Yesterday was July 4th. The official day of BBQs and hot dogs. Unless you are doing the Plant Month gig. Then your menu may consist of seitan “ribz” – which Brad will quickly assure are not at all related to any type of animal rib.

First off though, we went to Whole Foods to grab a few items I needed for the “ribz” and decided to just each lunch there. After carefully identifying what had animal products and didn’t, I settled on a pasta with fresh basil and garlic. Along with green beans and a carrot side dish. Delicious! Only the pasta had cheese in it – which I realized after the first bite. Doh. So there went half my lunch into the “cannot eat” category. However at least the green bean & carrot dishes were fantastic.

We headed to a movie that afternoon and I carefully packed up some cherries and sesame snacks which I munched on when I got hungry. They weren’t quite satisfying though. When we got home I started working on dinner. The seitan “ribz” as well my all time favorite Fennel & Avocado Salad. The salad was delicious as alway, and the “ribz” were just “ehh.”

The next problem arose when I woke up around 3a starving. And I couldn’t bother to get out of bed and eat anything so I struggled back to sleep for the night.

Big lessons learned:

• Read the ingredients more carefully!
• Be sure to eat enough that you aren’t hungry in the middle of the night.

Note: the seitan “ribz” recipe can be found on Fat Free Vegan. I do not think I will post my version since I didn’t love it, but its an interesting dish to try if you are looking for something different.