Ranger- ya, I completely get what your saying. I found when I was eating vegetarian meal it felt like it was missing something. It makes sense to reinvent the meal instead of replacing or removing items. The Green Goddess Bowl looked yummy! Do you find prepping the meals time consuming? Do you prepare the food daily or weekly?

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If you look in the top right hand corner of my posts, there should be a link under my name to my blog entries - you'll have to scroll around to find it...I like to write.

The meals can be time consuming but there are easier ways to prepare them than the way I do. I like everything fresh so I buy my vegetables and chop/cook as needed. Some of my vegan friends prefer the already chopped frozen or canned vegetables which saves on prep time.

Some meals are more complicated and take more time and others are lightning fast. Once you get the hang of cooking and making menus, it gets way easier. My first few months of cooking vegan were hard!! Now, I'll usually do a recipe one day and then use part of the leftovers for next day's meal. Last week I made cream corn, mashed potatoes and vegan sausages. The next day I used leftover mashed potatoes in my gardener's pie so I didn't need to peel, boil and mash the potatoes.

And I make one large meal per weekend. A huge pan of lasagna or a gardener's pie, then I freeze half and eat the rest throughout the week. My green goddess bowl should last me all week - I doubled the already massive recipe! That will be my main meals this week...the rest I'll supplement with green smoothies, veggie wraps, and other little, quick meals.

It takes some time figuring out how to cook and easiest way to prep, but overall I find it's not bad. Especially when you get to know the recipes you like and how quick they are. For days I don't have any time - like this week - I rely on my frozen meals. I also have a few pre-packaged meals like vegan tacquitos and pizzas for emergencies. Homemade hummus is always on hand, too.

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Member of the "Crazy 4 Collars Clique"

Want to see the menu of a raw fed dog? Check out my blog!

Yummm love hummus. I just made my first patch last week.

I live solo so I always worry about making to much and it going to waste. But I like the idea of making one big meal and freezing the rest and having quick meals all set to go. I use to live beside a farmers market and loved getting fresh fruits and vegs every other day. I saw a "Goodness Me" grocery store in town the other day and will have to check it out. Im going to try some of these receipes this week, including that Hashbrown caserole. Wish me luck!

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Speaking of meal planning: how long did it take y'all to get into the swing of it?

My husband and I (okay, let's be honest, it's mostly me, :P) have just started in the last month and a half or so and I'm really struggling. The hardest part so far for me has been finding healthy snacks so we don't eat our meal items and making enough food to have a day or so of leftovers. In addition, I'm having trouble planning for those days I don't want to/feel like cooking. It's been a pretty painful process so far!

When will it get easier lol?

Oh, and on-topic: tonight will be a pasta salad - penne, white beans, chicken, diced tomatoes, spinach, and some sort of vinaigrette.

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“Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm. As you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.” (Audrey Hepburn)

We only meal plan because i put my foot down when i would ask DH whats for dinner (being he is home 6 hours before me) and he shrugs idk then tries to convince me scrambled eggs for the third night in a row is totally fine. I love food and variety. Its a pain to plan w/ DH because he hates it. He wants to eat whatever is on his mind that specific second. He drags his feet when i break out the cookbooks. Maybe cooking is a pain for him, idk, but he has voiced some jealously over my being able to literally throw five ingredients in a pot and it turn out delicious.

Regarding leftovers, we cook enough for dinner and lunch for two people because two meals is normally enough for me to lose interest. That means we cook every night.

On days I don't want to cook or Nick has voiced he doesn't want to be bothered, we use the crockpot. I start it and by the time i'm home its done. If you line the crock pot in foil, easy clean-up.


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My simple menu today:

Breakfast - one cup of coffee and one honey dip donut
Lunch - one cup noodle
Dinner - one bowl chicken soup, oven roasted chicken breast margarine sandwich, and two pieces real cream-filled pastry puffs and one orange

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Josh teaches a seminar on Tuesday nights, so I went out to my favorite Italian restaurant. I had the Insalada Franco (basically a green salad with grilled eggplant and zucchini, a tiny bit of mozzarella and a couple of teeny pear tomatoes. They serve bread with that and then I treated myself to a small dish of sorbet, blood orange and mango. Super healthy and wonderful!

Maddie stayed home in her crate. She usually goes with me and we sit outside and eat, but not tonight. It was her night to guard the house.

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Gwen
belongs to Amber (LiquidAmber II) June 1995-August 2010
Maddie (Essex Mountain Madrone) CGC Born April 17th, 2012

My simple menu today:

Breakfast - no breakfast
Early Lunch - something different - Asian Singapore fried noodle and black tea
Dinner - going to have oven roasted chicken breast margarine sandwich again, two pieces real cream-filled pastry puffs and some honeydew

I am cutting budget on food. I know I know... I should not cut cost on food, but I need to do what I need to do

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Bfsk: oatmeal
Lunch: ham wrap , carrot sticks,mango( shared with Jess and DH), popcorn, milk. ( just home from the gym and) hungry!
Supper: prime rib roast( on sale this week), spinach risotto, peas.

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[SIGPIC]

Since it is Ash Wednesday, I am going to make a new recipe I found for minestrone soup and buy some fresh bread, maybe make some garlic bread. Been wanting to try this recipe for a while, now I have an excuse.

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