Welcome to day 3 of my week eating entirely vegan.

Breakfast: Venti soy latte from Starbucks. I’m afraid of trying any syrups in my drink because I don’t think they’ll mix well with soy milk.

Lunch: Leftover vegan chili from last night (still tasty!) wrapped in corn tortillas.

Dinner: I attempt to make vegan tofu scramble. The recipe from allrecipes.com calls for canned diced tomatoes, green onions, and mashed silken tofu. I cut out the cheddar cheese from the recipe and instead I add some sliced mushrooms and red bell peppers for a little extra oomph. The finished product is watery and tasteless and the tofu adds nothing to the dish.

I wonder if fried firm tofu would have worked better? I’m not sure if this dish was supposed to be a breakfast or a dinner, but either way it’s disgusting. I heat up some more vegan chili and eat that instead.Today’s discovery: vegan chili is amazing; vegan scrambled eggs substitute is not. If you plan on going vegan, you might want to learn how to cook first.

Anyone got some tips on good vegan recipes? I could use all the help I can get…

[photos are by lil' ol' me]

Breakfast: Oatmeal. Again.

Lunch: My quick-fix meal, a ham and cheese sandwich, is out, so I just munch on grapes, dried fruit, and nuts. I feel like a Greek god, but not at all full.

Dinner: I pull out the big guns for dinner. I go to Whole Food’s and do a massive shopping by following a list I compiled using recipes found on allrecipes.com. The total comes out to $120. Turns out tofu is more expensive than I thought it would be. I get home and I do the unthinkable: I cook for myself. I mix and simmer and stir. I make a total mess, but it actually feels really good to slave over a hot stove for an hour.

The end result? A meaty (thank you, Boca!), spicy, filling vegan chili. I put some of the chili in a tortilla for a vegan burrito thing, and it’s delicious. I pour some in a bowl and eat it, and when I go to put it in a Tupperware container, I end up eating some of it right out of the pot, always a good sign!

Late night: My hunt for dessert in my fridge ends up with me accidentally taking a bite out of a non-vegan friendly Fudgesicle and then spitting it out. Then, my late-night cappuccino run turns into a late-night black coffee when the café I’m at doesn’t have soy milk.

The year I spent as a vegetarian in high school seems like a cakewalk after the last two days. Skipping over the meat dishes on a menu or avoiding those aisles in the supermarket is easy; having to study ingredient lists and constantly be thinking about what goes into the foods I eat every day is much, much harder.