Is it just me…
or are more people are going plant-based?
I started reading restaurant menus (because that’s what I do for fun) to see who has veg-friendly offerings and it has really impressed me that most restaurants offer some sort of vegetarian/vegan dish that is more than pasta drowning in oily stir-fried vegetables.
It warms my plant-based, cleansing heart.
Jenn has also warmed my heart by hosting this month’s What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW) in the theme of vegetable.
Breakfast:
I post a lot of smoothies… most of them are really good despite their color. In case you ever questioned my honesty/sanity/taste-buds, I must admit to you that this smoothie was not great.
Blueberries do not go with avocado. The. End.
On happier note, I did get confirmation that my Valentine’s Roasted Beet and Orange Smoothie was indeed good. Check out this pic from reader Ashley, who tweeted: “The verdict is in… yummy!”
Thanks to Ashley for the feedback a lovely pic!
Lunch:
Monday night’s french-themed book club left me with some leftovers (thank god because I woke up LATE).
See that pretty stuffed tomato? I promise to share the recipe with you tomorrow. It was really friggin’ good… and deserving of it’s very own post. 🙂
I ate that atop a leftover eggplant-seitan stir-fry and some lentils.
Snacks:
Kombucha! Whole Foods was out of my favorite Buchi Fire, but they were having a sale on GT’s. I was sad to see this bottom of this bottle.
Snack time was a bag full of veggies with a simple, herb-y Provençal dip left over from the par-tay. I loved the colors in this dish, and the briny saltiness from the capers and sun-dried tomatoes were perfect paired with crisp veggies for dipping. (Recipe at the bottom of this post)
How cute is the reusable baggie? My mom got it for me… it’s from Snack Taxi, but I think she got it at The Container Store. I’m going green left and right!
Dinner:
I felt like I needed more raw food in my life after a heavier lunch, so dinner was a colorful salad. A massive, colorful salad. This was not served on a tiny salad plate:
In my ensalada:
- Arugula
- Broccoli and radish sprouts
- Shredded brussels (raw)
- Grapefruit
- Beets
- French green beans
- Cucumber
- Red onion
- Tempeh croutons
- Lemon-thyme vinaigrette
- Sprinkle of cardamom, salt, and pepper
If you haven’t eaten beets with grapefruit before, you should do so immediately. I’m not talking those sour grapefruits – get the vibrant pink sweet ‘fruits that are in season right now. #Nom
Dessert:
This Sweet Potato Pie Chia Pudding I posted earlier this month made an appearance. I added a pinch of cardamom to the mix last night, which was fabulous. However…
I didn’t take a picture because I was too pissed at myself for doing this:
Another one bites the dust…
At least I’d just had a relaxing Hour of Happiness after work so the string of words that came outta my mouth weren’t as bad as they could have been. 😉
Diffusion de Tomate Provençal (Provençal Tomato Spread)
Modified from this recipe by Kathleen Flynn
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic, pressed or finely chopped
- 2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated and chopped
- 15 Nicoise olives (or Kalamata), chopped
- 2 tsp capers, chopped
- 2 T rosemary
- 1/2 -1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 C fresh basil, chiffonade (cut into thin strips)
Warm olive oil over medium heat in a small pan. Add bell pepper and onions, and sauté until soft. Add garlic and cook a minute more until fragrant. Add chopped tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, capers, rosemary, red pepper flakes, and vinegar and cook over low heat for another 7-8 mins. Remove from heat.
When cool, add basil. Add pepper to taste.
Note: This can be made up to 2 days in advance. If making in advance, do not add basil until just before serving. Taste again and adjust spices as they settle.
This is delicious with crackers, veggie sticks, or even atop grilled tofu or chicken.
Serves 8-10 as an appetizer/dip.
***
The floor is still sticky from that spill. I swear I’ll clean it up before the next dinner at my house tonight.
Can anyone relate.. any recent mishaps?
Do you find that the world is becoming more vegetarian and/or vegan-friendly?
Huge salads always make me feel energized after a heavy lunch, too. Love those veggies! I’m sorry to hear about your stevia incident. My stevia is so precious to me, too, that I can totally relate to your frustration. However, I’m sure your delicious chia pudding made up for it.
Thanks! the pudding made up for it while I was enjoying it… but this morning I was back to sadness. And a sticky floor. LOL!
The salad sounds like such a yummy combo of ingredients! Looks like a good, veggie-filled day of eats!
Ooooh that looks JUST like what I might need to make for Book Club this weekend.
In other news, do tell more about this seitan stir fry, please. I think I know what I will be making at my first Whole Foods cooking class entitled “Make Your Own Seitan” (although I wanted to call it “Ride with the Devil”), but I am always willin to change things up…
I didn’t do anything fancy – literally just stir-fried eggplant, broccolini, garlic, onion, olive oil, lemon, and herbs de provence. I added the (store bought) seitan at the end and cooked it until it was just heated through. Easy and tasty!
I want to take your class!
I have never tried seitan before and I’m very intrigued by it. I know you can make it yourself at home. I must try that some time.
I’ve seen those recipes. This was my first time having it at home so I just bought the stuff at Whole Foods, but I’d love to make my own next time!
ooooh, your smashed bottle of stevia breaks my heart, that stuff is expensive! I’m curious what went into your blueberry avocado smoothie- I’ve actually had that combo work quite well!
It was spinach, blueberries, avocado, unsweetened vanilla coconut milk, cinnamon, stevia… I think that’s it. It wasn’t terrible, just wasn’t good either.
My list of things to try just keeps growing. Now added, seitan and kombucha.
You HAVE to try kombucha! Added bonus: my favorite brand come is a beer bottle. I love the looks I get at work. 🙂
I eat (and post) a lot of smoothies, too. I just really like trying new combos! 😀
That is such a cute reusable bag!
whenever i have a heavy lunch like that i’ll usually crave a big salad for dinner too! yours looks great! also that provencial stuff (or however you spell it) sounds really tasty. i love the salty briny flavor of capers (and olives!) too..
Right! I should have talked more about the olives. I normally get Kalamata, but the Nicose had a slightly sweeter/milder taste that I loved!
Great eats! Happy WIAW 🙂
That reusable bad is such a great idea! I cringe every time I see a plastic wrap goes down the bin 🙁
Great recipes!
Everything looks tasty, especially the tomato spread. Glad I’m not the only clumsy one!!
I will not put blueberries with avocado ever… I appreciate the tip haha
Mmm that tomato spread looks incredible! You are not the only clumsy one.. I knocked my bowl of oatmeal into the side of the microwave the other day while I was trying to heat it up in there and it spilled over everywhere! A mess yes and I lost some precious oatmeal! The horror haha
That’s terrible! Then you have to clean the microwave too (which I hate).
That dip reminds me of an italian salsa! Looks delicious!
And I definitely think the world is becoming more veggie/vegan friendly, however, I find that the majority of people I come into contact with still can’t differentiate between the two. When I tell people I’m a vegetarian, the first questions I get are, “Do you still eat cheese? What about fish? Eggs?” Good thing I like to educate people! 🙂
That always amazes me. I asked a restaurant recently if they offered vegetarian items and the guy asked “do you eat fish?” VEGetarian. Not FISHetarian.
I was filling up a mug of hot water at work at the water cooler and somehow the mug literally flew out of my hands and onto the floor. In front of like 5 people no less.
Oh no – hot water too! At least you didn’t get burned!
Mmm, I love all things tomato, that spread looks awesome. Love those reusable bags, too! I’ve been meaning to pick up a few. We wash our plastic bags and reuse them or stick to containers, but those bags are too cute!
Is it ok that all I got out of that was that you have cute feet? 🙂 <3
Yes because you actually left a comment today! 🙂 XOXO
i LOVE my reuseable snack bags!
Everything looks amazing! Especially the dip. I love anything briny like that. I bet it would be delicious with some warm pitas too!
Thank you! Warm pita would be fantastic here – or a baguette to keep it French. 🙂
I think the world is opening up to vegetarians (less so vegans) but it is still in baby steps. I still find it atrocious how terrible the vegan pickings are in restos unless I go to a vegan-friendly place. Those are popping up more often, it seems, which is great.
But why go to a resto when you can make a dip as delicious as this at home?? It looks super tasty. 🙂
It’s definitely regional too – I am forever jealous of the NYC and west coast bloggers’ restaurant recaps.
Thank you. 🙂 Eating at home is the way to go for a healthy diet – and it saves SO much money.
That spread does look so so good! Don’t feel bad about dropping the stevia, I flung pasta sauce all over the kitchen the other night because my brain just decided that holding the spoon I was stirring it with wasn’t important anymore and I had to flail to recover it. Stupid brain!
I’ve done that before too! Did you just stand there afterwards wondering WTF you just did that for? Oy.
I’m digging all the veggies and the fiber-licious power your meals and snacks seem to have. And I can’t wait to see the stuffed tomato post – looks SUPER yummy!
Thank you! This cleanse has definitely improved my digestion. 🙂
I definitely think the world is becoming more vegetarian/vegan friendly which is awesome! Also- that reusable baggie is sweet! I’ve gotta get some of those. I go through ziplocks like they’re going out of style.
I love coming here to your site, always so many tasty treats. I am definitely going to make this tomato spread it looks delicious. Happy Day!
You make me smile. Thank you. 🙂
Cute bag!!
All this food is making me hungry =)
Bummer about the stevia… hopefully you have another bottle =)
I have a marble window sill that sticks out in my bedroom (where, coincidentally, I choose to put my bed) Last night I bent over to pick up a fallen chapstick and BAM. Ow.
I love my reusable bags! I use WasteNot Saks. I love that they come in both regular and snack size and that the velcro goes all the way across the top. I do have one problem with reusable baggies – they aren’t as sealed as regular ziplocks. So anything I put in there and don’t eat that day gets stale 🙁
Doh! That must have left a knot. 🙁
That’s a good point about the bags – I have just used them to transport veggies to work. To store things at home I am the tupperware queen.
Snack Taxi?! Haha I am so in love with that.
Alright! Now I believe you why the tomatoes were your favorites! 🙂
I was roasting squash, dropped the sheet and in the process squashed the squash underneath on the floor, bent the hot cookie sheet out of shape and burned my thumb. Glorious me.
And it’s hard to say – coming back from Germany, I am again amazed at all the options available here, where in Germany there’s hardly anything.
Dammit, that was me again 😉
LOL! you’re computer wants you to be a creeper. 🙂
That sounds like a terrible squash fiasco. Could you save any of it? I once dropped a pan of scones in similar fashion… wasn’t pretty.
Yeah, one was still okay, but the other half… yeeeah. Plus the sheet was a goner.
That dip looks fab…perfect now that the weather is warming up! I went for lunch today and one of the dishes we ordered was a beet, orange and chevre salad..it tasted out of this world! Citrus+beets= winning combo!
Sorry about the mishap! I broke a bottle of freshly ground pepper over the weekend- I’m not sure what irked me more: the loss of pepper or cleaning up the mess 😉
That sounds delicious! One of my favorite places here does a similar combo, but with avocado and wheatberries.
I think the mess of pepper would bother me most… did you sneeze through the whole clean up?!
Stop teasing us with pics of the stuffed tomatoes and give us the recipe!! 🙂 The tomato spread looks absolutely delicious though too, so thank you for sharing that one.
You know what? I love reading restaurant menus too, especially if we’re going to a new city. I’ll peruse menu after menu until I find all the perfect restaurants for us! Its fun.
Sorry! I promise it will be up tomorrow morning!!! 🙂
I’m glad I’m not the only one with a menu-reading affliction.
See that? That’s me, raising my hand as a fellow mishap-prone mess maker. I nearly always have sticky spots on the kitchen floor (which I like to blame on the kids) and just this morning I dumped a container of pineapple onto the floor instead of in my smoothie. So heartbreaking. And sticky. I suppose I should probably mop it today.
The real test: did you rinse the pineapple and eat it any way? 😉
I need to use the mop after you, please…
Knowing how long it had been since I last mopped, I couldn’t bring myself to use what was on the floor. There were a few survivors still in the bowl, so I just used those. Still haven’t mopped though.
I haven’t either… my shoes make the sticky floor noise where the Stevia died.
mmm I want that dip, it sounds delicious! And your mani/pedi reminded me that I need to get one desperately, haha.
Looking forward to that tomato recipe! I have never tried the kombucha, should do that. I definitely think that most places are becoming more vegetarian friendly. My husband and I went out to dinner a few weeks ago and they had an entire vegan tasting menu that was fantastic!
Kombucha can be an acquired taste – I would recommend starting with one of the milder GT’s flavors like Strawberry or Citrus. Let me know how you like it!
A vegan tasting menu sounds wonderful! Many of the nicer restaurants here offer at least a vegetarian menu – and they are are delicious!
I’ll be waiting anxiously for that stuffed tomato recipe- it looks so, so good!
I agree, restaurants are catching on to the plant-based concent – it’s a good thing, because my life as a plant-strong chica is much easier because of it! =)
And I love that snack bag, it’s on my list the next time I see one. Such a great idea!
I spilled a thing of almond extract once…oh lord, that stuff does NOT smell good once it is 100X concentrated in your kitchen and lingers there for days. Looking forward to that tomato recipe, it sounds tasty!! As does eggplant and seitan stir fry–is there a recipe involved for that as well??
That stuff is expensive too! I’d cry if I dropped mine.
Sarah asked about the seitan too, but I was really just throwing stuff in a pan since it was my first time using it. I used olive oil to stir fry eggplant, broccolini, garlic, onion, olive oil, lemon, and herbs de provence on the stove top. My seitan was store bought, so all I had to do was add it at the end and cook until hot. Easy and tasty!
Well that sounds so simple! May encourage me to break out the crockpot and make a batch of seitan too–ALMOST as easy as store bought, and so cheap.
That is a gorgeous spread–and I think you’re right that more vegetarian dishes are available these days. I ate a ton of vegetarian food in Seattle and it was often better than my husband’s meat-based dishes.
Hi Laura! That orange smoothie sounds good! I will have to try it! I also need to try this Kombucha I keep hearing about! Happy WIAW!
Let me know if you do! I’m a little in love with my V-Day drink. 🙂
Happy WIAW!
Love this theme of plant and healthiness you are going through – this spread looks simply delicious 😀
Can’t wait to see more!!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: 5 Min Wrap Pizza
Thank you! It’s surprised me how much fun it is to create interesting vegan eats.
I SO totally agree with you – I love that I have non-pasta options, especially since I can’t eat most pastas! Love your eats!
YUM! Your eats look so healthy and delicious! And I’ll admit – I drink all my smoothies but sometimes the weird combos are too much, even for me! 😉 Love that little reusable bag too – so cute stoked with veggies! 😀
Good to know I’m not alone it taking smoothies too far… I totally finished it any way. 🙂
I can’t wait for the eggplant-seitan recipe. I’ve been really meaning to make my own seitan using the hungry hungry hippie log method. I’ve had all the ingredients for months. I get scared off easily by any recipes involving flours though. I don’t know what it is.
I read menus for fun too! haha, my desktop is full of menu pdf’s. It drives my bf nuts. And I argee with the more plant based thing you are finding. Usually bb likes anything, my health food restaurants included, but he is a very big meat and potatoes guy so I love that we are able to find more places now that we are both really happy at.
Oh gosh… I replied to a couple of comments with the veggies that went in it, but I really didn’t even track how much of what I was throwing in pan!
Your desktop cracks me up. I always feel bad for people when we go out to dinner because I need a 5-10 mins of silence while i digest the menu. Followed by another 15 mins to quiz the waiter. 🙂
The world is shifting to a plant-based diet. Gosh, I hope that is true!
Thanks for sharing your great and not-so-great recipes (and for being honest!). Noted blueberries not good plus avocado. I can also tell you that cranberries + blueberries + strawberries = really weird aftertaste.
Can’t wait to try your provencale dip. Happy WIAW!
Thank you! I could see where the cranberries would send that one over the edge. I’ve had some smoothie fail run-ins with those. 🙂
Yum! All those dishes look amazing! Thanks for entering the 21 Day Live Vegan giveaway – I can only imagine the yummy plant based foods you would be cooking if you won. If anyone is considering going vegan or wants to take part in a 21 Day Vegan Detox enter this giveaway http://livehealthysimply.com/2012/02/21daylivevegan/ 🙂
That spread looks amazing. Im so saving that recipe! Happy WIAW….I missed out this week due to the Carnival craziness here….wow what a weekend!
xoxo from Trinidad
First off, lovely fingers and toe nails young lady! 🙂 What a drag about your vanilla… I had one of those days yesterday; broke a delicate Japanese spoon that I adore… what are you going to do? Just stuff… your beet orange smoothie is smashing and I love the Provencal dip!
Thank you, ma’am. 🙂
That’s so sad about the spoon! At least I can replace the stevia… 🙁
It all looks so good. I love giant raw salads like that one – and a plate, not a salad bowl, is definitely required. Let’s hope the veggie thing keeps gathering steam!
I have absolutely not noticed more restaurants offering vegetarian/vegan selections. At least not in New Hampshire. We are seeing a lot of gluten free popping up though. I really wish we had more vegan-friendly restaurants. Love all the foods you made, they look delish.
I have some reusable sandwich bags like that and love them. Feels good that you can clean them and not have to throw them out. YAY for your mom!
The Super Green flavor of Kombucha is my favorite!! I make the bottle last two days, because it’s so good, but so expensive.
I feel your pain about dropping the stevia. That is definitely something I would do- and once again- it ain’t cheap!
Anyway- all of your foods look incredible and are making my mouth water!
All of this looks seriously amazing! I love the days I have time to catch up on my favorite blogs, but I feel like I have missed so much on yours in recent history. You are on a roll!
Thank you! You have a great “excuse” for being behind. Congrats again!!!!
Lots of great recipes here 🙂 I love the Provençal Tomato Spread ! I think I will try that this weekend. Looking through your blog is quite inspirational !
Thank you so much! I’m flattered. 🙂 Please let me know how you like it if you do try it out!