Vegan plus pizza?

Vegan plus pizza? Could that be a thing? That's what I managed to do today. One slice of pizza with lunch, while visiting family, but aside from that, the day was strictly vegan, and surprisingly tasty. We've been trying to find at least a handful of vegan recipes that leave us feeling as though we've eaten real food, and we had really good luck today.

For breakfast, this super easy oatmeal -  http://ohsheglows.com/2014/11/17/5-minute-oatmeal-power-bowl/

For snack, a Green Monster Shake http://ohsheglows.com/2011/01/13/classic-green-monster/
This, by the way, is becoming my go to website for recipes, along with the Thug Kitchen cookbook.

Lunch was the aforementioned pizza, which I just can't be sorry about eating. When everyone else in the room is eating pizza, I hope I can always find a way to maintain enough balance to be able to eat that slice or two without feeling either guilty, or game on to eat ALL THE FOOD.

For dinner, I kind of adapted a BlueApron.com recipe that neither one of us were wild about in its original incantation; a black rice and barley combo stuffed in an onion and roasted http://www.blueapron.com/recipes/roasted-onions-stuffed-wild-rice-barley-brussels-sprouts-hazelnuts-feta

The flavors were sort of there, but we didn't love the textures, and some of the ingredients didn't seem to blend together. That has been our experience with almost every meal we've tried from Blue Apron, but I'll write a full review one of these days. Anyhow, in my redux, i cooked barley and black rice according to their package instructions, but left them slightly undercooked. About a half cup of each, raw, is what I used. While the rice and barley were cooking, I minced an onion, 4 cloves of garlic, and shredded six brussels sprouts. Over medium heat, I added about a tbsp of olive oil, then the onions. Stirring occasionally, once the onions were slightly browned, I added the garlic and about a minute later, the brussels sprouts. I tossed in some salt and pepper, and stirred occasionally until the whole thing was well bronzed.  I mixed in the rice and barley, and threw the whole shebang into a roasting pan to crisp up in the oven at 400. We liked it almost burnt, which took about 45 minutes, but the flavors were singing 30 minutes in. I served it with roasted cauliflower, and it was a really substantial winter dinner that suited two very different palates.

And no, the girls wanted no part of this meal. They were intrigued by the cauliflower, and gamely tasted it, but one of them commented that she thought a flower would taste better.