What did you eat today? Pictures welcome!

henridw2095

I love food and am always looking for inspiration. Hopefully this thread is not too triggering…but I thought it would be nice to share what we actually eat.

Breakfast is typically hot oats with berries or fruit and peanut butter. But sometimes I have toasted Ezekiel bread with avocado and scrambled tofu. )I’m German and struggle with American bread, but like Ezekiel bread when toasted)

Since I don’t have a lot of time, I tend to pre-make at least my lunches. Attaching a picture of one go-to work lunch, it’s a veganized, lower fat version of this recipe:
https://runfasteatslow.com/blogs/news/shalanes-favorite-marathon-training-salad

cut walnuts in half, cut olive oil and lemon juice by more than half, use homemade vegan parmesan substitute that’s amazing on this dish…

I should probably learn how to resize photos for MFP (and also try to fix the banner of the group)...

Marilynsretired

I am looking for recipes that are vegetarian/vegan that you dont add salt to as I am not supposed to add any salt and prepackaged foods have to much salt added. That and getting in enough protein is my problem so looking for recipes for both

henridw2095

@Marilynsretired do you normally cook? I would probably just try to omit salt form my normal recipes, or substitute with dried herbs, herb mixes, or salt free spices to add interest. I don't limit salt, but would imaging it's initially hard to eat food without salt and that one might hopefully get used to it. I never add sugar to anything and my palate has adjusted. Vegetarian protein - maybe greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, eggs/egg whites...for vegan protein, I eat a lot of tofu, but also like seitan, and beans/lentils.

henridw2095

Tonight I went all out and made a Green Goddess Salad Bowl. It's normally a bit too much work for a weeknight, but since I didn't get around to it yesterday, today was the day. The Cashew-based green goddess dressing is from the American Test Kitchen Plant Based cookbook (listed in the resources). Aside from the dressing, I improvised and used Arugula, baked tofu and sweet potato, broccoli and zucchini with garlic, edamame, some pistachios, and avocado. I have leftovers for two more bowls. If I had more calories left over, I would have used more sweet potato...

Marilynsretired

Yes I cook and so does my husband. I can't have salt because of kidney failure so I don't add any of it to any food and then if an item has a label I check the sodium level and keep the % to 5% or lower which is a challenge. So basically I eat vegetables, fruit, a small amount of chicken, and my carb level is under 100 g each day. Makes it interesting to watch to make sure of these numbers as when I get more tha 5% salt my kidneys slow down - and when the number gets below 10 I will need dialysis - right now I am at 11 and am working at trying to bring the number back up to at least 16. Normal healthy number is 60

henridw2095

@Marilynsretired - that sounds challenging. Hopefully you can find resources. Dr Fuhrman‘s approach comes to mind, I think he very strongly restricts salt.

enlightenme3

https://cookieandkate.com/how-to-make-crispy-baked-tofu/

I've never been that fond of tofu until I had a grilled, smoked tofu that was part of a vegetable kebab. I then went on a hunt for a recipe that I could make at home easily and came across this one from the Cookie and Kate website. I think she is mostly vegetarian so I use a lot of the recipes from her site and her cookbook. The only deviation to the recipe is that I add a splash of liquid smoke to add some smokiness. Extra-firm tofu makes a difference as well.

Zinka61

That green goddess bowl looks *amazing*! Today I ate a bean-veggie-nut concoction in a triple-decker sandwich and a glass of unsweetened soy milk for breakfast, and a gigantic kale salad (I have a vegetable garden) with sweet potato, chopped bell peppers, chopped tempeh and a version of that viral Tik Tok Green Goddess salad dressing (I didn't care for it on the TikTok salad, but I love it on my salad and probably changed it up some. It's got basil, spinach, green onions, nutritional yeast, walnuts, rice vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Unless I have lots of leftovers around, my dinners are pretty basic--I make a super fast loaf of whole wheat bread every other day or so and eat a large amount of that with some beans on the side and unsweetened soy milk. In the winter, I eat a lot of frozen blueberries and cherries, heated up in the microwave. This time of year I've been given peaches by two friends with trees, so I've been baking peach halves upside down, then sprinkling them with cinnamon. My breakfast and dinner don't vary much, but I make different soups or salads, all with beans in them, for lunch. I don't know how to post photos on here anymore, sorry!

henridw2095

@Zinka61 - I'm also not sure how to properly upload photos and should probably try to fix the banner for this group...I just hit the photo button above the text box, either on my computer or my phone without any resizing...maybe someone else knows a better way.

I think I found the dressing and will try it! My Green Goddess dressing was pretty good: cashews, lemon juice, parsley, chives, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt and pepper - and tarragon. I had never had tarragon and made an effort to find it only to find out that I don't care for it.

henridw2095

@enlightenme3 that tofu looks delicious! I got inspired and am marinating my go-to baked tofu recipe over night to bake tomorrow morning:
https://ohmyveggies.com/recipe-baked-italian-herb-tofu-how-to-press-tofu/

Zinka61

@henridw2095 just for comparison, the way I'm currently making the dressing is something like 1 c. basil, 1c. spinach 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 c. green onions, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 T evoo, 1 T water, 2-3 T raw walnuts, 3 T. nutritional yeast, 1/2 t salt, 1 T rice vinegar. I puree it and use some on salad of chopped baby kale, cooked (still warm is best!) sweet potato, chopped red bell pepper and chopped tempeh (I cook the tempeh a little in the microwave first).

Maya440

That green goddess salad bowl looks indeed incredibly good

Today was too much nuts and chocolate but I also had a savoury crumble tonight which was really nice.

I made the crumble based on oats, almonds, nutritional yeast, sesame seeds, garlic and coconut oil (just mix everything).
Under the crumble, I had the zucchini, red bell peppers, onion, and sweet potatoes (cooked first alone in water, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce for 15’ then in the oven with the crumble on top for 20’)

henridw2095

@Zinka61 thanks for the recipe, I only just started making green goddess dressings, but here is what I used (probably much higher in calories):
3/4 c cashews (soaked if you don’t have a high speed blender), 3/4 cup water, 3T lemon juice, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1T tarragon - blend and let it sit for a few min, add 1/3 cup parsley and 1/3 cup chives, blend until smooth). I liked it except for the tarragon, it’s quite thick („creamy“).

henridw2095

Today‘s tofu! Didn't photograph well on the fly, but it saved my dinner, which was poorly planned. I ran out of prepped items today and ended up improvising. Going shopping after gym whilst being hungry is not a good idea and caused a non-vegan slip-up...the most vegan-looking crackers ended up containing butter. I only noticed after eating a bunch. Although I prefer to eat vegan, I'm just going to finish the box, because tossing it now is not going to help anyone.

henridw2095

Tonight I made oven roasted cauliflower in a nice tomato sauce containing tons of garlic, capers, olives, and raisins. For a new recipe, this turned out lovely. I ate a quarter of the dish with quinoa and leftover tofu. I don’t often make quinoa, but really enjoyed it with this dish. Recipe was from the plant-based America’s Test Kitchen Book - I really like this book and am trying new recipes from it. Not the best photos…but the dish was 450F🔥

henridw2095

I ran out of fruit to eat with my oats and decided to give the savory oats a try this morning…probably used a bit too much carrot, but it’s a good start. It’s more or less this recipe…
https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/vegan-breakfast/savory-oatmeal/

Marilynsretired

My regular breakfast is

oats, no milk, no salt, no sugar with 1 cup blueberries or raspberries and a 1 cup of green grapes.
Takes a bit to get used to no salt but can't take the taste of salt on it now.

Maya440

I love that you tried the savoury oats. For me it helps decreasing sugar cravings later in the day.

This morning I had leftover tofu potatoes tortilla with wakame algae (prepared sushi way).
At lunch a big salad (arugula, tomatoes, cucumber, cold boiled potatoes, falafels) and a piece of chocolate.

enlightenme3

I don't have a picture of it, but we were at a neighbor's house for dinner the other night and it was a taco bar theme. What was interesting and delicious was instead of straight rice or Mexican rice, our neighbor did a 50/50 combo of basmati and quinoa. She says she always does that mix. I'm fine with straight quinoa, but it can become a little mushy, so this is a nice way to balance it out.

henridw2095

@enlightenme3 that’s a great idea, thanks for sharing. I’m not a quinoa lover…so this might help

henridw2095

Sheet pan Sunday lunch. When I don’t feel like cooking from a recipe, I often toss veggies that I think will go together with tofu and a bit of oil for a sheet pan. This one had green beans, red onions, sweet potatoes, and some fire roasted frozen corn. It was seasoned with chili flakes, salt and pepper. I ate the entire pan (613 kcal) 🙂…