Almost Vegan

Jodee, an Almost Vegan reader who was kind enough to email me, gave me this tip. She wrote me this in an email first:

“I know the feeling of wanting something you never cared about before you couldn’t have it – isn’t that funny?
I am an avid label reader – so if I’m standing next to something at the market you can bet I”ll read the label – DOLE lime gel cups with pineapple in teeny-tiny letters at the bottom of the package says – no animal products!”

Then Jodee did her homework and followed up by sending me an email she received from Dole themselves.
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Dear Jodee,
We appreciate your interest in Dole Food Company. We’re glad to provide the information you requested and hope it is useful.
DOLE Fruit-N-Gel Bowls do not contain any animal sourced ingredrients. The gel is derived from plant. The gel is made of Carrageenan and Locust Bean Gum. The two main ingredients that form the gel in this product are carrageenan (derived from red kelp) and locust bean gum (from the locust tree seed). These polysaccharides are like starch and they form a gel when combined with water. No gelatin is used in our gels and they are free from animal-sourced ingredients.
Try our other flavors:
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Lime Gel w/Pineapple
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Orange Gel w/Mandarin Oranges
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Strawberry Gel w/Peaches
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Reduced Sugar Pears in Kiwi-Berry Gel
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Mixed Fruit in Black Cherry Gel.
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Thanks so much for the gel(lo), Jodee.

Look at this – Soy Boy’s New Website!
It is really nice with shots of the actual people making the food and great quotes like: “Traditional tofu masters have a saying that there are two things they will not show another person: how to make babies and how to make tofu.” – The Book of Tofu
I learned of their new site, because a very nice man in their company emailed me today. He happened upon my Almost Vegan review of their Soy Boy ravioli and here is his review of my review:
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Hello Denise,
I just stumbled across your review of our tofu ravioli and was thrilled to read it. We don’t think you could have put it any better. I printed it out and have it hanging in our break room so everyone here can see it. That kind of positive feedback really means a lot to us. I also wanted to let you know that we do have two other varieties of ravioli and several other products that you can see at www.soyboy.com, now that the site is up. Thanks for the support!
Kind regards,
Tim
Northern Soy, Inc.
345 Paul Road
Rochester, NY 14624
Tel: (585)235-8970
Fax: (585)235-3753
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Boca Ground Burger is not bad and it is completely vegan, unlike other Boca products. (read the box!)

I gave it a lot of help though, browning it with onion and green pepper in olive oil and giving it a dash of spike. I made soft tacos with the mixture and seasoned rice with soy cheese on top.
Very tasty dinner.

Okay, I know, I know…Wal-Mart is evil, but, but, they got Silk Soy Yogurt! I was so excited. They must have just started carrying it.
Now, if I don’t buy the soy yogurt at Wal-Mart (yeeha!), I have to drive 45 miles and pay $1.08 at my health food store. On the other hand, Wal-Mart is 12 miles away and they sell the Silk Soy Yogurt for 89 cents. Believe me, I looked more than 5 times just to make sure.
Now I know Wal-Mart must be getting their Silk Soy Yogurt from prison labor camps in China, but I don’t care.

I love to munch. (I little too much actually)
Luckily, as a vegan there are plenty of things to munch on.
One of my favorites, especially with guests, is crackers and cheese. These California Pantry Gourmet Sesame Water Crackers are great. Extremely simple water crackers with a nice sesame flavor.
Try them with Havarti and Dill, Blue Moon Soy cheese. Their Gouda is really good too.

It’s actually tofu with some mushrooms, green onions, and spinach. Really yummy. Also a very good source of precious protein, which we vegans need badly. I’ve been vegan a long time and I feel the lack of protein in my body. Tofu helps.
A great thing to do with these “eggs” is toss a tortilla in that hot pan, cook a minute, turn it over. Place a heap of those “eggs” on it, then a generous amount of Feta Crumbles (see previous post) and make a fantastic breakfast quesadilla.
Serve with guacamole and chow.

First I found Blue Moon Feta Soy Cheese, and that is really wonderful. Now, I happened upon Del Sunshine Feta Crumbles. I love Blue Moon soy cheese, it is definitely gourmet.
But I must admit, Del Sunshine Feta is great for the mass amount they give you, for a most reasonable price. My 1lb bag was only $2.63, a steal!
And for that amount of money it is great feta soy cheese. I have so much of it, I am using it on everything. Pasta salad, scrambled “eggs” (mashed tofu, of course) I even made a really mean quesadilla with it the other night.
It’s almost vegan = contains casein (milk derivative)

But look at these Prime Pastries Croissants, real croissants, and there are no dairy ingredients listed. Now there is a disclaimer on the back of the bag: MAY CONTAIN TRACE AMOUNTS OF MILK INGREDIENTS. But I was so curious as to how they tasted, I was willing to take that risk. (I’m almost vegan for God’s sake)
They are really tasty.
Am I bad, you think…?

An Almost Vegan reader sent me this email today, which I very much appreciate. He is a programmer and IT guy, I could tell this by his website which I found at the end of his email address –> Joey’s Site.
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Hey there, don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Dixie Diner’s Club or not but check it out: http://www.dixiediner.com

I found it when looking for some vegetarian sloppy joe mix(and found vegan!). I haven’t had much from there, but the chicken nuggets aren’t bad, and the sloppy joe mix can’t be beat!

A note for the chicken nuggets though, get some barbecue sauce from the store, don’t use the dip that comes with it.
Thought I’d let you know! Love the site by the way!
–Joey

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Thanks so much, Joey.

The Original Boca Burgers are vegan, and not a bad tasting burger.

You have to be careful with Boca and Morning Farms especially. I always want to eat their stuff, but much of Boca has cheese in it and almost all of Morning Farms has egg inside.
Boca’s stuff is fairly well marked.
I was out to lunch with a client that would not really get or (I think) appreciate vegan. (nice guy though) He took me to Bennigans and I was so happy to see a Boca Burger on the menu I jumped at it.
It was really, really good. Very thick and juicy. Now maybe Bennigans just cooks them extremely well or…maybe they serve the Boca Burgers with cheese in them.
I realized they have 2 different kinds later and I don’t have the heart to call up Bennigans and ask. Oh well, no big deal either way, but I really wanted that burger to be vegan.