Vegan Hot Dog

Okay, I know there's nothing super healthy about today's lunch, but there are a couple of reasons it ended up like this. One was that I was short on time last night and didn't have as much time as I would have liked to have spent preparing something for lunch today. And the second thing was just the fact that I had a burger yesterday and it really got me craving a hot dog. So there you go. This meal could actually be a lot more unhealthy than it is, especially if it was the non-vegan version, so at least I made the healthy choices where I could.

For the hot dog, I used a lite whole wheat hot dog bun to reduce the number of calories and simple carbs and increase the fiber content. I used Light Life's Smart Dogs for the hot dog and some Light Life Smart Chili to top it with. Both of these items are fat free, so that's good. I put the chili in the small blue container to keep it separated from the hot dog until I eat it so it wouldn't make the bun all soggy. On a side note, I used to use Texas Pete's Hot Dog Chili Sauce until I started wondering about one ingredient. All of the other non-meat cheap chili sauces that they sell at the grocery store contain beef fat. Texas Pete's is the only one I have found that lists no animal ingredients on the label. There was one ingredient though, "natural flavor" that caught my attention. I sent the company an e-mail and I will let you know what I hear back. I really hope that the "natural flavor" is referring to spices or something like that. We'll see.

No big salad today, I just went straight for the fries. They are, however, lower in fat because I prefer to bake them instead of fry them.

The small container up top holds some store-brand vegetarian (and vegan) baked beans. Some fresh chopped onion was added at home to give it a little more flavor. I forgot how much I liked baked beans. It's been so long since I had some. They are quite tasty. Yum. I noticed a recipe in Sarah Kramer's La Dolce Vegan last night that was some kind of spread for crackers that was made from baked beans. It sounded really interesting, and according to her it is very tasty. I might need to make it sometime.

To finish filling the lunchbox, I just threw in some raw walnuts, cashews and raisins again.

I was nowhere near my goal of trying to keep my lunchbox 50% raw today, or even at least 50% non-processed food. It's a meal I was craving though, that I haven't had yet this year, and it's vegan.

Besides trying to eat healthier, I also like to show people who aren't vegan, who might be considering it, that giving up animal products doesn't mean that you can't still eat the foods you like. There are so many products out there now, no matter what you like to eat, there is probably a vegan version of it. Yes, it may be highly processed, but it will, most likely, still be better for you than the non-vegan version. And it will DEFINITELY be better for the animals.

I will probably be eating out tomorrow because I am supposed to go and spend the first half of the day judging a science fair at a local elementary school. I did it last year and it took until something like 1PM just to get done. There were a LOT of science projects and you have to speak to each child individually and let them tell you about their project. I will probably just eat out at a restaurant on my way back to work. It's a pretty long drive (about 30-45 minutes I think) from work to this school, so it will be a lot later in the day tomorrow when I finally get to post. I WILL, however, be doing a post and including pics of what I order. If I get to eat where I am planning on eating, mmmmmmmmmm, it will be so good. And no, I am not planning on eating at Cootie Brown's again, not that I would mind, but that's not what I am planning. Just check back in later tomorrow afternoon if you wanna' see what I've been up to.

Thanks for checking in today. Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow afternoon!