Cooking with Trader Joe

That cliche idea of the guy on the couch with the empty pizza boxes and bag of doritos (spicy sweet chili are vegan) pretty much sums me up if it were a woman. I can aspire to great cooking feats, but when I'm looking to feed only me I land more in the land of convenience. Enter Trader Joe's which offers a really convenient list of all the vegan items sold in their stores (not to mention having the vegan symbol easy to spot on most of the items which I really appreciate.)

Monday night I was on my own for dinner. I fought the urge to order a pizza, and decided it was time to go to my secret stash of prepared foods I keep in the freezer for times like this. It took me 15 minutes to make this meal: Stir-fried some cabbage and onions (leftovers from tacos) with a microwaved bag of Trader Joe's kimchi fried rice (would be great in a cabbage roll recipe.) Cut up some fresh red bell pepper (gotta have some veggies!) and baked some gardein 7-grain crispy tenders. Now this is weird, but it worked... I made some dipping sauce with leftover tofutti sour cream, chili garlic paste, whole foods' carrot ginger dressing  and a couple drops of soy sauce. It wasn't a 5-star dining experience, but it tasted good and was quick.

My fiance stir-fried up some veggies, so I took my convenience eating to a little higher ground for lunch today mixing the Trader Joe's kimchi fried rice with mushrooms, anaheims, red bell peppers, onions, garlic and something way spicier than I usually make food. It was good and got me drinking plenty of water.