Soy Milk is Out

Another thing I bought yesterday was chocolate soy milk (I only drink flavoured milk, so I didn't think I'd like plain soy milk). But I don't like that either. It tastes alright at first, but then has a terrible aftertaste. So, that's soy milk out for me as well. I'll never be vegan!! Now, where's my cup of organic green tea...

Shopping Time

Today my mother in law and I drove 100km to get to our nearest major supermarket (we have a small one in our home town, but it just doesn't have much variety). Considering the size of the bigger one, I figured it would have a great range of veggie friendly foods and perhaps even some tofu, seitan or tempeh which I've never had but want to try.

I was very surprised to find they didn't have any! But, I was able to stock up on some bits and pieces that my little supermarket doesn't have - organic chickpeas, lentils, beans, pasta, cheaper nuts and dried fruit, flaxseed oil, and organic green tea.

I haven't had meat since... well, I'm not sure but it was sometime in the last fortnight! Now I'm trying to kick caffeine. I haven't had diet coke in about a week, but I had an iced coffee the other day. Next will be sugar - that will be a harder one to kick and I won't ever kick it completely, but I will cut down a lot.

On tonight's menu is cheese & tomato pizza - small pita bread with tomato paste spread on top, and grated cheese, cooked for about 10 minutes or until cheese has melted. Yum!

The Nacho Burger

Yesterday I had a long and brain-frying day at work so by the time I got home, I wanted something easy and a bit of comfort food.

Enter: The Nacho Burger

I'd bought some fresh bread rolls the day before, and wanted to start using those before they lose their mouth watering freshness. I have been a nacho fan ever since I discovered the cheesy goodness in my teen years. The way I make them are dead easy, but also not healthy in any way, shape or form! I simply get some corn chips (usually doritos), a jar of salsa (again, doritos), and then just grate some cheese over the top. Bake for about 10 minutes or until cheese has melted perfectly. So, that's what I did last night, but instead of eating it out of the baking dish, I piled it all into a bread roll - voila! The Nacho Burger!

Is a warm roasted veggie salad nirvana?

Oh my god - so many delicious flavours have just delighted me, filled my tummy, and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So easy to make (just required a bit of cooking time) and well, my tastebuds are still spinning with satisfaction.

The whole recipe is at taste.com.au and its called Warm Roasted Vegetable Salad. As usual, I had to modify it slightly for my personal taste, and the fact that I left my bok choy in the fridge at work... So, what made this delicious delight? Cocktail/mini potatoes, sweet potato, red capsicum, garlic, red onion, pine nuts, fresh oregano, wholegrain mustard, lemon juice and olive oil. No greens unfortunately, but I didn't really care once I took my first bite! Such a rollercoaster ride of flavours - in any one moment you can taste the tang of the mustard, the sourness of the lemon juice, the warming comforting feeling that roasted potato and sweet potato give, the contrast of the onion that reminds me of summer barbecues, the distinct nuttiness of the pine nuts, and the squishiness of the capsicum (ok, so I ran out of describing words...)!

No doubt this will become a regular feature on my menu - I was going to serve with a warmed bread roll, but this dish is a meal all on its own.

Not Rocket Science

Today has featured yet another meal disaster, which ended up in me going back to basics and making stuff that isn't exactly rocket science.

First: the disaster

Iwent to make a smoothie out of fresh rockmelon, fresh pineapple, dash of milk, and some muesli. Now, I know how good muesli is for me, but it literally makes me sick when I eat it (my theory is there's too much fibre in one hit for me). So, I thought putting some in a fruit smoothie would be a good way to get it into me. Little did I know, that little combination practically needed a spoon, and the fruit flavours were completely distinguished and gone.

So for breakfast today, I ended up having an iced coffee which isn't nutritious at all, but it filled my tummy.

That left me to come up with a quick and easy idea for lunch that I could make in the office kitchen. So I went back to basics and made something so simple that it sounds boring, but it satisfied me perfectly - a bread roll with hommus, cheese and cucumber. And strangely enough, all I feel like for dinner is a toasted bread roll spread with margarine. These bread rolls were baked today, so they are super fresh and I think that's what making me wanting to keep them simple - the freshness of them is just perfect and doesn't need jazzing up at all.

I'm easy to please, eh?

Not An Eggplant Fan

And so continues my adventures in Veggie Land - on tonight's menu was spicy rice filled eggplant (from taste.com.au)... which didn't really like. So I thought I'd try a new instant meal - instant meditteranean couscous (from Continental).. which I didn't really like either! I'm not sure if it was its a new completely new food (I've never had couscous before) or if it was simply the flavouring. So what ended up on my dinner plate? I'm ashamed... 2 peanut butter cookies (I'm totally obsessed with Amy's blog at vegcooking.com) and a really big piece of apple slice (I have the best mother in law!).

However, today was not a total write off - I had a pretty good lunch of Continental instant rice (I forget what the flavour is... italian sundried tomato something-er-rather) with steamed broccoli and baked sweet potato. I'm so in love with baked sweet potato at the moment - I cut a whole sweet potato in half (lengthways), spray with cooking spray, put on an oven tray and bake at 180-200 degrees for 40 minutes. Then, scoop the flesh out of the skin - absolute heaven!!

One thing I'm not so in love with is red kidney beans but I think that's because I've kind of used them in a lot of new recipes and have overdosed a bit. I'm making a lot of changes and it might be too fast - so, back to the drawing board and slowing down.

So - some menu options for the rest of the week. Since I'm in the swing of my sweet potato addiction, I figure the fennel and cheese stuffed sweet potato (taste.com.au) will be a regular feature. Its easy, its delicious, and its cheap. As always on standby are my stash of Continental Oriental Fried Rice - another easy, yummy and cheap meal (which goes even further with some simple fresh steamed veggies thrown in). I'm eager to try the Warm Roasted Vegetable Salad from taste.com.au - sounds easy peasy and it has my beloved sweet potato in it! On Saturday I think I'm going to continue my weekend food indulgence trend by making my mother in law's famour Cauliflower & Chickpea curry - it takes a while to prepare, but damn its good!!

Breakfast has always been an obstacle for me - I love toast with vegemite, but 2 slices just don't fill me up. This morning I had a smoothie made out of a dash of Pura Light Start milk, a good 1-2 cups each of fresh rockmelon and pineapple, and a blob of honey. Tomorrow I think I'll do the same, but throw in a bit of muesli to fill it up a bit and hopefully make me feel fuller for longer.