Almost Vegan

This was my first Tofurky, and I just ate the last bite tonight!

At first, I didn’t think it was the best thing I had ever tasted for Thanksgiving dinner. I purposely stay away from recreating carnivore experiences because I think that is setting myself up for failure, and that may have been the problem. But the Tofurky grew on me… or maybe it was like any other Thanksgiving dinner: The leftovers are always better later or the next day or the day after that or the day after that.
I really enjoyed making a hot Tofurky open-faced sandwich, smothered in mushroom gravy on nice, toasted, fresh sourdough bread I bought the day after for just this type of thing.
Tonight it was especially tasty.

Here is a dish believed to have been served at the First Thanksgiving.
Stewed Pompion (Pumpkin)
4 to 6 servings
4 cups cooked pumpkin or squash, roughly mashed
3 tablespoons [butter]<–(Substitute vegan margarine)
2 to 3 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 or 2 teaspoons ground ginger
? teaspoon salt
In a saucepan over medium heat, stir and heat all the ingredients together. Adjust seasonings to taste, serve hot.
Whatever you eat, may you have a happy holiday!
Best wishes,
Denise

Believe it or not!

The worst thing about being vegan is when I find something like this… I was on the road at a gas station/mini mart, I happened to reached down and read the ingredients on this Little Debbie Apple Pie while the cashier did her thing and…wow. This pie is vegan. I’ll take it.
Now, when I was not vegan I wouldn’t have allowed someone to force feed me a Little Debbie, but I savored this pie and my new discovery.
God help me.

These are really, really great. They have a whole “dip’em, dunk’em, scoop’em” thing on the back of the box, so I pulled out some Tofutti, Better Than Cream Cheese. YUM!

It’s cold and I need a little comfort these days so out comes the Cream of Wheat. Maybe you think I’m nuts, but if you have never, or haven’t tried it since becoming vegan, get yourself some Cream of Wheat.
The trick is to toss in a handful of raisins just after you poured the cream of wheat into the boiling water. Then the raisins get all plump and juicy. I use water when making it and then pour nice cold soy milk over to eat. Yum…cozy.

I’ve been sick the last week or so, ever since the election. (no kidding) Just a cold.

So I’ve been eating a lot of soup. I love Amy’s, and I tried both the No Chicken Noodle, which I actually do not really recommend and last night had the Lentil, which I absolutely love.
I had it with some SoyMoon Havarti with Dill (soy cheese, but contains casein) on crackers. A great complement and I must say the Havarti was really good.

Bagels are a great vegan food, because (most) they are naturally vegan and they also make great crackers.

I’ve been looking for some crackers since my big soy cheese windfall and these New York Style Roasted Garlic Bagel Crisps worked, very garlicky though, so be warned.
New York Style also makes plain, and a type that are not vegan.
The crisps have been perfect while polishing off the rest of my SoyMoon Gouda Soy Cheese. Good balance together, the cheese tempers the garlic flavor.

Score!
Now I do this blog because I had a hard time figuring out what I could eat as an “almost vegan” (<– I eat casein) when I first started over 5 years ago. I do not do it for fame or fortune, but I got a bit of good fortune today. I happened upon SoyMoon Feta, soy cheese a few months ago and loved it so I put it on the blog and sent a note and a link to SoyMoon to thank them for their tasty feta cheese. (which I so missed as a vegan, actually almost vegan. *Note: SoyMoon soy cheese contains casein)

This is what I got from them today and a lot more, eat your hearts out! A very nice woman at SoyMoon loved Almost Vegan and wanted me to try the rest of their cheeses so she sent me samples of all of them!
I went to my local coffee house/bakery afterward and got a nice fresh epi and had the gouda and bread with fresh veggies: carrots, green onions, radishes, baby spinach and Italian dressing. Yum, yum, yum! And that’s just the first one of the samples…thank you Mary Kamm, Vice President, research and quality control.
Here’s the note that came with the cheese.
———————
Nov. 3rd, 2004
Dear Denise,
At long last, I am finally able to send you samples of all our SoyMoon soy cheeses. I was waiting on the new samples to make it through production and they have finally arrived.
Please let us know what you think of them. Everyone in our company loves your “Almost Vegan” concept…and I think your web site is a great idea. The vegetarian movement is only going to get stronger…thanks to people like you!
Sincerely,
Mary Kamm
——————-
I love this woman.

George Bush beats John Kerry? Animal crackers!

Yes, these old favorites, Nabisco Animal Crackers are vegan. I just ate a giraffe.

Here’s another surprise cookie treat from Nabisco. I read the package and these are totally vegan.

I find it hard to believe Nabisco is making these products to appeal to vegans. I think it’s a very hopeful sign: It must be becoming cheaper to mass produce food with vegan ingredients than with butter, eggs, or animal products.

Happy Halloween