Chicken Monday. 10/23/17

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Beebamom

Chicken Monday is an institution at our house. It is a chicken oasis after a sometimes over indulgent weekend. It is a soothing reminder that not all the food is going to change. In my quest to become a part-time vegan one thing is never going to change, Chicken Monday.  To paraphrase a sexist bumper sticker, “Chicken Monday, Happy Husband.”

After starting the day off with our new regimen of oatmeal, we reheated and ate the rest of the Red Lentil Chili. I dressed mine up with some fresh tomatoes and cilantro.

Red Lentil Chili with fresh tomatoes and cilantro

Our dinner was pretty typical for a Chicken Monday – a chicken breast, couscous (a last minute substitution for some horrible tasting rutabagas), and green beans. We also made up a packet of chicken gravy.

Chicken breast, couscous, and green beans

My day was 4/5 vegan and 1/5 chicken. I am willing to accept that ratio some days. It makes for a more harmonious household.

Posted in leftovers, Legumes, Pasta, Poultry, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Challenging day turns out easy! 10/22/17

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Beebamom

I thought this day was going to be hard to stick to my new nutritional plan but it turned out fine. Pitfalls could be lunch out with our daughter and dinner at our son’s house.

After a quick piece of toast with peanut butter, daughter and I were off to get our hair cut by the amazing Gretchen. We are willing to schlep over to Burlingame for her expertise. We make a good half day of it ending with a late lunch out. Today she chose Baja Fresh because she likes it and she knows I can get something I want to eat.  I settled into a veggie Baja bowl that was good although contained way too many green bell peppers.

Baja veggie bowl with a lot of the green peppers already picked out

While I was gone John made deviled eggs as an appetizer to take to our son’s house. When we got there I was pleased to see that he had cooked saag paneer. It is not vegan but is at least vegetarian. And it was so good!! I loved the cheese cubes and also the sides of dal (lentils) and basmati rice. It was also wonderful to see my grandkids happily eating what is a pretty healthy dish.

Saag paneer with dal and basmati rice

I should have known that today would turn out great. Just seeing all my family makes the day special regardless of the food!

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New dish! Red Lentil Chili. 10/21/17

Posted on October 22, 2017 by Beebamom

Happily today was completely under my control. I started off with oatmeal and it was smooth sailing from there.

Since we have so many tomatoes I made myself a chickpea and tomato open-faced sandwich for lunch. I mashed up some chickpeas and added a little olive oil, salt, and thyme. It was yummy. I think I like chickpeas this way better than as hummus.

My chickpea and tomato sandwich amid the bounty of tomatoes!

For dinner we tried a red lentil chili that came in my email via The Washington Post. The only change we made was to use brown lentils because that is what we had. It was good and pretty spicy to boot. I have leftovers for lunches.

Red Lentil Chili

Today was a complete vegan day. Go, me!

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Home again. Yay for tomatoes! 10/20/17

Posted on October 21, 2017 by Beebamom

After a quick breakfast of half a bagel with peanut butter at the hotel this morning, we drove the rest of the way home. I come through the door and what do I see? Tomatoes!!! Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes! Although our daughter reports that the plants look like sticks with yellowing leaves they are still giving their all. They are so delicious after eating store bought tomatoes in Utah.

Wonderful tomatoes!

For my late lunch, I had a veggie burger on an English muffin with a lovely home-grown tomato.

Veggie on English muffin with tomato

So I have had my two vegan meals for the day and John and I are contemplating what to have for dinner. Around 6 PM we decided we were pretty tired and ordered a pizza for delivery instead. I know I could have made an effort and insisted on just a plain pizza but John and I really love an Italian sausage pizza so that is what we got.

Cheese pizza with Italian sausage

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Vegan on the road? Too hard? Help! 10/19/17

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Beebamom

I needed to eat three meals on the road yesterday. I wanted to eat at least two vegan meals and then one vegetarian. But unless I brought a paper sack of food with me, it wasn’t going to happen. I could manage three vegetarian meals but not three vegan ones at restaurants where I could get something quickly and filling. We had a long way to travel.

For breakfast we stopped at McDonald’s in Mesquite, NV. We had a Big Breakfast which comes with scrambled eggs, crispy potatoes, a sausage pattie, and an English muffin. I gave the sausage to John and ate the rest with a glass of water. Score: vegan 0  vegetarian 1

While John is driving I investigate where to eat lunch. According to Yelp! the Del Taco in Barstow, CA gets 4 1/2 stars. I go the website where they list a Fresca bowl that is right up my alley.

Del Taco’s Fresca Bowl

Unfortunately this Del Taco does not offer this! There is nothing even vegetarian on the menu. I ask the server  “do you have tacos that have no fish or meat?” No is the answer.  The server suggests that I could have a taco, hold the meat, add beans. So I order what she suggests.

So much cheese and one slice of anemic tomato

So I scrape off the cheese and eat the meager remnants of lettuce , some tasteless beans, an awful tomato slice, and a crunchy corn tortilla. Score: Vegan  0  Vegetarian  now 2   Sigh

We are spending the night in Bakersfield, CA close to a Macaroni Grill. I love the eggplant Parmesan that they serve here and I am frustrated trying to eat vegan. I am willing to say, okay, vegetarian today.

I love this eggplant Parmesan

Score: Vegan  0  Vegetarian 3!

Okay, I am not the perfect Vegan but at least I am trying! I would love to hear how you deal with choices on the road.

 

 

 

 

 

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Peanut butter : Soup : Vegetable risotto. 10/18/17

Posted on October 19, 2017 by Beebamom

Peanut butter on whole wheat English muffin for breakfast. Eating oatmeal every day is a little boring plus is making my digestive system do cartwheels.

I am not putting in another picture of Autumn soup. See yesterday for a photo. We are leaving St. George tomorrow and I have frozen the rest.

I ordered the vegetable risotto with sun dried tomatoes when we went out tonight. It sort of looked like this but with asparagus instead of artichokes.

Risotto with sun dried tomatoes and asparagus rather than artichokes

This risotto was a fail. It had giant pieces of sun dried tomatoes that just took over the whole dish. In addition it was not made with the correct rice so it did not get creamy. Without the sun dried tomatoes it was edible but as a rice side dish not risotto.

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Oatmeal : Autumn Soup : Meatloaf. 10/17/17

Posted on October 18, 2017 by Beebamom

I am taking this part-tine vegan to heart and trying very hard to only have one vegetarian/pescatarian/carnivorous meal a day. Today started off with oatmeal and blueberries which I know is very good for me but oatmeal is still not a fave for me.

This was followed by Autumn Soup (again!). I guess I made a lot of this. Today I decorated it with a lemon slice and chopped scallions. This purée of mostly root vegetables surely does keep one regular!

Autumn soup

Tonight’s dinner was meatloaf. As John says I could make this in my sleep following my mom’s recipe. I love it and I love a meatloaf sandwich the next day. I know I need to find a yummy substitute. Maybe a loaf made of lentils? I served it with half a baked potato and a whole slew of broccoli.

Meatloaf with half baked potato and a LOT of broccoli

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New name! Part-time Vegan! 10/16/17

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Beebamom

After taking a close look at what I’ve been preparing and eating, I renamed my blog, Part-time Vegan. It seems that my breakfast and lunch are vegan and my dinner is all over the map. Maybe I won’t save the world with my semi-commitment but for me and probably a lot of folks it is a good step.

Since my son is visiting we are eating a lot of lunches out. Today’s lunch was at Mad Pita Express where I had hummus and tabbouleh with their awesome pita.

Hummus and tabbouleh at Mad Pita Express

Sadly we took our son to the airport and hugged him goodbye after a super long weekend. Then we came home to make supper, Chicken Monday! We split one breast and here it is enjoying its sous vide Jacuzzi.

Warm bath for our chicken

I also made a combo mash of butternut squash and potatoes.

Hot bath for butternut squash and potatoes

Plus I prepared some broccolini that I sizzled in some olive oil.

Broccolini with olive oil and chili flakes

And here it is my vegetable dinner with chicken!

Half chicken breast with mashed root veg and broccolini

Posted in Dining out, Grains, Healthy tips, Legumes, Poultry, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

All-veg lunch, meat dinner. 10/15/17

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Beebamom

Without intentionally doing it, I realize that most of my days I eat two vegan or vegetarian meals and then one meat or fish meal. Sometimes I have an all vegetarian day but mostly it falls into the former pattern. I am pretty pleased with this. It works for me and is healthy. Today, since, I knew we were having hamburgers for dinner so I had oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast and my root vegetable soup, Autumn Soup, for lunch.

Apple, carrot, sweet potato, butternut squash, onion, and Veg stock soup

Later John grilled up some burgers which we had with the rest of the tater tots and cole slaw.

Home cooked burger and fries

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Mongolian BBQ and Fried Scallops. 10/14/17

Posted on October 15, 2017 by Beebamom

This is one of our go-to places in St. George. Fresh ingredients that you choose yourself and watch being cooked. While our son choose beef, pork and vegetables and John opted for beef and vegetables, I always stick with an all vegetable combination. Delicious lunch!

Vegetarian lunch at Mongolian BBQ

Much later, since we were pretty full from lunch, we had a special request dinner. Our son loves the fried scallops that we make so John fried up some scallops and I made a broccoli salad and a bunch of tater tots.

Fried scallops, broccoli salad and tater tots

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