Dining at Foxwoods

This past weekend I attended a training session for a local camp I volunteer at called Camp Rising Sun. Foxwoods is one of our wonderful sponsors for the camp, and they graciously allow us to stay there for two nights and do our trainings in their meeting rooms. There, we plan for the camp week in entirety, review First Aid and CPR training, and talk about fun activities we can run for the kids. It was a wonderful experience, as usual, however, the challenging part was to keep true to my 30 Day Vegan Challenge. I took my book with me and thought about options I could put in my tummy with junk and fast food completely surrounding me, and prices at all time highs.

For dinner, friday night, a group of friends and I decided to eat dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. They seemed to have a good amount of veggie choices, when glancing at their menu, so we gave it a whirl.

They actually have a Vegetarian and Vegan menu that outlines what is okay and what to look out for. I was really worried about ordering a pasta dish and the pasta having egg in it, but according to the Vegan menu, all noodles except the multigrain penne are Egg-Free! SO I went with the Baby Broccoli, sundried tomatoe Fuselli (I asked for this without any cheese, because it originally comes with parm). And it was delicious!!

We also were able to get the White Corn Guacamole and Chips, which was an interesting take on guacamole, considering there was far more corn than avacado- but it was still a great snack! All in all, it was a great dinner.

All in all, my pasta dish cost $10.00 and my Guac and chips were $3, so not bad at all!

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Breakfast was a difficult task, because not only did I want to keep it Vegan, but I additionally wanted to keep it Healthy! Dunkin donuts' surrounded me in the casino. You have to first understand that before this journey, I was an addict to the Large Iced Caramel Latte with Skim Milk at D&D, and my usual breakfast would be an Egg and Cheese on a Crescent Roll. Not too healthy, and certainly not vegan.

I decided to take a short walk to the Panera Bread on the other side of the casino. (It felt more like 3 miles in heals) But once I got there, I was kindly rewarded with choices of Fruit Cup and Steel Cut Oatmeal! They have a Nutrition Calculator on their website that allows you to pick what you would eat and you can view all ingredients and the nutritional information. The only thing I worried about was the Cinnamon-sugar that was sprinkled on top of the oatmeal, but it seemed pretty gritty, so I'm pretty sure it was raw. It doesnt specify on the site. However, the pecans and strawberries in the oatmeal totally made it worth the $4.00 I payed. The Fruit Cups were another great option, because the fruit was very fresh and tasty!
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For lunch Saturday Foxwoods provided our group with a buffet of food. I was initially very upset to find that the large salad at the beginning of the line had Feta mixed into it! But i figured there had to be at least a steamed veggie or something I could eat. I grabbed a breadroll and slowly moved down the line, walking past Eggplant Parm, Philly Cheese Steak, Chicken, and A veggie stew that smelt like it was in beef broth. I still had an empty plate and felt very discouraged. My friends pleaded me to take the Eggplant Parm, but I was committed to this, and if I was going to eat bread for now,and grab something later, I was willing to do that.
Finally, I reached the end of the table, where a staff member was ladeling soup into bowls. I was very skeptical.
"Excuse me, but what kind of soup is that?"
"Minestrone"
"Is it cooked in vegetable broth"
"Yes"
I carefully examined the bowl of soup in front of me. All veggies and a little pasta. I didnt know if the pasta contained egg but at this point, it was pretty much my only option, and it certanily wasnt egg-noodles, so I figured I was good to go! I had him load up my bowl and sat down, very pleased!

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For dinner we went to the main Buffet at Foxwoods where there was an array of food. I build a beautiful salad with peppers, tomatos, cucumbers, mixed greens and wasabi peas! There was a delightful Kale and Potato soup, and I also had some vegetable fried rice (w/o egg), a cabbage roll, and some pasta with marinara. ( I know, not the healthiest choices after the salad and soup, but it was pretty good!)

Then I was back to Panera in the morning!

All in all, I did very well with my weekend at Foxwoods. I avoided the icecream, and coffee drinks I constantly crave, and said no to cheesy pizza yet again. I feel reenergized, and ready to conquer the world!