No sugar, no flour, no wheat, no oil, no salt, no animal products... What's left?

A whole bunch it seems.  Embracing the vegan thing firmly and whole heartedly.  OK so some egg whites accidentally lept into a curried veggie thing I was cooking a few days ago but I'm 99% there. 

Dinner last night was Black Bean Soup with Cashew Sour cream, Veg medley of Mushrooms, Greens, Barley and Beans with an entree of Roasted Eggplant, Almond Milk blended with ice for desert.  We were satisfied and stuffed.

I need a better blender to get the cashew sour cream thing to work right but for a first try it was fine. 

I'm trying to do lots of prep; to have lots of ingredients pre cooked and in the fridge so I can mix and match and reheat for a quick meal. 

I made some veggie burger patties with lentils, beans and TVP (textured vegetable protein). They're in the fridge awaiting the frying pan.

Gonna do baked Kale Chips tonight to have a crunchy snack for work for when the pop corn machine gets cranked up.

There are lentils, beans (red and pinto), spilt peas, barley, quinoa, onions, garlic, mushrooms and peppers, made or prepped and ready to cook in the fridge.  And in the freezer are spinach, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and onion/pepper mix.  Lots of lemons and fat free vegan salad dressing, Bragg's liquid Amino's, and my home made hot sauce.*

A word about quinoa.  My step daughter Erin, (a fitness warrior who changed her life and lost 115lbs thru diet and exercise over 13 months), saw the quinoa and asked what the hell it was.

So I began a long winded, Cliff Claven-esque, explanation:  Quinoa is a whole grain and has many health benefits.  I first heard about it in an article about an American runner who went to the rain forest to stay with this tribe of running people.  The running tribe basically only ate quinoa and corn.  Either in a mashed up paste or a diluted drink.  They had no heart disease, cancer, mouth or teeth problems and even 60 year old's ran 100 miles a week.

She politely listened and later when her sister, Caitlin stopped by and asked the same question.  Erin told her "Those are Skip's Amazon Running grits"  Yes they are.  No wonder she was teacher of the year.

Going to attempt vegan cashew cream cheese soon and will report.


*Home made hot sauce.  When I prep peppers I chop lots of them.  So I'll get Jalapeno, Habenero, and basically every pepper the store has fresh.  I take the tops and seeds and ribs that I trim off and stuff them in a recycled and washed Bragg's Liquid Amino's bottle, I add white vinegar and water 60/40 and let it sit for a few days shaking it when ever I am near it.  The result is a great hot sauce seasoning for everything.  I need to make a cool label to stick on the bottle.