Another vegan here (I've been one since around 1992, and a vegetarian since 1976).
What I eat on a daily basis varies.
Here are some of the basics:
Breakfast:
option 1) a cooked grain (oatmeal or bran, amaranth, quinoa, cream of buckwheat, or some mixture) with added chia seed and/or flax meal, sweetener (maple syrup, chopped dates, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, molasses) and a non-dairy milk (soy, almond, hazelnut, hemp--though watch those last ones, one brand tastes horrible, another tastes fine). Maybe some fresh fruit.
option 2) a smoothie made with a non-dairy milk (chocolate soymilk, for example), chia seeds, maybe some maca powder and/or fruit, and protein powder (either hemp based, yellow-pea protein based, brown-rice protein based or some combo I don't do soy protein powders usually because I can tell they don't digest as well. Lately, I've been taking Sunwarrior protein ---available from their webstie or from
www.veganessentials.com or from
www.mikemahler.com --it's one of the only protein powders I've tried that actually tastes good just mixed in water, even though I don't usually use it that way. I've also recently tried Nitrofusion protein powder--also available from Veganessentials. It's a combo of brown rice, pea, and artichoke protein. It has a great flavor, BUT a weird consistency. Like a yummy vanilla fine-ground sand! Both of these powders claim to have a protein profile and absorbability similar to mother's milk.)
I also have a "quick smoothie" option with chocolate soy milk, a handful of baby spinach and a handful of frozen blueberries (sometimes with a bit of frozen banana) and some chia or flax.
Option 3 (rare): a whole-grain, gluten-free cereal (I like Mesa Sunrise by Nature's Path) with non-dairy milk, sometimes dried or fresh fruits.
Lunch/Dinner: a variety of foods here.
Often at least at one of these meals, I'll have a huge green salad (romaine lettuce, baby spinach, maybe some other greens, added veggies like red pepper or avocado, a sprinle of a flavors vinegar, and sometimes---if I don't already have a fat source to aid in absorption of nutrients--I'll add a bit of extra-virgin cold-pressed olive oil.
If I'm in a rush in the morning, I'll sometimes take an Amy's frozen meal.
I also like wraps (hummus or homemade garbanzo spread or tempeh 'mock chicken-or-the-egg salad--see my blog for the recipe--or tofu mock egg salad plus lots of veggies in a sprouted grain and bean tortilla from Food for Life).
More rarely, I'll do a Tofurkey 'lunchmeat" sandwich, on a sprouted-grain burger bun (I usually avoid meat analogs, but if I do eat them, I stick with Tofurkey, because they are the only ones I've seen that use tofu as a base rather than isolated/concentrated soy protein, which I avoid).
I also like bean dishes like black bean chile, lentil soup, bean dips/spreads, bean salad, etc.
For snacks, I'll often have nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew, brazil nut, macademia nut), or nuts (raw, unsalted are my preferance, and if I remember, soaked/germinated and dried, fruit (apples are my faves), veggies with a dip (like hummus), a glass of non-dairy milk or a smoothie, or (one of my favorite 'tastes decadent" desserts) an açaí-based sorbet I make with partly-thawed frozen açai pulp, frozen berries (I like dark sweet cherries and/or blueberries, raspberries, strawberries), some "Red Lightening" high-ORAC red-fruit powder, agave nectar, vanilla (not that 'vanillin" crap of "vanilla flavored" stuff, real vanilla) and just enough rice milk to make it blendable.
