Eating Vegan ~ Day 3 ~ Comfort Food
Overall it was a tasty day. It was refreshing to find comfort in a pasta marinara, a dish I take for granted. Just a quick low down for some vegan meal ideas …
Breakfast: (vegan (egg-free/dairy-free), gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free) The smoothie has become our routine. It seems to be the best way to break our “nightly fast” (otherwise known as sleep) with the least amount of disturbence. Plus it is a great energizer for morning workouts, and we headed out for one today. Frozen mango and pineapple are the best deal (at Trader Joe’s) I have found around here when neither the fresh or frozen fruit is on sale, so I prepared our old reliable mango coladas.
Snack: We were both starving when we got back as some major traffic detours made for a late arrival home. I sliced my husband up a thick slice of the Banana Orange Chip Bread (still awesome even though it deflated), and held my hunger back with my usual rice cakes with a thick layer of almond butter and cinnamon. Yes, I really do like rice cakes.
Snack II: Still hungry, but husband isn’t yet, ate an orange.
Lunch: (vegan (egg-free/dairy-free), gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free) Needing something in a jiffy (in the middle of a project), I turned to Amy’s, Amy’s Kitchen that is. They are a mainstream organic vegetarian company, with a huge vegan line-up. I have long been a fan of their chili, which can often be fetched on sale for under $2 a can and makes a very hearty lunch for two with some rice (I have even spotted it at Walmart). Luckily, their soups have been on sale quite a bit lately as well. We tried the lentil vegetable – low in sodium variety. Sadly, my first thought was “needs salt.” Refraining, I reached for the pepper grinder instead, which helped to give it a little of the spark that it was missing. It was more like a chili with very little liquid, so I dished up two large bowls of leftover brown rice, and divided the soup between the two. It was hearty enough with the lentils and brown rice to tide us both over for a couple of hours.
Snack: Oh goodness, the remaining 1/2 of the quick bread loaf has magically disappeared! Wherever could it have gone?
Snack II: Feeling guilty about the two mongo slices of cake-like quickbread I had just downed, I steamed up some kale and broccoli. Just enough to meet a bit of my greens quota.
Dinner: (vegan (egg-free/dairy-free), gluten-free, nut-free) It seems my husband had been into the bread and the cookies, so he wasn’t very hungry. I had planned pizza, but decided to go with a simple pasta instead, featuring a very non-frugal pasta sauce from Amy’s. The price tag keeps it off of my purchase list, but it was a gift. Considering the virtues of this organic, all natural, vegan (and loaded with garlic) pasta sauce, I figured it should pretty well be able to handle its own atop some noodles.
I cooked up some brown rice rigatoni, topped it with the sauce (added a bunch of sliced mushrooms), sprinkled some vegan gourmet cheddar cheese atop (a splurge for the week, really I must try a vegan cheese during vegan week, don’t you think?), and fired it in the oven to see if that cheese would melt. I have heard that vegan gourmet does, but apparently I didn’t have it in for long enough. I baked it for 10 minutes, and tried a quick broil for 3. It really didn’t go anywhere, but it was quite tasty.
Overall, my husband gave this very simple meal two thumbs up, and even said “wow, I don’t feel sick and I haven’t had meat for three days. I’m not even craving it.” Leave it to my husband to think that not eating meat would make him feel sick.
Oh, before I forget, if you live near a Wild Oats that hasn’t been shut down by Whole Foods, they have a few good items in their weekly flyer beginning on Halloween. I added the Oetker Organics pudding mix, Pacific organic broth, and bulk organic quinoa to my shopping list, you may find a few other deals.
Now where are those cookies?
6 thoughts on “Eating Vegan ~ Day 3 ~ Comfort Food”
Everything looks so good! I have been thinking about cutting out the dairy proteins in my diet, which ironically enough would take me even closer to vegan. I am wondering if that would help me out even more! By they way, I too love rice cakes! I even like them plain! I know it sounds crazy, but I can’t help it! I applaud you for your adventures in veganism!
Looks like some good eats you’ve got over there!
Thanks for the heads-up about the Wild Oats flier. If I can convince someone to give me a ride over the weekend, you can bet I’ll be stocking up on as much pudding mix as I can carry!
WOW!!! yum, yum, yum :0) I just happened to go to my local Wild Oats yesterday, and picked up a flier!! :0)
So has anyone other than the poster given this a try, if so what was your result ?
Where can I buy brown rice rigatoni?
haven’t seen it in Trader’s or Whole Foods
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