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!!
The rest of the week…
I mainly ate the same cereal for breakfast every day this week that I previously blogged about. Except for Thursday morning, when I decided to indulge on almond butter, banana waffles. The best!!!!
For lunch on Thursday also, Eric brought me Quizno’s. I got a small veggie sub with no cheese, no dressing, add mustard, and on wheat bread. I also brought a couple of grilled slices of tofu from home to throw on it too (I know I’m a BIG dork). It occurred to me that morning that my Quizno’s sandwich could be extra delicious with some tofu. And boy was it!! Man…tofu, guacamole, pickles, and banana peppers…I was in heaven.
‘I was feeling a little lazy Wednesday night. After a meeting after school, a long private tutoring session, an hour long run/walk, I was ready for an easy and quick meal. Amy’s vegan pot pie to the rescue! I haven’t bought or had one of these in forever. I was really grateful I bought it on my last rendezvous at Whole Foods though. With a little broc and carrot on the side, it was enough to make my belly full and my mood smiley.
Thursday night was stir-fry night. You know…when you throw everything into the pan in your kitchen/refrigerator that even could possibly work in a stir-fry. I had tofu, carrots, broccoli, red onions, and a wee bit of okra. I cooked it with water, Bragg’s, and added in a bit of nutritional yeast at the end….YUM! The grain is whole wheat couscous. When I sat down to eat, I had a few bites. Although it was pretty tasty, I remembered I had some leftover refried beans in the fridge that would go great with everything on my plate. I quickly hopped up, nuked the beans, and added those to my dinner plate. Dinner made even better!!
Dessert was a wee slice of strudel (heated up) with some vegan ice cream.
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.
Last days of summer (for me)
This was my quick, small breakfast before Bikram. A tiny bowl of cereal and a wee teaspoon of peanut butter was enough fuel to get me through class.
After a trip to Whole Foods, I made lunch. Sometimes a simple meal of soup and salad really hits the spot. Amy’s makes some terrific canned soups. I usually buy the low sodium varieties since canned foods tend to have so much salt. It was split pea today with a salad of crisp iceberg, crunchy carrots, red onions, tomatoes, and fresh black pepper. Salad dressings on the side are balsamic vinegar and Annie’s Goddess Dressing. Dessert was a slice of the banana cake I made on Friday (the last of it) with a tiny scoop of what was left of my So Delicious vanilla ice cream.
This is one of my favorite snacks, pretzels and nut butter…raw almond butter today.
Dinner felt like we were at a BBQ, in fact, we did have this exact meal on the 4th of July. The baked bean recipe comes from Mary McDougall. She is the author of several cookbooks, along with her husband, the famous, Dr. John McDougall. I got this recipe when I attended the McDougall’s celebrity chef weekend that they hosted in Santa Rosa, California at the end of July. I tasted them when Mary made them at her demonstration and absolutely loved the sweetness and familiarity of the baked beans I used to have as a child. Among other things, you put molasses, vegan Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and ketchup. We adore these beans! Accompanying them is a Sunshine veggie burger (my favorite frozen burgers to buy) with lettuce, red onion, mustard, nasoya sandwich spread, and ketchup.
Here’s a picture of the vitamins I am currently taking. The multi I take daily and the B-12 about every other day. I buy the multivitamins on veganessentials.com. Check out the lovely watermelon behind them. I got it today at Whole Foods. It’s organic and unlike any other watermelon I’ve ever seen before. Look for more pictures of the melon coming soon!
