Internetting

-I think the federal government recommends a few bogus things for our diets (big ag lobby, hello!) but the average American is pretty far off of what even the feds say is healthy.

-Eliminate food waste! How long your food is actually good to eat and what you can do to lengthen its shelf life: huzzah!

-A “seismic shift in attitude”: the rise of the part-time vegan.

-Those who know me know that I’m pro-GMO labeling – an initiative to require GMO labeling in Washington state was sadly rejected by voters in November. I don’t believe that the genetically modified organisms themselves are inherently unsafe to consume, but I worry that GMOs allow additional tons of poison to be dumped onto our food and seep into our ground, disrupting soil’s natural ecosystem and tainting the water supply. This piece explains my views better than I can.

Breakfast: Still on the wagon!

Just chillin.

Pictured is the tofu scramble I made Sunday night and brought to work for morning breakfast burrito assembly. I’ve been keeping it in the break room fridge.

Breakfast is still not a habit for me. While making my grocery shopping list, I had to remind myself that I needed a breakfast idea for the week and opened Isa Does It to the breakfast section. Since I loved the Happy Herbivore tofu scramble I made earlier in the month, I wanted to try Isa’s Mediterranean scramble. (I subbed in black beans for kalamatas, which I know isn’t Mediterranean, but olives are one of the few things I just can’t do.)

I brought the container and a new package of whole wheat tortillas to work. While assembling burritos in the break room yesterday morning, a co-worker observed me and said, “Now that’s a breakfast!”

I’m quite sure he didn’t know it was tofu when he added, “You’ve got the perfect protein, there.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, knowing he and I were talking about two different things.

Breakfast is making me so much less cranky in the mornings. It’s pretty great.

Next idea: tofu scramble freezer burritos.

Being a broke vegan

People think being vegan is expensive. It can be, but depending on your choices, it really doesn’t have to be.

I mean, the roots of my vegan journey stem partly from a need to stretch what few dollars I had, and nixing meat, eggs and milk from the grocery list helped (took awhile for me to forgo cheese).

Last month, I moved, which was expensive, and then there was Christmas. Then my car insurance leveled a financial blow for moving. (Thanks, btw.)

So I had a few weeks during which I had to skimp a little. Sadly the credit card was used more frequently than I’d prefer.

But food was never a huge stress. I just had to know what to make with cheaper ingredients.

So lemme talk a little bit about what I do to squeak by when The Man is after my meager stack of journalist cash.

Budget Bytes chunky lentil vegetable soup. Hearty, awesome for taking lunches to work.

FatFree Vegan’s eggplant paprikash. Warm, comforting, easy.

Lazy orzo topped with Isa’s spicy slurpy sauce and HH parmesan

My veggie broth home brew. Looks like leeks and thyme made it to this mix.

Today’s lesson

Yes, it’s true, more farm cattle is worse for the for the environment than fewer farm cattle. A primer on methane.

My own note: Cows are lovely. Factory farms pumping out too many cows are not.

Breakfast!

I dig a good weekend brunch, which I seek out once every couple weeks.

Breakfast on a weekday, however? I want to spend whatever 10 minutes it takes to prepare and eat breakfast SLEEPING.

Sleep in warm bed > everything

Sometimes I swipe a Clif Bar or two from the boyfriend. Sometimes I manage to make overnight oats to bring to work. Maybe oatmeal.

But the only thing I really bother with ingesting in the morning is coffee. With the combination of jitters and an empty stomach, lunch can’t come soon enough. Even when I do bring a small breakfast to work, I metabolize it so quickly that I’m still starving for lunch, anyway.

Thoughts this week

-Even though I lurrrrve eating out, my choices are so often whittled down for me when there are only one or two vegan items on the menu … or maybe one or two veganize-able things. (If I had a nickel every time I said, “…with the veggie patty instead and no cheese or mayo” …) Everyone around me will have cheesy, meaty food that I would have loved a year or two ago. Yet, as I make my own meals with a hummus plate or a plain baked potato or a mixed greens salad (“hold the cheese, please”), I still feel all right. I still feel at peace with my choices.

Yay 2014!

Made two snacks from Happy Herbivore Light and Lean for New Year’s Eve at a friend’s house.

He hosts NYE every year. It’s a tradition now to drink college-y drinks with college friends. We sing the fight song. Go Cougs!

Anyway, food.

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Veggie happy hour

Oh whyyyyyyyyy can’t there be more veggie places near meeeeeeeeeeeee?

Seattle Met rounds up some veggie-rific happy hours.

Seriously, seems like every vegan spot in the city is in Capitol Hill or the U-District – both un-fun places to get to from my work/home neighborhoods.

At least I have Bamboo Garden.

Bamboo Garden 4eva.