Oops Lunch - I Need to Learn to Read Labels

For lunch Thursday I decided to skip morning preparation and have an easy microwave meal of these Indian creamy fenugreek peas I picked up at the store the other day.  It is one of those simple, store-in-your-cupboard, rip-open-the-pouch, and microwave-in-a-bowl that requires no preparation, but will inevitably leave you somewhat unsatisfied about lunch when you're finished. 

After I'd poured the Fenugreek Peas into a bowl and microwaved them ... and you can see just how appetizing they looked! ... I got around to actually turning the box over and reading the ingredient list (something I obviously should have done at the store). 

But at the store I was wooed by the description on the front that said it was "in a creamy cashew sauce".  For some reason my mind translated that to "creamy because of cashews ... and there must not be any milk."  Not sure why I jumped to that conclusion without turning the box around, but of course that assumption was completely wrong. 

No, of course there is not just milk, but buttter and cream as well.  And it's not like they are hidden at the end of a long ingredient list either.  Maybe that "100% vegetarian" stamp on the front of the box should have tipped me off too ... given that it doesn't say "100% vegan". 

 

Plus, when you turn the box around you also get a nice glimpse of the nutrition information, which reveals that this tiny box of Indian food that didn't even fill my bowl completely checks in at 650+ calories!!!  It's not even a healthy non-vegan mistake!  But of course I'd already poured it out and heated it up when I made this handy realization, so there was not much to do at that point but eat my non-vegan lunch and sulk.  And get fat, apparently. 

To make up for the Fenugreek Pea disaster, I decided to have something else unhealthy for dessert ... but at least I know it's actually vegan.  I made Peanut Butter Cup oatmeal!  This is amazing, but I haven't had it in a while which is why I haven't shared it here yet.  All you do is mix up some instant oatmeal (I used one packet of Maple Brown Sugar and one of Cinnamon Sugar), then mix in a big scoop of peanut butter and chocolate chips (they melt in the hot oatmeal and create a chocolatey swirl effect).  Yum yum.  Plus, it's so filling this could have been lunch in itself.  And apparently it should have been ...