breakfast: large coffee with soy milk from Marvelous Market and a slice of homemade whole wheat bread

lunch: chipotle tofu sandwich (homemade wholewheat bread, spinach, avocado and baked chipotle tofu

Click for the recipe.

snacks: grapes, pumpkin seeds

dinner: grilled cheese (whole wheat bread spread with chipotle sauce, Follow Your Heart cheese, spinach)

snack: Skittles. Tropical flavor. They were not very good.  Also, I realized after eating these that Skittles still have “natural flavor,” so I am not sure if they are actually vegan. I sent an email to the company that makes Skittles, Wrigley, asking if Skittles are vegan. i will let you know if I hear back. I guess until I hear back, Skittles are back on my “not vegan” list.

molasses beer bread with creamy peanut butter and wild blueberry preserves

multigrain tortilla (made in-house at central market) with fava bean puree, spinach; texas sweet orange

small jonathan apple; zucchini spelt muffin from freezer; coffee from central market bulk beans

herbed everything bread with white bean tapenade; roasted butternut squash, steamed kale, tempeh pan-fried with garlic, all with ginger-miso dressing; grapefruit. the dressing and bread recipes are in the archive. click here for the tapenade.

shiner bock; attempt #3 at lemon poppyseed cookies. better than #1, not as good as #2, nowhere near as good as abc’s.

blueberry muffin from freezer with earth balance

skittles from the movie theater

leftover gallo pinto. steamed kale mixed with a glop of peanut butter. i actually just put all this stuff together in a bowl and it was pretty awesome.

skittles

saltines with peanut butter and honey (14 in all = 7 sandwiches)

so many skittles

tj’s soy nuggets with bbq. steamed kale.

skittles

Thank you Marcy for letting us know that Skittles no longer have gelatin.  I ate all three of these bags over about 1 hour, before I had ingested anything besides espresso since waking up.  A great source of Vitamin C!

Stacey has pointed out that not all stores have the new stuff yet. You should make sure that 1) gelatin is not listed as an ingredient, 2) they say “gelatin-free” on the back, and/or 3) rather than a boring rainbow emanating from the “i” in “Skittles” towards the right only, there should be a freaking rainbow explosion exploding from the “i” in both directions. Trails!

breakfast: espresso; Skittles

late lunch: black beans and rice (click for the recipe)

entree

• 1 onion (preferably red), chopped
• about 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• olive oil
• 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• about 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• about 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 dried red peppers
• Old Bay seasoning to taste
• 2 cups vegetable bouillon
• 1-2 T tomato paste
• 1-2 c rice

Saute the onion, garlic, carrot in olive oil with salt and pepper.

Optional (to avoid mushy onion/garlic in the final product): after the onion, garlic, and any other vegetables are cooked, remove them from the heat and set aside.  Mix them back in once the beans are finished cooking.  I forgot about this so I left them in.

Add the beans, along with the red pepper flakes, cumin, bay leaves, dried red peppers, and Old Bay.  If you removed the sauteed onions and garlic to add at the end, you can add some quartered onion and large chunks of garlic to cook with the beans, which you can then remove before serving.

After sauteing the beans and spices for a few minutes, add the bouillon.  Heat on high until simmering, then reduce heat to a temperature that maintains a simmer.

After at least half the water has evaporated (about 15-20 minutes?), add the tomato paste.  Cook for another 10 minutes or so, until most of the water has evaporated and the tomato paste has spread throughout the beans.

If you removed the sauteed onion/garlic, remove any large onion/garlic that you boiled with the beans, and add the crunchier sauteed garlic and onion back.  If you kept the garlic and onion in, embrace the mushiness.

Serve over rice.

late dinner: baba ghanoush (click for the recipe) and homemade multigrain bread (the same recipe that I posted before, see multigrain pecan bread on the recipe page, except I used 4 cups whole wheat flour to 2 cups white flour, plus I used 1/4 c agave nectar instead of 1/4 c sugar)

side

• 1 large eggplant
• 10 small/medium cloves garlic (I’m not that crazy; these are going to be roasted)
• 1/2 c tahini (1/4 c would be fine if you want to make it less expensive)
• juice of 1 juicy lemon
• 2 T sesame seeds
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1.5-2 T olive oil

Insert the garlic cloves in the eggplant.  Do this by cutting into the eggplant skin with a small knife, and then pushing the garlic cloves in.  If using big garlic cloves, cutting them in half will make this easier.

Lightly coat the eggplant and a baking sheet with olive oil.  Bake the eggplant with its garlic babies at 400F for about 30-35 minutes, until it is soft and the skin looks sort of gross and loose.

Let the eggplant cool, or stick it in cold water if you’re in a hurry.  Peel the skin off.  In sections there may be a tough layer beneath the skin; you can try blending this into the baba ghanoush, and if it won’t blend you can remove it later.

Food process the eggplant meat along with the roasted garlic cloves, tahini, lemon, sesame seeds, salt, pepper, and 1 T of olive oil.

Once food processed, transfer to whatever bowl you want to store/serve in, and loosely mix in another 1/2 T olive oil.  It is best to refrigerate for a couple hours before serving.  Optionally, add another 1/2 T olive oil to the top, along with parsley, paprika, etc.

beer at Pacific Standard trivia night

leftover beans & rice and pecan bread & baba ghanoush

brunch: the end of the okra stew with brown rice

snacks: a few vegan semi sweet chocolate chips and Turtle Mountain’s Purely Decadent Praline Pecan ice cream.  This is not my favorite flavor.

dinner: I went to a seed swap potluck. Earlier in the day Meredith, Shelley and I were discussing how all of the potlucks in DC (that we go to) are vegetarian even when it’s not specified.   This potluck kept the trend going.  Shelley and I (mostly Shelley because I cut myself and was bleeding) made 3 bean salad with black beans, chickpeas and pigeon peas mixed with red onion, lemon juice and cilantro

Although the potluck was all vegetarian people did not label which dishes were vegan. I asked around and found a delicious a few vegan dishes. one had beets, caramelized onions and brussel sprouts. there was also a salad with toasted almonds and some other toasted nuts. I wasn’t sure if the dressing was vegan so I had some hummus with the salad.

drink: Yuengling

snack: I had to go to three places, but I finally found vegan Skittles (original flavor)! I haven’t had Skittles in many years, but they taste exactly as I remember them. It’s sort of disturbing that I remember how they taste, also sort of cool.  I guess this probably means that my memories of non vegan cheese and meat are probably accurate. I guess it’s like riding a bike- you never forget.

I made a loaf of whole wheat bread and I ate some bread dough  (I have a problem).  I also made chipotle baked tofu for lunch tomorrow and I tried a sample of the dish to make sure it was cooked enough. I will post the tofu recipe tomorrow.

Click for the whole wheat bread recipe

cornflakes with raisins and almond milk; grapefruit

smart dog on the last of the beer bread that was in the freezer, topped with spinach, yellow mustard, and prepared horseradish; jonathan apple, part of it sliced with prepared horseradish spread on the slices

i baked two loaves of bread: another variant of the molasses beer bread, and herbed everything bread. in the beer bread i used a bottle of my friend’s homebrewed vanilla porter, which gave it great flavor, but then i underbaked it (i’m still going to eat it though). the everything bread is a variation on the rosemary-garlic bread recipe that i posted a link to the other day, but i think i’ve changed it enough to call it my own, so i will add it to our recipe library. click here for the recipe.

lots of fresh-from-the-oven herbed everything bread with pitted black olives and molasses beer bread with wild blueberry preserves (central market organics brand)

at mother’s cafe & garden: really good chips and salsa; 1/2 small garden patch salad; 1/2 bbq tofu entree which comes with black eyed peas and sage mashed potatoes; 1/2 piece of peanut butter chocolate pie

wow, i’m so glad that that little tidbit about skittles brightened so many days around here!

blueberry muffin, oj

leftover thai curry with leftover cous cous

vietnamese sandwich

weird but delicious ‘drink’ from the same restaurant–i think this one was mung beans and coconut milk.

whiskey ginger

tostada with avocado, refried beans, tomato, lettuce, salsa at some mexican place

brunch: coffee; toasted everything bagel with Tofutti cream cheese and slices of red onion; tofu scramble (click for the recipe); orange slices with orange peel dark chocolate

breakfast
Whenever I make tofu scramble, I am very hungry (it’s usually like noon after sleeping in on a weekend and I’m starving), so I just sort of frantically throw stuff together. When it turns out well, I don’t really know how to replicate it. This one turned out really good, and this is as much as I can remember; I’ll try being more exact the next time I make it.

• 1 pack tofu, towel-dried and cut into tiny tiny cubes
• 1 onion (red is best), chopped however you like (I like them in thin crescents for scramble)
• 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped however you like (I like them in thin slices for scramble)
• 1 carrot, chopped small
• dash of olive oil
• Earth Balance (maybe up to 1 T; using all olive oil would be okay)
• crushed red pepper
• thyme (I like using whole leaves, crumbled just before adding)
• cumin (I like using cumin seeds, chopped)
• sea salt
• black pepper
• turmeric to taste
• ginger powder to taste
• cayenne to taste
• dill to taste
• Bragg’s liquid aminos (or soy sauce as substitute) to taste
• apple cider vinegar to taste

Saute onion, garlic, and carrot with a bit of olive oil, crushed red pepper, a big pinch thyme, cumin, sea salt, and black pepper.  Only use as much olive oil as you need to saute these, as we’re going to add Earth Balance later.

Once the onion and garlic are cooked or just starting to brown, add the tofu with a bit of Earth Balance (use just enough Earth Balance to keep everything from sticking; just using olive oil would be okay too). If it gets dry later, add more Earth Balance.

After the tofu is added, add enough turmeric so that everything turns slightly yellow; don’t add too much because it will taste weird (probably 1/4 tsp total).  Add a dash of ginger; don’t go crazy with this either.  Add cayenne based on how spicy it has gotten from the red pepper flakes.  Add dill; dill is really good in this, so don’t be too scared of it.  Add Bragg’s… mine has a spray top, but I imagine I added about 2 tsp.  If using soy sauce, don’t add very much (you don’t want to taste soy sauce.. you just want it to round out the flavor).

Once all these are added, let cook for a few minutes on high heat with minimal stirring so that the tofu really browns on a few sides.  Add a splash of vinegar when it’s close to being done, along with more salt, pepper, and/or Earth Balance if it needs it.

at Brouwerij Lane beer store: 4oz samples of a few different kinds of beer (Uinta barley wine, Great Divide Old Ruffian, Jever, Pretty Things Jack d’or). I need to do some more research to see which were vegan.

dinner at Papacitos: vegan burrito (with seitan asada, soy cheese, soy cream cheese, beans, rice, etc). This was totally amazing, and it is just $5 (instead of the normal $8) during “happy hour,” which is every day from 4-7pm.

half a Kasteel Donker Belgian ale (also need to check to see if it’s vegan)

banana oat bar; grapefruit

free trail mix

mini everything bagel (wf bakery) with fava bean puree, grandma’s hummus, spinach; homemade baby carrots (regular carrots, peeled and sliced); texas sweet orange

coffee from central market bulk beans; newtree belgian dark chocolate with currants. have you ever eaten hard, bitter dark chocolate by dipping it in hot coffee and letting it melt a little bit? yum.

navel orange; last of rosemary-garlic bread; dark chocolate toffee almonds and chocolate pretzels from heb bulk

dinner at a friend’s: broiled chickpea flour flatbread thing with pine nuts, roasted cherry tomatoes, and olive oil; salad with vinaigrette; fresh baked white bread with red currant jelly; red wine

shiner bock and free popcorn at donn’s depot

cinnamon graham crackers; grapefruit

last of the gingerbread muffins from freezer with earth balance. oj.

tons of water, trying to detox from all the garlic i ate last night

kale mixed with cous cous and peanut butter

teatime: japanese cherry green tea with honey, blood orange, apple, homemade flax blueberry muffins (same as the previous recipe, except i used less baking powder and curdled the soymilk with apple cider vinegar this time; i think these were good changes )

dinner at the thai spoon downtown: cheap, vegetarian-friendly thai food in the loop

snacks at the movie theater: skittles (now vegan!) and sour patches

banana oat bar; leftover coffee with soy milk and agave

pita with grandma’s hummus, fava bean puree, pitted black olives, spinach; texas sweet orange

samples at central market: puffy veggie chips, mesquite bbq chips, honey Os, dark chocolate covered sandwich cookies; small jonathan apple

white bean, sun dried tomato and kale soup; rosemary garlic bread (links to both recipes in a previous post); pitted black olives; grapefruit

fresh ginger tea and, finally, an alternative baking company luscious lemon poppyseed cookie! i had been searching all over for one and finally whole foods restocked, although i could only have gotten there a couple days after the restocking and there were already only 2 lemon flavored ones left. anyways, this cookie was everything i had anticipated, so dense and delicious and lemony. i just need to figure out how to bake it for myself. based on the ingredient list, they are made with: unbleached all-purpose flour, unrefined cane sugar, earth balance (or equivalent), “fruit juice and natural grain dextrins” (??), water, tapioca and potato starches (isn’t that what’s in ener-g egg replacer?), vanilla, lemon, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. pretty much your basic cookie ingredients, right? so what makes them so good???? is it those mysterious dextrins and if so how can i get some?

looking back, i realized that i have had an awesome food day today…

gingerbread muffins from freezer with earth balance

lunch at backstory cafe (a little off the beaten path but a must if you’re visiting hyde park during the relatively few hours they’re open): carrot cumin soup with these amazing croutons. simple salad.

couple of pieces of bread i snatched from colloquium reception on my way to and fro in the music building today

catered dinner from cedar’s at departmental party. choosing food for music dept events always presents a bit of a conundrum in terms of my veganism (we have ‘wine and cheese’ events every two weeks that i’m partially responsible for buying the food for, you can see how my hands are a bit tied), but especially so at this scale–i pushed for catering from cedar’s and i chose the menu, but i had to include chicken pitas along with a lot of other great vegan options. anyway, we had veggie hummus pitas, falafel, hummus, baba ganoush and salad along with non-vegan baklavah and chocolate cake.

also about a billion different kinds of wine

breakfast: Special K (vegan variety) with soymilk; coffee

lunch: banana; everything bagel with sun-dried tomato Tofutti cream cheese; Vienna Fingers (ingredients listed here). I’m not sure how to address “natural flavor.” Anyone? I also don’t know why some things get the Kosher Dairy certification without seeming like they include dairy. Is it just easier to get it, or does that mean the “natural flavor” has dairy?

lab meeting snack: various pieces of gelatin-free fruit candy

dinner: sauteed spinach with garlic and olive oil. Udon noodles with peanut sauce and a bit of Sriracha sauce. Whiskey on the rocks.
The peanut sauce was just sauteed onions, garlic, sea salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, with about 3/4 c peanut butter, 1/4 c sesame oil, 1 T soy sauce, 1-2 tsp vegetarian oyster sauce, and a bunch of water (like a cup or more).

gingerbread muffin from freezer with earth balance. oj.

sandwich with tomato, horseradish hummus, clover sprouts. bag of lightly salted potato chips.

gingerbread muffin

chocolate

saltines

leftover gallo pinto, sauteed kale with timari

a friend’s homemade hummus and pita

some roasted vegetables which were highly anticipated (they took forever in the oven) but unfortunately cooked with chicken broth, which i realized after i had already eaten a couple bites. no bigs, my friend wasn’t used to vegetarianism and it didn’t occur to anyone to mention it to me. she felt super bad!

lots of 3 buck chuck shiraz–i got a really awesome one this time

breakfast: Cheerios with banana and soymilk; coffee

lunch: leftover cilantro cabbage salad; carrot with a bit of hummus; leftover biscuit with gravy; 2 slices Tofurky “oven roast” turkey; sliced apple

snack: ABC lemon poppyseed cookie!

dinner: corn tortillas and tortilla chips (made by deep-frying sections of corn tortilla in canola oil and sea salt, which pops when you add it to hot oil; maybe you are supposed to add the salt after) with guacamole, refried beans (Goya chipotle flavor; no lard!), Goya green salsa, and leftover cilantro cabbage salad

drink/snacks during treehaus show-and-tell: Budweiser; popcorn (popped with salt and canola oil)

homemade cinnamon raisin bread, toasted with peanut butter; grapefruit; a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter and strawberry conserve

grandma’s hummus, fava bean puree, black olives, spinach on a multigrain tortilla; texas sweet orange

small jonathan apple; spelt zucchini muffin

leftover white bean/sun dried tomato/kale soup with rosemary garlic bread (see yesterday’s post for links to both recipes); last half of a lemon poppyseed cookie

banana oat bar; chocolate pecan red tea. the banana oat bar was made from a recipe on a flyer at central market, originally from ‘eat for health,’ a cookbook for the eat to live program: vegan, and no foods that are processed in any way, including sugars and oils. it’s marketed as a weight-loss program which i don’t really like and i haven’t actually looked at the books, but i do like ideas for healthy un-oily baked stuff that i can eat for breakfast, so maybe i will sometime. the bars are a mix of oats, chopped dates, mashed bananas, coconut, and walnuts, nothing else. they turned out delicious.

peanut butter chocolate pretzels from whole foods bulk section

gingerbread muffin with earth balance. oj.

dr braegers veggie burger on english muffin with tomato and bbq. last of the root fries with nut/seed sauce

pinto gallo (see post from a long time ago) but i sort of forgot some things because i was blabbing to my housemate the whole time i made it. i might reseason it when i eat the leftovers. steamed kale with tamari.

dark chocolate

gingerbread muffin with earth balance

a ton of saltines, i don’t know why

chamomile tea

breakfast: Cheerios or Special K with strawberries (I can’t remember what the heck a vegan eats!) with soymilk

lunch: brat buns with Tofurky “oven roasted” slices, roasted red pepper, and roasted beets; leftover cilantro cabbage salad; olives

snack: orange (it was very awkward to try to dispose of the seeds while on the subway. one of those oranges with like 3 seeds per section); Mamba

dinner: half an avocado with sea salt; biscuits with tempeh + bean gravy (both recipes from Vegan with a Vengeance); Yellow Tail Shiraz. The biscuits were very basic and tasty, definitely not on the healthy side of biscuits, and sort of tasted like cookies. The recipe for the tempeh bits that went into the gravy was good (basically broken up tempeh cooked in just enough water that it absorbs, followed by cooking with tasty flavors), but the end gravy result was really weird… pureed beans as the base, with no roux. More of a sauce/spread than gravy, I say!

breakfast: large soy latte from Starbucks (I felt I deserved it because I only slept for 4 hours last night- traveling back from RI to DC, then straight to work.  I know this is not a good excuse).

lunch: 1/2 a Chipotle garden blend burrito (Katherine, they are now serving the garden blend at a location in NYC- not that this is a great vegan option compared to all of your other options there).

snacks: pretzel rods and pumpkin seeds

dinner: Okra stew (Click for the recipe).

(thanks Catherine and Crispen!) with brown rice and a black bean, beet and bok choy salad (Click for the recipe).