Adventures in Clean Eating

I stopped having formal New Years Resolutions a while ago.  I find that when I make a true resolution, I make them a little too big and end up failing significantly greater than I would have had I never made the damn resolution in the first place.  I do, however, love the opportunity January 1 brings to reflect on my life, see how I’ve progressed over the year, and how I’d like to continue into the next.  Rather than starting a whole new goal, I look at the goals that have naturally appeared over the past year and decide how I can further those.  This year, I’m concentrating on getting smarter about my spending (not necessarily spending less, but making fewer impulse buys and investing in things that are better quality and won’t go out of style), diversifying how I spend my my “free time” (at least doing more creative things than vegging out in front of the television), and concentrate on eating a vegan diet more often.

After trying nearly every diet under the sun, I’ve learned that eating a vegan diet keeps me feeling energized and is really the only way I’ve been able to maintain my weight without feeling deprived.  I still love brisket and cheese, don’t get me wrong, but I keep my cheat meals to about once a week.  Yet, while I haven’t been feeling deprived, per se, I have been a little bored with my food lately.  Breakfast and lunch have been fine.  I like my morning smoothie and afternoon salad mess.  Dinners have been rough.  I really want something warm for dinner, but also need to eat things I can pack and bring to class.  I have a microwave at school, so reheating is fine.  I’ve been combining brown rice with steamed veggies and beans, but that’s getting a little blah.  Even with tons of hot sauce.  I made this from the Whole Foods website this week.  It’s alright, although I thought that since it combined some of my favorite flavors it would be a little better.

So, here’s a call to arms.  Does anyone have some great vegan recipes for me to try?  Preferably something without tofu that can be made in bulk.  If it looks yummy I’ll give it a try and post the results here!