Friday Treats & Weekend Plans

Apologies in advance for the iPhone pictures! They’re not the best, I know.

I was excited to see they had multigrain ciabatta rolls at the café today! AND as a special treat I decided to have a side of the crispy “chips” from the Fish & Chips hot lunch option. I LOVE freshly made fries with homemade style tartar sauce. Especially the one they make at work, it’s got the biggest chunks of delicious pickles in it!

My sandwich is pretty plain but such a great combination: marinated grilled portabella mushroom caps, mixed greens, light mayo, red onion and a slice of Provolone cheese.

This weekend, I plan on attempting some new things. I’m pretty excited to give it a try! I tried quickly last week making homemade seitan…. reading up on it after my failed attempt, I think I didn’t kneaded it enough so I’m gonna give it another try.

I’m even thinking of trying a different recipe I found where you bake it instead! Does anyone have sucessful attempts at this stuff?? Any suggestions are welcome!

Ordinary vs. Favorites

Ordinary

I work 9-5:30 Monday thru Friday at a desk job (that generally I enjoy!) so in order to keep from having to sit all day, I try to hit the gym at lunch (we have two gym’s onsite at work). It gives me an opportunity to get away from the work, clutter & stress of my desk and move around for a good 30-45 minutes.


This also means that I have to either bring my lunch or pick something up from the café at work on my way back from the Gym. Two issues here… 1) I never get up early enough to pack a lunch, and never remember to make one the night before and 2) eating vegetarian at the cafe doesn’t offer too many options. Salad or a Veggie sandwich. (unless they happen to have a vegetarian based soup, which doesn’t happen very often)

I go through phases, some weeks they have good bread (multigrain or whole wheat rolls) and I’ll have a portabella or other grilled veggie sandwich. Others, nothing looks good and I eat salad every day. Neither of these options is terrible, but really… it gets quite boring.

Favorite


When we have people from other countries visiting the office (I do work for a pretty worldwide company) or someone leaving or coming back to work, our group is pretty quick to have a group lunch outside of the office. With most of the options in town, (especially the popular ones) I usually end up eating a Caesar salad or some other variation of a lettuce based lunch.

I was pleasantly surprised a few months ago when I happened across this amazing (not quite healthy, I’ll admit) lunch option at one of my favorite pre-vegetarian days restaurant.

It’s called the 3 Grilled Cheese and it’s pretty delicious!

Inside, 3 different cheeses melted together with ribbons of basil & honey smeared on the sourdough bread. On the side is a creamy Tomato Basil soup (that I’m pretty sure has some ricotta cheese mixed in to give it a different texture)

I’m sad to report, I believe they have since taken it off their menu... though I can’t imagine why!

I’m working on perfecting it at home... stay tuned! ;)

~ Sammie

Post Super Bowl Nachos

I came home from work tonight and didn't much feel like cooking so I threw this together from ingredients collected for the Superbowl last weekend. It's super easy and I can feed it to non-vegetarians and they don't even know they're not even eating meat!

I'll apologize in advance, I've never been one for recipes... Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

1/2 a small onion chopped

1 tbl butter or butter alternative (I use Brummel & Brown Spread)

Quorn Meatless & Soy-Free Grounds

Frozen corn kernels

Salsa (the ONLY one I'll use is Newmans Own - Hot!)

1/2 medium tomato chopped

Jalapeno Mash (optional)

Tortilla Chips

Mexican Shredded Cheese

Sour Cream (optional on the side)

Guacamole (optional on the side)

Chop half an onion and cook in a skillet over medium heat with 1/2 tablespoon of butter until they start to soften.  Add the meatless grounds and the rest of the butter, cook a few minutes and then add the frozen corn. I use pretty equal parts of grounds & corn but I realllly like corn - so you can adjust accordingly. I added 3 shakes of salsa just to flavor the filling and moisten it up a bit. Lastly, the chopped tomato and a teaspoon of Jalapenomash for extra spiceyness. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish with a single layer of tortilla chips then top wth filling & shredded cheese. Repeat with another layer of chips, filling & cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melted and serve with any fixings you like! I prefer guac & sour cream. Hubby adds more salsa and extra Jalapenomash.

What is Jalapenomash you ask? One of the many many amazing items made by Dr. Gonzos Uncommon Condiments. Delish!

Enjoy ~ Sammie

4 Months Progress Report & a promise ;)

It's been almost 4 months since I decided to become Vegetarian. There were a few moments in the beginning where I missed a specific food or taste, but I'm learning to replace cravings with new and in most cases much more interesting foods.

I have found some great blogs and flickr groups that I visit regularly to get ideas and inspiration.

At first I wasn't sure if this would be a personal blog or one I would encourage people to look at. With all the help I've gotten from fellow bloggers out there, I've decided to atleast put it out there and update it with specific meals or items I make.