Leftovers multiple ways

Last weekend we went to Veggie Grill for takeout.  You get a free entree for your birthday and since you have until the end of the month to use it, I was almost out of time!  I decided to try something new (I figured since it was free I should order something that I wouldn’t ordinarily get).  I hate to say it but I may have OD-ed on the All Hail Kale Salad.

I didn’t feel like a salad, but I didn’t want a sandwich or burger either (I wasn’t gonna do the wheat thing, which all their buns are made of).

I ended up getting two things.  To start, I got the Buffalo Wings starter.  And for my free entree, I chose the Blackened Chickin’ Plate, which comes with a papaya salsa topping and two sides – the steamin’ kale salad and the quinoa pilaf.  This is the second of their “home-style plates” that I’ve tried.  The other one was the Crispy Chik’n Plate, which was delicious but total comfort food (read: fried goodness).

I think it was the perfect combo.  The kale salad and the quinoa made me feel like I wasn’t a terrible vegan (yay – wholesome real food!).  While the faux chik’n breast totally satisfied my comfort food craving.

Now, about those Buffalo Wings.  I’ve never really been a buffalo wing person.  I can’t think of a single instance in my life that I’ve ever tried them or craved them, but after trying Mohawk Bend’s buffalo style cauliflower appetizer, I was really in the mood for more spicy sauce.  The Veggie Grill’s buffalo wings are made with crispy chickin’ and they come with celery sticks and ranch dressing.  I took one bite and realized it was insanely hot and was going to be hard to eat.  Seriously, these are freakin’ spicy.  I was only able to eat one, with copious amounts of water, celery and ranch dressing in between.

The rest I saved for later thinking I could tame the spicy sauce better by adding them to a bunch of veggies or something.  More on that later.

The next day was a work day.

 

This is why taking photos at 6 am doesn’t work.  It’s so dark in the mornings!!!!  So yeah, that’s my rice cooker with half steel cut oats and half Bob’s Red Mill GF hot cereal.  Normally I use the slow cooker to make overnight breakfast grains, but it was dirty from the crock-pot applesauce I made the night before.

This is a (properly lit) photo of what I ate before heading into work.  I’m really into this grain & egg combo right now.

I make the grains with just water (can you even use other liquids in a rice cooker?), but then before I eat it, I add a bunch of butter and almond milk to it.  Totally tastes like risotto that way.  Mmmm.  I made a ton so expect to see it in future breakfasts.

For my work eats, I packed up the usual stuff.

More grains for breakfast number 2, but this time I added cinnamon, one medjool date (chopped), Earth Balance, and agave.

Buttery cinnamon raisin love.

Lunch was half a steamed sweet potato, semi-frozen broccoli (don’t worry, it thawed all the way by lunch time), carrots and a leftover VG buffalo wing.

I brought this whole tub of Sabra spinach and artichoke hummus to accompany it.

Plus a few more snacks to dip in the hummus – like pretzels and yellow bell pepper wedges.

And some chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth, should it call.  Plus a new to me product, a Health Warrior chia bar.  They have 3 flavors, but so far I’ve only tasted the coconut one.  It’s small so it’s definitely just a snack, but it’s good and only has 110 kcals and nice recognizable ingredients.  Winner.

When I got home from work it was time to use up the last of the buffalo wing leftovers.

This was almost an everything-in-the-fridge kind of salad.  It had very wilty and brown romaine, tomatoes from the garden, carrots, bell peppers, and leftover roasted potatoes.

I topped it all off with the extra container of chipotle mayo I got from Veggie Grill.  I asked for extra ranch, but they gave me the spicy mayo by mistake.  Whatever.  It got the job done.

The spiciness of these wings CANNOT be tamed!  It’s unbelievable.  It doesn’t matter how much I diluted them with extra veggies, the heat was just as potent as ever.  Mouth. On. Fire.

I don’t think I’ll be ordering these again, that’s for sure.  They’re impossible to eat.  I wonder what VG’s “Chill Out Wings” taste like?  Maybe a more tolerable version of this starter?

So my dessert.

Really deserves it’s own post actually, but I’m way too lazy for that.

I learned about Angell organic candy bars at Expo West, but since I don’t really crave candy bars, I kinda dismissed them.

Freakin’ Halloween woke up my sweet tooth (seeing all the Butterfingers and Snickers, gah!).  So I rummaged through my (secret, hidden-from-Kyle, Elise-only, chocolate stash) and found this lovely guy.

Vegan.  Gluten Free.  Organic.  Fair Trade.

You can see all their flavors & ingredients list here, if you want.  This was the Dark Angell Crisp, with smooth, creamy dark chocolate, rich cocoa, and crispy rice.

So light!  So rich!  So chocolatey!  So good!

I had to be back at work the next day so I did that whole early to bed, early to rise thing.  I’m a grandma now apparently.

Work food was the same.  I didn’t take pictures.  What can I say, my blogger mojo has been faltering in a major way.  I forget to take photos of things more than I remember them nowadays.

I did take a picture of dinner.  Yay?!  Meatless meatballs, broccoli, & carrots with marinara.

I had seconds of this later on instead of a sweet dessert.  Totally a Laura move.