Maybe I mentioned this already in my Meatless March introductory entry. Because I have decided to deprive myself, ALLLLLLLIWANTISMEATMEATMEATMEATMEAT. But for once in my life, I am actually engaging in some willpower. I know it doesn’t happen often, so don’t fall off your chair.
Here is the accounting of the first full week. I was hoping to have had time to prepare food at home more but I have eaten out a lot, and kind of made the same thing or a variation thereof when I did manage to make it myself. Oh well. I make the things I make because I like them. I’m really diggin’ the quinoa at present.
Saturday
Folded over egg thing w/quinoa et al
Baja Sol veggie tacos
Pizza Lucé tri-pepper pizza
Sunday
Folded over egg thing w/quinoa et al, grapefruit
English muffin, orange
ww tortilla tofu quinoa pizza thing
Monday
eggs-chevre-sunflower shoots, orange
Real Meal Deal veggie sub, chips
refried bean pizza
Tuesday
eggs-chevre-sunflower shoots, orange
Acadia black bean burger*, orange
quinoa pizza
Wednesday
eggs-chevre-sunflower shoots, tomatoes, orange
Acadia veggie melt
quinoa+chevre
Republic black bean burger w/mushroom, Swiss
Sawatdee tofu pad tai, cream cheese wontons
(oof)
Thursday
Sawatdee tofu pad tai (leftover)
salad w/tofu and orange
ww tortilla+pepperjack
Groveland Tap veggie burger
Friday
Bruegger’s Everything bagel+cream cheese, orange
D’Amico fresh mozzarella salad, caprese panini (more toasted than the one last week), chips
Longfellow Grill garden burger w/salad
*Due to this whole Meatless March thing, I have been trying everybody’s veggie burger. Acadia Café, you hands-down have the best with your amazing Black Bean Burger. None of the others come close! Republic, you have good flavor but it doesn’t hold together. Longfellow Grill, yours was pretty tasty, too, but it all squished out of the bun by the time I was half-finished.
A bean theme
March 18, 2011
Due to my inability to arise in the morning with anything resembling extra time, I ended up eating beans in all three meals yesterday. I had originally planned on swinging over to Bruegger’s for an everything bagel, toasted, with plain cream cheese, but because I ended up (once again) catching the latest train that still gets me to work only three to five minutes late, that notion went out the window. Instead, I dashed up to the office, sat at my desk for a respectable fifteen minutes or so, and then ordered huevos rancheros from Esquina Mexican Eats, the excellent and pretty authentic restaurant on the first floor. It was then that I realized that with the 15 Bean Cajun Soup that I had brought for lunch, and the refried bean pizza thing that has become a mainstay of my suppers because it’s quick, easy, and inexpensive, I’d be eating beans for every meal. Huzzah!
I have no problem with this and neither do the people around me. I was going to explain why I think that is, but it turns out my hypothesis is misinformed. I will just leave it that I do not experience bean-induced toots. This is a good thing, because I do love beans and I completely appreciate that they are an easy way to boost my fiber intake. They are also cheap and versatile. The bag of 13 Bean Cajun Soup mix cost about $3 and made eight servings. Of course, I added a few other ingredients, but it’s still pretty inexpensive per serving.
The pizza thing I make for supper is just delicious. It allows me to indulge in my love of pizza in a much more healthful way. Onto a whole wheat tortilla, I spread 1/4 cup refried beans and a layer each of tomatillo, onion, and red bell pepper (or in this case, orange, because the reds didn’t look very good). I top it with 1-1/2 ounce pepperjack cheese and bake at 400°F for 18 minutes, and voilá, I have a delicious, fiberful meal.
There is one other tasty recipe that I’ll single out, and that’s the lentil soup that I invented at the beginning of the year when I was sick. I had stayed home from work and had to cope with the fact that I hadn’t gone to the grocery store over the weekend and had very little food in the house. I improvised with a few of the few things I had on hand and ended up with one of the best soups ever!
I like my lentils al dente. So I cooked 1 cup dry lentils for 15 minutes (bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes, no more, no less, and drain, for the perfect lentil). After draining, I returned them to the pot with two cups of chicken broth (from bouillon) and one 14.5oz can of petite diced tomatoes with onion and peppers and the juice. Bring to a boil and serve over an ounce or two of diced fresh mozzarella cheese (you have to use mozzarella because it holds its shape when it melts; other varieties devolve into a gooey, shapeless blob of inconvenience). That’s it. It’s so good. The relative sweetness of the mozzarella perfectly offsets the savoriness of the lentils.
Below is a gallery of other yummy ways that I enjoy beans. Embrace the bean!
Bridge to Augsburgithia
June 2, 2010
All day long, I was trying to think of someplace to explore where I hadn???t been before, which would make me feel uncomfortable being there, and which was conveniently located due to my feeling that I never have enough time. I realized that if it were conveniently located, it would be unlikely to make me feel uncomfortable because convenience would mean it was somewhere between home and work.
If I had had more ambition, I thought it would be interesting to go to a Mexican restaurant in a Latino neighborhood. I had two years of Spanish in junior high and can get the gist of a conversation and pronounce menu items correctly. When I go to Chicago, I always listen to the Spanish language radio stations in the car. Going to a Mexican restaurant would be uncomfortable but would have a delicious payout. Today was a lazy day.
By the time I left work, I had instead convinced myself that Pizza Luc?? would be the perfect supper, no discomfort necessary. In addition to whole pies, they sell by the slice and each day feature different meat and veggie selections. The only question was whether to go to the one a couple of block from my office or the one a few blocks from my home. I chose home.
The Seward Neighborhood Pizza Luc?? is about a half mile further. To get to it, I have to cross I-94 and then travel a few blocks on a busy street. I rode on the sidewalk going and resolved to take the side street between the freeway and the busy street on the way back.
I picked up my slices and headed to the side street. Trouble was, it was one-way in the opposite direction that I needed to go. Maybe it makes me sappy, but as a bicyclist I do follow the rules of the road 98% of the time. I don???t blow through red lights and I come to a complete stop at stop signs even when no one???s there. I prefer not to ride on the sidewalk (though I will), and riding the wrong way just isn???t right.
So I paused at the corner, debating which was the lesser of the two evils, sidewalk or wrong way. I just happened to look the other way and spied the solution to my dilemma???a pedestrian bridge over the interstate. And it fulfilled another need, to explore someplace new.
I???d never even realized it was there. It???s just to the east of 22nd Avenue and crosses to Augsburg College. There was nothing uncomfortable about it, though as I stood still to take the pictures, it was disconcerting to feel the vibrations caused by the traffic hurtling past underneath. I???d never been in the part of Augsburg where it came out. I found myself at a little town square type park and another one-way street going in the opposite direction. This time I only had to go one block against the grain so I said screw it, yet it that short distance I had to dodge two cars and one pedestrian.
I got home and enjoyed some tasty pizza.
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