6 Days of Real Everyday Lunches for Vegetarians

There are some awesome vegetarian and vegan lunch ideas out there, especially if you spend any time on pinterest. For the everyday, it's not always an option. Sometimes, there just isn't time to prep and lunches end up being leftovers from the night before or something that can be put together from the freezer or cupboard.

Just because someone is trying to eat well and conscious, doesn't mean they have the time to be perfect. You don;t have to be perfect, you just have to be true to yourself and not sweat the small stuff.

What are some of your lunch go-to's? Share in the comments below.

Vegan Black Beans & Corn Over the Fire

Black Beans and Corn is one of my favorite combinations-  low in fat, full of protein, and just makes me happy. I don't really have an exact recipe I follow, but I rarely follow those anyway. It's a super easy combination that I usually make on the stove, but made perfect sense to translate to cooking on the open fire. Plus, the recipe is typically vegan.

Ingredients

• can seasoned black beans (or regular drained black beans)
• can regular corn, drained (or any other can of corn you prefer)
• fresh garlic (because I love it)
• fresh diced red & orange peppers
• fresh diced onion (red or white, I had both pre-cut in my cooler)
• dried veggie soup blend (mine had dried onion, peppers, spinach, & tomatoes)
• seasonings to taste (hot sauce, pepper flakes, chili powder, curry, salt, pepper, etc)
• Hard cider (or any other preferred liquid - cider, beer, veggie broth, tomato juice, water or whatever you choose) - the alcohol cooks out
• Optional - hot peppers; can stewed, canned, or diced tomatoes; fresh tomatoes; cooked rice or any other grain; any other vegetable

I used an olive oil spray in bottom of pre-seasoned cast iron Dutch oven. (This was just for my sense of mine as much as anything.) In the Dutch Oven, I mixed together can of seasoned black beans, can of drained corn, diced fresh peppers, diced fresh onion, fresh garlic, dried vegetable soup blend (optional, of course), seasonings to taste (mine included pepper flakes, hot sauce, pepper, & onion powder) and a splash of hard cider (maybe 1/2 cup).  I mixed everything together with splash of hard cider to taste. I secured the lid and lowered the the entire pot into the fire ring along the coals, ashes, and burning wood. I checked it a couple times and turned the pot to ensure equal heat, cooking about an hour. I moved it further from heat within the fire ring and let keep warm until the rest of dinner was about ready, then let cool outside fire ring about 10 minutes.

Serve plain, with rice, on a tortilla or topped with any preference. I ate mine at the campsite along with a Tofurky brat & foil packet vegetables. I have also eaten in a tortilla with black olives.

Camping with Omnivores: Part V - Packing

Something unusual happened this fall camping trip- surrounded by my meat-eating family, my cooler looks a little different than usual. I'm not the only one. This rarely happens. This never happens. This is someone who has little idea how to pack for camping, especially as as vegan.

I stick fairly close to the menu my family plans, it usually makes everyone's life a little easier. Being a short fall camping weekend, we had do OYO (On Your Own) Meals, two breakfasts (one includes waffles), and one big dinner that is going to involve my brothers smoking a bunch of meat with macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and whatever is left of pasta salad.

In my own not-exactly little cooler and dry box, I packed a selection of raw veggies pre-cut, tofurkey beer brats (they stand up to cooking over the fire pretty well), a Halloween-inspired vegan pasta salad, pickles, beverages (adults and otherwise), oatmeal, peanut butter, tortillas, hummus, a few crunchy snacks (including pita chips), tea & hot chocolate, fixings for black beans and corn, and everything I needed for s'mores (yay vegan marshmallows) . It's only two of us, but food eaten outdoors and near a campfire usually tastes the best. It's going to be a tasty weekend and the weather is supposed to be lovely.