It has been an interesting week, hasn’t it? It’s getting tougher and tougher to even watch the news and I’ve been feeling terrible for those dealing with all the fires while trying to figure out the best way to help. No fires near us, just a lot of smoke and icky air quality. Enough about that and onto eats for the week like this delicious sweet potato and eggplant saute with spicy curry paste.
And simple miso veggie soup with Explore Cuisine Edamame Protein Spaghetti.
Hubby sweetly surprised with with takeout from Pho Vegan Asian Cuisine for lunch one day, the eggplant tofu dish is one of my favorites.
I’ve also been on a vegan soup kick this week not feeling 100% with the air quality and possibly a cold. I scored a couple of Progresso Good Natured Hearty Lentil vegan soups at Grocery Outlet.
For a big box of hearty lentil soup, it was under 300 calories and very filling with a chili-like texture.
And Campbell’s had this healthier vegan soup that was loaded with grains with a savory, herb tomato flavor for under 200 calories for the can.
It hit the spot with cold symptoms and so did this loaded kale salad with black beans and a ginger tahini dressing.
I also tried Imagine Organic Creamy Broccoli Soup with a kale salad.
I wasn’t my favorite of the Imagine creamy vegan soup series, it was slightly bitter with a strong broccoli bite. But I love their creamy potato soups.
I took Friday off of work to have a girls day with my sisters and mom to celebrate her birthday in Old Town Sacramento. Since my mom is a huge history fan, we started with the underground history tour. Basically the town was raised an entire story in the late 1800s after residents got tired of the river flooding the city and the tour explores some of the underground areas at the original level with a lot of the history and challenges of raising the buildings which they did inches a day while people were still working in the buildings – crazy. Bummer was no pictures allowed during the tour, but it was fun to explore and creepy.
Then we headed to the Delta King for lunch, my mom’s choice for the river views.
The vegan menu options were non-existent which was a bummer and I noticed aioli seems to be in everything – ugh. I ended up having a veganized version of the udon noodle salad which was very pretty and delicious.
But a bummer I still paid full price for it sans chicken and aoili sauce. It seems a lot of waterfront restaurants with a view lack updated foodie menu items.
Dinner last night made up for it because hubby and I stepped out to Nixtaco to try their Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge menu. We each sampled their four vegan tacos – potato, mushroom, avocado, and fresh corn.
And they were all delicious! The avocado and corn were probably my favorites as well as the spicy roasted peanut salsa at the chip and salsa bar – yum!
And to the list!
This is a very interesting video on gut bacteria and how it affects our food cravings.
ZenHabits offers a guide to dealing with chaos.
7-day vegan meal from from a dietitian.
Make your own healthier vegan Snickers bars.
The View hosts try vegan cake.
What a half marathon teaches about running a whole marathon.
Simple things you can do to improve mental health.
The science of eating less meat to cut down drug resistance.
Craig Robinson on losing 50 lbs. on a vegan diet.
That history tour for your mom’s birthday sounds awesome! I would have loved it too!!! Yummy food as aways. And doggie is feeling a little better, on pain pills. Stressful but we didn’t have to put him down!
Thanks, it was! And so glad your doggy is doing better!
The fires in Northern California are so heartbreaking. I’m happy to hear that your area isn’t burning.
The history tour sounded like fun. You’re so right about restaurants with water views not having updated menus. I guess people go in for the views and not the food?
They are, I feel awful for those affected. And so true for restaurants with a view, less need to update the menu I guess.
Everything looks great! The Farro Soup – I was thrilled it was VEGAN! I found it a while back and enjoyed it! It even said on the label it was Vegan! YAY!
Thanks and that soup was great for a lighter soup.
It’s so hard to hear about the fires, and they seem to just keep spreading and/or popping up somewhere new… The smoke has given me a perpetual sore throat, but I’m not complaining. That’s nothing compared to the folks who lost business, homes, or even worse, loved ones.
On a lighter note…. Delicious food, as always! You’re convincing me that I need to come visit Sacramento sooner than later. It seems like a really fun adventure for a long weekend.
Agreed, so sad and can’t complain about the smoke with everything else going on.
Thanks on the food, we’d love to see you in this area – the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge is going on all this month and there are so many restaurants on the list!