Let's get the ball rolling......

Alright, so I've started this blog, mostly in an attempt to be able to say, "oh you think because I'm vegan I must only eat lettuce? well check out my blog, I track what I eat there, har har.." I probably won't say that, but I definitly want to use this as a tool to show people, you can eat delicious foods that don't have any animal products in them, and for the most part, are healthy!

So I guess how I plan to break this up is just by adding a post each day that has my 3 main meals... I will tell you what cookbook I used, if any, and if there's an awesome recipe or picture to go with it, I will post it.

Alright so let's begin....

I will fill in as many meals as I can remember from last week to today:

Thursday, April 31st, 2009
dinner

Using the cookbook Veganomicon I made some tasty Chick Pea cutlets, with sauteed kale with ginger and mashed potatoes. So simple, and tasty, plus it lasts for a few days.....

Here is the recipe for the chick pea cutlets, they come out very chewy and crunchy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
• 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth or water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves (pressed or grated)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
• olive oil, for pan frying

Directions

1. Mash the chickpeas and oil together until no whole chickpeas remain.
2. Add remaining ingredients and knead for 3 minutes until strings of gluten have formed.

You can fry these up, or bake them, I choose to bake them, but here are directions for both:
Frying:

1. Preheat large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
2. Divide dough into four equal pieces. Flatten each piece and stretch to roughly 4x6 inches.
3. Add a thin layer of olive oil to to the pan. Place cutlets in the pan and cook on each side for 6 to 7 minutes. They are ready when lightly brown and firm to the touch.

Baking:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Drizzle oil over cutlets on a lightly creased pan.
3. Bake for 20 minutes, and then flip and bake for another 8-10 minutes.

Friday, May 1st 2009
breakfast
Pumpernickel bagel with Tofutti cream cheese- I love Tofutti!

lunch
leftover chickpea cutlets, kale and mashed potatoes.

dinner
Nate probably didn't realize I had the leftovers for lunch, so we had more leftovers... we made the chickpea cutlets into a BBQ sandwich for dinner!