YumYum!

I can't stop eating spicy food! I think it has something to do with the fact that it's 8 million degrees outside. Thank you, global warming. I hope you'll forgive my gratuitous use of canned foods this week - I'm ashamed to say that we spent our $15 on groceries at WalMart because it was the only place open at the time. How truly un-vegan of me. Anyway, I usually do eat as many fresh foods as humanly possible. After a while of eating things that are processed I tend to feel a little sluggish and weighed-down. Payday cannot come soon enough! I promise I'll be posting real recipes next week. Really, I do.

Breakfast today was pb&j again. I picked up a banana at the grocery store beside my workplace for my morning break, too.

For lunch, I had leftover chili (it's better the second day!) and a little snackpack of roasted red pepper hummus and flatbread. It was so filling that I didn't start making dinner until about 10pm:

Spiced Chickpeas and Rice
1 can chickpeas
2 cups basmati rice
chili powder
4 1/2 cups veggie stock or water*

*If you like your rice firmer, use a little less, for softer rice, a little more

Combine veggie stock/water and rice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add drained, rinsed chickpeas and about a palmful of chili powder. Stir everything together, cover, and reduce to low heat. Set a timer for 25 minutes or so and forget about it until it beeps! I didn't find any need to add salt to this as I used canned chickpeas, but obviously you can adjust seasonings as you see fit. This would be really tasty with curry powder also. If I had cashews and/or peas, they'd definitely be in this. I'm pretty sure that would make this biryani!

Sammy ate this with a really spicy salsa, I ate mine just as is. I ADORE the nuttiness of chickpeas and I love that they're a little firmer than your average legume. You'll find I eat a tonne of them.

Deliciousness.

What's better than a giant, steaming bowl of tasty food that you know will feed you for days? A giant, steaming bowl of tasty food that you know will feed you for days that only cost you $4. Yes, seriously. This chili is colourful, filling, and you could probably find all of the ingredients at a 7-11 if you wanted to. On a fun sidenote, black beans contain the same chemical turkey has that makes you feel sleepy after you eat it, only with 0% of the ethical atrocities!

Cheap Chili
1 can black beans (or chickpeas)
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can diced tomatoes
Chili powder

Throw it all in a pot and simmer until the flavours meld.

Obviously this would be better with some onions and garlic, but let's face it: when you have $15 for groceries, you have to make some sacrifices. If you want to go all out, you could also splurge the extra $1.5o and eat this with some multigrain tortilla chips!

First Post!

Hellohello!

I'm going to apologize in advance for this post; I'm feeling a bit under the weather today and as a result, my food choices have been less than stellar. In addition to that, Sammy's bank decided they would hold a cheque on him for FIVE business days and we are almost entirely out of groceries. That said, today is a perfect example of how vegan food doesn't necessarily require thought. Or even many ingredients, for that matter.

I had very a very uninteresting peanut butter and jam sandwich for breakfast AND lunch today, but for dinner I did throw a few (boring) things in a saucepan on the stove:

(I don't list any measurements here for two major reasons: 1, I rarely measure anything, and 2, all of this should be to your own personal taste).

Curried Noodle Soup
- spaghettini (or any other noodle of your choice)
- vegetable broth
- finely diced garlic
- curry powder
- black pepper
- red pepper flakes
- sesame oil
- sea salt

Over medium-high heat, gently fry garlic in a little bit of light oil. Add curry powder, black pepper, and pepper flakes for about 30 seconds once the garlic starts to brown. This is to toast the spices and intensify the flavours. I used about 3/4 of a teaspoon of curry powder for about 4 cups of water for a pretty mild broth, but feel free to adjust to your tastes. Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Add noodles and let simmer until they're softened to your liking. I like to finish with a few drops of sesame oil - I think it lends a bit of earthiness to the soup. Adjust seasonings as you see fit and then eat!

I would post a picture but the dog peed on my camera (please don't ask), and the lighting isn't good enough for my cameraphone just now. Sorry!