Thursday, July 30, 2015

I Got My Satisfaction!

Super fuzzy, but super yum.
I started my day with this delicious, thick smoothie with blueberries, blackberries, and frozen bananas. It was almost soft serve. I don't know what it is, but I find thicker smoothies  more satisfying.
I've never seen such big jars of Just Mayo!
I stopped at Target on my way home for a few things, and look what I saw! I didn't know Just Mayo made the big tubs! It's so cool to see Just Mayo sitting right there with all the other guys. I've noticed some places separate the vegan mayo, and put it some place weird, which just furthers the myth that vegan food is weird.
Orange, turmeric, carrot juice
I came home, had some Kale Chips (kool ranch) and made this tasty juice. It was super refreshing after walking around on a semi-hot day. I always feel an extra pep when I drink this combination. I usually add ginger, but alas, I'm out.
I decided to continue on with my healthy food day by making a greens heavy Bibimbap bowl. It's been awhile since I've had this, and it really is one of my favorite meals.
I missed you so!
For this bowl, I started with a layer of jasmine rice, then added green onion, green pepper, some shredded lettuce, and some Trader Joe's Cruciferous Crunch. I then added some tofu I baked in the oven with a little coconut oil, and salt and pepper. I made a simple sauce of soy sauce, Sriracha, crushed red pepper, a little agave, and a touch of apple cider vinegar. Usually the sauce would have sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar instead of apple cider, but you make do with what you have, right? The sauce was still very delicious. I find meals like this, with different temperatures, and different textures to be very satisfying. And I always feel very balanced after eating this way.
I am going foraging for blackberries today, because I can't stand paying for blackberries when they are everywhere here! I love you Seattle!

9 comments:

  1. While foraging, be careful to avoid dentists with weapons! What motivates a dentist to wrongfully lure a protected lion from a protected animal sanctuary just to shoot him with a bow and arrow to cause pain and suffering for over 40 hours? The Cecil lion story is very upsetting, I hope the penalties serve to strengthen safeguards to protect these magnificent creatures from such terrible crimes.

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  2. I've been really sad all week about this story. I can't handle hunters who at least eat what they kill, let alone trophy hunters. He must be really lacking as a man to feel the need to do such a terrible thing. And he paid over fifty thousand dollars to do so. Imagine how far that money could have gone to a good cause, not evil. Sometimes I can't even stand living in this kind of cruel world. I hope all of the uproar over this horrible killing changes some laws. What on earth would make someone feel like a baddass when they are shooting something with a gun? That doesn't make you anything but a coward in my opinion. This Jimmy Kimmel clip was great.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LzXpE1mjqA I'm glad that many non vegans, and non animal rights activists are also speaking up. We need people speaking out against this, and lots of people!
    On to a more positive topic, are you all set for your trip? Do you have recipes and menus planned?

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    1. Thanks for the information. I’ll be sure to check out the clip.

      As to an update on my trip, it has gotten slightly more cumbersome. Last Friday, I spoke with the vet at the animal sanctuary where I’ll be staying. She opened up the conversation by thanking me for volunteering to cook vegan meals on the Chef’s days off. And then, she said she was excited to read the Chef’s internal communication and was looking forward to trying some really good “NEW” vegan food and couldn’t wait until my arrival. Now, I didn’t think it was wise to tell her that I did not volunteer for this chef’s vegan cooking assignment. Because, to me, “volunteering” means to voluntarily + agree + to do something. “Being volunteered,” conversely, is more of a compulsory agreement made by someone else (i.e the Chef) on my behalf without my active consent. And then putting me on the spot by sending out this internal staff communication, greatly adding to the pressure (and panic) of having to live up to the staff’s expectations of these delicious “NEW” vegan meals. Not to mention that I have less than 20 locally-available ingredients with which to work to make these supposedly delicious vegan meals.

      After the post-traumatic effect of being volunteered wore off, I emailed the Chef and asked him if I could be his assistant for a couple days to get familiar with the kitchen facility, the equipment and to get bearings on where everything is stored, etc. He was delighted by the offer and said I will be the Junior Chef. Okay, I don’t think I’ve ever been a junior anything :-/. (When I get there, I’ll switch out 'junior' for either 'sous chef' or 'assistant', either of which sound better, and I definitely plan to get some help. Oh yeah… I get the concept that volunteering people for jobs is standard practice there) I uploaded only 12 recipes (plus ingredient shopping lists) so far. I found some of these recipes through websites where you enter the ingredients available, and a list of recipes using only those ingredients are returned. Those websites were a good find! And, I found some new cool vegan YouTube channels that I haven’t been able to enjoy because I’ve been too busy with the recipe building and pre-trip prep.

      Back to the vet, well, she volunteered me to help re-activate a semi-monthly newsletter that went dormant for a couple years. She said it would be good for fund-raising and press releases. I gather from our conversation that she wants me to write some newsworthy articles and do some other journalistic tasks. Sure, why am I not surprised? She is emailing me an itinerary and I just can’t wait to find out what other assignments I’ve been volunteered for! Since it’s been 7 days and I have yet to receive it, I am sure she’s packing it with some doozies!

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    2. Wow, I guess at this point it would be too awkward to speak up and say no! They must have a lot of faith in your abilities if they are asking you to do so much. I hope your still able to enjoy your trip, and I hope your able to spend time with the animals, not just in the kitchen, and writing articles.
      Although all the extras you got volunteered for are added stress, it's nice to have people think so highly of you. At least they aren't asking you to scrub toilets.Ha.
      I have a feeling when you get your itinerary it's going to be a novel! I can't wait to hear about this trip. I also can't wait to hear what kind of recipes you create. It's a daunting task that I would never have the courage to take on.

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  3. That's exactly what I thought when I grabbed the ones I found on sale at my local Walmart! I wonder how many people grabbed JUST MAYO instead of the standard brand thinking they would just try something new...not knowing it was vegan :)

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  4. Exactly! And in my opinion, Just Mayo tastes better than any mayo out there. It's like a happy accident that can help a lot of chickens.

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    1. totally agree! Funny thing...when I was a lacto-ovo veg I hated mayo but now that I've dropped dairy/eggs I like the alternatives :) It's doubly strange since I've never really liked the meat alternatives but then again I never liked meat even as a kid when I was non-veg

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  5. I never like mayo either. I always preferred mustard. But I can't get enough Just Mayo. I go back and forth with the meat alternatives. Sometimes I really like them, and other times they gross me out. The longer that I'm vegan, the more I tend to not crave them.

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