Thursday, February 01, 2007

Amy's Organic Beans & Rice Burrito

I have noticed that there are basically four different types of posts that I can do when it comes to vegan lunches. First, there's the lunch that requires recipes and some work in the kitchen, like the lunch that I had yesterday. Of course they're my favorite because who in the world doesn't like home cooked food? Plus, it provides a lot more variety and let's me try new things instead of just eating the same old stuff all of the time. Then there's the easier version of that where you still use your kitchen, but you fix something really easy, like sandwiches. A third option is to skip all of the work entirely and just go out and eat at a restaurant. This COULD be my favorite, if only there were more vegan choices here where I live, but there aren't, so that's just something I'll have to live with. And then there's the fourth type of lunch, like the one I brought today, which is basically no work on my part because it relies mostly on storebought, ready-made vegan food items.

I was looking through the freezer section of the "healthy" section of my local Kroger the other day. I was actually looking for that new version of the frozen Rice Crust Spinach Pizza from Amy's Kitchen that has the Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella on it (which they STILL do not have yet) when I stumbled on a whole bunch of different frozen burritos from Amy's. Some of them had cheese in them, but I did notice that a few of them said NON-DAIRY in big letters on them, so I picked them up and looked at the ingredients. Yipee! I love the way Amy's Kitchen labels their products and the way they list their ingredients with the header: INGREDIENTS: (VEGAN) [insert list of ingredients here]. I wish all companies just put the word vegan right there at the beginning so you don't have to spend 5 minutes trying to decipher what's in the stuff.

Anyway, I settled on the Organic Beans & Rice Burrito. I'm a little bit late posting in the blog today because I wanted to wait until AFTER I ate lunch to post so I could tell you what I thought about the burrito. Basically, it was really good. It was very simple, but good. It tasted like beans & rice were pretty much all that was in there. It was just as if I had spread a bunch of refried beans and some Spanish Rice on a tortilla and rolled it up. Nothing fancy, but nutritious and delicious. I could make something similar for practically nothing, but I wouldn't have all organic ingredients to assemble mine with, plus I would be missing out on the convenience factor. If I have time to make homemade burritos that's fine, but if I don't, then stuff like this can be a lifesaver. I also picked up one of their non-dairy Breakfast Burritos, which I haven't tried yet. I do remember that it had potatoes in it, but I can't remember what else. I'm planning on heating that up for breakfast one of these cold mornings.

Everything else in the lunchbox today is raw. I brought along some broccoli and some carrots, and since I didn't need a fork for today's lunch, I left it out and filled that side space with dessert, a Cherry Pie Larabar.

So that's really all there is to today's lunch. A prime example of a healthy vegan lunch that took all of 2 seconds to prepare thanks to the convenience of pre-packaged vegan foods. I really like all of the vegan Amy's Kitchen products that I have tried so far, mmmmmmm... especially the pot pies. Those are really good. Now if I could just find that dang vegan Spinach Pizza...

Thanks for coming by. See you on Friday!
RAW BROCCOLIRAW BABY CARROTSAMY'S ORGANIC BEANS & RICE BURRITOCHERRY PIE LARABAR

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have had the pizza and it is quite good! A bit on the small side, more box then acutal pie. Hopefully your local store gets it in stock soon. Also, you posted earlier about vegan Boca Chix patties...I get mine for dirt cheap at Target for $2.49. If you have a Target out there with a frozen food section, give it a try.

Anonymous said...

Ask the store to order it for you. I get Amy's Country Dinner Whole Meal by the case (tiny box) because the store doesn't carry it. It is not marked vegan, but I am unable to find a non-vegan ingredient on the ingreds list.

kennyboy said...

HOLY COW! I gotta' get to Target.

I FINALLY found them at Ingle's for $3.28 and K-Mart has them for $3.59

Target sounds like a great deal!

SallyT said...

Just found your blog through Vegan Lunchbox. Thanks for putting this together. I'm finding so much great information on the web. It's a great feeling of support.

I've got some baked tofu in my stovetop smoker right now. I like baked tofu and am hoping that smoking it will make it appeal to my family. When I told my son we were having smoked tofu enchiladas for dinner he said "how about a pork chop?" I've got a lot of work to do! Your information is very helpful toward that goal.

shebytches said...

Tis sad, no Krogers or Target in Toronto... most of our grocery stores don't cater to Vegan's, barely to Vegetarians. There are a few such as Whole Foods and Big Carrot, but am yet to find Amy's products.... I should tell them to get them!

shebytches said...

There website says they are in Loblaws... i must be really bloody blind! I will have to look again, maybe I can't see the forest for the trees :)

NightOwl said...

Hang in there Sally T! Remember that you're doing a wonderful thing for your family. And smoked tofu enchiladas sound great!
Amy's is the best for eating vegan and healthy on the run. I also have been searching for the elusive vegan spinach pizza!

robiewankenobie said...

i'm veggie, not vegan (please be nice *bats eyelashes*) and have had both of amy's veggie pot pies. the vegan? far and above the better pie. it always brings back memories of me and my bappa in the kitchen as a kid. *sigh*

Dori said...

That's nice to know of some convenience foods available in a pinch. Although I always prefer to make most things myself, but making it a point to support the companies who try to make stuff available for us is a good thing sometimes too.

Ms. Meander said...

Amy's really is the best overall I think, of the brands of ready-made veg food out there. I do like the Linda McCartney stuff when I can get it, but for overall consistency, Amy's stuff reliably tastes good. I'm not veg*n or even vegetarian, but I do try to make the majority portion of my diet animal-free. Slowly working my way there...