20 posts tagged “whole foods”

After years of hearing of perhaps one mythic place, up in San Francisco, where one could get vegan donuts; after settling for vegan donut holes at Whole Foods...tasty enough, but a bit dense and not really the point; after years of seeing "vegan cupcakes take over the world: Well, welcome to the era of vegan donuts.

Hat tip to Atlanta's Vegan Examiner, Alyse, for pointing me to my latest iPhone application download, VeganXpress, in this post about vegan web sites and apps.

They ask that pithy question right here.

Last night a good friend came over. He'd been in Europe for tw months this summer, so I hadn't seen him in ages. being Friday (and us both having gotten so old!) we didn't have ambitious plans for the evening, just a little dinner.

I've been cranky since Tuesday about food, exercise, my body etc. I am tired of being living proof that being a vegan is NOT a synonym for anorexia. Seriously, I should be made an ambassador to every person who utters that "vegans look so sickly" meme. Because I, on the other hand, am, shall we say, over-"healthy."

I know I haven't exercised in the last couple of months. I know I could eat more veggies. I know that when I make good home-cooked meals I tend to eat too large a portion, going fork-to-fork with my much larger S.O. But in general I don't consider myself to eat in a lavish, gluttonous way...mostly I'm pretty simple.

So, I'm trying to figure out how to turn this aggravation into action when I'm still in start-up, work at least 12 hours per day mode.

-On Tuesday I stopped at Whole Foods and picked up a salad bar (with three protein sources) for lunch...more salads, fewer burritos should be my mantra. Even when those burritos are vegan burritos and packed with protein themselves.

-On Tuesday I also stopped at Whole Foods again on my way home and did a major shopping, focusing on fresh fruits and veggies I can eat without a lot of prep work. Stone fruit are in season, which is wonderful...if occasionally messy :)

-Yesterday I tried a new recipe...this time one I saw in my local newspaper and clipped out. Can't remember the last time I did that! It was Piquant Tomatillo and Jicama Salad

The only change I made to the recipe is that I'm not a big cilantro fan, so I actually took out some of those frozen parsley cubes you can get at Trader Joes and chopped them up instead. Could have used basil too. It worked just fine and was quite Piquant, just as the recipe name promises.

I also bought the ingredients to try a couple more recipes over the next week. Perhaps my problem has been exactly that I've stuck to a simple food routine...which can begin to equal boring...which can begin to encourage mindless eating.

Big thing still to figure out: What is a form of exercise that a) I will enjoy and b) I will find time for? Going walking once a week with one of my friends is nice, but not exactly sufficient.

I'm a little tired of being a burrito-eating, workaholic couch potato, but not quite sure what I want to be instead yet!

You may have noticed I'm a creature of habit. I hope I haven't just started a new one.

Now, whenever I got to Whole Foods down my way in the South Bay and have need of a dessert, I pick up the Black China Bakery vegan chocolate cake. It's dense and rich. This is the Bakery that made my wedding cakes. I love this cake.

It has always disturbed me that when I go to buy cakes up near my office for office birthdays, they don't carry the Black China cake. Instead they carry a vegan cake with a bunch of fruit on top made in their own bakery, and in my opinion, severely lacking.

Until yesterday, when i saw a new breed of vegan cake in the Whole Foods bakery case: A Vegan Mousse Cake.

And it was yummity yummy.

Oh noes! Must. Not. Seek. Excuses. To. "Need". Cake!!!

Breakfast:
Soy Latte
Vegan Scone

Lunch:
Whole Foods salad bar, including Tofu, Edamame, Corn, Beets, Broccoli, Pumpkin Seeds, Giganta Beans, Celery
Cashews
Vegan Mousse Cake

Dinner:
Russet Potato with Corn, Soy Margarine, Tofutti Sour Cream and Nutritional Yeast

But dayum I love getting a big salad from their salad bar.

It's a quandary, and I limit myself to usually no more than one visit per week. And sometimes no visits per week.

Because $15 for a salad is too much, even if it's healthy and often fills me up enough that dinner becomes a mior nibbling affair.

Tuesday I felt entitled to such a salad. And it was good.

Breakfast:
Soy Latte

Lunch:
Diet Coke
Salad with Tofu, Edamame, Giganta Beans, Pumpkin Seeds (see all the protein?), Organic Romaine, Carrots, Celery, Mushrooms, Beets and Cauliflower (see all the veggies?), Corn (and some old-fashioned carbs) along with Vinaigrette (there's the fat!)

Snack:
Vegan Donut Holes

Dinner:
Organic Gold Potato, topped with Morningstar Farms "Steak" strips, sauteed with Garlic, Corn, Olive Oil, Nutritional Yeast and Tofutti Sour Cream.

This was a week of extreme Ups and Downs when it came to vegan food accessibility and quality:

The ups:

• Last Sunday we went to a friend's house, and they actually cooked a vegan quiche for me. I don't think I've EVER had vegan quiche. It was quite dense and heavy, so I'm not sure exactly what she made it with, but man, you gotta appreciate that kind of hospitality, huh?
• While the hotel in which I stayed while in NYC this week had MANY issues (see my blog post about my hotel hell here) one nice thing is that although they had no room service they did provide menus for local places that would deliver to your room. Amongst the places: Zen Palate, a 20 year institution in NY, and the first truly veg*n restaurant I ever at at, and a Burrito place that actually offered soy cheese and tofu sour cream, so you could veg*n up every kind of dis they had. I have had nachos (once a staple food) only once since I went vegan...at the Saturn Cafe in Santa Cruz during our honeymoon. I was in seventh heaven. (Yes, I am a sad case who stayed in my hotel each evening, ordered dinner in, worked and watched the American Idol finales. So, sue me.)
• While the Whole Foods Chelsea has a pathetic salad bar compared to Whole Foods salad bar here in the Bay Area (I mean, how can you really call it a salad bar when you have abut two fresh veggies to actually choose from, while mostly offering mixed, prepared salads instead) they did offer a vegan "chicken" salad that I've never seen here in CA that was quite tasty.
• I got to eat dinner with the S.O. at the Apple campus cafeteria. It was literally two minutes before closing when we walked in, so they had already cleared away a lot of stuff, including the vegan cookies and vegan entree choices that the S.O. swears they always carry. I did, however, have a very nice salad bar (with a much better variety of veggie than Whole Foods Chelsea, I might add.)
  

The downs:

• Starbucks in NYC do not carry the vegan scone I am now so addicted to from my local place.
  
• I neglected to give the conference organizers of the event I was attending the heads up that I was vegan, so there was no food for me. And the catering person looked at me like I was an alien when I asked if it was possible to get one of the veggie wraps without cheese inside.
• The combination of the two "downs" above meant that on both Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't really eat to much until the aforementioned wonderful order-in meals I got at my hotel.
• The result of Down #3 meant that when I was doing my usual if-it's-less-than-30-blocks-you-should-just-walk approach to getting around Manhattan, carrying my heavy laptop bag to boot, I was feeling both my lack of proper eating and my age!
  

Other ups and Downs were mostly all Ups:

• My presentation at MediaBistro Circus went well
• I did a radio interview on KPFK Radio in SoCal [Link is right to the MP3 file]
  
• And yesterday, in preparation for a long weekend which I intend to spend mostly relaxing if I can, I went to Whole paycheck and bought out the store.
  

The only Downs?

• I forgot to submit my monthly Silicon Veggie column on Wednesday per my official deadline. I have to write it this weekend, but I haven't given one thought to it, and have NO idea what to write about. Any ideas?
• Tomorrow at noon I'm meeting my whole family to celebrate three birthdays: my brother's, my nephew's and my brother-in-law's. I haven't bought them presents, and I guess I'll have to leave the house today to do so (which I wasn't planning to do...leave the house, that is.) Again, any ideas?

How was your week?

I can complain about the expensive salad bar at Whole Paycheck, and $10 is a lot. but the truth is that I didn't need to eat dinner after chowing down on that fine piece of work, complete with multiple sources of protein. I don't think that's unhealthy, do you?

Breakfast:
Soy Latte
Organic Banana

Snack:
Cashews

Lunch:
Salad, including Tofu, Edamame, Giganta Beans, Pumpkin Seeds, Corn, Artichoke Hearts, Celery, Tomato, and Oil & Vinegar

Snack:
Cashews
Fritos

I've run out of the little things I rely on...like the vegan margarine that I like. Like seitan, which always livens up any meal. I'm sure there are more thing I am out of, since I am engaging in that open-fridge-door-stare-in-it-close-door-open-pantry-door-stare-in-it behavior usually reserved for teenagers.

Whole Foods on a Saturday? Shudder. But I think it might have to be done. ironically, it is the hug new one in Cupertino that is actually less crowded because it is so big, and they have hired so many people. I think I'll go there.

Tonight we're meeting friends for Cuban food. They have but one item on the menu I can eat, but it is a good one, so I'm content.

And here's my conflict for the weekend: I have SOOO much work to do, but I haven't yet started my book club book that we're meeting to discuss a week from Wednesday. Read or Work?

Breakfast:
Organic Grapefruit
2 slices of Sourdough Bread
Organic Avocado
Teese "cheese" (On second try I'm deciding that this is best when melted into a sauce, like the spaghetti sauce I made last week. Trying to eat it spread on hot toast was, well, it was what inspired me to break out the avocado, let's just put it that way.)

Lunch:
Organic Golden Potatoes with Nutritional Yeast (Yes, really, I just sprinkled the yeast on it and ate it because I'm out of the margarine I like.)
Chips with Salsa Verde

Dinner:
Leftover Salad with Roasted Corn Salsa, Organic Tomatoes, Organic Romaine, and Organic Wasabi Dressing
2 slices of Sourdough Bread with Organic Peanut Butter and Organic Jam
Fritos and Bean Dip (Yes, this is what my ever-resourceful hunter-gatherer S.O. brought home with him...nothing like dinner from 7-11.)