Hi friends! Happy weekend to you. I’m back with another ‘recent vegan eats’ post. If you’re new around here, in this mini series, I share some of the things I have eaten and happened to have photographed in the past several weeks.
As with all posts in this series, this entry is not meant to depict an ideal or healthful diet. In fact, it’s worth noting that this isn’t everything I’ve eaten lately; it’s simply what I’ve happened to photograph with my phone. I simply do these posts to provide entertainment and perhaps some new meal and snack inspirations for fellow vegans and/or my part-time or veg-curious friends.
I apologize for the slight slow down in posts the past couple of weeks. It’s a super busy time of the academic year, and a lot of my life has been all over the place which has left me feeling a bit out of sorts.
Anyways, if you’d like to watch me talk in circles about climate change and zoonotic diseases for 17 minutes, check out this Q&A I did with Planet Forward yesterday.
And now back to the eats! I hope you enjoy! Now onto the recent vegan eats: quarantine edition 2!
Homemade bread
I forgot bread in my most recent grocery pick-up order, so I improvised and made this bread, which was really easy and really satisfying. I ate it all over a couple days, with nut butter and syrup pictured above, and with hummus and avocado (below).
Amy’s Vegetable Soup, salad + more homemade bread
I was craving Panera one rainy evening, and so I heated up a can of Amy’s, made a quick side salad (with a random leftover boiled potato), and enjoyed with more fresh home baked bread. It did the trick!
More bread with Thai Curry Hummus and Avocado
I really ate my loaf of bread quickly! This was a scrumptious quick meal: two thick slices of my homemade bread (toasted) with Hope Foods Thai Curry hummus (which is so incredibly flavorful) and avocado. Paired with a nice green side salad for some veg.
Black Bean, sweet potato and corn salad bowl
I whipped up this fun bowl one evening with a bed of rice topped with mixed greens, some roasted sweet potatoes (seasoned with cayenne, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper), some black beans I cooked from dried in the instant pot with a bay leave, oregano, cumin, and cayenne, some Trader Joe’s frozen roasted corn, and some random leftover tortilla strips I had from a Trader Joe’s salad kit. Delicious!
Kung Pao Bowl
I had half a bag of Trader Joe’s Kung Pao Tempura Cauliflower in my freezer that I wanted to use up, so I baked it up all crispy and served it over a mix of wild and cauliflower rice, steamed frozen veggies, and some random leftover black beans, which totally ‘don’t go’ with the meal, but I wanted to use them up, and they helped me add in a bit of protein to an otherwise lower-in-protein meal.
And I drizzled the extra Kung Pao sauce and some buffalo sauce all over the top. The result was a bowl full of deliciousness.
This was a nice change of pace. The sweet-sticky spicy tempura cauliflower is truly something I wouldn’t make from scratch on a regular basis, so the crispy florets of joy really made for a special meal.
Frozen mango
I know it’s a thing to eat frozen mango from Trader Joe’s, but to be honest, I’ve never been one of ‘those people,’ until recently. Thawing out mango until it’s just starting to get soft and enjoying it par-frozen is truly a bright and sunny sweet treat! It’s almost like biting into nuggets of sweet mango ice cream.
Banza with veggies
Easy, peasy basic dinner: Banza penne with Trader Joe’s mushroom marinara, plus some random frozen veggies, nutritional yeast, etc etc. Boring but delightful food.
Vegan lasagna
Delicious!! I really love lasagna. Or, honestly, anything covered in a red sauce. Served with a heap of nutritional yeast and an arugula salad. And…
Tofu Fish-less Fry
Friday night fish fry is a thing in Wisconsin (where I grew up). This vegan version is made with tofu! And it is delicious. Honestly, what can’t tofu do? Served with crispy potatoes.
Chocolate chip cookie dough torte
Yes, that is chocolate cake with a thick layer of cookie dough in the middle. And yes, it was incredible. There was a cookie and some whipped cream on top, too, but I ate that before diving into this cake. This was an incredible treat and I rather much enjoyed noshing it down quickly!
More Banza with marianna sauce
Yes, I love that much sauce. Ha!
Brownies
I have been on a brownie kick this quarantine! This batch was baked in muffin tins with added chocolate chunks and walnuts. I typically bake brownies in a normal square pan, but I couldn’t resist the urge to try out a new silicone muffin pan I ordered (verdict: it’s incredible) with this batch. Delicious! Brownie muffins = bruffins?
Vegan Salad Nicoise
I made a version of this recipe. It always hits the spot when I want a cold yet nourishing meal.
Pancakes!
I made whole wheat pancakes one Saturday morning because Millie woke me up at 5:00am and I figured why the heck not. Served with peanut butter and maple syrup and fruit. Scrumptious.
You can watch what I ate this weekend in this video. I was on a video kick for a bit but fell out of it after feeling icky and stressed the past couple weeks. Perhaps I will return back to video soon! Let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see.
Sweet potato + almond butter + veggies + veggie burger
A simple meal/satisfying lunch. Nothing fancy, but it doesn’t need to be fancy to get the job done.
Banza Plant-Based Mac and Cheese
I had one last box of vegan Banza to eat up, so I cooked it one evening when I had little left in my fridge and was craving something different. I added nutritional yeast and some hot sauce for obvious reasons (I adore them both).
The bowl pictured above is half the box. I finished this and then ate the other half. I was really hungry. And when you’re hungry, you should eat!
Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza
You can see in this photo and the one above it that my phone’s camera quality is really starting to go. It’s cracked and everything looks pixelated. Remember the days when it took decent photos? Sigh. Those are long gone.
Anyways, this is still forever my favorite pizza, frozen, and/or maybe possibly otherwise. The crust is doughy yet crunchy, and the roasted pepper sauce is incredibly flavorful. I served this over two nights (I ate one half each night) paired with salad.
Veggie soup + steamed Japanese sweet potatoes + almond butter
A simple, delicious, nourishing lunch. If you haven’t gotten on the almond butter-on-potato train yet, I invite you to hop on board. My favorite almond butter is still Trader Joe’s raw crunchy almond butter. It’s incredible.
Oh, and hot tip – I find steaming to be the best way to prepare Japanese sweet potatoes. It maintains their moisture and brings out their chesnut-y flavor.
Kix
Nothing new to see here, my friends. Cereal + chilly almond milk is a perpetual favorite after-dinner snack.
I’ve also randomly been enjoying eating cereal out of this glass cup. I don’t know why, but it makes me feel classy as heck.
Protein fluff + fruit
I sometimes make this ‘protein fluff’ fruit dip using a big scoop of protein powder (I used Vega simple protein caramel toffee) with a dash of almond milk, a heaping spoonful of peanut butter, and, if I have it, a spoonful of CocoWhip. I combine these ingredients in a bowl and whip them together and enjoy as a fruit dip.
Often (as pictured above) with more nut butter. I like to make this snack when I feel like eating nothing but fruit (which happens sometimes) to add some extra protein and fat for a more balanced snack that keeps me fuller longer.
Blueberry Flax Breakfast Muffins
This is still the most popular recipe on my blog. And every once in a while I make them to try to try to join in on the fun. If you want to make them, you can get the recipe here. Also, my hands are starting to look wrinkly. How fun.
Toaster waffles
I like the Van’s whole grain waffles. With a peanut butter pool and some warmed up frozen blueberries. And sliced bananas, of course. And yes, it’s another blurry photo. Sigh.
Cool Haus Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwich
Wow. Wow. Wow. This was good. The cookies were soft, and the ice cream was rich and studded with more chunks of cookie dough. I’ve been to CoolHaus in NYC, and I almost think this packaged ice cream sandwich was better than the ones I’ve had in-house. Maybe it’s the way the cookies get soft when they cozy up next to ice cream for extended periods of time?
Either way, it was delicious. I’d highly recommend grabbing a box of these ice cream sandwiches if you’re looking for a satisfying sweet treat.
Bean burritos
Refried vegan pinto beans in a giant doughy fluffy flour tortilla, served with avocado, tomatoes, and oodles of hot sauce. And a side salad for some veg. A simple, inexpensive, tasty vegan meal.
Homemade focaccia, roasted marinated tempeh + salad with beets
For Easter, I marinated some tempeh using this recipe by the First Mess. Usually, I mix up liquid and coconut aminos, Sriracha, ginger, and maple syrup and use that as a marinade, but it was fun to try this recipe!
I served the tempeh with some homemade focaccia. And there was lots of homemade focaccia. Some with roasted tomato sauce on it, and a few mini pucks (pictured) with cherry tomatoes and basil. I had a couple slices. There’s nothing like homemade bread!
I also had some mixed greens with the Trader Joe’s pre-cooked refrigerated beets. So easy and so good!
Tempeh lettuce boats
Does anyone else like eating tempeh in romaine lettuce like a lettuce wrap or tempeh boat of sorts? With salt and/or hot sauce (or seasoned/marinated and cooked like a refined person)? Just me? Okay. Moving on. The Japanese sweet potato was excellent either way. Yummy lunch.
Dark Chocolate + Peanut Butter
Chocolate is forever a staple in my life. When I ran out of ‘snacking chocolate,’ I dipped into the Trader Joe’s Pounder Plus Dark Chocolate bar, and gave it some peanut butter love on top to make it even more delicious. Yum.
Mediterranean stuffed sweet potatoes + herbed cauliflower rice + salad
A favorite meal of mine! I baked Japanese and purple sweet potatoes until tender and assembled a bean salad with olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, and salt and pepper. Typically I use roasted chickpeas, but these days it’s all about using what you have on hand.
I also made a mini tomato salad with cherry tomatoes, lemon juice, parsley and salt and pepper. Usually I also make a hummus sauce for the potatoes, too, but I didn’t have hummus so I used almond butter instead. I paired the packed potatoes with herbed cauliflower rice and salad. A scrumptious, filling, nutrient-dense meal!
More salad
Made with leftover seasoned beans and tomato salad from the dinner pictured above. A quick and simple 10:30am snack. Who says you can’t eat salad before noon?
Kitchen Sink Cookies
I had a craving for a nice warm chocolate chip cookie, so I whipped up some vegan chocolate chip cookies and threw in some oats, walnuts and pecans for some additional texture and flavor.
And, of course, it was Millie’s birthday on April 14, so I made her some doggie froyo with frozen fruit and nut butter. She enjoyed it!
That is all for now! I haven’t done one of these ‘recent vegan eats’ posts in a while, so pardon the massive photo dump and shorter-than-usual captions. I have a rather busy week next week, but I will try to post one science-y post, and then get back to recipes and more science and fun the following week once the school/work load lightens up a bit post-finals.
Millie sends hugs! Feel free to drop us a comment down below, and/or reach out to me on Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube.
If you liked ‘Recent Vegan Eats: Quarantine Edition’ you may also like:
- Recent Vegan Eats: Quarantine Edition
- Late Winter Recent Vegan Eats
- Recent Vegan Eats – late January and early February
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