Last day of Vegan Mofo

Ok, today is officially the last day of Vegan Mofo. I have missed a few days this week, but have made up for them with weekend posts, so I don’t feel that bad. In fact I think that I have posted 23 as of today, so that isn’t half bad for just planning to post on weekdays.

Today let me show you what I had for breakfast today. And it will make all of you soy free very happy, because we again have a sausage replacement that we don’t have to make. When I was shopping yesterday at Rollin Oats, I found that Sunshine Burgers has a new product, a breakfast patty. I looked at that and realized that it could have some possibilities, so I picked up some English muffins, knowing that at home I had rice cheese and some of Bryanna’s Chickpea Chilla mix still in the refrigerator. Vegan Egg Muffin, here I come.



The “egg” was an idea that I has been floating in my mind for a while. I knew that it cooked up quite well as an omelet or crepe, but wondered how it would do if I cooked it up in a smaller mold to make an “egg”, that could be put on sandwiches. So last night, I tried out my idea using ¼ cup of the Chickpea Chilla cooked in a 2 ½ size biscuit cutter (that is open on top). As you can see from the sandwich, it worked quite well and looks most egg like. I got two from what was left from the batter and put them both in the refrigerator till today.

This morning, I toasted the English muffin in the toaster oven and then heated up the Chilla “egg” in the toaster oven as well, while heating the breakfast patty on the stove. Then it was just a matter of assembly. Bottom of the English muffin, breakfast patty, “egg”, rice cheese and then the top. This was quite good, but I forgot how thick these sandwiches can get. However, it would be great for taking into work and reheating in the microwave, since all you would have to do is reheat it from the refrigerator. You don’t even have to cook the breakfast patty, since it just needs to be defrosted and heated to eat. And the Sunshine Burger Breakfast Patty is a very acceptable sausage replacement. I just wish they gave you more than three in a box.

Wayfare Cheese: A Product Review

This may be the best soy free cheese to come onto the market (which I say never having tried Playfood cheese). You open the continuer and it looks like something you would make at home. The amazing thing is that it is oatmeal based and all the ingredients are pronounceable. If you have ever made your own cheese sauce at home, then you may have noticed that the oatmeal based ones are a bit smoother than the nut based cheese sauces. And for some lucky reason, we Floridians get this early in the game not late (like MimicCreme, which I found today I can no longer buy).

I first saw this at Nature’s Food Patch in Clearwater around Labor Day and bought some of the Cheddar Cheese style spread to try on crackers over the holiday weekend. I was quite impressed, you could put this in a dish and no one would realize it was vegan cheese, let alone soy free. I would have said something before now, but wasn’t quite sure how to use it, since neither the company’s website nor the containers give any suggestions. Then I saw this over at A Bear’s Fare and realized it may be more useful than I thought. Even though, just to have a soy free cheese spread for crackers is a big win in itself.

Today I bought some of the Cheddar Cheese style dip and have used it twice, for a quesadilla (lunch) and a grilled cheese sandwich (dinner and suggested by A Bear’s Fare). I didn’t mean to use it twice in one day, but was not really hungry, so wanted simple things to eat. All I can say is that you have to at least give this a try. The dip is more like a semi set cheese sauce, when you open the container. And I find you can scoop it out and spread it with a spoon quite easily. The cheddar flavor isn’t overwhelming, which may or may not be a good thing. The cheese does actually melt, much to my surprise, since it has no cornstarch or arrowroot in it (per the ingredients). Needless to say I am quite pleased and can’t wait to see if it will also make a nice rotini and cheese for one.

Now I haven’t tried the other flavors yet, but would suspect that they are also quite good. What I really would like to get my hands on would be the sour cream, since there are no vegan sour creams on the market that are soy free. Alas, I have not been able to find that yet in the one store I know carries this line. I am not really a sour cream user, but there are some recipes where you need it as an ingredient and it is a bit of a pain to always have to make it yourself.

Salads, Seitan, Sandwich and Kefir

Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it. And this is only the last two days.

First the salads. It is still hot and humid here in Florida, so salads are still a large portion of what I am eating. My lunch is composed of two of whichever ones I have in the refrigerator at the moment. For today, my lunch was PJs Fresh Corn Salad and Miso Lentil Salad. I have been working on the corn salad since last week. It makes a ton, so if you need something to take to a potluck, this would be a good dish. The Miso Lentil Salad is my protein for lunch and also some probiotics, since the dressing is miso and apple cider vinegar.

The seitan is Dr. Pepper Seitan from Vebweb. I had high hopes for this, but am not really fond of it. Partly because I still have not figured out how to do baked seitan and partly because I don’t really like the BBQ sauce. It just has too much oil for my tastes. On the side is Southwestern Corn and Black Bean Slaw from Healthy Eats up at Food TV. This is a contribution from their vegetarian blogger, who is a regular poster. I am not normally a fan of coleslaw, but this is quite good. And you should try her Papaya Salsa Slaw from her blog Dine Dish Delish.

The sandwich is part of dinner tonight and was inspired by a post this week up at Dine Dish Delish. She had an open face sandwich of naan, spicy mustard, apple and soy cheese. Here I took the concept and made a sandwich of naan, baked eggplant slices and my mozzarella cheese. Once it cooled down enough to eat, it was quite good. On the side is some more of the Green Bean and Chickpea Salad from Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen.

The last thing for today is kefir. For those of you who do not know what kefir is, it is cultured milk that has its origins in the Caucuses Mountains. In doing some research on the web, I discovered that in 2006 some scientists in Taiwan found that (and this is in laboratory mice) it reduced the allergic response to both soy and milk proteins after drinking either soy or milk kefir. That got me thinking that maybe it could help me tolerate soy better, at least enough so that I could occasionally eat it. To that end I am going to drink one cup of the coconut milk kefir for the next 8 days, that would be two quarts, and then eat a soy yogurt to see the results. If it works well, kefir might become a regular part of my diet. I bought the kefir today and will let you know how it is going tomorrow.

Eggplant Parmesan

I have two people to thank for dinner tonight. One is CCV, for pointing me to Dominix Eggplant Cutlets that are breaded, vegan and soy free. The other is kibbles up at PPK, for pointing me to a recipe for mozzarella cheese that is quite good.

It was because of both of them that I finally got to have something that has crossed my mind since starting to eat eggplant, Eggplant Parmesan. The only reason I have not made this till now is that I didn’t know what to do with the eggplant that did not go into the dish, because I would be making it for one and not two (the TeddyBear would never eat this). CCV did a review of the Dominix Eggplant Veggie Burgers on her blog Chocolate Covered Vegan, and while I could not eat those (they contain soy); it did point me to their Eggplant Cutlets, which solved my first problem. Kibbles started a thread for “favorite vegan cheese” up at PPK and pointed me to this homemade vegan mozzarella that is quite good. All I had to do was add some pizza sauce from a jar and semi instant dinner. And this is even healthier than how I have been eating eggplant in the past, since the cutlets have their skin on them. I’m getting a whole bunch more vitamins and other things I was missing out on before, because I have not been eating the skin.

On the side is a salad from Donna Klein’s The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. It is the Chickpea and Green Bean Salad from the Salads chapter. Since it is still hot and humid in Florida, I am really scouring all my sources for any salad recipe and this one is really good. It has very simple and basic flavors that blend quite well together. And it doesn’t clash with the Eggplant Parmesan. So I get another vegetable along with some protein.

Southwest Sweet Potato Quesadillas

Just using up some more of the Southwest Sweet Potato mixture, this time in a quesadilla. I used some of the left over “Vegveeta” spread also. Unfortunately, I discovered that my blender didn’t make the cheese base as smooth as it should be, will have to remember to run it longer the next time. However, now that it has cooled and set up, it did re-melt nicely on the tortilla. It makes me wonder how this sauce would work for a mac and cheese.

And Vegetation, I am getting over my food “blahs”. I think what is causing them is that summer has now and I think finally hit Florida for good. Heat really trashes my appetite for some reason. I might have to start looking at eating more salads, since that is the only raw food easily made in my small kitchen.

Taco Salad

I made this using an adaption of a recipe that has been in my file for some time. When I found the Southwest Sweet Potato Chickpea Delight on Vegweb, it sounded like a good dish. Unfortunately, I have very little need for casseroles and am not able to find shredded Pepper Jack vegan rice cheese; so this has been sitting till I could figure out either what to do with it or to make it for a potluck. However, last week it occurred to me that if the chips and cheese were omitted, then it could be cooked on the stove top and used in various ways. So that is what I did. The only other alteration to the recipe was the omission of the hot pepper flakes in the ingredients, since that would make it to spicy for my tastes.

It cooked up quite well on the stove top and the salad went together easily. All I had to do was put some lettuce on the plate and surround it with the tortilla chips (Tostitos are vegan, just to let you know). I then put the sweet potato mix on the lettuce, dotted it with some of the Warm “Vegveeta” Cheese Sauce (from Dreena Burton, don’t great minds think alike, Vegetation) and then a dollop of the Cashew Sour Cream. While it may not sound like all this would go together well, it sure looks good and tasted good as well. I have been in the food blahs lately for some reason, but this sure got me out of them. Look for me to use this a few more times this week, along with the “Vegveeta” as well.

Creative Leftovers and some Information about Me

First of all, had some of the ratatouille on the side. Am I glad that this reheats so well. Next to that is a flatbread with some of Bryanna Grogan’s Almond “Feta” (page down a bit and you will see the recipe) melted and spread over it. And under the flatbread are some spaghetti squash pancakes.

First, the spaghetti squash pancakes. They came from the listing on Recipezaar I use to cook spaghetti squash. At the end, the recipe suggests mixing the leftover squash with some flour and making pancakes out of it. I was a bit skeptical, but it works very well. The flour mixes with the moisture on the squash and makes a bit of a batter, holding it together when frying. These could definitely be useful.

The flatbread and the “Feta” were an experiment. I had come across Bryanna Grogan’s recipe for the Almond “Feta”, and was a bit intrigued. Especially since the instructions did say that you could soak the “cheese” in a brine and it would not dissolve. I can see why now. With all the agar and cornstarch, there is no way that this is going to dissolve in liquid. Now does it taste like feta. Don’t know about that, since never really had any feta in my pregan days. It does have a strong, salty taste; so in that respect it is very feta-like.

The flatbread is the Mediterranean Flatbread from Toufayan. I must confess that it is not soy free, they do use soy flour in it; as an egg replacer, according to what I learned from contacting the company. Since I have recently deduced that I can have about ¼ to ½ a serving of soy a day, some soy will seep into my diet. However, very little of that will be at home. Once I figure out how to make a decent flatbread, I won’t need to buy this anymore. The recipe that Bryanna Grogan has for the refrigerator risen bread dough look most promising, in this regard.

So that was dinner for tonight. Nice way to use up some leftovers and also try something new. All for this week. One more thing before I go. Since I accidently revealed my age in my last post. Let me just add that I am 40+. My mother has this thing about having to much presence on the web makes you un-hirable (she actually googles my name to see what I am doing and have done), so that is why I have to do all this under a screen name. Once my employment situation gets settled, e.g. I find a job and am not worried about loosing it, I just may reveal myself. That will not happen anytime soon, however.

The screen name and name of the blog come from the nickname that the TeddyBear has for me and a mythology, as it were, that he is creating. The blog name comes from a time that he accused me of taking the covers from him, in the middle of the night and made a remark about “the republic of bunny". In the mythology, I am Snugglebunny of The Republic of Bunny and he is TeddyBear of the Land of the Free Teddy Bears. It basically plays off the differences we have in our personalities. I keep telling him that he should write children’s books, but he won’t listen to me.

Well now that you know more about me than you ever thought you would, go and have a good weekend.

Quesadilla and Chick-fu

Sorry for the rerun, for most part, my dinner tonight was a last minute plan. I had an interesting Black Eyed Peas and Brown Lentil Pineapple Curry to do, but ran into a minor problem. I burned the lentils when cooking them and was unable to get the pan clean. Since I needed this pan to make rice while cooking the curry in another larger pan, that created a minor problem. So as a back-up I decided on using the Seitan, Peppers and Onion in a quesadilla and having some Burmese Tofu on the side. And if you can believe it, this chick-fu was only made this morning. It set up really fast, which was good for me. The quesadilla is how it was done last time and the chick-fu was coated in a “parm” mix I have been trying (almond flour, nutritional yeast and some dry mustard) with some jerk seasoning in it for some spice. It all came together really well, which is a good thing; or I would be really hungry right now.

Don’t know why the picture is so dark, didn’t use the flash and thought I had more light from overhead.

Eggplant Pancakes Part II

This is the final night for the theme this week, food that is round. The eggplant pancakes make a reappearance. I had planed to have them with some pizza sauce and homemade vegan parmesan cheese, but had to change plans when the pizza sauce came up moldy. So I went to plan B, which was some more of the sweet chili sauce from my refrigerator. Yeah, still trying to use that up as well. And on the sides are steamed corn and the cauliflower with Gee Whiz cheese sauce. The chili sauce worked really well with the eggplant pancakes, even though they are Italian flavored. For some reason, after sitting in the refrigerator for a few days, really dampened the herbs flavors. Or the chili sauce was just so strong that I couldn’t taste anything else. Just a simple dinner tonight to use up some things in the refrigerator for next week.

Tomorrow I am going to give you my review of Coconut Bliss ice cream, since dinner will be nothing new. And next week, I may have pizza since the only decent rice based vegan cheese (or so I understand) has finally made it to my neck of the woods. That would be VeganRella. I have checked, as much as I can; they have very little web presence; and it is not only soy free but also may be gluten free. The store I shop at this weekend had some the last time I was there and hopefully they still do, or I will be most unhappy because it will be at least a week until I can get some of it then. The other store around here that carries it is in Clearwater, but I am only close by when the oil gets changed in my car. And that will be one week from Saturday. So if no pizza next week, then pizza in two weeks.

See you tomorrow.

Eggplant Pancakes and Other Things

Tonight’s dinner is the start of an accidental theme this week, foods that are round. It is accidental since I had to change my plans because at the moment seitan making is on the back burner. Making seitan is a problem right now because in the process of putting my laptop case in the trunk on Saturday (a backpack) the backside of my right hand has been somewhat sliced by the top of the trunk. It isn’t that bad and no trips to the doctor had to be made, but I just don’t want to any chances when making seitan and doing the kneading. In the process of changing the menu, round items of food just popped up and so the accidental theme.

Dinner was more of the stuffing pancakes (I know, I am getting somewhat tired of them also), but the one is the middle of the stack is an eggplant pancake. This is something I found over at Vegetation’s original blog vegetationramblings, but she got it from Susan V over at the Fat Free Vegan. While they both did them Florentine style, that was just a bit to much for me, so I had it plain. And while I am still somewhat ambivalent about eggplant, it was really quite good. The oregano really came through the other flavors and went very well with the herbs in the stuffing. Unfortunately, I don’t have any soy free ricotta or they just might be made into a single serving of a lasagna eggplant pancake stack. Something to try in the future.

On the side is just some steamed corn and steamed cauliflower with cheese sauce. Now the cheese sauce it interesting. Apparently if you mix the Gee Whiz 2:1 with “milk” (your favorite kind, just make sure it is unsweetened and plain) it makes a cheese sauce. This just might keep Gee Whiz errantly in my refrigerator since I hate broccoli and cauliflower and really can only eat them with a cheese sauce on them. If only I had some pasta shells around to make a single serving of “mac and cheese”. Oh well, next time.

New Year’s Day Food and Dinner Tonight

Hope you all had a happy New Year’s Day. TeddyBear and I just basically did nothing on the 1st but watch some football or play on our computers. I had food for noshing, since neither of us wanted to make any formal meals. Unfortunately, neither he nor I felt very well on Tuesday or Wednesday, so we didn’t stay up and toast the new year. First time in a long while I haven’t done that. However, I did do the cherry juice and Asti Spumati for breakfast and it was really good. Nice to have something different. I also had the Coconut Pie Pancakes from La Dolce Vegan and if you are into coconut, you have to try them. For the day we had some bread and topping for bruschetta, crackers (Back to Nature Classic Rounds) and some Gee Whiz Spread, Oreos, and some strawberry ice cream for the TeddyBear. Neither one of us ate much, but we were really not hungry either. One day a year won’t kill us.

For dinner tonight I had something that was intended for New Year’s, but we never got around to them. “Rib” patties for Vegan McRibs. I must confess the McRib is one of my pregan weaknesses. I used to work at McDonald’s as well and can still tell you how they are made. For the patty I used this recipe from Celine at Have Cake, Will Travel; but instead of making them into “ribs”, they were made into long patties for a submarine bun. The BBQ sauce is a new recipe, it is from here (minus the hot sauce and liquid smoke). It has a really good flavor, is easy to make and also doesn’t make a lot; winner on all three accounts. For the sides there are steamed corn and Cheater Baked Beans from VCON. If you haven’t tried them yet, you really should. They taste as good as any baked beans one may buy in a can and at least you are sure they are vegan. Since I didn’t have a light molasses (blackstrap molasses is all I keep around), I mixed equal parts of blackstrap molasses and dark agave for the light molasses in the recipe. It seems to work just fine.

That is all for this week. See you on Monday.