Hey there, internet friends! It’s time for another edition of recent vegan eats: quarantine edition! Although, at this point, maybe I should just stop titling quarantine posts as such since it seems as if (at least here in the US) those of us who take COVID-19 seriously will be in quarantine for a long time.
How have you been? Enjoying the sun? Tired of quarantining? Enjoying quarantining? Let me know down in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.
I’m currently taking some time off of social media (namely, Facebook and Instagram) because I just needed a break. Social media was starting to regularly impact my mood so I logged off those for a bit!
Honestly, I’d hoped to use the extra time to blog more and to work on a personal project I have going…but the truth is, I literally have just been relaxing with the extra free time. I really have struggled with ‘turning off’ working all the time, and quarantine has been a good time for me to relax and just sit in bed and watch stuff snuggled up with my pup.
What have I been watching? Well, I watched Athlete A on Netflix and it was excellent and important. There’s an NPR podcast called ‘Believed’ on the same situation that’s even better.
I’ve also been re-watching Gossip Girl for reasons I can’t explain. Holy cow do I feel old thinking back to how I used to watch it in high school. At the time, the characters were older than me, living in the city I hoped to move to. Now, 13 years later, I’m older than the character and lived in the city for nearly 9 years. Makes me nostalgic as heck!
Oh, and in case you’re curious, my experience in the city was a lot more like Girls than GG or SITC. Anyways….onto the eats! If you’re new around here, in my ‘recent eats’ 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. Enjoy!
CSA Salad
I have been getting a small CSA share this summer and it’s been great! I make a lot of my meals using CSA ingredients. This particular dinner was CSA lettuces, fennel, and sliced kohlrabi, paired with some vinegar beans, avocado, and Angelic Bakehouse roll, and some unpictured boiled potatoes. Incredible.
Tofu pudding
One of my favorites. And yes, I ate a whole brick of tofu as pudding for dessert. The recipe is here; I highly recommend it if you’re craving pudding!
Vegan Lobster Roll
Tried this out for the 4th of July, along with some corn salad, regular salad, some grilled veggies, and some chips with (vegan) sour cream and onion dip (this was a take-out picnic pack from Celesta). Verdict: I don’t think lobster rolls are for me. I’m not the biggest mayo gal. Still, it was fun to try, and with some chimichurri and Frank’s on top, it was good!
Brownies with ice cream
I can’t get enough of a baked good with ice cream lately. This was a 4th of July brownie from Celesta paired with Oatly vanilla. It was my first time trying Oatly ice cream and even though oat milk is not my non-dairy milk of choice for drinking, I must say, it was quite good. It reminded me of vanilla Breyer’s, if you’ve had that.
Full disclosure: I ate two brownies with additional ice cream and felt icky full about an hour later…was just a lot after my rich dinner!
Vegan Cheese and avocado wraps!
A go-to, on-repeat lunch around here lately: Angelic bakehouse sweet potato turmeric wraps stuffed with Miyokos aged vegan cheddar (SO good; the best vegan cheese I’ve had maybe ever), avocado, a sliced up veggie burger, lettuce, tomato (if I have it) and some hot sauce. Incredible! I love having vegan cheese around.
Paired with a crunchy apple. So fresh and so good.
Vegan (!) Dilly Bar
DQ finally has a vegan option! I got my hands on some vegan Dilly Bars and they were pretty good. The ice cream was a bit icy, but the outer chocolate coating was great. Considering it was only $1, I’d definitely get it again and it’s so nice to have a vegan option that isn’t like, lemon ice, at DQ! I hope they one day make vegan soft serve.
Cotton candy grapes
So oddly sweet. I dig them from time to time.
Vegan Mac
Made with Miyoko’s aged vegan cheddar (seriously, I am obsessed), pasta water, nutritional yeast, a dash of Frank’s, and some salt and pepper. I used Banza for noodles. So good!
Veggie snack plate
Lately I’ve been hungry in the afternoon, and find myself wanting something nutrient-dense. Enter the veggie-snack plate. This version had some noosh-flavored cauliflower rice, avocado, random leftover broccoli and carrots, and an air-fried sweet potato with almond butter for dipping. Sometimes on a sweet carb-heavy day, a veggie snack plate hits the spot!
Vegan CSA ‘Lazy’ Pesto
I got a bunch of beautiful basil in my CSA and decided to make pesto. I like pesto, but I once had a horrible iteration of it at a restaurant in NYC sophomore year of undergrad (so, like 8 years ago), that literally made me sick to my stomach, and have shied away from making it for many years.
But, I decided to give it another go and I’m glad I did. I was out of pine nuts, but I used almond butter, and it was surprisingly delicious!
Here’s what I did: 2 cups packed basil, 2 tablespoons almond butter, juice of 1/2 a lemon, 2-3 tablespoons nutritional yeast, a garlic clove, 1.5 tablespoons olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons water (depending on desired thickness). Blend in a high speed blender or food processor until smooth and enjoy with pasta or whatever you’d like (I used Banza and added some frozen peas and diced tomatoes). Enjoy!
Leftover pesto pasta with potatoes and salad
Easy lunch for the win!
CSA Beets!
So good! I got some beets in my CSA and baked them up and served them with boiled potatoes and salad for a delicious lunch. I ate this with avocado toast and a Nugo high protein bar for more protein and fat.
More avocado toast
With homemade pico using stuff from the CSA (plus an added jalapeño and some onions). Sick of hearing about my CSA? Sorry I’m so annoying about it; I’m just so excited about fresh produce.
Bean burritos
I love to make bean burritos! Basically I sauté garlic and onion with a little bit of oil, add canned or cooked beans to the pan, and season with cumin, cayenne, oregano and salt. Served with some doughy flour tortillas, homemade pico, and avocado. And lots of hot sauce, of course!
Spring rolls!
One of my favorite easy dinners in summer. This photo isn’t of my spring rolls, but rather, what I used to fill them: baked marinated tofu, carrots, jalapeños, mango, avocado, lettuce, and lime juice. Served with a spicy peanut sauce (peanut butter, lime juice, sriracha, water). Delicious.
Pickles
I love pickles. Like, I could easily eat a jar in one go. Anyone else? So salty and tangy!
Salad with homemade veggie patties and sweet potato
I am loving making giant salads lately. This one has two (overbaked) herby bean patties, baked diced sweet potato, tomatoes and a stellar homemade balsamic. Yum.
More brownies (with raspberries)
It’s been the summer of brownies for me. So good.
Peanut butter on homemade bread
With warmed up frozen blueberries. This is an example of a breakfast on a day when I was out of fresh fruit. Make it work!
PS – the easy homemade bread recipe I use is here. It’s so easy!
4 Ingredient Cookies
I have been obsessed with these! Basically, I mash a very ripe bananas with a cup to a cup and a half of oats (depending on the size of the banana) with a couple tablespoons of nut butter, some salt, and chocolate chips. I bake at 350 for 10 minutes and then I have delicious, very easy cookies that are a perfect pick-me-up any time of day!
CoolHaus Vegan Ice cream sandwiches
I cannot get enough of these CoolHaus vegan ice cream cookie sandwiches. They are certainly a splurge, but they are so, so good. I had the Tahitian vanilla and the cookie dough recently. I apologize for the poor photos; I’m usually just so excited to eat them I can’t hardly wait!
More salad
With potatoes and baked marinate tofu and tomatoes. I just love big meal salads in the summer!
Cereal with freeze-dried strawberries
Cereal is my true great love. And lately I’ve been digging it with some freeze-dried strawberries. And some almond milk. Yum.
That’s all for now. These meals and snacks went with a bunch of unpictured Nugo bars, handfuls of this and that, and oodles of fresh fruit. Remember I do not post everything I eat here! Just random things I happen to take pictures of.
I hope you enjoyed! I will be back with an evidence-based science-y post either later this weekend or early next week. Have a good one!
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