Opening Day

From our visit to the Bourbon Trail last year.

The morning was still a bit chilly, so Tommy and I went to Panera for breakfast.  We sat inside without any dogs.  I had a bagel and peanut butter and a large cup of green tea.  It was nice to sit and talk and not be badgered by moochie dogs. We would have stayed longer, but the gym was calling.

For lunch, it was the alternative to burger and fries.  I fried some endame in grapeseed oil with some minced ginger. I sprinkled some crispy kale on top.  For the 'burger', I cooked a large portobello in earth balance with some worchestershire sauce.  It makes a mess in the pan, but once the mushroom is cooked through, it is awesome. I served the burger on olive bread with lettuce, hoisin sauce and sriracha.

Today was the at home opening day for the Orioles. We walked down to the Tiki Hut at Bo Brooks with the dogs to watch the game outside.  The temperature finally reached a pleasant point.  The menu is not a vegan friendly one.  I choose the crab guacamole.  The crab in just sprinkled on the top, so I asked them to put it on the side.  Tommy added the crab to his fish tacos.  The guacamole is good and filled with tomato, onion and bell pepper.  It is served with homemade pita chips.  This was sort of a late afternoon snack, early dinner.  O's win with a grand slam!!!

 Later in the evening, I was hungry and made a small  burrito. I used kidney beans, tofu scramble, and BBQ sauce on a wheat tortilla.   Saturday morning was another visit to Panera.  This time I tried the steel cut oatmeal with strawberries, pecans and brown sugar.  How do they get the oats to be such perfect little round  circles?  Mine is always mushy.

Lunch was a veggie burger without the bun.  This was the same mix I used earlier in the week of TVP, garbanzo flour and oatmeal. I seasoned it with Bragg's Aminos and broiled it in the oven.  I like the texture better when it is cooked this way.  It did not get crispy why I pan fried them last time. I served it over a bed on black rice with some plum sauce.  The side salad is mixed greens, carrots and the everyday vinaigrette.  The garnish is green olives with garlic.

I made dinner in a parchment pocket.  I layer tofu, shallots, and tomatoes and seasoned them with fresh oregano, salt and pepper.  I surrounded it fresh green beans and pour some olive oil over everything. I sealed the parchment and baked in the oven for 20 minutes.  Everything was tendered and well seasoned.  I served some wild rice on the side. The dessert was a mix of blueberries, blackberries and strawberries.  I poured some Wild Turkey American Honey over the fruit.

Groceries

My meals for the day were all leftovers.  I had cereal with strawberries and cashews and vanilla rice milk for breakfast.  I was finally able to take a picture that was not blurry. The cereal was called Wheat Waffles, which is the Whole Foods version of Wheat Chex. I needed a fast breakfast because I needed to be at the dealership at 8:00 in Timonium to have the new gas pedal assembly installed.  When they open the parts box, parts were missing.  So we will try again on Wednesday.  Uggh.

Lunch and dinner involved leftovers of the Cauliflower and Potato Curry, Jamaican Stir Fry, and Tofu Curry.
I went to Whole Foods to buy the groceries for the next 2 weeks.  The bill was at 237.00 which is more than I have been spending.  I was out of a lot of staples like yeast, maple syrup, soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, and hoison sauce.  Hopefully the next trip will be cheaper.  The picture is 2 weeks of groceries, not including staples I have on hand like rice, raisins, vinegars, and nut milk. The Center for Science in the Public Interest estimates that a healthy diet can be achieved at $2.50 a day per  adult. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151425104340406&set=a.10150119529535406.322571.240937060405&type=1&theater We are at $8.50 a day.  Whole Foods organics add to the cost and dried beans would also lower the bill, but that still seems a little low to me.  Yet I am staying away from the foods subsidized by the government for Big Ag.

To get ready for next week, I have roasted garlic and red bell peppers like I have done each grocery day.  There is nothing like having fresh roasted garlic on hand to smish into whole grain bread with some olive oil.  That is the best dessert ever.  I also made some chickpea veggie burgers.  My goal is to eliminate as many premade foods as possible.  The burgers are ready to be grilled later.  I also made some Carrot Rolls. These are yeast rolls the size of hamburger buns.  They are made with white flour, pureed carrots and bourbon.  The bourbon adds a nice kick to the buns.  Oh yes, we taste tested those buns.  I did cheat a little.  The buns called for butter.  The vegan standard is Earth Balance which I have used in the past.  It acts exactly like butter in recipes.  However, I still have 5 sticks of butter from the Christmas holiday cooking.  I used 6 tablespoons of real butter.  My frugal nature that says 'don't waste anything' took over.  Considering how much butter I still have, it will last a while. When I use it all, Earth Balance will take over.

Emptying the fridge

So the next few days are going to about using the leftovers  in the fridge. Breakfast was a fruit salad using an apple and my last banana with the fruit compote I made last week from strawberries and peaches.  I  added a piece of peasant bread with apple butter.

Lunch was a pasta dish of the remainder of a box of spaghetti with toppings of onion, grape tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini, chickpeas and garlic.  A sauce was made with tomato paste, water, red wine, and spices. Again most of this emptied out the fridge, although I had leftover pasta.  I can see the steam from the pasta in the picture.

Dinner was some of the leftover Sweet Potato Lentil Chili with a fresh batch of Kale and Chard Chips.  In the evening when we had the munchies we paired some Elijah Craig 20 year old bourbon with some peasant bread spread with orange infused olive oil and roasted garlic and toasted in the oven.  It was so good, we had seconds.  Neither Tommy nor I felt the least  bit deprived tonight.