Food – the impressionable vegan

Well….this has been quite a year…

I hope you are all doing well. What an unbelievable time to be alive.

It’s certainly scary and uncertain times, but I have faith it’s going to be okay. We are at least all in this together.

I don’t want to focus too much on what’s going on in the world here, we have plenty of news stations to take care of that for us. While we will remain vigilant and practice social distancing, my family and I trying to take advantage of this time. We are focusing on each other and valuing this unexpected time we have together, we are decluttering and reducing our waste, and we hope that when things return to somewhat normal we’ll have a better appreciation for each other and the world around us.

The original purpose of this blog was to discuss food and share vegan recipes and products and I will continue that since I need a distraction from everything that’s going on. Thankfully we are still able access grocery stores and purchase fresh produce. We have a decent supply of canned goods and other non perishable goods (and maybe a box of wine) in our basement. I’ve been trying to be more resourceful and creative with my cooking. Now that I’m not packing lunch for work, I’m trying to only make what we will eat for dinner, and utilizing my freezer so I can access frozen veggies, bread, etc. for later. I’ve honestly just been eating dinner these last few days and having some veggies or a piece of toast here and there throughout the day.

This is truly an incredible (and not in a good way) time in history that I’ll be talking to my (hopeful, no pressure boys) grandchildren about. I’ll be back with some recipes later…

March 19, 2020March 19, 2020

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Advances in Veggie Science

When I first began my vegetarian journey back in high school there were very few veggie options out there. You could have a Boca burger, a Boca burger on a salad, a Boca burger on pasta, etc. I’m still amazed to this day how many meat alternatives are available at pretty much every grocery store. These days it is incredibly easy to make a solid vegetarian/vegan meal that even the most devoted and adamant carnivore can enjoy.

One product I’m super excited about are these Beyond Meat Sausages. We’ve only tried the Hot Italian version of these but they offer a few other types of sausage and I’m going to assume they are excellent as well. These sausages are a little pricy (usually around $8 a pack) but I have found they are often on sale, especially at Whole Foods. They can be grilled and served on a bun with peppers and onions, sliced and simmered in a red sauce to be topped on pasta, the list really goes on. My brother came over for dinner the other night and I served these with pasta. That night was a bit of an adventure since we had to run out with the baby and head to the ER (he had croup, he’s fine) and my brother ended up sleeping on Soy Bean’s floor (it was quite a night!). Had that night not have so…hectic…I would have asked for his solid opinion. We’re just going to say he loved it.

Another new product we’ve tried recently is Miyoko’s Fresh Vegan Mozz. I’ve tried Miyoko’s cream cheese before and throughly enjoyed it so I thought I would give this cheese a try. I was actually looking for Daiya cheese but I couldn’t find it, I’m glad I tried this!

Friday night is pizza night at our house.

If you’re used to working with Daiya cheese, the Miyoko’s cheese is a very different texture. I actually grabbed my cheese grater before I opened this but then I realized how soft this cheese was and it could be pulled apart. I used the whole package to make two pizzas and spread them out in little mozzarella balls. It looked super authentic in my opinion. Once it cooked it had a nice bubbling appearance to the cheese. If you don’t like nuts I wouldn’t recommend this cheese, but luckily we are big fans of the cashew in our house. The second ingredient in this cheese is soaked cashews. While it had a slightly nutty taste to the cheese it wasn’t overwhelming. This is the unofficial best pizza I’ve ever made.

Pizza with garlic and lots of red pepper flake. Sorry I didn’t get a better picture!

January 19, 2020January 19, 2020

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Vegan Review: True Bistro (Date Night!)

I’ve been very fortunate this week. This week I ate at two of my favorite vegan/vegetarian restaurants. Go me!

Let’s start with Tuesday night. Dylan and I were lucky enough to have my parents want to babysit Soy Bean, so we had the evening to ourselves. I think the secret to a happy marriage is having at least one date night a month. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it’s important to have a meal with no interruptions where you can just enjoy each other’s company.

Dylan and I have been to True Bistro a few times, it was actually one of our earlier dates (he must have been feeling fancy). True Bistro is a more upscale vegan restaurant. You know it’s fancy if Dylan doesn’t wear workout clothes to it… Everything is vegan, no vegetarian options. If you plan on dining here you should be prepared to drop at least $100 because you’re going to want dessert and apps. Cocktails and mocktails are excellent as well.

The restaurant has been remodeled since we last visited (which was when I was a pregnant lady sucking down mocktails) and the initial greeting was a little awkward. When you walked into the restaurant you basically walk into a wall and don’t know which way to go, there’s no host stand. Now I worked in restaurant for years as a hostess as well as a server. Your first impression is when you walk in is the greeting. A server asked if we had a reservation (we did) then brought us to what I would assume was a manager sitting a high top who again asked us if we had a reservation. They seemed a little confused why we were there (to eat duh!).

So finally we were seated. Our server was very nice, but inexperienced. I mean, like not clearing extra glasses and cans inexperienced. Not great for my OCD, but I managed (and of course still tipped 20% as you always should, unless someone is a jerk to you).

We started with the seared cauliflower and cornmeal-crusted oyster mushrooms. I not crazy about the cauliflower dish but we’ve ordered the oyster mushrooms every time we’ve visited and it’s never disappointed.

For our meals Dylan had the temple skewers and I ordered the red-red black-eyed peas. That’s probably my favorite dish there. Its unique and has a nice spice to it. For dessert we had the cheesecake, which was amazing and recommended by our server. They really have the best desserts there.

Moving on…

The next day Soy Bean and I went to visit my brother in Watertown. We walked around Mount Auburn Cemetery (not creepy, it’s a beautiful spot with lots of famous graves!). Kiel then treated us to some delicious vegan nachos and juice at Red Lentil. I’ve done a review of Red Lentil before on here. It hold a special place in my heart since Dylan and I had dinner there after we got engaged.

What as awesome week. Only a week and a few more days of summer for this gal. I’m looking forward to everything pumpkin, foliage, and sweaters!

August 17, 2018August 17, 2018

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Review: Beyond Beef Crumbles

Tonight is an exciting night. We are finally wrapping up The Sopranos. The hubby and I committed to this series and now we are down to two episodes. Then hopefully I can talk him into watching Orange is the New Black!

I don’t know about you but watching The Sopranos makes me super hungry, I mean they’re always eating amazing food. If I could get away with having pasta, bread, and Chianti for dinner every night I would.

In honor of Tony Soprano tonight I’m using Beyond Meat’s beef crumbles. These are by far my favorite beef substitute. All I do is toss a package of crumbles in with my favorite sauce and simmer and serve over pasta. It’s perfection. These crumbles would go great in a chili as well. I know I say this about a lot of products, but you could serve these to your meat-eater friends and they probably would not notice the difference.

Mangia!

P.S. I also walked a ton tonight so I can justify this meal. Here’s a picture from one of our walks. I’ll never get tired of living near the ocean!

August 8, 2018

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Let’s Talk Bread

This post isn’t even a review because it’s about bread. By default bread is perfection. I mean, I can’t really think of a bread I don’t like. Can you?

I’ve been intending to post about this bread from Trader Joe’s for quite awhile, but it tends to disappear quickly in my house.

When you find yourself at Trader Joe’s do yourself a favor and pick up a loaf of the Tuscan Pane. Even if you don’t think you will use it right away you can always freeze it for later.

I use this bread for everything. It MUST be toasted to maximize enjoyment. It makes a great toast and is an excellent bread for a (vegan) grilled cheese (you don’t need to toast ahead of time fyi). I also use this bread as part as an appetizer when I’m entertaining. There are really endless possibilities.

My husband and I are going to enjoy a few slices of this tonight with some balsamic tomatoes. Then I swear I’m freezing the rest so it doesn’t mysteriously disappear tonight!

July 16, 2018July 16, 2018

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Review: Riced Cauliflower Stir Fry

Guess who ~~is taking~~ took a nap? Soy Bean!

I’m (or I was) so exited this is a nap that doesn’t involve me holding him. Freedom! He’s been down for about an hour and so far I’ve paid three bills, vacuumed, mopped the floors, cleaned the counters and made lunch.

Speaking of lunch today I pulled out a bag of riced cauliflower stir fry that I picked up from Trader Joe’s the other week. It was an easy enough meal to make. I opted to add in some frozen broccoli, fresh peppers, and chickpeas for a little extra protein. I topped it off with some nooch, Braggs and hot sauce.

I really enjoyed it! My husband actually thought it was real rice, too. It had great flavor and you can add pretty much anything to your liking. You can easily bulk it up for a main course or utilize it as a side dish. Best of all if you eat the whole bag it’s only 225 calories!

****I meant to post this this afternoon but guess who’s dog barked and woke up the baby…and guess which dog it was. We still love her (sometimes).

July 16, 2018July 16, 2018

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