Recent dinners…
I’ve enjoyed making dinner, as I usually do, but it’s been extra fun with the changing of the seasons. I like the fall foods….it means cooking with pumpkin and squash and making more hearty, heavy, hot meals. 
Baked Beans and Dogs (The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook, p. 116). We had this with sausage cut up on top (grilled on George Foreman) and green beans.
Vegan Sweet Potato and Pecan Tamales with Amy’s Chili. I bought the tamales from Whole Foods in the refrigeration section (by the breads). The chili comes from the can (low sodium). Big salad on the side drizzled in balsamic vinegar.
Roasted Red Kuri Squash with Gnocchi (from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan, p. 141). This sauce is just amazing over the store bought vegan gnocchi I got. I could eat it by itself, and I did that too! I also ate it later in the week with other things, as you will see. Here I had a small salad and broccoli.
Tofu and Okra Stir-fry with Teriyaki and Hot Sauce. Throwing together a stir-fry is one of the most fun and delicious dinners to make and eat. It can be so satisfying and healthy too! This one was made up of tofu, okra, lima beans, carrots, tomatoes, and onions. With a side of hearty long-grain brown rice, this was awesome! I was feeling in a chopstick kind of mood (since that’s what I usually use when I get a stir-fry at Genghis). I managed to use the chopsticks until the last little bit. Then I switched to a fork so I could eat every little last bit. 
Leftovers Night. Have these at your house? I love leftovers!! I know it’s a personal thing. Eric doesn’t like leftovers at all. So when he’s not going to be around for dinner, I indulge in all the extra stuff left in our fridge. I had the Red Kuri Squash Sauce, baked beans, green beans, and broccoli. The squash and bean combo was awesome. I ate those two together. Yum!
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.
Gorgeous Sunday
I woke up eager to make a lovely little breakfast. Making didn’t consist of really anything. I decided on my new granola cereal! First off though, while my tea was heating up, I ate a banana with about a tablespoon of raw almond butter. SOOO good! I love banana and nut butter…it’s a perfect combo. (Notice the banana peel and almond butter jar. ha!) I’ve had the Optimum Rebound banana flax almond match green tea cereal before. It’s wonderful. It was delish with light silk vanilla soymilk. I’m satisfied!
For lunch I decided to make a wrap in an Ezekiel sprouted grain tortilla. It was comprised of vegan mayo, pan-grilled tofu (with some Braggs), beans, red onion, heirloom tomato, avocado, and fresh black pepper. Perfect lunch! It stayed with me forever too. I didn’t have a snack between lunch and dinner, which almost never happens.
I whipped up a stir-fry over brown basmati rice for dinner. I pan-sauteed carrots, okra, onion, and tofu (I double sauteed this to get it crispier), and then added about a tablespoon of nutritional yeast at the end. I also added some Braggs (substitute for soy sauce) when I was cooking the veggies.
I made a trip this afternoon to Roy’s Natural Market . They have a few things I can’t find anywhere else. For example, this lovely product below. It’s an instant coffee substitute. I love to have coffee after dinner, and I used to drink instant decaf. When I went to the McDougall Celebrity Chef Weekend in California, I was introduced to this product. I guess decaf coffee still has some caffeine in it, so they really recommend that if you are going to drink it on a daily basis, to go for something like this. This is made 100% from barley. Once I add my stevia and soy creamer, it tastes lovely.
