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Trader Joe’s Mochi Ice Cream Show Down

May 23, 2019

Mochi ice cream is really becoming popular these days, but I remember in my college years buying them only in Asian food markets. But when I went whole hog vegan my options pretty much vanished. Now they are on trend and Trader Joe’s REALLY stepped up their game. They have been making some mochi over the years, but now they have a whooping 5 different vegan mochi to choose from when I was last there. I think this is the largest selection I’ve seen to date. I felt that everyone needed to know which was the best, so I reviewed these mochi from worst to best (but like they were all really good)

And a quick note about eating! Everyone says to not let the mochi thaw, it is good to go right out of the freezer. I beg to differ. Just take them out and let them sit for at least 2-5 minutes. Not much time is needed. But shoving it right into your face right away is a bad idea. It is too cold to really taste the flavors.

Buono Green Tea Mochi Ice Dessert

This isn’t a Trader Joe brand of mochi ice cream, though I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the company producing the Trader Joe mochi. Although I LOVE green tea, so I was a little surprised when I decided to bump this down to my least favorite flavor. I think the green tea is a little too grassy, and overall unimpressive. Texture was alright, but the overall green tea flavor way bleh. I mean, if this was the only mochi ice cream I would still buy it again, but when I bought the second box for this review it felt boring.

Mango Mini Mochi

Awhile ago Trader Joe’s had a mango mochi product, but it was big and had a sugary mango core. This one I was pretty excited to eat because of previous one. These little soft jewels are awesome, but clearly are mango sorbet, not mango ice cream. It was a little ice-y as a result, but I am happily eating them. Plus I really like the small bite size that I can grab and eat when I feel like a need a tiny snack.

Buono Strawberry Mochi Ice Dessert

Honestly speaking, I really like this strawberry mochi. I think they even added a little dye to the mochi wrapper to make it a little pink. So cute. But the strawberry is a little artificial tasting, and I can imagine totally putting some people off. The texture is just right and it makes me wish they carried the other flavors by this brand (mostly the black sesame)

Thai Tea Mini Mochi

I bought these Thai Tea Mini Mochi over the mango ones initially. I mostly was excited to get a flavor that wasn’t as common in vegan desserts. As with the mango ones, I love the ratio of wrapper to ice cream, and how they are quick little bits. The ice cream is yummy and creamy. At first I wasn’t a big fan, but they grew on me. Now I like them better than the green tea (which wasn’t the case at first)

Coffee Mochi

As you can tell from the group mochi shots, these are the biggest of the batch. They are also my favorite. This deluxe mochi has been on the market since 2017, and feature a coffee ice cream with a chocolate-y coffee liquid core. Mochi ice cream purists will probably hate it. Even I first didn’t like it, but this year it has become my absolute favorite. I gobbled this box first after making this review. But since they are biggest than the other kinds, you get only 6 pieces (rather than 8 for strawberry/green tea, 15 for the minis) So if you are short on cash, you might want to splurge on the others first.

So what about you? Any vegan mochi ice cream that you love? Which Trader Joe flavor is your favorite?

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Vegan Snack Attack #9: Christmas Stocking Edition

January 25, 2019

This Christmas was a very food filled one. We did our normal stocking exchange with my family. My sister stepped up with some really interesting vegan treats, though it was mostly because she was in search of a special sauce that she ordered online. Since she had to pay for shipping she got a bunch of other yummy treats. So here we go, starting with the special sauce that started it all.

Brooklyn Brine: Dairy-free Secret Sauce

My sister explained that she went out of her way to get this special sauce. Her fiancé bought it for himself and couldn’t stop thinking about it when it ran out. So they naturally had to get the vegan sauce for the vegans that they knew.

It is made by Brooklyn Brine, an artisinal pickling company based in Brooklyn (oh you didn’t already guess that?) The company also has a Pickle Shack, which appears to be all vegan as well.

This special sauce is a briney mayo. It really is great. It is paired perfectly with a very mild flavored sandwich/burger. Why mild? So you can taste the sauce of course! I only point that out since so many fake meats and burgers tend to power up flavors, which can over power the sauce. If I visit my sister anytime soon, I might try and take a trip out to the Pickle Shack, and buy another jar.

Watermelon Road: Watermelon Lemondade Jerky

I think “Santa” put this in Jon’s stocking. I am also pretty sure “santa” is the same sister who got the special sauce. This is a pretty straight forward product, thinly sliced watermelon, dehydrated into jerky. The company has super cute packing and different flavors.

Once we opened the package, all the slices were stuck to each other. We had to chip them off or each other, eating them in small crumbles. This kind-of ruined the jerky effect sadly. My husband and I both agreed, there was something weird about watermelon jerky. I guess our favorite thing is the juiciness of watermelon?

Overall it WAS really yummy. I might consider getting this again if it wasn’t for the clumping. In the end though little Wolfie got his little hands on a piece and pretty much ate all of it. I feel like that is the story of my meals anymore.

Squish: Vegan Shark Attack

Squish is an artisan gummy candy chain. They have a whole line of vegan candy, and there are so many flavors I would love to try, maple syrup, matcha, prosecco, cold brew, and a magical unicorn mix?! Too many options! I am sure my sister was overwhelmed in the store trying to pick out a flavor for me, but she went with the shark berries (blueberries, raspberry, and black currant.)

I forgot how much I love gummy snacks. These had just enough tooth and was bursting with flavors. Each gummy is fairly big, so you can savor the flavor for longer. Naturally it is pretty darn sweet, and this berry flavor balance it out with it’s tartness. Kind-of a good thing that the company is based in Canada, because otherwise I would go broke buying them.

Puffin Poop

This was from what I assume was my Mother, as a little gift from their trip to Maine. I cannot for the life of me find an online vendor for these mints, but they are produced by a company that makes novelty mints. They have a whole line of “poop mints.” These were tasty, and the tin was pretty clever. You press the middle and it pops open, though closing kind of sucked. It was just too cute not to share.

If you do find the package, I would say buy them! The flavor of the mint is chocolate mint which was a nice little twist. Like most mints it uses an artificial sweetener, so take what you want about it’s labeling of being vegan if you would get these.

Any fun new snacks you’d like to share?

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My Vegan Restaurant: Vegan Treats

October 10, 2018

Vegan Treats

1444 Linden St, Bethlehem, PA 18018
website | facebook | flickr | instagram | twitter

I mentioned briefly before that I kind-of went MIA from the blog because I started to work for Aldi’s…. then I stopped working there. It wasn’t enough pay and we were getting sick for long periods of time too often. But any employee from Aldi’s needs to go to a welcome day for their region, and the meant a 2 1/2 hour drive for me. This was REALLY annoying, but kind-of nice because it meant I got compensated $80 for drive, but I was also told the wrong time, and had to wait an hour before the welcome day. *sigh*

But I figured if I was going to make long drive up, I would go out of my way to visit Vegan Treats, only a 15 minute drive from the Aldi’s headquarters, but apparently added like an extra 45 minutes to my drive home (how?! and why?!) You might of heard or seem Vegan Treats before, they are one of the first successful vegan bakeries. They provide vegan treats for a lot of different coffee shops and restaurants, even delivering foods to places in Philadelphia! Heck we even considered having them bake our wedding cake. If you haven’t been to Philly, but go to a lot of vegan fests, you might of seen a long line for their shop to get some baked goods. Or perhaps you have seen their very popular spooky chocolate sets.

What are the chances you will be making a trip to Bethlehem? Maybe slim. It is the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, and it placed 88th on a list of “100 Places to Live” by Money. I vaguely remember the area when visiting Lehigh University for my older sister. It is a cute older town, that I bet looks beautiful during the fall. Luckily, Vegan Treats is not in an old part of town, where parking can be a pain. I was able to find a spot, no problem. They are located on a corner, so you may see the sign on one street, but the entrance will be around the corner.

Their set up isn’t about setting up a hip calming dining experience as say Papa Ganache, but they remind me more of the older styled bakeries (er… at least in the states) where you grab your desserts and go. There are some punk rockabilly decor, and an open kitchen so you can see the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. If you can’t make it, you might be able to find them (as stated before) at various shops in the Eastern Pennsylvania area. They USE to (I think) list all the locations that they provide baked goods for on their site, but they stopped.

So enough TALK! What the heck did we eat?! Well, I DIDN’T eat those beautiful unicorns. I wanted to get a confetti cake, but they only sold them in vanilla flavor and my husband wouldn’t of been down with that. Nor I for the most part. But I did get their salted caramel soft serve. I ate it mostly in the store because driving with ice cream is a pretty bad idea. lol. Fun fact, I was actually listening the history of ice cream by Stuff You Missed in History Class on the way up, so I was REALLY craving that stuff! If you are visiting this place, PLEASE GET THE ICE CREAM! It is glorious!

On the way home I got stuck in rush hour traffic, and there was a lot of hitting the brakes harder than normal going on. Sooo my cheese cake got a little damage making it not so photo-worthy. Plus the cannoli got it’s photo taken pretty late at night, so whoops on my blogging responsibilities. lol. Sadly, since this I I went, several months ago, like a quarter of a year ago, I can’t FULLY remember the flavor. It was cheesecake, it was blueberry, and it was AWESOME! I vaguely remember there being a little white chocolate decor on top, which was yummy as well. My cheesecake loving husband deemed it yummy and would eat it again.

As for the cannoli… hmmm. I got it knowing that it probably wouldn’t meet my expectations. It is hard enough to find a good non-vegan cannoli, what are the chances I find a good one veganized? It tasted pretty good, the shell was crunchy and clearly filled that day. The filling tasted like any other filling that I find so-so. It was still a nice treat, since I haven’t had any in years. But I wish there was a little bit more of that complex cheesy-nutty flavor that you would find in mascarpone cheese.

Aside from the mild cannoli flop, I love this place. I love their cookies and cream cake, which I would eat at The Last Drop (not sure if they still use Vegan Treats as a supplier) and I oogled all the treats at Govindas (again not sure if they still use Vegan Treats) They also travel pretty far for Vegfests. Heck they traveled all the way to DC! But it is still worth making a trip out to their brick and mortar store, you skip the lines, get tons of options, you can buy store merch, and even get some soft serve ice cream.

Posted by in Food Review, Reviews, Tour Pennsylvania, Traveling, Vegan Pitstop Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

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Blog Recipe Round Up: Curries

May 15, 2018

This curry round up has taught me one vital lesson. I am spoiled. Yes my idea of what a curry is, is slowly becoming quite narrow. After cooking so many dhal recipes and such from Vegan Richa’s cookbook I have learned how to create so much depth and flavor to a curry dish. Now, when I stumble upon a recipe that uses plain curry powder, it makes me a little sad.

Yes, there are some curry recipes on here that just uses the yellow spice mix, and some don’t. Some are called a curry and a yummy, but deep in my heart I know it is just a stew. So read and enjoy my most recent round up!

Kohlrabi Curry

This is a very odd recipe, I’ve never seen a curry made this way. First you roast the kohlrabi then you cook the rice, then saute the aromatics, then add the kohlrabi to the aromatics. Very weird, but it works. She also uses chili powder which works surprisingly well with everything.

The recipe says it only take 30 minutes to make, which isn’t fully true, it can be more if your oven is really old and takes 20 minutes to preheat. My second complaint is that the recipe really only makes enough for two very hungry people. I might be interested next time doubling the recipe. And I was using a pretty HUGE kohlrabi too!

My word of caution is to peel the kohlrabi well. I didn’t and it was very tough in some parts. My husband described it as being stabbed by the curry. This is an easy fix.

Bottom Line: Yummy, easy

Chana Masala

This is one of my summer favorites. When my CSA is producing tons of tomatoes, it isn’t a big deal to use up three pounds of tomatoes in one dish. In my area, that many tomatoes can cost $9 overall or $12 organic. It isn’t the worst amount of money when you consider that it makes 4 servings, etc, etc. But when your cheap like me, it is a big deal.

What I find interesting about using fresh tomatoes instead of tinned is that you get two very different Chana Masalas. Canned results in a sweet dish, and that is how most Westerners learn how to make Chana Masala. That is all fine and dandy, but I like how this dish is practically all the same ingredients but show how you can get something totally different with a few tweaks. The end results is a tangier curry that was awesome. I love any chickpea based curry, and if you like Chana Masala you might to give this a try.

Bottom Line: Pricey with tomatoes, super yummy

Roasted Red Pepper, Chickpea and Spinach Curry

I pretty much picked up on this recipe since it looked simple and used cocktail or cherry tomatoes. I do have to say it is insanely easy. Roast some bell peppers, saute onion and garlic, then blend with a bunch of stuff. Then mix with spinach, chickpeas, and tomatoes, and bake. It might take over an hour to make, but the active and clean up time is pretty minimal. I also had the brilliant idea of using pasta instead of rice. I think both would of worked well, but I am slightly more partial to the pasta. The rice would of been good at grabbing onto the thin sauce.

I think the only downside to this curry is that it probably needs more salt… or rather more defined amounts of salt. I think the author sprinkled more salt onto the bell pepper than I did. So in the end the sauce was a little bland and I sprinkled a lot of coconut aminos on it. Which is fine and still tasted amazing. I will definitely make this dish again in the future. You could speed up the cooking process by using jarred red bell peppers.

Bottom Line: Super easy, lots of down time

Tofu Tikka Masala

Here is the biggest flaw in the recipe, you slow cook for a total of only 4-6 hours. Sucks. Most people use their slow cookers before they go to work, making most people out for 8+ hours. I know that isn’t how everyone has it, but most. So that is my number one complaint. It isn’t a big deal if, say, you want to make this on the weekend, or perhaps if you are a stay at home mom. Maybe you can come home during your lunch break? There are many situations where you can make this.

Oddly this is the second curry on here that uses cherry tomatoes. Odd, but I am loving this idea. I get so many cherry tomatoes from my CSA, and sometimes, I can’t just eat them raw in salads and wraps. I liked how they created sweet little bursts of flavor in the sauce. Slow cooking REALLY makes the flavors come out in the sauce, and I will be making this again for sure. I think in the future, I may want to bump the tofu from 1lb to 1 1/2lb. I was able to cut cubes for Wolfie and cover it in extra sauce. Baby approved.

Bottom Line: Great for stay at home moms or people who can come home for lunch to prep

Tandoori Cauliflower Chickpea Bowls with Creamy Cashew Raita

This dish I am on the border of printing out and making more often. It was pretty minimal work. Blend the raita up, chop and toss the cauliflower in a quick sauce, bake, and assemble. Pretty simple. It is also pretty darn healthy. I served it with a little bit of leftover brown rice instead of greens, though just the greens would of been tasty as well.

I have two complaints. One, which isn’t as big of a deal, is that there was SOO much leftover raita. I am not 100% sure what to use it for, but I will have to think of ways to use it up. The second complaint is that I wish there was a LIITTLE more flavor to the cauliflower. I didn’t use a whole head of cauliflower because it looked like there was too much for sauce. So I think if I made this again, I would double the sauce coating. Maybe even toss the chickpeas in it?

Bottom Line: Lots of extra raita, wish for more sauce, OVERALL YUMMY!

One Pot Curried Lentils and Enlgish Peas

I like how easy this recipe is. Very simple, but surprisingly large amount of flavor. It calls for green lentils, but I went for brown since they were the only ones available. I am sure green lentils would of tasted better, because I don’t know many people who prefer brown. Oh well.

This dish is as simple as saute the onion and garlic, add water, coconut milk, and lentils and simmer. Then toss in the peas and broccoli, cook JUUUUST a little longer, and that’s it. This involves very little chopping and prepping. This is something I would feel very comfortable leaving for my husband to make. This will get printed and filed away for him to make one day when he needs to make dinner on his own.

Bottom Line: Yummy, easy

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Blog Recipe Round Up: Savory Balls

March 26, 2018

I might be a little immature, as I find anything with the word “balls” a little funny. But they are all over the world, everyone in different countries take food and roll them into round shapes. Here are just a few vegan recipes I get a go. These are purely ones that are savory, not sweet. Those will be saved for another recipe round up.

Turnip Chickpea Meatballs

I saw this recipe and thought- I have a lot of turnip in my fridge- this recipe will be great! Sort-of. Lets talk about prep before the taste. The recipe calls for 4 cups grated turnip, claiming one smallish-medium turnip would yield that much… WHAT?! I grated probably 8-9 turnips (mind you I made a double batch) and tried to lightly fill the measuring cup, and ended up taking away a whole cup of turnip from the recipe (half a cup for the a non-double batch) This drives me nuts! Please include weights! So people can have a better idea if they are using about the right amount.

Then the recipe has a lot of steps. Cook some buckwheat, cook onion, then turnips, then mix, roll, and bake. I spent probably an hour in the afternoon getting the mix all ready. I feel like you probably could of used buckwheat flour and saved lots of time.

So what about the taste? Well, if these were the most amazing veggie balls, I might be okay with all this work. They weren’t. They were just okay. Not bad, not great, but still tasty. Yeah I used up so much turnip, and freed up a lot of space in my fridge (thank goodness) but I wouldn’t make these again because of time.

Bottom Line: Not bad, but a lot of work

Cauliflower Kofta Curry

File this under “WHY DIDN’T THIS WORK?!” Flavors were perfect. The sauce was amazing, and there was some leftovers that I used for leftover naan pizzas. But the kofta balls just were not staying together. The cabbage fell apart in the sauce, and I think they just needed something more to bind them together. Maybe even deep frying them? I would gladly make the creamy tomato sauce again for curry styled pizzas though.

Bottom Line: Big Thumbs Down

Savory Miso Tahini Oat Balls

What I love about these Miso Tahini Oat Balls is that they aren’t a “dinner” sort of ball like a meatball, or protein replacement. These are made for mid-day snacking, which is great since most mid-day snacks revolve around sugar. It gets very annoying after awhile, and the savory snacks are usually heavy on salt and fat (hello potato chips!)

Hands down Lacy NAILED these! Everything is well portioned and doesn’t use too much of any specific ingredient, which is nice since most are kind-of pricey. The time it took to make them is low, like maybe 10 minutes of mixing, grinding, and rolling, and bake time takes as long as it would for cupcakes.

The downfall is that the balls are a little crumbly, which isn’t the end of the world. Next time I might try making these in a large brownie pan and cutting them into a bars. This might make a little bit less of a mess and make it easy to pack for on the go. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Bottom Line: These are a great snack food

Lentil  Mushroom Walnut Balls

These lentil mushroom balls were a recommendation from the Oh She Glows website as a good Thanksgiving dish. I figured that these would be a good protein for my dinner. The balls weren’t particularly hard to make, but took a good bit of time to finely chop the mushrooms, greens, and pre-cook some of the food. 

The end result is delicious, but didn’t travel well to a dinner. To reheat the balls became dried out. Looking back, I probably would of made these balls far in advance and freeze them. Somehow I think the freezing process would keep the moisture in the balls.

Bottom Line: Eat right away, time consuming

Beet Ball ‘N’ Fries Salad

This was a yummy flavor combo but I had a little trouble with the beet balls. They were very delicate, but that might of been because my lentils didn’t cook all the way with the instructions provided. I am wondering if a soften lentil would of resulted in a better ball?

I think my husband just wanted to have beet burgers and fries, but I kind-of liked the salad combo. Maybe because it means more dressing? Maybe because I just want more lettuce? Who knows. It is a great way to satisfy a burger craving when you know you need to cram in a few more veggies in your meal.

Bottom Line: Delicate balls, yummy combo

Kidney Bean Koftas

I saw these kidney bean koftas on Vegan MOFO, and it is worth starting out that the theme was “zombie apocalypse” aka cook with what you have at home. So this recipe first got me thinking “she should of had this sauce” or “it would taste great with this.” But that isn’t the point of the recipe. The point is give a base to your meal to work around.

These came together really easily. I technically used dried beans that I cooked up, so not in the last minute put it together spirit. But whatever. It was a long day, I didn’t even think I would make dinner, but I figured I would see how much I could get done before Wolfie freaked out. I GOT IT ALL DONE!

I made half a batch with half the curry powder and no salt for Wolfie. The other half I adding the salt and the rest of the curry. We ended up halving the size of the balls, and making sandwiches with leftover fennel slaw and chutney. It was AWESOME! I strongly suggest pairing these balls with a “wet” ingredient. A sauce, chutney, slaw, etc. Wolfie had the same idea dipping his in his yogurt and pear.

Bottom Line: Quick, yummy, baby approved. Continue reading →

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My Vegan Restaurant: The Tasty

March 9, 2018

The Tasty

1401 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
website | facebook | instagram | twitter

Awhile ago I talked about the divide in vegan restaurants in Philly. They are either for rich people with fancy cocktails or healthy eats. The other restaurants are greasy fast-diner food owned by punks. Although the gap is filling in (I also ignored to mention all the Asian owned vegan places), this restaurant falls into the greasy punks camp. In fact, I am told that many of the employees are actually part of bands, I won’t name them to protect the privacy of the individuals.

My dining bud Justine, showing me the ropes of her fav restaurant.

BUT I will mention the owners. Their names are all over the fucking place. I remember there being quite a few article being written about the store opening up, I am not sure if it is because local papers thought the new owners were famous enough, or if the original store was a legendary favorite (once Atlantic Pizza), or perhaps this always happens when a new restaurant opens and I just don’t notice. The owners are Kate Hiltz (manager & producer of The Bouncing Souls, and runs the label Chunksaah), Sofia Baltopoulos, and Ben Pierce (guitarist/keyboardist for Restorations). If you want to learn more about the owners, I suggest reading this interview.

The Tasty is pretty far south. Most of their crowds are locals, maybe some suburbinites (hello me!), but I doubt they get any tourists with a capital T since you need to drive to get here. Sure you can walk, but it might take awhile (it’s as far south as Grindcore House) expect to walk for 20 minutes from Center City. But I will say it is worth the trek, the food is amazing!

Self serve station with water, coffee fixings, and silverware.

I went with my vegan friend Justine. she loves this place, and frequents The Tasty on weekends, particularly the day after a show. She says the place gets packed on weekends, so she was thrown off when we were one of the few people there. The place is designed to order at the front, then to take a seat. They’ll call your order up, and you pick up.

The atmosphere of this place is awesome. There are nice teal walls, mix and match plates, and tons of novelty mugs for your coffee or tea. They also have booster seats for children, which weren’t terribly amazing, but were incredibly clean. The shape of the place is unique as the building it located at a very sharp corner, making the place feel even more quaint AF. Yup, the place is just oozing adorable-ness.

So what did we get? This place is predominantly breakfast/brunch/lunch. They are opened between 7am-4pm weekdays, 7am-3pm weekends. There has been rumors that the owners would like to be open later, but nothing yet. So the menu has lots of sandwiches, pancakes, and scrambles. Justine got the spinach and soysage. She ate a good portion and seemed to get it often (maybe?) So I am going with it tasted awesome, even though I didn’t have a bite of it. Basically it is a tofu scramble with their soysage, spinach, caramalized onion, and some vegan mozzerella cheese.

As for me? Well, I had something that I don’t see on their online menu. I got their cheezsteak, but I am 99% sure they had a specific option where it was covered with BBQ sauce. Their online menu has something similar with mushrooms, but no cheese. I liked my version best, so much seitan and yummy gooey cheese. Yum! All the sandwiches have an option of waffle fries, tater tots, or a salad. I went with the tater tots.

Is the place baby/kid friendly? I mean I assume so. Wolfie was way too distracted by his spoon to actually eat any of the food, but we got him a side of scrambled tofu and he ate my tater tots. Sadly the tater tots were fairly crispy so he had a hard time biting into them (he had only oven baked ones in the past.) He ate some of the scrambled tofu, but it was a little dry and not in big clumps so he had a hard time eating it with his hands. It shouldn’t be much of a problem for older children.

If you are visiting Philly with a car, I strongly recommend checking this place out. There is a wide range of prices you can spend in here. You can grab breakfast sandwiches for less than $5, or you can get a big spread like were did for $10. If you get a big spread there is a good chance you will have extra leftovers that you can save for the next day. So, come and make the trip, you’ll be happy you did. Greasy vegan breakfast foods can be hard to find in restaurants.

Posted by in Food Review, Reviews, Tour Pennsylvania, Traveling, Vegan Pitstop Tags: , , , , ,

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Isa Does It Book Review – Revisited

February 24, 2018

Jenny Marie is trying to challenge herself to start using her cookbooks more. I don’t have this issue (at least at the moment) as I am use to cooking hearty meal every, fucking, day. I am sure one day I’ll have a melt down and force my family to eat steam veggies and butter pasta for two months straight. But for now, I thought I would try my best to follow along when I can.

For the month of February she wanted to cook from Isa Does It. I already reviewed this book, and I’ve cooked A LOT from it. So I thought, why not do a cookbook update? I’ll review the recipes I’ve tried since the post, and try and cook a few more recipes. Remember, these are just recipe reviews, if you want the whole overview- check out my review.

And as I’ve been doing this year with my cookbook reviews, here are some other recipe reviews of this cookbook. If you have a blog post about recipe reviews, comment and I’ll add it to the site.

Becca Does It – Cook Easy Vegan – Herbivore’s Heaven Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 – Kittens Gone Lentil – My Apologies for the Novel – Veganopoulous – A Woman in Real Life

Bhindi Masala with Black-Eyed Peas
Section: Stews, Chilis, & Curries
I’ve made quite a few okra curries, mostly because it is a crop that does well at my CSA and I hate eating it any other way. I was trying to see if it could switch it up with this recipe, and it was a little disappointing. It is super tomato heavy, which gives a nice burst of flavor and acidity. I am not a huge fan of the black eyed peas, as it makes the dish feel like it is in limbo between some sort of southern dish and indian food.

Overall the dish is palatable, and I think could surprise anyone who doesn’t really like okra. It removes most of the slim, and is very flavorful. BUT I think there are better okra dishes to introduce people to.


Cast-Iron Stir-fry with Avocado, Basil & Peanuts
Section: Stir-Fries & Sautees
This was one of the dishes I was able to make this month. I figured it was something new from the book, and figured why not? Naturally there is a wrinkle in recipe, I didn’t have a cast-iron skillet. I just used my wok, I can’t imagine it making THAT much of a difference. Used the suggestion times saute times, followed the recipe pretty much to a T.

The results were pretty yummy, though nothing life changing. I make a lot of stir-fries, and this one didn’t offer any unique flavors, but was still great. It was easy to follow, fairly cheap ingredients, and pretty fast once you get everything prepped. I think the unique part of this recipe is that she tops the stir-fry with fresh avocado, which my husband liked. Even though it wasn’t unique, it is a solid stir-fry recipe.

Chana Masala
Section: Stews, Chilis, & Curries
Recipes: Isa Chanda.com
This is one of my summer favorites. When my CSA is producing tons of tomatoes, it isn’t a big deal to use up three pounds of tomatoes in one dish. In my area, that many tomatoes can cost $9 overall or $12 organic. It isn’t the worst amount of money when you consider that it makes 4 servings, etc, etc. But when your cheap like me, it is a big deal. Wait? I’ve gone horribly off track.

So I guess my whole point about the tomatoes, is that using fresh results in a very different Chana Masala than using canned tomatoes. If you used canned tomatoes, which you totally can, I find that you get two totally different dishes. Canned results in a sweet dish, and fresh results in a much more acidic dish. I like how Isa does have two different chickpea curry dishes in her book, showing the difference.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies with White Chocolate Chips
Section: Desserts
I didn’t use white chocolate chips for this. Too expensive, and too hard to find. But I was really happy with the end results. I love the texture and chewiness of the cookies. It has been awhile I’ve gotten such great results. I am not 100% sold on the ginger chocolate combo. I know Wolfie wasn’t a fan- though it didn’t stop him for asking for more, as if each bite would taste different. I think I will try this without the ginger, as the texture and bake of the cookies were too perfect.

Creamy Potato-Leek Soup
Section: Soups
My husband was super proud of himself for picking the recipe, and I wasn’t impressed. I mean, it wasn’t bad. Maybe I just don’t care about potato leek soup? Both are boring ingredients, and one is expensive (the leeks) I think we made it in part because we got leeks from our CSA. Who knows. It also felt like a whole lot of work for very little return. Again, not bad, just not worth it…? Maybe that’s the best summary.

Curried Peanut Sauce Bowl with Tofu & Kale
Section: Bowls (& a Few Plates)
Recipe: Veg Kitchen
I am not sure why I find bowls so intimidating. Maybe I am afraid of all the dishes at the end? Or something. This one was pretty easy to put together. Not too many dishes, nothing was particularly hard to do. So I finally tackled it, and had mixed feelings.

The sauce was clearly the star of the show. It really made the dish. Everything else was just so-so, which kind-of made me not fall in love with the dish. Would I make this again? Possibly. I might just feel free to add a little more personality for the other components of the dish.

Edamame Hummus & Tofu Wraps
Section: Handhelds
This is a super easy meal to put together. Just wiz together the edamame hummus, and grill the tofu. The wrap all up. I liked how fast these were to make, in fact they could be faster if you use prepared pressed tofu. We ate them for dinner, but I used the leftovers for lunch. I liked how “flexible” the veggies are, making it easy to modify for the different seasons. I’ve made it a few times now.

Eggplant & Bread Crumb Fettuccine
Section: Pasta & Risotto
This is another Jon picked recipe, that he was really proud about. I remember it clearly, I asked him to pick a recipe and listed some of the produce from our CSA we had to use up, eggplant was one. And this was a winner despite my skepticism. This was really easy to make and put together. One of those “30-minute” type of meals. If I were to guess, this was Isa’s answer to a breaded eggplant parm-pasta. It tasted great, but a pretty basic flavor overall (I mean eggplant doesn’t have a HUGE flavor).

Everyday Pad Thai
Section: Stir-Fries & Sautees
Recipe: Isa Chandra.com
I avoided this recipe for the longest time. I remember making Brooklyn Pad Thai from Vegan With A Vengence and hating it. In my defense, I had many peanut heavy pad thais, and therefore, wasn’t what I was expecting. Finally I bit the bullet and made this one, and I can safely say it is one of tried and true go-to recipes.

Most ingredients are cheap and shelf stable. I get extra pre-pressed tofu and rice noodles from my local H-Mart since they are extra cheap there. The main veggie in this dish is broccoli, and that is super cheap. It is pretty easy to prep, and super salty and tangy. The best. But I do recommend having an open mind when trying this, most American restaurants have a peanut forward Pad Thai, and that isn’t really what they are like.

Gardeny Shiitake & Chard Fusilli
Section: Pasta & Risotto
This seemed like an easy meal to quickly make, and I had chard to use up. I liked the choice of pasta because the noodles were able to cling to the sauce and veggies pretty well. As mentioned it has an earthy taste, and definitely not a dish to eat if you aren’t a mushroom fan. But I liked everything pretty well, and will probably make it again.

Goddess Noodles
Section: Pasta & Risotto
I am starting to get the feeling that there is a lot of broccoli in this book. Or maybe I’ve been avoiding making broccoli for years and only now decided to try out these recipes? Or maybe it is just that 2017 was a great year for broccoli at my CSA and I actually needed recipes to use it up.

This is a super easy recipe. It was quick to make, and I can’t remember if I used whole wheat linguini or regular spaghetti. It seems obvious that I would like this since it uses some of my favorite foods- broccoli, tempeh, and tahini. My husband thought the dish was so-so. Neither tahini or tempeh are his thing.

Lentil-A-Roni
Section: Pasta & Risotto
This is another fan favorite in the book. I made this and was pretty happy with it. This is one of those recipes that I never think about making, but whenever I do I am pretty happy with it. Funny thing is that I can’t remember why I even bother making it? And why I never think about making it again? Maybe because I never had meals like this before? Who knows. It is a very agreeable dish that almost anyone would love.

Omaha Yakisoba with Red Cabbage & Corn
Section: Stir-Fries & Sautees
I was hesitant to make this recipe since I remember making yakisoba spaghetti squash and not being very impressed. The recipe seemed so simple I was afraid I would be disappointed. The recipe had the opposite effect- it was awesome!

All ingredients are pretty cheap, which makes it easy to justify buying the more expensive frozen or fresh udon noodles. This really make the dish go from good to great. I made this dish towards the end of 2017, so I think when corn is fresh I will be making it more this summer.

Puffy Pillow Pancakes
Section: Breakfast, Brunch, & Bakes for the Morning
Recipe: Isa Chandra.com
Jon wanted to get Gavin on the breakfast bandwagon. He didn’t want to have a kid who wouldn’t like pancakes and french toast. So he was happy to try out this recipe. He liked how detailed the instructions were, which resulted in some pretty awesome pancakes. It is our go to recipe, and some of the other recipes we tried have been good, but not nearly as perfect as these.

Pureed Split Pea & Rutabaga Soup
Section: Soups
I got a few rutabagas from my CSA and although I love the taste, I am never too sure what to do with them. So they’ve been sitting in my fridge forever. I finally saw that this soup used rutabaga and I like split pea soup, so I figured why not? Well, I ran into some problems. One is that I ran out of rutabaga. Some went bad before making, so I had to use some mystery root that was leftover from my CSA (turnip? or radish?) The second problem is that I was out of rosemary, so I used tarragon instead.

The soup was pretty easy to make, and the photo in the book does a great job of making the worlds ugliest soup look awesome. But I am not sure if I like the whole flavor of star of anise with split pea. I might have to make this another time to make up my mind. So for now I am giving this a solid “not sure” rating.

Spinach & Black Bean Burrito Bowl
Section: Bowls (& a Few Plates)
This dish was so-so. This had the same issue as the other bowl dish. Not enough flavor for the individual components. So it pretty much tasted like quinoa, beans, and spinach. I don’t think there is much to say about this, other than you are very dependent from the condiments.

Sunflower Mac
Section: Pasta & Risotto
Recipe: Isa Chandra.com
This is NOT my favorite vegan mac and cheese recipe out there. But I understand that not everyone can have cashews. In fact, this is why I’ve made this recipe so many times already. My friend Justine can’t have cashews, and therefore I’ve made this recipe a few times for her. I do have some big issues- one is that the ratio of sauce to pasta is crazy! After making this the first time, I added more pasta, and I let it sit for a minute or two before serving so the pasta soaks up some of the sauce.

My second issue is that I’ve had better tasting non-cashew mac and cheeses. I really like Chloe’s Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese, it is practically perfect. By all means, this isn’t TERRIBLE, just not as good as what it could be.

Tofu-Mushroom Stroganoff
Section: Pasta & Risotto
Recipe: Oregon Live
Another recipe my husband happily picked out. He was super excited about it, and it tasted amazing. I really need to make this dish more often, but for some reason I keep telling myself mushrooms are too expensive. Why I don’t know?

Anyways, this is a simple dish that packs a lot of flavors that aren’t normally thought of with vegan foods- creamy and umami. The choice of fusilli is perfect because it captures all the sauce, which holds a lot of the flavor. This recipe is one of the best in the book, which is probably why you see it on so many online sources.

Posted by in Food Review, Reviews Tags: , , ,

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My Vegan Restaurant: Whole Foods Restaurant Row + CHeU Noodle Bar

February 19, 2018

Whole Foods Restaurant Row

2101 Pennsylvania Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19130
website | facebook | instagram

CHeU Noodle Bar

255 South 10th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
website | facebook | instagram | twitter

Oh my. This is definitely a late post. It is probably- a year old? Maybe less. This was either Valentines Day, or for our anniversary (in May) Regardless, this post is so overdue that the food we got isn’t even available here anymore. So this post is a little all over. So lets start with what happened.

So Jon and I took a romantic trip in Philadelphia to visit the art museum and grab some grub. We originally wanted to get a cheesesteak from Whiz Kid. At the time they were JUST opening their brick and mortar store front, but only had a location at Whole Foods. So my husband and I went, and was surprised. The Whole Foods had moved since I’d last been there, making me very confused and panicked. Jon was already a little annoyed we were going to Whole Foods for lunch instead of someplace only found in Philly, so I felt extra pressure to not get us lost, and therefore extremely hungry from not eating. Luckily a local heard our confusion, and told us where to go (pretty much behind the Barnes Museum.) The new location is much nicer, providing more parking, a shopping cart elevator (THE BEST PART), and what they call restaurant row.

So I thought it would be worth the time to talk about this new restaurant row. I loved the idea especially since finding a vegan restaurant near the parkway can be hard. If you are visiting Philadelphia to visit The Franklin Institute, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Rodin Museum, or The Barnes Foundation I strongly suggest stopping here. You can easily buy a snack of fresh fruit, ice cream, chips, snack bar, anything you could find at a normal Whole Foods, but they also have options of drinks and food made fresh.

Let’s start with the booze. This was my favorite part, though I wasn’t really getting anything. I was still pretty sleep deprived at this point and having one beer for lunch probably wouldn’t of been the greatest. But you can get REALLY cheap beer on tap here. I am pretty sure the cheapest beer was $4, and it looked like it was a local craft beer!

Beer not you thing? I’m pretty sure there was wine- I mean look at that photo- that looks like wine bottles behind that lady right? I am pretty oblivious to wine, soooo… sorry guys for being a crummy reporter. lol. There was also a “cocktail” bar. I am pretty sure you can get the cocktails at the beer/wine bar, but they had another booth just for seasonal cocktails, which was closed at the time.

Don’t drink alcohol at all? Then you can check out the coffee bar that’s found at almost all Whole Foods. Pretty much I treat my local Whole Foods as a coffee shop anymore since they do not charge extra for soy or almond milk. Plus they have some of the best almond milk ever. Just take note that the coffee is on the first floor by the street entrance. Everything else is on the second floor.

Then you have the restaurants. There are little booths all set up in a row near the front of the store, kind-of looking like the little booths you see at malls. At the time we went there was CHeU and Wiz Kid, but they are now gone. I am not sure if this is a decision by Whole Foods, or the owners of the restaurants to move on out.

CURRENT VEGAN OPTIONS ON RESTAURANT ROW:

Clearly the restaurants rotate to keep things fresh. As of posting this in February 2018, these are the current options at restaurant row. There is ALSO a coffee, beer, and cocktail bar that will have varying vegan options. I recommend double checking the current restaurant listing Whole Foods Website to see their most up-to-date listing of restaurants.

Dizengoff 11 am – 8 pm
This restaurant chain offers middle eastern food. Although some of their specialities are meat based, most everything is vegan. Expect hummus with rotating seasonal toppings. Read review of the original store location here.
Goldie 11 am – 8 pm
This restaurant serves 100% vegan options. You can expect hot falafels, fries, and tehina shakes.

CHeU:

When Jon and I went, we ate at CHeU. This was a place I wanted to check out for awhile now. I deeply miss eating a good bowl of ramen. I knew they had a vegan option out there, so when Wiz Kid was closed, I was more than happy to grab a bowl from here.

When you go to CHeU, you won’t be getting a traditional bowl of ramen. The food is definitely fusion cuisine, the owners are very open about their lack of authenticity. And the beauty of CHeU is that their menu is small. This can be a blessing or a curse. If you are an adventurous eater, this is great. You get one option that is vegan, but it is solid and well thought out. If you are a picky eater, well, you have only one option.

The classic Coconut Curry Ramen Noodles

Okay, well you get a little more than one option. The food is labeled as vegetarian, though it appears only one can not be made vegan. I also recommend DOUBLE CHECKING with servers. Philadelphia is a pretty vegan friendly area, so staff is probably use to the question. So here are your options as of February 2018:

  • Broccoli (small bites, ask for no pork)
  • Sweet and Sour Brussel Sprouts (small bites)
  • Coconut Curry Noodles (bowls)
  • Sichuan Spicy Fat Noodles (bowls)
  • Shrimp Yakisoba (bowls, sub tofu, no egg)
  • Chicken Karaga Rice Bowl (bowls, sub tofu, no egg)
  • Kimchi & Bok Choy (add ons for bowls)

No longer on the menu T_T Yummy Cold Sesame Noodles topped with kimchi

When went, the menu was a little different. Yes, there was the Coconut Curry Noodles, but there was also Cold Sesame Noodles. These were really yummy, and Jon was happy with his decision. The noodles were really chewy, and dish was just the right amount of spicy.

I got the Coconut Curry Ramen, which seems to be a classic option that is still on the menu. It was just what I wanted it to be. I was afraid it would be too dense, like a thick curry sauce. The spice and flavor wasn’t overwhelming, and the coconut added a creamy slippery texture to the broth. The noodles were chewy, and there were nice bursts of fresh flavor from the garnishes. 

Naturally this trip wasn’t for reviewing, so the photos are just with the iPhone. If you want something prettier, I suggest taking a look at Ted Ngheim’s blog with his photos of the store location. I strongly recommend checking this place out. Clearly they are pretty aware of having vegan options available, and do a pretty darn good job considering how limited the menu is to begin with. I strongly recommend this place if visiting the city. It is in the heart of center city, and is perfect for a quick meal.

Posted by in Food Review, Reviews, Tour Pennsylvania, Traveling, Vegan Pitstop Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

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Blog Recipe Round Up: Slow Cooker

February 5, 2018

I asked for a slow cooker for Christmas, thinking mostly about making bulk staples- cooked beans from dried, vegetable stock, tomato sauce, etc. But I knew I would eventually try some other recipes, that would be served up as dinner. So here are my findings- with mostly good results.

Vegan Jambalaya

Sadly I think the point of a slow cooker is slightly missed here. The recipe calls for you to add more ingredients midway through the slow cooker. I get it. It tastes better and prevents overcooking this way. But realistically you can’t just come home from work and add more food. You could still make it if you plan on waiting even longer once you get home for the added ingredients (and if your slow cooker has a timer)

But aside from that, the flavors are all there. And since I am a stay at home mom, it all worked out. It does call for a specific flavored vegan sausage, but that is my only complaint. I am sure you could google a recipe on how to make one if you can’t find it near you.

Bottom Line: Good for stay at home days or timed cooker

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

So many mixed feelings about this soup. For starters- I love how cheap it is to make. Carrots, celery, onions, and split peas. I could crunch the numbers but I am fairly certain the whole soup costs less than $5. It is also REALLY easy to make. Chop- toss- and let it cook. I love how the texture is very smooth but not puree smooth.

The flavor was pretty good, but not mind blowing. I always bring this up since I feel like traditionally non-vegan foods that are close to being vegan need to be a solid 100. Otherwise people swear by that little “je ne sais quoi” that meat brings to the table, in this case a little bit of ham. So I wish she included a little bit of paprika or liquid smoke, etc. I can easily do that, but non-vegan readers might not think of that.

Bottom Line: Overall good, easy to enhance

Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew

This recipe, although it isn’t in the title is suppose to be inspired by a Moroccan tagine (or tajine). If you never had one before it is just a spiced stew cooked in a clay pot, commonly cooked in Northern Africa and the Middle East. I’ve made a few tagine recipes, but not in the traditional cookware.

The first thing I noticed was that there wasn’t that many spices. Seemed a little suspicious so I doubled the spices (for some.) Truthfully I wish they included a wider variety of spices becuase they didn’t jump out that much. I also skipped the raisins and the chickpeas. The chickpeas because of a weird scheduling issue, and the raisins because I thought it would be too sweet. I’m glad I did that because all the root veggies were super sweet!

This was a fast-yet-slow slow cooker recipe. So much time was spent peeling and chopping, but the slow cooker gets put on high so it only takes about 4 hours overall. Making it not so great if you want something to cook while you are at work (unless you work from home) Overall this isn’t a bad dish, though it felt like it was missing something. It does make a HUGE amount.

Bottom Line: Very sweet. Wolfie LOVED it.

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Macaroni

I wanted to try and pick recipes that weren’t just soups and stews for this review. I’ve modified quite a few recipe to use a slow cooker to ensure that I don’t burn things on the stovetop or know that I can go for my “late” walks (you know… at 4-5pm) and still have a dinner on the table.

I’ve also made quite a few vegan mac and cheese recipes. So I have quite a few high standards. Let me state that vegan mac and cheese is sort of like a chili- you need a really good balance of flavors. So usually when I see a vegan mac and cheese with a short list of ingredients, I am skeptical. But I gave it a go.

What I got was a SMELLY house… or maybe not. I mean my house smelled terrible, but it could of been because of our trash, but likely a combination. Honestly- it smelled like vomit. I have no idea why. It crept up all morning, but all that was in the slow cooker was water, canned tomatoes (didn’t use fresh like the recipe), butternut squash, and herbs. WHAT?! I also found that the pasta was easy to over cook. If you are wondering how you make this recipe- you cook the squash for several hours, blend, add the rest for about 15-20 minutes for the pasta to cook. Also there just wasn’t enough bang in the sauce. I eventually add some miso to add a little kick.

But that all being said, the overall concept wasn’t bad. I think in the future I would tweak the recipe around, and pay more attention to the pasta while it cooks up. I probably would snag a mac and cheese recipe I like and modify it for the slow cooker to include all the flavors I like. And Wolfie LOVED the dish. So it wasn’t a total bust.

Bottom Line: Interesting concept, needs tweaking to the sauce, needs attention towards the end.

Slow Cooker Seitan Pot Roast

I remember awhile ago learning that you can make seitan in a slow cooker. One day I remembered that and searched for a recipe. This was the first one, and I think I should of looked harder. The name of the author sounded familiar so I figured, gotta be good right?

Overall the recipe worked. The veggies cooked up and were yummy. The seitan cooked and was tasty, buuuut wasn’t the best seitan I ever had. It was pretty plain and I could think of a million other recipes that were tastier. The seitan works perfectly fine for OTHER recipes, but not something that I would want as a Thanksgiving dinner.

Bottom Line: Method check out, flavors meh

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Lentils

I love seeing price breakdowns of food. I hear things like “serves two people for $10!” and I THINK that’s a lot, but I really don’t know. I just know how much a spend each week for my husband and I (and now little munchkin.) But by having the prices next to the food I can think “am I over paying for lentils?” and “thank god for Trader Joe’s coconut milk!” So I think I overall spent LESS than her numbers, but I haven’t personally crunched the numbers for spices and veggies (how can I? they were from my CSA)

So let’s go with how the food turned out. Overall the recipe is pretty straight forward. Toss everything into a crockpot. Cook. Add coconut milk. Okay. Simple enough. The end result? Pretty tasty, though I am not 100% amazed. I would certainly recommend this recipe. Super easy, great for working families. TONS of food. It wasn’t mind blowing though. BUT I like how simple it was, and it is great way to introduce vegan food to newbies. Simple, cheap, nothing crazy, and full of flavor.

Bottom Line: Great for vegan newbies and busy families.

Posted by in Food Review, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , ,

8 comments

Blog Recipe Round Up: Sunday Brunch Edition

January 7, 2018

I am not a breakfast person. I don’t like sweet breakfast foods, and I have a smoothie every morning. If there isn’t a smoothie, usually breakfast gets skipped and I have an early lunch. But I am warming up to brunch, mostly because of booze. But this list is probably just breakfast foods. *shrugs* Oh well. They are brunch to me. Almost all are sweet things, so don’t get too mad is you are a savory fan. 

One Bowl Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These were super fast to put together, and the result is a super soft and yummy muffin. I subbed spelt flour for all purpose flour since I had it on hand. But as promised, you used only one bowl, making it a quick muffin to make. This is a great dish to make for a super sweet muffin on the weekends.

She suggests adding cream cheese to the middle, and I used whatever I had left for the centers. I wasn’t impressed with the centers as they were too tart in my opinion. She says the sugar is optional, but I think it is a must. I used Tofutti cream cheese, and it cooked up fairly stiff. If anyone else tries as different cream cheese with different results please share! Since I didn’t have enough cream cheese only some of the muffins got the center. I found that they baked up fine without the cream cheese center.

Bottom Line: Super yummy, mix sugar in the cream cheese!

Raw Buckwheat Breakfast Porridge

I’ve mostly been eating chia pudding for my pre-morning run. It is easy to make and pretty much something to make the night before. This buckwheat porridge ranks up there with easy accessibility. It is simple and easy, and very yummy. My only problem is that you need access to fresh fruit as a topping, which sometimes isn’t as readily available during the winter.

I also found that sometimes buckwheat can be pricey, depending on where you go. And this recipe will use to up a good amount of buckwheat groats fast. But you CAN find buckwheat for cheaper prices, you just need to keep your eyes peeled. 

Bottom Line: Good for weekday OR weekend

Easy Vegan and Gluten-Free Pancakes

What a boring name for these? Banana Buckwheat Pancakes is more interesting. Gluten-free Banana-Strawberry Shortcake Pancakes is even better. But hey, whatever. Doesn’t matter what they are called because these are delicious! I was shocked at how well it all worked together.

Sure they aren’t 100% like normal pancakes, but they don’t really seem “gluten-free” either. They have an earthy-nutty flavor that is welcomed. The bananas add a nice sweetness to the pancakes without it being overwhelming. The only downside is that the batter is thick so I had a hard time getting “pretty” cakes.

I didn’t start with buckwheat groats, but instead had some leftover buckwheat flour from a local Asian food market. I can only imagine that this helped the texture in the end since the store bought flour would have a more consistent texture than home ground flour. I was lazy and didn’t make the homemade whip cream, but these pancakes tasted great with some blueberry syrup.

Bottom Line: Yummy but not too heavy like more “gluten-free” pancakes

Norwegian Cinnamon Buns (Norske Kanelsnurrer)

I am so excited to finally try a recipe from Seitan is my Motor. I love how much thought and planning goes into Constanze’s recipes. I’ve learned quite a lot of European baked goods, and given me a much needed window outside of American sweets. This was the first year having my In Laws over for Christmas morning, so I wanted to include them on our growing tradition of brunch on Christmas.

My overall biggest complaint is that the recipe uses rapid action yeast. So you can’t make it as quickly as regular cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. I tried my best to wake up and start the dough right away, but I don’t think they were fully finished until 12:30-ish. You need to proof the dough twice, once for 90 minutes and another for 60 minutes.

Aside from that, the recipe worked wonderfully. I liked how the rolls weren’t too sweet and used healthier flour than just all purpose. Having the spelt and whole wheat makes them more filling, though I am sure a little more tough compared to if I made them with just all purpose flour. I may have also overbaked them slightly working against a fluffy texture.

Bottom Line: Yummy, but wished there was an overnight option

Scramble Tofu Breakfast Bahn Mi

I feel like the dish is the definition of brunch- breakfast and lunch combined into one. Taking a lunch sandwich (Bahn Mi) and mixing it with the classic scrambled tofu for breakfast. This is something I love since I am more of a lunch person than and breakfast person.

I have a confession. I’ve never actually ate Bahn Mi before. I’ve heard about it, but never took the dive before giving up meat. Steak was never my favorite. So I can’t judge it on how authentic it is. I can judge on how tasty it was. The tofu is wonderfully spiced, and does look a lot like eggs. The Star Anise Daikon Pickles were a great add on. They were crisp and probably gave it that Bahn Mi feel. The downside? There was a little bit of leftovers. No big deal. It will just make a Bahn Mi wrap for lunch. This is definitely a something that will grace our table over and over again.

Bottom Line: Great for people who prefer more of the Lunch of Brunch

Almond Butter Banana Breakfast Bars

I always hate when I find vegan recipes that use lots of expensive ingredients. One cookie recipe used teff flour, maple syrup, and almond butter in huge quantities. It made me wonder how much each cookie cost? I was too afraid to find out. This recipe does use some expensive items like maple syrup and almond butter, but uses them in small reasonable amounts. I like that. All the other ingredients are cheap and commonly found in a vegan pantry.

The recipe is easy and fast to make. I made a change with the maple syrup since I ran out of it. I used a little blackstrap molasses and agave to fill in the rest of the syrup needed. I think blackstrap molasses was too strong, and I wish I used the maple syrup since the flavors would of worked really well. I also swapped spelt flour for whole wheat since i had it on hand. The dough was thick, but the end result is very soft and fluffy.

I divided the bars up into 8 pieces not 10 or 12 as suggested to give a hearty breakfast, but dividing them up smaller makes a great side for breakfast. Maybe a tofu scramble? Or sauted veggies? These are drool inducing bars, but they are tasty and not too desserty like some baked breakfast foods.

Bottom Line: Really tasty!

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We are Alexa and Jennifer, two girls who like cute things, comics, food, and animals. This blog is their journey in clothing, food, and animal rights. read more over here


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