Day 48 -- The Virtues Of Variety

After my previous blog about my vegan binge, I thought it might be good to right about the virtues of variety.  I've found that the easiest way to maintain this diet is to have a lot of tasty one-cup meals ready and waiting in the fridge.  I exist almost entirely on one-pot, one-cup meals -- soups, stews, composed salads.  It's the simplest way to eat.  I just spoon my meal into a giant mug and eat.

A normal weeks worth of cooking will include some kind of cold grain salad with veggies and legumes, a broth-based soup, a tomato based soup, a highly spiced stew, veggies for a stir-fry with brown rice, and prepared fruit like cut-up melon or grapefruit peeled and de-membraned.  I also bake a batch of fat-free whole wheat cookies for a treat with a chai soy latte.  For breakfast, I try to have a fruit smoothie with greens and flax seed, so enough fresh fruit to get me through a week of smoothies.

That's a week and I can usually cook everything in a long afternoon.  It's easy because many of the dishes have the same veggies -- carrots, peppers, potatoes, onions -- so the chopping is easier when it's all done together.  The rest is broth, canned or frozen veggies, dried or canned legumes, and spices.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili is on the stove right now.  Tomorrow, I'll make a broth-based soup and my favorite Wheatberry Salad.  And then, I'll be back on track!