It’s not the biggest time-saving way to go about life, but I enjoy taking time away from the computer to chop, cook, and sit down to eat. • Stir-fry veggies: I like to chop bell peppers and onions and refrigerate or freeze them. • Beans: I buy dried beans and make a large Crock Pot of black beans, then freeze them in portions. It’s easy to have them for when I want to make burritos, bowls, or black bean burgers. • Bananas: I mostly use bananas for smoothies. I buy them, and as soon as they start to ripen, I’ll eat one or two fresh — then peel, slice, and freeze the rest. (I don’t freeze them in the peel. I have reusable food storage bags for them.) Spinach - Spinach either seems to come in bags that get used at once or giant containers that feed 10 people. I treat spinach like I do bananas, using some fresh and freezing the rest. I prefer buying fresh spinach over frozen because I think it tastes different. Veggies: Carrots, romaine hearts, mushrooms, bell peppers, frozen mixed vegetables, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, cilantro, green onions, parsley, garlic, jalapeños. Fruit: Grapes, mangoes, cherries, dates, apples, blueberries, watermelon. Pantry: Tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, black olives, capers, coconut aminos, Sriracha, brown rice, black beans, vegetable broth, nori, rice paper, spaghetti. Etc.: Oat milk, extra firm tofu, refills of spices, olive oil, and seasonings In the rolls, I included carrots, red bell peppers, cucumber, spinach, tomato, and cilantro. It was fresh and light, and I helped it out with some coconut aminos — which is a gluten-free alternative to soy sauce. YouTube helped me with my julienne skills. The base of this bowl is beans and rice, topped with homemade salsa (tomatoes, onion, lime, garlic, cilantro, jalepeños, and lime juice), sliced avocado, and green onions. I squiggled on some Sriracha and devoured it while watching Schitt’s Creek. Recipe: Simple Southwest Tofu Scramble While this is cooking, I crumble the tofu and mix the seasoning for the tofu. A tip I learned for making these tofu “eggs” is to mix the dry spices together and then add a little water. Then pour that liquid on the tofu pieces and stir it around while cooking. It coats the tofu better than dry spices so you get that flavor it needs. I don’t have a tofu press, so I wrap my tofu in a kitchen towel and then set a cast-iron skillet on top. I let it sit for an hour or so. It may not need that long, but I like it to be as dry as possible. Then break it into crumbles, coat in the seasoning mixture, and then add to the pan. The first time I made sushi, I put down a kitchen towel and used a giant Ziploc bag as my mat. To my surprise, it worked! So I’ve been making sushi this way and never bothered getting a mat. I filled the sushi with leftover veggies from the spring rolls, then dipped everything in coconut aminos and Sriracha for extra flavor. After that cooked and the veggies got softer, I added the rice and seasoned it. Then I topped it with fresh green onions, and as usual, the coconut aminos and Sriracha made an appearance for this meal as well. This has been one of my favorite go-to dinners. So easy, tasty, and filling. I used what I had on hand, but here’s a good-looking similar recipe to try by Choosing Chia. Recipe: Northern-Style Thai Coconut Soup Sofritas is Chipotle’s braised tofu. It’s got a good texture and a lot of flavor. It has a saucy base, so it will make your bowl a little soggy. My bowl had white cilantro rice, black beans, fajita veggies, sofritas, pico de gallo, salsa, and lettuce. And I got a side of chips and guac. You can make your own sofritas bowl with this recipe! Recipe: Sofritas Burrito Bowl I made a marinade of coconut aminos, Sriracha, brown sugar, and herbs de Provence. I thinly sliced the tofu (don’t forget to press it first!), and then coated it in the marinade and baked, then flipped it, basted again, and baked till it was crispy. It was good! So proud of me. I threw together a salad with some veggies that needed to be used. Here’s another recipe you can try. Just nix the honey to make it vegan if you need to. Recipe: Honey Sriracha Tofu I got the guacamole and their Gardein wings from the appetizers list. With those and a couple of drinks, I was good and full! Recipe: Vegan Spaghetti alla Puttanesca My finished product wasn’t IG-worthy, but the flavor was good. I’ll just have to figure out where I went wrong. I’ll give this version of the recipe a try next time! Recipe: Tofu and Broccoli When we got back inside, I ordered a VG Classic Burger and fries and a chocolate parfait from Veggie Grill through UberEats. It’s delicious every time. Even my “Ew, I don’t do vegan” friends love the food there.
