Food. ALL. THE. FOOD.

I love cooking and I love food. One thing that this venture into meatless eating has provided is the opportunity and motivation to find new yummy dishes! This last week did not disappoint! (Just try not to lick your screen!)

My version of a Freebirds salad bowl. LOVE.

Basic stir fry with Tofu. This one was sort of so-so. Okay, but not really anything to write home about.

A great place to eat veggie is Freebirds. They aren’t everywhere, but if you are lucky enough to live near one – oh man they are tasty, fresh and super quick when you are on the go!

This one happens to be a “side” dish. Basic with some rosemary and roasted in the oven, but delicious!

This soup is my current obsession – and it’s really very simple. It’s different every time I make it because I never follow a recipe, and use what I have on hand. I could live on soup forever!

Not really much to look at but it was tasty! Brown rice, black beans, diced tomatoes and seasonings made this a yummy quick lunch!

These Tacos were so flavorful. The “meat” was cauliflower crumbled and sautéed with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and a few diced onions. Topped with brown rice and black beans, sliced avocado and a few tomatoes.

Red Lentil Chili w/ Spring Mix salad — Heat from the red lentil chili was high, but could easily be modified!

I have finally given up on turmeric. I have tried (about 10 times) to like it. I’m not a fan of curry, either. It’s not something I think I’m going to continue to force myself to keep trying to like. No matter how yellow it makes the tofu, its simply not the same as scrambled eggs. I do like both saffron and turmeric in tea, however! So tea it is!

With all of these food pics, it may seem like I spend countless hours slaving in the kitchen. Not so! I do love to cook and experiment, so that definitely helps – but I’m not standing in the kitchen all day long. (Who would want to stand over a hot stove when it’s over 100 degrees outside right now in South Texas!? Blegh!) Other than figuring out a few new recipes and trying some new things, it doesn’t seem to take that much more time in the kitchen. (More often than not while eating meat I would forget to defrost something and it would take twice as long anyway!)

These last weeks have been one food adventure after another! One thing that has surprised me is how good everything tastes – and I’m not just bragging on my own cooking skills. I feel like my taste buds have been awakened, as corny as that sounds. Everything just seems to have way more flavor. (Side note: with this much fiber, you can imagine that bathroom habits have also changed. WOW! TMI, yes, but a fact of life.) More importantly, through this process – the past two weeks have been shocking in the increase in the level of energy I have. I feel more like myself than I have in a long time. (Early last week, even my hubby noticed my increased energy!) I was astonished at just how yucky I was feeling. As good as I feel now, I really don’t see how I could go back to eating any other way.

What is your favorite meatless meal?