Month: August 2004

I love Soyrizo and so do a lot of people. Almost Vegan gets found by people searching for Soyrizo 3-5 times a week.

Another of my fave quick meals is Soyrizo veggies over yellow rice. I used zucchini and yellow squash that I bought from my neighbor’s little farm down the street. He sells his wares out of an old camper parked on his front lawn a few yards back from the main road.

His tomatoes are the best, huge and very red.

You can use any combo of vegetables, but I didn’t toss in the tomatoes. (Recipe in pic – 3 zucchini, 3 yellow squash, 1 onion, 1 green pepper) Saute the veggies in a generous amount of olive oil and then squeeze in the desired amount of Soyrizo when the vegetables are just about done. The Soyrizo only takes a minute or two on high heat.

I sauteed a huge pan of vegetables and only used 1/4 – 1/3 package of Soyrizo. I could have used up to 1/2 package, but I was sharing with folks who do not like spicy food.

I just made this pudding and it is in the refrigerator right now thickening up. I have not had pudding for the 5 years I have been vegan, and probably a lot longer than that.

This Oetker, Simple Organics Cooked pudding and Pie Filling Mix, Mocha flavor, I found at my health food store.

The reason I thought to have some pudding was because I saw a package screaming “Soy Pudding” on the shelf. Well, I read the ingredients on this extremely expensive Soy Pudding and then picked up the Simple Organics and saw basically the same stuff in it for half the price.

The only difference was the Soy Pudding called for soy milk in the directions. So I bought the simple organics pudding, decided to make it with soy milk and felt kinda clever. Oh, one more difference – Mocha flavor. It is tasty!

Soy Boy Ravioli is amazing. I have fed it to die-hard carnivores and they love it. It’s just darn tasty.

The company who makes it, Northern Soy, Inc., is incredibly low key. I “hear” (rumors on the internet) that they make different kinds of ravioli — tomato with roasted red pepper filling, and spinach pasta with tofu-based garden herb filling — but I have not seen them in my health food store, only this “original” ravioli so my suspicion grows.

They would be great with pesto sauce and are also excellent with tomato Sauce. If you want to be really decadent, after you’ve boiled them, toss them in a pan with some vegan butter plus a little garlic and fry them a bit. Then sprinkle with vegan Parmesan.

***UPDATE — I found the ravioli Verde on the – Soy Boy Website.

The funny thing is these guys can afford to be eccentric cause they make kill vegan ravioli, and that is no easy feat.
These are a must find/try! –> Good health food stores.

Thank God for Amy’s. I just had a pack of company at my house. I cooked and cooked and I am beat. So luckily I have a bunch of Amy’s burritos on hand and I am not going to cook for days!

These Bean & Rice Burritos are great and so are the Black Bean and Vegetable, and the Breakfast Burritos, all vegan. Amy’s tries so hard to be helpful, from their very tasty frozen food to the totally informative Amy’s website.

All the products (vegetarian and vegan) have these little icons on them so you don’t even have to read the ingredients. If you want to read them, they provide a very clear and informative pop-up window providing nutritional information and ingredients for every one of their products.

At my family’s summer events they like to barbecue so I decided to join them in a hot dog. I would seem very all American eating a hot dog with them, not “weirdo vegan” as they usually see me.

So I tried these Tofu Pups, quickly slipping them out of the package and passing them to the cook to grill for me –> Yuck!

Then I noticed these Smart Dogs and thought that the “Smart” meant they had figured out how to simulate a hot dog –> Blaaagh!

I hope I am missing something and am not just incredibly hot dog picky because I am originally from Chicago. I like other vegan “meat” products. Now, I am on the lookout for a good vegan hot dog. (Not one with eggs in them!)

If anybody knows of a good vegan hot dog, please tell me.

Sorry about this entry Lightlife, I do like many of your other products. (Steak/Chick’n strips are great)

I had this Zatarain’s Black Beans and Rice for the first time last night. Yum!

Boy is this good, and it is vegan. Zatarain’s Red Beans and Rice is vegan too, and I bet it is just as tasty. You can buy it right from the Zatarain’s website if you can’t find it at your local grocery store.

They have a number of tasty looking products, but unfortunately no ingredient lists on their website.

But you can legally jazz up your vegan dinner tonight with their black/red beans and rice mixes. Thanks Zatarain’s!

*Note

A comment from another vegan, Carmen, suggests adding fresh or frozen veggies to the mix to make a meal. She said she loves the Black-Eyed Peas & Rice Mix so I assume that one is vegan too, but read the box to make sure.

I just went to another market today and found a few more Zatarain’s rice dishes so I can assure you that the Jambalaya Mix, Dirty Rice Mix, and Spanish Rice Mix are all vegan.

*Unfortunately the Long Grain & Wild Rice, Rice Pilaf, and French Market Vegetables & Rice Mix have chicken in them.

[UPDATE 2023] – I cannot find Soymage Vegan Parmesan Alternative any more. There are number of alternatives to it now. This Go Veggie Foods brand seems popular.

——- original post ——-

Well, I am still eating spinach pesto sauce, but it is not as good the second day so I would suggest making just about as much as you need.

This Soymage Vegan Parmesan Alternative [no longer available] is the secret to completely vegan pesto sauce. There is an almost vegan Parmesan cheese I like and I will put it on the blog as soon as I go to the store (about 45 miles from me) that carries it and pick some up.

But in the meantime, make yourself some spinach pesto if you have some basil, spinach, olive oil, vegan Parmesan, garlic, a blender, food processor, or a mortar and pestle for you purists out there.

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I really like pasta, and tonight I had pasta that was a little different — gnocchi.

I spotted this package of multi-colored gnocchi, (which means multi-flavored: plain, spinach and tomato) at an upscale supermarket not far from my health food store.

Gnocchi is naturally vegan. I served it with a vegan spinach pesto sauce. I got a bit of basil at a farmer’s market today, but not enough to make straight pesto so I made spinach pesto instead, because I did have a lot of fresh spinach.

 
The pesto turned out good. I’ll post the vegan spinach pesto recipe tomorrow seeing as I made so much that I will be eating it for days.

Thai Kitchen has a most beautiful website, and I love their instant rice noodle soup.

They make a number of different vegan products. I am very intrigued with the thought of their coconut milk for use in recipes, so I’ll look for some next time I go to my local health food store. Even though they do sell their wares on their website, it was quite a bit more expensive there — $3.50 for 4 packets of soup and I bought one elsewhere for 55 cents.

My favorite soup is Bangkok Curry, nice and spicy. They also have Garlic & Vegetable, Thai Ginger, Spring Onion, and Lemongrass & Chili.

These single packs of soup are great for a lite lunch or a snack. Completely vegan because they use coconut milk instead of cow’s.

I love these MI-Del Chocolate Snaps. They are a quick, small, taste treat and not anywhere near as loaded with calories as The Best Cookies in the Galaxy.

At 130 calories for 5 cookies and only 45 calories from fat they are a lot less decadent, but do the trick when you are looking for something vegan, sweet and crunchy.

Find these Chocolate Snaps, and they also make Lemon Snaps, Ginger Snaps, Vanilla Snaps, at good health food stores.