While I was ready to post a book review, I had some thoughts floating around about this vegan/plant-based journey that I wanted to get out. Last Tuesday, I did a social media post about a few things I’ve realized and wanted to share after being plant-based for ten days. I still felt pretty good about my journey and was optimistic about finishing strong. Then we had Valentine’s day, and this weekend, I feel like I crumbled. I didn’t get off the journey, but I strongly wanted to and was fighting some pretty bad cravings. It honestly had nothing to do with the holiday itself. I planned to make pizza from scratch and was pretty excited about the meal I was going to prepare. But those cravings had me seeking out other meals. Like steak, chicken wings, crabs, shrimp and mac and cheese. Oh, and cake. All the cake. I went to social media and just went scrolling to see all the goodness of the things I couldn’t eat for the month. Let me just say that didn’t help at all.
Then our pizza was a major fail for me. Something didn’t come together with the cheese, and all I could taste was salt. Chris said he enjoyed it, but I couldn’t eat it. But I was starving and frustrated, and at this point, I didn’t want anything I had cooked. I, the day before, made some delicious queso dip and some pasta with “chicken” strips and broccoli. But that pasta dish had its issues with following the recipe, and that could have been the start of my frustrations. So I decided to order from the only place that I knew that catered to vegans around here, Chiptole.
Now, I did do some research. I wanted to see exactly what I could order. I’ve been hearing a lot about their lifestyle bowls and wanted to know if it was something I wanted to try. But their vegan bowl was nowhere on their site or app. But from what I saw on posts about it, it was what I wanted. The vegetarian bowl, however, was still on their site but was different from what others said was on it. So I ordered the vegetarian bowl with hopes it wouldn’t have any dairy on it as the new description said. Then because I am a foodie, I also ordered some tacos with sofrito because it was no longer an option on the lifestyle bowls. But when my husband went to pick up the order, they forgot the bowl altogether. And when making it, my husband told them it needed to be vegan. When I got it, it was the same vegetarian bowl that was advertised on their site, so it made me wonder if they removed the vegan bowl altogether.
Another thing I found while researching was people’s complaints about Chipotle being just another fast food place and how the food wasn’t satisfying. I have no clue how people feel that way. Obviously, with both meals, I couldn’t eat it all but I was stuffed for the rest of the night. But one of the first things I noticed and agreed with was how easy this would have been to make myself. The Vegetarian Bowl was brown rice, black beans, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa, and guacamole. The Sofritas Taco was black beans, brown rice, soft flour tortilla, fresh tomato salsa, and roasted chili-corn salsa. So if this was made at home the exact same way, all of a sudden it is satisfying? But not grabbing it from Chipotle? I didn’t agree, and I think it is a great option to have on the go. And honestly, it gave me the boost that I needed to keep going on this journey. The food was so good. And instead of trying all brand new meals next week, I plan on batch cooking what was in my bowl and taco and eating that until we get tired of it.
