Almost Vegan

The secret to really easy vegetable soup is Knorr’s Vegetable Soup, Dip and Recipe Mix.

Instead of creating your own stock, which is messy and takes much longer than I want to spend cooking. Just take two boxes of Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix, 8 cups water and whatever vegetables you have on hand. Cut up the veggies, toss them in the pot with the mix and water, bring it all to a boil. Turn down the heat, simmer for 10 minutes and you got some tasty vegetable soup.
I tossed in a can of garbanzo beans for extra protein. Yum.

I made this last night in just a few minutes (plus 1 hour for baking) and it was extremely tasty, if you can stand to peel the apples.

I go to a fruit stand/market near me called Ridgeway Market. It started as just a stand put up by a local farmer to sell his crop directly to the public and has progressed into a full fledged little market where they still sell their home grown fruit and vegetables. I got a half a bushel of apples and saw this box of Concord Foods Apple Crisp as I was checking out. For 99 cents I thought I’d try it and it was a great pie cop-out, concordfoods.com.
Really, really easy. Just sub vegan margarine for the butter and yum!

I have been really busy lately and so I have been resorting to fast food.

I really like BK Veggies and always feel so normal getting a “burger” and fries at Burger King. Just remember to tell them to leave off the mayo. I feel a little less normal after that, but @#%$ it. I don’t let the look on the person’s face who is giving me my food spoil it for me.
Stop Right There!!!
It has come to my attention that these BK Veggie Burgers are not vegan. An Almost Vegan commenter broke the sad news to me and gave me this link to prove it. Here’s the info contained in the link:
BK VEGGIE

A friend gave me a lot of tomatoes out of their organic garden at the end of the summer, and before they rotted I saw this packet of Concord Foods, Salsa Seasoning Mix.

Now you must be willing to chop onions and slice tomatoes, but it’s really worth it. It only takes about 5 minutes and you get a big bowl of very fresh salsa for a lot less than half the price if you bought it, and it’s great.

I tried freshly made hummus for the first time just a few years ago at my local, very cool at the time, coffee house. I had always had it store bought out of those tubs, which is good, but is not like fresh at all.

Bill, the great chef who used to work at my coffee house made it with fresh flat leaf parsley mixed in after you blend it up(or it turns green). It adds a really nice fresh touch.

Read more

Another tasty meal courtesy of Zatarain’s.

It says right on the Zatarain’s Dirty Rice Mix box – Add meat to make a complete meal. While I did not actually add meat, I did the next best thing. I added 1 package of Yves, The Good Ground (or whatever your vegan ground meat preference is), browned it a bit, followed the rest of the package directions and had myself some dirty rice. Jazzmatazz!

Of course A Taste of Thai, Peanut Sauce is vegan, (also creamy and delicious) you make it with coconut milk, I used lite.

I put this sauce over a nice cauliflower and peas mixture that I stir-fried with Thai Kitchen Rice Noodles, which were great and easy to make. The sauce was quite spicy in a very good way.

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.

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.

And that means apple cider, apple butter, apple cider doughnuts (unfortunately not vegan), and of course apple pie.

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…

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.

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.

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!

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.