Pretty Purple Vegan Coleslaw

There’s something about making a salad, even a simple one, that seems like a ton of extra work. Even though I love salad and want it all the time, I can rarely find real motivation to make one.  Maybe it has to do with needing to wash all the lettuce and everything else, not to mention all the chopping… Let’s just say that when a salad that someone else made is put in front of me I am completely and utterly delighted.

Yesterday I had red cabbage in my fridge, though, and got an idea for a really quick salad- Coleslaw! Somehow this one didn’t seem as daunting a task as making a garden salad; I don’t know why. I figured out a basic dressing recipe after consulting a couple different slaw recipes.

1 ½ cups shredded red cabbage

1 medium carrot, grated

½ red pepper, thinly sliced

Dressing:

¼ cup vegenaise or other vegan mayonnaise

2 tbsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1 ½ tsp sugar

Salt and pepper

Combine veggies in a medium bowl. Whisk dressing together, adding a little water to thin if necessary, and toss with slaw. Enjoy your pretty salad!

I had this with roasted sweet potato fries, and it was the perfect lunch. Don’t, however, eat an apple just before consuming this. I knew it was a bad idea to combine fruit (very easily and quickly digested) with high-fiber cabbage (very slow to digest); I was just desperately hungry waiting for the sweet potatoes to finish baking. It later resulted in a terrible belly ache lasting all evening. I’m still not recovered from it this morning. While I would usually try and use the belly-massage technique Patrick learned from a massage therapist once to help dispel the problem, it’s relatively impossible to do when there’s a baby on your intestines.  Plus, belly massage is something that should be avoided during pregnancy.

Next time, I’ll know better.

18th week

17 weeks and counting! Wish I could have been more constant with writing but there’s been a lot going on.  We moved into a new apartment two weeks ago and I spent a week or more of that furiously unpacking, cleaning, and attempting to get some cooking done, both on days off and work days. It’s left me feeling pretty tired! Slowly, we are on our way to settling in here, i.e. having a place to sit down in the living room.  And the baby keeps growing, even if I don’t notice it. Sometimes a few days go by and I feel a little desperate to look up what stage the little thing is at in its development. 

Two weeks until the 2^nd trimester ultrasound! So two weeks till we find out whether it’s a boy or girl.

Perhaps a little cliché, one of my biggest symptoms so far has been forgetfulness. I am more than a little absentminded these days. Yesterday I was enjoying a day off, not knowing I was actually on the schedule at work, until an hour into my shift when I got a phone call (yes, I cried a little). I have had every Monday off since I began working there, though, so who knows if that mistake is really related to the pregnancy. I will walk out of the house with my keys, though, or my wallet or my phone, at any given time.  At work I will start one task and quickly abandon it for another task, remembering later on what I had originally set out to do.  And if you gathered from the above comment that I frequently get weepy, then you are bang on.  It takes almost nothing to make me cry these days.

Appetite wise, I’ve continued to be really hungry very frequently, although I also seem to get full pretty quickly.  I can’t really say I have strong cravings right now, only a very strong urge to just eat something! I do love juice these days, though, and I’ve probably had more juice (100% fruit juice or unpasteurized apple cider) while I’ve been pregnant than I drank in the last couple of years.

I have been eating pretty simply this month, without using many elaborate recipes. Usually once I need to eat, it has to be ready fast, so we’ve had rice and veggies just thrown in a frying pan a few times. I’ve also made a few different soups, and also eat a lot of sandwiches with Tofurkey and vegan mayo, which are very convenient for taking to work.  I’ve been mindful of protein (not that I usually think about that but just to make sure I’m gaining enough weight) and a few times I made this very delicious side dish using beans:

1 serving canned black eyed peas (refrigerate the rest in a container)

1 tsp coconut cream, rehydrated with a little hot water

½ garlic clove, minced

Pinch thyme

Little splash of Braggs

You just throw the garlic in the frying pan, add the beans a minute later, then toss with the coconut cream and thyme. Let simmer in the pan a bit till the liquid absorbs.  The coconut and black eyed peas taste very Caribbean together!