My meal today! A gigantic salad from a great restaurant. It normally comes with cashews on it, so I omitted those so that I could have calories for an apricot cupcake from a bakery! Spent the day in Salem (MA) and went to a Witch Dungeon museum! Ha! Fun day, and great eats!

amflautist wrote: »

I almost jumped when I saw your meal, Brenda. Thought you were eating sauerkraut!

LOL Never!!!

Made nacho cheese beef tacos from old El paso. Very quick and easy to make. Took a pic but not sure how to post pics on here...

Thanks @brendagaudette. Saw the camera on the website but it's not available on my mobile app for some reason.

Chicken burgers with Alfredo /dill and yam( or sweet potato I'm never sure) with chipotle mayo

blambo61 wrote: »

@ShannonOMAD
I may need to pick your brain a little to find some good vegan food. Above looks great. I love meat but it doesn't love me. Had some gout issues today and it has been a real big problem for a long time. Meat and sweets seem to be big offenders with me. Something like above may make me think that I'm eating meat!

Ouch, I feel you on the gout, I used to get it, as well. Meat and high-fat items of course are very inflammatory for gout symptoms! There are so many meatless options you can try! I'm not delusional, and won't tell you that so many mock meats taste EXACTLY like the real thing, but in reality, just a couple do. But many others are at least a tasty alternative!
For products that (in my opinion) taste nearly exactly like the real thing, I recommend :
Gardein : Mandarin Crispy Chick'n : w/o the sauce, these are great chicken nuggets
Gardein : Fishless Sticks : really good battered fish
Gardein : Meatless Meatballs : just good, well spiced meatballs
Gardein : Sizzling Szechuan Beefless Strips : without sauce, they are sort of like chicken-fried steak chunks
Beyond Meat : The Beyond Burger : they call this "the vegan burger that bleeds" it is SPOT ON for ground meat. Kinda creepy, actually, how exact it is.
Beyond Meat : Beyond Chicken Strips : a really close replacement for grilled chicken strips, for salad, stir fry, tacos, etc.
Gardein, Beyond Meat, and many more have great frozen ground meat replacements, but you an also make your own super easily by using TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) it just comes in a dry bag, and you rehydrate it with just water, spice it up, and poof! A great taco filling!
Once you're feeling bold, go onto Amazon and search for the "Loma Linda Worthington" brand. Everything comes in a can, which looks frightening, but thats where my dogs, chops, and other stuff comes from. Really high quality stuff with great taste and texture.
Sophies Kitchen : VeganToona : comes in a can, mix it up just like tuna. Tasty!
Upton's Naturals : BBQ Jackfruit : uses young jackfruit to mimic pulled pork. Surprisingly delicious.

You won't find a great bacon replacement, but there are plenty that are... tasty. Just not bacony. And you won't find a real steak replacement. The steak strips and chunks from gardein are fantastic, but they don't sell like... a ribeye of it, you know?

In terms of dairy replacements I recommend :

Follow Your Heart : The Vegan Egg : spot on scrambled eggs, and omelettes
Kite Hill : Cream Cheese (Tofutti brand is a more affordable alternative, but Kite Hill is indistinguishable from real cream cheese!)
Rice Dream : Rice Milk : served cold, its a dead ringer for skim milk
Califia Farms : Barista Blend creamer : perfect half&half replacement or coffee
Field Roast : Chao Cheeses : comes in 3 flavors. All delicious.
Tofutti : Sour Cream : its legit
Hampton Creek : Just Mayo : Even my mayo-loving boyfriend can't tell the difference!
Daiya : Blue Cheese Dressing

And yes, a lot of these items can be expensive. The Gardein brand, I find to be reasonable and easy to find in my area. But I don't use mock meats with every meal, there are plenty of options that only use whole foods (veggies, beans, lentils, grains, etc) but for someone who loves meat, they are a great thing to enjoy and help transition away from too much meat!

I really hope this helps, and I really, really hope you can find a nice balance with diet to get some relief! I am sure you try everything! Crazy strong cherry juice would often work for me to eliminate gout pain in a day or two! That stuff is EXPENSIVE!

Great list Shannon. Thank you for all that effort. I'm not vegan, but I love being mostly-vegetarian. Just curious, what are your fav veggies?

4 scrambled eggs cooked in bacon fat, 2 pieces of bacon diced up and 2 cups broccoli and cheddar cheese

I made these unbelievably delicious stuffed mushrooms tonight. Baby bella shrooms, stuffed with a mixture of : spinach, artichoke, beans, onion, garlic, bread crumbs, nutritional yeast, and spices. Topped with some vegan parmesan shavings. I also ate 3 faux pork chops, a clementine, and a square of baked oatmeal. Just under 900 calories for everything.

My dinner last night. I made a bean salad with shredded sweetheart cabbage, red onion slice, dressed with Dijon mustard, lemon juice, sea salt and nutritional yeast. It is delicious!

Next time I'll try butter beans, I think butter beans work better