Woman in Real Life

Happy Wednesday friends! There have been a couple of pretty darn hot days around here this week. Our air conditioner still isn't working - we are awaiting our trusted repairman, who is recovering from an operation for another week or so.

I'm not really good (at all!) at withstanding heat. Let's just say I don't get as much done as I would like when the house is 35 to 40 degrees Celsius inside! I have been careful to stock up on lots of delicious and refreshing fruit. I really crave fruit in summer and I find the whole family will eat lots of fruit if I wash it and put platters of it out regularly.



Recently Stemilt was kind enough to send me some of their Skylar Rae© Washington State-grown cherries to sample. I love to eat cherries in abundance in their natural form. I also like cherries in vegan ice cream and in their dried form in granola bars and on salads. I'll take cherries just about anywhere I can get them actually. Skylar Rae© cherries are firm, sweet and delicious, with a lovely yellow and rose skin and pale flesh inside. It is said to be the sweetest cherry you will ever eat. Skylar Rae© cherries have a sugar content of 23-25 Brix. In comparison, Rainier cherries contain a Brix of 19-23 and dark sweet cherries 17-20. Look for these special cherries until early July.


I apologize for even including my favourite lentils and rice again, but we really cannot get enough of this easy, tasty dish.


I made a pan of nutritious, filling and delish Hemp Hearts & Coconut Squares using Manitoba Harvest hemp hearts. They set in the freezer and, after I cut them, I put them back in the freezer. You can grab 'em right out of the freezer and eat 'em immediately. They make a hearty snack (no pun intended). My daughter ate a bunch and I was happy because hemp hearts contain great plant-based proteins and Omegas. (I didn't have almond butter in the house so I used peanut butter instead.)


Now for my single day of vegan eats. I happened to decide to record my meals on what turned out to be the hottest day of the week. It was very uncomfortable in here by the afternoon. In the morning, I munched on fruit as I washed it for the kids' school lunches - blueberries, strawberries and green grapes.


A little while later, after the kids had gone off to school, I made a peanut butter and jam sandwich and a cup of decaf green tea.


For lunch, I used leftover quinoa that I had made the night before, on Father's Day. My husband loves peanut sauce, but I rarely make it because the kids don't eat it. He requested peanut sauce for Father's Day so I whipped up a quick sauce in the food processor. I sauteed baby bok choy, extra-firm tofu and mushrooms in olive oil and salt. I served that on the quinoa with the peanut sauce and toasted sesame seeds. There were no leftover veggies, peanut sauce or tofu the next day, but the meal was so good, I made more just for my lunch. Yum.


I ate one of those hemp hearts squares right from the freezer for an afternoon snack. By dinnertime, the house was so hot I couldn't stand to cook, so I made the classic hummus recipe from Oh She Glows. We spread the hummus on bread and dipped carrots in it. We had cherries on the side. Nothing fancy, but I find I'm not super hungry when it's really hot. And we covered three food groups anyway, so it's all good.

Here's a handy pinnable image of my day of vegan eats, should you be looking for easy vegan food ideas on a super hot and sweaty day:


What do you eat when it's too hot to cook?


Linking up to What I Ate Wednesday by Peas and Crayons, this week hosted at The Big Man's World.