Nacho Lunch & Halloween | Tuesday | 10-31-17

First with the fun stuff! Halloween – my daughter wanted to be a ‘Zombie Disco Diva’ so that’s what she went as! All the make-up is Wet n Wild which is a cruelty free make-up company (& super cheap!).

Then I was a Unicorn Queen (won the costume contest at work too!). Again all my face paint makeup was wet n wild & my lipstick was KleanColor in ‘Heather” (another cruelty free brand).

on to her lunch for today – pulled the idea from the Forks Over Knives Family cookbook – currently in the bargain priced bin at Barnes & Nobles. The nacho cheese turned out sooo good so I included a picture of the recipe below as well. Other than the nacho cheese it’s baked corn tortillas & refried beans. Side of celery sticks. Also sent a juice box with her – the Kool-Aid “Ghoul-Aid” for Halloween! I had to try the nacho cheese for myself last night & looks like I will be eating nacho cheese for dinner every night for the next 237857 days since it was so delicious! (note to self: buy more tortillas on the way home from work)

Tostadas for Dinner! | Monday | 10-30-17

Facebook….I love it! especially as a member of so many various Vegan groups. Saturday one of the members of a Vegan Parenting group I’m a part of posted that the Forks Over Knives Family cookbook was in the bargain bin of Barnes & Noble – of course I had to rush over & check mine out. Sure enough, there it was! So naturally, the next 456 meals I make will be from this book! All the recipes are Whole Foods Plant Based so no oil or super processed foods which is nice. & as a Barnes & Noble member, I got an additional 20% off this past weekend so it was under $7 for this cookbook!

any ways, on to the food. We made the black bean tostadas from the book with a few substitutions:

• I already had prepared vegetarian refried beans so I microwaved those instead of making my own black bean spread
• I had an opened container of Tofutti sour cream so added that on top
• used some leftover salsa that I already had in the fridge as well

& also made the seasoned corn on the cob recipe! Which is basically boiled corn on the cob then you use a mixture of lemon juice & seasonings instead of butter & salt. I used Mrs. Dash & lemon juice from a bottle in the fridge. The recipe calls for fresh lemon wedges but I like to go for convenience!

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Pumpkin Chili | Saturday | 10-28-17

Family parties…non-vegan potlucks….work dinners & lunches, all things that are hard to navigate as a vegan in a group of “wait, what’s a vegan?”

Saturday we had a family party to go to, dinner. I got volunteered to make a vegan dish so my first thought was the Vegetable Springs Rolls from Costco. You get like 50 in a box for approx $10 & super easy to prep in bulk for a party!

& then at the last minute, I realized there would probably be 0 other vegan foods there so I should probably bring something substantive for myself to eat. Enter Edgy Veg’s Pumpkin Chili. I love chili! Super easy to make especially in the Instant Pot (start on Saute & finidh on slow cooker mode). This was my first time making this recipe & man, oh man….it was delicious! The non-vegans loved it too! I served it with some fake cheddar shreds, Tofutti sour cream & ritz crackers. Definitely going to add this to my rotation of successful recipes! (and the leftovers make for excellent work lunches)

http://www.theedgyveg.com/2017/10/04/pumpkin-chili-vegan-gluten-free/

Thursday | Cornbread Muffins | 9-14-17

• corn bread muffin | boxed mix from Famous Dave’s made with vanilla soy milk & a flax egg
• baby carrots
• tofurkey & mustard wrap
• rice cake with Justin’s hazelnut chocolate spread | better than Nutella!

Tuesday | Chik’n Please | 9-12-17

• Gardein Chik’n Slider
• Celery with Tofutti Cream Cheese | I used a little bit of plastic wrap to separate it from the celery to keep it from getting watery
• Carrots with Just Caesar
• Cinnamon Applesauce
• Fruit by the Foot

& for my lunch…I took leftover Tempeh chili that I had made for dinner last night. This is a recipe I got out of the Frugal Vegan cookbook (which is awesome!) & I made a few adjustments to use what I had on hand.

• black eyed peas instead of black beans
• no corn
• added riced cauliflower to give it some extra bulk.

Monday | Tofurkey & Waffles | 9-11-17

• Tofurkey & mustard pinwheel wrap | this is actually a whole “extra grande” sized tortilla rolled up & sliced
• Celery with Just Caesar
• Baby Carrots | they were $1/bag over the weekend at Jewel for the organic kind (with a digital coupon)
• Wildberry waffles & syrup | found this little packet of syrup in the fridge, leftover from god-knows-when, but I figure there’s enough preservatives in it to keep it from going bad.
• (Not pictured) Fruit by the Foot | currently on sale at Costco

Wednesday | BACON WRAP | 9-6-17

I went to Jewel & they had benevolent bacon on clearance for ~$2! So of course I had to pick up a couple of packages. I haven’t bought vegan bacon in at least 6 months (because it usually seems too expensive). I snuck a couple of bites while cooking & it was so good!

So I made a huge wrap for lunch today with some vegan mayo, daiya shredded cheese & lots of romaine.

It didn’t all fit into one of the little bento sections so I cut it in half & split it between two of them.

• Bacon wrap
• Leftover mini Oreos from yesterday
• Celery with Just Caesar
• Pretzels (for snack time)

Tuesday | Pancakes for Lunch | 9-5-17

Ahh…to be a kid again! Her lunches always look way more exciting than mine!

• Veggie straws
• Mandarin oranges
• Carrots with Just Caesar
• Mini Oreos | they were up front by the register & she asked for them, not on my normal shopping list!
• Chocolate Chip Pancakes | store bought mix by Birch Benders

& here we have the old lady lunch (aka mine)

• Tortillas with Cauliflower Hummus & cruciferous crunch | cauliflower is on sale at Jewel for .59 so I will be making cauliflower everything! recipe here
• BBQ beans with carrots | cooked beans simmered with BBQ sauce & sliced baby carrots

Sunday | Labor Day BBQ | Kid Cooking Vegan | 9-3-17

We went to an all-vegan, potluck BBQ this past Sunday. It was so fun! My daughter decided to make a Peanut Butter & Chocolate pinwheel/roll-up.

Tortilla, peanut butter, melted chocolate, cacao powder…that’s it! She loved making her own dish to bring. (I made a cauliflower ‘potato salad’ using this recipe subbing vegan mayo – shoutout to Aldi for having an egg-less mayo for cheap, bacon bits instead of bacon & omitting the eggs.)

(excuse the messy kitchen – I gave myself a cleaning break this weekend)

We had a blast at the BBQ, saw lots of amazing vegans, animal rights activists and, most importantly, animals! There were a ton of dogs, a rooster, hen, guinea pig & a cat that I saw.

*obligatory cute kid pictures*

shirt from h&m – crushed velvet – Young & Fearless

TGIF | Ready for the 3-day Weekend! | 9-1-17

You ever have one of those days where you are so busy you can’t seem to even stop & breathe?

That was our day yesterday.
-Work to school.
-School to a local place for a school “dine-out” fundraiser.
[they had a veggie burger that was vegan & sweet potato fries!]
-The restaurant to cheer.
[at cheer she picked out this new

    hoodie that she’s obsessed with!

    fall is coming too quickly]
-Cheer to the grocery store.
-Then finally home!

So needless to say I did no meal prep or lunch packing last night

 

Quick Lunch!

• Sugar Snap Peas with Just Ranch
• Applesauce
• Peanut Butter with Chocolate Chips Pinwheels
• Broccoli
• Pretzels (for snack)
• Cocoa Krispies for breakfast with Kirkland Vanilla Soy milk

 

 

& here’s what I’m taking to work

[pathetic, I know.
I’ll end up grabbing something
from the salad bar at work]

• Nut butter filled Cliff Bar | currently 10/$10 at Jewel!
• Pear, pineapple, spinach & chia squeeze thing | these were on clearance at Jewel a little while ago $2/pack of 4