Newly Vegan

This week, I went to Kroger and I think it may be only the second time since I've gone vegan. I stopped by their little faux food area and they have a pretty good selection actually, even though I think they're even pricier than Whole Foods on some of this stuff. This wasn't all they had to offer in the way of vegan, vegetarian or organic but it's the section that calls to me sort of like the Sirens.

He used this Vegan French Toast Recipe... More Wordless Wednesday Posts around the Internets

I'm having the worst allergy day of my life. I don't know why I'm even awake at this point, but I started a 3-hour seitan cooking process (which is still ongoing at this moment) and for whatever reason, I've been plagued with hunger pangs all day despite having eaten a ton of food. Must be the antihistamines.

This week, I did so good on not buying junk food like Boca Chik'n patties. I went by the freezer section but decided that I just don't need that crap. After my Daiya cheese experience this week (will write about that later) I'm deciding that I don't need the meat and cheese substitutes as much as I need my digestive system to function properly.

I used to go to these Thai buffets and they would always have these dumplings that were open on top, not like pot stickers. The filling was always a little more dense and I liked that texture. I realize now that a lot of that texture was either shrimp or pork. I've made pot stickers before, but it's a little intense. I have an overstuffing problem that leads to a folding issue that contributes to my sealing deficiency.

That is me looking at my grocery receipts and thinking, "Hmmmm. What the ?#@* happened?" Last week turned into a blizzard and we did a lot of grazing. I also baked a lot of unexpected goodies since the temps were well below freezing. Nothing like an arctic blast to get me to fire up the oven. I cooked almost none of my meals last week so am adding them back into this week's rotation to hopefully help me stay under budget. Also, taco night leftovers ended up lasting through 3 meals. Crazy!

At our house we pronounce that veh-jan mote-cha brownies. Because we like saying things in ways we shouldn't. Also, as far as brownie batters go, this is one of the best. I can still hear my kid scraping the bowl to death.

I like it when people are nice to me. I like it when people support my efforts, even when those people are not vegan themselves. Nice people make vegan cake for you at Christmas. They do not tell you what a loser you are or make you feel guilty for clinging to the last of your Coffeemate. Nice people worry about what you're going to eat even before they've looked at their own menu, even though you have told them a million times not to worry about it and that you can handle it. Boyfriend.

Do I miss hard-boiled eggs? Yeah. Do I wish I could top my hummus with them? Oh yeah. Do I want a fried egg on top of my potatoes? Uh huh. On top of my ramen? Certainly. I don't know if I'll ever figure out a way to duplicate those tastes. I know some vegans are at that point where they wouldn't even want to, but I am not there. I'm just not.

I used to make this curry with chicken. Then when I went vegetarian, I started making it with a tofu recipe from The Grit Cookbook . Now, though, I make it with chickpeas and that's made all the difference. I found the tofu to be a bit too soft, but the chickpeas add a nice firm feeling (but not too firm) in your mouth.

Tacos are mainly an assembly line type of thing and everyone has their favorite items. What you see here is some of our favorite things to throw together on taco night. For shells, we usually use flour tortillas. Sometimes I make them, but usually I buy them. (Watch out for whey and lard and other non-vegan bits .) I have really been liking a double layer of corn tortillas, though. You have to watch out for the same things plus amylase (sometimes from pigs) and other weird ingredients (mainly preservatives) that may be vegan but might weird you out.

Guacamole is a staple here in Texas. It’s something I like to make sometimes just to get my boyfriend in the kitchen to talk to me while I’m making tacos or fajitas. He’ll stand over the bowl indefinitely.

Salsa Recipe: This comes from the Grit cookbook, but I modify it a bit. ( The Grit is an awesome vegetarian spot in Athens, Georgia.) I will put the Grit instructions in parenthesis...

These potatoes are a building block for many other things around here. I make them to go in breakfast burritos, tacos, as a side for whatever meals seem to be screaming out for potatoes (like a nice tofu scramble) and as a base for things like vegan chili. If you get them extra crunchy, they make tacos and burritos super special.

Well, technically it's only week #1 for me, but I'm late to the party as usual. The rest of the group has been blogging about their food budgeting adventures all year. Check them out at the end of this entry... Mostly this first couple of weeks are going to seem super awesome and easy. We had a first-of-the-year plan to see if we could subsist off just what we have stockpiled in the pantry plus fresh veggies. After almost a month of that, somehow I still have food! I'm going to go ahead and say I'm on week 5 since I've hardly spent a dime all year on food until now.

While grocery shopping this week, I saw the following items: HamBeens and HamPeas. I like how they spelled Beans without the "a" but left it in Peas. Don't want any HamPees, do we?

Here's a tip when you're living in a house with an omnivore. Sometimes he wants butter on something and I'm having Earth Balance. Hard to tell apart when I'm making garlic bread or toast or something in the toaster oven. Sometimes he doctors his leftovers up with Parmesan cheese or something. So, what I do is make them visually different in some way so I know which is the vegan version.