Meet the lovely Lola, a Brooklynite with a taste for good sustainable, whole foods. Yes, there’s some tuna in this almost-meatless menu… but we didn’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater!

Name: Lola
Hometown: Brooklyn
My dietary leanings: almost 100% whole, non-processed foods. Veggie and fruit-heavy with lots of fish, occasional meat and (very good) cheese.
My favorite vegetable: kale (I am SUCH a cliche!)

This morning I ate…

Coffee with hemp milk (my fave non-dairy milk: tastes awesome and has a load of omegas) and a very large green juice. This time it had kale, collard greens, parsley, celery, baby spinach, broccoli, ginger, a lime and a green apple. All organic, of course.

Then for lunch it was…

I don’t like too big of a lunch – they make me sleepy. So I had my usual: raw, soaked almonds (the soaking “wakes them up” and helps get rid of the enzymes that make them bloat-y) and fruit: strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapple…

Finally for dinner I had…

My ”Papa Hemingway Tuna Salad”. I was reading The Sun Also Rises a while back and was really taken with the description of Spaniards eating a simple salad of tuna, tomato and onions. It sounded so good and wholesome and it is! I use American, pole-caught tuna (much more sustainable), greenmarket tomatoes, (lots of) vidalia onions, good Spanish EVO and Bragg’s apple sides vinegar. We also had leftover beluga lentils with a dijon, vinegar and garlic dressing that I made over the weekend.

Last, but not least, dessert…

I am too excited because People’s Pops opened a shop in my neighborhood. They make delicious popsicles out seasonal and local fruit. I had the plum cherry and the blueberry apricot.

Thanks Lola! Does anyone else soak their almonds? I’ve never tried this and wondering how it affects taste and texture…

Meet Lauren. She’s not a full-time vegetarian, but she knows how to eat like one with this nice and simple meatless menu. Don’t forget to send in yours!

Name: Lauren

Hometown: Los Angeles

My Dietary Leanings: I was a vegetarian for about two years, then earlier this year swung the other way and tried the paleo diet for a while. Now I’m swinging back to a diet that’s meat-selective. So lots of fruits and veggies, some fish and lean white meat, limited dairy and occasional red meat (I have weakness for bacon…). I’ve always baked a lot but I’ve been doing less of that and trying to be healthier when I do.
My favorite vegetable: Asparagus! So versatile.

Breakfast: Homemade banana bread with nuts & raisins, and applesauce instead of butter, made on the weekend, with a smear of almond butter.

Lunch: Spinach salad (spinach, strawberries, avocado, tomatoes, pine nuts, red onion) and a side of roasted chickpeas. This recipe has some nice photos of the process. You can use whatever spices you want and make it in big batches for the week.

Pre-workout Snack: Handful of nuts & dried cranberries

Dinner: Vegan flatbread and fruit salad made with whatever fruit is in the kitchen. To make the flatbread: 1) brush a raw pizza crust with olive oil and bake until golden brown. 2) Once cooled somewhat, spread with hummus or baba ganoush (eggplant hummus). 3) Top with roasted or raw veggies.My most recent version included roasted eggplant, onions, and sundried tomatoes, and sauteed kale.

Dessert: Couple strawberries drizzled with a little honey (they were tart!) and a couple squares of dark chocolate. I got samples from a friend who works here and they make such good stuff!

Thanks for including the chickpea roasting link, Lauren! Also, as a chocolate fiend, I’m very curious about your friend’s company… Has anyone tried these (I just looked and they appear to be vegan)—or do you know of other great vegan chocolates? We still love our Wei of Chocolate, but always up for testing others. :)

Good Monday everyone. Today we have a menu from Germany, with love. While this sounds like a regular old day for Miss Carly, we think her peanut butter dressing and crispy chickpeas sound downright inspired. Question: Has anyone made chickpeas like this? Are they fresh or out of a can?

Name: Carly

Hometown: Leipzig, Germany

My dietary leanings: I turned vegan a bit more than a year ago. Cold turkey style – I’ve never looked back.

My favourite vegetable: Aww, I love them all. If you’d make me pick: probably carrots.

This morning I ate…

Porridge made from millet flakes and oat bran, cooked with some home-made almond milk and water. I always add a small banana right away and stir till my biceps hurt. As it cooks up, the banana becomes all gooey-marshmallowy. After about 5 minutes, I turned the heat off and added carob and two chopped apricots. A dollop of soya-yoghurt and a tablespoon of ground flax (hello omegas!) and breakfast’s served. I also had a mug of ImNu (malted coffee substitute) with a splash of soy milk to wash down my B12 tablets.

Lunch was…

A nice salad made from left over brown rice (weekend batch cooking ftw) , mango, cucumber and peas. I just tossed everything together and seasoned it a pinch of sea salt. I whipped up a dressing that included peanut butter, sweet chili sauce, lime juice and a bit of water to thin it out. This was actually done in the morning, pre-breakfast, and devoured in the library between page 59 and page 60 of writing my seemingly endless thesis.

As dinner time rolled around…

I reheated some carrot and sweet potato curry soup that survived the party on Saturday night. I topped it with a lot of parsley that currently inhabits my window sill. As I still felt peckish afterwards, I oven-roasted a large handful of chickpeas tossed in a teaspoon of coconut oil, a bit of sea salt, a pinch of cardamom and much more cinnamon. After 45 min of waiting and watching them turn crispy in the oven, I gobbled them up while burning my tongue big time. So worth it.

There you have it, pretty typical, a bit uneventful but yummy and satisfying nonetheless. Who needs meat and dairy anyway? :)

Thanks Carly! And good luck with the thesis! Will you try something off this menu? And don’t forget to send in your menu!