Vegan a Week #4

Geez, this week has been kinda busy with work and extracurriculars! I had hoped to post sooner. Anyway, it's hump day and also my vegan day of the week! For breakfast I had a quick cup of coffee and an almond poppy seed muffin from a mix I had that happened to contained no dairy - yay!

For lunch I had my typical salad with my typical dressing, which may sound boring, but I love salads! I had some pretzels and fruit on the side.

For dinner I made another Plated dish. I broke down and ordered a second box because I had a $10 off code for the polar vortex induced late delivery of my first box. This was Andrew's and my least favorite dish so far, even though we both liked it and felt like it was healthy. I made Israeli couscous and kale with za'atar seasoned tempeh and tahini dressing. If it weren't for the freshly squeezed lemon juice on top, I really wouldn't have been able to enjoy this, but that made all the difference. We both felt like there just wasn't a lot of flavor, and I'm not one to add salt so I just dealt with it. But it was still good and actually this was the easiest dish to make so far, which counts for something a lot!!

Doesn't it look fancy?

I've had so much fun making vegan dishes so far this year, but this week I'm really feeling strapped for time which makes it difficult. When I have a little extra time I still need to look into make ahead things like soup and snacks. Keep those recipe suggestions coming!

Vegan a Week #2

Week 2 ended yesterday and I again waited until the last day of the week, but I'm okay with that. With all the crazy weather we've been having, I didn't have a chance to really go shopping until the end of the week, plus my Plated box had arrived late Thursday, with one of the meals being vegan, so Saturday was the day!

I wanted something sweet for breakfast, so I found a recipe for some French breakfast puffs that I hadn't made in a while. Although this isn't the recipe I used, it appears to be exactly the same. I obviously substituted the dairy ingredients with vegan alternatives. I had to run to Meijer for the almond milk before I could make them, so this ended up being more like brunch. Bonus: when I went to Meijer I also picked up grapefruits! Mmm. Along with my coffee and a few blackberries, this was a delicious brunch!

I had a small snack in the afternoon of cinnamon graham crackers topped with Jif natural peanut butter and a clementine on the side.

For dinner, I made my second Plated creation. This one was for tofu, cashew, and pea stir-fry. Although it still took me a little longer than the directions stated, I have made stir-fry many times before, so it was much easier. I loved learning a different way to cook tofu, it turned out beautifully! And the recipe included ginger root, and I LOVE ginger. I was really impressed with the portion size of this meal. Both Andrew and I had a little bit left over for a midnight snack.

Andrew and I then headed out to see the Grand Rapids Symphony perform, and since I'm a member of their young professionals group, we were invited to a post-concert champagne toast. I had to avoid all the fancy chocolates, which was difficult, but I did enjoy a drink or two. I also happened to reconnect with a woman that I met like two years ago at a vegan potluck. She is going to invite me to a monthly vegan get-together she sets up here in Grand Rapids. It really is a great city for vegan options!

Vegan week #2 was a success! I can't wait to see what other meals I create or get to try this year!

Plated Review

I'm not a Birchbox gal because I know I would never use random beauty samples up, but I'm definitely intrigued by these custom curated subscription boxes that seem to popping up everywhere. I'll tell you my reviews of Graze and Conscious Box soon, but today I'm kicking it off with Plated!

Plated delivers to you the ingredients to make (at a minimum) two servings of two meals that you choose from the weekly menu. Their chefs create the dishes, and then put together the exact ingredients you need to prepare them - in 30 minutes or less (their words). Through facebook, I signed up with a free first box (just pay the shipping) deal. Since I'm a pescetarian but truly not interested in preparing my own fish, I looked at the vegetarian options. There seem to be three each week, and one was already sold out. I selected the two remaining veggie options and waited for my box to arrive. It's supposed to arrive on Tuesdays, but due to the awful weather, I got an email saying it would instead arrive Wednesday - but that my ingredients would no doubt be as fresh as ever.

Wednesday came and went and I ended up receiving my box late Thursday (like 7pm). Everything seemed to be fresh, although the Swiss chard was a little questionable. It was my first time ever using chard, but I think it was slightly past its peak. No matter, I was still really excited to try out my recipes!

After work on Friday, I started to make the goat cheese and quinoa stuffed Swiss chard, covered in marinara. The instructions were straightforward, with six steps in the process. On the recipe sheet, it said it would take between 30 and 40 minutes.

I first cooked the quinoa, and as that was cooking, chopped up my various veggies and spices to saute. The quinoa, veggies, and goat cheese was mixed together to be stuffed. I blanched (a new term for me) the Swiss chard and then all was ready to roll, literally. I felt like I didn't have a perfect Swiss chard to stuffing ratio, but the stuffing was delicious on its own, so we had the remainder on the side. While stuffing, I did feel like maybe I could have had a better bunch of Swiss chard, as many of the pieces I ended up with had holes (not ideal for holding stuffing) or were small. That is my biggest complaint with this meal.

After I made as many rolls as I could with what I was given, I placed them in a cooking dish and poured the marinara over. According to the recipe, I put them in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Andrew and I loved the result, though (a couple more complaints) - it took me a little over an hour (not 30-40 minutes), and the rolls weren't very hot, so I would have cooked longer than 15 minutes had I known. I am making my other meal - tofu, cashew, and snow pea stir fry for dinner tonight, so I imagine that will be a bit simpler.

Overall, it was fun to make a new meal without having to go to the store and buy all the ingredients individually. I think the price is probably great if you live in a bigger city, but honestly, if I had paid full price for this shipment, Andrew and I could have gone out to eat somewhere in Grand Rapids and had a pretty nice meal. I was going to order another box for next week, but all three vegetarian options were sold out! I will probably only order from Plated again if there is some sort of discount. EDIT: I ordered another box for next week because I had a $10 off code. I'm a little bit addicted, I guess! Anyway, if you want to try Plated, please use my referral code - we both get two plates if you do!

Have any of you used Plated? What was your experience?