Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Vamping up Convenience Foods & A Homemade Dressing!

I cheated.  I have been gnawing on some store bought vegan Sloppy Joe's from Fantastic Foods.  I had them on hand and my non-veg husband made some of his for himself so I thought I would make some of the vegan version, too.

As far as store bought goes - these are pretty good.  It's not something I eat a lot of.  Plus, I usually am not a fan of fake meats, anyways.  But these were pretty good.  I topped them with Vegan Rice Cheese Shreds from Galaxy Foods.  The shreds were pretty good, too.  The shreds melt MUCH better than their slices.  I'm not really a fan of their slices to be honest.  But in smaller quantities they are a good substitution.

Yesterday I left the house in a hurry - I was running a bit behind - so I grabbed some Tomato Soup - yes - in a can!  Eeeek!  But I found my secret stash of Nutritional Yeast and Hemp Hearts/Seeds in my desk and doctored it up a bit!  That is what you see here!  Tomato Soup with Nutritional Yeast and Hemp Hearts/Seeds.  It actually tasted MUCH BETTER with these additions than stand alone.  This certainly wasn't my first choice but it was what I had to work with because I didn't pre-plan my meal...at least I made an effort to pump up the nutritional value a little, I suppose!

After feeling a little guilty about these two processed (yet still vegan) meals - I decided to go in the kitchen last night and make a new-to-me dressing to use over the next several days.  I like to call this Tangy Avocado Dressing.  Here is what it has in it:
2 Avocadoes
1/2 Onion
1 T Minced Garlic
1 C Soy Milk
1/2 C Water
1/2 C Coconut Vinegar

It was pretty good but I might use less Vinegar next time...that was really why I added the water and more Soy Milk because it was too vinegar-E.  But I love the texture and color and hope to use some of it tonight and more tomorrow.

So here are just a few foods I have been messing around with.  In other Food Related News I think I am going to try an increase my intake of Magnesium and Potassium (en)rich(ed) foods to try and help me with my leg discomfort.  A few of you know the only fruit I cannot stomach is Bananas.  I have always hated them but I am going to try and force myself to eat them somehow.

Have you ever overcome certain food dislikes?  How did you do it?  Do tell!

4 comments:

  1. Oh don't be hard on yourself. Sounds like they weren't all that bad really. And having an indulgence now and again is ok.
    Your dressing sounds great!
    Hmmm I never liked bananas either. So I started putting them in smoothies and didn't mind them so much and then eventually I was able to eat them alone. I think baby steps, just keep trying to eat it until you like it. It works for me for the most part. But, there are just some foods you may never like (eggplant for me!)

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    1. I'm going to start putting them in Smoothies (I'll just have to plug my nose!LOL)

      Thanks!

      Baby Steps - For Sure!

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  2. No worries on the convenience foods, they're fine in moderation. :-) I tried those vegan burgers from Costco this week and was pretty impressed. Wow on bananas, I could live on those especially in smoothies and soft serve ice cream! Have you ever tried freezing them and making raw vegan soft serve in either a blender or food processor?

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    1. Yup! I'm trying to cut back on the 'lazy foods' LOL

      I might have to try the raw vegan ice cream with them! I was telling my husband about that the other day :)

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