Vegan Eats, Day 1

If I had to describe my relationship with vegetables on a Facebook dropdown, I would select the option that says, “It’s Complicated.”

Sometimes I love them.  Other times, well, I just don’t.  Raw vegetables usually fall into the latter category, unless they are in the form of a very dressed up salad.  That’s why my vegetables are usually roasted, boiled, or stir-fried.

Here’s what I ate today for day one of my vegan experiment:

Breakfast: Pumpkin oatbran and black coffee.  I was lazy and didn’t blend the mix like it says in the book, but it still turned out great.

Lunch:  My Thai crunch salad deviated a little from the book’s recipe.  I forgot to prepare the tofu ahead of time (and thus used bottled teriyaki sauce), used cashews instead of peanuts, forgot the edamame, and didn’t follow the dressing instructions accordingly.  Nevertheless, it was still very good, and I plan on perfecting it tomorrow.

I ended up snacking on the forgotten edamame while I made dinner.

Dinner:  White bean and quinoa burgers, first seen on Andrea’s Wellness Notes.  I cooked the quinoa with vegetable broth in hopes of imparting some extra flavor.  This is a solid recipe because the texture of the burgers is perfect (best texture of any veggie burger recipe I have tried), but I think next time I’ll spice up the flavor.  It’s a great “blank canvas” for future veggie burger creations.

To make the burgers:

• Cook 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups of liquid (broth or water).
• Drain and mash one can of cannellini beans (also known as white kidney beans, or you could also use Great Northern).
• Add 3/4 cup of ground flaxseed.
• Add garlic, herbs…whatever you want for flavor.
• Mix all together and form into patties (I used a 1 cup measuring cup and filled to the 1/2 line).
• Pan-fry in cooking spray or a little oil and serve.

Lulu and Pippa like to watch me prepare dinner in case I drop something or decide to give them a sample.  Once they hear me start chopping, they run over in hopes of getting a carrot or broccoli stem.

Their relationship with veggies isn’t quite so complicated.