vegan for a week

I've been thinking about doing this for a while. I wrote weeks ago about how our house would be going meat free for Mondays, but given that we had BBQ this past Monday night and Husband had beef burgers, you can tell how well that's going.

So when I woke up this morning, I finally decided to give it a go. One week, totally vegan. Sounds simple enough.

Let me start this post with a confession though. I started writing this on Wednesday. But I caved. We went to a play date, and my friend Heather made delicious looking chocolate chip cookies and I really felt that I couldn't refuse since she made the specially (or at least that's what I told myself). Wednesday = fail. Then I tried to start again yesterday, but let my baby-induced fatigue get the better of me and had a bagel sandwich with cheese on it before I really thought about what I was doing. Thursday = fail.

Now it's Friday and I'm officially taking the plunge. No excuses.

7:45 a.m.: For starters, I pour a cup of coffee and grab the jug of milk from the fridge. Crap. Luckily, lovely sis-in-law C was visiting this weekend and due to her milk allergy, I have soy milk in the fridge. I use the last little bit in the container to lighten my coffee. Guess I'll have to pick some more up or drink my coffee black for the rest of the week. Didn't plan this out so well, did I?

8:00 a.m.: For breakfast, a whole wheat bagel, which according to the ingredients contains no offending products, with Becel vegan margarine. I had the margarine for C's visit, but I could genuinely buy it all the time and not see a difference. I usually buy butter, but that would be clearly breaking the rules this week.

8:10 a.m.: I'm surprised how much thought this actually takes. I was feeding Baby J some yogurt with his breakfast, and normally I would share it with him or finish what he didn't eat. Not this time. I wrapped up the rest and put it in the fridge for him tomorrow.

11:15 p.m.: Time for Muma to have her lunch while the babe is still napping. I mix up a quick salad of baby greens and spinach, cucumber, green pepper, julienne carrots, sunflower seeds and dried cranberries. For a boost of protein, I add a couple chopped meatless chicken strips on top. Oops, can't use the Greek dressing because it has feta in it. I opt for balsamic vinaigrette.

5:10 p.m.: Supper time. BBQ! Many brands of veggie burgers aren't vegan because they contain cheese or other things, but luckily mine make the cut. I made quinoa with garlic as a side. Another satisfying vegan meal down ... nearly 20 more to go.

For the sake of full disclosure, I did do a weigh-in to start this challenge. I'm going to be interested to see if cutting all animal products from my diet is going to help shed these last few baby-weight pounds. I'll keep that number under wraps for now, but I'll give you the honest reveal in a week to see if its changed for the better or worse.

Any vegans out there with tips for me? Do you think you could eat vegan for a week or for good?