Cabbage is my new Kale

I was compelled, once again, to buy some cabbage at the store. This time around I chose green cabbage. My original idea was veggie wraps with a ginger dressing until I realized that cabbage would do better as part of a filling instead of the wrap itself. So, as I do, I then became excited to make a giant salad with added protein from lentils. Delicious as a meal and great for leftovers the next day!

16 Bean Soup, what?!

I used a dry bean mix of 16 kinds of beans (plus barley) found at the store. The brand was Fiesta, which is accurate, because these beans totally looked like a party: colorful, in all shapes and sizes.

I agree that the colors of the cooked beans don't look so great, but I assure you the taste is off the chain! I'm pretty sure I owe it all to the chicken bouillon cube (vegan) I used for the broth. Also, the salty tortilla chips were great and reminded me of Tortilla Soup. I can imagine making tortilla chip strips for Tortillas soup in the future.

Chili con... seitan!

It's no secret that I'm a copycat. So, when a friend of mine mentioned that she was going to use her crock pot to cook something delicious I was like, "Ooh, yeah! I want that too."

I love chili from a crock pot. But I thought after making a couple of chilis with just beans and veggies it's time to step it up. So, I stepped it up with a seitan sausage experiment.

Cooking in Advance

It feels really good to eat homemade food. For me, this extends all the way to bringing a lunch to work instead of buying one (In fact, right now it is really exciting for me to even get to say the words "bring a lunch to work"!). Homemade lunches are harder to pull off with a busy schedule and I can easily to fall into a routine of PB&J sandwiches.

I try to plan ahead so that I can provide myself with delicious, healthful meals that don't take my whole morning to prepare. This week I decided to roast some bell peppers with onion. I love them in my sandwiches and had a great time eating them in pasta, too.