I don't have anything too interesting to report these days, as I've been extremely hard at work and attending summer classes! this is what I've been eating lately:


I've been trying to stick to a diet lately that will hopefully result in the loss of 10 pounds (fingers crossed!) so all last week I brought salads to work for lunch. I tried to keep the salads as healthy as possible, combining a few of my favorite veggies (romaine, tomatoes, red onion, avocado, red bell pepper, and cucumber) as well as a handful of chickpeas, tossed in a little bit of organic roasted garlic balsamic vinaigrette.


I haven't figured out what this vegetable is actually called, but I refer to it as "chinese cabbage". I buy it from the farmer's market on the corner, and saute it in a little bit of olive oil mixed with a little sesame oil, and lots of fresh chopped garlic. this makes a really quick and easy side dish! (this time I also added a little organic brown rice)





this was another quick and easy, protein-packed meal. I am IN LOVE with trader joe's frozen fire roasted peppers and onions. I usually buy the regular frozen bell peppers (much, much cheaper than fresh and last forever!!), but I discovered these the other day and am hooked!! I sauteed the frozen peppers and onion mixture in a little olive oil, added black beans and cooked organic brown rice, and seasoned it with garlic powder, fresh ground black pepper, and a little creole seasoning (that I add to pretty much everything). I piled this onto an organic spinach tortilla, topped it with another tortilla and baked it for about 5 minutes on 350. the tortilla came out nice and crisp, and I served it with fresh avocado and salsa :)

in OTHER news, I went to the P.O.P.E. the other day with a couple of vegan friends. I'd never had any food there (it's a bar, if you didn't know) so we all ordered the "seitan fingers with fries". while the seitan fingers were edible, they were nothing to rave about. basically, they used store-bought seitain and coated it in what tasted/felt like plain cornmeal, deep fried it, and served it on a bed of super greasy french fries (too greasy, in my opinion). they came with a small side of dipping sauce, which is what allowed them to pass for food. I know this isn't a vegan bar/restaurant but it's dishes like these that give vegan food a bad name :(