From my fridge.
From my cupboards.
From my freezer (the gross things on the left are over ripe frozen bananas, perfect for smoothies!).
This photos don’t include baking supplies, or anything that’s not vegan. Isn’t that a ridiculous amount of food? I live by myself! Life is good!
For breakfast I made a quick smoothie. I love smoothies; the only thing I hate is washing the stupid blender every time. Fun fact: my blender is actually one of my parents’ wedding gifts. They were married in 1982. They didn’t make a lot of smoothies. So I have it now!Summer Smoothie in December
One frozen banana
1 cup frozen raspberries
½- ¾ cup orange juice
I defrosted the fruit for 2 mins in the microwave so it wouldn’t kill the blades in the blender (or kill my teeth from coldness!). Then I blended until smooth. Tastes like summer!
I made up a meal plan for this week, which I don’t really think I’ve ever done before. When I went to make a grocery list for it, I discovered that I had a lot of the items already, which was exciting. Regardless, I still managed to rack up a $60 grocery bill.
Oops.I justify it by saying that $17 worth of items were things like olive oil, rice, and steel cut oats, which will last me much longer than one week. Also, this pile includes organic baby carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, vegetable bouillon cubes, and edamame. And a Fair Trade70% chocolate bar. A girl’s gotta have her chocolate!
Side note: Knorr vegetable bouillon cubes have 40% of your RDI of sodium in ONE cube. The organic kind I found in the specialty section were also low sodium – 4% RDI!!! –and they taste delicious! I am a salt fiend, but I like to add it on stuff, so I’m trying to decrease it in places like soup where you can’t even really taste the difference.
After I put away most of the food, I set about making chili. It turned out more like a “stoup”.
Vegan Vegetable Chili/Stoup
3 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 onion, diced
1 tbsp green onions3 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 onion, diced
1 tsp each paprika, oregano, basil, cilantro, black pepper, and cayenne pepper
1 can mixed beans, drained and rinsed 3x
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed 3x
1 can diced tomatoes, juice included
1 low sodium vegetable bouillon cube, dissolved in 1 cup boiling water
Add everything to slow cooker. Mix well. Add more water if necessary. Cover. Let simmer on high for 3-4 hours, or until celery is cooked.
Doesn't that look pretty?
This dish may require some planning. Be prepared to spend the night alone.
Now find something to do for 4 hours. P.S. This recipe is super cheap! $5.89 (and it makes six servings! that's less than a $1 a serving!).
See look. Proof. To accompany this I made some quick biscuits. These are my go-to and they’re so fast to make! I didn’t buy white flour (there’s always something I forget!), so these were a little dense. I’d substitute half white flour next time.
15 Minute Biscuits
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (you could probably get away with ½ tsp here)
½ cup vegetable shortening
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened Almond Breeze)
Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Cut in shortening and mix. Slowly add milk until well incorporated. Turn out on floured surface. Roll ou t to ½ inch thick and cut out circles using floured glass. Bake at 400F for 10-14 mins (checking with toothpick to see if they’re done). Serve over “stoup” or with a little Earth Balance vegan butter. Enjoy!
15 Minute Biscuits
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (you could probably get away with ½ tsp here)
½ cup vegetable shortening
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened Almond Breeze)
Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Cut in shortening and mix. Slowly add milk until well incorporated. Turn out on floured surface. Roll ou t to ½ inch thick and cut out circles using floured glass. Bake at 400F for 10-14 mins (checking with toothpick to see if they’re done). Serve over “stoup” or with a little Earth Balance vegan butter. Enjoy!
Looks yummy!
ReplyDelete