Vegan MoFo VI, Day 23 - Soup!

Today's post is gonna be another cop-out because I realised that I don't have anything for my lunch for tomorrow unless I buy another can or carton of soup.  I'm a little tired of store-bought soup, so I'm gonna make some scramble, which I've blogged about extensively.  So instead, I'm gonna talk about ... store-bought soup!

It's proper soup weather in Edinburgh, and that was especially true today.  It was a pretty crappy day to start with, and then the haar rolled in.  It's been misty and dreary all day.  Today was the kind of day where you can't imagine eating anything other than soup.

Since I'm trying to lose weight, I've also been relying on soup for my lunches when I don't have anything to bring from home.  I don't know of any store-bought vegan soup that's particularly calorific, if only because they aren't loaded with meat and cream and stuff.  It's also pretty easy to find vegan soup at the store, whereas you're less likely to find sandwiches or other ready-made lunch-type foods that are suitable.

The only problem I have with store-bought soup is chunkiness - I'm a big fan of pureed soups (generally, though I also love a soup full of barley).  It's pretty difficult to get a smooth vegan soup from a can, so I've gone through a bit of trial and error trying to figure out which soups have the right chunks (e.g., potatoes, beans, carrots) or are smooth enough to not put me off.

My go-to brand is usually Baxters - they make quality soup and (usually*) label them if they're vegan.  They're also sold in pretty much every big-box store in the UK.  I think I used to like one that had butternut squash, but I kinda went off it last year, so I'm not even sure if they make it anymore.  My current favourite of theirs is the Carrot and Butterbean.

I also like Tesco's tinned lentil and veg soup.  I'm not sure if that's exactly what it's called, but it's in their low-cal range, and an entire can is, I think, 180 calories - not bad.  Tesco have also just released a couple of vegan soups in their fresh cartons.  I'm 99% certain that the Lentil, Bean and Barley and the Mexican Chili Bean soups are both vegan.  I tried the first yesterday and really liked it, though I would've preferred more barley and fewer chunks of tomato.  I tried the other one today, and it was just awful.  The potatoes were so undercooked that they crunched.  Tesco is getting a strongly worded email from me.

This is obviously not an exhaustive list of store-bought soups.  I mainly buy soups for lunch, and I only have a Tesco nearby, so I can't really speak to the options at Sainsbury's, Morrisons, M&S, etc.  Maybe I'll do another soup review if I get another job that happens to be near a different shop.

*I picked up a revamped can of Carrot and Butterbean today that didn't specify, so I'm wondering if they've changed that practice.  That would suck since it's the quickest way to determine if I need to bother reading the ingredients.

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 20 - Cookbook Challenge - Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day

I know this post is pretty late, but I have a completely valid reason - I slept until shortly after noon, so we ate dinner around 10pm.  I haven't had a lie-in for ages because we've had to be up early for one reason or another every weekend for months.  Everyone always says you eventually get up earlier on purpose (i.e., you reach a point when you don't sleep until noon), but I don't see that happening for me, and I have no problem with that.

Anyway, I made a couple more recipes from Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! - Moo Free Seitan and the Philly version of the Pittsburgh Steak Sandwich.

The seitan was pretty easy - I did it in the oven instead of the slow cooker because I didn't get around to making it until after 3pm.  It had a really good texture, and I liked that I could throw it in the oven and actually go do things while it cooked - I went to the gym and to the store and I didn't have to rush home to take it out of the oven.  I don't think it would be all that great on its own, which is possibly my fault for not putting enough stuff in the cooking broth, but it was great in the next recipe.

The sandwiches came together pretty quickly - it would've been even quicker if I hadn't been cleaning and trying to sort out storing the leftover seitan (to get it out of the way) at the same time.  Slicing and cooking the seitan is pretty much all you have to do with this recipe.  I also had to warm up the ciabatta and shred the cheese, but I had garlic mayo so didn't feel the need to do the spread (especially since Mike doesn't like spreads on his sandwiches and I only did a half recipe).

The sandwiches were simple and delicious.  I wouldn't make them frequently only because that much bread and cheese doesn't really fit with my weight-loss plan.  But I might use the seitan cooking method for Mike's lunch sandwiches.

Tomorrow is a new cookbook challenge week, but I have a few more things I wanna make from this book, so I'll still be cooking from it.  In fact, I think I might make the Oreo Wafflewiches for breakfast tomorrow ... right before I go to the gym.  They're the new Little Chocolate Donuts.

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 13 - Cookbook Challenge - Yellow Rose Recipes (again)

I'm back on board with the cookbook challenge!  I kinda cheated with tonight's recipe, in that I've made parts of it before, but I hadn't ever eaten it exactly the way it's written (OK, I didn't do that tonight either).  I made the Taco Salad from Yellow Rose Recipes.  I've made the taco "meat" part of it (for the tamale pie), but I never did the salad.

My best good friend Eva is in town to see Phantom of the Opera with me, and we pretty much always have Tex-Mex when we hang out.  We're both trying to lose weight, so instead of having our usual tacos, we decided to go for the taco salad.  I've never been a huge fan of taco salad because of the lack of tortilla, but I've been getting more accustomed to eating bowls (bed of greens, grain, protein, sauce), so I figured this would work out.  I left off the avocado because I'm allergic; Eva had tomatoes but I didn't because I'm a hater.  We both had a bit of the Appetite for Reduction Green Goddess Dressing on our leaves because it's healthier than sour cream.

We all really liked this.  Eva and I liked having the salad at the bottom because it's a good way to get a lot of salad in without really thinking about it.  We both thought it was missing a little something - Eva kinda wanted a cheesy substance, and I missed the sour cream (though cheesy substance would've been good too).  But it was still quite good and filling (though we ate really early and now we're both hungry), and it was fast to make - it would've been on the table in 15 minutes if I hadn't misread the directions and had to cook it longer because I forgot to put the spices in at the right time.

I would recommend this, but if even if you're not down with taco salad, the taco filling itself is super quick and tasty.

Now we're gonna drink some Big Red and watch Star Trek: The Next Generation, because we regress to age 12 when we're together.  Because we're awesome.

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 8 - Mike Makes Monday Meals - Tofu Scramble

First of all, apologies for missing out yesterday.  I had a really bad allergy attack and couldn't be bothered to do anything once I got back from my 5-hour round trip to IKEA.  (But I did get some awesome stuff, like the potato rostis (finally!), and discovered that their gingerbread cookie dough seems to be vegan.)  I still didn't feel magnificent today, but it's Monday, which means it's Mike's night to cook, so it didn't matter.

I've mentioned (multiple times) my love of breakfast, and that brinner is my favourite meal.  I probably make tofu scramble once a week on average.  I almost always use the same recipe, mostly because I've tried so many and just stick to what works.  The Vegan Diner scramble from last week was delicious, but since I was teaching Mike how to make scramble, I just went with the simple recipe I usually make.  It takes the best parts of the Vegan with a Vengeance recipe with a few changes to make it simpler - garlic and onion granules instead of actual garlic and onions, chopped frozen spinach, and a simple spice mix.  It works for me - it fits in my diet and it makes great burritos.

Mike said this was straightforward and easy to make, though it did stir up controversy.  He didn't like squishing the tofu by hand, so he said he'll cube it next time.  I informed him that in this house, we crumble our tofu.  To paraphrase a wise person, cubed tofu isn't scramble, it's stir-fry.

I also made a pumpkin bundt cake, but it's still cooling, so I'll have to talk about that in another post.  I'm taking it in to work tomorrow - for the first time in about a year, we've replaced someone on our team, so we're having a team lunch.  As much as I'm excited that we get a free lunch, I just realised that a) I still have to bring in at least part of my own meal (because the place we go to doesn't have anything vegan) and 2) this means I don't get to read during my lunch hour.  Boo-urns.

Vegan MoFo VI - Product Review - Alpro/Provamel Puddin' Cups

I was gonna do the Blue Plate Special from Vegan Diner tonight, but I dicked around too long and finally decided that I didn't feel like making the waffles because it takes about 10 minutes per set of waffles.  So I ended up eating another burrito (mmm...burrito) and decided to do a product review.

I'll say right now that I don't get free stuff from companies.  I bought all of these at some point (apart from the one a friend gave me) and I'm reviewing them because I feel like it, not because I'm compelled to.  But hey, if Alpro (or any other vegan company) wants to hook me up, I won't say no.

So, I'm not entirely clear on this, but I think* Provamel and Alpro are essentially the same company, but Provamel only makes organic stuff, whereas Alpro mostly does non-organic but with a few organic things.  Basically, they have about the same products give or take a few, but the Alpro stuff tends to be fortified (and, at least for the vanilla soy milks, sweeter).  Alpro is sold in big box grocery stores, but Provamel is only sold in health food shops.

Both brands just call these things desserts, but if we were in the US, we'd be talking puddin' cups.  Different countries have different varieties on offer.  In the UK, Alpro offers vanilla, caramel, dark chocolate, and "smooth" chocolate (which I guess is meant to be like milk chocolate), while Provamel offers vanilla, chocolate, caramel and "moka" (according to their website - the package I have says cappuccino).  But other countries might have other things - I know for sure that Belgium gets Alpro speculoos puddin' cups, the lucky bastards.

The good stuff.

So how are they?  Well, I'll admit two things:  a) I've never tried the vanilla of either brand as far as I can recall, and 2) I can never remember which of the chocolate varieties I like.  That said, I quite like the Alpro caramel, though I prefer it mixed with chocolate.  The Provamel moka/cappuccino is good on its own (though I don't know where they get off calling it moka, which implies chocolate, when there's no chocolate in it).  And I think I like one of the Alpro chocolates, but I'm too cheap to buy both to figure it out because then I'll have a package of stuff I don't like (though I'm sure Mike would eat them).  Of course, the standout winner is the speculoos stuff, but I've only had that once (well, one package of 4) because, like I said, it's only available in Belgium.

They're also kinda diet friendly, if you're looking for that kind of thing.  My bff, who isn't even veg, loves the dark chocolate for a dessert, not only because it's tasty, but because it usually fits within her calorie budget.  (I can also confirm that the Alpro Light Chocolate Soya Milk works well if you need a hot chocolate fix but don't want to consume 500 calories in one cup.)

I'd definitely recommend giving these a try.  They're usually pretty tasty, not too bad for calories, and almost always on sale somewhere (at least the Alpro ones are - usually 2 for £2.50 at Sainsbury's and/or Tesco).

*Thanks for clearing that up, Professor Wikipedia!  Also, they're from Belgium, which is why the Belgians get all the good stuff first.

Still hungry

Oh hai!  I haven't blogged since the end of last year, so, just over 6 1/2 months.  Part of it is, as I'm sure you'll realise, laziness.  However, in fairness, I did move house, and the oven in our new(ish) place doesn't work.  So most of the time, I barely feel like cooking, let alone blogging about it.

However, I felt the need to blog about this.

This

...is a single serving of Mornflake Chocolatey Squares cereal*.

Look at that!  You can almost count the number of biscuits in the photo!

I wanted to title this blog post "People at Mornflake are on crack", because clearly there are drugs involved when you think that amount of cereal is gonna be filling for a grown-ass adult (the box is brown and doesn't have any cartoon animals on it, so I'm calling it an adult cereal).  Also, if you were to taste this cereal, you'd know that it's next to impossible to eat that little.  It's so good.  So. Good. The only cereal better than this is Speculoos cereal.

One 30g serving (dry) has about 143 calories.  And I've been eating probably thrice this amount plus milk with every bowl (and I like a lot of milk in my cereal).  I guess at least I'm getting a lot of extra vitamins and iron.  But this solves the mystery of why I've been gaining weight even though I'm working out 5 times a week.

I think I'm gonna go back to oatmeal** in the morning.

*Though not verified with the company, who would probably give me the "traces of milk" line, several thorough readings of the ingredient list assure me this is vegan.

**I recently bought 2 slow cooker cookbooks, and one of them, The Vegan Slow Cooker, has a few oatmeal recipes.  The author, Kathy Hester, has loads on her blog as well.

Vegan MoFo - On freezers and freezing

I was about to have to miss a day out because we were both too hungry to wait for me to cook, so I had a Freenut Butter and jam sammich and Mike had cereal for dinner.  I couldn't think of anything to talk about until, about 30 minutes ago, I realised that I was still pretty hungry and needed a snack.  And that's when I realised, I haven't talked about my freezer!


When we moved into this flat, it had a TV but no freezer.  We asked them to get rid of the TV (we didn't want to pay for the license) and put in a freezer.  They did neither.  So I lived with a dusty TV and no freezer for over 2 years.  If we ever got frozen food, we had to eat it all within the day (or 2 days, depending on what it was), so we were eating entire tubs of ice cream between the two of us in one go.

I finally decided I couldn't stand for it any longer.  In all seriousness, not having a freezer was contributing to my weight gain, and we were wasting food (and therefore money) on food we could've frozen before it went off.  So, for my birthday this year, I demanded gratefully received a freezer.

I love having a freezer.  It's actually helped me eat better because we now have veg on demand without having to buy it the same day.  I can eat a small amount of ice cream and put the rest back.  And I can eat an actual portion size of tots rather than half a bag one day and the other half the next (though I never actually had a problem with that).  I can now make things one night and save them for a meal weeks later (in fact, I made some beans a few days after I got the freezer and still haven't used them).  I MADE MY OWN JELL-O PUDDING POPS!!!

And then, during the PPKamping trip, someone told me about Fry's Vegetarian chicken-style burgers.  I bought them pretty much immediately after I got back.  They are truly delightful.  I ate one tonight, pan-fried with just a spray of oil, between two pieces of wholemeal bread with the cheesy mustard mayo from American Vegan Kitchen.  It was one of the nicest things I've ever eaten - quick, easy, delicious, a little greasy.  So good.

BTW, when I looked for the link to the burgers, I discovered that Fry's are coming out with new products, including "Louisiana Tenders" - vegan chicken strips!  And popcorn "chicken"!  I can't wait for those.

So, talk to me about frozen convenience foods - what's your favourite?

N.B. - Apologies for any possible typos.  I'm super tired and can't be bothered proofreading right now.

Weight gain 4000

Mike and I went to his dad's wedding this week. I decided to wear my Joan (from Mad Men) dress, which I hadn't worn in a few months. It was snug when I last wore it. This time, I barely managed to get it zipped, and it was almost skin tight. Obviously, I've put on a couple of pounds.

Well, I've decided to do something about it. I've already started watching what I eat. It's insanely difficult to not eat whatever I want. I obviously didn't get that ingrained sense of portion control that was assured when I started SparkPeople before I got married. That programme worked really well, but I don't really want to put that much effort in to it this time. Last time, I had a specific goal and a specific time to reach it, but now I just need to knock off the weight I gained when I let myself eat whatever I wanted.

However, there are a few things that I've recently discovered that I think will help me in my efforts. First of all, I've really begun to enjoy almonds. Now, I know they aren't super low fat, but they contain good fats that I probably don't get enough of, and a little goes a long way. I feel as satisfied with half a pack of almonds as I do with two muffins, probably because it takes a lot longer to eat half a pack of almonds one at a time. Also, a Pink Lady apple with a tablespoon of almond butter is so amazing. I wish I'd discovered these things sooner. And it's a good thing I'm now employed, because a small jar of almond butter costs nearly £5.

I've also forced myself to like stir-fry. I didn't really like it before, but now I guess I'm used to the textures (from eating a lot of Japanese food). And eating it with shrooms and smoked tofu and cooking in a bit of toasted sesame oil makes it amazing. It's also super cheap. I got the Sainsbury's Basics stir-fry mix (which I think is about £1), and it makes 2 meals for 2 people (and supplies 2 of your 5-a-day per serving). It's super filling, too - I felt like I could barely move after dinner last night - without being particularly calorific (bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, and onions are pretty low-cal). And it's a really fast meal, which is gonna be great for those nights when I just can't be bothered. I just hope Mike doesn't get tired of it!

Now the problem is making myself go to the gym. Considering that I barely feel like cooking most days, I'm gonna struggle with working out. I like how I feel when I get back from the gym, but it's difficult to make myself remember that when I've worked all day and still have to make dinner. I'm gonna have to keep up with making things at the weekend so I have less work to do during the week and can feel like I have time to go to the gym. And I'll also try to plan the quicker meals for the days I go to the gym. Hopefully that'll help.

I'll try to keep this updated with my progress, just because it'll make me feel accountable to something.