What We Eat In A Week - Episode 030

Welcome back to a new episode! If you’re new and want to learn more about us and why we started this series, read our about section :)

This week we made vegetable biryani for the first time at home! We’ve also been enjoying more smoothies and shakes. Our go-to’s — poke bowls and buffalo chick’n ranch salad made a return. Last but not least, I veganized cheezy jalapeño breakfast bagels!

We also enjoyed garlic pastas made by Brianna, vegan pizza from Angelo’s Brick Oven Pizzeria, Plant Power Fast Food’s breakfast burrito + chick’n tenders, and takeout from our favorite local Thai restaurant Palm Thai Cuisine!

We hope you enjoy it!

Thursday, July 8th

Breakfast - Protein Shake

I made us both a protein shake for breakfast this morning. I used Shaklee’s Soy Protein Life Energizing Shake Café Latte flavor, almond milk, a few frozen strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. I topped the top of the shake with cinnamon. This is our favorite protein shake!

Snack - Popcorn

I snacked on some of the popcorn I’d made the other day. Here’s the link to read how I made it!

Lunch - Garlic Pasta made by Brianna (PLVNTFOOD)

For lunch, I reheated two kinds of garlic pasta Brianna had made. They were delicious as always! Keep an eye out for cookbook updates from her. :)

Dinner - Vegan Pizza from Angelos Brick Oven Pizzeria

I wasn’t feeling well this evening so we picked up pizza for dinner. We ordered the 2008 pizza with vegan cheese and added jalapeños and garlic to it. This restaurant was the first place to offer vegan pizza options in this area — and they import their dough and pasta from Italy which explains why their pizza is amazing!

Friday, July 9th

Breakfast - Robek’s Nutty Açaí Bowl

This is our favorite bowl from Robek’s! To make it vegan ask for no bee pollen and no honey. We add agave and strawberries to our bowls.

Lunch - Ranch & Buffalo Chick’n Salad

I made us a quick salad for lunch. First, I air-fried Gardein’s Ultimate Chick’n Nuggets. Once the nuggets were done, I drenched them in Primal Kitchen’s No Dairy Buffalo Sauce we found at Costco. Next, I added a couple of handfuls of spinach into each bowl along with diced cucumber. Then I drizzled Hidden Valley’s Vegan Ranch over each bowl. Lastly, I topped each bowl with the buffalo chick’n nuggets. This was so tasty! Gardein’s Ultimate Chick’n Nuggets are great for salads. The buffalo sauce from Primal Kitchen is definitely now one of our favorites!

Snack - Nectarines

We snacked on some nectarines while we watched TV.

Dinner - Gardein Spicy Gochujang Style Chicken Wings + Rice

We made a simple dinner. Fahim cooked Gardein’s Spicy Gochujang Style Chicken Wings on an oiled pan. I topped the wings with red pepper flakes once they were done cooking. I also heated up some leftover rice as a side!

Saturday, July 10th

Breakfast - Tamales de Elote

For breakfast, I heated up tamales de elote (corn tamales) my parents had given us. We accompanied the tamales with a homemade coffee matcha latte. I make the latte by combining the following into a cup: half a teaspoon of CBD matcha, one tablespoon of Trader Joe’s Instant Cold Brew, cinnamon, a drizzle of maple syrup, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup oat milk.

Lunch - Homemade Poke Bowls

First, I cooked some frozen tofu on an oiled pan. I topped the tofu with garlic powder, hoisin sauce, and Szechwan sauce. Next, I heated up the last of the leftover rice. Then I prepped the toppings which included the following: diced cucumber, minced cilantro, sliced avocado, and seaweed salad from Costco. I made my own sauce using tamari, sesame oil, chili oil, and rice wine vinegar. Lastly, I drizzled the homemade sauce and sriracha over the top of each bowl. This has easily become one of our favorite staple meals!

Dinner - Homemade Vegetable Biryani + Methi Gota (crispy chickpea dumplings with Fenugreek leaves and spices)

We made vegetable biryani for the first time at home. We cooked it according to the instructions on the vegetable biryani spice packet we got from Miramar Cash & Go in San Diego. The recipe called for Ghee but we used Miyoko's European Style Cultured Vegan Butter in its place.

For the vegetables, we used two red potatoes, one red bell pepper, and a frozen vegetable mix (corn, peas, carrots). I also air-fried Methi Gota (crispy chickpea dumplings with Fenugreek leaves and spices) to have on the side. We also had tamarind and green chili sauce on the side to dip the Methi Gota in. This was incredible!

Dessert - Nectarines + Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa Intense Dark Chocolate Bar

As a sweet treat, we had nectarines and a couple of pieces of vegan-friendly Lindt Chocolate. This chocolate is one of our favorites! :)

Sunday, July 11th

Breakfast - Smoothie

For the smoothie base, I used Rader Farms’ Fresh Start Organic Smoothie Blend from Costco. Then I added plenty of peanut butter and 2 tablespoons of chia seeds. For the liquid portion, I used almond milk and coconut water. I usually add juice for the liquid portion but we had just run out. I forgot to take pictures of our smoothies this morning.

Lunch - Vegetable Biryani + Trader Joe’s Mini Vegetable Samosas

For lunch, we heated up the leftover vegetable biryani. We also air-fried Trader Joe’s Mini Vegetable Samosas at 400°F for 8 minutes. We dipped the samosas in Tamarind sauce.

Dinner - Pad Kee Mao (drunken noodles) + Spring Rolls from Palm Thai Cusine

My family picked up takeout from Palm Thai Cuisine for dinner. We ordered Pad Kee Mao with fried tofu (drunken noodles), spicy basil fried rice with fried tofu, and vegetable spring rolls. We ate the Pad Kee Mao and spring rolls for dinner and saved the spicy basil fried rice for the next day.

Monday, July 12th

Breakfast - Breakfast Burrito + Hash browns from Plant Power Fast Food

We picked up some Plant Power Fast Food for breakfast. We ordered 2 breakfast burrito combos (2 hashbrowns + 2 orange juices), and 2 large orders of chick’n tenders. These burritos always hit the spot! We used Cholula’s Green Pepper Hot Sauce on our burritos to give them a little extra flavor. We saved the chick’n tenders to have for lunch since we were going to be out the whole day. Their chick’n tenders are one of our favorites too!

Pick me up - Cortado + Iced Matcha Latte + Vegan Lemon Cookie from Lift Coffee Roasters in Riverside

We hadn’t had our morning beverages before leaving home and I was craving matcha so we stopped by Lift Coffee Roasters in Riverside. We ordered a cortado made with oat milk, iced matcha latte with oat milk, and a vegan lemon cookie. This place was so nice! We were pleased with the cookie too. :)

Lunch - Chick’n Tenders from Plant Power Fast Food

For lunch we ate the Chick’n tenders from Plant Power Fast Food we’d got earlier. We got their secret sauce to dip the tenders into.

If you’re out for a day and want to preserve your food I’d recommend getting a cooler. We stored our lunch, dinner, and snacks for the day into our cooler along with a pack of ice and it kept everything cool for the whole day!

Dinner - Spicy Basil Fried Rice from Palm Thai Cuisine

When we returned home we got our spicy basil fried rice out from the cooler to have for dinner. We enjoyed our food outside since it was cool out and we still didn’t have our power back (also the reason why we had to stay out the whole day).

This is one of our favorite dishes from our favorite local Thai restaurant— Palm Thai Cuisine. It already isn’t made with egg and we like to add fried tofu as our protein!

Tuesday, July 13th

Breakfast - Cheezy Jalapeño Breakfast Bagels

First, I cooked Just Egg into a mini omelette. Next, I sliced Trader Joe’s Everything Bagel and topped it with Treeline Plain Plant-Based Cream Cheese. Then I topped the bagel with sliced fresh jalapeño along with the mini omelette. Lastly, I air-fried the stacked bagels together at 375°F for 3-4 mins.

Lunch - Smoothie

For the smoothie base, I used Rader Farms Fresh Start Organic Smoothie Blend, Wawona’s Frozen Daybreak Blend, and Frozen Pitaya (Dragonfruit) all from Costco. Then I added plenty of peanut butter, 1 tablespoon of chia, 1 tablespoon of moringa powder, and a drizzle of maple syrup. For the liquid portion, I used oat milk. Smoothies are great to have especially during the summer!

Snack - Guacamole & Chips + Nectarine

First, I added 1 large avocado and 1 small avocado (diced) into a bowl. Next, I added minced cilantro and diced baby tomatoes all from our garden. For seasonings, I added chile de Arbol powder, sea salt, and pepper. Guacamole is the best! We dipped chips into the guacamole. Later on in the day we also snacked on nectarines.

Dinner - Fry’s Family Vegan Mediterranean Woodfired Pizza + Alpha Nuggets

We didn’t have many meal ideas left because we needed to do groceries this day. Before heading to the store we baked our go-to frozen vegan pizza we get at Grocery Outlet. I added oregano, garlic powder, and sea salt over top before baking.

I also air-fried some Alpha Foods Original Chik'n Nuggets at 400°F for 7 minutes. I used Primal Kitchen’s No Dairy Buffalo Sauce from Costco as a dip for the nuggets. Fahim wasn’t a fan of these nuggets so he didn’t eat his.

Dessert - Nature’s Bakery Brownie + Kashi Chocolate Peanut Butter Chewy Granola Bar

We shared Nature’s Bakery Brownie (it comes with two pieces) and it was good! Since Fahim didn’t eat his nuggets, he got hungry and had a Kashi bar in the middle of the night. We got Kashi’s Chocolate Peanut Butter granola bars from Grocery Outlet. Kashi makes our go-to granola bars and now Nature’s Bakery brownies will be a new favorite snack!

Wednesday, July 14th

Breakfast - Dunkin’ Beyond Breakfast Sandwich

We ended up getting Dunkin’s Beyond breakfast sandwich this morning. To veganize it ask for no egg and no cheese. We like to stack hashbrowns inside of the sandwich and use Cholula’s Green Pepper Hot Sauce. We had planned on having an entirely different breakfast, however, that didn’t pan out.

The night before I had made chia seed pudding to accompany the vegan yogurt we’d just got from Grocery Outlet. The chia seed pudding itself was yummy, but Forager’s Cashew Vanilla Yogurt Alternative had a weird aftertaste — we couldn’t even have a second bite of it.

We did get the plain version to use for a tzatziki sauce and I’m hoping that tastes better. We also got Forager’s Strawberry Flavored Drinkable Cashew Yogurt Alternative and I will update you all on how we like these other things.

Pick Me Up - Trader Joe’s Instant Cold Brew Coffee + CBD Matcha

I made Fahim a coffee using Trader Joe’s Instant Cold Brew Coffee. For the coffee, I add one teaspoon of instant cold brew in a cup along with cinnamon, fill with water and add two ice cubes. This instant cold brew from Trader Joe’s has easily become a staple in our home.

I limit my coffee intake as much as possible and drink matcha instead. This is how I make my CBD matcha at home. For the matcha tea, I use 1/2 teaspoon of CBD matcha powder from One Love Tea, cinnamon, 1/4-2/3 cup of water, 2 ice cubes, and top it off with oat milk! I use Silk’s Oatmilk (comes in a 2 pack at Costco). I’ve been drinking this CBD matcha for years when I made the decision to cut down on my coffee intake.

Lunch - Chipotle Bowls

We had been talking about how we haven’t had Chipotle in over a year and that made us both crave Chipotle. I ordered a sofritas bowl with brown rice, no beans, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa, guacamole, roasted chili-corn salsa, lettuce, tomatillo green chili salsa, and tomatillo red chili salsa. Fahim ordered a veggie bowl with 1/2 brown rice, 1/2 white rice, black beans, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa, guacamole, roasted chili-corn salsa, lettuce, tomatillo green chili salsa, and tomatillo red chili salsa. Their portions aren’t as big as they used to be but it was still good and our Chipotle craving has been satisfied!

Dinner - Chilaquiles + Rice

First, I put the rice to cook in the rice cooker. I made the rice with veggie broth instead of water, and added frozen corn and mixed vegetables along with bay leaves. While the rice cooked I made the chilaquiles.

I started by heating up a tablespoon of oil on a large pan. Then I sautéed half an onion for a couple of minutes. Next, I added the tortilla chips to the pan and toasted them for a few minutes. Once they were toasted, I added some green salsa along with Good Planet Foods Plant-Based Mozarella Cheese Shreds. I mixed everything until the cheese started to melt.

Dessert - Cherries

We had some cherries as a sweet treat!

Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this episode or one of our meals share your thoughts with us and leave a comment below! Don’t forget to also subscribe to get new posts sent directly to your email inbox every Thursday! <3 See you next time, take care. :)

-Mariana & Fahim