A Vegan day of “Random Eatings” ~ Not a Recipe ~

Today I was thinking about that I’m a “spontaneous cook”. I don’t really plan my daily meals, and what I’m used to do is first consulting to myself: “what I would like to have as breakfast?” and then get into the kitchen looking what’s on the fridge, if my cravings match with my available resources is a good start.

Sometimes that ideal situation does not happen and I have to play with the creativity. Here is when all sort of “not a recipes” randomly are born, because my cravings are claiming for a specific meal, but I lack of one main ingredient so I try to replace it, or mimic a original non vegan recipe, or I just start to put thing together. The results usually are a surprise.

The thing is: I never get notes of this “not recipes” and now I see a good opportunity to start this online “notes” and share them it with you. I’m pretty sure that everybody have had one of these cooking moments, and after a good time enjoying your “not a recipe” you think “how it was that I’ve made this?” “Why I did not took a note?”.

So with that being said, here is my first day of “Random Eatings”. I’m going to show you what I’ve made, make a brief “not a recipe” and add the nutritional information at the end, just to have an idea of what an average vegan person like me eat.

Breakfast:

Today was a very cold morning, and I wanted warm oats with fruits and spices, so I cooked this bowl of oats with a mug of “chai masala latte”. Here is how I did it:

Oats:

1 medium apple

1 medium pear

1 banana

1/2 old fashioned oats

1 cup of water

1 tsp cinnamon

a hint of cloves

a hint of nutmeg

2 cardamom seed

1 Tbsp chia seeds

1 Tbsp walnuts

Peel the apple and pear, and cut them in 4, the slice every piece.
In a sauce pan at medium high heat, add the water and spices. Bring it to boil.
Once is boiling add the apples and low the heat to medium, cook for about 2 minutes.
Add the oats, and stir well, cook for 2 more minutes, and remove from the stove.
pour into a bowl and garnish with slices of banana and pear, sprinkle with chia seeds and walnuts.

Chai “masala” latte:

1 Tsp “chai masala” blend

1/2 Tsp cinnamon

1 cup soy milk

1/2 cup boiling water

1 bag of “ceylan” or any dark tea

1 Tsp agave

Soak you tea as usual while you prepare the milk.
In a little pot put the milk and the spices on the heat, stir occasionally.
once start to boil, pour the tea over the mixture.
add the agave and stir. Remove from the heat.

Lunch:

Here in Florida, the day did not get warmer, and we were freezing for our standards, so it was a perfect day to make a fast and simple version of “Chilean lentils” soup in the instant pot, which only takes 1/2 hour to prepare. I have pair this soup with just plain bread:

“Fast and simple lentil soup”

2 cups of brown lentils

1/2 onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 small carrot

2 celery stacks

1 cup of frozen sweet peas

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 bay leaves

1 Tbsp cumin

2 Tsp Paprika

1 Tsp Oregano

1/2 Tsp black pepper

1/4 marinara sauce

2 Tsp salt

1 Tbsp Corn starch

5 Cups of water

In the instant pot:

Choose the “sautee” mode and add the oil with vegetables, stir fry for about 3 minutes
Add the spices, keep stir frying for about 2 minutes
After rinsing the lentils, add them to the pot. Keep mixing.
Add the marinara, and water, change the mode to manual and set it to 15 minutes, with pressure
While your pot is working, make a Corn starch slurry dissolving 1 Tbsp in a 1/4 of cup of water and reserve.
After your pot finish the cycle, release the pressure. With the help of a submersion blender pulse a couple of times and add the corn starch slurry.
Close the lid and the corn starch slowly cook for about 5 minutes, after that you can add the salt and serve.

This soup keeps me very satisfied to skip the diner and only have a snack as a last “munch” of the day.

I had a portion of guacamole and some chips with a cup tea. I’ve made a express guacamole in a food processor:

Fast Guacamole:

1 avocado

2 tomatoes

1/4 of onion

1/2 of pickled jalapeno

2 cloves of garlic

Salt and lemon to taste

On a food processor place the onion, garlic, the inner part of tomatoes and jalapeno. Pulse until gets finely chopped.
Add the avocado, the rest of tomatoes, salt to taste and drops of lemon (you can add any of your spices o cilantro also, I like it simple). Pulse until the avocado is crushed, leaving some tomatoes pieces.