Saturday, January 30, 2016

Inspired by Spuds!

The most boring Trader Joe's hauls ever!
I felt kind of embarrassed at the check stand at Trader Joe's! I felt like one of those people with the strange food addictions, and all I will eat are potatoes! Lugging around all of these potatoes are a good shoulder workout too! By the way, Trader Joe's organic potatoes are fifty cents cheaper than Grocery Outlet! Since potatoes are on the dirty dozen list, and I'm eating so many I definitely buy organic.
I also got these Scandinavian swimmers for when I'm done with the cleanse. They are basically vegan Swedish fish, but minus all the weird chemicals and dyes. I did taste one(three) so I could report on the taste. They are really delicious. Better flavor than Swedish fish. I love that Trader Joe's has vegan gummy candy, which is not always easy to find. I also got that card for myself. Sometimes I need a reminder.
So, yesterday I mentioned I was going to make another batch of the sweet potato curry soup. I did make a double batch, and I had success making coconut milk out of flaked coconut!
I used about 2 cups of coconut with 2 cups of water in the blender. I used my mesh strainer to make sure my milk was nice and smooth, and it turned out great. It added the same creaminess to my soup as the canned, and even tasted fresher. This is a huge money saver, and cuts down on waste also. This bag of coconut was under two dollars at Trader Joe's, and I have enough for one more serving of milk. So, it's like two for the price of one!
I can't wait to have more of this soup for lunch. I used one orange sweet potato, and one white sweet potato for this batch. If I ever owned a vegan restaurant, this would be on the menu for sure.
I cubed up some russet potatoes for dinner, and I tossed them in Italian seasoning, garlic powder, oregano, crushed red pepper, and lots of nutritional yeast. I wanted them to be like pizza potatoes, since I had pizza on my brain. While they were cooking, my apartment smelled like pizza! It made me crave my dinner, which is good. The nutritional yeast gets even nuttier tasting when its baked, so these were a winner. I dipped them in pizza sauce, and it was a real treat. I think these pizza potatoes would be a great party food, isn't the super bowl coming up?
I only used a bit shy of a teaspoon of olive oil on all those wedges, just to help everything stick. I don't know if I'll ever go oil free, but I have learned that you need less than you sometimes think when cooking. And also, parchment paper is a must if you cut back on the oil.
I woke up today feeling less frustrated than yesterday. The soup and the pizza potatoes really hit the spot, and I guess shook the boredom out of me! I hope to have a recipe for tomorrow. I'm going to attempt to make a mashed potato crust pizza. I know cauliflower pizza crusts have been a thing for awhile now, and there are quite a few recipes floating around for sweet potato and regular potato crusts, so I'm going to give it a go. I can hardly believe this is day six! I'm starting to understand why people commit to things, instead of flitting here and there! Who knew a potato diet could teach you so much about life!
I hope everyone has an amazing Saturday!





8 comments:

  1. This all looks amazing!! I'm excited to see how the pizza turns out. I'm also intrigued by the Swedish fish... I may have to check those out :)

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    1. The Swedish fish are so good!
      I shared some with a non vegan friend, and they were a hit! And it was mentioned that both taste and texture were an improvement!!

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  2. Pizza potatoes sound so good!

    I also saw those swedish-ish fish at Trader Joe's yesterday, and thought about reading to see if they were vegan. I was never a huge swedish fish fan, but sometimes i buy candy and share it at my work.

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    1. The pizza potatoes were probably my favorite dish on the potato cleanse!
      The Swimmers from Trader Joe's are so good. I bet any non vegan co workers you have would really love them, and be pleasantly surprised!

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  3. everything looks and sounds wonderful! Nice shopping finds, too! I thought Swedish Fish were vegan already!? It's been YEARS since I have had them tho...maybe not...

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    1. I think you're right, I think Swedis fish are vegan. I get confused with the gummy candies!

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    2. Oh! I know it! Funny thing...I have been on a Mike N Ike kick lately!

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    3. I LOVE Mike and Ikes! Also Hot Tamales, and the Jolly Joe's? I think that's what they're called. They're grape.

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