Something Bitter-Sweet.

I don't normally eat desserts, but occasionally I feel the "need". Usually I would cook something from scratch like a good little vegan girl, and because the only store bought dessert that I have found that I can eat are Nana's Lite Apple Pies, and tonight these were out of stock.
Instead I picked up a packet of Melinda's Gluten Free Goodies Lemon Delicious Slice.
I only let it cool slightly then served it up with some vanilla So Good ice cream.
It was good, not amazing, but good. I did accidentally burn a little bit around the edges of it because my oven timer doesn't really seem to work, but I don't think I ruined it, not a bad "lazy" dessert.

Melinda's Tuscan-Style Risotto Cakes

The greatest thing about my new lifestyle is experimenting with foods I never would have tried before.
Why would I buy a packet of gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free anything when I don't have to eat it?
I still don't have to eat gluten free, but a lot of the vegan alternatives I now eat happen to also be GF.

I can still get scared about the new things I'm trying, but in a good way, I've had very little failure so far, and I am eating everything I cook, which is amazing as I am a notoriously picky eater!
This is how I felt about the risotto cakes. Firstly packet items don't usually taste as good freshly made foods, and secondly there's always some flavour I find in packet mixes that I'm not particularly into and I usually ending throwing the whole lot out.
I saw the packet mix in the supermarket and got excited and bought it. After I left the supermarket I had reservations and it took me about a month to make them.

So today I finally made them so I would have something to easily throw in my lunchbox for work this week. I had one for my lunch today and as I was dishing up I realised I forgot to go shopping this morning so I didn't have a side salad or any veggies to steam and have on the side except for frozen corn, so it was a bit of a funny lunch. I am, however, pleased to say that they turned out alright and with a salad will make a great lunch for me at work tomorrow, especially as they are a source of protein as well.

Now the great thing about this packet mix is that as well as not containing any gluten, there are no animal products in it and the instructions include the vegan substations. So instead of  butter, egg and cheese I used Nuttelex, Orgran egg replacer and Parmazano hard cheese replacer.

So with planning like this, there's no reason to have a bad lunch :)