Woman in Real Life

On Sunday, I shared my vegetarian menu plan for this week. (Well, it's vegan for me and vegetarian for the other three family members.) Today, on What I Ate Wednesday, I'm looking at a few meals I consumed in the past week, before my menu plan kicked in. Visit me Sunday to hear whether my plan was a success. I'll share any of the recipes that work out.

I am finally joining my (crazy fit) buddy Laura for her menu planning challenge.

I always think about planning my meals for the week, but I rarely do it...at least not in any really successful way. But it's a new year and a perfect time to re-examine my priorities.

I don't have a whole lot to report this What I Ate Wednesday. Our weekend schedule was completely based on my son's basketball tournament. Five games. Out of town. Equals few food pics.

I did have this one fabulous lunch this week. I love vegetables. Not that I want to go to a restaurant and only eat salad, just so you know. No vegetarian does, by the way. I like to have other stuff on my plate. On this particular day, I had leftovers from two dinners to use up...cauliflower and rapini from one meal and roasted veggies, beets and breaded tofu from another. I ate all this for lunch and I was stuffed!

Oddly enough, you can be a vegetarian and eat no vegetables at all. While that isn’t the case for me, I sometimes get lazy (especially at lunch) and don’t eat as many fruits and veggies as I should.

So, today I am participating in the Peas & Crayons What I Ate Wednesday party. This month, Jenn is focusing on serving an extra cup of vegetables every day. That’s a plan I can get behind.

Today, I am sharing a look at just a few of the foods I ate this past weekend. It’s not all veggies. You know I like a sweet treat!

On Saturday, I decided to use up the red chard we got in one of our organic produce deliveries. I often let leafy greens rot without using them, just because I don’t feel like washing them. I was glad I made the effort, because they were actually quite tasty, cooked with a little bit of minced garlic and olive oil.

I also made a veggie chili, from a recipe in How it All Vegan, one of my favourite cookbooks. We served it on some basmati rice.


On Sunday, I finally made some cookies that I had wanted to make for a long time. They are chef Michael Smith’s peanut butter and jelly cookies.

I am glad I got around to making them, because they are quite delicious. I love jam in a cookie or muffin.


My son prefers chocolate over jam, so I put some Nutella in a few for him. I still think jam is a better option, though.


My husband bought a new barbecue on the weekend, and we were anxious to try it out. So, on Sunday, he braved the cold weather to produce a nice, barbecued meal of sweet potatoes, asparagus, potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini and tofu. I’m glad I didn’t have to stand on the deck in the cold! I sure enjoyed the end result though.

What are you eating this week? Could your diet use an infusion of veggies?