Exploding Cereal, Rice Cakes and Dinosaur Kale

I'm continuing to focus on simple, easy vegan meals.  Here are some highlights from today's eating adventures.

Breakfast - Or How I Was Traumatized By a Box of Exploding Cereal
I really like cereal, but cereal often does not like me.  Hidden soy can often turn this treat into a sneeze fest.  But, after careful perusal of ingredient labels, I decided to try Nature's Path Flax Plus Multibran Flakes.  This cereal has a lot going for it - it's got 5g of fiber and 4g of protein per serving.  And, since a "serving" is 3/4 of a cup, and 3/4 of a cup would barely feed a squirrel, I figure I'm getting a lot more than that!  The flax in the cereal also is a source of Omega-3.  It's not vitamin fortified, but since I get my vitamins from a variety of plant sources and a vegan friendly supplement, that's not a big deal.

Milk and I also don't get along, but I've enjoyed experimenting with milk substitutes.  Having tried rice milk and almond milk, I thought I'd try coconut milk, specifically So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk.  This product is fortified with a number of vitamins and minerals, Vitamin B12 (50% DV) and Vitamin D (30%). 

So, where does exploding cereal come in?  Well, this morning, when I went to open the cereal, I found the plastic bag a bit challenging to open.  I got a tiny hole in it, so small that basically a flake at a time was coming out.  So, I decided to try and open the bag a little more.  The next thing I knew, cereal was flying everywhere - the counter, the stove, the floor, my hair, my husband's hair and pretty much everywhere but in my bowl.  It was an avalanche of cereal. 

Five minutes of sweeping later, I sat down to enjoy my cereal with coconut milk and blueberries.  I would definitely make sure you add fruit to this cereal or use a vanilla flavored milk substitute, especially if you're used to eating things that are very sweetened.

Snack - Or Rice Cakes Don't Need To Stay in the 80's

I know.  Rice Cakes.  Really?  If you grew up in the 80's, like I did, you probably have not so fond memories of rice cakes, or as some people called them, diet cardboard.  But, recently, when I saw a fellow yogini snacking at them at a yoga workshop, my curiosity was piqued.  I like crunchy, salty things, after all.

The brand I tried was Lundberg's Wild Rice Cakes.  I like Lundberg's rice products, so I felt confident that these would be worth buying,  I was pleasantly surprised with how good these are - nutty and just the right amount of salt.  It was yummy with my giant fuji apple, and the combination made a good pre-yoga snack.

Dinner - When Dinosaur Kale Walked in My Kitchen

I got home later than usual this evening since I was having fun chatting with friends after yoga.  I was tempted to try one of the frozen meals, but I figured I could cook something very fast.  Since I finished the curly kale I bought on Sunday, I decided to make something with dinosaur kale.

Dinosaur kale goes by many names - laccinato kale, Tuscan kale, cavolo nero, etc.  It's flatter and darker than curly kale, and the texture does look scaly, so the dinosaur name is appropriate.

I had half a yellow onion in the fridge, so I minced some of that up, along with a clove of garlic.  I sauteed those in olive oil on high heat for a minute or so.  Meanwhile, I sliced the kale into thin ribbons and then cut the ribbons into smaller pieces.  When I was done cutting the kale, I added in a can of chickpeas and a few scoops of my leftover rice and seasoned the mixture with sea salt and some generous turns of ground black pepper.  Then, I tossed in the kale, gave it a stir and turned off the heat the second it began to wilt, which was pretty fast.  A few shakes of red pepper flakes and it was done.  Fresh, filling and I have leftovers tomorrow.

Keep It Simple: What I Ate Today

So, one of the reasons I haven't been blogging lately is that I've been a bit overwhelmed by the exercise.  For someone with my Type-A tendencies, I was getting wrapped up in making something different and inventive every night, photographing it perfectly and writing something semi-interesting about it.  If cooking and eating was my full-time job, that would work for me.  But between working, commuting, frequent traveling, yoga and other pursuits, sitting down to cook something, take pictures of it and write about it while eating it was wearing me out a bit.

But, does blogging have to be so complicated, or am I over analyzing the situation?  One might ask the same question about going vegan, actually.  On the surface, it might seem overwhelming to go on a vegan diet.  If you start looking at books and blogs, you'll see a range of choices and advice.  Soy or no soy?  (Well, for my soy-allergic self, that was easy).  Raw?  Gluten-free?  Macrobiotic?  GMOs?  BPA?  Organic?  Low-Glycemic?  Alkaline foods?  Meat substitutes?  Nut milk or rice milk or coconut milk?  Nut cheese?  "Clean" foods?  Sprouted bread?  Convenience foods?  Oil is okay!  Wait, oil is not okay?  Local!  Carbon footprint!  Is your head spinning yet?

Whether it's blogging or eating, it's easy to get overwhelmed with the myriad of options you have in front of you.  And I know that, when I get overwhelmed, all I want is macaroni and cheese.

So, what it comes down to is that the "diet" that works for you is one that you can realistically sustain.  And that looks different for everyone.  For me, maybe it's a nicely photographed, colorful, homemade dish one day, and a frozen meal the next.  

So, as I was standing in line at the grocery store, I had an epiphany.  I can't be the only person out there that's trying to make going vegan work with a decently busy schedule.  What does someone like me eat every day?  Would it be helpful for me to share how I make doing the vegan thing workable, even if it doesn't involve a lot of fancy cooking?

So, hence, for the time being, I will bring you what I ate today.  I'm hoping this will show the variety of ways you can make a plant-based diet work for you. 

On Sunday, I used our rice cooker a huge batch of Rice Select Whole Grain Blend, which is wild rice, brown rice and rye berries.  This grain blend will be in my meals throughout the rest of this week.  By varying the veggies and proteins I incorporate with my dinners, I'll give myself the variety I crave, but still save time by having pre-cooked rice on hand.

In the fridge, I had some kale and red onion leftover from Sunday's dinner, along with cremini mushrooms.  At Whole Foods, I picked up some multicolored grape tomatoes.  I chopped everything in small pieces and gave the veg a very quick saute in olive oil.  I personally like it when my cooked veggies still have a little crunch, so I often don't saute for more than 5 minutes or so.  Good seasoning is also a must for me, so I included sea salt, ground black pepper, Italian seasoning blend and red pepper flakes. 

For dessert, I had a big bowl of grapes.  I'm partial to seedless green grapes, and there was a huge display at the store today for $2.99 a pound.  Sold!

Spicy Rainbow Stir-Fry

One of the biggest things I missed when I started dealing with my soy allergy was Asian inspired cooking.  I thought I had come to accept that I wouldn't be able to enjoy these types of dishes again.

Fortunately, my fellow yogini and food blogger Valerie came to the rescue.  Valerie blogs at City Life Eats.  She follows a vegan and gluten-free diet.  Since she can't have soy sauce either (in her case, wheat is the culprit), she also needed to find an alternative.  Her discovery?  Coconut aminos.

Coconut aminos are made from the sap of coconuts.   According to the product website, coconut aminos are a great source of amino acids, which help with rebuilding muscle tissue, enhancing the nervous, immune and digestive systems.  They also taste remarkably like soy sauce.

I decided to do a colorful stir-fry with a variety of veggies, including shitake mushrooms and bok choy (which is a great source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C!).  I used  the coconut aminos to make the sauce, and served the vegetables over brown rice.

This had all the amazing flavors I've been missing without the unpleasantness of an allergic reaction.  Thanks for the great recommendation, Valerie!

Spicy Rainbow Stir-Fry
Serves 3-4

1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced
8 shitake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced
1 large yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup of shredded carrots
1 head of bok choy, green and white parts, sliced
2 tbsp cooking oil of choice (I used olive because that's what we had in the house)
2 tsp sesame seed oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
Sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
2-3 Tbsp of Coconut Aminos (or use soy sauce if you don't have allergy issues)
4 cups of cooked brown rice
Sesame seeds

In a wok or large pan, heat olive oil and sesame seed oil.  Toss onions and mushrooms and season with salt and black pepper.  Saute until softened, 3-4 minutes.  Stir in carrots, peppers and bok choy and cook until heated through, another 3-4 minutes. 

Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.  Add coconut aminos, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan as you stir.  Season with red pepper flakes (a little goes a long way!)

Serve over brown rice and garnish with sesame seeds.

Simple Spinach and Lentils with Rice and Quinoa

I know I like to make a lot of dishes that involve multiple ingredients, lots of prep and lots of pots and pans.  But, sometimes I want something super simple, but hearty, and tonight was one of those nights.

I had leftover golden lentils in the fridge, so I decided to do something with them.  I also picked up a big container of baby spinach after yoga (we go through two containers a week here), and decided I would incorporate that in the dish as well.

To start the dish, I sauteed some minced shallots in Earth Balance.  I then added some tomato paste concentrate.  When the brown bits started to appear in the pan, I added a couple of pours of vegetable broth.  I used Safeway Organic brand, which, unlike some other boxed broths, doesn't contain soy. Pacific Organic's vegetable broth is also soy-free.

I then added a few handfuls of the cooked lentils.  As the lentils integrated with the sauce, I futzed a bit with the dish, adding vegetable broth as I thought it needed more liquid, and tomato paste as it needed more color.  I then added several handfuls of roughly chopped baby spinach.  As the spinach wilted, I added even more to get even more green into the dish.

To season the lentils & spinach, I added some freshly ground black pepper and a few drops of sriracha, a Thai hot sauce that has become pretty trendy over the past few years. It's made of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. Some srirachas have fish sauce as an ingredient, but the one we use, which is made by Huy Fong Foods, does not.  

Despite the fact that there was salt in the vegetable broth and and in the sriracha, I decided it would benefit from a little bit of sea salt, so I stirred some in.

I wanted some sort of grain to go with the dish, but I hadn't cooked any up in advance.  Situations like this call for microwave bagged rice.  While some microwave bagged rices and grain mixes aren't veg friendly or have lots of unnecessary additives and tons of sodium, I have found a few I like courtesy of Seeds of Change and Safeway Select.  Tonight, I opted for Safeway Select Brown & Wild Rice with Quinoa.  90 seconds in the microwave and, voila, rice

I put the rice in a bowl and then ladled in some of the spinach & lentil mixture and gave it a quick stir.  I was so happy with this dish.  The sriracha had a nice heat that pleasantly snuck up on me, and I loved the texture and combination of flavors.  The warm lentils, rice & quinoa and spinach were very filling and satisfying, the perfect dish for a cold, winter day.