Gardein

Now that my husband’s new job lets him be home for dinner more often, I thought I would try to at least sometimes offer more picky-omni-friendly fare, so I’m declaring Wednesdays, previously unaffiliated, to be Fake Meat Night.

This stuff can be expensive, so I was happy to pick up two packages of expiring Gardein Tuscan Breasts marked down.  I threw one pack in the freezer and baked the other tonight.  I was disappointed there were no recipes on the box, and the only recipe for this product at their web site was a fancy Tal Ronnen invention which was loaded with picky-unfriendly mushrooms, and even had pantry-unfriendly truffle oil, for pete’s sake.  It said on the package to just pair it with pasta or a salad, but I must admit that I was mystified.  This product was stumping me, and it took me longer than I’d like to say before I realized that I had forgotten how to center a meal around meat.  It has been 20 years!

Salad with Faux Feta, Linguine with Pesto, Tuscan Breast

I had been thinking of somehow incorporating the fake meat into a larger dish, like I would usually do for tofu or beans, but once I figured out that I needed to cook the old way, I did fine.  The breast came with a red sauce that was good; that’s what you see in the bottom right of the picture, and is about half a piece.   I cooked some whole wheat linguine and tossed it in the rest of that instant pesto I made and froze a while back.  I also heated up some of my regular pasta sauce for the picky who wanted to cover up the pesto taste.  And I made a salad with green leaf lettuce, spinach, cilantro, basil, and tomato, with Faux Feta on the side.

I thought the breast had a somewhat strange texture but was pretty good.  My vegan daughter didn’t like it but my vegetarian son and omni husband did.  A package has two separately-wrapped pieces; I baked both and sliced them before serving, and I felt that was enough for four of us, since my daughter and I didn’t have much.

Starbucks Removes Beetle-Based Coloring

According to The Onion, they’re switching to a tomato-based food coloring.

As one of their fake respondents replies:

It’s a shame they can’t just make a strawberry Frappuccino out of some kind of naturally red fruit.

 

Chili Mac

Chili Mac, Geen Beans, and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

My parents came for dinner and we had Chili Mac, Rosemary Roasted Sweet and Purple Potatoes, and microwaved green beans.

My son made dessert: Peanutty Blondies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.  Delicious.

Chickpea Cutlets

Mashed Potatoes, Squash, and Chickpea Cutlets

This isn’t the greatest photo, but it sure was pretty, that purple and orange, and really tasty, too.  My parents came for dinner and we had Chickpea Cutlets, Mashed Potatoes with purple potatoes (I boiled them whole so they would keep more color and antioxidants – seemed to work as the cooking water ended up almost clear), Hain’s instant brown gravy for those, butternut squash (didn’t bother with a mixer, just left it lumpy and didn’t add anything = fine), and Cajun Cauliflower.

Cajun Cauliflower

I make squash and cauliflower often when my parents come because, due to a medicine, my dad’s not supposed to have much vitamin K, which I guess most green veggies have.

We always have beer when my folks come.  Well, actually, I have one beer per day.  Since fall, I think, I’ve been drinking High Falls winter variety craft pack.  It’s local and terrific.  I just snagged the last box of the season from my local grocery, and their summer varieties don’t interest me, so it’s on to something new. You can find out which beers are vegan at Barnivore.

Dessert was Apple Cake with Boston Blend tea.

Stir Fry Ginger Noodles with Tofu

After getting home from our trip, I didn’t have time to go shopping  and dinner sneaked up on me, so in about 25 minutes with what was lurking in the house I made Stir Fry Ginger Noodles with Tofu.  Since my mycophobic husband was going to be partaking, I sauteed the mushrooms separately and put them in a bowl for the brave to add at the table.  I used red pepper and carrots as the veggies.  Noting that I had thought it was too thin last time, I omitted the broth, which worked fine.  I used whole wheat linguine for the noodles; not authentic, but tasty.  And I used Wildwood super-firm tofu; usually I pre-microwave tofu with soy sauce, but this stuff didn’t need it.  I really like that product.

This was it for dinner.

Veganniversary

Easter is my and my daughter’s anniversaries for going vegan: four years for me, two years for her.

We’re not Christian, but we’ve celebrated the last three Easters the way I began with my first deliberately vegan meal: Torta Pasquelina.  I had to make it away from home this year, but no worries.  I made the ricotta and parmesan ahead of time and froze the ricotta for the trip – came out fine.  After searching high and low for whole wheat phyllo, I was stuck with white flour phyllo again (Filo Factory), which I swore I’d never use after last year’s issues, but this year it worked out fine.  I even forgot to defrost it and just microwaved it on low for two minutes and let is sit out 20 minutes, no problem.  The sheets came apart easily.  Again I used my Misto oil sprayer with olive oil, which makes things fast and easy.  One other difference is that instead of following the directions to put the round top pieces on and then fold the sides on top, which I always thought looked kind of messy, though in a cool crinkly way, I folded the sides over first and then laid on the tops.  It looked much nicer, and I would do that again, even though the top piece was a bit loose and tended to come off while cutting.

It was a huge hit with my in-laws, and all agreed it was even better the next day as leftovers.

Other vegan items on the table were a terrific green salad my brother-in-law made, a pasta salad made simply with bowties, red peppers (can’t remember if they were cooked), and Italian dressing, mashed squash, cooked carrots, and twice-baked potatoes my MIL thoughtfully made with Earth Balance.

I made a Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake, too, substituting about half the oil with applesauce.  It was truly wonderful, is always the requested dessert, always gets rave reviews, and if you have not tried it you should.

My kids are getting a bit old for Easter baskets, but I put together a little bowl of candy for each of them: jelly beans, Ghirardelli dark chocolate squares, and Smarties.  I made some Coconut Chocolate Candy, too.  I liked them a lot; others tended to take just one and be done.

We also took a celebratory hike in the woods, and you will not be surprised to hear that the three vegans (me, daughter, and dog) vastly out-hiked the vegetarian (older son) and the omnivore (husband).  They wore out and we had to turn around.

Getting Ready to Go

My parents came for dinner and I made Egyptian Lentil Soup, Pita Bread, Roasted Green Beans, and microwaved broccoli with balsamic vinegar.  Dessert was Coconut Amaretto Cake.

Because we’re leaving tomorrow and spending Easter with out-of-town family, I prepared by making up a list of things to bring and prepare ahead of time.  I used to have a “buy” column but their grocery store’s prices are outrageous, 50% more than our terrific Wegman’s, so I avoid that if I possibly can.

Following my list, I went shopping and then I cooked up some chickpeas to take.  They are handy for mashing into a sandwich spread or dropping into a vegetable soup.  I also made Cashew Parmesan and Cashew Ricotta for the Torta Pasquelina I make for our Easter entree, and put the ricotta in the freezer.

Using Stuff Up

We’re getting ready to leave town for five days.  Soup is good for cleaning out the fridge, but we had that last night (Lentil), so tonight it’s Pasta Refrigeradore: I microwaved some broccoli, then sauteed some garlic, spinach, and the broccoli.  I added some Marinara and tossed it all with the whole wheat bowties.  Topped it at the table with Cashew Parmesan.

We also had some Nut Brown Ale Rolls and a salad with microwaved tofu and  Balsamic and Herb Vinaigrette.

Instant Pesto

My friend recommended Simply Organic Sweet Basil Pesto to me.  Unlike many of Simply Organic’s packet mixes, it’s vegan, and even though it calls for adding Parmesan cheese, she said it didn’t need it.

I liked it as well.  I made it in the microwave instead of the stovetop, stirring occasionally and watching the glass bowl closely so it would not boil over.  It probably doesn’t have the depth of flavor of freshly made pesto, but I thought it was pretty good, and certainly easy. The ingredients are reasonable: basil, potato starch, maltodextrin, sea salt, garlic, citrci acid, black pepper, silicon dioxide (everything organic).

I used some as Pizza sauce and froze the rest.

Indian Lentils with Sweet Potatoes

Lemon Poppy Cake

My parents came for dinner and I made Indian Lentils with Sweet Potatoes, brown Basmati rice, Pita Bread, Roasted Green Beans, and Cajun Cauliflower.

Dessert was Lemon Poppy Seed Cake.