Not really travel related, but I thought I'd take a moment to post about a challenge I undertook this past week. Last year for the week leading up until Easter, I challenged myself to be vegetarian for a week. This year I decided to take it one step further and do the same thing, but going fully vegan this time. That means in addition to no meat or seafood, I also abstained from milk, cheese, eggs, and any other form of dairy. It ended up limiting the kinds of meals you can eat quite a bit! Overall, it wasn't as bad as people seem to imagine and I found a few new recipes that I wouldn't mind cooking even outside of vegan week. Below are all of the various meals I ate throughout the week. Sunday - Tofu SkewersFor these I chopped up orange bell peppers and pineapples, then added them to a skewer with cubes of tofu. It was my first time ever cooking tofu so that was interesting. I also cooked up some shimeji mushrooms and peapods that I bought at a local Asian grocery store. (I thought the peapods were edamame when I got them, so I was a little bit disappointed). Overall, this meal turned out alright bot not amazing. The mushrooms were probably my favorite part. Tofu Kebob Recipe - Teriyaki Sauce Recipe - Shimeji Mushroom Info Monday - Squash Linguine Used some squash, potatoes, garlic cloves, and peppers to make the sauce for this creamy pasta. Blended it all up in a blender to liquify it, then added it to some flat noodles. I liked this one a lot! Squash Linguine Recipe Tuesday - Thai Peanut Rice Probably my favorite meal of the week. I cooked up some sweet potatoes and added them to a pot of white rice. The sauce was made out of all kinds of interesting ingredients, most important being peanut butter. Thai Peanut Rice Recipe Wednesday - Vegan Chili I got this recipe from my friend Jon. I don't like beans so I made some variations to the recipe, but the important ingredient was the maple syrup that adds the sweetness. This one was really good, and I would definitely make it again some time. Thursday - Veggie Burger + Potatoes Bought this veggie burger from a local market. The box said it was the "world's best veggie burger" so that meant it had to be good right? It is mostly made from ground quinoa. Sandwiched between some vegan friendly sourdough bread slices and served up some grilled potatoes on the side. The burger itself tasted more like a potato pancake than a burger, but it was pretty decent overall. Friday - Mac and "Cheese" This mac and cheese recipe uses ground potato and garlic for the "cheese" portion. Liquified it in the blender and poured it onto some spiral noodles, then tossed in some cauliflower. I wasn't too crazy about this one. It tasted a bit too "thick" and I made too much of it, so it was hard to make it through all of it. Mac and "Cheese" Recipe Saturday - Hummus & Avocado Quesadilla Went with something simple for the last day. Tossed some hummus, avocado, and tomato into a tomato-based tortilla shell, then toasted the outside on the stove. It was amazing how much that little bit of toasting added to the overall taste! I think I might start doing this with my tacos now. Plus the cooked tomato gave a taste reminiscent of pizza. Great last meal that only took a few minutes to prepare. Simple Hummus Quesadilla Recipe Overall, I had a lot of fun with this challenge. Most of the foods tasted pretty good, and I actually didn't crave meats or cheeses as much as I expected. I think the most difficult part was how long it took to prepare some of these meals, but usually the hard work paid off. I wouldn't want to be a vegan full time, but I could definitely see myself doing this again next year. Hope you enjoyed checking out my creations, and I hope you decide to try some of them out for yourself. Until next time... Adios!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |