New Product Reviews!

Well, it’s been awhile since I last posted, and I can’t blame it on anything except personal laziness.  Maybe someday I will keep up on this blog a little better.  Anyway, here are some of the new products J and I have been trying lately:

• Silk PureAlmond Unsweeted – this milk-alternative is very good.  I think soy milk generally has a slight sweetness to it, but this milk does not.  I love soy milk as well, don’t get me wrong, but I think this PureAlmond is great for savory dishes like macaroni & cheese or “sausage” gravy!  It’s also great in cereal.  I think I need to try making chocolate milk with it; hopefully it’s good!

• Tofurky Roast – Wow this stuff is AWESOME!  The only thing I would change on it is the price! (It is rather spendy).  J and I tried this the week before Thanksgiving and devoured it.  The roast is tender and the wild-rice and whole wheat bread crumb stuffing is delicious.  I would recommend this product to everyone.

• Tofurky Italian Sausages – These vegetarian sausages are very good.  We tried them on buns (nom!), and as a topping for a Jack’s Cheese Pizza (also nom!).  Then we stocked up on six packages of them while at Trader Joe’s in the Twin Cities area since they are significantly cheaper there.  I have big plans for these sausages…first up, spaghetti with Italian sausage marinara.

• Lightlife Gimme Lean Ground Sausage Style – I was craving Biscuits & Gravy with the delicious white sausage gravy that is nicely peppered…I used to make them quite a bit before going veg.  I hadn’t had them in a year, so I decided it was time to try them again.  I made a rustic biscuit recipe from Robin Robertson’s 1000 Vegan Recipes and then made the gravy using a roux made from two tablespoons olive oil and two tablespoons, and then adding about 1.5 cups PureAlmond milk.  After the gravy had thickened, I added the sausage crumbles which I had sauteed in a frying pan with a little olive oil.  I seasoned with salt and pepper and served the gravy over the biscuits.  Even my step-daughter (she’s 9) liked them!

The Bounty of the Garden

Pretty veggies that I picked from the garden last week!

Product Reviews!

I know I’ve been a slacker…so I thought I’d better give some reviews on new foods I’ve tried.

• Yves Meatless Hot Dogs: These veg hot dogs are delicious.  The taste was identical to a meat-based hot dog.  The texture is very similar, though these have a funny angled shape instead of being perfect cylinders.  Also, based on personal experience, I can tell you not to microwave these on a paper plate unless you enjoy eating bits of paper.
  • Heat and eat on a bun just like a normal hot dog.  I like to add ketchup, mustard, and maybe some finely diced onions or pickle relish.  Don’t forget about the sauerkraut!
  • Dice into small chunks and mix into a can of vegetarian baked beans for a yummy “franks and beans” dinner.  Serve with macaroni and cheese for the comfort meal that I ate as a kid!
  • Cut a slit into the side, put in half a slice of American cheese, and wrap in a crescent roll to make pigs-in-a-blanket.

• Quake True Delights Quakes – Blackberry Pomegranate: These little multigrain crisps are awesome!  They are sweet and crunchy with a nice fruity flavor.  One serving (13 crisps) has 110 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and 3 grams of fiber; those are pretty good stats for a snack food.  I could eat an entire bag and still only consume 330 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, and 9 grams of fiber!

• Frieda’s Soyrizo: I bought this thinking “Hey, chorizo…I’ve heard that’s tasty!”  It did not live up to my expectations, though I’d like to try it again in a different recipe.  This first time,  I crumbled then sauteed it, and added it to whole wheat pasta mixed with Ragu double cheddar cheese sauce.  Next time, I think I will try slicing it and making a spicy sandwich or something.

More to come in the future!

Gardening

In an effort to be more healthful and save money, I have started both an outdoor vegetable garden and an indoor herb garden.  The outdoor garden is a project in conjunction with friends from work, but the indoor herb garden is all mine.

I will post pics of the gardens when I get around to taking them.  The outdoor garden has: beets, dill, spinach, kale, rainbow chard, lots of different tomato varieties, hot peppers, sweet peppers, onions, eggplant, several corn varieties, black soybeans, chickpeas, peas, zucchini, yellow squash, pumpkin, and watermelon.  (I think I got all of the veggies listed, but I will check my garden map and confirm).  The onions are flourishing, and we are starting to see corn, bean, and zucchini shoots.  There are others too, but I can’t identify them just by looking at them.  The tomatoes and eggplant aren’t doing very well, but I think that is probably because we have really clay-y soil in our yard.  I plan on putting up a hanging tomato plant on my deck, so even if the garden tomatoes fail, I should hopefully still have some fresh ones in a few months.

The herb garden contains dill, chives, garlic chives, oregano, and basil.  They are planted in a pretty green window planter, and are kept in the only room that the cats aren’t allowed in (my exercise room).  Hopefully they get enough light as the window in there faces south.

Update

Hey hey anyone who reads this.  As you can see, I haven’t written in several months, but today Sarah asked me about it, so I thought I should update.  I’m still a vegetarian…mostly vegan now though I do have days that I eat cheese or dairy in baked goods/chocolate.  I have been reading a lot of books on veganism and have been trying out lots of new recipes.  I’ll try to get some of them written up in the next week or so and post the recipes.  I’ve also been trying new foods like Brown Rice Syrup and Smart Dogs (vegan hot dogs).  I’ll review some of those too.

Also, on a Kitty-related note: we are no longer fostering Aten, and we are now fostering Ahti and Happy.  I will try to get pics of them up soon.

Potato-‘Sausage’ Quesadillas

Tonight’s dinner was nom.  I got the idea from 1,000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.  I didn’t follow a recipe, however…just made up my own (as usual!).

Here’s the recipe:

Potato-‘Sausage’ Quesadillas

• Cooking spray
• 6 small to medium red potatoes, washed and baked (I microwaved mine to cook them), then coarsely mashed
• 1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
• 1/2 package (7 oz) Gimme Lean Ground Sausage by Lightlife (veggie sausage), crumbled
• 1 4-ounce can diced green chiles
• flour tortillas -wheat, 100 calorie, high fiber…whatever you like
• salsa -optional
• sour cream -optional (I used Tofutti Sour Cream)
• avocado -optional

Spray a pan with cooking spray and begin sauteing the onions and bell peppers.  Then add the crumbled sausage and continue to cook until the onions and pepper are softened.  Continue to break up the sausage as it cooks; it can be a bit “sticky.”  When the onions and peppers have softened, add the mashed potatoes and diced green chiles.  Stir everything up and let it cook until warm (or until the mashed potatoes have gotten a bit brown and crispy if you like!).

Heat another frying pan, a griddle, or a fancy-schmancy quesadilla maker.  Place one tortilla on the bottom, put in about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the filling, and then place another tortilla on top.  Cook until the first side is brown and crispy, then flip and cook the other side (no need to flip if you are using a quesadilla maker).  Cut the quesadilla into quarters and serve with the optional garnishes, if desired.

Triple kitty threat.

They will kill you with cuteness.  From left to right: Coleus (Coco), Caesar (Fluffybutt), and May (Meme).

Sushi!

Joe and I LOVE sushi!  I’ve made it several times at home, and I’m slowly getting better at it.  We signed up to bring vegetable sushi to a cultural potluck at work, so we need lots of practice to make sushi that actually LOOKS like sushi (it always tastes good even when it looks bad though!).

Here are some pics from tonight’s sushi dinner.  I used white sushi rice, which I made in my rice cooker, toasted nori sheets, pickled daikon (East Asian radish), cucumber, avocado, shredded carrots, and sweet peppers.  Serve up sushi with soy sauce for dipping and wasabi and pickled ginger if desired!

Trying Out Tempeh

I’d never tried tempeh before, so I bought a package and made a tempeh stir fry.  Tempeh is a fermented soy bean cake that has a nutty flavor.  This recipe turned out ok, but I think the next time I use tempeh, it will be in something different (like a Tempeh Reuben!).

Anyway, here’s the recipe:

Orange Tempeh Stirfry

• Olive oil or cooking spray
• 1 small onion, peeled, halved, and sliced into half-moons
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 8-10 baby carrots, chopped
• 8-10 button mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 8 ounces tempeh
• ~1/4 cup Iron Chef Orange Glaze with Ginger
• ~1/8 cup soy sauce
• Barley, rice, soba noodles, rice noodles, etc…to serve tempeh stir fry over

In a medium saucepan, bring about 4 cups of water to a boil.  Carefully drop in the tempeh block and let it boil for about 20 minutes.  This will remove some of the “bitterness” that can be associated with tempeh.

While the tempeh is boiling, heat oil or cooking spray in a large shallow pot or pan.  I like to use a wide, shallow, straight-sided pan.  Add the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic and saute until the veggies have begun to soften.

When the tempeh is done boiling, remove it to a cutting board and cut it into a bite-sized dice.  Add the tempeh pieces to the veggies and continue to saute, stirring frequently to make sure all sides of the tempeh are browning.  When the veggies have softened to your liking (I like mine to still be a bit crispy) and the tempeh is browned and heated, throw in the mushrooms, orange sauce, and soy sauce.  Continue to cook everything, stirring frequently, until heated through.  The orange sauce will glaze the veggies and tempeh nicely and your kitchen will smell good (as long as you like ginger!).

When everything is hot and noms looking, serve up the dish over your preferred grain/rice/pasta.  I had made a big batch of barley that day, so that’s what we had with ours.

Some notes:

I think this recipe would be better if A) the tempeh were diced smaller than what I did or B) I used tofu instead.  I do love sticky orange tofu dishes!  Also, this recipe is nice because, like any stir fry, you can use any vegetables (and even some fruits) you have in your fridge, freezer, or pantry.  I stuck with the basics this time around, but snow peas, green beans, bok choy, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, pineapple…you name it, it would probably be good in there.  One last thing, I add soy sauce to this recipe because the orange-ginger glaze is a little too gingery for my taste.  I like ginger, but I think the soy adds a nice balance.

Craving Tofu

I’m craving Pan-Fried Tofu with Spicy Lemongrass Sauce (Tofu Nuong Xa) from Cooking Light magazine…

It used to be one of my favorite tofu recipes before I went veg.

But I need to replace the fish sauce with a veg-friendly version.  They do make vegan fish sauce, or so I’ve heard, but I can’t find it…and I’ve found recipes to make my own, but I don’t have the dried seaweed I’d need for that.  So…soy sauce might be my replacement this time around.

Hope it’s good (whenever I get around to making it!).

Update: It was quite good with Bragg’s Liquid Aminos instead of fish sauce!