6 posts tagged “vegan.vegetarian”

How ca you all stand me!?

Seriously, the only interesting thing about Tuesday was that I got it in me to eat a big chunk of watermelon as my appetizer before dinner.

Don't believe me? Check out the menu, it will all sound familiar:

Breakfast:
Soy Latte and Vegan Scone...yes I am Stabucks' bitch

Lunch:
Diet Coke, Tortilla Chips and Black Bean/Rice/Guac Burrito...I am also the bitch of the taqueria across the street from the office

Snack:
Cashews
Organic Nectarine (Wow, getting daring!)

Dinner:
Aforementioned Watermelon
Morningstar Farms "Steak" Strips, sauteed with Olive Oil, Garlic, Organic Peas and Nutritional Yeast
Mini "Ice Cream" Sandwich

I love leftovers for two reasons:

1. It feels like you're eating a hearty, healthy, home-cooked meal, even though you're just microwaving as per usual
2. It means I didn't eat-the-whole-thing the first go-round :)

Leftovers for lunch and leftovers for dinner might be going a bit far, but hell with it!

Breakfast:
Organic Banana
Soy Yogurt

Snack:
Cashews

Lunch:
Diet Coke
Leftover Rice Spaghetti and Veggie Sauce with Meatless Meatballs

Dinner:
Leftover Organic Brown Rice with a small amount of Leftover Spicy "Beef" Stroganoff-like topping
2 Smart Dogs sauteed in Soy Margarine

Or at least try one day out of the week, m'kay?

Breakfast:
Soy Latte
Vegan Scone (Seriously, Starbucks is my best friend since they've added this scone to their offerings...must. stop. wallet. bled. dry.)

Lunch:
Organic Brown Rice
Organic Avocado
Cashews

Dinner:
Organic Russet Potato with Soy Margarine, Tofutti Sour Cream, 2 Smart dogs and Nutritional Yeast
Vegan Cherry Pie

About 5 or 6 years ago I developed an allergy to alcohol out of the blue. After a couple of decades of normal social drinking without incident, suddenly alcohol (any alcohol) would give me hives and splotches and turn my face bright red and hot, along with making it feel tight...which i guess indicated swelling. each time I drank, trying a different kind of alcohol to see if it was a particular type or just all alcohol, the reaction would escalate. Thhe last drink I had (a Midori Sour) my hands and forearms also got itchy and red. The S.O. convinced me that ti was time to stop experimenting and just give it up.

I went to an allergist who somehow couldn't believe I was actually allergic to alcohol as a substance. He theorized that all of my other allergies were so out of whack that alcohol must simply be acting as a trigger. He did a scratch test of about 100 items on my back and I discovered I was allergic to many things (most of which I knew about) but there is no scratch test for alcohol. He told me to get on daily Claritin and thought tis would eventually mitigate the symptoms I was having.

Meanwhile I noticed more allergic reactions to foods too...anything with cilantro, basil and other herbs typically found in ethnic cuisines would make my nose itch insanely, and would often give me a more reduced, but basically similar, reaction as the alcohol...tight, hot face, plus I'd get sinus symptoms...sneezing like I was experiencing hay fever.

Somehow i never brought myself to forego said cuisines, although I did start asking for cilantro to be left off my plate or out of any guacamole that was actually being made at the table.

But, as I said, it's been a few years, so I thought recently that I would experiment a little again. So, twice in the last few weeks I've had a beer while at home. I haven't drunk the whole thing, but most of it, and I really don't think it affected me. not in the allergic way anyway. On Day 153 I had a Corona, and while it's true that toward the end of it I started sneezing a bit I didn't get the hives or splotches or hot, tight face.

I was never much of a drinker, so I'm not sure what I'll do with this new-found room to drink, but It's kind of interesting to me.

Breakfast:

Coffee

Organic Corn Flakes

Organic Rice Milk

Organic banana

Lunch (leftover golden Wok):

Veggie Spring Roll

Vegetarian fried Rice (No egg)

Braised Tofu

Tofutti Cutie

Snack:

Sunflower Seeds

Veggie "Chips" with Spicy Guacamole

Pita with garlic Hummus

Beer

Dinner:

1 slice of Sourdough Bread

Tofutti Cream Cheese and Trader joe's eggless Egg Salad

Coconut Sorbet

Or, so the guy behind the counter at the Shoreline theatres claims. This might have been one of those cases though where I was depending on the kindness of strangers, and probably not the better for it.

Quick food journal post today only, since I'm trying to stay off the computer as much as possible this week.

Breakfast:
Odwalla Grapefruit Juice
Organic "Fruit Loops" with some Fruity Pebbes thrown in for good measure (Yes, the S.O. bought the Fruity Pebbles.)
Organic Rice Milk

Lunch:
Tortilla Chips
Leftover Vegan Chili over Organic Golden Potatoes, with some Corn and Guacamole added for good measure

Dinner:
Pasta Aglio Olio with Canellini Beans

Snack:
Movie Popcorn...no butter added, so the counter guy swears it's just oil that makes the popcorn yellow.

Do we believe him?

Thursday night was BlogHer's holiday party...mostly just a meet-up at the Cafe Royale in San Francisco. We couldn't buy everyone drinks, but we did arrange for food, and the Cafe did a nice job of putting out a reasonable party spread. Kristy, BlogHer's event planner, made a special point to make sure they had vegan food available...so the usual suspects were on hand...hummus and pita, chips and guacamole, dried fruits and nuts. What was cute was how they had little placards identifying the vgean foods. Including one saying "Vegan Almonds" next to a bowl of almonds. "Vegan Dried Fruit." "Vegan Pecans." Kind of cracked me up.

Breakfast:
Puffins Cereal
Dried Cranberries
Organic Rice Milk
Organic Pineapple Juice

Lunch (Leftover Chinese food):
Spring Roll
Braised Tofu
Veggie Fried Rice (no egg)

Snack:
Vegan Chocolate Cake (finally finished it off, thank God!)

Noshing at the party:
Diet Coke
Vegan Pita & Hummus
Vegan Nuts & Dried Fruit
Vegan Chips & Guacamole ;)

Actual Dinner when I got home:
Vegan Burrito