This salad has avocados in it??

This was a delish dish. It was a bit more involved than I am used to my salads being, but I absolutely adored the dressing recipe and the chick peas were enjoyed by the whole family, plus our friend Jessalyn! My husband who isn't a fan of avocados, and my son who isn't a fan of dinners ate it all! Even the baby liked the spice of the chick pea and gnawing on the carrot stub after I finished peeling it for the salad.

I couldn't find wasabi powder at our local grocery store, so I subbed chili powder and it made for a flavor punch. I probably should have looked harder for the wasabi powder, so I am putting that on my "seasoning must buy" list. It is so hard to know what I do and don't need with regards to these recipes. I found this recipe on a great vegan blog Vegan Yum Yum which is a little like The Pioneer Woman but with less meat. Great food porn!

I liked the dressing so much, I am thinking about tossing some more of it with pasta and the left over chick peas tomorrow for my lunch tomorrow.

Green Shake

My big issue with eating in general, and vegan eating in particular is breakfast. I am at a loss as to what in the world I am supposed to eat for breakfast without keeling over in hunger. Plus in the morning I usually feel sick at the thought of food so I skip it a lot. However, since giving up coffee last week, I have been less than satisfied with the air I had been consuming for breakfast.

So, I decided this day would be different. I would try a green shake. It was the easiest recipe evah.


1 hand full of spinach
1 hand full of frozen strawberries
1 hand full of frozen mangos
1 splash of orange juice
1 banana

It was a bit heavy on the banana, I might cut back or add more fruit next time. I could double this recipe so I wouldn't have to wake my sleeping family every morning, just every other morning. You can't taste the spinach at all, but it makes the shake look pretty and adds a punch of vitamins. It has a really good consistency, not icy at all and my hubby said it tasted like ice cream was added! Win!

Vegan Alfredo

Holy crap this didn't suck! Oliver and CT both ate it, and to be honest, because of my condition, margarine isn't recommended so I used real butter, but no cream or cheese. I added peas and mushrooms to the sauce for more pizazz and health. I started with this because it was familiar, but as Cookie Monster says, this is not an anytime food, more of a only once in a blue moon food, because it does have a bit of fat from the butter (which is actually a GOOD fat in the gallbladder world). Plus the recipe made about a thousand servings so we froze for a rainy day! I felt okay eating this many calories because for the past four days I have been eating next to nothing out o fear of an attack. Smart or stupid? We shall find out in a few days!


Sauce Ingredients
1/2c Earth Balance (or a little more is fine, to taste)
2 cups soymilk (unsweetened is best)
1 package Extra firm tofu (Mori-nu.. the kind in the tetra pack, appr 12 ounces)
1-2 tbsp white cooking wine
2 tbsp onion powder
2-3 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp sea salt
1-2 tsp black pepper (to taste)
pinch of nutmeg
3-4 tbsp arrowroot powder (more or less, as needed.. it should be creamy and the margarine should not separate)

You just grind up in a food processor (I see myself using this a ton) all of the ingredients except for arrowroot (also, use corn starch people, arrowroot is FAR too expensive). Then heat on stove until warm and mix some arrowroot/cornstarch with a scoop of the warm sauce then mix it back in. Heat until thickened and hot. Add veggies if you want!

What is this!?

This is the story of a lovely lady who has major gall stone problems regardless of the surgery that removed her gall bladder. A lady who loves meat and cheese. A lady who's husband is threatening to lose so much weight that he can't go outside when it is windy. A lady who has two small children who she also has to feed. A lady who lives in the state of beef. A lady with only a $400/month grocery budget. A lady who doesn't want to be in pain anymore, doesn't want to call her sister at 2am to take her to the hospital and doesn't want to be starving to death every single day because she doesn't know how to eat correctly.

According to my doctor, no diet change is necessary after gallbladder surgery and there is no way that I am still having gallstones if it has been removed. My explosive diarrhea, constant nausea, stomach cramps and gallstone attacks beg to differ. I looked on line and while most articles I found do agree with me, there has never been a cookbook written that I can find that talks about eating for gall health. Sure, low fat MIGHT work, but it might not. So I am going all the way, all the way to crazy loony, granola world.

I am concerned about:
1. My husband wasting away
2. My son never eating again
3. My budget
4. Having to go to Whole Foods for all the ingredients (see #3)
5. Not having any flavor in my life

The plan is to blog about the recipes I am using every day and rating them from terrible to tasty. Let the great vegan experiment begin!!