Vegan's Day

Protein powder ain't so scary afterall~

For some reason, I woke up super early this morning (5:30am)! I don't know what's going on with my body's internal clock, but I've turned into a total morning person lately. But I'm still a night owl too. I know sleep is essential for mental and physical health, etc, but sometimes I feel like sleep is a waste of time. Am I the only one that feels that way? Anyhoo~

Remember how my sister brought me a bag of vanilla-flavored Sun Warrior raw protein powder from the US? Well, it's taken a while, but I'm finally getting round to blogging about it.

Sun warrior

This is my first time using protein powder and from what all my male coworkers have said (they're really into pumping iron and guzzling whey protein powders at the office), I imagined it to be pretty disgusting and chalky. I thought I would have to hold my nose and just chug it down as fast I could, but I was completely surprised to find that it really isn't half as bad as they made it out to be. In fact, I kinda like it! :) Or perhaps raw vegan protein powder is just superior to its whey counterparts~ ha. I'm still getting the majority of my nutrients from real, whole foods though, so this is definitely an occasional supplement.

Sun Warrior

So far, I've just been taking 1/2 a scoop (not even a full serving) and shaking it up with some water, soymilk, and a sprinkling of cinnamon, maybe twice a week after a workout. I'm digging the added energy as well as the sweet vanilla flavor. Hopefully in the future, I'll get round to getting more creative with it, like making protein powder muffins, or blending it into my red bean ice lollies. I even thought about adding it to my hot oatmeal bowls, but then realized that cooking it over high heat might just kill all the raw nutrients. :P

Sun Warrior

Lots of bubbles on the top after a good shake-up.

Sun Warrior

Sip sip~

It's too bad you can't find vegan protein powder in Korea (not that I know of, at least). I still have a lot left in the bag, but once it runs out, I'll probably order more from iHerb.com. Perhaps I'll go with the chocolate flavor next?

Moving onto today's vegan eats... Behold today's lunch:

burrito

A wrap/burrito filled with a bunch of random sauteed veggies: kale, perilla leaves, oyster mushrooms, red bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, onions, garlic, 'pat' (azuki) beans, and sesame seeds. The spices involved were cumin, salt & pepper.

burrito

The oyster mushrooms, perilla leaves, 'pat' beans, and sesame seeds made this a Korean version of a Mexican burrito (Korexican? ). Yea, it was a weird mix of flavors and textures, but I still enjoyed it. Where's the fun in cooking if there's no experimentation?

burrito
burrito

Wow, I was actually able to wrap it all up without everything falling out the bottom end!

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Oh, and here's a shot from today's very early breakfast. Pumpkin oats with all the usual toppings, as well as a 'Ginger Nut' cookie plopped on for good measure.

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Mush-ified ginger cookie.

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And a kiwi on the side. Notice the new bowl? I got it the other day at the secondhand shop 'Beautiful Store' by Insadong for 500 won. Shweet!!