The no-new-grocery challenge

Budget- and mental health-wise, I hope the days are behind me of eating chips and leftover s’mores ingredients from an old camping trip for dinner.

But I’m still a writer trying to make rent in Seattle, where the cost of living and taxes are high (I love you so much Seattle, but you hurt me sometimes).

I got paid on Friday, but after going over my budget, I realized that I’d still have near-nothing left by the time my checks for rent, my CSA and a health insurance thing clear.

Not wanting to swim in more credit card debt (which is where I put my car repairs and birthday presents to loved ones), I challenged myself to not buy any more groceries until I get paid again June 13.

Wut

Interrupting my hiatus of laziness for this important message.

I cannot wait.

Portland: still awesome

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I both had separate work things going on in Portland, so we got an extra field trip there.

Seattle’s my city, but Portland is pretty fabulous. It contains elements of my two favorite towns – Seattle and Olympia – in one. Some of the sleekness, bigger-city advantages and pop culture influence of Seattle, with more of the hominess and hippie-ness of Oly.

I continued to find fabulous plant-based food there. Probably my favorite thing about Portland. We herbies are truly at home there.

Take a look at some highlights:

My first lunch took place at Proper Eats in the St. Johns neighborhood. Market and eat-in cafe in one!

So adorable. Reminded me of Olympia.

Look at all the fresh noms!

I love an expansive menu where I can have EVERYTHING. And affordably!

Stone fruit lemonade that day. Nectar of the gods, let me tell you. So fresh and tart.

I have a really hard time turning down a burrito.

It was good.

Mike and I went to Verde Cocina in the Pearl District for dinner that night. So many vegan options! I wanted one of everything.

Margarita with blueberry-inflused tequila. Sooooo delicious.

I had the tofu mole with fresh corn tortillas. Bomb.com.

Lunch the next day was at Sizzle Pie in Burnside. They sell by the slice for omnis, vegetarians and vegans.

They have BRUNCH SLICES (as seen on the left). That’s a Drugs Benedict with white bean and shallot spread, hash browns, tofu scramble and baco bits. At right is the Spiral Tap with caramelized onion spread, marinara and nooch. Washed down with a glass of local Laurelhurst brew.

Breakfast next day was at Vita Cafe in the Alberta hood. Somewhat long wait to get a seat, but so worth it! Here’s a vegan huevos rancheros piled with tofu.

Such friendly service. I also took home a slice of key lime pie, but it was smashed and not-so-pretty when I got home. But wonderfully creamy and delicious!

Not pictured is the wonderful beer I had at Burnside Brewing Company. Plant-based grub AND excellent beer make Portland heaven.

The nooch gospel

My boyfriend, Mike, is a fairly picky eater.

Since going full-time veggie, he stopped wanting to eat the meals I make, which made me sad because I love to share my cooking. He’s also sad that I no longer make him beef stew or turkey chili (though I did teach him how to make his own turkey chili, so there’s that).

He’s a guy who honestly doesn’t see the point in eating something without meat and/or cheese.

One thing we do share is a love of salad. Sometimes we hit up a salad bar together at Ballard Market in his hood or Metropolitan Market in my hood. Since I’ve been overloaded on CSA goods, we just hit up the salad bar for toppings I don’t have (cheese and ham in his case) and mix them in with my copious quantities of greens.

Anyway. Outside salad, we have little in common anymore when it comes to food.

But last week, my friends, Mikey discovered nooch.

Portland!

After some tough weeks at work for the both of us, my boyfriend and I went to Portland for the weekend.

My main experience with Portland is my mom taking my brother and me to the Clackamas Mall (quite outside of Portland) for sales tax-free back-to-school shopping. Of course I’ve been to Portland proper, the metropolitan neighbor to the south, but I hadn’t explored it on my own.

Seattle is an easy city in which to be vegan, but in Portland they totally cater to you. I had a waiter volunteer to check on the veganness of a salad, went to places with special vegan menus and you can just say “make it vegan, please” and they know what to do (too many people don’t know what that means, so I always have to specify no mayo/sour cream/cheese/aioli, etc.). Portland is particularly vegan-savvy.

Now eating out with the man friend means seeking out omni restaurants that have something I can eat. Homeboy doesn’t quite get that it’s possible to have a meal without meat.

But it was so easy!

Oh and we drank lots of craft beer. So happy beer is vegan.

Fantastic rice bowl from Laughing Planet. Brown rice, green beans, broccoli, tofu, carrots and red cabbage, topped with peanut sauce. I added sriracha.

Boyfriend enjoying the chips and salsa and his burrito at Laughing Planet. He raved about his braised beef burrito.

Quinoa cashew burger at Deschutes Brewery and Pub. Boyfriend and I are Deschutes conoisseurs. Quinoa and cashew patty was dry by itself, but together with all the sandwich fixins and sauce it was so, so good. Salad dressed with Mirror Pond vinaigrette.

Austin scramble made vegan at Byways Cafe. Boyfriend and I loved this place. They replace eggs with tofu for any scramble. And the toast, of all things, was divine, sourced from Fleur de Lis in Portland.

Yes we went to Powell’s. I set out to buy a new vegan cookbook. I wanted to try something from an author I don’t have like Brian L. Patton’s The Sexy Vegan or Angela Liddon’s new Oh She Glows. But I had to get the modern day vegan Bible, Veganomicon by Isa and Terry. Because by now I should own the vegan Bible.

Scrambled tofu with olive oil and parsley at Bijou Cafe. I seriously thought these were eggs when I tried them. Pretty tasty. This was the only vegan option on the menu.

Regular vegan burrito from Las Gorditas. They had a meat, vegetarian and vegan menu. Much appreciated! The burrito was a little bland, but huge and filling.

Boyfriend waiting for the train home wearing my shades.

Now I’m kind of lightening up post-vacation with Happy Herbivore Light and Lean. But this skinny mac and cheese is no joke.

Not pictured: a grilled PB and J from the famous Bunk Sandwiches. Yeah I’m gonna make those at home now.

Recommended brewery: Pints.

Maybe next time I’ll go to Portland with girlfriends who will eat at the vegan joints with me.

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.

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.

On my plate

Lentil loaf, lemony kale and champ from Happy Herbivore Abroad

Nigella’s mulled cider

Fire and Earth Kitchen’s rainbow eggplant stacks

Isa’s roasted red pepper mac

Black bean and salsa soup, courtesy Happy Herbivore

My first plant-based autumn is going awesome as I turn to more hearty, comforting dishes for hibernation season.

The typical trial and error ensues.

-My big revelation in recent weeks is the Sunday dinner for one I put together a couple weekends ago, all from the Happy Herbivore Abroad cookbook (use the “look inside” feature at the link for some recipes). I made lentil loaf for the first time, as well as champ (basically an Irish take on mashed potatoes, with green onions) and a previous success, lemony kale. Though the kale only yielded two servings, the lentil loaf and champ provided repeat leftovers and I still have one serving of each left in my work fridge. Though I drizzled ketchup on the lentil loaf pictured, I poured barbecue sauce over the loaf and potatoes in subsequent helpings. Barbecue sauce is among my favorite condiments. I learned recently, however, that you gotta check the ingredients on barbecue sauce bottles because some contain non-vegan Worcestershire sauce. Luckily Trader Joe’s sauce is safe.

Make it work: freezer burritos

When you’re a busy person, like pretty much everyone in the universe these days, freezer meals or aids are clutch.

Back when I had my own freezer (and hopefully will have one again soon), I loved freezing leftovers, beans, homemade veggie broth AND AND AND (my favorite) single-serving portions of brown rice. (Can I get an amen from everyone who hates making rice?)

I got a hankering to recreate some freezer veggie burritos I made a couple months ago. I was inspired by these beautiful goods from Budget Bytes and just made my own creations. I made enough filling for 10 burritos to throw in the freezer and pull out for lunch at work or quick post-gym dinners for nights I didn’t feel like cooking. I’m pretty sure I even ate a couple of heated burritos in my lap while driving through downtown Seattle to a press conference for work (for safety purposes, that’s not recommended). Best part: it’s so cheap. (Note: scroll to bottom if you just want a recipe and not my story of near-failure.)