Vegan Treats & Lentil Stew

Last night my husband and I went downtown to attend Art Walk with some friends. It was our first time and I had such a blast! There was a bit of art involved but it was definitely the food that made the event!! The streets were lined with super trendy truck vendors and we all enjoyed some good eats. For those of you questioning if you can splurge on fun foods while vegan ... feast your eyes on this!


Veg Chili Fries (sweet potato) w/ Daiya Cheese.

The consensus on my vegan chili fries was that they were tastier than the regular chili fries. How 'bout them apples? If you are heading to Art Walk in future months, you can get these fries at the Frysmith truck.

Later in the evening we stopped at Babycakes to pick up some vegan treats. I forgot to take pictures of the actual cupcakes, I was too eager to dig in. But trust me, they are to. die. for. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. We picked up a vanilla cupcake (for me), a carrot cake cupcake (for my husband) and a Caramel Coconut Doughnut to share. All vegan. No dairy, eggs or sugar in the entire bakery. Amazing!


Babycakes storefront.


Doesn't get better than this!

Today's eats included:

Brunch: Banana Oat Pancakes & Smart Bacon
Lunch: Quinoa Loaf w/ tofu cream & a pomelo
Dinner: Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew & a big salad
Dessert: Caramel Coconut Doughnut from Babycakes


Banana Oat Pancakes & Smart Bacon


Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew

Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew (from The Kind Diet)

1/4 cup safflower oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 tspn minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tspns turmeric
1 tspn cumin
1 tspn ground coriander
1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
1/8 tspn cayenne
fine sea salt
2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into 3/4" cubes
7 cups vegetable broth
1 cup brown lentils

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, deep pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes or until the onion starts to soften. Stir in the tomatoes & ginger, cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne, and a small pinch of salt. Cook & stir for 2 minutes, then taste for seasonings, try to use only enough salt to heighten the flavors.

Add the sweet potatoes, broth & lentils. Stir well, and bring to a boil over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 40 mins or until the lentils & sweet potatoes are soft.

Enjoy!

Switching It Up

I hope everyone had a great Easter! We had lunch at my MIL's house to celebrate and I wanted to give her a thumbs up for the delicious meal. Between me (vegan), my husband (no pork) and my sister-in-law (pregnant), my MIL had a lot of dietary restrictions to work with. But, she came up with a very nice spread and we all went home with happy, full stomachs.


My Easter plate: Strawberry Spinach Salad, Carrot & Jicama Salad & a Quinoa/Couscous/Rice Medley

Speaking of husbands ... maybe some of you are wondering how to pull off a vegan eating plan (or just healthy eating) if your signifigant other is not following the same path. I have been very lucky ... my husband is really supportive of me & has never put up a fuss. He is not (yet) vegan ... but I see glimpses of it in his future. At the very least, my diet has dramtically improved his! He has lost about 6-7 lbs just from eating the new foods I am making & not changing a single other thing.

I started things off slowly by making all my first recipes as vegan desserts. They were amazing and my husband loved them. If you have a partner that is sort of iffy about what you're doing ... make desserts! I mean really ... who can argue with dessert? Announce that it's vegan after it's in his/her stomach! Sneaky ... but again ... who argues against delicious?

After that I just started incorporating vegan dishes into his diet. If he wants meat he will make some chicken (or beef) and pair that with the grain or vegetable dish I make. We also started adding a salad to most of our dinners, and instead of just paltry little bits of tomatoes & cucumbers we heaped on the salad additions ... lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, alfafa, olives, pumpkin seeds, red peppers, cilantro, garbanzo beans, avocado, etc, etc ... whatever you can find in your fridge. Just throw it on to make it really colorful and satisfying. Also, no more greasy, thick, dairy-filled salad dressings ... I am obsessed with Annie's Goddess Dressing and my husband will usually use an oil/balsalmic one. If you make your salad gorgeous & colorful you will not miss the dairy laden condiments. I swear!

I changed out small things in our fridge such as the butter, cream cheese, milk, sandwich cheese, deli meat ... and let him try things here & there. Instead of making him a full on vegan sandwich for his lunch I just switched from regular mayo to Vegenaise. Then another day I switched out the cheese to a vegan cheese ... small changes that he did not notice or thought the taste was comparable and/or even better! Now for his lunches he is asking for vegan sandwiches! That is not too shabby if you ask me! I was a bit gung-ho at first and kept spewing forth any & all info I could find about how good going vegan is for you ... but I think as time passes I see that I do not need to keep preaching ... that he can see for himself how great it is making me feel and the positive effects it is having on his own body ... and when he is ready he will go for it. If that never happens ... it's ok too ... at least the diet is healthier and that is a big step in the right direction!


The veggie sandwich I made for my husband's lunch today.

*Just as a small side note ... if someone in your family is still going to eat meat, please do your very best to make sure it is the best meat you can buy. No factory farmed meat. It will cost more, yes, but the benefits are more important.


My husband made me breakfast: Bagel w/ tofutti & red onion slices and a side of Smart Bacon. So sweet.


Quinoa Loaf I made for dinner.

Breakfast: Bagel w/ Tofutti & red onion slices, side of Smart Bacon
Snack: Pomelo
Dinner: Quinoa Loaf w/ Tofu Cream and small side salad
Dessert: Strawberry Kanten