BBQ night

I think one of the first things that popped into my head as being most problematic to this entire transition was "What the hell do I eat at a BBQ now?!" and I was seriously concerned. My parents BBQ a lot, and my brother and sister-in-law primarily invite us out for BBQ if they're having us out for supper. How the frig was I going to make this work without feeling like a social pariah? The last thing I want to be is one of those people.

I'll see myself out.

Well, thanks to the Facebook group NL Vegans, I was able to ask that question of people who have been in my predicament before and I was presented with several people's preferred substitute meat options for grilling. I have not tried them all, of course, but the first one I wanted to try out was one I knew I had seen before. So last night, since neither of us wanted to spend another night sweating our asses off in the kitchen, we decided to BBQ and instead of the massive hot dogs that Kevin was having, I had one of Sol's spicy black bean burgers. Also recommended was the dairy-free cheese substitute, daiya's cheddar-style shreds if I wanted to make it a cheeseburger.

Being that I am still in the transition stage of all this, we're trying to eat our way through some of the stuff currently stogging our freezer so I just had it on a regular ol' white bun. Nothing fancy there, but topped with the 'cheese', some mustard, pickle, red onion, a slice of tomato, and some Hellmann's vegan mayo, I have to say, this was among the tastiest burgers I have ever eaten.

15g protein, 329 calories (salad not included, but equally delicious)

This morning, I decided to use up the rest of the basil I had in the fridge from Lester's Farm to make some pesto sauce to refrigerate for later this week. It would break my heart to have to toss out farm-fresh basil because we've been cooking so many other things it ended up forgotten. I was also going to make some vegan cheese sauce in preparation for the chili cheese nachos I am dying to make on Sunday, but it turns out the cashews need to be soaked in water overnight, so that'll be a job for tomorrow.

Today, because we're still chewing our way through some things in the freezer, Kevin wants to make sushi. His will have salmon and imitation crab. Mine will have avocado and cucumber. I may or may not take pictures of the end result; since neither of us is a professional sushi maker, they could end up looking like cat food. Hopefully not, though...and hopefully it tastes better than cat food should it end up looking the part.

All this eating down the stores before being able to restock things I want is making me think I may soon need to host a group dinner, or give away a turkey and ham. These items are taking up way too much real estate in the deep freeze, and I want a bag of frozen berries but have literally nowhere to store the damned thing.

First World Problems.