The Adventure: Week One

If you recall, I shared in this post my birthday present to my self: eating only plants from my 40th birthday til my 41st birthday. As I passed the Great Divide between the thirties and the forties this week, I have begun my adventure as well. So far, it's working great. As I promised to document my journey with photos, I've been trying to remember to take pictures of what I've been eating.

I kicked off the adventure with a breakfast green juice
mixed with ginger kombucha, thanks to my dear friend,
Marie who juiced it for me.

a beautiful edible arrangement,
thanks to my sisters!

On my birthday, I was surprised by two of my sisters-in-law who chose to make the day about me! They took me out to P. F. Chang's for lunch and I enjoyed having great options on the menu for my adventure.

sharing 'good girl moonshine' to celebrate 40 yrs for me

Coconut stir-fried veggies with a bit of fried rice,
courtesy of P.F. Chang's and my sisters 

Green bean crispers,  not a treat to eat every day
because of the oil, but enjoyed on my birthday
from P.F. Chang's

My sweet daughter, Brenna made me
a Starbucks copycat lemon cake for my birthday cake
I enjoyed it with coconut vanilla chia pudding

Vanilla Chia Pudding

1 can Thai Kitchen unsweetened coconut milk

1 can soy milk or milk of choice

Aunt Cia's green smoothies were
ordered for breakfast before they
started their trek home to PA

then there was the 2 slices of whole wheat bread
that I ate with some Earth Balance on the morning after
my bd. I mean, who can pass that up if someone bakes
it specially for you?!

2 T maple syrup or sweetener of choice

1 T vanilla extract 

pinch salt

scant 1/2 c white chia seeds

Mix all together except seeds. Sprinkle seeds as  you 

slowly whisk them in. Cover and refrigerate four hours 

or overnite.

then there was a bd party to go to 1 1/2 hr away
I made it work by packing some soup for on the way home.

I finished up the week by eating 'lightly fried'
 potatoes with guacamole for Saturday brunch.

and later in the day, some more birthday cake.

I know that I will add

more greens to my

diet as the normal

in the weeks to come.

This week was not quite 

normal, with birthday 

celebrations, etc

but I made it work

and I do not plan

to stress out about

raw versus cooked

veggies,

starch versus non starch,

etc.

I plan to on a normal basis

set up my plate so that

there is a good mix of

raw veggies,

steamed veggies,

healthy starches

(we're not talking donuts here!)

nuts, seeds, etc.

So far, I'm having a grand time.

Of course, it would be tempting

to dive into the beef flavored chili

the family will be having tomorrow at fellowship lunch, but

I made my own version for me with crumbled tofu in it. 

Stay tuned for pics next week.

PS
This was a three day post.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

PSS
This adventure has also received a new reason to do it:
in honor of my dad who has cancer and is doing a
doctor-prescribed plant-based diet as part of the
healing process for that.