Review: "Porkless" Pork

I've had a contentious relationship with pork my whole life.  When I first became a vegetarian in high school it was a gradual process.  Pork was the first meat I cut out of my diet.  I mean there's a reason why two major world religions don't eat pigs right?  Plus pigs are smart and (sometimes) adorable creatures that deserve our respect.

Well I've been reunited with pork (well kinda).  Gardein is on a tear right now with their products.  As I mentioned before I made a pilgrimage to Whole Foods last weekend and picked up some vegan goodies, among those some sweet and sour "pork less" pork.

Holy Cow! Or Pig?

This tasted so much like the real thing (as I recall) it almost made me nervous that it was real meat!  Between the texture and the flavor it was amazing.  The sauce was awesome as well.  I made my dish with some onions and peppers in our cast iron skillet.  Next time I'm going to add some pineapple to it as well.

I paired it with one of our favorite vegan products from Trader Joe's, Japanese style fried rice.  If you haven't tried this out yet I highly recommend it.  It's definitely a different twist on fried rice.  I usually pick up a bag every time I hit up TJ's. 

This was overall a pretty simple dinner to throw together.  I guess you have to have meals like that sometimes right?  I can't wait to see what Gardein has coming next!

Spring and Vegan Seafood

It almost feels like spring is here.  Almost.  We've brought our dog to the dog park twice this week after a long hiatus.  That's a sign right?

Our plants are starting to sprout which is pretty exciting.  I hope I can be a good plant mom to them, I don't have the best history in the world with growing things.  I replanted some scallions and they really have thrived.  It's so satisfying to eat something you have grown yourself, even if it is a garnish (a delicious garnish).

I'm also excited about the new products Gardein has put out.  I heard through the grapevine that Whole Foods was having a deal on Gardein products so I made a special trek there on Saturday.   I usually do all of our grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and Stop and Shop, but Whole Foods occasionally has some great deals of vegan products. I was delighted to see new products I have never seen before and picked up some "crabless" crab cakes and some "porkless" pork.

I have yet to try the pork but I could not wait to try the crab.  My husband is not a fan of seafood so I only made a few to sample.

Overall, I thought they were excellent.  Before I was a vegetarian I was a fan of seafood, not so much fish but everything else.  I made the cakes in our cast iron skillet with a tiny bit of oil and browned them on each side.  Now, I'm not sure these "crab cakes" would rival Maryland crab cakes but as far as a vegan option they were pretty spectacular and really tasted like crab.  I would bet you could serve these as an appetizer to your non vegan friends and pass them off as the real thing.  I dare you to.

Unfortunately the husband and child are opposed to fake seafood or seafood in general, but I guess that means more crab cakes for me.  Score.

I made us some pretty rockin' vegan chicken soft tacos last night.  Whole Foods had a great deal on avocados so I picked up a few for dinner.  Had my family been more welcoming towards seafood I would have made vegan crab cake tacos, but oh well.  Maybe another time.

Review: Eggplant Garlic Spread

I am so happy to be on school vacation.  I love my job, but I also love being able to sleep in past 6 am.  School vacation also is a great excuse to get together with friends and family and eat/make some yummy food.  

To kick off off school vacation I got together with some of my teacher friends on Thursday night.  We had so much awesome (and all vegan) food.  The girl who was hosting is an amazing cook and someone I love talking food with.  She made an awesome appetizer which I have already made for two parties (and it's only the following Tuesday).  

Let me introduce you to Trader Joe's Eggplant Garlic Spread.  I know many of you are not fans of eggplant, and neither is my husband yet he loves this appetizer dish.  It's a nice flavorful savory spread and I have a feeling I'm going to be experimenting a lot more with it.  

So anyways, the only app I've made with this spread (and I'm an expert because I've eaten an entire load of bread with this speed so far) is super simple and easy.  All it is is toasted bread, eggplant garlic spread, and chopped black olives.  Simple.  Easy.  Delicious.  I left the olives off of some of the bread since I know not everyone is a fan.  I would imagine tomatoes would work great as well.  

So next time you're at Trader Joe's I would recommend you pick up this spread.  You won't regret it, even if you're not an eggplant fan.  

P.S.  school vacation week is when I realize that my dog sleeps for about 80% of the day.  I definitely want to request being reincarnated as a dog next time around...

I'm alive (and went to Grasshopper)!

…I promise.  I've been meaning to post for so long, but the universe has gotten in the way.  So many things have happened in the last few weeks and so many awesome food experiences I missed blogging out on!  Dang it!

In the last few weeks we've seen many friends, had an emergency trip to the ER for my eye, was temporarily blinded in my left eye for a couple of days after that, survived parent/teacher conferences, had an unexpected snow day, my husband had a show (he's in a black metal band if you can believe that) and so much more.

Now I'm back here and cooking on this Saturday night.  It feels more like Sunday since we didn't have school yesterday.  You should have seen me yesterday, I was cooking up a storm.  I was definitely in my happy place (also mimosas were in the picture so that helped).

My husband had a show last night and they were awesome (if you like that kind of music…I am bias).  I of course played the role of the supportive spouse/groupie and came along.  Luckily for me the show was right down the street from my all time favorite vegan restaurant, Grasshopper.  Grasshopper is an all vegan Chinese food restaurant in Allson, MA.  It's amazing.  Everyone who works there is super nice and it's so liberating to walk into a restaurant where you know you can order anything on the menu.

And it's definitely some feel good vegan comfort food for sure.  There are so many amazing choices on the menu and we have a few favorites that I will share with you.  It's definitely not the healthiest food in the world, but you never walk out of there feeling gross like you can with other Chinese food restaurants.

I brought my husband here for his first birthday that we spend together.  I think it was his first taste of heaven.  In case you visit (and I hope you do) we always order…

• The No Name-it's a fried gluten dish that resembles General Gao's chicken.  It is not good for you at all but it is so so good.  
• #69 (Black Pepper Beef)-this is my favorite.  It's a seitan dish sautéed with greens and this amazing sauce.  It's so good.  When I lived closer I would made a trek just to pick some of this up along with some some fried rice on a Friday night.  
• House Fried Rice-  I believe this is #101 on the menu.  This fried rice dish gives you a taste of all the vegan "meats" on the menu including shrimp, fish, chicken and beef.  Sometimes they seem to run out of the shrimp but we were lucky to get some in our rice last night.  
• Chicken Fingers- more like cake chicken fingers.  They are delicious and sweet and one of my hubby's favorites.

So those are our go to items on the menu.  They do have a buffet on certain Sundays a month which I've never been to but I've heard good things.  Please give this place a try even if you're not a vegan or vegetarian!  Everyone can enjoy it!

Review: Gardein Chipotle Line Crispy Fingers

Review time.

So lots of things have happened since the last time I posted…the Patriots almost gave all of New England a heart attack, my husband and I discovered Game of Thrones, and I've been sick.  It's that time of year and it comes with the job, but I've been down and out and it's never fun.  

I'm finally starting to feel better and I realize we have so much frozen food in our kitchen.  I'm making it a goal this week to use up as much of our frozen food a possible, which brings me to my review this evening.  Gardein's Chipotle Line Crispy Fingers.  Yummy.

We picked this baby up at Whole Foods when my husband and I went there pretending to be rich.  Well I guess we deserve a trip there once in awhile…What kills me about Whole Foods is I can find a lot of the food their cheaper other places (such as Gardein products) but they carry things I can't seem to find anywhere else, such as these "chicken" fingers.  

My mom made us a vegan pumpkin bread this weekend (amazing!) and also sent me home with some minestrone soup (I have yet to confirm if it was homemade or not).  So tonight I made a soup and salad combo.  

So back to the "chicken", it was good!  There was a subtle southwestern taste to the chicken, and it was nice and crispy on the outside.  I loved it on the salad but I think it would be great in a wrap as well with some vegan sour cream.  

I heated up our minestrone soup and stuck some Daiya cheese and bread crumbs on top.  Then I put the  bowls under the broiler for a minute or two.  Soup is best served on a rooster tray.  

Happy end of the weekend!

Review: Trader Joe's Hot and Sweet Chili Jam

So it's Friday, hence it's pizza night.  There's only so much I can tell you about vegan pizza and I'm pretty sure I've told you everything I know.  So I'll share something else...

So tonight I'm doing another review.  I took another trip to Trader Joe's tonight, and it's amazing what you find when the store isn't packed like it is on the weekend.  I came across a new hot and sweet chili jam.  I've pretty much drawn to any sort of spicy food.  I picked it up and read the suggestion that this jam can be served with cream cheese on a cracker.  Easy vegan fix.  I'm super indecisive so of course I put it down and came back to it later.

I paired with with our favorite vegan alternative to cream cheese, Tofutti, and served the jam on a Ritz cracker.  It was awesome!

My plating leaves something to be desired, but this would be an awesome appetizer.  And super easy of course.  The jam is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy, and goes great with the cream cheese to cool everything down.  

Review: Daiya Mac and Cheese

Can you believe I never really liked macaroni and cheese until I was in college?  I know right?  It's two of my favorite things; pasta and cheese.  

Tonight I'd like to introduce you to Daiya's version of macaroni and cheese.  We love the Daiya products, especially their version of shredded mozzarella cheese we use on our pizza.  My mom picked up a package of this once for us and we loved it, so when I sent my husband out on a rare trip to the grocery store for him, he came back with this mac and cheese, "alfredo style."  

This is definitely one of our favorite instant vegan alternatives to macaroni and cheese.  Daiya is a little bit different from other versions of vegan mac and cheese we've tried.  Instead of a powered cheese, the Daiya version had a creamy "cheese" you add to the pasta.  It tastes JUST like regular mac and cheese (I swear!).  

Mac and cheese is fun too because you can spruce it up.  I made mine tonight with vegan beef crumble, roasted red pepper, and tomatoes.  I mixed everything together and crumbled Ritz crackers (yes those are vegan!) and nutritional yeast on top of the mixture.  Then I added a little Daiya shredded cheese. I cooked it in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees in the sweet casserole dish we got as a wedding gift over the summer.  

Family approved.  Or at least the dog was begging for some.  

Review: Trader Joe's Vegan Cream Cheese

Since I can't make something blog worthy seven days a week and hey sometimes you need to throw on some yoga pants and order some Chinese food, I want to post some reviews of different vegan products my family likes (or detests!)

We definitely have some go to's but I'm always up for buying and trying something new.  Anyone can enjoy vegan products.  Trust me.  I have many friends with dairy sensitivities, and I care about them too much for them to miss out on cheesiness.  Whether you're allergic or dairy or eggs or just want to eat a little bit healthier, vegan alternatives are great and tasty…but sometimes they're not…

I love Trader Joe's.  Trust me.  I'm there at least twice a week.  As I mentioned before I recently moved and I'm sure the employees at my old Trader Joe's have reported me as a missing person.  I do about 85% of our grocery shopping a TJ's.  It's a great place for vegans to shop, but sometimes Trader Joe's misses its mark.

Example:  Vegan cream cheese.

Oh man.  It pains me to write anything bad about Trader Joe's, but yuck.  My husband and I went shopping on Sunday and I was curious to try it, I've had other brands before (which I'll mention) that I can purchase at other store.  In my attempt to make my life easier I decided to buy some.

I opened it the next night and it was apparent something horrible had happened to this particular container of cream cheese. However, having much faith in TJ's, I returned to the store and swapped it out for a new one.  I went home and decide to test it out.  It was gritty, watery, and did not taste at all like cream cheese.

I wanted to get the word out, because I love bagels too much to have you ruin one with this product!

Don't lose faith though, if you're avoiding dairy and still love cream cheese there are other options out there.  In our house we opt for Tofutti cream cheese.  It's smooth and creamy and really does taste like cream cheese.  Daiya also makes cream cheese, but I personally have not tried it.

Oh Trader Joe's…I guess no one is perfect.