Or maybe a week...I've been in a rut cooking wise. For the past couple of weeks I've been swamped with work and writing, and on days that I work at the office, I usually don't get home until about seven. At that point, I just want something fast and easy, and that usually ends up being a frozen dinner, or something with chicken. Or I get something on the way home, and that something is not always very healthy. So, I figured I could get out of the rut by creating a challenge for myself, and that challenge is to try going vegan for while. I have no idea how long I can keep it up, and I bet come the weekend I'll probably fall onto the meat wagon, as it were. But if I can keep it up for most of the week, that's probably not a bad thing....
Tonight I sauteed three kinds of mushrooms in olive oil and Madeira wine along with some spring onions, garlic, and shallots. I then added some cooked Israeli couscous (also called pearl couscous) and raw spinach and mixed that all together until the spinach was cooked through.
I love Israeli couscous, so much more than regular couscous. It's like eating tapioca pearls for dinner. (I think I like almost any food that comes in ball form. Except for eyeballs. And testicles.) The dish was good; very fresh tasting, and very filling. But it needed a lot of salt, even though I had seasoned it as it was cooking.
I think what I like about doing the vegan thing for a little while is that it really helps to narrow down choices when it comes to grocery shopping. An overabundance of choices usually just makes me freeze up and get the same old crap I always do, but knowing I can't get anything that has any kind of animal or dairy product in it means my choices are slashed, a lot, and I have to get a little more creative with things. And, in most cases, it's just automatically healthier, too.
The only thing I'm kind of having an issue with is drinking soy milk instead of regular milk. I don't have a problem with the taste. I mean, it's not like I don't know I'm drinking soy milk; it has an obviously different taste, but it's a taste I don't mind. But when I drink milk, it is non-fat milk, and so far I've only been able to find "lite" soy milk, which still has a lot of fat in it. And I don't like the fact that I am now consuming MORE fat by drinking soy milk. I'm sure there's fat free soy milk out there, but I imagine the taste is probably a lot worse than even the lite soy. I also looked into rice and almond milk, but both brands that they had at my store were full of fat. I'll probably have to make a trip to AssWhole Foods to find a larger variety. But if I can't find one that's lower in fat, and also tastes OK, I may have to go back to milk, at least for my cereal in the mornings...
2 comments:
You probably know about the Post Punk Kitchen blog, but in case you don't, you should check it out. I subscribed when I temporarily went vegan last fall and I continue to read it because I'm just amazed at the scrumptious looking things she makes without meat, eggs, dairy, etc. I've heard that their recipe for cupcakes are to die for, even compared to the non-vegan variety.
As for milk substitutes, I hear you on the soy - I went with rice milk and don't recall it having that much fat, but that might be because I was actually sort of struggling to get enough fat in my suddenly vegan diet. Coconut milk is good for that, but it sounds like more fat is not exactly what you're looking for. A tasty alternative, though, for ice cream, in oatmeal, etc. Good luck!
Thanks for the blog link! I had not heard of it before...
I'm going to try rice milk next. The lite soy I got does not taste particularly good, so maybe a lite rice milk will be better...
Today is probably going to be a challenge since I have a three hour work meeting that's being catered. Probably with pizza. Doh!
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