Quick Post Over Study Break

Ok so it's the weekend which means that since I have no life it is my time to catch up on homework and studying, do laundry and go grocery shopping. So because of the unique situation with the household- me being vegetarian (or trying) and the boyfriend being well, not- I have to do some planning for the meals for the week ahead. I had already sent some e-mails to myself with ideas, so the dishes I'm planning to do this week are:

• Kung Pao tofu/chicken
• Lasagna- eggplant/ground beef
• Curried lentils and rice

I'm hoping that I'll make enough of everything so that I'll have leftovers and won't need to do a lot of extra cooking this week because it's the week before Spring Break which means teachers have decided to give me a ton of assignments and tests lined up. :(

ANYWAYS so one of the main things I wanted to say was that I had to look up a recipe for the Kung Pao tofu (I had e-mailed myself a chicken recipe and knew I could do it with tofu, but wanted to double check if they changed anything up seasoning-wise) and I came across a new recipe site: http://www.chooseveg.com/vegan-dinner-recipes.asp (link also added on side bar under ChooseVeg). They do videos for their recipes and give you the recipes, so it's basically like a vegan food network. :) Anyway, I thought it was really exciting, so I thought I'd share.

Happy Eating!

Speaking of which...I'm hungry...

Asian food!

Sooo the boyfriend surprised me and was like Oh by the way I have dinner covered tonight- the people from my lab are all going out to dinner and we can brings dates. Sooo I got free Chinese buffet for dinner. The best part? The buffet had sooo many vegetarian options. I had miso soup, fried noodles with egg and tofu, a DELICIOUS sweet eggplant dish, this fried egg and onion thing, and a spicy crunchy tofu. They also had a vegetarian sweet and sour soup, and egg-drop soup, but I had to have my miso. Oh, and they had veggie sushi, but I don't trust sushi from buffets or in this city...I only trust sushi that's in coastal towns and made fresh to order. (Yes I realize that the veggie rolls are different from the fish ones, but the buffet law in particular still applies...you don't know what it's been lying next to and for how long...). Anyways, yay asian food. :)

I'm a bad blogger...aaand vegetarian

First off- I owe an apology to Allie for all the comments and me not reading them. Blogger.com doesn't e-mail me when I have comments to be moderated until I sign in...isn't that stupid? But I've been bad and not checking my blogger account, so I am sorry.

Second- sorry for the huge break. I've been busy, and realize that I can't update very frequently this semester because of my classes, but hopefully writing this post will help me get back on track- both blog wise and veg head wise.

You see, due to friends and boyfriend influences, going veg is kind of hard. I mean theoretically it's easier now than ever to go veg (with tofu in Walmart and whatnot) and it's cheaper than buying expensive meat all the time. But the thing is all of my friends know that I love to cook and love the taste of meat...Plus, it's also really annoying when ANYTHING that you plan meal-wise gets complained about if there is no meat in it. My boyfriend is pretty much a carnivore and so it's made this harder. I mean, I made it clear to him many times that I planned on coming up with versatile ideas where I can just not eat the meat, but there's still times when he wants to split lunch at Chili's, where since the menu has changed there are NO options for vegetarians...and since I like fajitas and honey-chipotle chicken crispers it's really hard. Plus I know it's not exactly great for him to eat meat everyday, but that's the way he was raised, so he just can't seem to wrap his head around the concept of not needing meat.

All these complaints being said, I do love my boyfriend and friends it just has made this difficult. So while I eat vegetarian more than most people, I still eat meat like 2-3 times a week. Veg fail. :(

Ok, so here are things that worked out well in the past week or so:

• Vegetarian fajitas (I added steak for Brian and used mushrooms for mine...and we put them in white corn tortillas instead of flour)
• Tomato-Basil Pasta (No meat for anyone, although Mr. Meateater had to have his meaty snack later)
• Frozen veg meals for lunches to bring to school (cheaper than eating on campus, slightly more expensive than making my own sandwiches but I always forget to make them in the mornings...)
• When we order pizza we get half supreme, half veggie lovers.
• Breakfasts on the weekends are easy since I'm lacto-ovo-veg (err...sort of?) so eggs and hashbrowns or toast or eggs Bennedict (w/o the Canadian bacon for me) or pancakes or beignets or normal doughnuts...

I've also been bad about remembering to bring trail mix or nuts with me to class to snack on...buuuuuuuuuuuttt I remembered this snack I used to bring to school in high school that Dianne taught us in drama class- bring a little snack baggie of snow peas, cherry tomatoes and baby carrots. It's delicious aaaand good for you. :)

O and I tried to make a vegan cake by replacing the eggs with apple sauce and it was really moist, but too much so. It didn't stick together, was terrible to frost and didn't last very well. So that sucked. But owell, it was worth a try.

Mk, I think you're all caught up on my failed veg adventures thus far. Any suggestions for recipes or something to try would be great. Ooo aand I know I'm past Mardi Gras, but veg creole/cajun recipes also would be great. :)

Vegetarian Philly "Cheesesteak"

Last night I had an awesome dinner. Brian had a real Philly Cheesesteak and I ate a vegetarian version. It was delicious. I was also thinking that the mixture (without the cheese) would also be amazing with black beans in a wrap....I think that might be what I do with my leftovers. Anyway, here's a recipe:

Vegetarian Philly "Cheesesteak" (Everything but the steak)

1-2 tbs olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced, to taste
1 small onion, sliced fairly  thin
1 bell pepper, green, sliced fairly thin as well
1 package mushrooms, sliced
spoonfull of canned jalepeno slices (optional)
Montreal Steak Seasoning to taste
1 mini french loaf/po-boy/hero/hoagie/whatever roll, split, warmed if you like
1-2 slices provolone to taste (per sandwich)

Add oil to skillet. Heat on medium-high heat until olive oil thins out a little. Add garlic, onion, bell peppers, mushrooms, and jalapenos. Stir occasionally. Season with Montreal Steak Seasoning as desired. Mixture is ready when veggies are slightly blacked, onions are wilted and peppers are no longer crispy. Spoon veggie mixture onto loaves, top with cheese and enjoy. =)

There will be extra (how much depends on your rolls and appetite), so you may need to adjust the proportions a little bit. You'll certainly need more than one loaf for the recipe as it will make at least 2 very hearty/large sandwiches, lol.