Lentil Sage Field Roast Grain "Meat" Sandwich with Carrots

Well today I wanted to start what I'm sure will not continue for more than two days: blogging daily all the food I consume, even the boring foods. This may or may not force me to eat more healthy and/or be far too large of a task to keep up with, but since it's summer I decided to give it a go.

Of course, I started off with a bang by craving and creating this lovely sandwich this morning for breakfast. A sandwich consisting of Lentil Sage flavored Field Roast Grain "Meat," which I enjoy because it's a nice alternative to the soy deli meats. Field Roast is made from vital wheat gluten, which sounds gross but it is that protein which gives us seitan and more importantly, mock duck.

This sandwich consists of 3 pieces of said grain "meat," a few slices of tomato, some baby spinach, mustard and a piece of Galaxy Nutritional Foods' Rice Vegan Cheddar "Cheese," again a nice change from all-soy "cheeses."

I also enjoyed some baby carrots on the side, as well as throughout today. Sometime after the carrots, I had a Primal Strip in Thai Peanut flavor. I like these as a quick snack that fills me up and doesn't lead to mindless snacking.

So that's the food so far today. Plus lots of water and about one 8oz cup of coffee.

Vegan Marble Cake from Bravo! Café and Bakery

Simple: Vegan Marble Cake from the wonder that is Bravo! Café and Bakery. This stuff is great: thick and dense yet light and fluffy at the same time. It's delicious and $2.50 per piece. No frosting, but that's fine with me.

Homemade Blueberry Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Wow, these were fantastic. Made with Aunt Jemima pancake mix and Ener-G egg replacer, I followed the directions on the box, let the mix rest for 5-10 minutes before mixing in the frozen blueberries and Sunspire Chocolate Chips. I can never get them perfect in shape and size, but as far as taste...fantastic.

Fried Tofu Appetizer from Chiang Mai Thai

Mmm, this is fried tofu sticks with peanut sauce from Chiang Mai Thai, one of my favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities. Crispy shallot flakes top the tofu, and it is also served with sriracha.

On this visit, we enjoyed a Laab Salad with Mock Duck as well as a Garlic Pepper Stir Fry with Mock Duck. No pictures of those, though. I completely forgot and ate most of the meal before even thinking about picture taking! Ah well, the food was pretty good despite a lack of spice in the stir fry.

Falafel with Hummus from Holy Land

Yummy. Holy Land is an awesome local Middle Eastern restaurant, store and buffet supplied with fresh pitas, hummus, tahini, falafel, and everything else yummy under the sun. This was a box of leftovers I was able to take home after a work banquet. Filled with falafel balls and hummus, I also got some tahini and tabouli and purchased some pitas at the store. Seriously: day old pitas go 30 for $4 and fresh are 10 $2.

So so so SO tasty. Holy Land Brand is sold at most grocery stores here, but it's more expensive than at the store directly.

Helen's Kitchen Chili with Tortilla Chips and Vitamin Water

This is a picture of the box of Helen's Kitchen, a company which has vegetarian and vegan frozen products such as chili, curries, etc.

I have pics of the chili, but they don't look that great, so I decided not to post them. It wasn't too bad, the tofu bits were an interesting addition to the chili. I ate the chili by dipping Garden of Eatin Red Hot Blues Chips into it.

I also enjoyed a Vitamin Water with my meal.

Gluten Free French Toast Sticks from Ian's Natural Foods

These are frozen French toast sticks, from Ian's Natural Foods. They are Wheat/Gluten Free, and are vegan.

They weren't too bad. They are made with rice flour, which gave them an interesting texture. I don't personally think I'd buy them again because they are WAY overpriced, but they didn't taste too bad with a lot of syrup. It was neat to have frozen vegan French toast sticks. Shown here with maple syrup from Target.

Fried Potatoes, Sautéed Kale, and Mushrooms

This was incredibly simple, although I wish I was able to master the potatoes a bit more. I'll cook less of them and completely in the non-stick pan next time.

Recipe:
3-4 thin sliced potatoes (I used a Mandolin and b. red potatoes)
1T vegetable oil
3-4c Kale, torn up into little pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, medium-small diced
4-5 big button mushrooms, sliced

1. slice the potatoes on a mandolin or food processor or evenly with a knife. Pan fry in a pan with some vegetable oil until tender, adding 1/2 the onions and 1/2 the garlic to the pan after a bit. The potatoes take a while, so don't start the mushrooms or kale for at least 15 minutes.

2. In another pan, sauté the other half of the onions and garlic in a tiny bit of oil.

3. In another pan, sauté the mushrooms in some non-stick spray and a little salt and water.

4. In the onion and garlic pan, add the kale, stirring constantly. Sauté until it becomes your desired texture. I like mine pretty firm, so I tend to take the pan off the heat, add the kale, stir, and plate.

5. Plate all the food, serve with optional condiments: sriracha, ketchup, tobasco sauce, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, etc.

Homemade Tofu Bacon

This was an experiment. I enjoy the Fakin' Bacon from Lightlife, but those are about $4-5 for 5 long tempeh strips. Made at home with tofu, it came out to $3-4 for about one full pound of fakin' bacon.

I actually liked this stuff more than I thought I would. I just ate it all plain, but I could tell it would be great in a tomato and guacamole/avocado sandwich.

RECIPE
1 16 ounce package extra firm or firm tofu, water packed
2T Soy sauce (shoyu preferred, but regular soy sauce is ok.)
1t Liquid Smoke
2T Nutritional Yeast (optional)
1-3T oil, vegetable or another neutral oil (NOT sesame or peanut or olive)

1. Drain and press tofu.

2. Slice tofu into thin strips, similar to thick cut bacon.

3. Mix soy sauce and liquid smoke.

4. In a pan, heat vegetable oil and fry the tofu strips until crispy.

5. Remove from heat, then pour in the soy sauce/liquid smoke mixture.

--> okay, I need a larger pan, but I wound up making this mixture twice for my whole package of tofu. It was still good, but I love salt, so maybe this would end up being too salty for some people. In that case, mix a little water in the liquid smoke and soy sauce mix, and then pour half into the pan if you have a small pan like me and can only fit half the tofu in it.

6. Flip the tofu several times, making sure that both sides soak in the sauce. As the liquid disappears, you can add the nutritional yeast, again making sure both sides are coated. You could even mix the nutritional yeast in with the liquid before hand. The Nutritional yeast is not 100% necessary, but works out great.

7. Let tofu bacon rest on rack to drain and cool a little bit, eat and enjoy. Like I said, I only had it plain, but this would be great with breakfast or in a sandwich.