Gardein Review: Beefless Tips & Burgers

Veganism has hit the mainstream homies and there ain't no looking back! I remember the days when vegan hamburger patties tasted like um, VEGAN HAMBURGER PATTIES... Like, you couldn't serve that shit up to a meat eater and be like "Surprise!!! I bet you had NO CLUE that was vegan!!!"

I think they would laugh in your face and thankfully, I never attempted such idiocracy, I just said, "Hey, this is a veggie burger, and it tastes pretty good and isn't disgustingly bad for you and nobody got hurt." :)

These days are different my friends with GARDEIN... I swear on my life you could pull a fast one with these... AND PLEASE wait until they finish and say how damn good their burger was before you, "Share the good news" and laugh in their face! Kidding, but only sorta... I admit that mock meats and other prepackaged vegan food is expensive compared to what I usually eat, but I feel like overall (Once you build up a spice collection) veganism is VERY CHEAP... Your diet consists of fruits, veggies, nuts/seeds, grains, and legumes... Also, a pound of organic tofu at Sprouts costs me 99 cents and is cholesterol free and full of protein (8 grams a serving and about 32g's a block) and I can buy a bag of Vital Wheat Gluten for about $6 and make over 3 pounds of Seitan (Wheat Meat)... I think vegan "Meaty" options are much cheaper and healthier when compared to animal products.

ANYWAYS, here in So Cal, Gardein products are about $4... The Tips are about 2 hearty servings (IMO) and the Burgers come in a pack of 4.

My friend Melissa got me hooked on the Tips!!! They are magical pan fried with some olive oil and accompanied by homemade mashed potatoes and balsamic-maple glazed purple onions (Thinly slice some purple onions, cook them down on medium heat in some olive oil until translucent, add balsamic vinegar and cook down some more, add maple syrup and cook down until liquid has evaporated for the most part, plop on top of mashed potaters).

The Burgers are out of this world!!! Just pan fry them in a little oil and serve them up with all the fixings which for me are Vegenaise, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, and ketchup :)

Crack is Whack... Ditch the Cow Cheese and Switch to Daiya BITCHES

So before you get all Micro-Vegan on me STFU and focus on the big picture: Plant based vegan cheese is better than dairy cow cheese.

VEGANS: CAN WE ALL STOP AND AGREE ON THIS ONE THING FOR A FUCKING SECOND?

Ok let us begin... Once upon a time Daiya only had these goopy things known as SHREDS, they stuck to your teeth like glue... About a year later these magnificent little blocks called WEDGES came out and vegans everywhere wet themselves in sheer delight... THEY ARE JUST LIKE CHEESE... WE HAVE CONQUERED THE ONE THING that prevents all the weaklings from taking the full plunge into veganism... CHEESE!!!

And now the Vegan Police came marching in: BUT DAIYA WEDGES HAVE PALM OIL OFF WITH THEIR HEADS... Well bitches, Daiya is "trying" to find a replacement because they know vegans are pissed about palm oil... Let's get Macro-Vegan for a sec and think about it: I would rather support people getting off the CRACK COW CHEESE and going plant based instead of knocking everyone for the palm oil thing... Yes it is fucked up but it is plant based and it is vegan as far as I am concerned...

Anyways... I bought all 3 blocks a little bit ago... Mainly, to share some with my vegetarian coworker who really "wants" to go vegan but can't kick the cow cheese... Guess what? She loved Daiya and thinks veganism is possible now because of it... I see that as a victory personally.

Daiya Wedges come in Cheddar, Jack, and Havarti :) WE VEGANS HAVE IT SO DAMN HARD, I KNOW ;)

Cheddar: Mac & Cheese HANDS-DOWN you are a kid again, eat your little vegan heart out!!! I just precook the pasta and when I am ready to eat a serving I heat some Daiya with a little plain plant milk till it starts to melt and add in the pasta... Few minutes tops!!! I even ate WHOLE WHEAT PASTA AND IT WAS GOOD (That is major for me my friends)!

Here it is (above) with some roasted butternut squash :)

Jack is also good in Mac & Cheese but Cheddar is best... YES I DIPPED IT IN KETCHUP... As 2 Pac said: "Only God can judge me"... THUG LIFE HERE IN SO CAL

But I mainly love it in Quesadillas!!! I love Quesadilla Sammies with Hickory Tofurky Lunch Meat, Daiya, and some shredded lettuce once it is off the heat!!

 

Look at the gooey deliciousness above! Heaven!

My least fave for Mac & Cheese was the Havarti, it is heavenly though in quesadillas and just with crackers too!!! All these wedges are bomb quesadilla or cracker dipping status...

Moral of the story: Don't Micro-Vegan the shit out of your life, focus on the finish line, the end goal so you don't go insane in this un-vegan current living situation we have to live in... Do your best! And if Daiya wedges fill that void for you for animal cheese I APPLAUD YOU!!! Eventually though, like myself, you will probably just get over the need for cheese and view items like the ones mentioned as a special treat :)

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

TJ's Product Reviews: Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds & Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix

2 products I snatched up recently at Trader Joe's were Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds & Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix (I believe this may be seasonal as I picked it up around Christmas). I am going to subject myself to the wrath of many Daiya loving vegans but I HATE DAIYA SHREDS WITH A PASSION as far as I am concerned they nasty and stick to your teeth, don't melt as pretty as I would like, and basically I want to gag just thinking about them... DAIYA WEDGES on the other hand are another story, I love the shit out of those except for the fact that they use palm oil... well, "sustainable" palm oil they call it. Anyways, I am getting sidetracked, I really enjoyed these TJ's shreds! They were maybe around $3.50 and melted nicely and didn't smell like vomit (Always a plus for vegan cheese). I made a few piles of nachos with them and boy were they good! I think these shreds melt better than Daiya (teeth gunk) shreds anyways.

Next up, yes, I know, I actually baked something holy shit... TJ's Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix which is vegan by default and only becomes toxic poison if you add chicken periods, oops I mean chicken eggs... I of course chose not to poison myself and used Ener-G Egg Replacer for the egg. You could also do the ground flax and water method to substitute the egg (Google: Flax Egg Recipe). Aside from the vegan egg replacement, the only other ingredients specified on the box were vegetable oil (I used canola) and water. This turned out bomb for me! Though, mind you, I think I added like 15 minutes onto the baking time for a knife to come out of the center clean... I don't have an oven thermometer so I am not sure if it is my oven or a problem others might have.

Till tomorrow,

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

Easy Peasy Vegan Hoildays with TJ's Vegan Turkey-Less Roast

Well folks, in case you haven't noticed, Trader Joe's (aka TJ's) carries a Vegan "Turkey-Less Stuffed Roast with Gravy" at a whopping price of..... $9.99!! Holy shit batman,  vegan store-bought holiday roasts just became both inexpensive and still delicious! This roast is reportedly made by Gardein but packaged by TJ's :) so that means half the price! So enough with all my exclamation points!!!!!!!

I enjoyed this roast for ThanksLIVING...

...As well as Christmas this year. (I did not eat that animal butter!)

The roast is really easy to bring along and pop in the oven and it is done in about an hour. You will need some veggies like potatoes, onions, carrots and celery to surround the roast when it is baking as well as a little seasoning to taste. 

On an important side note, the gravy tastes like caustic chemicals so I really wouldn't bother polluting your roast or mashed potatoes with it ;) 

So hopefully, you have a TJ's in your area or I am just sitting here typing and feeling like an asshole since I was also able to stuff my face with store bought vegan pumpkin pie...

The life of a vegan is just so damn difficult these days ;)

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 10

Randomness:

When it comes to food, I can be a mad scientist these days... I am totally weird as well when it comes to matching flavors and pairing dishes... No matter what, I always take a little bit of each item to make 1 bizarre condiment laden bite... It takes me forever to eat sometimes, concocting my yummy bites with just a little of everything :) I am done rambling folks, on to the food...

I've been hitting up the 99 cents store and they have some goodies, for reals... I picked up a big bag of poblano peppers and of course had to figure out what the hell to do with them: Stuff them of course with leftovers! Duh :) I stuffed one pepper with leftover mashed potatoes and sprinkled on some green onions and Daiya Mozzarella. The other pepper was stuffed with some leftover black bean and quinoa mixture from the Mini Wet Burritos and covered with some leftover canned tomato sauce and Daiya Mozzarella. Not bad for bizarre food combination's!

I had these stuffed peppers over the next few days paired with Homemade Refried Beans (Sans the "Smoke" just pickled jalapenos added instead), some "Spanish" Rice dish that was inspired by a friends suggestion on VegWeb (1.5 C White Rice + 2 T Annatto Infused Oil + 1 3/4 C Veggie Broth + 1 C Minced Spinach and Pepper added at the end). I even poured vegan gravy on these suckers (Next post).

 (Quinoa Stuffed Pepper with Spinach "Spanish" Rice and Homemade Refried Beans)

(Mashed Potato Stuffed Pepper smothered with Gravy paired with Spinach "Spanish" Rice and Homemade Refried Beans)

I also made a few pizzas with french bread (One of my new favorites!). One pizza was tomato sauce, green bell peppers, onions, olives, and jalapenos. The other was barbecue sauce, onions, olives, red bell peppers, and jalapenos. Both lightly covered with Daiya Mozzarella and baked for about 10 minutes at 400F and dipped in homemade Vegan Ranch.

Lastly, my beloved Gma took me grocery shopping at the Costco in Irvine! They had so many yummy vegan goodies there: Gummies, Soba Noodles, Seaweed Salad, and TOFU! To name a few... I think we vegans have arrived now that Costco of all places carries TOFU! It's about time! They also had these vegan Potato Knishes which were pretty tasty, probably not something I would bother buying again. These are like mashed potato stuffed pockets... Way too carb heavy and filling for me, I could hardly eat one!

Peace, Love, and Veganess <3

More on Convience Food... The Shame

Yep, I whore it out convenience food style sometimes... Here's some more on that! 

I suck at baking, for the record, but premade cake mixes I can do, thankfully. Here I used some premade cake mix and frosting (Seems vegan enough ingredient-wise for me) to make some delicious "Fall Inspired" cupcakes. I did have to leave off the sprinkles that came with the frosting as they are made out of Confectioners Glaze, a fancy word for Bug Secretion :) I subbed the eggs for Ener-G egg replacer eggs and that was my only change! 

I also buy this prepackaged Archer Farms Spinach Dip Mix at Target, good stuff! Just make your dip out of the vegan versions of mayo and sour cream... Awesome with crackers, pita chips, veggies, toasted bread, you name it!

I love pizza! Daiya (Vegan cheese) is growing on me only when it comes to lightly added to pizza. This pizza had green bells, spinach, onions, Daiya, and jalapeno, served up with a slathering of my Vegan Ranch. I bake my pizza at 400F and broil for a little towards the end (Takes less than 10), I always seem to forget about the damn thing and burn it a smidge so watch carefully when broiling!

Lastly, I have a huge package of thin Japanese soup noodles still needing to be using up. These noodles cook in minutes in boiling water. Here I added the cold noodles to garlic, crushed red chilies, SBL (Smart Balance Light), dried parsley, salt and pepper. Easy peasy and pretty good (I added too much crushed red chilies here).  

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 7

Convenience Food:

As a vegan, I rely on my fair share of convenience foods, though I much prefer to cook a yummy meal or eat the typical leftovers my yummy homemade meals provide... Sometimes though, I just want to shove food in my fat little face with little effort and I recently hit up the 99 cents store and found an abundance of cheapy items! If I wasn't at work I would have picked up more veggies and cold stuffs!

I love me some Nissin Oriental Ramen, with about a tablespoon of garlic chili paste mixed in, as well as a cilantro garnish if I have it on hand.

I also love bagels, especially before bed (Bad I know) to settle my little tummy, typically slathered with some Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese. <3 I just stumbled upon these Pumpkin Spice Bagels at Walmart today on my lunch break... Yummm

Gardein Crispy Tenders are the bomb peoples! Especially if you can steel some McDonald's barbecue sauce from your unsuspecting chicken nugget loving brothers. Ha!

I also love making french bread style vegan pizzas! Heat the oven to 400F pile with pasta sauce and your favorite veggies and sprinkle a little Daiya vegan "Mozzarella" and bake for about 10 minutes and you got some bomb pizza, especially if you have some Vegan Ranch for dipping purposes!

I also cannot live without Tofurkey Deli Slices! My current favorite is Hickory but Peppered is also legit... Look at this yummy sammie: Hickory Tofurkey, Vegenaise, avocado, tomatoes, romaine, spicy mustard... I think I'm in heaven <3 Especially with a little Sriracha squirted on every bite!

These Fudge Sticks are divine! Mind you, I am more lenient on iffy ingredients than a "Level 5 Vegan" unless I am told straight out that the company confirmed such things as "Monoglycerides" are animal sourced. These look vegan enough for me for the time being.

Lastly, some of my spread from the 99 cent store... Good finds include jarred pimentos, pasta, ramen (Which the packet ones are gross so far), spicy ramen noodle cups, onion dip mix...

Also, I grabbed a few produce items that I knew wouldn't take up much room in the work fridge, baby carrots and this big head of broccoflower!!!

I spent under $5!!! And I plan on going early this weekend to check out the produce at the 99 cent store closer to my house! They also have cheap bread! Squeeee :)

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

I have been relying on vegan convience food a lot lately... Some food porn

For my birthday, I got $120 worth of gift cards to Trader Joe's, so I bought a lot of convience food I wanted to try but don't want to spend my funds on... Also, I heard via vegweb.com that Ralph's (Kroger) was drastically cutting prices on some vegan goodies (Half off!) so I bought lots of stuffs :)

YOU MUST TRY AMY'S TOFU SCRAMBLE HOT POCKET THING NOW!!!

TJ's Mochi is yummy! Never tried a non-vegan version but these were delicious :) Ice cream filling made with coconut milk <3

Inside these babies:

Here are the goodies I got from Ralph's... Cost me $40... I also hit up another Ralph's and got a few other things that I typically wouldn't buy cause it's too expensive...

The vegan chicken nuggets were ok... I remember buying a Morningstar or Boca version that I liked much better...

Tofurkey Vegan Pizzas are alright, def not worth the typical $10 price tag, but for $5, why the hell not?

"Cheese" with added veggies on top (This one was pretty good). I would cook as directed on the box but broil these pizzas for a minute or two so the "cheese" melts and tastes better

Tofurkey "Pepperoni" (Least fave, too much "pepperoni" that wasn't very good) additional veggies added again...

Tofurkey Italian "Sausage" Pizza, was pretty decent cause it had some veggies for pizazz...

I also bought Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza half off. THIS IS THE BEST PIZZA EVER (No cheese-like substance needed)!!!

I have been hitting up Mother's Market lately as well (Health food store with an awesome deli with lots of vegan dishes)... You can get 3 portions of anything in the deli-case for $7! 

 

Teriyaki "Beef" Chow Mein (Made with TVP chunks I'm guessing)... This was decent, I enjoyed the "Beef"

An Italian type "Chicken" dish I served over some leftover rice (Very good)

A "Shrimp" dish (Maybe Cajun?) served over rice as well... I think vegan shrimp makers have the shrimp texture down pretty good but the taste is lacking, still like this dish though!

Fettuccine Alfredo (Had some "Chicken" chunks that were probably TVP)... This was alright...

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

Vegan MOFO: Lunch and some new goodies

Today I got paid so I hit up the health food store for some vegan goodies! I got Silk Pumpkin Spice Soy Milk and Wayfare Hickory Cheddar Cheese Spread both were sinfully delicious! Above is my yummy lunch: Rainbow Salad topped with Teriyaki Tofu and soon to be slathered in Vegan Ranch Dressing, Pumpkin Spice Soy Milk, and Wayfare Hickory Cheddar Cheese Spread with Wheat Thins.

Easy Peasy Island Teriyaki Stir Fry

 Trader Joe's has some awesome sauces to choose from! This trip to TJ's I bought some Hawaiian flavored teryaki sauce called Island Soyaki. If you don't have a TJ's near you try to find Soy Vay Island Teryaki Sauce, it tastes exactly the same and I can find it at almost any grocery store around here.

Also, if you eat a lot of tofu please buy yourself a Tofu Press already!!! These things are so awesome! No more wasting paper towels, waiting for your tofu to press, finding heavy objects to press your tofu with, ect. I just put a block of tofu in my tofu press in the morning and left it in the fridge. This makes dinner making much faster when I get home from a long day of work.

Anyways on to the "Recipe"...

Ingredients:

- 1 block extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into cubes
- 6 handfuls cauliflower, cut into bite-sized chunks
- 1/2 a white onion, sliced to your liking, I prefer thicker slices
- 1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup Island Teryaki Sauce
- A few tablespoons of oil for frying

Directions:

- Fry up tofu in a tablespoon or so of oil until golden
- Add cauliflower chunks and another tablespoon of oil if needed, cook for a few minutes just to begin the cooking process.
- Add sauce and cook until the cauliflower starts to look closer to being done. Add sliced white onions.
- When your cauliflower is done cooking and the sauce has been pretty much absorbed, turn off the heat and add the green onions. Stir to coat everything evenly.

Trader Joe's Frozen Fried Rice & Quinoa Mixes + Seitan Stirfry!

Wow. So making a flavorful side dish just became easier and guilt free too! Trader Joe's sells some amazing frozen grain mixes that are low in fat, calories, AND SODIUM! Gosh, I swear anything you buy prepackaged these days has like half your daily serving of sodium in 1 baby-sized portion! So these are a lifesaver. I always add extra stuff to them to make them full of both veggies and flavor.

First off, here is the Vegetable Fried Rice. 

I added about a cup of frozen veggies (A mix of peas, carrots, and corn) as well as some diced white and green onions. Fried it up in a a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Then added 2 tablespoons chili paste and 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce. I cooked it until you could hardly see any of the sauce left in the pan.

I had this rice with some leftover Teriyaki Tofu with Cornstarch Coating.

Tonight, I cooked up another grain mix, Quinoa Duo with Vegetable Melange. It kind of has a Middle Eastern flavor though it said "Product of France" on the bag so, I dunno.

I cooked this in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Added a big handful of chopped kale, half a can of garbanzos, a big handful of julienned carrots, and a spoonful of chili paste.

And, since I made a batch of my Crock-Pot Seitan over the weekend, I decided to make a stirfry to go along with the Quinoa.

I sliced up maybe 3 cups of seitan and fried it up in a few tablespoons of olive oil until it started to turn golden. Then I added some broccoli to the pan. Then I added some eggplant a few minutes later along with about 1/2 cup of Trader Joe's Soyaki Sauce (Soy Vay brand tastes the same too) and 1/4 cup mirin. I cooked everything until most of the liquid was absorbed.