Lunch Today (and some Valentine pics)

First, thank you for your votes for the Circle of Moms blogging awards. Miraculously, I made it on the list of top 25 blogs, thanks to YOU! I'll be doing a brief interview on the their site and my blog will be listed there, so yay! Thank you for your support, it helps me to further what I feel is an important message: eat plants, take care of your body, and in turn you will a happier, more energized version of yourself.

As promised, here are some pictures from this past weekends seven course vegan (and mine was the gluten free version) Valentine's dinner/fundraiser for my local farm sanctuary.

Good company (we sat by two doctors, one vegetarian the other a supportive omni), great music & entertainment (a violinist and a dancing tango couple), and of course, some amazing food.

We began with some appetizers: Lentil croquettes with rose and geranium jelly; rice crackers topped with vegan cream cheese, apple and watercress; crudites and walnut pate.

Followed by a mixed greens salad and soup. The soup was a winter vegetable bisque with a little love in the middle (pureed beets).

The main course I choose was potatoes, gravy, gluten-free seitan (I know, who knew seitan could be gluten free??), and steamed asparagus. Dessert was gluten-free chocolate cake and vanilla bean ice cream. We also got some goodie bags with hand dipped vegan chocolates. I ate all my chocolates in one sitting, despite my husband saying, "Don't do it!" I told him, "I'll do whatever I want!" And I did. It was pretty amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed each decadent chocolatey bite.

Me and my valentine. He (and I) was pleased at how much he enjoyed his meal (and the company--he was expecting kind of an eclectic group, you know how vegans are). But we were all surprisingly normal (whatever that means, right?).

Now on to what I had for lunch today.

I'm still doing the wheat free thing. Essentially gluten-free you could say. Super easy...except, what to do about bread? The gluten free bread I tried years ago made me want to just NOT eat bread. It was gross. But I gave this brand a try. I have to admit my expectations were super low, but at first bite, I was impressed. It actually tasted like bread (as opposed to the dry cardboard, bread-like imitation I had tried long ago)!

About two weeks ago I decided to try eating a piece of bread (after having been wheat free for several weeks). It was Killer Dave's bread (I get it from Costco), so it's the good stuff (organic, whole grains). Within an hour or so, I felt my energy levels plummet, I could barely keep my eyes open. I tried it again the next day, just to see if maybe it was a coincidence. Another piece of bread. Within an hour or two, I had to call my husband and have him come home so he could watch the kids and I could take a nap. This is an important note because since I have cut out wheat I haven't had to take naps anymore. I just don't need naps to get me through my day. I don't feel the energy dips like I did before. So I'm committed to this no-wheat thing, despite the small inconvenience of having to find alternatives. And do I need to mention the price difference?! Gluten free bread is at least twice as much as wheat. Oh well, I really only need it on occasion, like when I want a veggie burger.

This lunch took about 20 minutes to put together, including cooking the potatoes. My kids just wanted the potatoes and I cut them up some cucumber spears to go with it for them.

Pacific Foods Butternut Squash soup (in the box)

Raw sugar snap peas

Boiled Yukon gold potatoes (my fave kind of potato), seasoned with Mrs. Dash tomato & basil seasoning & of course ketchup for dipping

Mary's Gone Crackers gluten free crackers (got mine from Costco, on sale!)

and

A veggie burger on gluten free bread (more on this below)

My favorite veggie burgers are Dr. Praeger's veggie burgers. I get mine in bulk from Costco (can you tell I'm a Costco devotee?). The key to a really amazing burger is cooking it in a non-stick pan on the stove. Heat the pan on medium high heat. Throw the frozen burger on the pan. Let it cook for about 5-7 minutes. Flip and let it cook on the other side (or until it's crispy on both sides). The smell and taste of these burgers is delicious, and they don't contain gluten or anything processed. Of course I added some fixin's: mustard, lettuce, some Jack Daniel's barbecue sauce, pickles, a slice of vegan cheese. Yum, yum.

Dessert, although not pictured was 1 cup puffed rice, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1 cup unsweetened plain almond milk, sprinkled with powdered stevia for sweetness.