Food for Thought

Good morning and thanks for all your feedback.  Here it is Vegan Feast Thursday again.  They sure do roll around quickly!  While Derek asked to be surprised, I know Mitch already let him know that I was doing my favorite this week–breakfast for dinner.  A big pot of tofu scrambles (I am going to introduce more vegetables into the scrambles tonight) with bagels, chocolate soy milk and as much as I don’t think it’s very healthy, I will make a bunch of faux bacon because the “kids”  gobble it up.  The trick to making that bacon taste like anything is spraying it very lightly with olive oil before cooking it.  I find it comes out best on the BBQ!  The best part of tofu scrambles is that you do NOT have to drain the tofu before cooking, something you DO have to do for most tofu recipes.   I feel like I have posted the recipe before, so I won’t again, but you can easily google it and find a gazillion versions.

People ask me if it’s hard to eat out, and the answer is sometimes.  Yesterday I ate lunch and dinner out, no problem!  Big Bear Brewery was kind enough to call their home office to find out the contents of the bun that their veggie burger is served on.  They called and left a voicemail for me on my cell phone.  I thought that was extraordinarily kind and the bun has no animal products whatsoever.  Though they serve it with cheese, if you ask for it without, its a gorgeous vegan meal.  The burger looks so real, that ironically, while NBC TV was there shooting a story, they zoomed in on my burger…I hope I catch the spot to see if they mention that it is meatless?!?!  Anyone who sees this spot, and the quantity of yummy food on my plate, will quickly see that I do NOT survive on lettuce alone.  Lunch with “the gym girls” for Wendie’s birthday was not only filled with great food, and TV cameras, but most importantly filled with lots of love and laughter.

Coming home, Mitch shared some unexpected good news with me, and we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate.  Sushi is a great choice for a vegan meal.  I happen to opt in on miso soup which DOES have some fish product in the soup base.  The salad with ginger dressing is vegan.  I ordered the udon noodles, which are definitely fattening and salty, but I think they are vegan and I love them!  I often order the stir fried vegetables and they are always delicious.  Derek always orders the vegetable sushi boat which is gorgeous and delicious.  LOTS OF CHOICES!  By now, you know that I am a big fan of CHOICE.

Because I know some of my students, friends and readers are leaning into less animal products and more plant-based foods,  I would like to offer up some suggestions on some of my favorite things…I think it helps to compile a list of foods (maybe just mentally) that are vegan and make choices from that list.  As with all things, the more you know, the easier it is!  Obviously all fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds are vegan.  Yesterday at lunch, my friend Bonnie ordered the house salad and had them add whatever nuts and seeds they could.  Without the cheese, that is entirely plant-based,  gorgeous and filled with nutrition.  Those La Tortilla Factory wraps (thanks, Carol!) are a staple in my house.  They come in 2 sizes and are low in calories, high in fiber and vegan.  A wrap filled with hummus, avocado and salad is a very favorite lunch of mine.  Sometimes its a favorite breakfast, too!  I always have Larabars in my pantry and my gym bag.  They are so clean, usually with just 3 ingredients; nuts, fruit and salt.  At 230 calories they make a great mid day snack and sometimes can be breakfast on the run.  If I find myself somewhere where I can’t get a decent meal, they will hold me over for a good amount of time.  I never leave home without one.  There are also some Cliff Bars that are vegan, you just have to read the labels.  Publix (or your grocery store) should be able to tell you the ingredients in any of their breads.  For the most part they use eggs to make the bread shiny.  I don’t buy those.  Others use lard, so those are out, too.  They make a fresh 5 grain sub type bread that is delicious and I buy them every week for VFT.  Many breads that are sold from the shelf, happen to be vegan.  I generally try to buy fresh breads, though.  Last weekend I bought some really wholesome granola in the bakery made by Big Sky Bread, another great snack.

I go to Whole Foods once a week.  Most of their items are pricier than the grocery store, but NOT so for the vegan items that are a specialty at Publix.  I buy my tofu, vegan cheese, vegan bacon, vegan “cold-cuts,” soy dogs and a few other items at Whole Foods.  They make their own organic tofu which is definitely cheaper than buying at Publix.   They also have a HUGE selection of  non-dairy ice cream choices.  Though I don’t keep that in the house, I do buy it occasionally for Thursday nights.  Purely Decadent makes so many flavors it’s crazy.

I will continue to offer more of my fav’s in future blogs.  For now I have used up all my blogging time (and then some!)  As I know some of you are reading The China Study, I know.  It’s mind blowing.  If you only read the introduction you will begin to question everything you have been brought up believing.  Awareness is the first step to change.  Imagine if the cure for cancer (and some of the other biggies) really is in breakfast, lunch and dinner.   The possibility IS enough to leave anyone speechless.

Something that seems so ironic to me is that our society is pushing grass-fed meat.  I think it’s a step in the right direction.  It’s nice to know the animals can graze on grass and sure sounds like it makes them healthier…wouldn’t it make sense that we are grass fed, too, then???  Just saying…think about it.

Have a great day and I hope you will consider eliminating animal products from YOUR breakfast, lunch and dinner, at least for this day.  Always remember, what’s good for the planet and the animals, is also good for YOU.