Recipes for a Quarterlife: Vegan Day Three

I am happy to report there were no chicken cravings on day three.

The day started as such.

Breakfast:

Sauteed onion, bell pepper, spinach, and tomato with crumbled tofu

topped with soy cheddar and nutritional yeast

Potatoes fried in Earth Balance at TJ's Everyday Seasoning
Orange and Banana

I've always been a big breakfast person, but this was a LOT of breakfast. Also, I love egg whites and usually eat them everyday for breakfast, but the crumbled tofu was a very good substitute.

Then I went about my day doing my "no 9-to-5", "it's the week before finals" thing (i.e. procrastinating). The good news is I fit in the THIRD kettlebell workout for this week (of FIVE planned). My tiny hands are so calloused. I look like a cowboy.

Post workout, it was time for lunch. Mama Pea raves about her favorite lunch, a Crack Wrap. She wraps up hummus and vegan cheese in a whole wheat wrap and cooks it on a griddle with Earth Balance. I didn't have a wrap, but I had whole wheat bread, so I made myself the BEST grilled cheese I have had in a very very long time. PS I never order grilled cheese at restaurants because calories scare me.

The key to this sandwich was the Daiya cheddar. Daiya is kind of like a mystery because it's not soy and it's not gluten. So, like... WTF is it?

"Filtered water, tapioca and /or arrowroot flours, non-GMO expeller pressed canola and /or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil, coconut oil, pea protein, salt, inactive yeast, vegan natural flavors, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, citric acid (for flavor), annatto, titanium dioxide (a naturally occurring mineral)"

So this brings me to my only problem with Veganism. How is that laundry list of ingredients better for me than cow's milk and salt? I don't know. I do feel good eating Vegan although only three days isn't enough to really see a difference in my health. Maybe I shouldn't eat super processed fake cheeze? But it's SO good.

Seriously, this cheeze is better than cheese.

Lunch:

Grilled cheeze with hummus and daiya cheddar
Salad with grapes, sunflower seeds, carrots, edamame, avocado

Agave Mustard vinaigrette (homemade!)

I ate my delicious and nutritious lunch outside with my two buddies, who both got baths yesterday. Happy little fur people. (not)

And then after a full day of getting hardly anything productive done, it was time for dinner. All I do is eat, apparently.

Dinner was inspired by Post Punk Kitchen. The original recipe is Seitan Chops smothered in Apples and Ginger, but I wasn't interested in Seitan two nights in a row. So I marinated Tofu instead.

I started the meal by marinating extra firm tofu in dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, a touch of maple syrup, and worcestershire. I let this soak for 24 hours in the fridge.

Then it was time for dinner!

First let's roast some apples. These are great as a side dish for anything, so here's the recipe!

Gingered Apples
Post Punk Kitchen

Ingredients

2 pounds of apples (I used honeycrisp), sliced into 1/2" pieces
3 tbsp freshly grated ginger
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp EVOO
3 tbsp dried cranberries
1 tbsp brown sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F
Line a baking sheet with parchment
Dump all ingredients on sheet
Toss
Bake for 20 minutes
Turn apples
Bake for another 20 minutes

Parchment saves you from dish duty and keeps the apples from sticking to the pan.

SO tasty!

Back to the tofu.

Like the PPK recipe, I dredged my tofu in panko crumbs seasoned with S & P and rosemary. Good thing I have this handy dandy herb mill that the christmas fairy sent me!