I’m writing this in retrospect because I am a lazy girlie. But anyway, on to day four of my Veganuary journey.
Breakfast – Strawberries & Coffee with Soy Milk
Yes, your girl is actually having breakfast this morning. Literally just chopped up some strawberries and ate them, but it’s a start. Also had my coffee with soy milk this morning, and I have to be honest I’m not a massive fan.
Late Morning – Coffee with Coconut Milk
I needed to go to the shop and Fraser and Mimi have been on about coconut milk so I bought some and decided to have it in my coffee because I didn’t like the Soy Milk. Honestly, coconut coffee is not for me which is a shame because I do like it in a bubble tea. I just am not convinced that coconut milk and coffee works together. So far oat milk is my top milk substitute for coffee for sure. (Soy is fine for cooking I reckon, and I’ll use coconut milk in like other recipes such as curries, Thai food etc.).
Lunch – Plant Pioneers Shroomballs and Spaghetti & Leftover Vegan Naan
Time for my first vegan ready meal, because it was in the fridge and slightly past it’s best by date. Don’t worry yourself with my questionable food safety habits, in my opinion best by means literally nothing. If it smells and looks fine, I’ll eat it. Anyway I whipped this bad boy in the microwave.
And added the rest of my naan from yesterday, because it’s got garlic in it so it’s basically like having garlic bread on the side. While the presentation wasn’t great (my fault), I really enjoyed the shroomballs. The overall flavour of the whole meal was pretty much what you’d expect from a ready meal, but I definitely would take the shroomballs over some dodgy ready meal meatballs.
It’s fair to say that my first vegan ready meal really hit the spot, so I’m excited to try the other couple of options that I currently have in the freezer when necessary.
I also had a bit of a craving for something sweet, so I had some Alpro Natural Yoghurt and stirred in some cocoa powder and maple syrup. It didn’t look particularly appetising so I didn’t bother with a photo, but it tasted nice.
Dinner – Thai Chickpea Burgers with Rice & Cucumber
My cousin lent me a vegan cookbook so I decided use one of the recipes from it for my dinner, though I ignored the serving suggestion and just used some leftover rice that I had in green tea (this is a thing) and added sesame seeds to (I do have some rice sprinkles but the packets are in Japanese and I don’t know the ingredients)! I also made some cucumber ribbons which I covered in rice wine vinegar and soy sauce (sort of a ‘speedy pickle’?).
The chickpea burger was really dry, and I wasn’t particularly fond of the flavours. Thai food is alright but for some reason this burger just wasn’t quite for me. Obviously rice is just rice so you can’t really go wrong with that. And I always like this cucumber thingy, its fresh and tangy!
It was really difficult because my family were eating raclette (my second favourite meal – sukiyaki is the first). I suppose I could have bought some vegan cheese and joined in with the potatoes and cornichons but I didn’t think of that. I did, however, have one non-vegan thing that I am allowing myself to eat. Look, I got a block of truffle gouda for my birthday before I decided on Veganuary and I haven’t finished it yet, but there’s no way in hell I’ll be throwing it away. It’s nearly all gone and I have started offering it out to family members, but I figured that it’s mine, it’s already been bought, the damage is done may as well eat it and not waste it. It wasn’t cheap either. So after my food I melted some of that and had it on top of some potatoes.
Then everyone was having some cake after dinner (it was my step-dad’s birthday), so I made myself a vegan mug cake.
Not particularly pretty, but it filled up the pudding section of my stomach and was a very tasty treat. I also enjoyed it with some yoghurt and a glass of coconut milk, which turns out to be delicious on it’s own (my little brother and step-dad joined me on the coconut milk instead of having cows milk with their pudding too!).
Day Four Summary
Aside from the truffle gouda, another great vegan day. I feel like I’ve discovered that chickpeas can be quite dry, so I think I’ll stick to having them in saucy recipes. The mug cake was a great discovery that will come in handy when the chocolate/sweet cravings hit. And I’ve got my weird cucumber pickle thing to eat tomorrow as well!
On the milk front, oat remains my firm favourite, especially in hot drinks. Soy milk is my least, and coconut is good for a drink on it’s own but I’m not sold on it in a coffee.
Ellie May Sibley 