Almost Vegan

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.

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.

Green Guru is great.

They make some of the best exotic vegetarian foods and I love them because they write whether or not that particular dish is vegan right on the front of the box along with its spice level.

I had Dal Rajastani tonight as a main course over rice. Yum.

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

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.

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

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 has done it again!

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.

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.

Quesadilla, Mexican style soft white cheese alternative made with soy is good stuff. Very good.

I especially like the texture. It crumbles just like the white Mexican cheese I remember. It tastes very much like cheese and there is a reason for that. Not only does this cheese have casein in it, it also has: *Natural & cultured flavorings.

*Adds a dietary insignificant amount of Lactose. — Because they are adding actual cheese to it, or what one soy cheese manufacture called “super-ripened” cheese, in other words “natural & cultured flavors.” Now this manufacture (not of this brand) assured me that 1 oz. of super-ripened cheese would flavor almost 10 pounds of soy cheese, but I wonder.

If they are creating soy cheese out of about the same amount of real cheese, for me there is absolutely no point.

I’m doing this for the animals, not the cholesterol.

I tried the Tamari flavor last night in a saute of onions, green beans, carrots over pasta and it was quite good. What I like best about Tofu Tenders is the burst of protein I got from them.

They are by WhiteWave, the makers of Silk and come in 4 flavors including: Havana Black Bean, Mediterranean Tenders, and Sesame Ginger Teriyaki.

They are fully cooked, marinated, and ready in minutes just like the package says.

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UPDATE – These are not made anymore.

Here it is, just in time for fall!

My chili recipe. It is a very veggie, very simple (just chili powder to season) chili recipe that you can make in a half an hour and have around the house to eat for a few days of meals.

I like it a lot, hope you do too.

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Wow, are these good.

I shared my Herb Crusted Cutlets with a carnivore last night and got nothing but kudos. What a great main dish, crunchy, excellent seasonings, much better than I expected.

Nice dinner too, cauliflower, potatoes grown less than a mile away from my house, salad and the Gardenburger cutlet made it perfect.