vegan love

Happy Monday evening!  Sabai di mai ka (just felt like throwin’ a little Thai in)?  Things are going pretty well here.  Sometimes it is sorta refreshing when a day doens’nt go just like you planned, ya know what I mean? This morning I got up, got ready for work and off I went, thinking that today would be just like any other day.  But by 10 o’clock, it was snowing hard enough that I decided to get a cover for the classes I teach after lunch and go ahead and make the hour trek home.  The bad news is that it turns out I really didn’t need to leave early because the roads never got bad (I feel like an idiot a little bit silly).  The good news is that I miraculously got squeezed in for a doctor’s appointment I’ve been needing to have, and I got a little extra grading done on my research papers.  Score!

I also had an awesome day of eats!  It all started this morning when I decided to have the hubs put a little twist on my usual green monster.  Don’t worry, it was still green:)  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a pic to prove it, but it really was…promise.  This combo was excellent.  I will def. be having it again in the very near future.  I the sweet husband combined:

a couple big handfuls of spinach
chia seeds!
half a banana
1 cup soy milk
1/2 tbsp almond butter
1 big, heaping spoonful of canned pumpkin
sprinkle of cinnamon
ice

Wooooweeeee this was good!  I tell you what, I am hooked on pumpkin.  The flavors of the pumpkin, cinnamon, banana and almond butter totally hit the spot.  I was going to have him add a bit of nutmeg as well, which I think would be a great addition, but we didn’t have any on hand so that will have to wait.  You may have noticed that I left out the usual Amazing Grass.  I really did miss it, but as discussed in this post, I’m trying to cut back a bit.  I may just start having it a couple of mornings a week as a special treat:)

For lunch I swung through Whichwich on my way home.  I hadn’t had a good ole’ tomato and avocado from there in ages, and it totally hit the spot!  I always get the same thing (don’t fix it if it ain’t broken, right?) – tomato and avocado on wheat with lettuce, bell pepper, red onion, pepperocini, pickles and crushed red pepper.  I could so down another one of those right this second….but I won’t.

I snuck in a couple of snacks while grading research papers – first, a tall soy latte from our local coffee shop and then a mix of yogurt, almonds and a few puffins before going to work out a little later.  I don’t usually eat two snacks in the afternoon, but that’s just how it worked out today – like I said, nothing went as planned!

Okay, now for din din.  I got this idea from HEAB the other day, and I just tweaked it a little bit.  After cutting it in half, I put a spaghetti squash in the oven on 375 for about an hour.  After it was done, I scooped out all the insides.  Then I mixed a bowl full of “spaghetti” with some steamed turnip greens (microwave for about 30 seconds with a tad bit of water) and the most amazing, creamy, vegan sauce I’ve ever had!  This sauce, I believe, was created by Mae.  I just remembering reading somewhere about her “humnut” (hummus + nutritional yeast) sauce, and while I didn’t know what proportions she used, I knew I had to try it anyway.  So, I basically just scooped about 2 tbsp of  roasted garlic hummus into a bowl and added 3 tsp of nutritional yeast (my new wonder drug:) and a little water for thinning.  I then poured the sauce over the squash and greens, mixed it all together and topped it off with a sprinkle of black pepper and pine nuts.

(So sorry that the picture is kind of rough.  I only had my iPhone.  Sad.  This meal deserved better.)

Now, I can honestly say this is one of the most indulgent tasting vegan meals I’ve made thus far in my vegan journey, and it was so simple.  It took me longer to type out what I did, than it actually took to do it (not counting oven time for the squash)!  Seriously!  It was to die for.  It really did taste like a healthified version of mac and cheese.  It was so creamy!  I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you.

Sorry for the lack of pictures on this post.  Too many words, too little pics.  I’ll do better next time;)  I hope everyone is staying warm and having a great week so far.  I’m pretty stoked because I’ve got overnight oats “doing their thing” in the fridge right now.  It should be a tasty drive to work tomorrow!  Have a good night friends!

BTW…I am so enjoying the Sarah Bareilles station on Pandora right now.  Try it out if you get a chance!