Vegan traveler

I have just returned from a five day mini vacation and my first as a vegan / pescatarian.  It did prove to be a bit of a challenge, but with some pre- planning it worked out fine.

Since I am training for a half marathon Oct 7, I am sticking to the SmartCoach training program from Runners World.  Its been great so far, but as my runs are more frequent and the mileage is getting longer, I just do not have the stamina.   I have contacted a health coach to work with me on my diet to find ways to boost my nutrition and build up my strength.

Robin http://robin-simpson.healthcoach.integrativenutrition.com/ and I will start working together in Sept.  I encourage everyone to check out her site and read her free e-book on nutrition.  Its a real eye opener.

Now, back to some hightlights from the trip.  I ate at the Healthly Living Summit conference, very few vegan options at breakfast, but they made up for it at lunch with an amazing vegan chili and tomato/avocado salad. Dinner that night was at Veggie Galaxy  http://veggiegalaxy.net/ in Cambridge.  Amazing vegan mac and cheese.  It was so good that I ordered an extra one to take home and put in the freezer.

The next day I ate at the toll plazas on 95 which now have lots of fruits and salads and the Delaware house had a Farmers Market stand!  I picked up some lovely peaches.   Dinner was at the Bonefish Grill, where I tried Grouper fish for the first time.  Yummy.

On Monday, we went the Washington DC to tour the monuments, tourist central – VEGGIE burgers at the Museum of American History and very good salad bar.  When the group got an ice cream treat in the afternoon, I had a equally refreshing dairy free, lemon italian ice.  It was lovely.

Today was more of a challenge on the way home, because the traffic was bad and the choices looked bleak, plus we had the dog in the car and so we could not go into a restaurant. So, it almost looked like drive thru was going to be the way to go… but, then over the horizon I saw the Cracker Barrel sign.

I know you are thinking, Cracker Barrel?  What is healthy about that?  Well let me tell you.. I looked on the site and they have a country vegetable platter, which is 4 sides of their vegetables that they will serve without butter.  They will not guarantee the corn muffin is dairy free that comes with it, but the veges were ok. So off the exit ramp we went.  I walked up to the very sweet hostess and asked to place a take out order.  Veges for me, chicken sandwich for the carnivore.

I waited inside and my dear hubby took the pup for a little exercise around the restaurant.  While I was there waiting, I browsed the candy section looking for a little treat, thinking there had to be a something I could eat . ( I am also egg free – thats an upcoming post) Candy corn hit my eye.  YES!  grabbed it, turned it over, EGG WHITES.

CRUSHED.

So, with every victory, a little defeat.  I will start looking for an egg free candy corn.

Signed,

Your galfriday4hire