I had a few moments of Vegan-deadline panic last night.
I am content to eat oatmeal for dinner. My husband has not really ever been that kind of guy. So I always had a few tricks up my sleeve. Since I'm generally okay with no meat on my plate I could cook up something for him and whichever of the meat-eating kids who happened to be here to scarf down and make dinner for myself and/or the non-meat lover kid out of the sides. And I had a habit of planning ahead. When meat was on sale I'd grab several pounds and prepare it then freeze it in dinner size portions. So I almost always had a plan A or plan B that kept everyone fed...not gourmet style...but without the need to rely on hunger-induced fast food runs. The kids also helped out by learning to cook and survive on what was available. I'll never forget my hero, Toad-Boy the Leftover Annihilator, and 19's omelet-in-a-bag phase.
Tonight Rob came home wondering what the "last meal" would be and I palpitated. Since it was last meal it should be special, and I was thinking functional and getting the leftovers gone. Oops.
He ended up feasting on the last three eggs in the house and two slices of leftover venison pizza (I know...uck). And the refrigerator is looking "out of my comfort zone" empty. Now what? So I spent a decent portion of after "dinner" surfing for meat-style vegan recipes for the weekend and feeling not at all prepared for this big task. Oy. I did make, portion out, and freeze a big batch of quinoa for quick meal options. And brown rice is cooking as I type this. The brownie recipe I tried seemed like it should be fabulous. But when the banana flavor overshadows the coffee and chocolate it might be a recipe to rethink.
And then was the issue of cookbook and recipe reviews which are conflicting at best.
How is my husband going to deal with the "hamburger" substitutes I dish up to him til we find a winner. The turkey/green apple burgers didn't go over well when we began our trek toward healthier eating...could a bean or mushroom burger actually win him over?
This quandary will test his motivation and stick-with-it skills. And my kitchen skills to the maximum.
