat you prefer, if you want.

Tortillas

Start to boil the water for the rice while you chop the peppers and the tomato. Begin to stir fry the peppers and tomatoes and put the rice in the boiled water. If you’ve got meat; throw it in with the stir fry.

As the meat finishes cooking, add the beans and salsa to the mix. Once the rice is done, add all of this to the rice (after the seasoning is in) and then slowly add the cheese. Scoop this into your tortilla and wrap it up like a burrito and you’re good to go.

Not only is this delicious, but you can make it slightly healthier, too. Just replace the cheese with fat free cheese, make the tortillas wheat, and use olive oil for your rice instead of butter. Also, try not using meat or at least not any red meat. If you follow those instructions, you’ll have yourself an awesome AND healthy burrito!

But I know it’s not that way for everybody, and some of us struggle to find the time to even make breakfast. Is it worth it? Hell, yes! Eating a great, healthy breakfast will prevent mid-morning munchies and leave you feeling much more alert and energetic. Not a fan of oatmeal or cold cereal, though? No problem. Try these fab alternatives:

Breakfast Burrito: No, I’m not talking about that abomination they serve up at McDonald’s that’s stuffed with sausage, cheese, and trans fats. I’m talking about utter deliciousness. In a bowl, mix two tablespoons of peanut butter (crunchy or creamy, your choice) with one sliced banana, a generous dollop of honey, and a few walnuts or bits of crunchy granola. Spread the mix on a tortilla, pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds, and you have a tasty power breakfast to go.

Mighty Muffins: I’ve tasted a lot of muffins, and these are hands-down the best and healthiest I’ve ever tried. You’ll need one banana, 2/3 c of whole-wheat flour, ½ tsp baking soda, 3 tablespoons of shortening or butter, 1/3 c of sugar, one egg, 1 tablespoon of honey, ¼ tsp salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and ¼ c sour cream.

Mash the banana and beat the egg, then mix them with all the other ingredients. Divide into muffin cups and bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. The batter will make enough for 4-6 giant muffins, and that’s enough to give you great breakfasts all through the week.

Power Smoothie: Smoothies are definitely up there on my list of favorite foods in the world. A nice, tall one makes a filling breakfast, and there’s next to no prep work: just toss stuff in the blender. If you don’t have a blender, a food processor works fine, too. The nice thing about smoothies is that they’re forgiving, and you can add and subtract ingredients to your liking. My current favorite blends one banana (freeze it overnight first to make the smoothie frostier), three strawberries, one half-cup of milk, and one half-cup of vanilla yogurt. Yum!

Got any other power b-fast suggestions?? Let us know!