Veg-alicious

Big Decision/ Moving

2008-09-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

*Please visit my new blog at www.vegalicious.wordpress.com !! Thank you!!*

I've moved. Blogs, that is. I've discovered wordpress.com and like the format of it much better than blogger. So...here's the link, if you want to continue the adventure with me, haha.

Lunch and a Serious Dilemma

2008-09-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Mmmm, lunch. Leftovers!

A leftover bean burger, some tomato soup, and the rest of my squash.

And for dessert- rice krispies with a handful of chocolate chips, soy milk, and a drizzle of agave nectar!

Now I want to talk about something very serious.

Unfortunately, being vegan is getting to be very pricey. Especially since I'm moving out next year to go to college, I need to be able to eat pretty cheaply. I can't afford to keep buying expensive milk-like or cheese-like products (soy milk is inexpensive- thankfully!). In addition, it seems like all I'm allowed to eat, especially for breakfast, is sweet things like berries and syrups and pancakes, rather than a nice egg on toast. The bottom line is, I'm seriously considering reverting back to vegetarianism, to cut down on the budget, and to provide more variety to my diet. The idea of eating milk cultured with rennet, which is what cheese is, disgusts me; nonetheless, I have to be realistic here. Being vegan for a couple of months was a nice experiment, but is it time to move on, I wonder? Your input is greatly appreciated.

"Sick" Day

2008-09-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

Saturday was such a stressful day for me that on Sunday morning I literally woke up sick; stomachache, sore throat, the works! So I took it easy all day and mostly ate comfort food. Unfortunately, there was a lot of comfort food that is now off limits to me, such as chicken soup and chocolate pudding, but I managed. For lunch I made a "chicken soup wannabe" from leftover spaghetti noodles tossed with olive oil and a ton of salt, and mixed in a ground "beef" patty for flavor and more saltiness.

Other than that I just had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and a couple peanut butter sandwiches throughout the day. Nothing to write home about.

On Saturday I managed to cook some "squash mash" from a squash I grew in my garden. I cooked the squash, sliced, for a very long time, probably about an hour, until it was nice and mushy, then I blended it with some soymilk and salt. It doesn't sound appetizing, I know, but it was! I took it to a family gathering and offered everyone to try a bite, but when I glanced at the garbage later I found lots of piles of squash with one bite taken out of each! Haha. Oh, well, more for me! I guess I was the only one who liked it.

This morning I decided to use up that last Coconut Milk Yogurt I have; usually I don't crave yogurt (or yogurt look-alikes) so I sort of had to force myself to eat it. It didn't have the texture I would have wanted- it was very slimy and gritty. However, the color was superb- a rich dark blue, and the blueberry flavor surely came through! I wouldn't eat it again, though.

About an hour later, I was hungry again, so I made myself a piece of Whole Wheat Bread with garlicky hummus and some chickpeas and black beans. This was my first beans-on-toast experience, and I must say, I'll be having this again! Certainly a nice change from my usual sweet breakfasts!

Right now I'm baking an apple walnut cobbler-type dish, to take 1/2 of it to each of my grandparents' houses. It's not a vegan dessert- it has butter and an egg in it, but if you'd like to see a picture of it, just let me know, and I'll post one. I'll be making this recipe again, of course, to try and veganize it, so I'll probably just post pictures then.

I'm going to go clothes shopping today for a whole new wardrobe! I can't wait!

Early Lunch

2008-08-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Mmmm, I just finished my lunch of a peanut butter, agave nectar, and maple syrup sandwich on whole wheat with a crisp, juicy apple. I ate breakfast barely three hours ago, so it seems a little weird to me that I'm hungry already for lunch, but, whatever, it'll even out because I probably won't be hungry for hours and hours now!

Blueberry Morning

2008-08-30T10:18:00.001-07:00

I decided early this morning that I wanted something sweet and syrup-y to just let melt in my mouth, while I savored the rest of my blueberry pancakes. So I made a blueberry compote to top the leftover pancakes, with blueberries and agave nectar.

Scrumptious!

Today I'm going to be lazy, and maybe do a little job-hunting and house cleaning! You all have a good one, ok? :)

Black Bean Burgers

2008-08-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

While gardening this afternoon I felt a random pang of hunger, which didn't make much sense considering my big lunch, but I ate this anyways:

Peanut butter and banana on whole wheat.

Then for dinner I schemed up an enticing combo. Rice-tomato soup and black bean burgers. The soup was simple; I came up with the recipe as I went along. First I sauteed onions in olive oil; added carrots; added canned tomato sauce; stirred in a little over a cup of rice; then blended up some tomatoes and poured that in (that was about 3 cups' worth). I let that simmer on low heat for almost a half an hour while I made my burgers. Then right before it was finished, I added a gastrique- equal parts caramelized sugar and apple cider vinegar- and let it boil for a couple more seconds.

The burger recipe I got from a friend a while ago, and had yet to try it. They turned out so much better than expected taste-wise! Texture-wise, they were dry, but that was my fault for using carrots rather than roasted peppers, not using enough oil, etc. But the flavor! Wow!

Here's the recipe:

Black Bean Burgers
1/4 cup plain flour (I used whole wheat)
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 small hot or jalapeno chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium red pepper, diced
1 1/3 cups cooked or canned black beans, mashed
1/3 cup sweetcorn kernels (I used chopped chickpeas instead- no corn in the cupboard!)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chilli powder
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

In a medium saucepan, saute the onion, garlic, oregano and hot chilli in the oil until the onions are translucent. Add the peppers and saute another 2 mins until the pepper is tender. Set aside. Stir in the onion mixture, sweetcorn, breadcrumbs, cumin, salt, chilli powder, and parsley. Mix well. Divide and shape into patties. Lay down eat patty in the flour, coating each side. Cook in a lightly oiled frying pan on medium-high heat for 5-10mins or until browned on both sides. I made each patty about the size of my palm and it made about 5 patties.

I served my burger on a small bed of spicy rice (the same rice I used for my soup). These two dishes, the soup and burger, went together splendidly! After dinner, I was still hungry, so I crumbled up a burger into another bowl of soup, and that tasted fine, too!

I wish I had another picture of the soup, but here's a picture of the finished burgers:

Oh, and before I go, the "bags and bags" of apples and pears I promised to show you (they're set out on a table to ripen):

Yes, I'm going to be eating a lot of apples and pears very soon.

I'll see you all in the morning; I'm sensing a sweet breakfast after two savory meals in a row!

Improvisational Lettuce Wrap

2008-08-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

I was so dismayed when I got home this afternoon, looked in the refrigerator, and all my whole wheat tortillas were gone! My heart was still set on a wrap, though, so I removed some outer layer of a head of iceberg lettuce and there you go!

A "tortilla!" In it I spread some garlic hummus, the rest of an avocado, the rest of a green bell pepper, some onion, tiny orange tomatoes, and best of all: Teriyaki Baked Tofu, made by me, the right way this time. It marinated in the refrigerator overnight in a mixture of equal parts Wasabi Teriyaki Sauce, soy sauce, water, and a pinch of garlic salt.

This was possibly the most amazing thing I have ever eaten. I strongly urge you to try this.

After this wrap, I was pretty full, so for dessert, I just munched on a small bowl of blueberries:

In case anyone's interested in my plans for the rest of the day, I'm going to clean my house thoroughly, perhaps bake a little more, and relax. I'm relishing these last few days before school starts! Hopefully by Sunday I'll also have a job.

I'm So Blue

2008-08-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

Ever since the blueberry pancakes a couple days ago, I've been craving blueberries! So last night I mixed some oats and oat bran with soy milk and let that sit overnight with about 3/4 cup of frozen blueberries and half a banana. This morning I added an unhealthy amount of cinnamon, agave nectar, and maple syrup, and microwaved for 3 minutes. You'd think with all that sweetness from the nectar and syrup, it would be a sweet tooth sensation, right? Wrong! This was the blandest bowl of oats I have ever feasted upon. I attribute the lack of flavor to the -frozen- blueberries. Flavorless themselves, they added nothing but volume to the dish. Eventually I was forced to pour in a packet of Splenda to make the taste more bearable, because I hate letting food go to waste.

Lesson learned: always use fresh blueberries.

Late Dinner

2008-08-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

After a physically and mentally draining day, nothing hits the spot like a peanut butter-maple syrup-agave nectar sandwich. It's a more "elegant" version of peanut butter and honey, in my opinion. I had this dinner very late, almost 9 o'clock at night, so it's a good thing I had an afternoon snack:

SoDelicious coconut milk strawberry-banana yogurt with chopped plums and ginger granola. I also added Peanut Butter Puffins to the cup after I took the picture.

In case you were wondering, that's Rudolph on the plate.

Ultimate Grilled Cheese

2008-08-28T13:41:00.001-07:00

It's just deathly hot outside! Especially when you're walking around town for hours in heavy clothing! What was I thinking?
After collapsing on the couch to have some much-needed TV-watching down time, I made my way to the kitchen to create this: the ultimate grilled cheese. My sandwich consisted of gobs of raw onion, cubed avocado, tomato, and "mozzarella cheese." I grilled it in olive oil until the bread was crunchy (the cheese had a hard time melting, though) and served it alonside a bowl of thick tomato soup and a small sliced apple. I also had a nectarine (not shown).

On another note, I ate a cashew cookie Larabar for my snack this morning, and ohmygosh I was utterly amazed at the ingredients! I ate it thinking, "hmm, I taste almond..cranberry.." Boy was I wrong! There were two ingredients: cashews. dates. I was blown away.
See you all for dinner!

What To Do With Leftover Chocolate Waffles

2008-08-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Make them into a sandwich! Spread peanut butter onto two waffles, then add banana and maple syrup to make a sandwich, and grill! De-licious! Especially burnt, the burnt flavor brings out the chocolate more and makes it crunchy!

I also ate another plum (not pictured) and I might have a nectarine seeing as it's still breakfast time.

Concoctions

2008-08-27T19:31:00.001-07:00

Not much to say about my dinner tonight. I sauteed some onions in extra virgin olive oil, added some pureed tomatoes, a ton of cayenne pepper, about 1/4 cup of black beans, and some leftover peas, and served it all over some white rice mixed with spinach. The taste was surprisingly good! And very spicy, just the way I like it. If your lips don't burn for 20 minutes after you're done eating, then it's not spicy enough!

Dessert was a dried pineapple ring topped with a hazlenut chocolate truffle, then warmed in the microwave until the chocolate melted and I could dip the pineapple in it!

Mmm, melty!

Rain

2008-08-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day! The rain has finally forced me to relax and stay home for the first time in weeks, and it feels great! I did manage to hang out with a friend this morning, though. A girl's got to socialize, right? Between breakfast and lunch I snacked on a piece of bread with peanut butter and about, oh, 3 Italian plums. Then for lunch I made this:

A grilled peanut butter sandwich! I'd never tried one of these before, but it sounded so good, and I hadn't had a grilled sandwich in ages! Not since the exile of grilled cheese. I spread both pan-sides of the bread with maple syrup, too! And ate with a nectarine and a couple more plums (I have bags and bags of them, also bags and bags of apples and pears, I should post a picture of them!)

Two-By-Two

2008-08-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

My breakfast this morning took me an hour to make! For some reason, to cook four pancakes, it took over a half an hour. The rest of the time was spent assembling the batter and cooking the sausages.

Here it is: two Banana Blueberry Pancakes, with a side of two sausage halves and two cut-up plums, all drizzled with agave nectar and maple syrup!

Spicy!

2008-08-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

A spicy onion wrap. Mmmm. This wrap was a whole wheat tortilla, stuffed with hummus, a generous amount of avocado, tons of black pepper, bell pepper strips, tomato, and onions which were sauteed in olive oil and cayenne pepper. Then wrapped up, and the whole thing was sprinkled with cayenne pepper and served with more tomatoes and baby carrots. OhMyGosh this hit the spot!

However, I feel myself getting hungry yet again. A big wrap, but not very filling. I'll have to make a stop at the fruit market as I'm out of ... dun dun... bananas!

Chocolate Decadence

2008-08-26T09:58:00.001-07:00

Good news! I've converted my mother to veganism. It turns out she's been almost vegan for years, doesn't have a palate for meat, you know? I wondered why she drinks rice milk, yet never mentioned veganism. She just didn't know what it was! Now I cook for her and she's getting healthier, eating meatless the right way! The only problem is, now she eats all my food.
Here's my breakfast from this morning. I changed
Erica's recipe a lot in order to convert them into waffles, and I also added banana chunks rather than chocolate chips.

Now I'm sipping on lukewarm coffee, leisurely net-surfing and dreaming about the school year. I can't wait to show you all the delicious lunches I'll take to school!

Whole Foods!

2008-08-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

I finally went to Whole Foods! It turns out I live only a medium-length drive away from one of the few in my state! Too long of a drive to go very often, though. I bought so much stuff! Whole wheat tortillas, Peanut Butter Puffins, two SoDelicous yogurts (blueberry and strawberry banana), light agave nectar, vegan mozzarella cheese, hummus, and a cashew cookie Larabar.

If you could have seen me power-walking up and down the aisles with a big goofy smile on my face like a kid in a candy store, you would have laughed. My mom did.

For dinner, I made a mozzarella-black bean wrap, using a whole wheat wrap and tofu mozzarella, both of which I bought at Whole Foods! I also chopped up some tomatoes and some onion and threw it in there. Microwaved it for a minute and sprinkled cayenne pepper on top!

What's your favorite Larabar flavor? I must know for next time I go to WF!

Split-Second Banana Split

2008-08-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

After an exhausting morning of running around town, I wanted something sweet, indulgent, and breakfast-y for lunch. Based off of
Shelby's blog, I made a banana split oatmeal, jazzed up a bit. I cooked oats and oat bran with soymilk, along with two tablespoons of peanut butter. On top of this I placed a halved banana, another tablespoon of peanut butter, and some strawberry jam. Mmmmy goodness!

I bought a new kind of peanut butter today since I'm out of Costco peanut butter and can't shop for more until tomorrow. Still, I couldn't last even one day without peanut butter, so I bought a jar of Mara Natha natural butter.
My food plans for the rest of the day are iced coffee, and possibly a rice-bean-corn dish for supper.

Lil' Peaches and a Relaxing Morning

2008-08-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

What a relaxing morning! Of course, after only 5 hours of sleep, what choice have I but to relax? I have so many errands to run today that I had to bump some of them to tomorrow, not to mention my job interviews today! You know what I'm going to do with the first money I earn at my first job? I'm going to buy Cinnamon Raisin peanut butter from Peanut Butter & Co.
When I woke up this morning nothing would hit the spot like peaches! So I fried up some french toast and topped it with warm peach slices, sprinkled with cinnamon. (There was also a heapin' helpin' of cinnamon in the batter, which was 1 tbsp. ground flax meal, 3 tbsp. water, and cinnamon.) Alongside I had a Morningstar Farms sausage patty.

I'll have to buy some more peanut butter today, as I'm almost out. Whatever will I do without peanut butter? Perhaps I'll try a different kind of nut butter. What are your opinions on almond butter, etc.?

Summer Is Amazing

2008-08-23T19:00:00.001-07:00

I was just too, too stuffed from lunch to even think about eating much for dinner. I was looking forward to a nice, big salad; however, all three bags of lettuce in my refrigerator were rotten. I sliced some yellow cucumber, which I grew myself, sprinkled with salt, along with some sliced onion (raw-I like it that way), baby carrots, tomatoes also from my garden, and had with it all a ripe nectarine. Even this seemed like too much, and I couldn't finish it all.

McDonald's Ain't Got Nothin' On Me

2008-08-23T13:17:00.000-07:00

My morning snack today was a Banana-Peanut Butter Smoothie. One cup soymilk, one half of a refrigerated, very ripe banana, two tablespoons of peanut butter, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. So simple, but so satisfying. I don't think it lasted 30 seconds. I'm a smoothie power-drinker.

Then around 1 o'clock I got hungry for lunch, and decided on a MONSTER BURGER! Boy, do I have McDonald's beat! Two slices of toasted whole wheat bread, spread with pureed avocado, and layered with a veggie burger, sauteed onions, and fresh tomato slices. On the side were tomato and cucumber slices sprinkled with salt, and baby carrots. I have to admit, I ate every bite of this lunch.

The Great Outdoors

2008-08-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been away so long! I spent the past 5 days relaxing in the...rain. Ok, so we spent most of our time in the RV; nonetheless, it was an amazing trip.

I have to admit I lived on peanut butter the entire time! I felt bad for my family, because they're very into cooking and down-home family meals, you know? Unfortunately, once meal time came around...what's Josie going to eat? I don't know, ask her. Um...peanut butter? Then big sighs from everyone and lots of rolling eyes.

This morning I finally ate a breakfast at my own house! After scouring numerous blogs in search of what I was craving (which I still honestly don't know) I settled on a good cold bowl of cereal. Ginger-cashew granola, multigrain cheerios, sliced banana and blueberries, and a good splash of soy milk. Also, after I took the picture, I sprinkled the concoction with cinnamon.

Aaahh!

2008-08-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

This spider was in my HOUSE! Can you believe it? It was in the corner next to my front door, and I was so terrified I ran right past it and out the door, leaving my sister alone with it, hehe. I wonder if they had an interesting conversation...

It's Lunch!

2008-08-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here's my lunches from the past couple of days:
Yesterday I had a sandwich with the Teriyaki tofu I made the other day. It also had avocado and cooked spinach. I gave it an A+! On the side were carrots and an apple.

Then today I decided to try eggless egg salad. My recipe included small-cubed tofu, which I pressed and combined with a tablespoon of ground flaxseed and some water, cooked in a saucepan for a few minutes until it was no longer soupy, then stirred in a teaspoon of mustard. It turned out very bland. I had it on a sandwich with raw spinach, with a side of carrot slices and an apple.

Experimenting

2008-08-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

Last night I made my own version of Cheesy Ratatouille. I used one zucchini, one yellow squash, two cans of diced tomatoes, and 1/4 cup nutritional yeast; stirred it all together and baked at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes. DO NOT TRY THIS RECIPE. It was awful. The nutritional yeast was so overpowering, it almost burnt my tongue. This was my first attempt at cooking with it, or even eating it at all, so I didn't realize that a little goes a long way!
I didn't want all that food to go to waste, so I let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator, then rinsed it this morning so that all that's left are the vegetables. They're still a little tangy, but I think they'll be ok on a sandwich.

Then, I made Chinese Tofu. I sliced the tofu into about 1/2 inch thick pieces, pressed them, then basted them with a simple marinade of half water, half soy sauce, with a splash of lemon juice. Baked them for 20 minutes at 425 degrees. Next time I'll marinate them rather than baste them, as the flavor didn't soak all the way through.

Yesterday in the bulk section of the grocery store, something caught my eye: Ginger Granola. Hmm...it had a delicious ginger smell, and oddly enough, cashews in it. So I bought some. This morning I mixed 1/2 cup with 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats, 3/4 cup soy milk, and a dash of cinnamon, and microwaved it for three minutes. It didn't turn out as amazing as I thought it would be but I had some cold as a snack later on and realized, it is very good uncooked. This was my breakfast:

Some of us die doing what we love.

2008-08-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to pay tribute to a well-loved, adventurous, and not to mention talented, writer and pilot, who tragically died in a plane crash in Quinhagak, Alaska, June 2008. This is a link to his blog, please read and look at the pictures. I never personally met him, but feel like I have after reading what he had to say, and hearing first-hand stories about him from my family. Thankfully, he was a Christian and is now with the Lord.
http://shaunlunt.blogspot.com/