weekly meal planning

meal planning is good for families, people on budgets, and vegans.

now, unless you want to eat out every night, or you live within walking distance of a whole foods, you don't need to, but for budgeting purposes, and the fact that i eat out maybe once every 2 weeks. i know i'm lame! i plan my meals. :)

i found this free really cute meal planning pdf template at www.futuregirl.com, which makes meal planning funner, at least for me anyway.

meal planning helps me determine what i need for the week, and also helps me from not overspending on things i don't need, and also helps me prepare meals the night before, and also prevents me from having to run to the store before dinner for 1 tomato (damn you BLT craving... damn you!). anyway, it's helpful and i like creating a meal plan for 1 week at a time, and then if i'm not in the mood for that certain food, i switch days, switch lunch with dinner. it's not a locked down schedule. i'm not a cafeteria, so i have fun with it, while staying on a budget.

Pin It Now!

BLT with Garlic Aioli

What you need:
2 Pieces of Vegan Bread (You can use a wrap instead if you prefer)
Lifelight "Fakin' Bacon" Smokey Tempeh Strips
Spinach / Spring Mix
Sliced Tomato
Garlic Aioli
3/4 Cup Veganaise
3 Minced Garlic Cloves
3/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Coarse Ground Black Pepper
(Mix above ingredients together)

What you do:
1. Make the Garlic Aioli.
2. Heat up a medium skillet, and spray with olive oil.
3. Heat the 'Fakin' Bacon' Strips.
4. Toast 2 slices of bread.
5. Once toast is ready, spread garlic aioli on both sides.
4. Load spinach, sliced tomatoes, and fakin bacon onto toast.
5. Eat & Enjoy!

Pin It Now!

cinnamon snail best 2012 vegan food truck

(Picture taken from Mobile-Cuisine.com of The Gochujang burger from the Cinnamon Snail.)

I ate at the cinnamon snail during a brief 2 days in New York. Great food, great people! They're so deserving of this award! Next time you're in NY, hunt them down. Soo good!

Check it out HERE! Pin It Now!

carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

• A friend at work wanted me to make carrot cake for her husband. So, I made carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. These babies taste like straight up FALL! Fall just so happens to be my favorite season, and I need to find a place where it's fall all year round! I'd live there in a heartbeat. And, these are 100% vegan of course!
• 
  
• Carrot Cake
• Egg Replacer (4 eggs)
• 3/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Applesauce
• 1 cup vegan sugar
• 1 cup vegan brown sugar
• 2.5  Tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tsp baking soda
• 2 Tsp baking powder
• 1/2 Tsp salt
• 3 Tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 Tsp Nutmeg
• 1/2 Tsp Ginger
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans

What you do:

1. Mix dry ingredients.

2. Mix wet ingredients.

3. Combine wet ingredient mixture gradually to dry mixture.

4. Put in 24 Cupcake Liners.

5. Bake for mins at 350°, or until toothpick comes out clean.

6. Let cool.

7. Make the cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup earth balance, softened
8 oz package of toffutti cream cheese, sofened
1 tsp vanilla
3.5 cups powdered sugar

(Blend all ingredients with mixer.)

8. Frost cupcakes.

9. Enjoy!

Pin It Now!

key lime cheesecake

i bought tart pans, and searched online for a vegan tart that i could make. i found tons that involved chocolate, but i ALWAYS make something chocolate related, so i wanted something a little different. i stumbled across raw key lime tarts, and i love key lime pie, so i decided to make a vegan key lime pie / cheesecake. i bought a pre-made graham cracker crust, and the ingredients, and once i got home, i remembered that the reason i wanted to make a tart in the first place, was for my new tart pans... and the pre-made pie crust defeated that purpose. ha! i'm such a dork.

What you need:

2- 8 oz Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese

1 Cup vegan sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

1/4 Cup Key Lime Juice

2 Tbsp Cornstarch

1 Pre-made Graham Cracker Crust

What you do:

Preheat Oven to 350°

1. Mix the cream cheese / sugar/ vanilla / lime juice / cornstarch with a mixer until smooth. 

2. Pour and smooth into the pre-made crust.

3. Bake for 55 mins.

4. Let cool for 1/2 hour.

5. Chill in fridge for at least 4 hours.

6. Enjoy!

Tip:
You can even make 1/2 of the above recipe & fill 6 mini graham cracker crusts to make mini individual cheesecakes! Add SoyWhip Whipped Cream for a delicious refreshing tart dessert!

 

Pin It Now!

munch {oak park, il}

i visited my sister with my mom, and 5 minutes away is a little vegetarian (vegan friendly) restaurant called MUNCH. how cute is that right? anyway, i'd been checking out their menu for a couple months, but never made the time to go. well, since today we were already in the area, and my mom will eat vegan food too, we went there on our way home. they were super friendly! we ordered to go, and they gave us ice water while we waited. great atmosphere.

we both ordered the same exact thing. their breakfast sandwich (tofu scrambled "eggs" peppers, spinach, vegan bacon drizzled in olive oil on a warm chiabatta roll w/ vegan mozzarella cheese), a  side of roasted rosemary potatoes. and i ordered a kale smoothie (kale, apricots, banana, blueberries). can i say delicious? i can and it was! i feel like i'm always saying the food everywhere is delicious! and i'll be honest if it wasn't, but this place was great! (and to be honest, most vegan food is) i can't wait to try their lunch / dinner menu next time. and keep in mind that this place is vegetarian.. so you could have ordered this sandwich with real eggs and real dairy cheese. so that's a plus, if you're not ready to go full vegan with a meal!

Pin It Now!