A Vegetarian's Food Diary

This post will be our "food diary", posting pictures and short comments on them. We've been so busy the past few weeks, that this is our update post, and we have a lot to post about! So here goes...

• Spanish 'Fiesta': Black beans, sauteed veggies, & homemade Spanish rice.

• Added cumin, garlic, onion, and spicy-ness (cayenne or jalapeno powder).
• This was so much more healthy and tasty than those cheap Mexican restaurants we used to go with our Dad when we were kids.

• Fat Free Vegan Kitchen's Fresh Lima Bean and Herb Soup with whole wheat bread.

• Used dried lima beans though, so technically it wasn't "fresh", but it was still good, creamy, and flavorful.
• Didn't have celery or savory, but it would be good next time with celery, and maybe some spinach.
• It could almost be turned into a bean gravy...it was good dipping in thick slices of homemade bread.
• Used Arrowhead Mills whole wheat bread mix, and made it in the bread machine, because we were just too short on time to make bread from scratch. We added some wheat bran for a bigger boost of fiber.

• Edamame Salad Sandwiches

• Made before, but this time bought Spectrum's Eggless Vegan Lite Canola Oil Mayonnaise (instead of Nasoya's Nayonnaise), and added more spicy mustard.

• Mix in some mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions, top with nutritional yeast, and eat with cucumbers, and you have a great healthy sandwich!

• The BEST Sweet Potatoes (actually garnet yams) with tofu apple granola topping (from Veg. Times Magazine Recipe)
• So creamy, soft, and flavorful!
  
• Nice combination with the topping - cinnamon, diced apples, granola, and maple syrup.

• 'Fall Slaw': Red Cabbage Cranberry Orange Salad

• We modified the Cooking Light recipe Red Cabbage Cranberry and Apple Slaw and decided to add refreshing orange instead.
  
• Red cabbage with red wine vinegar, freshly squeezed orange juice, orange zest, a pinch of sugar, Eden Food's fruit juice-sweetened dried cranberries, and some chopped walnuts!
• Wow! (Although not a pretty picture.) We are planning to bring this for Thanksgiving.

• Lentil Tacos with homemade corn taco shells

• First time to try cooking with lentils, and they were good. This recipe tasted more like chili, with lots of spices, such as paprika, cumin, chili powder, garlic, with a pinch of cocoa powder. It's way better than regular tacos (greasy, meaty, and salty), but it needs some work.
• We REALLY liked it with lime. When heavily squeezed with lime juice, sprinkled with nutritional yeast, layered with avocado and tomatoes, and topped with Natalie's spicy Edamame Vegetable salsa, it tasted great!
• Served with homemade corn tortillas baked in the oven. Made both chips and 'attempted' taco shells.

• Other foods to mention:
  
• Mrs. Dash Original Blend Seasoning! We've been putting it on everything - from raw cucumbers to peas to soup to sandwiches. Different flavors from the different herbs/spices come out in different foods. For example, with peas, the seasoning has more of a lemon taste. With soup, the garlic and herbs came out more.

• Fantastic Foods black bean mix. We turned it into soup and added balsamic vinegar and spices to enhance it. What made it taste less like a mix was adding freshly steamed zucchini and red bell pepper.

Anyways, we're getting ready for Thanksgiving and going down to Houston to visit family. Two Thanksgivings actually (one our Dad's side of the family, the other our mom's). Hopefully with two Thanksgivings we can find some vegetarian food to nibble.

It helps though, that we are making some food - like the cabbage slaw mentioned above, as well as a sweet potato dish (haven't decided yet) and broccoli with pumpkin vinaigrette (posted by EatN'Vegan). Oh, and can't forget about those cookies! We are going to experiment with Eggnog Almond Snickerdoodle Cookies and Cashew Butter Puffed Wheat Squares.


Happy Thanksgiving! Hope it's a compassionate one with lots of veg-friendly food! Giving thanks for all of the vegetarians and vegans out in the world!
-LK