And then life happened

Well I am glad to report that although I have been too busy to sit down and blog I have not been too busy to eat vegan.  With final exams approaching it has been a balance of eating out and reheating leftovers.  Breakfasts have been a bag of oat squares and walnuts or shakes made with bananas, strawberries or blueberries, protein powder, kale, and almond milk both of which are easy to take on the go.  While eating out I have enjoyed veggie pho, thai food, and vegan burgers.  I had round 2 of bangers and mash but had it with peas and gravy this time.  I made the gravy out of "Better Than Bouillon" (BTB) veggie broth and flour by mixing a tablespoon of bouillon with 4 Tbsp. of water and heating it in a saucepan until bubbling.  Then I slowly whisked in 2 Tbsp. of flour which made it very thick.  I slowly added more warm water until it was the consistency I wanted.  I reheated some of the leftover mash and pan fried some field roast sausages and added some peas and smothered the whole thing with gravy. It was even better than the first time.

Last night I marinated sliced extra firm tofu in kalbi sauce (bought at any Asian store) for about 6 hours and then pan fried it and served it with brown rice and iceberg lettuce with vegan ranch.  Yep, Vegan Ranch!  I made some butter milk by putting 1 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a 1/2 cup and filling it with soy creamer but I think almond or soy milk would work also.  Let it sit for 10 minutes and then mixed it in a bowl with 2 heaping spoons of vegannaise, a cap of apple cider vinegar, 2 tsp. of fresh minced dill, 1 tsp. each of dried parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard and salt and pepper to taste.  It was a little sweet because I used soy creamer but it was like the sweet ranch at teriyaki restaurants.

Today for breakfast I had malt o meal with sweetened vanilla almond milk.  Sometimes I add in craisins and chia seeds. 

For lunch my niece and I made a salad.  We cooked Israeli couscous  following the directions on the box but using BTB vegetable broth instead of water.  We blanched and chopped some asparagus and headed up some frozen peas and threw it all together in a bowl.  The couscous was so flavorful we didn't need dressing. My niece, a finicky eater, even asked for seconds. I had seconds too.