Vegan Fig Bars

I happened upon this particular (obscure) brand of fig bars at my local grocery store. Maybe it was the name, but I glanced at the ingredients.
Zion Fig Bars
Yep, you guessed it, completely vegan and they are so good. Even without the eggs and milk the cake is soft and the inside is of course chewy. It said on the box: From the makers of Matt’s. Matt’s? Never head of it.
These might be a local offering, they are made in Chicago, but I think there are other brands of fig bars that are vegan so check the ingredients on the brands you find. You might get a nice surprise.

It’s Apple Season in These Parts!

And that means apple cider, apple butter, apple cider doughnuts (unfortunately not vegan), and of course apple pie.
Crane's
This is a restaurant and pie pantry that is not too far from me called Crane’s, in Fennville, MI. If you are ever in the neighborhood…
Crane's Turn-InOutside Crane's

The restaurant and pie pantry is located at Crane’s Orchards. They grow apples, peaches, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and corn. The pies, cider, preserves, butters, cobblers, etc. are all made with the fruit grown right outside.
Crane's Entrance
Betty

You know all those cheesy theme restaurants that have the fake memorabilia all over the walls? Well this place may have originated that, this stuff is real. I especially like Betty, the stuffed dog. The sign around her neck reads: “Dog’s name is Betty, 1930 – 1937, She lived in Chicago.
Apple Butter & Applebutter Bread

What’s new and hot at Crane’s the last couple of years is their corn maze, they are open nights now till Halloween. A must go.
Unfortunately you cannot order cider online (I don’t know why) but you can order pies, (frozen uncooked) they told me their crust is pure shortening, but I have a hard time trusting these people in regards to vegan. BUT, the apple butter and the preserves are vegan and boy are they good. They come in 2 different “Orchard Crates” 3-11oz.jars (you choose what’s in ’em) and 2-16oz. mugs, they are pretty cool mugs.
Peruse the Crane’s website to order some really great food or just check out where I got these pictures, it’s a hoot!

Good Vegan Meatballs

Yves, The Good Meatballs Yves, The Good Meatballs are good [don’t think they make these anymore, but they make a number of products], but I have had a lot of good vegan meatballs. It must be the way I am able to cook meatballs after I take them out of the bag, or package in this case.

These I fried in a little lite olive oil with onions, portabella mushrooms – which added a lot to the flavor and the ultimate gravy, and vegetarian soup stock. Then after they cooked for a while, I tossed in garlic, dried basil, and a splash of balsamic vinegar – yeow, secret ingredient, just use a little.

After everything was brown, I spooned in just a half 4oz. can of the most basic tomato sauce and added water, probably more water than the sauce until the gravy was liquid, but not watery.

I let it barely simmer on very low while I waited for my pasta to al dente and then chowed!

The gravy was brown, and had such an interesting tang to it because of the balsamic vinegar. The vegan meatballs are like little sponges in the way they drink up flavors so they were incredibly tasty.

I sprinkled some “almost vegan” cheese – Veggie Shreds Mozzarella (has casein in it) over the top because the brown gravy didn’t seem to fit with parmesan, but could have.

Vegan Menu?

I received a comment on my Panera Bread post (which gets as much traffic as any post) from someone who wanted to find a vegan menu to help out his sister.

I was touched, and I thought this might help.

veg starter kit

UPDATE [2023] That old link is bad, but now Click Here to see a nice article (FREE) on the VegNews site: How to Go Vegan: A Beginner’s Guide to Eating Plant-Based. I have no affiliation with VegNews.

You can also order a free Vegan Starter Kit from PETA if you are so inclined.

Smart Deli Bologna

When I was young, my dad used to make us fried bologna sandwiches. They were really greasy and great and it was fun to see my dad cook.

Smart Deli, Old World Bologna Style

This bologna reminded me of that, but when I made a fried sandwich out of it, it just didn’t do it for me.

So the other night I cut a wad of it into strips and tossed them, some cauliflower, onions, frozen hash browns and chopped fresh spinach into a pan with a bit of olive oil and made a very interesting meal. I seasoned it with red pepper flakes and parsley and it was really good. Just a suggestion.

5 different kinds of Smart Deli including the Bologna – Roast Turkey Style, Country Ham Style, Three Peppercorn Pastrami Style, Pepperoni Slices (which I have used on pizza and are good, and I don’t even like pepperoni). Vegan.

Rice Dream Bars

I picked up a Rice Dream, Vanilla Nutty Bar the other day while I was out and felt like a kid again.

rice dream

Rice Dream, [no longer made] “Ice Cream” Bars are completely vegan, but they have a warning on them that some of the ingredients (the chocolate) are made in facilities that make milk products. Very small possibility of contamination. They take their vegan very seriously at Rice Dream.

Parve

There seems to be a lot of different thoughts on what parve is.

parve

My Falafel entry, where I mentioned that when I saw parve on a box of kosher food I was confident that what was in the box was vegan, has gotten a few clarifying comments.

Carmen gave me the definition of kosher.

I received correct clarification of parve from sb, who left an interesting link [no longer works] to a page that very clearly defines parve. I have also read the same info on a page from vegsource.com [no longer there] can kosher mean vegan?

Jon’s comment was correct that fish and eggs are in foods marked parve, by all accounts, but I think is incorrect including “Jello-brand gelatin (comes from slaughtered animals)” and “Mono and diglicyrides that are from animals”.

I don’t believe either one of these things would be in a product marked parve.

Gardenburger Meals

Gardenburger has done it again!

New Gardenburger Meals, Meatless Southwestern Chicken with Vegetables

New Gardenburger Meals are really tasty. I love quick and these are very quick and very easy to make. Microwave in 5 minutes, I added a little sprinkling of Veggie Shreds to this particular one: Southwestern *Chicken* with Vegetables, just like it showed on the package, but there is no cheese in there really.

There are 6 new Gardenburger Meals, 3 are vegan including Citrus *Chicken* with Green Beans & Rice and *Meatloaf* with Broccoli and Red Peppers.

Partially Hydrogenated – Retraction

Carrot Earrings

I received a comment (very nicely put) from Mike Warner, who wanted to break through the denial I have been immersed in since I found Shedd’s Willow Run Soybean Margarine. Now, Mike didn’t know what he was doing, but his comment was the last straw. Wild Oats’ decision [to not use hydrogenated oils] was an earlier one.

Don’t think I am going to stop eating, baking or cooking with Willow Run, but I am going to monitor my intake, okay? I know that hydrogenated oils are bad, I actually know from experience…do you think I was kidding about the extra weight? When did it start? When I found Willow Run? Maybe…#@$%!!!

Incidentally, Mike creates jewelry and these carrot earrings are in his vegan jewelry collection.

Thanks for the wake up call, Mike.