Day Five of the Vegan Challenge and an Exploding Spaghetti Squash
Yesterday, Day 4 of the vegan challenge, I ate:
– 5 buckwheat pancakes with blueberries and 1/2 tsp agave
– 2 lettuce wraps filled with 1/2 cup quinoa/mixed beans/veggie medley
– Chopped broccoli and carrots with hummus plus 2 small apples
– Strawberry milkshake (1 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze with about a cup of fresh strawberries, a sprinkle each of wheat germ and flaxseed, a couple ice cubes, and a squeeze of lemon juice) along with a homemade calzone topped with the nutritional yeast cheese sauce. That’s right; I had a strawberry milkshake and pizza for lunch. Vegan, homemade, healthy, tasty. It doesn’t get much better than this! The strawberry milkshake wasn’t quite as good as my chocolate milkshakes, but I think if I freeze the strawberries next time and use about twice as many it should be just about perfect.
Half of a veggie-filled calzone smeared with “cheese” sauce
– 2 figs dipped in almond butter and 4 almond butter balls (I used more oats in place of the granola). These were excellent! But I think I’ll use less agave and a bit more almond butter next time.
– Dinner at Cafe 22: tossed salad (romaine, cucumber, tomato, red onion) and 1/2 Alexander Keith’s beer. I called ahead of time and none of their food is vegan; it’s a pizza place and all of their dough is made with eggs etc. So it was a salad with no dressing for me! But that’s alright because I had pizza earlier in the day to compensate. Alexander Keith’s happens to be a vegan beer- and that’s lucky because it’s the only beer I really enjoy.
Spaghetti squash
I love spaghetti squash. I’ve made it many times before and am a big fan. But it’s been a while since I last made it, and I forgot how long it needs to be nuked in the microwave before it’s soft enough to be pulled apart. This is what happens if you don’t pay attention to the time:
With 38 seconds to go, as I was washing the dishes, all the sudden there was a very loud BANG. I turn around and the above is what I saw. The spaghetti squash exploded and burst open the microwave door! Whoops.
Nutritional Yeast
I can’t decide if I like the taste of this stuff or not. For those of you who eat nutritional yeast, do you have any tips for how I can bring myself to enjoy it? I really want to like it because it’s a good source of vitamin B12 and other important nutrients.
Don’t forget to answer this month’s poll!
The trick with nutritional yeast is to start off with small amounts and find your level of acceptance. I prefer it in cooked dishes like soups and stews, as opposed to things like salad dressings.
Did the explosion damage the microwave?
YIKES! Who knew spaghetti squash could be so dangerous? 😀
Haha – I totally laughed when I saw the squash because it is something that I would do! At least it is easy to clean up!
AHH!!! What a disaster!! I’ve had stuff like that happen before, so I bought a cover for my food that goes into the micro, it was a good investment 🙂
So nutrition yeast is high in B12? You’re smart for attempting to like it, as vegans don’t get B12 otherwise. I’ve never even heard of nutrition yeast. IF you get the chance, can you explain it to me?
I love spagetti squash! But have only tried it in the oven! Bummer on that cleanup!
I’m a huge fan of nutritional yeast, and was first introduced to it on a backpacking trip. We put it on popcorn with garlic salt too, and it tasted so good. Nowadays I use it as a cheese substitute, for any kind of cheddar-like flavour situation.
Hanlie- thanks for the advice! And nope, microwave is safe.
VeggieGirl- I KNOW! Very dangerous indeed.
Lori- it is so good to know that others have issues like this too 😀
Gina- ooh I will absolutely explain nutritional yeast over the next couple days. It’s now on my to-do list 😉
Jennifer- I was impatient and wanted the spaghetti squash to be ready NOW rather than wait for it to cook in the oven, hehe.
Lia- I’ve heard of people using it on popcorn. I think I’ll try to get accustomed to the taste a bit more before I attempt that one… I would hate to ruin otherwise perfectly good popcorn!
LOL!! I had a spaghetti bomb go off in my microwave! I heard this explosion in the kitchen, and there was squash over everything! The walls, ceiling, etc!! Now I always pierce them with a knife before cooking. Spaghetti squash I like to eat, cleaning them off the walls, not so much 🙂
Poor little spaghetti squash. It looks like it suffered before it went. 🙂
I’ll have to check out the nutritional yeast, but like you, maybe not on popcorn.
Your vegan eats are far superior to my vegan experiment last year.
Haha at your spaghetti squash carnage! The same thing happened to me with an egg recently. Not pretty!
I’m sorry, Sagan, but I laughed at your squashed squash.
Hope it didn’t damage the microwave!
Have a good long weekend, kiddo.
wow. That is a sight indeed. Poor spaghetti squash. It never got the chance to be enjoyed by our dear Sagan.
Dr. J- ahahahahaha really?! That’s funny. And I DID pierce mine with a fork! In lots of places. Ah well. We’ll see how it goes next time!
Cammy- it suffered, yes. But the suffering was worth the deliciousness 😉
Mimi- with an egg? I’m impressed. You + me + kitchen. It’ll be a warzone.
Bag Lady- I’m still giggling over it 🙂
Burpexcuzme- Oh it did! I managed to salvage it. I’m resourceful like that.
It’s a true story!! I always stab it all the way to the center of the S-bomb, maybe a fork doesn’t go deep enough. I guess if that doesn’t work, just “duck and cover” 🙂
Pingback: Nutritional Yeast « Living Healthy in the Real World
Oh, no!!!! Eggs explode on me a LOT in the microwave. But not enough to deter me from trying it again. 🙂 I have never had spaghetti squash, but I’m dying to try it. It looks so comforting.
gosh I heart you and your exploding squash.