Tag: vegan

Smoothie boost

vega smoothie

So all at once I got a bunch of products to try, and I’m slowly trying to get caught up. I like smoothies for breakfast, especially if I’m riding my bike. It just doesn’t seem as lumpy in my tummy as cereal. My standard is a banana, some blueberries, non-dairy milk, chia seeds and a little of whatever Vega product we had lying around. If I want it a little heftier, I’ll toss in a little nut butter. So to test my first batch of the Vega energizing smoothie, I didn’t really deviate much from that. This is the Bodacious Berry with a small banana, some frozen blueberries and flax milk.

bodacious berry vega smoothie

Tasty! A nice way to cover your nutritional bases. The next one I tried was the Choc-o-lot. Again, I whirred it up with a banana and some flax milk. It was actually more chocolaty tasting than I was expecting. Very nice.

The next packet I tried got me through a preview day at the bakery. So after about a 15-hour-day of baking and prepping on a Saturday, I was up by 6am to bake and prep more so we could be open 9-4pm. Whew! I grabbed the natural packet and took it with me. So instead of getting into some baked goods when I started feeling hungry, I whirred up a smoothie with the natural packet, a banana, frozen strawberries and soy milk. It really seemed to be able to keep me going until lunch.

Now, I’m an asshole and didn’t try the product just mixed with water. Kevin likes the Vega products that way. I like to add them to some other things. Hey, it works both ways! The vanilla and mango packets were given to others to try so I don’t have any thoughts on those.

 

BBQ Tofu Taco

It’s easy to find the full-on vegetarian or vegan restaurants, but it’s not always as easy to find out the ones with awesome veg-friendly options. Just because I’ve been stuffing my face with Elmyr‘s veggie options for a dozen plus years doesn’t mean it’s necessarily common knowledge. So, here it is.

My default order is the tofu taco with no cheese. You can get the tofu regular or BBQ. I’ll do either depending on my mood but most people go for BBQ. Now, it’s a big taco. Two tortillas, burrito length, just not burrito full. Perfect if you destroy some guacamole before hand. And you’ll want to. Because theirs is awesome. Not full of a bunch of crap to dilute the avocado goodness.

You want the full on food log? Get a burrito. They have some interesting add ins like potatoes. There’s also a vegan quesadilla called a hazeadilla. It’s packed full of veggies. In the last year or so they’ve also introduced daily specials. Usually there’s a vegan option. If you’re lucky enough to be there when they do the arepas, get them.

Downside? No vegan cheese or sour cream. The sour cream isn’t the biggest deal. But it would definitely be next level if they carried a vegan cheese. Oh, and smoking happens there. But so does alcohol so you can drink away the annoyance.

Citrus spare ribs

This time, I followed directions. The second product I picked up with the coupons VegeUSA sent me was the Citrus Sparerib Cutlets. And I just followed the easy microwave directions. Combine with rice and steamed broccoli and Boom! dinner! Oh, and I sprinkled mine with gomashio because I do that.

The sweet, chewy nuggets are mostly soy based which is nice if you have issues with eating a ton of wheat gluten. The texture was fine microwaved, but I’ve also had these pan fried in the past and you can get a little crispy edge to them when you do that, but you also sacrifice some of the sauce.

The package ambitiously says there are 2.5 servings inside, but not in this house. It was a solid two servings for us though. The main downside to these is the price. At around $7, it’s more than I would normally pay for a fake meat for 2, but it’s still cheaper than ordering out. And I know there are a ton of people out there that don’t cook like I do and rely on prepared foods or eating out. So you might find this handy. In Atlanta, I found these and the pepper steak at Whole Foods on Ponce.

Broccoli Pesto Pasta

In May, we picked up a few herbs and planted them outside the kitchen door: cinnamon basil, regular basil, lavender and stevia. And we already had mint plants going. The basil has really taken off and they were little bushes when we got back from vacation. They have already paid for themselves and are still going strong. Gee, it’s so much easier to take care of plants when it actually rains every once in a while.

So, time to use up some basil. How about Broccoli Pesto Pasta from The Happy Herbivore? I used whole wheat pasta and a mix between the regular and cinnamon basil. I might’ve added a little bit of olive oil because pesto doesn’t seem quite right without it. But only like a tablespoon for the whole batch. So it’s not like I totally fatted it up. The silken tofu seemed to make it really filling. This is easy and pretty quick to make. Would be a great recipe to recommend to new cooks and new veg*ns.