Big Decision/ Moving

*Please visit my new blog at www.vegalicious.wordpress.com !! Thank you!!*

I've moved. Blogs, that is. I've discovered wordpress.com and like the format of it much better than blogger. So...here's the link, if you want to continue the adventure with me, haha.

Lunch and a Serious Dilemma

Mmmm, lunch. Leftovers!


A leftover bean burger, some tomato soup, and the rest of my squash.


And for dessert- rice krispies with a handful of chocolate chips, soy milk, and a drizzle of agave nectar!

Now I want to talk about something very serious.

Unfortunately, being vegan is getting to be very pricey. Especially since I'm moving out next year to go to college, I need to be able to eat pretty cheaply. I can't afford to keep buying expensive milk-like or cheese-like products (soy milk is inexpensive- thankfully!). In addition, it seems like all I'm allowed to eat, especially for breakfast, is sweet things like berries and syrups and pancakes, rather than a nice egg on toast. The bottom line is, I'm seriously considering reverting back to vegetarianism, to cut down on the budget, and to provide more variety to my diet. The idea of eating milk cultured with rennet, which is what cheese is, disgusts me; nonetheless, I have to be realistic here. Being vegan for a couple of months was a nice experiment, but is it time to move on, I wonder? Your input is greatly appreciated.

"Sick" Day

Saturday was such a stressful day for me that on Sunday morning I literally woke up sick; stomachache, sore throat, the works! So I took it easy all day and mostly ate comfort food. Unfortunately, there was a lot of comfort food that is now off limits to me, such as chicken soup and chocolate pudding, but I managed. For lunch I made a "chicken soup wannabe" from leftover spaghetti noodles tossed with olive oil and a ton of salt, and mixed in a ground "beef" patty for flavor and more saltiness.


Other than that I just had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and a couple peanut butter sandwiches throughout the day. Nothing to write home about.

On Saturday I managed to cook some "squash mash" from a squash I grew in my garden. I cooked the squash, sliced, for a very long time, probably about an hour, until it was nice and mushy, then I blended it with some soymilk and salt. It doesn't sound appetizing, I know, but it was! I took it to a family gathering and offered everyone to try a bite, but when I glanced at the garbage later I found lots of piles of squash with one bite taken out of each! Haha. Oh, well, more for me! I guess I was the only one who liked it.


This morning I decided to use up that last Coconut Milk Yogurt I have; usually I don't crave yogurt (or yogurt look-alikes) so I sort of had to force myself to eat it. It didn't have the texture I would have wanted- it was very slimy and gritty. However, the color was superb- a rich dark blue, and the blueberry flavor surely came through! I wouldn't eat it again, though.


About an hour later, I was hungry again, so I made myself a piece of Whole Wheat Bread with garlicky hummus and some chickpeas and black beans. This was my first beans-on-toast experience, and I must say, I'll be having this again! Certainly a nice change from my usual sweet breakfasts!


Right now I'm baking an apple walnut cobbler-type dish, to take 1/2 of it to each of my grandparents' houses. It's not a vegan dessert- it has butter and an egg in it, but if you'd like to see a picture of it, just let me know, and I'll post one. I'll be making this recipe again, of course, to try and veganize it, so I'll probably just post pictures then.

I'm going to go clothes shopping today for a whole new wardrobe! I can't wait!

Early Lunch

Mmmm, I just finished my lunch of a peanut butter, agave nectar, and maple syrup sandwich on whole wheat with a crisp, juicy apple. I ate breakfast barely three hours ago, so it seems a little weird to me that I'm hungry already for lunch, but, whatever, it'll even out because I probably won't be hungry for hours and hours now!

Blueberry Morning

I decided early this morning that I wanted something sweet and syrup-y to just let melt in my mouth, while I savored the rest of my blueberry pancakes. So I made a blueberry compote to top the leftover pancakes, with blueberries and agave nectar.

Scrumptious!



Today I'm going to be lazy, and maybe do a little job-hunting and house cleaning! You all have a good one, ok? :)

Black Bean Burgers

While gardening this afternoon I felt a random pang of hunger, which didn't make much sense considering my big lunch, but I ate this anyways:


Peanut butter and banana on whole wheat.

Then for dinner I schemed up an enticing combo. Rice-tomato soup and black bean burgers. The soup was simple; I came up with the recipe as I went along. First I sauteed onions in olive oil; added carrots; added canned tomato sauce; stirred in a little over a cup of rice; then blended up some tomatoes and poured that in (that was about 3 cups' worth). I let that simmer on low heat for almost a half an hour while I made my burgers. Then right before it was finished, I added a gastrique- equal parts caramelized sugar and apple cider vinegar- and let it boil for a couple more seconds.

The burger recipe I got from a friend a while ago, and had yet to try it. They turned out so much better than expected taste-wise! Texture-wise, they were dry, but that was my fault for using carrots rather than roasted peppers, not using enough oil, etc. But the flavor! Wow!

Here's the recipe:

Black Bean Burgers
1/4 cup plain flour (I used whole wheat)
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 small hot or jalapeno chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium red pepper, diced
1 1/3 cups cooked or canned black beans, mashed
1/3 cup sweetcorn kernels (I used chopped chickpeas instead- no corn in the cupboard!)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chilli powder
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped


In a medium saucepan, saute the onion, garlic, oregano and hot chilli in the oil until the onions are translucent. Add the peppers and saute another 2 mins until the pepper is tender. Set aside. Stir in the onion mixture, sweetcorn, breadcrumbs, cumin, salt, chilli powder, and parsley. Mix well. Divide and shape into patties. Lay down eat patty in the flour, coating each side. Cook in a lightly oiled frying pan on medium-high heat for 5-10mins or until browned on both sides. I made each patty about the size of my palm and it made about 5 patties.

I served my burger on a small bed of spicy rice (the same rice I used for my soup). These two dishes, the soup and burger, went together splendidly! After dinner, I was still hungry, so I crumbled up a burger into another bowl of soup, and that tasted fine, too!


I wish I had another picture of the soup, but here's a picture of the finished burgers:


Oh, and before I go, the "bags and bags" of apples and pears I promised to show you (they're set out on a table to ripen):


Yes, I'm going to be eating a lot of apples and pears very soon.

I'll see you all in the morning; I'm sensing a sweet breakfast after two savory meals in a row!

Improvisational Lettuce Wrap

I was so dismayed when I got home this afternoon, looked in the refrigerator, and all my whole wheat tortillas were gone! My heart was still set on a wrap, though, so I removed some outer layer of a head of iceberg lettuce and there you go!



A "tortilla!" In it I spread some garlic hummus, the rest of an avocado, the rest of a green bell pepper, some onion, tiny orange tomatoes, and best of all: Teriyaki Baked Tofu, made by me, the right way this time. It marinated in the refrigerator overnight in a mixture of equal parts Wasabi Teriyaki Sauce, soy sauce, water, and a pinch of garlic salt.

This was possibly the most amazing thing I have ever eaten. I strongly urge you to try this.

After this wrap, I was pretty full, so for dessert, I just munched on a small bowl of blueberries:

In case anyone's interested in my plans for the rest of the day, I'm going to clean my house thoroughly, perhaps bake a little more, and relax. I'm relishing these last few days before school starts! Hopefully by Sunday I'll also have a job.