A day of Vegan

I didn't mean to plan it this way at all, but today's three meals consisted of all vegan ingredients, even taking into consideration my morning coffee which I put soymilk in.

Two days ago I cooked a couple cups of kidney beans, and they were featured in a couple different ways today. Considering how fast I've been going through them, I should have prepared more.

Breakfast today was rolled oat porridge/oatmeal with dried cranberries.

Today's lunch was a bean salad with homemade salsa fresca.


Dinner was thrown together pretty quick as I got home a bit late from work. This dish was sort of a creative way of combining a couple of side dishes - Mashed Kidney Beans served over a toasted pita with a side of sauteed zucchini and greens. A take on the Tostada, the mashed beans were topped with lemon zest and chopped fresh parsley. Pretty tasty, although next time I will be certain not to slice the zucchini so thin, as the olive oil and garlic saute came close to wearing through the vegetables.

Stuffed Vegetables

One stuffed tomato and one stuffed green bell pepper with some greens and whole wheat baguette. The stuffing consisted of beans, grains, seasoning and herbs. With precooked grains and beans, this one is effortless. I used some kidney beans from the large batch I cooked on Thursday and for grains I used quinoa, a relatively inexpensive high protein grain.

Friday recap

Today's breakfast was quick and a bit of a repeat from earlier this week - Porridge with chopped nuts. With a good variation of chopped dried fruit, nuts, or other counterpart this dish can be served several times a week without becoming routine or rote.




Lunch consisted of a bean salad with greens and homemade salsa, a clever arrangement of leftovers from last nights bean burritos.






Friday night's dinner of braised vegetables over wheat bulghur was a real treat considering the doubts I had as this was simmering. Bacon aside (which is pretty important to this dish), this dish was a savory near vegan wonder consisting of little else than grains, vegetables, aromatics and cooking liquid. With a long enough simmer (I gave it 30 minutes) the vegetables turn into wonderful fall apart in your mouth stuff and not the mushy mess I feared when I plated this one.

Thursday's Dinner

Two bean burritos with homemade salsa and a touch of sour cream. With precooked beans these are effortless. Two nights ago I fully cooked about 2 cups of dried beans and stored them in the fridge as they keep up for a week. A vast taste improvement over canned beans and extremely cheaper.

Dinner, sort of.

Tonights dinner was a reheat of the bean and vegetable casseoulet which I made a large batch of last Saturday and froze. I have to say that the texture was pretty muddy and the zucchini especially was a little limp. Not horrible, but not something I would prepare again.

Cod in Olive Oil and Thyme

Served over wheat bulghur with chopped dates

Lentil Soup with Curry and Vegetables

With Zucchini, Potatoes, and fresh Cilantro