Day 305 - Menu for Week of February 1, 2011

I can't believe we've been vegan for 10 months!  Don't miss much except my usual cravings for fried shrimp poboys, real beef fajitas, and huevos rancheros.  At the conclusion of our year of being vegan, I will try each one of these.  My husband thinks I am going to hate them.  He's probably right.  :)

It's the end of January.  We are expecting snow at the end of the week eventhough this weekend, we hit 75 degrees.  So since it's going to be cold, I am going with more soup and warm weather recipes. Here's my plan for this week:

• Monday - Cheesy Broccoli Soup (with no cheese)
• Tuesday - Tostadas (with Vegan Fajitas)
• Wednesday - Three-Bean Chili
• Thursday - Caldo de Res sin Res (My grandma's old recipe for Beef Soup with Vegetables but I'm making it without beef.)
• Friday - Seitan and Mushrooms A la King over Noodles
• Saturday - Steamed Vegetable Dumplings, Asian Salad, Veggie Spring Rolls (for Chinese New Year's Party at Friend's House)
• Sunday - Pav Bhaji (An Indian dish from Spice Routes - This is a combination of cauliflower, green beans, new potatoes, carrots, peas, cilantro cooked in a tomato sauce with spices and served with tomato chutney on rolls.  Recipes looks busy so I am saving it for the weekend.)

Hope you all have a great week!  Eat healthy and exercise!

Day 207: Vegan Menu Week of October 11 - October 17

I was so looking forward to making the E2 lasagna and tasting it.  It turned out good, but not as outstanding as everyone claimed it would be.  In fact, I think next time I will skip the sweet potato layer and just mix all the veggies with the silken tofu and make two layers of that veggie mix.  Also, it was a little dry.  I am going to have extra sauce on the side next time.  Other than that, it was good!  :)

Here's what I'm thinking for this week:

• Monday - Spicy Lentil Soup:  We ended up not making it last week because the lasagna was so huge, we ate it two days in a row.
• Tuesday - Asian Salad and Spicy Potstickers: I love this!  We have it once a week!
• Wednesday - Thai Peanut Noodles
• Thursday - No Cheese Pizza - Have a lot of the ingredients because I didn't get a chance to make this either. The vegan menudo from last week lasted two days.
• Friday - Tostadas: Flat tortilla chips, covered with refried beans, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, onions, and cilantro.  Yum. 
• Saturday -  Chickpea Stew and Brown Rice: Found this recipe in Cooking Light magazine's Inspired Vegetarian section.  Looks delicious!
• Sunday - Tomato Soup, Salad, and Foccacia bread: Found a new book at TJMaxx called Soup and it has a ton of vegan soup recipes.  I love making soup on Sundays, especially now that the weather is so nice!

Oh, I forgot to mention that last week's grocery bill was $110!  I'm getting close to my $100 per week bill again.  :)  I've already spent $43 this week.  I have $57 left to complete this menu.  Wish me luck!

TTYL.

Day 200: Vegan Menu - Week of October 4 - October 10, 2010

The novelty of being vegan has kind of worn off.  It still feels like an adventure, but we have settled into routines and know what foods we really like, what we haven't tried yet, and what we are dying to try. 

Initially, my grocery bill was enormous, but I am back at $100 per week, even with all organic products.  As always, the key for me is planning ahead, making menus, and a grocery list.

This week, we are having the following:

• Monday - Asian Sesame Salad and Spicy Potstickers
• Tuesday - Tofu Steak, Steamed Kale, Brown Rice with Tamari and Nutritional Yeast, and Roasted Zuchinni, Sweet Potatoes, and Yellow Squash
• Wednesday - Pasta Primavera (Italian spiced tomato sauce with onion, garlic, corn, jalapeno pepper, green and red bell pepper, mushrooms, zuchinni, and kale over 100% whole wheat capellini)
• Thursday - Vegan Menudo (Using Menudo Spice Mix and substituting pork with pinto beans, onion, kale, calabazita squash, and mushrooms)
• Friday - No Cheese Pizza (Pita Bread, Spaghetti Sauce, Green and Red Bell Pepper, Spinach, Artichoke, Olives, Onions, Mushrooms, Garlic and of course, no cheese)
• Saturday - E2 Lasagna. I have heard this is delicious, but I have never tried it. Get the recipe here:  http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianlasagnarecipes/r/engine2lasagna.htm)
• Sunday - Spicy Red Lentil Soup - I like to make soup on Sunday's. I found this great recipe for Spicy Lentil Soup: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/9938

It looks like a lot of new ingredients. I hope I can keep it under $100.  I'll keep you posted!  :)

Day 140 - Temptation

I was sitting on the couch watching TV and thinking happily about my curret vegan eating and how proud I am about going through this for almost five months already. I was especially noting how I have not had that many cravings except for eggs at first, and then for shrimp, but it goes away....

Next thing I know, Chili's has a commercial on and they are showing a big, juicy steak. I used to love Chili's steak. Mmmmm. They put a little pat of butter on it and it melts as they bring it to your table. Yum...My mouth started to water...  I couldn't believe it.  All of a sudden, I was remembering how good Matamoros beef tacos taste and how good Mexican fajitas taste.  Even right now, as I am writing about beef, my mouth is watering.  What is wrong with me?  Is one ever able to forget those flavors or is this a life-long struggle?  I am committed to doing this vegan lifestyle for a year, but I think my will is not strong enough to continue it indefinitely. 

Besides, I've come to the conclusion that eating a little meat here and there is not bad as long as one is sure the meat was raised in an environmentally-responsible way and that the animals have been treated humanely.  So once my year is over, I will go back to eating good meat occasionally.  So there.  I feel better now.  :)

Day 131: Spring Rolls

I have been getting in a rut lately with meals so I decided to use the two cookbooks I mentioned below and come up with a new recipe: Spring Rolls.  It was well worth the time I spent making them.  My husband loved them and they got eaten so quickly that I didn't have time to take a picture (yeah, yeah).

Spring Rolls

1/3 of a cabbage, chopped
1/4 cup carrots, shredded or julienned
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup fresh bean sprouts
5 green onions, chopped
1/2 tsp ginger, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon tamari

1/2 bag of thin rice noodles
8 spring roll wrappers

Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup tamari
1/4 cup water

For the rolls:  Mix first 8 ingredients.  Set aside.  Cook noodles for 1 minute in boiling water.  Drain and set aside.  Take 1 spring roll wrapper dip in hot water for 15 seconds or until pliable.  Place a handful of noodles in the center and handful of the cilantro mix over the noodles.  Wrap somewhat tightly.  Continue assembling all 8 rolls.

For the dipping sauce: Combine all ingredients in small pot over medium heat until it starts to thicken.  Process until smooth.

Enjoy!

Day 128: Best Vegan Cookbooks Ever

I go to the library at least once a week.  Every time I go, I pick up a new cook book.  In our last visit , I picked up two books that are just amazing.  One of them is Toni Fiore''s, Totally Vegetarian.  She makes no claims to be a product of a culinary school.  She basically loves to cook and share her creations with people.  Her recipes are so easy and accessible.  I love, love her recipe for Tomato and Basil Bruschetta.  Most of the recipes in here have cheese as an optional ingredient so it is perfect for vegans, too!   Her explanations of herbs, grains, vegetables, and what the best way to cook them is outstanding.  I also really liked the last section of her book that has a list of things non-vegetarians eat, and what vegetarian entree you can use that tastes kind of like it.  This is the perfect book for someone just trying to make the transition to vegetarian. 

The other book I also highly recommend is Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet.  The recipes in here sound delicious.  I love how she is able to take every day ingredients and turn them into delicious food. She also has a blog: http://veganplanet.blogspot.com/ which I recently discovered also has really good and fast recipes. The specific reason I picked up this book is because she doesn't necessarily try to take regular food and make it vegan.  Instead she looks at world cuisines and finds food that is already vegan and makes it even better. I can't wait to try her lettuce wraps soon!

Day 86: Hunger is my Nemesis

Being vegan is not a problem until I get hungry.  Then I start craving meat.  I don't care what kind of meat.  I crave it in large quantities.  Yesterday, we had a late brunch, went to the movies, and ran errands.  We didn't get home until 4pm.  By then, I was so hungry I could've eaten penicillin-injected fried chicken. I was starving!  The movie theater popcorn had butter, of course, so it was off limits, and I didn't carry any snacks with me because we were in a hurry to get out of the door after brunch.  Aaargh. 

I don't like being hungry and then coming home and finding that we have nothing ready to eat.  I said it wouldn't happen again, in one of my latest posts, and of course, it did.  So frustrating! 

I can get around this, I thought. I decided I was going to make some quick Thai peanut noodles.  I got the pans and pots out that I needed.  I put the water to boil for the noodles.  I got most of the ingredients out for the peanut sauce, but when I went to look for the peanut butter.  I realized we were out of peanut butter.  Another huge AARGH! 

I told my husband, "I will be right back. I have to go get something to eat." He asked me if there were no snacks in the house, but I get so crazy when I am hungry. I just need to eat and I can't just eat a banana and be satisfied. 

So I got in my car and I drove to the first place I could think of that might have something vegan:  P. Terry's, a burger shack in town famous for its vegetarian patties.  I arrived at the counter and asked the teenager running the cash register if their vegetarian patties are vegan.  "No," he said.  "They have cheese and eggs."  Not good.  The funny thing is that they have a sticker right by the register that lists all the ingredients in the vegetarian burgers and clearly in bold and capital letters, it says, "Vegetarian Patties (NOT VEGAN)."  Hmmm.  Makes me wonder why they don't have a vegan patty if they get so many requests for them that they feel the need to put up a sign right on the counter!  I thanked him and moved on.

I tried Yanagi's Sushi House next. (It's in the same shopping area as P.Terry's.)  I started to worry when I noticed that there were very few cars parked in the Yanagi Only spots.  Sure enough,  the place is closed on Sundays.  Aargh.  By that point, I was starting to get a headache from the hunger.

I noticed there was a Panda Express across the street.  I know that that is mostly Asian junky fast food, but they might, at least, have vegetables.  I drove over and parked.  There were other cars in the parking lot.  Woohoo! That was a good sign.  It meant they were open!  I walked in and there was a very nice lady at the counter.  "Do you have any vegetarian options?," I asked her. I have noticed that if you ask for vegan options, everyone is quick to say "No, we don't have any," primarily because they don't really know what vegan means.  If I ask for vegetarian options, and then ask if there is any dairy, eggs, or honey in it, I get the real answer. 

"We have no vegetarian options," the nice lady said.  What the?  "You mean everything has meat?" I asked her. "Yes," she said again with a smile. 

"Even the chow mein?!" I asked surprised. 

"Oh, that doesn't have meat!"  she said right away.

"Does it have chicken, beef, or fish broth or sauce?"

"No."

"Does it have eggs?"

"No."

"Does it have butter?"

"No."
"Does it have honey?"

"No."

I had hit the jack pot!

She put some chow mein on my plate.  "Oh!  You're looking for vegetable dishes without meat, or eggs, or butter!" She said with a look of surprise and finally, understanding, in her face.  Duh. 

"Yes, I am!" I say with a smile. 

"Well, then you should try our veggie spring rolls! And we also have a vegetable stir-fry that you might like.  It has no meat products either."  Hey, I can't complain. I'm getting a vegan meal and she doesn't even know it!  I paid her and 15 minutes later, I was out of there with a full belly and a happy smile on my face.

After dinner, I went to the grocery store to pick up some food so I can make sure this never happens again. I am hoping to make a ton of stuff over the weekend so our refrigerator is full and I never have to feel like there is nothing to eat.  Did I mention that we are going on vacation in three days and have a fridge full of food?  It's ok.  We should eat it all by then and whatever doesn't get eaten will go with us or get frozen.

I hope. At least we won't be hungry.