This can hardly be called a recipe, but if there’s anyone out there who wants a break from cooking occasionally or just hates to cook – this one’s for you!
We eat practically no processed fake meat stuff these days, because the stuff that tastes good usually has a lot of fat and sodium and the stuff that IS good tastes bad. The exception is Gardein. The nutrition stats are really great, and it actually tastes good. Really good. I promise that you could give someone the chipotle lime crispy fingers, for example, and they’d never guess it was not meat. In Richmond, you can find it at Kroger, Whole Foods, and Ellwood Thompson’s.
Twice a week we’ll have a really simple dinner, of a salad, a vegetable soup, Gardein, and a simple vegetable side…basically the vegan version of the classic bodybuilder’s dinner. Actually, I just wrote an article comparing the vegan bodybuilding diet to the standard version that should be up soon on veganbodybuilding.com, that will demonstrate, among other things, that a vegan could very easily eat a 50% protein diet very similar to the standard version. If they so chose; we certainly don’t! This meal is similar to some in the sample meal plans I included.
You CAN eat the Gardein basically straight out of the package – it’s pre-seasoned. Sometimes, though, I like to cook in the pan according to the package directions and shortly before serving add to the pan:
- chopped fresh dill, or dried
- about 2 tbsp lemon juice
- capers
The zucchini is even easier, if you love zucchini as I do, it needs really nothing in the way of enhancement. I just slice it into half-moons, spray a pan with cooking spray, saute it on medium-high with maybe a small sprinkling of salt ’til it’s slightly browned, and grind on some pepper or lemon pepper seasoning before serving.
A nice, light meal for balmy summer nights in the South, or wherever!
