French Meadow Bakery was kind enough to send me some products to sample and I am now in love with their products. I received the Hemp Tortillas, Our Daily Bread, and Hemp Bagels. Although all the products were good, my favorite was the bagels. They were just the right size and tasted great with tofu cream cheese. These little bagels were hearty and filling. The bread was great as well, just pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds and then toast until lightly browned. They make great toast for breakfasts or sandwiches, especially Tofurky. Lastly, you can’t go wrong with some sauteed veggies, black beans and salsa stuffed into one to French Meadow’s Hemp Tortillas. At this point you should be jumping off your couch and running to the store and checking the freezer section for these products. If you don’t see them then head straight to customer service and request that they carry them!
Yogavive has created one of the best snacks- healthy, sweet, and satisfying. Yogavive’s Yogachips are everything a great snack can be and are delicious. My hubby and I tired the original, cinnamon, peach,and caramel. They were all delicious, unfortunately I didn’t get to try the caramel or original but my husband assures me that they were good. With only 35 calories a bag you don’t have to feel guilty when satisfying your sweet tooth. They also would be a great snack for kids, they have fun appealing packaging and what kid doesn’t love apples and chips – and mom’s can be happy they are filling up on apple chips instead of the potato sort. So give these yummy treats a try.
Tonight I was actually back to my old self and ready to do some major dinner cooking. I got home from work and I decided to make some perogies out Japanese yam and purple potatoes served with sauteed spinach and a red wine mushroom sauce.
(i know you’re thinking that’s supposed to be good – trust me delicious)
The dough consisted of:
2 cups self rising flour
1/3 cup water
3 T olive oil
1 t salt
Mix together until formed into a ball. I used my Kitchen Aid mixer to do all the work for me. Then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 15 min to an hour.
For the potaotes:
2 small puprle potatoes
1 large Japanese yam
3 T soy milk
1t Montreal Chicken Spice
2T nutritional yeast
Cut the potatoes into small chunks and boil, cook until they fall apart when pricked by a fork. Blend together with soy milk, montreal chicken spice and nutritional yeast. Allow to cool for a moment.
When ready to make the perogies: take a golf ball size of dough and roll out. Put about a tablespoon of potatoes in and fold over pressing down and the sealing with a fork. To a sauce pan add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1/3 cup water, allow to heat up and then add the perogies (you may need to add only a few at a time). Cover the pan and allow to steam for 3-5 minutes then uncover and flip until the water evaporates and the perogies brown slightly. Make sure to move them around some as they may stick a little. This recipe makes about 12 large perogies.
For the cabbage:
1 small head of green cabbage
1/2 large onion
1T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Sautee on high for 2-4 minutes. Lower the heat and cook at medium for 10 min. Set to the side.
For the Mushroom Sauce:
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 large onion minced
8oz mixture of mushrooms (I used button and cremini)
1T Earth Balance
1/4 C Red Wine
1 C Vegetable Stock
1T cornstarch plus 2T broth whisked together
salt and pepper to taste
Sautee mushrooms, onions, and garlic on med-high for 5-7 min then turn down to medium for 10 minutes. Add the wine and allow to reduce for 10 minutes then add the remaining ingredients. Allow to thicken.
Place the cabbage in the center of the plate, place 3 perogies around the cabbage and top with the mushroom sauce.
This week has been an emotional one for my husband and I, at 11 weeks along we found out that we had lost our baby. After days of hanging around the house and lounging in our bed grieving our loss we decided it was time to get out of town and we headed south…..to Massachusetts and Connecticut. I unfortunately did not take any photos on our trip as our camera is still full of pictures from our cruise. We headed down to MA and CT on Friday afternoon and stopped in at Angkor Wat in Woodstock Vermont where we had a disappointing overpriced meal.
We then headed to Northampton one of my favorite small towns and we wandered the shops and the downtown area. We stopped in Herrel’s Flagship Store and got ourselves a scoop of No-Moo Coffee “ice cream”. It was delicious. I see that they have a bunch of other flavors (we have had the peanut butter at the Cambridge location) and I am dying to try burnt caramel – what a fun flavor!
On Saturday we took a drive south towards New Haven where we wandered around the Yale campus (which is beautiful) and then we stopped for some lunch at Claire’s Corner Copia. This place was packed! There was a line out the door ,which seems to usually be a good sign, plus the place has been around for 34 years so it must be doing something right. My hubby got the Cornercopia Grande Burrito with refried organic pinto beans, brown rice, roasted organic vegetables, chipotle soy chicken and salsa. It was huge and delicious! I got the Quesadilla Tia Juana that was filled with a salsa of organic black beans, corn, organic bell peppers, San Marzano tomatoes, onions and Anaheim chilies and served with guacamole it was delicious!
On Sunday (I saved the best for last) we headed home and stopped at Esselon Café in Hadley MA for some amazing brunch. My hubby got the Vegan Brekkie which included tofu scramble with sautéed spinach, mushrooms, avocado, and grilled tomato with toast and a side salad and he also got a soy chai latte. I got the Vegan Benny which was grilled and seasoned tofu, sautéed spinach, roasted red peppers, topped by vegan hollandaise and came with a side salad, I also got a soy latte. The food here was by far the best all weekend. The Vegan Benny was delicious and as my husband said (bashfully) it was better than mine (crushed ….haha just kidding I totally agreed). His food was great too and huge so much food I was impressed. Also the salad is a great touch much better than homefries or something similar to that.
After one great weekend away we are planning another in about 5 weeks for a wonderful weekend to go to all the places we didn’t get to visit.
I’ve become addicted to Guayaki Yerba Mate Tea in the past few days (now that I can have caffeine again- because of unfortunate circumstances). Before leaving on vacation to my surprise and delight I received a large box of samples of Guayaki Yerba Mate tea bags, loose tea and bottled ice tea. My husband and I are now addicted to the light crisp taste of the tea. The bottled cold tea is great with just a little sweetness. In just a few days I have come to love this tea and can’t get enough of it. I still have to try the hot tea but I am sure that it is great, and once I try it I will post more.
My love of this tea has inspired me to do a giveaway- the lucky winner will receive 2 boxes of Guayaki Yerba Mate tea bags. If you would like a chance to win some of this yummy tea then leave a comment- if you post this to twitter @cookveganlover or link on your blog you will get an extra chance to win this great prize by Saturday 9/19/09. I will choose a winner on Sunday 9/20/09. Also don’t forget to check out my post about a Vegan Care Package Swap.
My hubby and I are heading out on our vacation (now our Babymoon) bright and early Saturday morning. We are busy right now getting our house in order for our furball babysitter and trying to finish getting pack up. We will be returning on the 12th and the following week I plan to have more down time to be able to focus on my (long) list of items that need to be put up on this blog.
I also plan to have a few giveaways to come so if you are interested in Gnu bars then keep your eyes peeled as there will be a giveaway soon!
Over this past weekend we attempted camping, however gave up after 2 nights once the rain started and soaked us. Thursday night we enjoyed a dinner of Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes from Vegan Brunch, roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus. All of which was delicious.
For my birthday on Friday my husband made garlic bread and pasta which was yummy the garlic bread was my favorite though. For dinner Friday we enjoyed more Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes, vegan chicken burgers, roasted potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes, and grilled veggies which were all delicious! (The Chesapeake Temeph cakes went over well with our omni friends and family). For dessert my mom brought a vegan raspberry pie from Healthy Living and it was great…. A little too much lemon juice but otherwise delicious.
Saturday morning after having it rain all night, we decided to head to the house to wash the mud off and have a nice warm breakfast. I made Tofu Benny and my hubz made Diner Homefries both from Vegan Brunch which were both delicious! We enjoyed a late lunch at Orient Chinese restaurant in Hanover NH where we had yummy vegetarian sesame chick’n and steamed veggies so good! For dinner we had grilled cheese with ketchup.
This week we are light on the cooking as we are heading away Saturday and going to the Champlain Valley EXPO Thursday so upon our return from our tropical cruise we will be posting more recipes and cooking along with reviews and giveaways!
(i know you’re thinking that’s supposed to be good – trust me delicious)
