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Showing posts from August, 2012

Budget Friendly Vegan

Whenever I search vegan or vegetarian recipes on the internets they always seem to have several major flaws. The biggest being they are always so complicated. With tons of ingredients and lots and lots of steps to prepare them. We're vegans, but we stil have jobs and lives. They also would be very expensives. All those ingredients cost money. Fresh produce especially can be quite pricey. I'm all for using local, fresh fruits and veggies, but we don't have to use all of them in a single dish. I belive you'll find that my recipes are just as delicious as those complex ones with way less steps involved. And that mine are also much more budget friendly. If you're a wealthy vegan, good for you. But if you're like most Americans, you want cost effective. That's what I try to do with my cooking and with sharing it here. Offer easy to cook and inexpensive to make vegan recipes that taste just as good as (maybe even better) than all those fancy ones. Try some out

Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese

This weekend I made vegan spaghetti bolognese. The key to this was making the faux meat. The pasta came from a box and the sauce from a jar. But the vegan ground beef was totally homemade. I'm a fan of premade fake meat products. They are convenient and tasty. But it's never a bad idea to know how to prepare your own. It's also great if you don't want it to contain soy or just need a cheaper alternative. Like real meat, faux meat can get pretty pricey. But this version is as economical as it is scrumptious. Ingredients 1 can black beans thoroughly rinsed 1/2 cup cooked pearl barley 6 cloves minced garlic 1/3 cup frozen corn nibblets 3 tbls nutritional yeast 3-4 tbls corn meal 3 tlbs ketchup 3 tsps soy sauce 1 tbl peanut butter 1 tbl white vinegar 1 tsp olive and more for cooking chili powder, onion powder, black pepper, paprika, thyme, garlic powder Cook the barley in water until tender. When the barley is done add frozen corn to the hot pot. Stir and le

Saving the Ants

I had an encounter with a carpenter ant today. It was sitting on my window sill chilling. I didn't think ants ever chilled. They always seem to be busy and in quite a hurry. Maybe this particular ant has somehow discovered tiny ant sized drugs. I dunno what it was doing. Not much actually. Just sitting there. Big and carpentry looking dangerously close to the bed where I sleep. It's not so bad saving moths and even spiders. Provided they're not too big. I have a plastic cup I use. And a wide slip of paper for the bottom. It's all pretty simple and painless for all parties involved. Except most bugs are mellow and they don't really mind. They kinda go with the flow. Whereas ants tend to freak out and get really angry and hysterical. Kinda like small versions of my mother if she had her skeleton on the outside. She doesn't. Carpenter ants are big and intimidating. Making them angry only exacerbates things. Still I managed to outsmart the insect. Just barely.

Galaxy Foods Vegan Cheddar Cheese

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I tried vegan cheese for the very first time today. I was cautiously optimistic. I'd read about the poor melting qualities of vegan cheese in general, but wasn't personally in it for the melt. I was looking for a some flavor, some moisture and the texture of unmelted cheese. There weren't a lot of choices. In fact, there was just one. Galaxy Foods Vegan Cheddar flavor slices. But heck, cheddar is (or rather was) my favorite cheese, so lucky me. Didn't really expect actual cheese flavor, just something similar or reminiscent of it. The texture was pretty much spot on for cheddar. Based the package styling being similar, I was expecting more of an american cheese food singles texture. But it was more like cheddar than I had anticipated. That sort of firm, moist, yet slightly crumbly feel. Very accurate in that respect. It did also add some much needed moisture to my sandwich. Vegan chili with rice on a kaiser roll. The slice of vegan cheese was just what the sandwich ne

Texturally Delicious

People often overlook the importance of texture in the foods we eat. If you haven't been to culinary school or are not otherwise obsessed with watching the food network, you may not realize just how critical texture is to the quality of a dish. Crispy lettuce and crunchy onions take a simple bean sandwich into the stratosphere. Panko breadcrumbs or faux bacon bits bring a soft pasta salad to life in your mouth. Fresh juicy apples elevate peanut butter to glorious new heights. Some nicely toasted wheat bread can be the difference between a so so lunch and a great one. The tart and garlicky snap of some pickles might be just the thing your bean salad's been missing. The wonderful way roasted potatoes have a crispy skin that melts into a buttery interior. Orgasmic. The chewy outside on a bagel that leads to the soft and flaky core. Genius. Flavor is of great importance. Especially when eating vegan or vegetarian. Psychologically, a limited or restricted diet demand

Vegan Dining Out

It's nearly impossible to eat out when you adhere to a vegan diet. Everything in restaurants has meat or fish in it. In chains everything is smothered in cheese. Because cheese can make mediocre food taste good. And that's basically what most chain restaurants base their business model on. The restaurant industry really doesn't make much effort at all. Regardless of whether or not you choose to consume this meat or that meat or dairy or eggs, the restaurant industry has failed us all. They're just lazy profit mongers out to make a quick buck at our expense. That's my opinion anyway. Even when I ate hamburgers and chicken and the like, I was never thrilled with what the food service world had to offer. Overpriced, oily, unhealthy and salty concoctions that barely scrape the edge of edible. With the exception of a few very places, it all pretty much sucked. I'm no fan of Ruby Tuesday either, but I have to admit they do have some good vegan options. I took my m