Day 157: Vegan Indulgence doesn't come cheap or easy
Yesterday was a busy day, as first the S.O. and my folks and I checked out what is probably going to be the venue for our wedding. And then I prepared a big old dinner for a friend who was coming over to watch the Oscars with us. Actually I prepared a dish I prepare often, Baked Vegetables and Gravy, but I added on a salad, some chips & guac & salsa and a Whole Foods vegan chocolate cake, so it was bountiful feast. And I never realized quite how long it can take to make my favorite dish if you're adding a lot of fresh veggies to the mix. I probably spent almost 90 minutes prepping everything, most of that time spent chopping, chopping, chopping.
It was worth it though, as yet another friend realized that vegan food can be savory, satisfying food :)
Breakfast:
Organic "Fruit Loops Cereal
Organic Rice Milk
Pineapple Chunks
Odwalla Grapefruit Juice
Snack:
1 Slice Sourdough Bread w/Soy Margarine
Lunch (at the SJ Museum of Art Cafe):
Roasted Vegetable Sanwich
Chips
Dinner:
Organic Blue Corn Chips w/Guacamole and Treader Joe's Corn-Chile Salsa
Roasted Vegetables: Organic Golden Potatoes, Organic Red Potatoes, Organic Yam, Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprouts, tossed in Olive Oil, Sea salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder and Cinnamon
Mushroom Gravy: Ingredients: Soy Flour, Nutritional Yeast, Olive Oil, Tamari, Rice Milk, Garlic, Leek, Shitake Mushrooms, Portabella Mushrooms, Green Peas
Salad with Romaine, Carrots, Edamame, Roasted Corn Kernels, Organic Roma Tomatoes, Organic Celery
Annie's Natural Thousand Island Dressing (non-vegan)
More on the wedding venue later!
Comments
I just have to say here--you are so right. Sometimes I look at a recipe and think, "Wow, that looks so easy; it should only take fifteen minutes from start to finish," and then thirty minutes later, we still haven't even emerged from the chopping vegetables stage. :) When my partner is cooking and is able to use the food processor or chopper, that speeds things up sometimes, but I'm a little old school--I prefer to chop by hand, even if it takes longer; I like the experience of doing it and have yet to use the Christmas-gift processor or chopper myself.
Nevertheless, I say this with some degree of shame, but when we're cooking at our house for just us (no guests), we sometimes resort to using some frozen vegetables in addition to fresh, especially if we're low on time to cook. The dishes aren't quite as tasty without fresh vegetables, but at certain times, that convenience is worth the taste-bud sacrifice. But when we're cooking for others, that's another matter; and of course, when you're cooking for others, that's when you tend to be cooking more and have to chop up an even larger stockpile of veggies! :)