Tag: vegan

Laundromat Diaries July 8th 2022

Posted on by jsunrain

I did do laundry last week but I was tired and headachy and decided to go home during each cycle. Also, someone had almost all the machines used, I believe I got the last washer. Not sure.

Thankfully this week there was only one woman here when I came in, and shortly after me another woman. Plenty of washers available. Only distraction is the worst of 80s music. There is plenty of 80s music I like, but the radio station they have on doesn’t hardly play any of it. If I was the only one here I might blast some delicious goth music!

Dinner tonight was the meatball and provolone sub from Cousins. Cousins is my favorite sub shop. Only thing is they don’t wrap their hot subs in foil to keep them hot. It was lukewarm by the time I got settled into the laundromat. It was still good, just could have been better.

This last week for a few days I went on a social media detox. Not because of social media itself, but because it is a major time suck and I wanted to devote time to reading, knit/crochet, podcasts and finding my inner self or however you want to call it. It has actually been kind of nice.

The book I am reading this week is Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There”. It is a really good read so far. Not boring at all. Might be if you hate nature I suppose. Is there anyone that hates nature? Can’t imagine. My best friend, an avid birder, his birthday is at the end of the month, I bought him a copy.

A podcast I have been listening to when I am not reading is the one from Joanne Lee Molinaro|The Korean Vegan. Even if you aren’t vegan, the podcast is more about navigating life. A couple of episodes dip into the veganism, but not overwhelmingly so. I have her cookbook The Korean Vegan which is lovely even if you aren’t vegan, and I am not, but I dab into it. Along with recipes are family stories. Get the cookbook and/or listen to the podcast. I highly recommend both! Korean Vegan Podcast

Just before putting my clothes in the dryer another woman came in. The first woman I am guessing is done and the second probably elsewhere during her wash cycle. The one man I see most Friday’s came in after I put my clothes in the dryer. So now there are three of us, but all is quiet and peaceful. Depending I don’t mind some commotion, people having conversations, and children running around. I was once one of those children when going to the laundromat with my mom when I was 5. I remember the adults smiling at me as I joyfully made the rounds.

I had errands to run after laundry and it would help me finish my Apple Watch circles and finish my 10,000 steps, but I saw 35 minutes before my dry cycle was done my watch battery was almost dead. So I went home and managed to get it back up to 30%. Just enough to get me through the rest of the day. Came back to the laundromat and got my clothes. The man I see almost every week was finishing up around the same time. I then ran my errands and met my exercise goals.

December 2021Vegan for a Week Day 4

Posted on by jsunrain

Breakfast was toast. But by lunch I decided I had it with tofu and got tater tots. Still vegan but that isn’t why I am doing vegan, more on that in a bit. Dinner was Barilla Red Lentil Rotini pasta with a pasta sauce made with fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, spices, tomato sauce. Next time I will use canned tomatoes. I love red lentils and I cooked the pasta two more minutes longer than the package said, but the texture was still harder than Al dente in my opinion.

First let’s talk about emotional eating. Today it was like everything was being thrown at me and I couldn’t dodge any of it. I wanted all the food in the vending machine. Of course I didn’t have any. I am sure emotional eating is how I get to be obese and diabetic. Vegan is a tool to eat more fresh foods, though it can be done unhealthy like those tater tot’s. Still, how to deal with stress when you are chained to your desk with too much work to do.

My history with tofu. Before this year I had it 3-4 times at people’s houses and just HATED it. People would say oh you haven’t had it cooked right. Like how many times do I have to eat it before you leave me alone! This last year I have started following a lot of vegans on YouTube. One of them is Nisha Vora of Rainbow Plant life with her crispy sesame tofu. It was sooo good. But I made the mistake of making three dishes that featured tofu and it turns out I have my limits. I would be okay never touching tofu again. But it is good to know there are ways I can tolerate it.

I may get through all vegan tomorrow, but then I am done. I still want to incorporate more vegan meals in my life though and with the new breed of vegan YouTubers, I think that is quite possible.

December 2021 Vegan for a Week Day 3

Posted on by jsunrain

I didn’t take so many photos today because it would turn repetitive. Toast for breakfast, ground tofu bulgogi for lunch, snack of gingerbread pancake square with peanut butter, dinner was a roasted potato with ketchup.

Should I do this next month, and I likely will, there are changes I would make. One problem is I made three very similar recipes and I am getting bored. These are recipes I have been itching to make and they are all incredibly good, just should have only done one for this week. That is why I threw together the potato in a quick sloppy hurry. Turned out good though.

For next month I want to plan more variety, meals that can be frozen so I can make them 2-3 weeks ahead. Remember that this does not have to be complicated. I am still planning on doing four more days, but I did myself in a little by really wanting to try all those recipes.

The only thing I am really missing so far are eggs, mayo, and my home made breakfast burritos. Junk food too, but it has been nice to consider junk food off limits because I don’t know what is vegan. Don’t tell me. I am doing this for health reasons.

December 2021 Week of Vegan Day 2

Posted on by jsunrain

I started off with toast for breakfast, but this morning I tried the vegan butter. I am a girl who loves real butter and won’t touch margarine with a 10 foot pole. I tried the Earth Balance butter and it was quite good. I also put some peaches on top. I probably won’t keep that up.

For a snack I did the gingerbread sheet pan pancake with peanut butter on top.

For lunch I did the Miss Kim’s Fried Tofu. I brought in all the components separate, tofu, sauce, rice. Yes, I have a hot pot at work, microwaves aren’t good for everything. First put in the tofu to try to re-crisp it. That didn’t work so well but it did re-heat it. Maybe I need to add a touch of oil. Then I put in the rice and sauce. Most people are still working from home, but my coworker and I have to work in the office but we sit far from each other. She came to visit my desk and said it smelled good.

I came home to cook a couple more things I didn’t get to on the weekend. The blistered green beans. I would say where from, but I would make so many changes it wouldn’t be the same. It was still good though. Then I made Wil Yeung of Yeung Man Cooking’s Ground Tofu Bulgogi. Just delicious! I had it for dinner tonight but this will be my lunch the rest of the week. The recipe called for 200 grams of tofu but my tofu block was over 400 grams, so I doubled the recipe. So glad I did. I love all the cooking I did, but I love this one the best. https://youtu.be/bOpzP0ldlBI

I think I am done cooking for a few days. I will still be posting what I eat everyday. Later this week I will make a pasta sauce to go with red lentil pasta I bought. I am just going to wing the pasta sauce recipe.

December 2021 Week of Vegan Day One

Posted on by jsunrain

I once did a week of vegan years ago. It went fine. It was easier than a week of paleo or three days of Whole 30. I have no intention of being 100% vegan, but I want to eat more vegan meals. For me it is a way to challenge my bad eating habits and eat more nutritious food. I wouldn’t normally consider this. One, I believe moderation is best no matter what or how you eat. Two, more importantly for me, there is a new generation of vegan food creators. I mostly watch them on YouTube. Nisha Vora of Rainbow Plant Life, Wil Yeung of Yeung Man Cooking, Joanne Lee Molinaro of The Korean Vegan, and Andrew and Larisha of Make it Dairy Free. While you might still have some unusual ingredients, at least for us non vegans, their foods look much more delicious and approachable than the vegan foods of old where you might think you are eating like a rabbit.

I am thinking once a month I will do a week of vegan and outside of that one or two vegan meals a day. For now don’t hold me to that. At least this week I will do vegan. As usual I am over planning and over ambitious and when it comes down to it I wonder what I am doing. But it doesn’t have to be hard, I made it that way because there are so many recipes I want to try. I did three of them anyway. Gingerbread sheet pancakes by Nisha Vora, Miss Kim’s Fried Tofu by Ji Hye Kim of Miss Kim Restaurant in Ann Arbor MI, recipe published by Food & Wine Magazine, and Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu (Kkanpoong Tofu) by Joanne Lee Molinaro of The Korean Vegan. I will provide all the links I can for right now. Web site, YouTube, recipe links.

The gingerbread pancakes are a part of a pdf link provided in the description of the YouTube Video:

Rainbow Plant Life web site

https://youtube.com/c/RainbowPlantLife

Pancakes https://youtu.be/LSiVJzaoej4

Miss Kim’s Fried Tofu https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/miss-kims-fried-tofu

The Korean Vegan https://thekoreanvegan.com/

Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu (Kkanpoong Tofu) https://thekoreanvegan.com/spicy-crunchy-garlic-tofu-kkampoong-tofu/

The Korean Vegan YouTube channel https://youtube.com/c/TheKoreanVegan

Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu on YouTube https://youtu.be/2VwK220z8Tc

Yeung Man Cooking web site https://yeungmancooking.com/

Yeung Man Cooking YouTube https://youtube.com/c/WILYEUNG

Make it Dairy Free web site https://makeitdairyfree.com/

Make it Dairy Free YouTube https://youtube.com/c/MakeItDairyFree

Gingerbread sheet pancake
Breakfast was whole wheat toast with peanut butter and peaches
I the left the sauce for Spicy and Crunchy Garlic Tofu and on the right the sauce for Miss Kim’s Fried Tofu. By the way, I have always hated tofu, but crispy and fried tofu is quite good!
Spicy and Crunchy Garlic Tofu with rice.

It is my intention to post daily this week what I am eating. And if you want to do a week of vegan you can also keep it simple like with toast with toppings of fruit or vegetables, a nice rice bow, a salad. These recipes looked so good I had to try them!