This Is What Vegan Food Blogger Gena Hamshaw Of ‘The Full Helping’ Eats In A Day – SELF

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This Is What Vegan Food Blogger Gena Hamshaw Of ‘The Full Helping’ Eats In A Day – SELF

*Healthy eating looks different for everyone. For vegan food blogger Gena Hamshaw, nutritionist, New York City-dweller, author of Choosing Raw, and creator of * The Full Helping, eating well means lots of delicious, beautiful, vegan grub. In this week’s food diary, she tells SELF’s Audrey Bruno all about the recipes she’s testing for her latest cookbook, the snacks she munches on while studying for grad school, and her favorite vegan NYC haunts.

6:00 A.M.: Coffee, coffee, coffee

I spend this hour planning my workflow for the day, and it doesn’t happen without coffee—brewed strong, and lots of it.

Gena Hamshaw

8:00 A.M.: Breakfast testing

I love breakfast, and my morning meals are variable: Sometimes I’m testing a new recipe, sometimes I’m trying a new blend of whole grains for porridge, and sometimes I’m simply playing around with an idea that’s struck my fancy. For the most part, though, I’m a savory breakfast person. I love hearty bowls like my chickpea scramble breakfast bowls or my sweet potato breakfast bowl and toast like my avocado superfood breakfast toast. And these days I’ve been loving a simple breakfast tostada of corn tortillas, refried black beans, and veggie toppings.

When I’m in the mood for something sweet, oatmeal or overnight muesli are my go-tos.

12:30 P.M.: Leftovers for lunch

This year I started working from home full-time, and that gives me the option of homemade lunches every day. Occasionally this is a time for me to polish off leftovers—especially right now, since I’m testing recipes for a new cookbook.

But more often than not, I throw together a vegan lunch bowl using a different combinations of whole grains, legumes, vegetables, dressings, and leftovers. It has become such a tradition for me that I dedicated a whole how-to blog post to the process!

Gena Hamshaw

1:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M.: Workin’ and snackin’

This is the time of day when I make meal plans for clients, take appointments, and respond to emails. I’m a part-time grad student, so this is also when I’ll usually catch up on reading or coursework.

Towards the late afternoon I’ll start to crave a snack. I tend to prefer salty over sweet, and I like something with carbs to help keep my energy up. Some of my favorites include a baked sweet potato with a drizzle of tahini, quinoa with some avocado slices, whole grain toast or crackers with some sort of dip or spread, chickpeas with a drizzle of olive oil and sea salt. Or—if I’m in the mood for something sweet—a homemade vegan baked treat. My fig bars, featured above, will usually do the trick.

6:30 P.M. to 8:00 P.M.: Dinnertime = relaxing time

This time of day is almost always devoted to testing a recipe, either for the blog or my book. But it’s a restorative time, too—a time when my boyfriend and I can chat about our days as I chop and simmer away. We put on music, change into comfortable clothes, savor the feeling of our day drawing to a close.

Dinners at home used to be a lot more spontaneous, but juggling work and grad school, coupled with planning recipes for my work, doesn’t leave a lot of room for ad-libbing. I tend to plan all of my dinners before I do my grocery haul for the week, and for the most part, I stick to schedule. We rarely eat out, since cooking is part of my job, but when we do, we gravitate toward simple, wholesome vegan food. Our favorite spots here in NYC are Angelica Kitchen and Candle Cafe West.

Gena Hamshaw

When we eat at home, we’ll often have a soup or stew, tacos, casseroles, hearty salads, or quintessential vegan comfort food like dairy-free mac n’ cheese. One of our favorite easy staples is a curry of some kind. Tonight, I make a recipe that I’m particularly fond of: Butternut squash and chickpea curry. And I’ll serve this with a whole grain.

Neither one of us tends to snack much later in the evening, but if we’re craving dessert, it’s usually fresh fruit or dark chocolate for me, vegan ice cream for my boyfriend (our favorites are Luna & Larrys or So Delicious Cashew), or homemade cobbler or crisp, especially at this time of year, when the farmers market is packed with seasonal fruit!

Quotes have been edited for clarity.

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