Din Din with my hubby
Although I haven’t been as extravagant with my dinners lately (trying to just get through the first few weeks of school when it’s so hectic), I did manage this past week to try a new recipe and get some pretty decent meals on the table. See what you think… 
This night we had Barbecue Sunshine Burgers (my favorite veggie burgers ever!!!!). I put the burgers on sprouted grain burger buns by Food for Life, Ezekiel 4:9. The buns were spread with Nasoya sandwich spread (vegan mayo) and yellow mustard, and then layered with lettuce, sprouts, grape tomatoes, avocado, and fresh black pepper. I made baked beans (1/2 of the recipe) to go along with it. There were even some beans left over which I happily took to school the next day for lunch and made bean and tofu tacos on corn tortillas. My class was looking at my lunch very oddly that day. For most, it was the first time they had ever seen tofu!
I’ve spoken of this baked bean recipe a bunch and posted several pictures, so I think it’s about time I posted the recipe. I think Mary McDougall will be ok with it. It is the best!! Seriously, it’s easy and you’ll just love them. Eric begs me to make them all the time.
Baked Beans
by Mary McDougall
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Servings: 6-8
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4 15 ounce cans great northern beans
2 15 ounch cans mixed beans (see hints below)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup molasses
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup vegan Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash liquid smoke (optional)
Drain beans and place in a large bowl. Place the onion, garlic, and water in a small saucepan and cook until softened and water has evaporated. Add to beans. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Transfer to a covered casserole dish. Bake covered for 1 hour, then remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Hints: Mixed beans are sometimes called chili beans. They are usually a variety of kidney, pinto, and black beans. Or use your own variation of canned beans in this recipe, 6 cans total. These are always a favorite at potlucks. They may also be cooked on the stovetop for 1 hour or in a slow cooker for about 4 hours.
A favorite of mine….angel hair spaghetti. This time I made it topped with Amy’s low sodium marinara sauce, fresh bok choy, and pineapple chunks. A side salad always makes a nice accompaniment to pasta.
Baked Tofu Loaf (p. 199) from The McDougall Quick& Easy Cookbook by John and Mary McDougall. I forgot to take a picture of my predinner plate, but there were plenty of leftovers, so you can see what I had for lunch the next day. I made mashed potatoes (which ended up being a mixture of two red potatoes and one sweet potato). I had never made it this way before, but the sweet potato gave the mashed potatoes a lovely flavor. I’ll definitely do this again. I mashed them with soymilk and fresh black pepper. That’s all! Frozen organic green beans steamed in the microwave in a bag rounded out our meal. Oh and for gravy…you can see a wee serving in the pink container. It was Tofurkey’s mushroom and “giblet” gravy, bought in the freezer section at Whole Foods. I would have actually prefered to make my own gravy because I haven’t ever made vegan gravy, but I needed something quicker. Tofu loaf was awesome though. Eric still doesn’t know it was made with tofu (although he will know now after reading this). He is a tofuphobic who loves seiten and tempeh. He always says it’s the texture of the tofu that gets him. I made sure to really crumble the tofu up in the loaf, so as to hide it from him. When he asked me what it was made of while we we’re eating, I named off the ingredients and for the tofu I said “soy meat substitute”. So that wasn’t a total lie! haha He even said at the end of dinner that he would want this to be a repeat!
Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza (found in the freezer section). I’ve had this many times, but it was Eric’s first. We also had fresh okra and onions that I sauteed in a pan with olive oil and water and a side salad.
Natsumi is a new gelato, frozen yogurt, and sorbet shop that opened near our home. On a recent hot Texas afternoon (which I know is like every afternoon lately), Eric and I stopped by and indulged. We got three flavors: mixed berry, guava, and tropical fruit punch. We both agreed our favorite was the guava. The tropical fruit punch came in a very close second. If you’re in Dallas, you should definitely check out Natsumi! It’s probably the best sorbet I’ve had.
Eating with my kiddos
The first three days of school, teachers eat with their new classes in the cafeteria. As always, I brought my lunch, but wasn’t able to take pictures. Mostly, I just had leftovers from dinner the night before. On Friday though, I had one of my favorite Amy’s frozen foods, the tofu scramble pocket sandwich. It’s so easy to just pop in the microwave and makes for a satisfying lunch. I ate it with some salad and fresh okra and onions that I had pan sauteed the night before.
This was a lunch I had over the weekend: broccoli, cashew, and teriyaki- tofu mixture from the prepared foods part of Whole Foods, salad (with Annie’s Goddess Dressing), and corn on the cob.
Getting out the door
This being the first week of school (with students), my mornings were quite rushed. This meant quick, easy morning food. When I went shopping at Whole Foods this week, I picked up some Bakemmm Whole Wheat bagels in the freezer section. You take a bagel and microwave it for 30 seconds, slice it, and then place it in the toaster for a wee bit. Oh my goodness…they taste like homemade bread straight out of the oven. I lather mine up with almond butter and jelly. This makes for the PERFECT start to the day!
I ate a lot of cereal with fresh fruit this week. I’m a little cerealed out at the moment.
Supper Time
Here’s what we’ve been eating for dinner this past week…
Creamy Spinach Pasta from The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook and a lovely summer salad with fresh corn and carrots.
Field Roast vegan sausage, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes (made with soymilk and seasonings), and a wee little bowl of mixed beans and corn.
Spiral Diner to-go for fun in the middle of the week. Eric went on a long run, and I surprised him by picking up two wraps that we shared for dinner. The one on the left was the “Ate Layer Burrito”, and the one on the right was “Sweet Luv’Us Hummus”. These were both wraps that we had never tried before, and they both get thumbs up. The burrito was the best though! It had a chipotle mayo on it that was delish. I definitely recommend it and will get it again.
You just can’t go to Spiral without picking out some dessert. We had one of their famous brownies and a carrot cake cupcake. 
This is one of my FAVORITE meals to make on a busy night. It is so delicious and simple, if you try it, you’re sure to make it a regular thing at your house as well! Corn tortillas with refried beans spread on top, baked or microwaved sweet potatoes, spinach leaves, and green salsa. Go ahead….try it! It tastes so delicious!! Fresh corn on the cob was for the side.
We usually eat out Friday and Saturday night’s, so this is what we feasted on this weekend. Friday night we went to Sushi Zushi , to get some great edamame and sushi. We got a veggie roll, a pickled plum roll, and Eric got a spicy vegetable tempura roll, which is not vegan because it has some mayo sauce on it (just to warn you). 
If you live in Dallas and are vegetarian, I’m sure you’ve heard of Kalachandji’s . If not, it is Dallas’s oldest and most renowned Vegetarian restaurant. It’s almost completely vegan too. They have a couple of things that aren’t vegan, but they are always marked. On Saturday and Sunday’s they even offer a vegan dessert. This time was apple crisp (sorry no picture of that). It’s a buffet offering mixed veggies, rice, various Indian curries, homemade vegan raisin bread, and an amazing salad bar as well (in the brown bowl). I took pictures of both of our plates. It was a feast! They have the cutest garden to eat around outside, and we loved listening to the live guitarist that was playing. Kalachandji’s does not disappoint.
Lunch Time
This week I started back to work. The kids start back to school on Monday, but this past week was just for the teachers. My lunch times were a bit hectic because I was either working in my classroom during them, or I was out to eat with teachers. I did manage to get a couple of photos of what I ate.
Leftover Creamy Spinach Pasta (p. 161 in The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook), salad with balsamic, and 1/2 of my carrot cake cupcake from Spiral Diner.
Leftover bean falafel patties (recipe from New Leaf newsletter I’ve posted about) turned in to an open face sandwich with bread and lots of mustard. Big yummy salad with balsamic.
This is a side salad from Cafe Express . It came with mixed greens and tomatoes. Then I just loaded up things from their awesome side bar (chickpeas, pickle, sundried tomatoes, pickled carrots, and olives). I drizzled it with balsamic vinegar.
This is a grilled tofu sandwich I made on Saturday afternoon. I love tofu like this! I love tofu anyway really though.
Breakfast Time
I absolutely adore the day’s first meal, but I often rotate the same foods. Here are things I frequently eat in the morning. First picture is of Banana Bread Blender Cereal from CCV’s blog. I first started making this last spring when Katie first posted this recipe on her blog and have been a fan of it ever since. I’ve told co-workers who now eat it too!
Steel cut oatmeal with soymilk and dried prunes. I love prunes!! (I know I’m weird. Thank you.)
More waffles!! I have waffles at least two times a week. They make me happy, the ultimate comfort food. I made one with almond butter and jelly, and one with almond butter and agave nectar. YUM!
Whole wheat flakes and flaxseed Uncle Sam cereal with fresh blueberries (on sale at Whole Foods) and soymilk. This wins my favorite breakfast of the week award. The blueberries were perfectly ripe and juicy.
Busy Sunday…back to work manana
New box of cereal and lemon ginger tea…simple, quick, and yum!
Lunch ended up being brunch really because it was Eric’s first meal (he slept in), and I wanted to make him french toast. This is called Nutty French Toast from The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook. I also ate some leftover Speedy International Stew from last night.
Dinner was Black Bean Falafels and Summer Salad. I got this recipe from the August flyer I picked up at New Leaf. If you click on the link, you can find the flyer on the main page of their website in the right column. The salad was AWESOME. There was a lot left over too, which will be great to eat on for lunch. The black bean falafels were so easy and pretty tasty. They were a little bland for my liking, so if I make it again, I would add more seasonings than listed on the original recipe.
Back in D-town & Our 2nd year Anniversary
Breakfast came from a recipe in a NEW cookbook I just got in the mail. It is written by the McDougall’s. I found out about it when I went to CA for the cooking weekend. I bought it off Amazon. It is an all vegan cookbook with amazingly easy recipes with few ingredients. They also focus on low-fat cooking, so there are no oils or fats in most of their dishes. I know this is going to be a favorite cookbook of mine for a little while as I ease back in to work (well there isn’t any easing to it actually…I go back tomorrow). Quick dinners make life a little simpler. My breakfast was called Almost Instant Breakfast and is on page 3.
Lunch was the Ultimate Veggie wrap from Roly Poly. I told you we go there a lot! I brought it home and added some Nasoya sandwich spread (mayo looking stuff) to it. In the background is a cup of coffee (fake coffee). I learned about this brand at the McDougall Celebrity Chef cooking weekend as well. It’s “coffee” made form barley. It’s suppose to be healthier because it doesn’t have ANY caffiene. I like it.
This was our anniversary dinner at home. Since we’ve been gone, it felt so great to just chill at home and make dinner together. We made another recipe from The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook. This was Speedy International Stew on page 88. It has 3 ingredients!! (and hot sauce to sprinkle on top) It was SOOO easy and perfect. Eric made the wee salads with minced garlic and balsamic vinegar. The cornbread pictured was cornbread I made a few weeks ago. I had put it in the freezer for a night just like this, when we would be having chili again. The cornbread I made from two recipes here and here. I made it from two because of the ingredients I had and wanted to use and because I didn’t have a cast iron pan, so I made it in two hot pans, like the first recipe does.
New Leaf
New Leaf is a new, local grocery store right by my in-laws. It’s very similar to Whole Foods. (Although I think better in my first experience there…at least for a vegan.) Don’t get me wrong, I love Whole Foods, I mean that’s all I have in Texas. New Leaf was a wonderful mecca of vegan delights though. They carried brands I’ve only read about before like Nana’s cookies, and they had an amazing ready-made foods section, that included a sandwich bar. This is a picture of Eric’s sandwich actually, as I devoured mine before taking a pic. Mine was the same except with multi-grain bread. He loves sourdough. On it was a Sunshine burger, avocado, pickles, mustard, lettuce, tomato, red onions, and sprouts. I told Granny she should go there every day for lunch to get a sandwich! It was only $5.50 too, which I thought was an excellent price for that caliber of a sandwich.
Later this day, we were on our way back to Texas. At New Leaf, I picked up a couple of things to eat on the plane. This was a tasty egg-salad like wrap. It is made by Sweet Earth. Eric thought he would be cute and pretend a little hand monster was eating it I guess. ha
Weird Fish (San Francisco, CA)
On our last night in San Francisco, we took the Bart downtown to Mission street. I had first heard about the restaurant Weird Fish from different vegan blogs. I had also been to their website and read a bunch of reviews. Eric and I were very impressed with their menu because it’s so different, so we were so excited to check it out. My in-laws were up for it, so away we went. This ended up being an AMAZING dining experience. I know it’s Eric’s favorite vegan place we’ve ever been, and I think it just might be mine too. The atmosphere was fun, lively, and the staff were charming. All around we just had such a lovely night. Now, I must warn you, as I was warned as well. There is a wait at Weird Fish, which is nothing but a good sign! It’s SO worth waiting for. We were there on a Thursday night around 8, and we had to wait about an hour. They thoughtfully offered to take our cell number though, and recommended a great bar/pub around the corner. We popped over to Elbo Room (spelled like that). Like promised, they rang us when our table was ready.
These are Buffalo Girls. This is the sole reason Eric was SO excited about Weird Fish. They are seitan fried in a vegan batter with buffalo sauce and veganaise. Yummy yummy yummy! These would make a great last meal…if you ever needed one.
These are Yo Yo’s. They are fried dill pickles in a vegan batter.
Yummy mashed sweet potatoes made with coconut milk. Our lovely waitress recommended these.
Spicy tortilla soup did not disappoint.
Hell fish Taco, grilled seitan with mango salsa, was my main course.
This was Eric’s main, Hellfish Fish and Chips. It was fried seitan with slaw and fries (potato and sweet potato). His was delish!
If you can’t tell from the pictures, everything was absolutely delicious. We can’t wait to go back. Californians are so lucky to be surrounded by such cool vegan, culinary options.
