Vegan Must Have Products, Brands, Staples, etc.

Posted by LD in Confessions and Rants of the Vegan Persuasion, Shopping Vegan, Traveling Vegan and tagged with American Flatbread COmpany, Amy's, beyond meat, chao, Colgin Liquid Smoke, costco, daiya, Dr. McDougall, earth balance, Explore Asian, field roast, FoMu, gardein, go veggie!, Hampton Creek, Just mayo, kirkland, Pacific Foods, pantry staples, Rao's, So delicious, Tofurkey, tofutti, vegan products, Vegg, Victoria, Whole Foods October 22, 2015

I have done this in the past where I have listed some staple items that I use but today a friend from elementary school said she was struggling with being vegan and had turned to salad so I wanted to make up a list for her of things in my fridge/pantry that I think are definite “go to’s” for me in a house with omnivore husband, 14 year old, 10 year old, and a vegan baby. So here it goes my updated list:

List of Vegan Products Everyone Should Have in their Fridge or Pantry or Try:

The Obvious fruits, veggies, pasta, and grains always on hand. I keep a lot of different types of grains and mix them together in the steamer (brown rice, couscous, quinoa, amaranth, etc)
Beyond Meat Chicken (http://beyondmeat.com/)
Beyond Meat burgers (always add standard topping before trying likes cheese ketchup mustard lettuce tomato, otherwise the taste is a little off, never expect a perfect meaty burger, its not meat and doesn’t have blood in it)
Beyond Meat Fiesty Crumbles (taco meat)
Beyond Meat Beefy Crumbles (for pasta sauce or lasagna)
Bulger Wheat (this is perfect to put in chili or pasta sauce for a meaty texture and will take on the flavor of the sauce)
Colgin Liquid Smoke (it’s a small bottle of liquid but gives a meaty smoky flavor with just a few drops to Seitan)
Seitan (I use various kinds but will not eat it without liquid smoke and maple syrup, this gives the taste of a ham flavor)
Gardein Fishless Filets (Literally identical to those Gordon’s battered fish filets) (http://www.gardein.com )
Gardein Chicken Strips 7 grain (perfect with honey or Beefree Honee)
Gardein Chicken Sliders (easy to microwave and taste the same)
Gardein Chickenless Patties or Whole Foods 365 Chickenless patties
Whole Foods 365 Chickenless Nuggets
Gardein brand everything is also available at Yardhouse and you should def try it.
Chao Cheese in any flavor is great, I use creamy for grilled cheese
Earth Balance Butter Products
Hazelnut Milk for cereal (I use Pacific Foods)
Soy milk for cooking creamy Sauces
Daiya Cheeses for cooking, do not eat anything except the block Havarti and Gouda raw, they don’t taste right.
Firm Tofu and Chickpeas mashed together with seasoning (garlic etc) makes a great ricotta for lasagna or you can buy Tofutti brand
Tofutti or Daiya Cream Cheese or Sour Creams ( http://www.tofutti.com/ )
Tofutti American slices for sandwiches and grilled cheese
American Flatbread Company Vegan Harvest Pizza is great (www.americanflatbread.com )
Go Veggie! Vegan Parmesan (small purple container, is the only kind I will use none are even close to this)
Amy’s brand meals frozen
Dr. McDougall’s dry soups, Asian noodle containers, and oatmeals
Vega Protein Powders
Orgain Vegan Protein Nutritional Shakes
Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie mix with one can of pumpkin makes brownies, same with cake mixes just check for milk
Kirkland (Costco) semi sweet chocolate chips are vegan
Earth Balance Puffs are like Pirate’s booty, they also have cheese popcorn like Smartfood
Look on PETA for “accidentally vegan products” as well
Just Mayo is amazing. I really love the knew chipotle and siracha flavors and put it on vegan fish tacos with the gardein fish like a chipotle sauce would go on)
Vegan Pesto is sold at Whole Foods in the section with olives and mozzarella and I can’t remember the brand but it is a black container with a brown natural wrap and a heart on it, it has regular pesto too and other sauces.
Victoria Brand Vegan Cream Sauces and Marinara
Rao’s marinara
Whole Foods Premade Pizza Dough
FoMu Ice Creams (based in Allston but sell at some Whole Foods)
Cashew Cream Sauces
Pacific Foods Cashew Based Soups or any soups that are vegan are good
Earth Balance Boxed Mac n Cheese is amazing just like Kraft
Look at veganessentials.com for help too, I love them, shipping is expensive but they have everything first. Otherwise my go to for specialty stuff is Whole Foods but I can get a lot at Market Basket, Stop and Shop, Shaws, etc.
So Delicious Brand Ice Creams, milks, etc.
I also eat that pudding with the Panda on it by Zen products. Chocolate only, vanilla had a weird chemical smell I didn’t like and separated after a few days.
I also like the Tofurkey Beer Brats they are amazing and I will also grab the sliced sandwich meats if they have cheese and such on the sandwich too.
I do Field Roast for the holidays with the pastry wrap and stuffing with cranberries and such inside.
Vegg for cooking without eggs in pretty much every format except scrambled. It even smells like egg.
I also love the pasta products from Explore Asian. They have Black bean and soy and all are filled with extra protein but taste just like traditional pasta.

I think that is most. I just added some that I forgot too. Eat up! Food is love.

My Thanksgiving Dinner

Posted by LD in Confessions and Rants of the Vegan Persuasion, Holiday Recipes, Traveling Vegan and tagged with daiya, family, field roast, holidays, recipes, thank you, thanksgiving, Whole Foods December 2, 2013

I want to start this with a shout out to the staff at the Bedford MA Whole Foods. You guys saved the day on Thanksgiving. I had ordered a holiday vegan “turkey” en croute from Whole Foods at another location for my Thanksgiving. My mother was kind enough to pick it up while I was working only to find a goat cheese log in the bag as a substitute. First off anonymous grocery staff that so lovingly tried to put a sub in for the missing vegan meat, goat cheese is not vegan. Second, why didn’t you call? I know that sounds like a wounded ex-girlfriend but honestly this is a major holiday and I am always plugging Whole Foods since you are the vegan guru’s of the Northeast as well as I help out writing recipes locally. If you don’t have a product tell the person who ordered it. Don’t just toss in a cheese log and hope for the best. The Bedford Whole Foods got a call from me in a panic and not only gave me many options, they gave it to me for free because they felt bad about what had happened. All I can say is you are amazing. I tweeted how amazing you were that day but I wanted to write about it formally. It made my day and the next day it made my dinner.

The Field Roast en Croute was delicious. The instructions were easy to follow. I was in heaven and leftovers were easy to reheat with a little water added to the bottom of the bowl. I topped leftovers with a little Daiya Havarti and was in heaven!

I made the rest of the holiday meal vegan except the Turkey. Yes, I cooked a turkey. It was from Whole Foods and organic and local and all that jazz. I did feel bad but I am the only vegan and I try not to take things too far. My husband eats mostly vegan these days and my mother is vegan or at least vegetarian until dinner time so I feel like I have made such a huge impact that one day a year I will make them something non-vegan on a table that is completely vegan otherwise. They appreciate the effort and I appreciate their effort all year long.

All I can say is that the vegetables with olive oil, salt, pepper, and drizzled with maple syrup were my favorite but the potatoes au gratin were the show stopper for the rest of the group. They loved them and I mean LOVED them. I got more compliments than I could’ve imagined. Especially seeing as only my dad and I ate them last year. I kinda regretted it because I love them and had only a tiny portion left over.

Dessert was also an amazing success with vegan chocolate chip cookies, cranberry upside down cake, apple caramel pie, and a vegan pumpkin pie my mother bought at Whole Foods in Boston.

All in all it was a great success and I cannot thank my friends in Bedford enough. So from my Family to yours. Thank you and Happy Holidays!

(From the left going clockwise: Isaiah my husband’s closest friend, his children, his wife Kristin, my husband in orange in teh center, my father, moth, Aunt’s boyfriend Tim, and finally my Aunt.)

Food is Love.

The Hippie Gypsy

(I’m on the far right, My mom is the center, aunt behind, and sister in law on the far left. Her son my nephew Nolan is the beautiful baby! I even named a dish after him!)

My Vegan and Omnivore Family Thanksgiving Menu

Posted by LD in Holiday Recipes, Menus and tagged with apinach artichoke dip, apple, Au Gratin, beet, cake, carrots, casserole, cheese, chocolate, cookies, cranberry, dessert, Easy, Fast, field roast, food allergies, gravy, holiday, how to cook for thanksgiving with a vegan, macaroni, maple, martha stewart, mashed potatoes, meatless mondays, mushroom, Party, pears, Pie, Potatoes, potluck, prosciutto, pumpkin, quick, recipe, roasted veggies, salad, scalloped potatoes, spinach dip, squash, stuffed mushrooms, stuffing, thanksgiving, thanksgiving menu, travel, turkey, Vegan, vegan and omnivore holiday, vegan and regular thanksgiving, vegetarian, what to eat, what vegans eat November 19, 2013

I am going to officially post my Thanksgiving Day menu here for all to see. I know there will be questions and recipes wanted and over the next week I will try to post those too. I truly delight in the Holiday cooking I get to do. Making food for my family and friends is fun because not only do you get the joy of the cooking process but you get the joy of watching others feel happy and healthy and nourished and maybe a little stuffed on something you created. I also find it amazing how we extract things from the earth to make our bodies fuel. One would say if something is on the ground not to eat it but Thanksgiving is the holiday of root vegetables. Of course they get a heavy rinsing but its kind of a strange concept how we shun some things afoot but not others if prepared properly.

I know there will be confusion as some of these items are not vegan but I do have an all omnivore family so I pepper in a few items that are not vegan (*denoted with an asterisk* ). Prosciutto Pear Cups are not vegan. They are a Martha Stewart recipe that I used to make pre-vegan and my family still asks for and I make in mini muffin pans chopping the pears into tiny pieces and tossing with shreds of fresh Parmesan. The cheese will be a mix of vegan and vegetarian. I eat honey but I know many vegans do not so I denoted it with an asterisk (and you can always use agave!). The turkey and gravy is not vegan (obviously) but there is a mushroom alternative and my own vegan Field Roast Turkey. Everything else is vegan. The potato au gratin is one of my favorite things to make and the cranberry upside down cake has become a requested staple from my husband and was of my late grandmother. Enjoy!

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MY THANKSGIVING MENU
“In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert

Appetizers:

Stuffed Mushrooms with Sundried Tomato Béchamel

Prosciutto Pear Cups with Parmesan Cheese Garnish*

Spinach Artichoke Dip in Bread Bowl with Carrot Sticks

Crackers (vegan)/Cheese Tray*

Sliced Bosc Pears

Honey to Drizzle Cheese and Pears*

Assorted Nuts