The Vegetarian Chronicles: A 30 Day Challenge, Part 1

The soy milk brand Silk has more calcium than dairy milk, or at least that's what the container says. Even though I'm lactose intolerant, I can take some dairy products. There's a cafe we order from a lot at work and they have the most delicious milkshakes ever and I can usually handle those without a lactaid pill. However I cannot at all handle any type of iced coffees from anywhere and I would think that's even less dairy than a milkshake. Here you've got milk and ice cream- all dairy, and here you've got coffee and milk but I just can't take it. It causes me great pain every time- even with lactaid.

I'm not sure whats wrong with my blender. I only used it that one time. Maybe I didn't have it snapped together tight enough.

You need to make sure the washer on your blender hasn't perished/snapped. It's only a little rubber ring on the bottom of the mixer part, usually between the blade unit and the base where the motor is. I took mine apart (new and all) earlier to learn how to wash and reassemble it properly.

I don't make my own yogurt, just buy cheap natural yogurt in 500g pots and frozen or fresh fruit, then toss the fruit into a plastic container each morning and put 6 dessertspoons of yogurt over it. By the time lunchtime comes around the fruit has defrosted (if I'm using frozen fruit) and all the juices are inflused with the yogurt too. Our local supermarket even has a frozen smoothie mix but as it contains bananas that's a no-no for me. (We don't get on...)

I have an awesome lemon meringue ice cream recipe from my ex-landlady. I won't torture you right now by sharing it with you as it involves double cream and alcohol. But it sounds similar to how you describe making your banana ice cream.

Sounds like you might have worked out what causes you problems, especially as you had such a good start to your new diet. Dairy would be a real problem for me to cut out, as my digestion and joints need the calcium or they start getting really upset.

I want to try to make smoothies but I'm very intimidated by my blender. I used it once to make mix drinks and it leaked all over. I was cleaning sticky vodka off my counter for days. I looove hard boiled eggs. They are delicious with a pinch of salt. Do you make your own yoghurt? I would love to make my own frozen yoghurt but I don't know how. I am going to try to make banana ice cream later. You freeze bananas then smooth it in a blender and eat it like ice cream. I'm going to add a cup of soy milk and some cinnamon because I've seen that recipe and it's probably more like ice cream than just bananas.

I can't really say for sure how my stomach is handling the new foods. I'm okay to eat the fruits and veggies but because I changed my diet so drastically, just in the first week when I had a sub for lunch instead my usual chopped up tomato, it made my stomach really hurt. Same for when I had some pumpkin roll over the weekend, but that could be chalked up to the cream cheese filling in my lactose intolerant body.

I have decided to try more green smoothies in my diet instead of cheese and biscuits for lunch. So the cheap blender has been purchased and the fresh raw veg (cauli, broccoli, corn and green beans) went into it this afternoon with a spoonful of Quark cheese and some water. The results are chilling in the thermos in the fridge for taking to work tomorrow. My main problems are too much alcohol and not enough exercise, so I've been trying a bit more of the exercise thing the last few days. I've also started eating hard boiled eggs as a snack instead of always going for the sweet stuff, because I realised that I was almost craving savory food. Hence why I decided to have a look at green smoothies. I already enjoy natural yoghurt with fruit instead of the processed yoghurts so I don't see why I can't make a further change to smoothies now. I might even add in some boiled egg to that mix at some point too.

I used to be vege when I was at Uni, for cost reasons, but started eating meat again when I moved up here because my husband does. But we do have meat-free days even now. I need alcohol-free days too, I think. I'm already cutting down on bread, preferring sandwich thins and wraps instead of rolls.

How are your stomach aches doing on your new diet? Your weight is already liking the change, it seems.

I've never watched that show but I've heard of it. I have to avoid food shows because they just make me hungry. I've never had authentic Indian food but I think I would like it. I love foods with lots of flavors and variety. I was worried going vegetarian would mean all the foods I'd eat would be really bland but I've been mixing stuff up and adding flavors and spices when I cook and it's been delicious.

I love vegetarian food and it features everyday in my cooking. Although my dishes are mostly Indian, I love to experiment and cook in different ways. My inspiration comes from the TV serial "MasterChef Australia" which I do not miss.