Vegan Food for the win!

In early May I set two goals:  one, to eat a vegan meal at least once a week and two, to work on assembling my clothing for the summer months.  I'll focus on the clothing situation in another post, but I'd like to update you all with my foray into vegan food.

As many of you already know, I'm certainly not a vegan (i love bacon) but I wanted to eat more vegan meals because:

1. I love veggie based meals!
2. The farmer's market is in full-swing
3. I'm broke and meat is way too fucking expensive
4. I'm currently dairy-free since I'm nursing and Atticus has a dairy-intolerance
5. I'm utterly bored with meat/starch/generic veggie for dinner every night

I have to say that the project was a success.  My goal was to eat one vegan meal a week and I managed to make vegan meals for THE ENTIRE FAMILY at least twice a week.  I'd like to share some highlights and a new favorite recipe:

Thai Pineapple Fried Rice

 

Chana Masala with Curried Couscous

Rosemary Squash and Potatoes

 

"White" Pizza with Asparagus, Basil, Spinach, and Sundried Tomatoes

The recipe above is my new favorite and it is so super easy.

1. Take your favorite pizza dough recipe (I used the olive oil recipe from Artisan Bread in 5-Minutes a Day) and follow all the pizza cooking instructions with said dough.
2. In a blender, zap 1/2 a block of silken tofu and a teaspoon of salt (next time I might try adding some basil or other herbs.  This makes your "white" sauce.
3. Smear on the tofu concoction and top with favorite veggies.
4. Cook until is reaches your favorite level of doneness.  I like my pizza dough doughy and my veggies NOT cooked to death.

I'm making this for dinner tonight with different toppings:  spinach and summer squash.  YUM!!!

I'm focusing on keeping up this habit.  On Saturday's we have farmer's market veggies and homemade bread and Sunday is vegan pizza night.  In the fall and winter I'll replace the fresh-cut veggies on Saturday with a soup.

Now -- on to my June goal -- DRINKING 72 OUNCES OF WATER A DAY!

I'm not too bad with drinking water.  I'd say I already consume about 48 ounces of water a day.  But Georgia summers are so damn hot and by golly I've got a milk supply to keep up.  I have a bad-ass reusable water bottle and I'm keeping track of my water each day in a teeny notebook.  Increasing my water intake will also help me reduce the amount of other liquids I take in (hello sweet tea and coffee) and this is a good thing.  Alright, time to drink more water!!!