What do I Eat in a Week as a Vegan?

If you haven’t read my two previous #WellnessWednesday posts: Vegetarian to Vegan Part 1 and Vegetarian to Vegan Part 2, then you should check those out prior to reading this post. Then be sure to come back to read about all the awesome meals I ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

A few things before we delve into the yummy meals:

• I am including my meals from Monday through Sunday of last week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I do snack in between meals, but I am not going to include those in today’s post.
• All products that I use are dairy free. So if something uses cheese or milk, just know that I use vegan versions of those products.
• Every weekend I meal plan. I mainly use, yup, you guessed it...PINTEREST. However, I do sometimes make up my own recipes or use cookbooks. Based on what I plan, I make an organized grocery list so that I can stick to buying only what I need.
• Lately, I’ve only been cooking for myself so I typically half the recipes. If you’re cooking for a larger family, you may need to adjust accordingly.
• I make dinner for one night and then eat that same meal for lunch the following day. This saves SO much time and money especially when I’m working during the school year. I will only put a picture for the dinner meal and not lunch since it’s the same.
• I will be linking the products I tend to use, so check them out!

Breakfast

I have really simplified my breakfast lately. I no longer purchase cereal because it is so high in sugar and not very fulfilling. Have you read my Sugar Tracking post? Typically I have oats in a jar (OIAJ) or toast with cream cheese and a side of fruit. I also drink a cup of hot tea (Earl Gray or peppermint lately) with no added sugar or unsweetened almond chocolate milk. Since these are the only two breakfasts I’ve been consuming lately, I figured I’d make breakfast a separate section.

Oats in a Jar (OIAJ)
I found the oats a jar idea on Pinterest (also called over night oats). You can be really creative with this breakfast and it’s healthy too! I always feel great when I have a breakfast of oats. Plus, it actually fills me up which is pretty rare! The instant oatmeal that comes in packets tend to have a lot of added sugar, so I use Red Mill Rolled Oats (1g of sugar per 1/2 cup serving). There are tons of ways you can prepare your OIAJ based on what flavors, toppings, and fruits you prefer.

Just get a mason jar or reuse cleaned out peanut butter jars. Fill it with all the goodies, shake it up, put it in the fridge, and enjoy cold in the morning. Yes, I was used to the hot oatmeal (or hot cereal as I would call it), but I’m telling you…this is DELICIOUS! Here are a few of my favorite combinations.

Almond Joy OIAJ (Recipe from Rabbit Food for my Bunny Teeth)
-oats, almond milk, sugar free syrup, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, raw almonds, and ground flax meal
Blueberry Spice OIAJ
-oats, almond milk, sugar free syrup, raw cacao powder, cinnamon, raw blueberries, and ground flax meal
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip OIAJ
-oats, almond milk, chocolate chips, PB2 powder (you could also use regular peanut butter, but I figured the powder would be easier to mix), and ground flax meal

Toast with Cream Cheese

-I recently discovered AMAZING fresh bread sold at Sprouts. It’s in a basket in the bakery section and is sold in packs of six slices for $1.99 at my local stores. It seem ridiculous to only buy 6 slices of bread, but then it’s not a surplus to where I end up having to trash the rest because it went bad. I buy two different packs because they have a variety of types. My favorite is the Italian Country. These breads are low in calories, have 0g to 1g of sugar, and are vegan (at least the types I have purchased). Check the ingredients list to verify if you are vegan and want to confirm.
-I knew the hardest part of going vegan was going to be giving up cheese. You could ask my sister and she would tell you that I would coat my bagels with four servings of cream cheese. Bagels and cream cheese are both really unhealthy. However, I have finally found my healthy (and happy) medium. I did try Daiya cream cheese and I will say it was decent. However, to me it had a sweet flavor to it and it wasn’t appealing to me. So, when I saw that Sprouts sold “Better Than Cream Cheese” by Tofutti, I thought I’d give it a try. OH.MY.GOSH! The consistency and the taste are spot on with regular cream cheese. Just try it.
-I usually have two slices of bread with a thin later of cream cheese. I don’t need to coat the bread because it’s not as thick as a bagel, so it’s not like I’m just eating mainly bread. It’s a fair ratio of bread to cream cheese. I probably sound like I’m obsessed with food right now and…I am. 🙂

Lunch | Dinner

Monday

Lunch: Leftover Veggie Fajita from Taco Mac (went there for Father’s Day the night before)
Dinner: Spinach Orzo Soup (Recipe from Gimme Some Oven) with a slice of bread and homemade garlic butter

Tuesday

Lunch: Leftover from Monday night
Dinner: Avocado Potato Salad (Recipe from Becky’s Best Bites)

Wednesday

Lunch: Leftover from Tuesday night
Dinner: Lentils and Cooked Carrots
-I intended on eating veggie tenders with this meal, but I totally forgot I had purchased them. However, during the school year lentils and carrots are my go to on most Tuesdays. I get home from work at 5 and have to leave for yoga at 7. I don’t get back home until around 9, so lentils and carrots are a pretty easy fix for those nights. I can either make this meal right before I go and not feel too heavy before doing activity. I can also come home and quickly turn on the stove if I’d prefer to eat after yoga. In the past few years, I have recently grown to love lentils. I find that boiling them in vegetable broth instead of water makes for a better flavor. For the carrots, I simply added cinnamon, nutmeg, and a dash of coconut sugar.

Thursday

Lunch: Leftover from Wednesday night
Dinner: Soft Tacos with a Side of Blue Corn Chips & Medium Salsa

-Mexican food is my favorite for sure! I’ll be honest, I pretty much put “soft tacos” on my meal plan every single week. It’s super easy, you can get creative, and it tastes heavenly! I typically make brown rice (usually cilantro lime rice) and/or seasoned black beans. I also add in veggie crumbles with a bit of chili powder. Since being a vegan, I now use Daiya’s shredded pepper jack cheese. It melts and it’s spicy...so I approve! I love guacamole, so I make my own to add in and then I top it off with hot sauce. I am obsessed with Taco Bell’s Mild Hot Sauce (which is now sold in stores) and I would literally take the packets and consume them straight. Don’t judge me! Unfortunately, Sprouts didn’t have it, so I went with Tapatio instead, which still tasted great. I’m always excited for leftovers the following day when I know I made soft tacos the night before!

Friday

Lunch: Leftover from Thursday night
Dinner: Veggie Burgers (Recipe from Ambitious Kitchen) on Kalamata Olive Bread (from Sprouts) with Boiled Corn on the Cob and Kettle Brand Pepperoncini Chips (The picture here is from another time I made this meal and I didn’t use the Kalamata Olive Bread at that time, but recently I did!)

-This is by far one of the favorites in our household. Everything put together is a perfect combination. In the recipe, she suggests putting them on an oiled skillet. I love using my grill especially during these beautiful Summer evenings in Georgia. So, I put my patties on a grilling tray and grill away! The recipe also calls for an avocado cream sauce and it includes sour cream as one of the ingredients. Since being vegan, I have learned how to make vegan sour cream. Yes, it exists! I got the sour cream recipe from Gluten Free Vegan Pantry. I highly suggest everyone try these burgers. I’ve tried plenty and these for sure the most flavorable and enjoyable!

Saturday

Lunch: Leftover from Friday night
Dinner: I didn’t really have dinner Saturday night because I was at an Atlanta Braves baseball game. I actually ate tons of Oreos and a Minute Maid Frozen Strawberry Lemonade. I totally felt like doo-doo afterward because I consumed about four days worth of sugar in one day! AHH!

Sunday

Lunch: Since I didn’t make dinner the previous night due to the baseball game, I didn’t have leftovers. Instead, I made a quick meal of Gardein veggie tenders and raw cut red bell peppers. It’s a simple meal especially for times when I don’t have leftovers. I try to keep the freezer stocked with a few veggie meat choices just as back up.
Dinner: Roasted Jalapeño Soup (Recipe by Chocolate Moosey)
-This is one of those recipes that looks disgusting, but tastes so delicious. It kind of looks like baby food or worse. However, if you like spicy foods, then this is great for you. I really enjoy this meal in the winter or if I have a cold. Even though the recipe calls for items like heavy cream and butter, I just use almond milk and vegan butter by Earth Balance.

Look at all the variety and color in those meals above. Notice that I didn’t just eat hamster food (aka salad). With so many resources out there today, it’s actually extremely easy to find tasty, nutritious vegetarian/vegan meals. Give those recipes a try. Let me know what you think!

Would you be interested in another post on what I eat in a week as a vegan? What meals do you enjoy as a vegan?

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