i’m going to stop eating out so much

breakfast: blueberry muffin, warmed up with earth balance. they still taste good today, i declare that recipe a success

lunch: avocado veggie sandwich from ba le (click here for their amazing website). the miraculous thing about vietnamese sandwiches is that i don’t even really like most of the ingredients, but somehow together there’s this kind of delicious magical synergy. we also got this “drink” that was the weirdest thing i’ve consumed in quite a while–it was basically taro fruit, sugar, sweet rice, and coconut milk.

oolong orchid tea from intelligentsia. tiny bite from a vosges black pearl bar.

dinner at yummy yummy: cashew soy gluten (whatever the hell that is) and indian curry with seitan. white rice.

brunch: lemon cornmeal pancakes (click for the recipe) with apple-banana sauce (2 apples and 2 bananas chopped and cooked in saucepan with maple syrup, Earth Balance, lemon, and water, until it sort of resembles a sauce); Boca burger sausage (basically chunks of frozen Boca burger deep fried in canola oil with red pepper flakes and liquid smoke); orange juice; coffee

breakfast

• 1 c flour
• 3/4 c corn meal
• 3 T sugar
• 2 T baking powder
• 3 T Earth Balance, plus more for frying
• 1 T corn starch
• 1.5 c soymilk
• juice of 2 lemons
• zest of 2 lemons

Mix flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder together in a large bowl. Cut in Earth Balance (either with a knife or fork, or just by kneading it in with your hands). Prepare replacement for egg by whisking the corn starch with a splash of soy milk. Add this corn starch/soy milk mixture, the rest of the soy milk, and the lemon juice plus zest to the dry ingredients. Mix, leaving some clumps.

Heat a stick-free or well seasoned pan on medium-high heat. Once hot (dribbled water should sizzle), add 1/8-1/4 tsp Earth Balance. It should melt and sizzle quickly. Before it has spread out very far, scoop about 1/3c batter into the middle of the melting Earth Balance. Flip pancakes once most of the bubbles that form on top have popped.

dinner at Sushi Seki: tofu appetizer (three big chunks of fried tofu with three different sauces); spinach with sesame sauce; vegetable tempura entree (without the non-vegan sauce that is served with it); rice with soy sauce and ginger; avocado roll; Sapporo (“NO!! You can’t brew beer with fish.” -Sapporo); Wakatake Onikoroshi sake (may or may not be vegan)

Not much is vegan at Sushi Seki, as there is bonito in the broth that is used in the miso soup, all the noodle dishes, and some of the vegetable and tofu dishes. However, they were extremely knowledgeable and thorough about what actually was vegan, and it was all very good.

I mentioned this before, but miso soup is often cooked with a bonito or other fish base. Also agedofu and greens are often cooked with fish sauce or fish-based broth.

apple cinnamon lollipop

breakfast: french toast with french bread and sourdough bread.  This was very good. I thought the french bread worked better, but Crispen preferred the sourdough bread. The sourdough loaf fell apart and was a little too mushy for me.

the middle of the day: Trader Joe’s salt and vinegar chips (a lot of them).  This is the third brand that I have found with vegan salt and vinegar chips.  Trader Joe’s taste was somewhere between Cape Code and Kettle.

leftover pizza (see previous post)

dinner: lasagna.  The recipe I used is from the cookbook Moosewood Cookbook New Classics on page 279.  This recipe is pretty good.

drink: Yuengling

grapefruit

peanut butter and strawberry conserve on beer bread; gala apple

JOOSE

leftover burrito stuff; shiner bock

fudgy okara brownies with coconut milk ice cream; arrogant bastard ale

++–!! MI)! RR

i ate a lot today

breakfast: raisin toast with tofutti cream cheese. oj.

study sesh at bridgeport coffee: blood-orange tea. veggie sandwich which was just a bunch of veggies wrapped in really good bread with vinegarette. it was my first time at bridgeport coffee–i like it

early dinner: leftover padthaiwithtofunoegg

late dinner: leftover veggie hummus pita with greasy fries

blueberry muffins from this recipe, except i halved it because 7 cups of flour wtf? they taste good now because they’re warm; i’ll update with a day two assessment tomorrow.

breakfast: clementine, cashews and a banana. coffee with soymilk from Marvelous Market

lunch: leftover pizza and leftover quinoa with chickpea dish

snack: another banana a some more leftover pizza

dinner: drunken noodles and ka pow jae from Thai Pot in Williamsburg VA.  The food is just ok, but it’s about the only restaurant I have found in Williamsburg that can make vegan food.

desert: chocolate chip cookie (see previous post)

drink: Yuengling

sandwich on beer bread with a friend’s homemade black eyed pea and flax seed tempeh, leftover ginger-peanut sauce, spinach

many vegan samples at central market chocolate fest

a whole bag of kim’s magic pop split with one other person

at mighty cone: hot and crunchy avocado cone hold the cole slaw and ancho sauce; veggie slider; chili-dusted fries with homemade ketchup; topo chico; bacardi gold rum; orange cupcake with almond frosting at hey cupcake

navel orange

++–!! MI)! RR

pre-breakfast snack (?): tj’s pita crackers

breakfast: raisin toast and tofutti. oj.

lunch at noodles etc.: padthaiwithtofunoegg

dinner at cedar’s: pita with baba ganouj; veggie hummus pita, served with the greasiest fries ever and side salad

breakfast: oatmeal with salt and half of a chocolate chip muffin

lunch: cashews and banana

dinner: homemade pizza (not really): whole wheat dough (from Trader Joe’s) with fake chicken strips from Trader Joe’s, Follow Your Heart mozzarella cheese (probably the best vegan cheese I have had, although it doesn’t taste like cheese), tomatoes, red pepper, carmelized red onion and some lightly cooked red onion.

desert: clementines and the rest of the chocolate chip muffin. some homemade hummus and tortilla chips (not homemade)

perfect pancakes from vegan brunch, with fresh blackberries folded into the batter; soyrizo, found near the dairy section at fiesta (has a gross color and texture, you have to cut it open and squeeze it out of its casing, and while cooking it looked like a pan of shit, but it actually tasted pretty good!)

last of the roasted garlic-sun dried tomato hummus on an everything bagel; last of the orzo salad; 365 chianti

kim’s magic pop

beer bread (this time i made it with dos equis because it was the beer in the fridge that i least wanted to drink, and it actually turned out strangely delicious), amy’s butternut squash soup, split pea soup from the freezer; another piece of beer bread with strawberry conserve

++–!! MI)! RR

breakfast: ezekiel raisin bread with tofutti. oj.

grapefruit tea in a thermos during class

lunch: leftover seitan sandwich and a couple of the leftover black beans (unfortunately i was trying to carry a couple boxes and talk on my phone and i dropped most of the black beans all over north avenue). chickpea and spinach curry with rice from rajun cajun via the coffee shop at the bottom of the library. rajun cajun is ridiculous: i think that the sign says something like “indian vegetarian non-vegetarian cajun soul food.” in any case, it’s cheap and definitely not the worst indian food i’ve had.

twizzlers

chocolate samples at vosges! we were buying $250 worth of chocolate for a departmental event tomorrow so they gave us the royal sample treatment. the truffles there are not vegan, unfortunately, but the nice man gave me i think 8 different kinds of vegan chocolate bar to try just for the heck of it. my favorite was the one with chili powder in it.

tj’s ww english muffin with tj’s masala burger and bbq

breakfast: vanilla Silk soy yogurt; granola with almonds; orange juice; coffee

lunch: Sabra artichoke and spinach hummus; pita; lemon wild rice salad

dinner: same as lunch (how creative!); corn muffin

snacks: Alternative Baking Company Luscious Lemon Poppyseed cookie; late night coffee with Julia at Dunkin’ Donuts

breakfast: pita and homemade hummus

lunch: 3 leftover chocolate chip cookies (see previous post for recipe) and some of the leftover quinoa and chickpea dish (see previous post for recipe).

snack: 2 more chocolate chip cookies and some more pita and homemade hummus.

dinner: homemade hummus and homemade pita chips. Click for the recipe.

desert: chocolate chip muffins Are you noticing a theme yet?  In case you aren’t, let me help you out: chocolate chips.  This is the result of the city freaking out about snow.  I don’t think the grocery stores even closed down because of the weather (they did close early), but people went nuts.  You would think the world is ending.  There is no produce in the markets and the lines are up to 3 hours.  I have no patience for such nonsense, so I am cooking with ingredients that I have around the house (i.e. chocolate chips).

whole wheat pita, roasted garlic and sun dried tomato hummus; leftover orzo salad; everything bagel; kim’s magic pop

ants on a log (celery, peanut butter, raisins)

burrito: grande mission tortilla; refried pinto beans made by mashing canned pinto beans in olive oil and garlic in a pan over heat; diced and steamed zucchini and yellow squash sprinkled with sea salt, oregano, and dried parsley; spinach; roasted tomato salsa. boiled yucca with mojo (garlic sauteed in olive oil and lime juice.. for some reason it turned blue?). from the prepared foods counter at fiesta: ate de membrillo (quince) and guayaba (guava), which both tasted like a block of strawberry fruit leather

ibarra mexican hot chocolate prepared with almond milk

breakfast: ezekiel raisin bread with tofutti cream cheese. oj.

lunch: hummus on toasted flatbread. sauteed green beans. organic apple sauce cup.

dinner: bbq seitan at handlebar (with emily’s mom!). served with collard greens and then also black beans because they screwed up my order and let me keep it. i’m going to say it: handlebar has the best bbq seitan in chicago.

lentil soup

a few sips of coffee

breakfast: Cheerios with soymilk, orange juice, coffee

lunch: leftover marinated tempeh sandwich; leftover lemon wild rice romaine salad

snacks: hickory seitan jerky by Primal Strips, strawberry Mamba, salt and vinegar chips, pickle (lots of snacks!)

dinner: kidney beans, corn, and chunks of vegan Boca burger cooked with onion, garlic, chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, liquid smoke, stone ground mustard, tomato paste, Jack Daniels whiskey, olive oil, bay leaves, crushed red pepper, Old Bay seasoning, black pepper, a pinch of sugar, and salt; spinach sauteed with garlic, salt, pepper, and Earth Balance; corn bread (click for recipe).

breakfast: none (don’t worry, I more than make up for it later in the day)

lunch/snack/lunch/snack: a lot of popcorn with bragg’s and nutrional yeast, chocolate chips, leftover quinoa and chickpea dish (see previous post), pita and homemade hummus

drinks: I drank basically all day long. I had rum and coke and about 5 beers (the beast)

etc. I went to a potluck where I had some amazing vegan apple crisp and some beets

oatmeal with agave and fresh blackberries

whole wheat pita with kalamata olives, roasted hot pepper, spinach, and homemade roasted garlic and sun dried tomato hummus. hummus recipe here.

orzo salad inspired by 101cookbooks, with asparagus, rainbow chard, fresh mint, chopped avocado, crumbled tofu, olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt; leftover gingerbread cupcake with lemon buttercream frosting; navel orange

evening snack: 1/2 an everything bagel with hummus on 1/2 of the 1/2. i guess i was feeling hesitant to commit.

later evening snack (i.e. what i really wanted): the last gingerbread pig (see previous) smothered in strawberry conserve!