If I Can Vegan, So Can You: Day Twenty-Five: Part Two - Blogging Live from Taco Night! (sort of)

Apparently that new Bad NFL Lip Reading video can motivate me to do anything...I did go to the gym before work today. I did my usual: start out at a half hour, then I upped it to 40 minutes, then I upped it to 60...then I realized that if I stayed for an hour, I'd never be ready for work on time (is there a way to workout without getting my hair so sweaty?!) so I downgraded to 50 minutes with a 5 minute cool down. I burned 426 calories and "ran" 5 miles. I had also hoped there would be some cute guys at the gym before work, but it was all old people who woke up at 4:30, drank their Sanka, and had nothing better to do.

Today's inspirations:

When I got home, I still had to rush to get ready for work in time (two hour delays always screw me up with time). After a quick shower, I made a smoothie for breakfast: protein powder, greens (which are everywhere in my kitchen, by the way), almond milk, ice, and this time, a teaspoon of vanilla, 3/4 cup sliced strawberries, a banana, and a cup of kale. I basically had to chug it and choke down my supplements as I ran out the door - no coffee today.

Even though I worked out, I knew that today was going to be a total gorge-fest, so I had an apple around lunch time. I didn't even put peanut butter on it! My phone hasn't been working so I wasn't sure what was going on with the pizza plan but I wanted pizzaaaaaa. I finally got ahold of Briele via Facebook and we met at Earth Pizza in Red Bank.

This is one of those times when I wish I lived in New York, or at least that every place in New Jersey posted nutrition facts. I can only guess what I consumed as I shoved an entire personal pizza in my face (side note: there have been many times when I wished New York did not post nutrition facts, such as when I ate an entire bag of popcorn or guzzled big cup after big cup of Presidente at Yankee Stadium).

I had a personal pizza with multigrain crust, organic vine-ripened tomato sauce, kalamata olives, roasted red onion, daiya cheese, and vegan meatballs. I could only guess how much of each ingredient was on the pizza and when I put it into My Fitness Pal, it came out to 705 calories and about a gajillion mg of sodium.

Around dinner time, I stopped "live blogging" and started "gorging incessantly." Taco Night is taken way too seriously to allow for typing time. I kid you not that I wore taco party underwear and spent my day listening to a Spotify playlist called "Taco Cloud."

I don't get it, either

Anyway, I made my standard guac, which I'm pretty proud of. I don't really measure anything out, but this time went something like this: I put 4 cloves of garlic through the garlic press (I could have used more) and chopped up (about?) 1/4 cup of cilantro. Then, I mash together the minced garlic and chopped cilantro into a paste. It helps to sprinkle this with some sea salt and also to crush it with the side of the knife.

Then, I scooped out four perfectly ripe avocadoes (kudos to Briele) and added them to the cilantro-garlic paste and then mashed that even further with a potato masher. Also into the mix: a chopped tomato, about 1/2 a chopped onion, and lime juice.

I also prepared Zatarain's Spanish rice, since this is vegan, unlike the Goya Mexican rice that Steve always buys (he just has to have that chicken fat).

Then, I sprinkled my homemade vegan burgers with some taco seasoning and pan-fried (?) them with cooking spray. I broke them up into smaller pieces so it was kind of like ground meat.

Vegan vs. turkey

I assembled my first 2 tacos in their standard shells with Go Veggie! Mexican shredded cheese (gross), vegan burger bits, guacamole, black olives, and sides of Spanish rice and fresh salsa from Stop & Shop. My third taco was shell-less.

I kind of thought about presentation this time

After eating the requirement amount of tacos ("too many"), it was dessert time. Luckily, we picked up some vegan brownies from Earth Pizza, and they were to. die. for. In place of Krispy Kreme apple fritters, I had also picked up some dehydrated Fuji apples. It was exactly the same as eating a donut! (not). Other snacks included a glass of red wine and a glass of champagne, because.