...But I can't help but be annoyed when my new roommate, upon hearing that I'm transitioning into veganism, immediately says: "You better take LOTS of vitamins then!" with a kind of laugh at the end. Not a funny ha-ha laugh, but kind of a "is she nuts?" laugh. This from a girl that was eating a dinner that consisted only of ground beef, cheese, and hard corn tortilla shells. People that live in bad health glass houses should not throw stones, methinks. My dinner of homemade hummus with lettuce and tomatos on wheat pitas and a side rich tomato basil soup may not have looked amazing, but it was a lot more nutritionally balanced than tacos!

I guess it's something that I'll have to get used to. The boyfriend told me to not really pay any attention to it, but it bugs me that people would automatically think that I think I can live off of twigs and berries. I've done my research, and I told her that you can actually live a wonderful and nutritionally balanced life without any animal products in your diet, but I'm not sure she heard me.

Irk...

Anyways, back to the hummus. My new food processor came today and I had to break it in. I used Rachel Ray's spicy hummus recipe and it was easy-n-delicious! The boyfriend liked it, too. We had a tiny bit left over that'll make for a good snack tomorrow.

Rachel Ray's Spicy Hummus

1 (14.5 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
2 rounded tablespoons tahini sesame paste, found in both dairy and dry specialty foods sections
A drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed pepper flakes
1 teaspoon (1/3 palm full) ground cumin
1 teaspoon (1/3 palm full) ground coriander
1 clove garlic, crushed
Coarse salt
1/2 lemon, juiced

Combine beans, tahini, oil, pepper flakes, cumin, coriander, garlic, salt, and lemon juice in food processor bowl and grind into a smooth paste. Transfer to a small dip dish and surround spread with warm pita wedges.

Our can of chickpeas was 15.5 ounces instead of 14.5, but I just added in a little extra extra virgin olive oil and some water. It was the perfect consistency and flavor.

Labels: hard times, omnis, recipe

Posted by Lena at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

For lunch, I had some delicious vegan chili at Old City Java for lunch today. It was super vegetable-packed, had two kinds of bean, and the TVP was a nice touch on the consistency end. I could've used a little more spice, but I like my chili hot. It was an awesome deal for $2.95, too. I didn't think I'd like the shredded carrots and zucchini that they put in it, but you could hardly taste their distinct flavors. I think I'll be heading back there again soon!

Later, I went today to pick up some non-pantry food and...it was interesting. I felt pretty lost and out of place - I'm used to being able to go in, grab some Lean Cuisine, and hit the road. Our local Kroger is very vegan/vegetarian friendly, so there were quite a bit there, but I guess it'll just take me a while to retrain how I grocery shop. Between Kroger and the Fresh Market, I picked up some various and sundry meal components, but I'm not quite sure how they'll all come together into actual FOOD.

I was trying to be very price conscious, so I didn't buy any of the VERY over-priced (to me) frozen vegan foods. $6 for a vegan burrito? You have to be kidding. I bought tofu (firm), flax seeds, and almond milk for the first time, and I have pasta, rice, beans, vegan pasta sauce, things of that nature. Neither of the stores we went to had an nutritional yeast. I unfortunately didn't buy a lot of veggies, because I wasn't sure what I'd be making, and I didn't want to waste any of my little bit of money on veggies that I might not use. So I think tonight I'll try to plan some menus for the next week and see how that goes. It reminds me that I still want to buy The Student's Go Vegan Cookbook by Carole Raymond.

I'm starting to think it'll be a lot easier on me in the long run if I start lacto-ovo vegetarian for a couple of months and then move to veganism, just to get my vegetable-legs back. It was pretty frustrating today to try to find a loaf of bread without whey! It didn't help that the boyfriend was with me and hates shopping, so his antsiness was making me on edge, too.

In other foodie news, I'm getting a food processor! Yay! This is the one, in Empire Red. It's really awesome because, first, that's an amazing price. And, two, it comes with two bowls - a 7 cup for regular cooking and a 3 cup for small chopping. Oh, happy day! I hope to join it with an artisan standmixer soon! Be still my beating heart!

Labels: hard times

Posted by Lena at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments