Veggie Plate

Well, today's lunchbox ended up being just a big ol' pile of veggies. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. Cooking more complicated vegan food is fun, when you have the time, but there's also something to be said for eating simply. I was running short on time last night so I decided on bringing a bunch of veggies for lunch since I didn't have a lot of time to cook. The Kale & Onions and the Mashed Potatoes with Vegan Brown Gravy were even leftovers from my previous night's cooking. So there was no extra work involved there at all. So there's really not a whole lot to say about today's lunch, except that it was yummy.

All I had to do was get the leftover veggies out of the fridge and pack them into the lunchbox containers. The Yellow Sweet Corn was frozen, so I just poured some it out of the bag, still frozen, into the red container. It thaws out on its own before lunchtime, and then a quick pop in the microwave heats it up nicely. The only thing that I did have to cook for today's lunch was the Vegan Cornbread Muffin. I've been trying to leave bread out of my lunchbox as much as possible to cut down on the amount of calories that I am consuming since I want to lose 16 more pounds. But since I was just eating veggies today, I thought I could probably afford to splurge a little bit and bring some cornbread.

I really wanted to bring some of Joanna's Corn Muffins (I had them on here once before) because those were really tasty, and probably the best vegan cornbread that I have tried so far. I didn't have any bell peppers at home though, so I fell back to my previous favorite cornbread recipe, which I made a little bit healthier by adding some ground flax seed. The only thing that was missing was something to put on my cornbread. I really wish that I had packed one of the little lunchbox dressing containers with some Smart-Squeeze in it. I love that stuff. It's vegan, it tastes buttery and it's fat-free. Oh well. Maybe next time.

As I look at this lunch, I can't help but imagine someone from here, where I live, looking at it and saying, "Oh. THAT's what a vegan eats. Well, heck, I could probably do that because I eat like that all the time." Lots of people around here do eat something similar to this a lot of the time, and you can easily order just plates of veggies in most restaurants, but it's NOT vegan. They seem to think that it doesn't taste good unless the corn is swimming in butter, the mashed potatoes are full of milk, and the greens have cooked in a pot with a dead animal's leg. No thank you. I like my vegan food just the way that it is. Honestly, I couldn't imagine ruining this delicious Kale & Onions by simmering it with body parts. Anyway, I'll shut up. I'm about to go on a rant...

It is funny though, how my tastes have changed since I became vegan. I NEVER would have eaten a bunch of veggies like this before. I couldn't stand most of them, and now I love them. I've gone through 2 lbs. of Kale in just the last few days. I went back to get some more at the store, but they don't have it now. In it's place were Collard Greens. They were in the same packaging, already cut & cleaned. So I got a big bag of them. I've only eaten them from a can before and I really didn't care for them. But I'm willing to bet that when I cook them up fresh, I will love them. I guess we'll see.

So that's it for lunch today. I'll try to bring something a little more interesting tomorrow. Sometimes it's just nice though to eat simple things.

No wait, I almost forgot. I have to go out and eat tomorrow. Everyone at work is taking our group's secretary out to eat. Lucky for me, we're going to Cootie Brown's, and you all know how much I like that place. WOO-HOO! So, the blog post will probably be a little bit delayed tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'm gonna' eat there this time. I've been craving that Spinach Veggie Burger that they have, but that Pizza that I've eaten there the last several times has been amazingly good. Decisions... decisions...

Anyway, thanks for checking out my blog and I'll see everybody tomorrow!