What I ate today for vegans 3!!

[Kobanidaughters]

New thread for all the deliciousness!

Yesterday:

B: Moving Mountains mcmuffin
L: half of the last choc chip cookie (from Ms Cupcake book - daughters made them on Saturday), handful salt and vinegar peanuts
D: the roasted aubergine, pepper and red onion from Green Roasting Tin, with braised puy lentils. Mega! Advised husband to use @PartTimeDomesticGoddess 's trick of two roasting tins and it paid off.

B. Soaked prunes in grape juice o\n,2 pears\i lemon\almond butter\milk\fresh ginger. It was delish.
L. Mushrooms/celery/garlic/shallot stirfry on toast. Ginger chox.
Sn. bit of my rice\roots\ garlic\cabbage baked in layers dish
S. Finished\warmed my gingerbread with tofu yoghurt

@AlmightyBob that's great to hear, that one is another on my list that I need to schedule when DH and younger DD eat something else as it would only appeal to me and older DD

Yesterday was
B: dates, pineapple, slice of wholemeal toast with naturli and avocado and chilli
L: curried neeps and tatties soup with fried/chopped vegan black pudding
D: fuck ramen (as well as the LM fake duck there was broccoli, edamame beans, sesame roasted sweet potato and silken tofu)
S: pear, then I got late night munchies last night and had a couple of big handfuls of salted cashews and way too many some bendicks mints

Yesterday was

B: sourdough and avo
L: seeded toast with peanut butter, banana and blueberries
D: baked potato and chilli non carne
Evening - cups of tea and a few mini vego

Today:

B: toast with half marmalade, half marmite
L: hummus, butter bean, grated carrot and spring onion sandwich, with the rest of the carrot in batons and cherry tomatoes
S: banana with peanut butter and blueberries
D: rice bowl with sweet potato and tahini sauce

@ppeatfruit what's your rice\roots\ garlic\cabbage baked in layers dish? It sounds nice just from the name!

@ElfAndSafetyInspector your whole day sounds delicious

@PartTimeDomesticGoddess I joined you in late night munchies! Was just grumpy and wanted carbs

B:crumpet with marmite
L: black bean and quinoa salad, blueberries
D: the infamous Ottelengi Persian legume soup but forgot to put in the vegan sour cream so now I have a big tub of it if anyone has suggestions?!
LNM: masses of cashews and half a bagel with marmite

@KobaniDaughters company for the munchies is always welcome

Today has been
B: date/coffee/pb/banana/soya milk smoothie
L: small pear, neeps and tatties soup with a couple of tablespoons of seeds
S: Apple
D: lentil shepherds pie done with half and half regular/sweet potato mash with broccoli, green beans, Sweetcorn and gravy. And one of the big bendicks mints from the box

@ElfAndSafetyInspector rice bowl with sweet potato and tahini sauce sounds right up my street

L: black bean and quinoa salad, blueberries
D: Hakka tofu, stir friend Chinese spice veggies

@KobaniDaughters I never bother with the sour cream in the legume soup anyway, I don't think it needs it. Maybe some sort of creamy pasta or pie filling with the sour cream? Or chilli or fajitas?

How was the hakka tofu? I like the look of that too.

Yesterday was:

B: healthy muesli mix and oatmilk
D: spaghetti aglio et olio with big salad (avocado, tomato, red pepper, red onion, spinach leaves, sweet gem lettuce, cucumber, red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing)
S: two satsumas

I’m on a real rice bowl thing at the moment, I do them at least once a week!

ElfAndSafe It is nice!! ( I made it up) I often steam root veg. whole with their scrubbed skins on, it's better because the vitamins are saved due to the skins being much easier to take off afterwards and they're easier to chop, I use the water for stock. too.
I had a cabbage which needed more cooking so I cut it in slim slices, on the base of the dish dotted with garlic and olive oil and celery salt, also horseradish, then some chopped carrots and swede and a layer of rice ,all with the same garlic,olive oil, and celery salt. topping. Oh and some of the stock water. Then bake at 170 C for 50 mins or so.

B. leftover smoothie with pineapple .
L. The rice layer dish with salad.
Sn A few Rude Health 0aties with olive oil and yeast spread.
S. Bowl of porridge with ground linseeds and walnuts and oat milk.

I think I may do a rice bowl this week too.
I have some delicious tahini and date molasses dressing left from an aubergine dish I made at the weekend that needs using up.

Yes @KobaniDaughters - how was the Hakka Tofu?

B: toast and marmite
L: soup and half a pitta stuffed with roasted aubergine and above dressing
D: pie and veg with gravy

Oh I forgot to mention that ALL the ingredients in the rice layer dish are precooked. I like rice bowls too quite possible to serve it in a bowl!!

@ppeatfruit love the sound of the layered dish and @Kintsugi16 also your dressing

Hakka tofu was underwhelming, mainly because there wasn’t much in the way of flavour - I added Chinese 5 spice to the filling mix and next time I think I would marinate the tofu blocks as well but it looked amazing (I air fried mine and the boys has their properly fried) so just up the flavourings

B- Soy milk smoothie with banana, cocoa powder, frozen raspberries, chia seeds and peanut butter.
L- Smashed avocado on toast with ground flax seeds and Cholula hot sauce.
D- Baguette with Birdseye southern fried chicken strips with mayo and salad. Couscous and pearl barley salad with cucumber, tomato, lettuce, carrot, edamame beans, sesame seeds, pine nuts, herbs, spices.

Snacks- A passion fruit so far.

I've been PB since 1st November, and am now looking to cut down on salt and oil. Not totally restricting but have definitely cut down. I had a Reuben sandwich from a vegan deli the other and it was far, far too salty for me. Hopefully thats a sign that I'm adapting 👍

In tangentially vegan food news, I got blood tests results today - since I went vegan I've been paying one of those online blood test places for an annual check of iron, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12 levels. All fine! It's a relief because my Vitamin D was really low last time - almost unmeasurable, which I attribute to not spending enough time outside (as well as where I live: Glasgow, one of the rainiest cities in the UK) as much as my diet. So I'm relieved it's improved.

Today:

B: muesli mix (oats with 2 chopped dates, cacao nibs, linseeds, peanut butter, chopped banana, oat milk)
D: really average veg and tofu stir fry. The tofu in it was nice - marinated then fried till crispy, but was still soft inside. But everything else was just kind of bleh. I think I greedily overloaded the wok.

That’s good @AlmightyBob. I would be interested in something like that. It’s a good idea to check. I spend a lot of time outside but still take a Vit D tab (Covid protection)

B: toast and marmite
L: beans on toast, made by DH. I don’t know what he does to it but it was delicious
D: I finally made the Bosh Korma! Really good and enjoyed by all. I think parsnip will be a good addition next time

Good reminder - I think I last got mine checked in 2018 or 2019? Everything was good and I actually had elevated iron levels - which sent my doctor down a route of getting me tested more for fear I had some inherited iron disease but then it turned out my result were absolutely nowhere near the danger levels and they concluded I just get more than enough from my diet!

Interestingly, people in CA are advised to take a Vit D supplement because they all assume they get enough from all the sunshine but because of a lot of them working in tech and entertainment they don’t actually go outside as much as they think they do

I'd be interested in a blood test too, good to hear yours are all good @AlmightyBob. Which company did you use, if you don't mind me asking?
@ppeatfruit that veggie bake sounds lovely
@KobaniDaughters that's disappointing about the Hakka (and interesting that vitamin D is recommended even in the sunshine state ☀️). I should check my multivit...

FD today
L: Egyptian black bean soup
S: 10g cashew nuts
D: South Indian curry with tomatoes, spinach and tofu, broccoli

S: banana
L: hummus salad (had some leftover white beans and chickpeas from the legume soup so made it with them, quite enjoyed the different texture)
S: a slice of banana with a smear of cookie butter (stolen from DD!) and a handful of Inca corn snacks
D: green roasting tin lentil and leek bake - I had some violife feta but find it doesn’t fulfil my requirements for a feta substitute (namely the tanginess) so instead of that I sprinkled capers in with the breadcrumbs - this dish was out of this world, so glad I made enough for leftovers! Served with steamed broccoli and randomly onion and garlic bagels a neighbour gave us that needed eating today

ref. Vit D, DH has low Vit.D levels too, and he spends lots of time on the terrace in the sun getting a tan, also he's an omni !

I don't ( I don't tan anyway) and my levels are fine. I was wondering if too much coffee removes it.

B.2 slices of pineapple, pear, figs,
L. Rice bake, in a bowl! with salad.
Sn. 3 Rude health oaties with pnut butter/yeast spread.
S. half a grapefuit, ground walnuts\linseeds, lemon, grape juice, pear, smoothie, half a glass.

It looks like caffeine might inhibit vitamin D absorbtion @ppeatfruit - I found this article www.livestrong.com/article/464884-does-caffeine-affect-the-absorption-of-vitamins-or-minerals/ which cites a recent study.

@PartTimeDomesticGoddess I don't mind at all - it was Thriva that I used. I was impressed with how quickly you get the results, and they're interpreted by a medically qualified person so you get both the raw data and the interpretation, and then some context about what it all means.

You might be able to get a deal if you sign up, do the health questionnaire, but don't order a test for a couple of days. Their marketing team is pretty proactive. I found this out because i baulked at paying the full price, which would have been around £80 for a full blood work up - which I wanted for my first time: cholesterol, blood glucose, thyroid function, inflammatory markers, liver function, the whole enchilada. Before I knew it there was a friendly email in my inbox with a half price coupon code. If you do go with Thriva make sure you cancel after you get the results, unless you want a new test sent out every 3 months. You can then re-activate whenever you want to do your next test.

You can mix and match what you want tested- so this time it was just Vitamin D, B12 (they did B9 as well), iron, and it was £30, with another coupon code I found somewhere.

It was a worthwhile expense for me I think. I didn't feel it was right to go to go to my GP, because essentially I feel fit and healthy. There's quite a lot of anti-vegan stuff in the press (and people like my parents and in-laws lap it all up) so it's good to be reassured!