I Ate All This Stuff

Time for another meal round-up. I've been eating tons of awesome snacks lately thanks to my daddy. Regular readers probably remember past posts about the stuff my dad randomly orders for me from Vegan Essentials. He gets bored, and he likes to go internet shopping for snacks for me! He's on the Vegan Essentials email list, and when they run specials on shipping, he likes to take advantage of the savings. This time, he surprised me with all this!

There's Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Kettle Chips (these are so good!), Kettle Brand Maple Bacon Chips (like breakfast in a chip!), Smofu tofu jerky (delightfully chewy and smoky), Wild Garden All-Natural Hummus Dip (five to-go hummus packs!), Dang Toasted Coconut Chips (AMAZING!), and (drumroll, please!) Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Squares. Yes, vegan-freakin'-cheez-its! These fill the long-empty hole in my heart that was left there when I went vegan and could no longer have dairy Cheez-Its. Isn't my dad the best at picking out vegan snacks?

Those Dang Toasted Coconut Chips were the perfect topping for my Whole Soy & Co. Vanilla Soy Yogurt and Whole Foods Supernatural Granola. Before you go thinking these coconut chips just taste like coconut flakes, think again. These are toasted, so they're buttery and crunchy in all the right ways. I could eat the whole bag in one sitting. But I'm savoring them instead.

In my last meal round-up, I accidentally left out an old picture from when my editor Susan and I had lunch one day at Mulan, an Asian place in Cooper-Young. We both got the Tofu Pad Thai (hold the fish sauce) with White Rice and a Veggie Spring Roll.

But enough with the brown food. I eat lots of veggies too! Last Friday was Bike to Work Day in Memphis, so I and five other co-workers biked to the office. And then a few of us went to the lunchtime Bike Expo in Court Square. The Millie's Garden food truck was there. They have a few veganizable options, including the salad/side combo. I got a Veggie Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette and Southwestern Rice.

And I'm still juicing several days a week! This week, I've been making Italian Feast Juice from Crazy Sexy Juices and Succulent Smoothies before my morning workouts (usually yoga, calisthenics, or hula-hooping until I can run again). This is made with tomatoes, kale, celery, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, snap peas, and basil.

I'm also still Superfood Cleansing a couple days every two weeks. If you missed my post about the Superfood Cleanse, it's basically a vegan version of the 5:2 diet — only 600 calories two days a week and then eat whatever you want on the other days. I can't handle it every week, so I'm doing it every two weeks. Today was a Superfood Cleanse day, and I ate much of the same stuff I had last time. But I did add a new dish from Robin Westen's The 2-Day Superfood Cleanse book — Non-Dairy Coleslaw with Black Currants. It also has apples, carrots, onions, and flax oil.

I picked up Bluff City Bakery's Vegan White Loaf at the Memphis Farmer's Market last Saturday. It's a fluffy white loaf that makes excellent Artisan Toast! I spread mine with Earth Balance and the homemade Orange Marmalade that Stephanie gave me for Christmas. Just opened the jar this week!

And when I eat toast for breakfast, I like to pair it with a bowl of fruit. This week, that's been Fresh Strawberries with Strawberry Balsamic Glaze.