Day 21

Guess what guys? I went to Whole Foods again to get a few things for a recipe I'm making tonight which is to follow, and naturally bought a couple of extras. I got:

Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds

Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds

Bragg's Nutritional Yeast

Amy's Gluten and Dairy-free Mac and Cheese (it was on sale and it's SO good)

Boca Chick'n Patties (I had a coupon!)

Organic Vegetarian Refried Pinto Beans

Tofurky Pepperoni Pizza Pockets

I am beyond excited to try these.

I've been craving chicken soup so I also picked up some vegan chicken boullion.

But that's not the point of this post. I decided to make vegan au gratin potatoes and sautéed kale as some side dishes for dinner!

Au Gratin Potatoes, what you need:

5 red potatoes, washed

1 cup Daiya Cheddar Style Slices

1/2 cup Daiya Mozzarella Style Slices

3 tbsp vegan butter

3 tbsp all purpose flower

2 cups nondairy milk (I used almond)

1 tbsp onion powder

Salt and pepper to taste

What you do:

Slice the red potatoes very thin and layer them in a greased baking pan. I used Smart Balance Light, also my vegan butter substitute.

Continue layering evenly until all of your potatoes are in the pan. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Heat vegan butter in a saucepan. When it's melted, add in the flour and cook for one minute, continuously whisking. Once you've cooked some of the flour taste out of the roux, add in one cup of almond milk and whisk to incorporate. Add in your second cup and continue whisking until sauce thickens. Add in both cheeses and onion powder, remove from heat and stir until everything melts together. Your cheese sauce should look like this:

Season with salt and pepper and pour over your layered potatoes.

Bake at 400 degrees for 90 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crispy.

I also made a really easy (and delicious) kale that I found on a list of fit foods.

What you need:

1 bunch of washed, dried, de-stemmed and coarsely chopped kale

3 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, sliced thin

1/2 cup vegetable stock

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

What you do:

Heat garlic in olive oil until soft, but not golden.

Add in kale and vegetable stock, toss to coat.

Cover and let cook for 7 minutes.

Remove lid and cook until liquid dissipates, about 5 minutes.

Add in salt, pepper and red wine vinegar.

And, finally, dinner. I just baked a Boca chick'n patty according to package directions and topped it with Frank's wing sauce and had it with my vegan ranch dressing from my post on Sunday. The verdict? The potatoes were really, really good. My non-vegan boyfriend had seconds of both the kale and potatoes. The kale was delicious, retained it's texture but softened and was seasoned perfectly.

They say it takes 21 days to break a habit, and I gotta say, I didn't miss cheese a single time today!

Day Nineteen: That Time I Tried Again

So, a couple of weeks ago I tried out Tofupups and had a really negative experience. It was rubbery and gooey and weird and so, so wrong. I did my research and read some reviews, and picked up a pack of Lightlife Smart Dogs Jumbo; a vegan meatless hot dog. Today my mom asked how they were in comparison, so I cooked one up for dinner.

You know what? I've gotta say, the taste and texture are very similar to that of a regular hot dog. I am very pleasantly surprised by this one!

Day Sixteen: Vegan Ranch Dressing

Fueled by the hangover of the century and boredom, I took another tour through the vegweb recipe database. And guess what I found? That's right. VEGAN RANCH DRESSING. I knew I had to have it.

What you need:

1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise (Nasoya Nayonaise)

1/2 vegan sour cream (Tofutti brand)

1/2 cup non-dairy milk of your choice (I used almond)

3 tsp red wine vinegar

1 bunch fresh dill, chopped

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper, to taste

What you do:

Mix it up. Yes, I'm serious. It's that easy.

The verdict? It looks like ranch. It smells like ranch. It actually TASTES like ranch. I'm so excited to use this as a vegetable dip, salad dressing, in wraps and sandwiches and even with vegan pizza. Yum.

I also went grocery shopping. I was pleasantly surprised to find a huge variety of the things I've been making special trips to Whole Foods for at my local Stop and Shop. 

Noteable items:

Amy's Kitchen Gluten and Dairy-free Mac and Cheese

Tofutti Pizza Pizzaz

Lightlife Smart Dogs Jumbo

Tofurkey Honey Smoked 'Turkey'

Boca Original and Spicy chick'n patties

Nasoya Nayonaise

Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream

I'm excited. And, I spent about 40% LESS than I have previously spent grocery shopping as a dairy-loving carnivore. So, for all of you that think being vegan is too expensive, think again!

Day Fourteen: What's Jalapeño Poppin'!?

Back in 2007 when I ventured into the realm of veganism for the first time, I was obsessed with vegweb.com for recipes and ideas to create my own. I spent some time surfing the new and improved layout last night, and promptly decided that I needed some jalapeño poppers in my life, and STAT.

Here we go, kids! Here's the recipe to make your very own vegan jalapeño poppers.

What you need:

12 fresh jalapeño peppers

8 oz Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

1/8 cup baco's or soy-replacement bacon

All purpose flour

Vegan breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Plain non-dairy milk of your choosing (soy, rice, almond)

First, I cut the tops off of the peppers, halved them and placed them on a baking sheet that I sprayed with cooking spray and broiled them plain for 10 minutes to reduce the amount of heat.

To

Next, I set up my dredging station with one bowl of flour, one bowl of soy milk, and a bowl of breadcrumbs mixed with the onion and garlic powders.

In a large mixing bowl, I mixed the baco's and room-temperature cream cheese to create the pepper filling and then stuffed them! 

You can see I started breading. Whoops! After the peppers are filled, dip them in plain flour, submerge in soy milk and roll through the breadcrumb mixture to coat. When those are done, pop the baking sheet in the freezer for ten or so minutes to firm the peppers. Remove them from the freezer, submerge in soy milk and roll in the breadcrumb mixture a second time. 

Dip each pepper in vegetable or canola oil (your preference), and pop them in a 400 degree oven, turning once, for 15 minutes. Place on a paper towel and allow them to cool off a bit.

The verdict? These are good. These are dangerously good.

Proud of me!

Day Eleven

Yesterday morning, Jordan and I had planned to go for brunch before he had to leave for work around 12:15. True to form, I woke up a little late and didn't leave much time to play the waiting game that is Saturday brunch in Providence. After being told it would be the standard 45 minute wait at Julian's, we turned and ran; vegan options or not. 

We headed down the street to The Grange, the sister restaurant to The Garden Grille in Pawtucket (remember the Mac and cheese?), which I have been to a few times but was never really impressed with. We walked in and sat right away. I asked a few questions, and we ordered. I got the fried oyster mushroom po'boy on a pretzel bun, hash browns with vegan dill sour cream, and a green juice made with kale, cucumber, apple and lemon.

I am so glad I did. Everything was delicious and I took half home to bring with me for dinner at work.

Fast-forward to this morning. I was hungry, a little cheese-deprived depressed, and decided to try out making a grilled "bacon" and "cheese" on a bagel. That counts as breakfast, right?

The "bacon" looked a little strange, but after I cooked it up in a pan with olive oil, it tasted surprisingly bacony. My mistake was adding "cheese". I got greedy. I should've stuck to a toasted bagel with a side of bacon.

I took a few bites before I realized I just was not into it. I ate a couple sweet potato fries and into the trash my valiant effort went. An apple with almond butter it is.

Day Eight, For Real

I've got to admit, I really did want a turkey club sandwich earlier. However, I had myself a nice toasted onion bagel with vegan cream cheese for breakfast. It put me off of my craving for a bit. I picked up a half dozen bagels at Bagel Gourmet yesterday and I'm so glad I did. BAGELS<3.

I haven't had many of my old meat-eating lifestyle cravings, to be honest. But sometimes I dream of this amazing turkey club sandwich from The Whiskey Republic when chef Jonathan Beres was the head of the kitchen. You guys, I'm talking basically butter-fried sourdough, freshly sliced turkey, Irish Cheddar, butter lettuce, beautiful tomatoes, and sweet potato French Fries. I almost cried this morning just thinking about it. I was weak, but I prevailed.

There's a certain week, when you're a female, that despite restriction and common sense, you want to eat all of the bad foods. For me, it's mozzarella sticks, turkey clubs, and 3 Muskateers bars. I settled today for a Boca Chick'n patty, which I then topped with a slice of Daiya Provolone (which, I've gotta say, tastes 700% better than it smells) with Frank's brand mild wing sauce. Later on, I finished off about half of a cup of some SoDelicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream. It was So. Delicious.

But then, I went to work. I work at two different restaurants, one which provokes me to eat all of the things moreso than the other. Without naming names, I've tasted and since thought of the Chicken Parmesan with Pink Vodka sauce. Holy God and Jesus and everything religious, I want it. But I won't eat it. There's literally not a single vegan item in job #2 unless you count the complimentary salad or bread. In the weeks before going completely vegan, I enjoyed the Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Broccoli soup and Egglant Parmesan with pink vodka sauce. Those days are over. 

Today I packed myself a few stalks of celery with peanut butter, and a small bag of cereal flakes; both of which were either half-eaten by ravenous co-workers or thrown out towards the end of shift cleaning. I'm just lucky my amazing boyfriend picked me up some French Fries on his way home so I could melt some vegan cheese on them and pretend it's all just been a dream.

And before you say anything, yes. It helped.

Day Eight

I want a turkey club sandwich.