What I Eat In A Day | Vegan | Part I
I thought I'd start documenting my daily meals on Insta Story a few weeks ago.. I try and show you (most days!) what I eat in a day - but the problem is that Insta Stories disappear within 24hours, and I don't always get to give you as much detail as possible on a potential new recipe, or tips etc..
So I thought I'd start adding some inspiration posts from my daily meals, here on the blog. Not all meals will have an intricate recipe, some I've just made up, some I've found online or in a cookbook and if I do I will always tell you from who and where.
I will divide the post into 3 meals : breakfast, lunch and dinner - let's go!
BREAKFAST
These days I have a green smoothie every morning. I don't always stick to one recipe, I mostly make them up as I go, but a good base is :
- 1 ripe spotty banana
- 1 big handful of kale or spinach or dark leafy greens of your choice
- 1 kiwi
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 1 tbps of chia seeds
- half a mango or a handful of frozen mango cubes
- 1 cup of water
- Optional : 1 tsp of spirulina and 1 tsp of wheatgrass powder (the spirulina is the reason mine always look so dark green! don't be scared by the colour though, they taste deliciously fruity from the sweetness of the banana and the mango!)
A big smoothie does keep me full for a while (if I want it to be more filling I'd add a couple more bananas!), but I always feel like I need something solid too in the morning, sometimes I'll start with a smoothie when I wake up and eat solid food a bit later.
My go-tos at the moment are a simple porridge (I use the base of this recipe, works every time!), I sometimes add cinnamon and chia seeds to it, and then I either top it up with fresh fruit, or if if I'm feeling a little more decadent I add a dollop of this chocolate spread and mix it in!
And also smoothie bowls! At the moment the weather here in England goes from rainy and autumnal to tropical and summery so I alternate depending on my mood and weather! Here's a few smoothie bowl inspiration and recipes - I mix it up, but generally I go for my banana ice cream as a base and top it up with fresh fruit, rawnola and coconut flakes, or cacao nibs, chia seeds and whatever else I've got lying around!
(PS: If I have banana nicecream, I'll have a green smoothie to go with it, but if I do a fruity smoothie bowl.. I won't do another normal smoothie to go with it! tooooooo many smoothies!)
LUNCH
For lunch at the moment, I've been lucky to be home most days, so I try to make something easy and delicious that will keep me full until dinner. Most days I still have leftovers from the night before, which always make the perfect lunch for minimal effort.
My guilty pleasure though, is open sandwiches! I can never tire or them. I try not to eat too much bread, but weekly we buy a big loaf of sourdough from this lovely bakery near us. We always get the wholemeal sourdough, the mixed grains or the Rye sourdough. Trying to avoid white bread at all cost, but sourdough is known to be lot easier to digest thanks to the wild yeast and natural friendly bacteria.
So of course, the base to most of those open sandwiches is mashed avocado..! If I have some of my new nut cheese, I'll use that as a base instead. I top either up with freshly cut cucumber, tomatoes, SRIRACHA (a lot of it.. I'm obsessed), roasted pumpkin seeds if I have any...
In the first picture we had guacamole (fancy mashed avo ;) topped with corn salsa (sweet corn, shallots, paprika, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper!) and in the second picture we had leftover veggie sausages (I'm not a huge fan of fake meats, but once in a while they're quite nice as an alternative) with leftover caramelised onions and mushrooms, and again cucumber, cherry toms and pumpkin seeds. Super easy, delicious and nutritious.
DINNER
On the left was last night's dinner actually! Michael is such a great cook and obsessed with watching cooking videos on Youtube. Recently he discovered the amazing Lauren behind 'Hot For Food' and watched at least 10 of their videos in a row.. haha the one that stuck was these sweet corn and courgette fritters - and OH MY THEY WERE DELICIOUS.
Definitely a new go-to. I made a quick vegan tzatziki on the side (1 and 1/2 cup of coconut yoghurt, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1/2 lemon juice, quarter of a cucumber finely diced, 1 sprig of dill finely chopped, salt pepper, mix and DONE!) and we ate it with one huge oven baked sweet potato. Michael had jalapenos, I didn't because he somehow bought the spiciest ones I've ever tasted..! We would have had a side salad too for something green.. but we ran out. Anyway, we (he) will most definitely be making these again!
On the left is an example of our go to dinner. 1 third roasted vegetables of your choice (I sometimes roast a whole bunch on a Sunday night to have throughout the week!) 1 third greens, wether it's kale, spinach, salad, green beans.. something green and crunchy! and then 1 third grain or carb - this can be quinoa, couscous, rice, buckwheat or rice pasta, farro.. we mix it up! Again we sometimes cook one of those in batch so it's quick and easy when dinner comes around! Sauces and dips for this kind of dinner is vital - this tahini sauce is a must! but also Sriracha, chutneys, sugar free ketchup... spice it up!
I hope this kind of post is somewhat useful..?! I am trying to find ways to share some inspiration with you that isn't overly complicated or styled, and is what I actually eat on a day to day basis! Don't forget to check out my Instagram where I'll continue sharing daily meals and daily happenings too :)