Sammies
I don’t know if it’s the change to cooler weather or what, but I have been craving sandwiches allllll week!!! This was a special holiday sandwich…homemade whole wheat bagel lightly toasted, apple slices, pan-grilled tofu, and cranberry sauce. Sweet and delish!
Another craving I’ve been having is soup and sandwiches together! The perfect fall and winter combination. I especially enjoy dipping the corner of my sandwich in the hot soup and then taking a bite. Here I had some veggie soup (this was actually a gift…a packaged soup from Williams and Sonoma that I just added my own vegan broth to). Sandwich is made on yummy Whole Foods sourdough. One slice is spread with mayo, the other with fresh avocado. After a sprinkling of pepper, I sliced up a yellow heirloom tomato, some red onion, and layered on some Lightlife fakin tempeh strips. I love this sandwich!! This lunch rocked.
More soup one night….with slices of sourdough and earth balance.
Eric wanted soup and a sandwich. I made him a sourdough one with tempeh strips, apple slices, and cranberry sauce. He seriously woofed it down, so it must have been great!
Although this guy isn’t a traditional sandwich, I thought it still fits into this category of my craving bread with junk inside. This was a lunch I made last week made with an Ezekiel whole grain pita, Whole Foods hummus, green leaf lettuce, garam masala potatoes I had left over, and white wave baked tofu. LOVED THIS!! Carrots, hot tea, and a couple of squares of dark chocolate round out the meal.
Almond extract pancakes
Sunday morning I woke up not wanting the same old, same old, but rather….a hot, homemade, stay-at-home morning kind of breakfast. What better time to make pancakes!!! I used the pancake recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance , p. 31, but tweaked a few things. It calls for all-purpose flour, but seeing that I hardly ever use that, I used what I had on hand this time. The first time I made these, I did so with whole wheat pastry flour, and they came out great. This time I had spelt flour. They came out great again!! My conclusion….either works, and both are healthier options than just plain white. My other tweaking was that I only had vanilla soymilk, so that’s what I used. And lastly, I was out of vanilla (I swear…I need to go to Mexico and get a couple of gallons of this stuff). Anyone know of a website to order it in bulk for cheap?! I spend so much money buying the little containers of it at Whole Foods. Instead of vanilla, I used almond extract in the pancakes (about 1/2 teaspoon). It gave it amazing flavor. I also was very generous with the cinnamon. Smothered in earth balance and hot maple syrup, these cakes hit the spot!!
Here’s the husband scarfing his down…
Also on the breakfast front this week…Whole Foods had organic strawberries on sale, so you can bet they will be finding their way into my cereal bowl. This week I bought Uncle Sam’s Original cereal (toasted whole-wheat flakes and flaxseed). I combined it here with a little bit of Nutlettes (some good soy protein).
Out to Eat
This weekend we were out and about like usual on the weekend. Instead of stalking the same haunts that we usually do, we spread our wings. Well sort of….we have been to both of these eateries before, but not in a while! 
Friday night we went to Cafe Izmir, a Mediterranean restaurant. They run a special on Friday’s where for $50 you get a smorgasbord of food and a bottle of wine. Can’t beat that! Especially when they’re willing to make your feast all vegan!!! It was so lovely to go to a restaurant, tell our waitor we’re vegan, and for him to quickly take our menus and say he’ll handle it….no studying of the menu, multiple questions to an annoyed waitor, or long ordering prcess. That was it. In minutes I was enjoying a lovely glass of red wine…perfect for a tired teacher on a Friday night.
The pictures aren’t great because they are taken with my phone, and we were dining by candlelight. You can see all the yummy food though if you look closely. The first picture is of various dips and appetizers….tabbouleh, olives, a coleslaw dish with vinegar, pita bread, and an eggplant dip. Second picture is the main course. There’s a salad with a balsamic vinegrette, a tomato and cucumber salad, and then this mountain of a plate loaded with falafel, all sorts of grilled vegetables (from mushrooms to corn), and freshly wrapped grape leaves. It was a very memorable and delicious dinner. If you’re in the Dallas area on a Friday night, I definitely recommend Cafe Izmir.
Saturday night we ran and got some pizza before heading to the Mavericks game. Our favorite place is Campisi’s. We love to go to the Mockingbird location and sit at the Colonel’s table. 
Eric and I split a large pizza with roma tomatoes, pineapple, jalapenos, and onions. It was yummy! We had dinner salads with their amazing olives before.
Happy Sweetest Day!!
This past Saturday was Sweetest Day. I wanted to be a sweet wife, so I made sure to get Eric a wee something. It was really fun actually because it was a real surprise for him because it’s not a regular holiday that people celebrate, at least not here in Texas.
I went to World Market, and got this cute little Halloween bucket. Inside I filled it with a few vegan goodies: strawberry fizzy drink, Mike and Ike candies, and two vegan chocolate bars. Along with a card, I think the little premio was a hit, and he was genuinely surprised.
Does anyone else celebrate this holiday?!?!
I’m alive!!!
I apologize for being MIA for about a week now. I’ve been pretty busy…you know how it goes…life. Of course, I’ve still been doing plenty of vegan eating and cooking. That can only mean one thing….lots of pictures to follow.
I’ll start with this one….
Eric’s office building at work held a pumpkin carving contest. He had to have the pumpkin there by Monday, and they are announcing the winner Thursday afternoon (so I’ll let you know). The winner gets an Xbox 360. He stayed up nearly all night on Sunday to have it done in time. I think it’s pretty great!! I can’t wait to see how he fairs. This gave me an idea to hold a carving contest with my fourth graders. I announced it today. They are soooo excited!! They will bring in their pumpkins Monday. I made a big deal about it being their own work. I told them an adult can help them with a knife though. I’m going to have goody bags for all of the kids that participate, and I’l let the kids vote. I’ll be sure to take pictures and post them up next week. Carving is so much fun!! Don’t let this Halloween pass you up….get to carving.
Sunday Eats…including Tofu & Apples
For breakfast I had a big bowl of Optimum Slim cereal. I was hungry. I soon regretted it in Bikram class though. I ate it more than two hours before class, but I think that cereal (with all of its fiber) is designed to stay with you for a while. A bowl of oat bran would have digested faster and been a better option. I’ll remember that for next time. I know I spoke of this fine line of too much or not enough food before Bikram in the past. The good thing was I had plenty of energy after class to go to the grocery store, unload groceries, shower, and get ready for the day before I ever needed a snack or lunch.
I had plotted my plan for lunch while on my yoga mat in class. Pam, who teaches with me, gave me a cut out from the newspaper last week about using apples in various ways (since they are in abundance right now). In the article, one of the things it talks about is replacing lettuce on a sandwich with slices of crisp apple, and then spreading on mayo or honey with your choice of meat. I decided I would try slices of tofu, with vegan mayo, and apple. I used the tofu I had in the fridge which was baked West Soy. This sandwich was so unique, Fall, and absolutely a treat to eat!!
For dinner I made Vegetarian Chili over Spaghetti Squash. I found this recipe last week when I searched for something to make with spaghetti squash. I bought a big spaghetti squash at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago because it was on sale and stuck it in the fridge. I’ve always wanted to cook one, but never have. Oh my goodness….totally my new favorite thing in the world!!!! It’s so crunchy and so much like pasta. It was delicious with chili. Like the recipe says, I just poked it with a fork and stuck it in the microwave for 12 minutes. It comes out perfect! I mean, how easy is that?! I could do that any day. This chili recipe is hearty, healthy, spicy, and delicious. I used all can beans making it super easy. (1 can of red and 1 can of pinto.) I used only 1 can of diced tomatoes with chilies and only 1 pepper (orange). Everything else I did the same. The can of pumpkin makes the chili creamy…I loved this fall addition.
Here is the spaghetti squash after its been microwaved and left alone to cool for a bit. I then cut it in half and scooped out the seeds.
Now it’s time to take the fork and shred it like spaghetti.
This is the bowl I ate for dinner.
Now she wasn’t kidding when she said this recipe makes a HUGE pot with LOTS of servings.
Leftovers galore!!! I put most of it in the freezer. What a treat it will be!!
Lunch for Breakfast AND Breakfast for Lunch
That’s what kind of Saturday I had! I decided to switch things up a bit and make it interesting. The main reason I had lunch for breakfast on Saturday morning though is my sis-in-law and I went to a fabulous Thai restaurant, Green Papaya, Friday night for dinner. I got rice noodles with tofu and veggies in a brown sauce. It was excellent!! I woke up Saturday morning wanting nothing else but the leftovers. So that’s what I had!!! (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture Friday night and besides it would have been too dark with my phone. And then…I guess I was TOO excited Saturday morning because AGAIN I forgot to snap a photo until it was all in my belly.) I will definitely be going back though!
When lunchtime rolled around, I wasn’t feeling lunchy. I was craving waffles!! These are Van’s flax, wheat free, frozen waffles covered in earth balance and hot maple syrup. I had some Lightlife tempeh fakin bacon on the side. YUMMY!!! I had the manuka honey out in case I felt like that for the second waffle, but I stayed with the warm syrup. Wow…what an amazing weekend lunch!
Ashleigh, my lovely sis-in-law, had us over for dinner Saturday night. It was incredible! She grilled skewers of veggies. The mushrooms were the best! Also on the plate is quinoa with black beans and sliced avocado.
I made Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen to take over for dessert. It was super easy! It came out very creamy and custardy, but tastes very much like a typical pumpkin pie. Eric, my in house pumpkin fanatic, loved it.
Eatings of the week
I was feeling like Indian food this week, so I broke out an old recipe that I only had made once before (when we lived in Scotland). It was great though, so I was wondering why it’s taken me so long to redo it. I think in Scotland there were so many wonderful Indian restaurants that we often ate out. This recipe is called Garam Masala Vegetables. It’s basically red potatoes, diced tomatoes, carrots, peas, veggie broth, and a bunch of Indian seasonings. I served it next to long grain brown rice. The recipe is taken from an old Cooking Light cookbook of mine called Superfast Suppers. It actually has a lot of vegan recipes in here that I love. I used to subscribe to Cooking Light magazine as well. I was thinking I might start that back up, and just hope for vegan recipes each month. For an appetizer, I bought Baji’s Papadums (mango chutney seasoned papadum chips) and served them with Wild Thymes, Apricot Cranberry Walnut Chutney. Indian night’s have returned!!!
And then it was Taco Salad night. First I broke tortilla chips up on the bottom of the plate. Then I layered on: iceberg lettuce, whole wheat fusilli pasta, heirloom tomatoes, red onion, black beans, Lightlife taco crumbles, sliced avocado, and a scoop of vegan sour cream. Drizzled with vegan French dressing, this salad makes a great dinner any time of year.
Eric claimed a night this week to be in charge of dinner. So sweet! He got us sushi and salad from Sushi Zushi.
Things were crazy at school this week, so I didn’t catch a photo of my lunch every day, but I was actually good about making creative lunches (and not taking leftovers EVERY day). I heated up an Amy’s frozen scrambled tofu pocket and had it with a side of refried beans (vegan and fat free), brussel sprouts, and carrots. My dessert was chocolate soy pudding. Yum!
Another day I made a wrap with an Ezekiel sprouted grain tortilla. I put hummus, sweet potato, vegan mayo, broccoli, and lettuce on it. On the side I munched on raw carrots and veggie chips. My dessert was a wee piece of Joy’s Chocolate Cake from Whole Foods. I got the piece of cake for Eric the night before as a surprise after his long run. This was a delicious lunch!!
State Fair of Texas for a vegan
Ha ha….it’s pretty hilarious actually. This year’s winning food was chicken-fried bacon. Obviously, that’s not vegan friendly. (Read all about the fried foods this year!!!) One can still enjoy the State Fair though and be vegan too!! (You just might want to have a bar or two in your pocket.) I enjoyed a BIG lunch from Spiral Diner before going (remember the seitan tacos in my previous post…that was my pre-State Fair lunch). I was set! I love going to the State Fair to see the shows, look at the cars, do the wine tastings, and pet the animals. Once dinner time rolled around, I was getting a bit hungry again. So….this is what I had…a giant baked potato (which I ordered plain), and a greek salad with no feta and no croutons. I piled the salad on top of the potato. Yummy olives! Perfect state fair dinner!! I was a happy girl.
This was a State Fair inspired dinner we had a couple of night’s later. Our friend Mikey, who went with us to the state fair, ordered a sausage and sauerkraut in a bun for dinner (when I had my baked potato). It made me crave it because it looked so good. I know we just had it recently (for a Cowboys game), but it’s such an easy dinner to throw together and so delicious. Eric made a good point at dinner that next time we need to just cut up the sausage and mix it with the sauerkraut (for a different variation). Sweet peas and broccoli on the side (both frozen). The peas were so good. I’m definitely going to have to buy those again! I’m becoming quite the frozen vegetable addict. It’s just so nice to have extra veggies ready to go and to not have to worry about things going bad before you eat them.
Fall Dinners
Yippie!!! The changing of the season means new foods! I absolutely adore everything about fall foods… anything pumpkin of course, and the more hearty, warm, comfort foods. It’s also already time to start thinking about Thanksgiving dinner. SOOO fun!! I can’t wait. This past week we had a couple of more fall-like (rather than summerish) dinners. Like my new word? I don’t have any pictures of lunch this week because I ate leftover dinner for lunch every day. I’ve gotten into the habit of making enough food to have extras. I LOVE leftovers and prefer that to a sandwich most days for lunch.
Disorderly Lentils (from The McDougall Quick & East Cookbook p. 116) and Pioneer Corn Bread. This is a very easy red lentil dish. It’s so hearty, yummy, and VERY nutritious. I ate 3 servings of this last week!!!
Wednesday night we went to an advance movie screening, which meant we had to eat a very quick dinner before running out the door. Sandwiches it was! I layered Lightlife tempeh fakin strips, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, avocado, mustard, and vegan mayo on two slices of Alvarado St. multi-grain bread.
The following night, I opted for a more proper dinner. I made Fettuccine Alfreda (from Vegan with a Vengeance p. 142) with baked tofu and brussel sprouts on top.
Our Friday night meal was quick and easy Sunshine veggie burgers (my favorite!)…barbecue flavor this time. I put loads of pickle slices on it too! YUM!
We ran a 5k race Saturday morning, and then grabbed lunch to-go from Spiral Diner a bit later. I got the new blue plate special!! They are called “Bryan’s Holy Trinity Tacos”. They are “three corn tortillas stuffed with seitan, corn, red bell peppers, and onions topped with creamy avocado dressing and spicy taco sauce. Served with guacamole, vegan sour cream, and a hot helping of organic refried black beans.” Pretty awesome!!! If you’re in the Dallas area, I highly recommend you get to Spiral to try these before they’re gone.
This was a very simple Sunday dinner. We had sweet potato, refried black bean tacos topped with vegan sour cream with a side of broccoli.
The best part was dessert…homemade vegan banana bread from Veganomicon. Recipe is called Lower-Fat Banana Bread. I used two medium to large VERY RIPE bananas. I didn’t use the whole half cup of sugar. My bananas were so ripe that I knew they would be very sweet. The recipe calls for 2 cups of all-purpose flour. I used 1 cup of spelt flour and 1 cup all-purpose. I would have preferred to use whole wheat pastry flour, but I didn’t have any. It came out super with the spelt though. It’s not too dense. It’s soo tasty. We enjoyed it last night, but banana bread to me always taste even better the next day. I had it for breakfast with a bowl of oat bran. Delish!
