Weekday Quick Meal & Garden Pictures!

My weeks have been very busy lately, and I haven't quite been keeping up with my blog. I've been running, playing soccer, working on my garden, and just plain running around. This meal idea is actually from Tuesday night, and I'm just now getting around to posting it on Saturday. :) Hey, at least I'm posting it! It's very easy to make, fairly quick (about 20 minutes to make), and quite delicious.

This idea isn't entirely original, and it is partially stolen from a soup commercial and partially part of following the meal plan advocated by Alicia Silverstone in The Kind Diet. She says that at every meal, 1/2 your plate should be veggies, 1/4 whole grains, and 1/4 protein. I've been trying to include all three in each meal and making an effort to try new whole grains and to eat a variety of different foods.

So for this particular dinner, I cooked a can of Amy's Spicy Chili, some jasmine rice, and a bag of frozen Ranchero style vegetables. If you don't have Ranchero Style Vegetables, you can also just use a bag of mixed vegetables and add some spices (such as red pepper, cumin, and turmeric).

Tip: Start cooking your rice first because it will take the longest. (I used a rice cooker.) You then can wait about 8-15 before you need to start cooking your veggies and chili. Take that time to check your email, feed the dog, empty the dishwasher, whatever needs to be done around the house, or just sit down and enjoy a glass of wine or something!

My carnivore husband loved this meal, especially the vegan chili! He did, however, add some shredded cheddar cheese to his chili and make his dish not entirely vegan. But if that's your thing, go for it. I'm sure it was just as tasty.

Also, I promised you guys that I would post some pictures of my garden plot. So I took some for you. These were taken at night because it's been getting dark so early lately. I plan to take a few better ones after I mulch tomorrow.

Cantaloupe: I got both my cantaloupe plants on sale from the garden store at the end of the season for super cheap. They were half dead, and I didn't expect much from them, but I managed to nurse them back to health and Look! A cute little baby cantaloupe! Maybe it'll be big enough to eat before the frost hits us...

Kale: I planted this about a week and a half ago, and it's really shot up since then. I've heard that kale actually tastes best after the first frost. So this is one of my fall plants that I'm really looking forward to.

Carrots!: I love carrots!  I actually planted about five rows and two different varieties, so I'll have plenty to spare and share with friends. ( 4 rows and 2 varieties of kale, too.) I'm excited for when these babies are ready to harvest!

Strawberries?: I planted 8 of these plants with the hopes to have some next year since I didn't get my garden plot until pretty much the end of the summer. But lookie here, I have another strawberry fruit. In October! I hope they do this well next summer.

Blueberries: I also bought 9 blueberry bushes and 1 raspberry bush to be harvested next summer. They're hanging in there. The leaves have been changing colors due to the fall weather, but I've been told that as long as there are green branches, I will have lots of blueberries next year!

If you have any ideas for any over winter plants that I can add to my garden, let me know in the comments.  I'm new to this gardening business, and I'm just figuring out how much work and fun it can be.

Gluten Free Vegan Cookie Dough (and Bacon)

After a long day at work and an hour commute home on Friday evening instead of going straight home to veg out on the couch, I went to my community garden plot to continue my mulching project. I'm sick and tired of all the damn weeds in my garden, so I've decided that I need to mulch strategically (and also plant more plants) so that there are less weeds to pull in the first place.

So after weeding vigorously and unloading 3 totes full of mulch to form a lovely little path around the edge of my garden*, I decided to make a stop at my local Whole Foods store to pick up something quick and easy for dinner (Amy's No Cheese Vegan Pizza?). I also decided to get my groceries for the week. I mean, I might as well, it was Friday night and the store was easy to navigate since not many other people were there. I'm not going to go into too much detail on the groceries because I love food and could go on forever about the food choices and what I got. However, I picked up some fancy new vegan convenience products: Tofutti mint ice cream bars, (vegan) sandwich thins (Score!), Tempeh "Bacon", and a jar of Gluten Free Vegan Cookie Dough that was staring me down!

Gluten Free and Vegan? I was sold. I checked the ingredients and although there are quite a few, they're pretty basic. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the dough is made from a mix of chickpea and brown rice. I've heard that some people make vegan cookies with chickpeas, but I haven't had the chance (or felt the urge) to bake cookies since I started this challenge.



I ate it straight out of the jar, and I ate about 2 1/2 cookies before stopping myself. It's delicious (and slightly more nutritious)! I didn't get a chance to bake any because I had some more and my husband finished off the rest (about a dozen cookies worth!) on Sunday morning, but I bet the cookies would be amazing, too! One thing that I really like about this cookie dough is that it has less fat, less calories, and healthier ingredients than regular cookie dough! Score one for the vegans. Also, carnivores will like it too (evidenced by the fact that my husband finished off a dozen cookies all by himself)!

Next up: Tempeh Bacon!

Saturday morning, I tried out this tempeh bacon. After hearing about eggplant bacon and other vegan bacon varieties on some other blogs, I figured it was worth a try. So, I purchased some Litelife Tempeh Bacon while I was picking up some tofu. First off, I'm not the biggest fan of tempeh. I still prefer tofu and seitan to the texture and taste of tempeh, so that may have some bearing on my opinion of this product. It does have a nice smokey flavor, and like bacon, I dipped it in some maple syrup. (That's the way I've always liked to eat my bacon and sausage (veggie or otherwise in the past), with syrup. Yes, it's a little weird, but the sweet and salty combination is delicious!) Findings: It was okay. The flavor was smoky and right, but it didn't really have the same texture or crunch as bacon. I'd give it a C+ for effort, but if you're looking for a bacon substitute, this is not it.

However, if you've a vegan, you probably aren't looking to eat anything that even remotely resembles the look or taste of meat. I'm not sure why there are so many meat substitute products out there. Maybe for all the transitioning vegetarians or also just for convenience in social situations. I know that when I go to a cookout and bring my own veggie burgers, it's much less of a hassle for me and my hosts. As a vegetarian, I don't ever want anyone to feel like they have to do or make anything special, so I usually bring a dish to share whenever I go to any food-focused get-togethers.

As a vegan (in the past 30 days), I haven't been to any restaurants yet where there wasn't at least one or two vegan friendly options on the menu. Some of my friends who know I'm doing this 90-day vegan challenge have been looking out for me to make sure that when we go out places, they have vegan food. I appreciate this effort, but so far it hasn't been that necessary. It's been a happy surprise to discover that most places already serve something vegan, even if it's just a salad or a couple of appetizers or side dishes. I thought that it would be a lot harder to eat at restaurants and go out while on this challenge, but it really hasn't!


*I promise to post some pictures of my garden plot once I finish planting the rest of my blueberry and raspberry bushes. It's nothing much right now. (I got it a little late in the season to do too much with it, and I don't have as much extra time and energy to spend on it as I'd like.) However, as of this week, I have 7 strawberry plants, 2 rows of carrots, 2 cantaloupe plants, 9 blueberry bushes and 1 raspberry bush. I ordered some kale, salad mix, and more carrot seeds that are supposed to come in on Thursday, so I will have a little bit more going on soon.

I also have some mint that won't go away. I guess the last guy planted it and didn't realize what an invasive weed it is. I let a few of the mint plants continue to grow because they smell nice and I thought they might be good to keep around for tea (as long as I keep pulling them before they try to invade again).