My First Vegan Grocery List (and a Must-Make Recipe)

By: Matt Frazier

I can’t believe I’m actually going to post a  list of what I bought at the grocery store.

When my wife, Erin, suggested that we save the receipt in case people wanted to know what we bought, given that it was our first full-on vegan trip to the store, I told her no way.

Are you serious?  Who gives a rat’s ass what we buy to eat?” I responded.  (Actually, I was nicer than that.  I may have even offered a foot massage in return for the suggestion.  Not really.)

I mean, I posted my grocery list and all sorts of other boring things about myself when my blog was new and nobody read it, but surely we’re past that now, right?

Nope.  As soon as I wrote something about my first vegan food-shopping trip on Twitter (my current repository for all things personal, petty and childish; follow me there if you want), people asked for the list.

You win, Erin.

So, with the hope that maybe it will help somebody realize that being vegan doesn’t mean just eating lettuce all day, here goes nothin’.

My first vegan shopping list

I’m not ashamed that there’s a lot of vegan junk food here — during a diet change like this, I’m absolutely content to have my nutrition take a hit while I adjust psychologically to the added restrictions.  Hence the vegan ice cream, Newman O’s, tortilla chips, BBQ soy crisps, and the vegan sausage (Gena, who will back me up on the idea of eating some junk while you’re adjusting, tells me Field Roast is the best fakewurst there is).

Also, there was some first-time “stocking up” to be done, so things like vegan sour cream and vegan buttery sticks won’t need to be bought every time, and I’ll use them only rarely.

Finally, I probably don’t need to add this, but just in case someone is using my list to decide whether they could really eat this way: This isn’t “all you eat” as a vegan or vegetarian. This is just one shopping trip; my cupboards weren’t bare before I went on it.

In other words, there’s lots of stuff that we eat all the time that we didn’t need to buy on this trip: nuts, hummus, apples, rice, lentils, chickpeas, pitas, popcorn, salad, protein powder, bagels and obscene amounts of almond butter.

But this trip, here’s what we got:

• Wasa multigrain flatbread crackers
• Frozen organic mixed vegetables
• Frozen organic carrots and green beans
• Bay leaves
• 2 cans organic dark kidney beans
• Organic whole wheat pasta
• Organic soy crisps, BBQ flavor
• Organic vegetable broth
• canned diced tomatoes
• canned crushed tomatoes
• Skippy Natural peanut butter
• 2 Amy’s breakfast burritos
• 2 Amy’s black bean burritos
• So Delicious Cookie Dough non-dairy ice cream
• So Delicious Peanut Butter Zig Zag non-dairy ice cream
• Jalapeno tortilla chips (I forget the brand, and they’re all gone so I can’t look)
• Mrs. Renfro’s Salsa, medium (no chunks!)
• 3 Haas avocados
• Bunch of bananas
• Fresh green beans
• Organic spinach
• 2 bags yellow onions
• 5 pounds navel oranges
• Organic silken tofu
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 shallots
• 2 boxes spelt pasta
• Organic marinara sauce
• 4 vegan “buttery sticks”
• Newman O’s
• Semi-sweet carob chips
• Follow Your Heart sour cream alternative
• Vegan Caesar dressing
• 1 pound dried mung beans
• Veganaise
• Daiya mozzarella-style shreds
• Field Roast vegan sausage, Italian style and Apple & Sage
• 1 celery root
• Parsley
• 1 rutabaga
• 1.5 pounds fresh mushrooms (oyster, shiitake and white button)
• Lots of organic baby food

There.  That could have been worse, I guess.

Recipe: French Lentils with Roasted Roots, Caramelized Onions and Thyme

Perhaps surprisingly, I don’t buy celery root and rutabaga just to keep around the house, should that infamous “celery-root-and-rutabaga” craving unexpectedly strike.  No, they were bought specifically for this recipe.

Yesterday on the No Meat Athlete Facebook page (give us a Like!), there was good conversation going about readers’ favorite vegetarian cookbooks.  One of the ones I added was CLEAN FOOD, by Terry Walters, who is on my “awesome” list for contributing to Marathon Roadmap.

This recipe is from CLEAN START, Terry’s followup to that one (my Amazon affiliate link, by the way, since I love this book).  It has some really deep, earthy flavors and a decent amount of protein, and it’s been a great fall-and-winter dish for us.  My wife loves it even more than I do, and she even made it for her sister’s baby shower.

Don’t let the length of the recipe prevent you from trying it — you can do lots of the prep and cook the lentils while the vegetables roast, so it really doesn’t take that long.

Last night we ate this dish with sauteed collard greens, as Terry suggests.  Enjoy this one before it gets too hot out!

From CLEAN START, by Terry Walters, Sterling Epicure, 2010. Posted with permission.

• 1 rutabaga, peeled and diced
• 1 celeriac (celery root), peeled and diced
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup dry French lentils
• 3 cups vegetable stock or water
• Sea salt
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 4 cups thinly sliced mushrooms (variety of choice), about 1 pound
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, minced
• Chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place rutabaga and celeriac in 8×8-inch baking dish, drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and roast 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and toss.  Return to oven and roast an additional 20 minutes or until soft.  Remove from oven and set aside.

While vegetables are roasting, rinse lentils and place in pot with vegetables stock and a pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until just tender (about 20 minutes).  Remove from heat and drain well.  Toss with 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and set aside.

In large skillet over medium heat, saute onion in remaining tablespoon olive oil until it starts to brown (5-7 minutes).  Add mushrooms and mirin and continue sauteing.  Add remaining 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon at a time to deglaze pan and caramelize vegetables.  Add thyme and saute 2 minutes longer, for a total saute time of 12-14 minutes.  Fold in lentils and roasted vegetables and saute to heat through.  Season to taste with salt, toss with parsley and serve.

SERVES 6.

While we’re at it, what are your go-to vegetarian/vegan cookbooks?