Still the Garden State

Hello!  If you read the last blog, you might be wondering what a vegan eats.
I can't speak for the others but I can tell you my diet.  I have a couple of special considerations:  1.  I don't cook  2.  I love vegetables and fruits

Each morning, for breakfast, I have Bare Naked cereal with strawberries, a banana and either rice milk or almond breeze - all of which I buy at Shop-Rite in Bellmawr. 

For lunch I have crackers and hummus and baby carrots (all my veg and fruits are organic and all are available at Shop-Rite, though I do buy from farm stands and local farm markets both to support local grown produce efforts and to get fresh stuff).

For dinner, every day, I have a BIG salad:  a bed or organic baby leaf spinach, chick peas, black olives, broccolli florets, grated carrots, and other kinds of vegetables in season and for variety such as cauliflower and peppers and famous Jersey tomatoes.  I use raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

For snacks, I eat a lot of peanuts (in the shell and unsalted) or walnuts and cranberries, or almonds. 

I drink green tea with honey, or any number of other varieties of tea - organic and decaf.

In summer I supplement with ears of corn and in winter with sweet potatoes and I make a good vegetarian chili and lots of vegetable soup.

My needs are simple.  For bigger and better recipes, new vegans or vegetarians should get magazines and books with recipes.

New, small town markets are springing up all over the place.  The venerable one in Collingswood offers music and a place to sit down and eat as well as lots of vendors with a wide array of delicious fruits, vegetables and breads.  I've heard there is one in Westmont and another in Haddonfield.  I'll try to check them out this summer and give some reviews and special notes of good things to buy.

If you wonder how a vegan eats out - there are a surprising number of options.  I go to the movies at the Rave Cinema in Voorhees and have lunch at the Olive garden where I get the soup and salad lunch, minnestrone soup.

Also, I like to eat at Bankock City Restaurant, next door to the cinema, in Eagle Plaza.  They have many kinds of vegan and vegetarian selections.  In Collingswood there is a vegetarian/Asian food restaurant, and Salad Works and also Tortilla Press has some good items.  Most places, such as diners, have spanikopita (spinache pie) and vegeburgers now, and there are lots of food substitutes at the Shop Rite near the organic vegetables.

Last year I heard a great lecture from a big farm concern in far South Jersey, it was at Bivalve at a 2nd Friday evening, and the farmer said his brother had split off and gone into organics.  It is the future!

Off to Bankock City right now to see an old school friend for lunch and a movie - a good thing to do on a 95 degree day.  My dog and i visited Big Timber Creek Park but cut our walk short this morning because even though we left at 8:30 and it was fairly cool, by 10:00 my dog was lying down in the shade and refusing to move!
Happy Trails!  May they all be shady - Jo Ann