New-To-Me Vegan Finds & Booch Results!

BOOCH!

Here is some of the finished product from the 1st batch of Kombucha that my Dad and I did.  We just went with the 1st brew and flavored with slices of oranges in the middle one and whole blueberries on the two on the left.  The one on the right is my Dad's experiment with ginger and cinnamon.  The blueberry was ok...next time I think I will blend the blueberries and then add it to the booch.  Altho I haven't finished the orange one (I have only sipped at little) I am totally LOVING the orange one!  We had to pitch one of the smaller batches due to mold but the large 2 quart and a smaller mason jar worked well...we even grew 2 baby SCOBY'S!  We started another small batch and in about a week and a half or so I want to try for the 2nd brew and carbonation!

I waited for as long as I could but had to break down and go shopping the weekend before last.  I stopped at Whole Foods Co-Op in Erie and they had a bunch of new products and a slew of sales...FIGURES...I didn't have a lot of money to go on a spree...but I did find some new-to-me items including these bagels!

And Miyoko's!  I think it was $2 off!  I know I have had some of her other vegan cheese - like the pub cheeses - and flavored cream cheeses - but this might have been the first time I have tried the 'straight up' plain vegan cream cheese.  And let me tell you...I LOVED IT!

Target in Erie expanded their vegan offerings, too, including a pumped up Sweet Earth section!  I already ate these Aloha BBQ Quesadillas.  They were ok but I don't think I would buy them again unless they were on sale.  They really didn't look anything like the photo.  The vegan cheese was near non-existent, I couldn't really taste the pineapple either.  They didn't taste bad but I I was thinking they would have layer upon layer of flavor but they really didn't.  They are good if you are in a hurry, however.

Another Sweet Earth meal I found was this.  Again...if you can find them on sale they are worth a taste.  With this I did appreciate that the cauliflower was actually roasted.  It was literally a little bit of mac with cauliflower on top.  There wasn't much vegan cheese sauce at all.  Luckily I had some of my Vegan Alfredo left over from a previous meal that I added on top and mixed it.  The flavor was good but it really could use more sauce!

Check these 'bad boys' out!  Daiya came out with some vegan yogurts.  But not just ANY vegan yogurt...CRUMBLE Yogurts!  As I type this I am eating the Key Lime one now and the taste is certainly a flavor EXPLOSION!  This Key Lime is right up there with the Lemon Cashewgurt for me - and that is saying a lot!

I haven't tried this one yet but if it's anything like the Key Lime one I know I will be a fan!  These are NICELY done.  Word to the wise...be sure to stir these well!  They are VERY thick!  That in itself puts it in the WIN category for me because many of the vegan yogurts I have had up to this point have been runny and/or thin.  

And finally, Kite Hill Ricotta!  It's the first time I have seen it locally and that was at my local Tops.  However, it was EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE, but I felt like I had to buy some to support the addition of a new product at that store so I did.  Of course, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to get more, so I hope they have it on sale VERY SOON!

Vegan Finds, Changes, & Updates!

I was going back thru a slew of photos I have been sitting on since my hiatus and realized just how many I still have yet to post - to blog about - and to share!  This post will be just as busy as yesterday's if not BUSIER!  First I wanted to share with you a salsa I made.  I was lazy the other day and opened a cheap storebought salsa.  It was pretty underwhelming.  Once I added sweet corn and black beans it made all the difference in the world!

Before fair week I went to Wegman's for one last shopping session before all the fair craziness!  My mother and I went and had their salad bar.  This is what I was able to find and it was tasty!  There were 2 kinds of greens for salad base, pickled sweet peppers, butternut squash zoodles, carrots, mushrooms, various seeds, cabbage, peas, artichokes, etc.  I believe I topped it with a Pomegranate Balsamic of sorts. 

One of the items I finally broke down and purchased was Miyoko's Vegan Butter.  I had not yet tried this because it's usually quite pricey.  I remember it being on sale by a buck or two so I figured WHY NOT.

I grabbed a package of these to have in the camper freezer.  I have had them before and with the right dipping sauce, they are pretty good.  

In my travels over the last couple of months I have been seeing more and more places carrying Lenny & Larry's!  I remember having them when they first hit the food shows last year and enjoyed the ones I tried up to that point.  I was just so excited that I saw these at our local Sheetz that I had to grab one!

I picked up these but I cannot remember where I got them.  I want to say they were over at the new Giant Eagle in Erie but I could be wrong.  They were pretty tasty.  I would probably purchase them again if I came across them.

These Vegan Potato and Onion Pierogies were something left from last last Ohio Trip.  They were YUMMY and I remember making a Cashew Based Alfredo Sauce which was even better than the Pierogies themselves!  I was just sooooo thrilled to find a storebought Vegan Pierogies that I couldn't pass them up!

About a month ago or more I made my first online BRANDLESS purchase.  There were a few things that didn't go as planned with my order but it all worked out in the end.  This was one of the things I bought and I am so happy I did!  It's delicious!  And I'm not going to lie...I recently had a couple of spoonsful stand alone and straight up.  I know that's weird but it was tasty and I bet would make a good soup!

One thing I made before Fair Week kicked in was this Lentil Curry.  I just used what I had on hand (which wasn't much) but I made do with what I did have.  Lentils from a Halal Market in Buffalo, Frozen Spinach, Canned Coconut Milk, Canned Stewed Tomatoes, and some spices.  It turned out fine and dandy!

Next up is this Vegan Camping Food Plate.  I have to apologize for the foam plate.  I don't usually buy them or use them.  It was someone elses and it was a thrown together potluck meal.  My mother made Baked Beans which were vegan and no one even knew.  I made the Sweet and Sugary Tomato Salad and there wasn't much of that left.  I used an organic and vegan natural sugar for it.  I also made the Vegan Macaroni Salad which is now being requested by many on the fairgrounds.  Of course that makes me smile.  I'm glad I'm not the only one eating the vegan stuff...eventho...the other people aren't vegan.

One of the new things over at the VIP Tent during fair week was the 'throw back' looking popcorn machine.  The accidently vegan kicker was the 'buttery' look...it was actually a non-dairy coconut oil base.  YAY!

Our fair was the first full week of August but this past weekend we went to a neighboring fair.  We were treated to a special 'ice cream' and because it wasn't vegan I wanted to participate somehow.  I noticed they had frozen bananas on a stick.  I asked if they could do one PLAIN and she said yes.  Oddly...I HATE BANANAS!!!!  But I thought I would step out of my lil box of comfort and try it.  When it was completely frozen it wasn't too bad.  When it started to thaw I couldn't handle the banana taste or aroma.  I ate what I could and shocked my husband in the process!

I did find another accidently vegan option this past weekend, too!  This was a Blooming Potato!  I asked the vendor about the oil and the fryers all they used in the fryer was potatoes and the oil base was vegetable.  There were tons of toppings you could opt for but I stuck with the basic potato and hit up the condiment bar.  I put onion, relish, and ketchup on them and they were VERY filling!  It was a WHOLE POTATO afterall!  I shared with about 6 other people, too!  It was a real winner!

Not sure if I mentioned on the blog but I mentioned on my IG that our town recently got a new Ollie's Bargain Outlet!  I used to visit the one in Erie when I was around and always had to hit up their book section for vegan cookbooks!  Now I don't have to go to Erie!  I have one right here!  So far I have bought at least 4 or 5 discount vegan books there and added them to my collection.  This was one of them.  It was only $2.99.

I absolutely LOVE this photo I was able to take of one of the stray cats in our neighborhood.  I felt bad for her that she was stray but she seems to be fine with being outside.  Prior to leaving for fair she was laying and sleeping on our front steps and stoops.  As soon as I approached her she would run away.  I haven't seen her in about a month.  I hope she's ok.  I always worry about our busy street and animals getting hit.

Another thing I haven't updated you all about in a while is my adorable niece who FINALLY started walking the past couple of weeks.  My mom and dad watch her 3 times a week and took her to a local park yesterday.  Here she is with my mother and their dog Lexi.

And speaking of furkids...here are my two pups!  They have been doing more and more of this since we lost Paco.  Riley is about 17 years old and our feral cat Charlie is 18 so I'm afraid what the future may bring with the two of them being older at the same time.  

Cricket is about 5 now, I think.  She is still the Queen of the Castle.

And another thing I forgot to tell you was that I finally cut my hair a couple of months ago and think I'm already due for another haircut!  With my last two haircuts they cut off about 14 inches of hair!  WOWZA!

2 Items I Didn't NEED...But BOUGHT Anyways!

Before I get to the 2 items I didn't NEED but bought anyways...I thought I would show you my BRUNCH today!  It's Sweet Earth's Kyoto Stir Fry Bowl.  It's something I picked up about a month ago while on our regional shopping spree.  I found it at the Erie Target.  It had some heat to it and I liked it!  I don't eat enough Edamame mostly because it's not often readily available where I live.  As are many things, I suppose.  But I still make do with what I have.  Don't we all?

On to the FIRST of TWO items I didn't NEED but bought anyways!  I found this 'bad boy' at my local Tops!  I was just strolling thru the aisles and saw it.  I swear the sky opened up and the angels sang!  Garlic Tahini?  All in one tub?  AWESOME!  I know I am probably LATE TO THE PARTY here and this may not be a NEW item or a NEW brand to many/all of you but it is me!  I haven't seen the Sesame King brand here so I was pretty stoked!

Come to find out they have other FLAVORS of Tahini, too!  They have Light Roast, Roasted, Honey, Chocolate, Garlic, Olive Oil, Cajun, and Tomato Basil!  Out of all of them I have to say I am the most excited about the Tomato Basil and the Cajun!  Other than the Garlic I bought, of course!  Too bad my local Tops only sells the Garlic.  I totally understand why they only carry that one, tho!  It's a new product and an alternative product and not many people around here would be looking for it in an aisle!

The other item I bought this past week but didn't really NEED to was Mikoyo's Sundried Tomato Garlic!  I was in Erie on Saturday and stopped by the Whole Foods Co-Op and found it on sale again!  $2 off!  How could I resist!?  So this was $7.99 and the Tahini was $4.99.  That's already $13 for those 2 items so eventho I won't be doing that much more shopping this week I did splurge a bit on those TWO items!  I realized I haven't shared with you pics from the meal I had with my parents/sister over the weekend - hopefully tomorrow!

But for today I will leave you with another furkid foto!  Here is Paco and Cricket from the other night.  I think Paco was just as surprised as I was that Cricket took time out of her busy schedule to plop right down next to him and take a nap on the sofa!  It's nearly spring and that means that Paco's eyes will be watery and staining.  It's time for me to do a natural and gentle pet friendly eye wash SOON!  It will go on the fur NOT the eye, of course!

Eating Vegan On A Budget: Stretching Your Vegan Cheese Recipes

If not all of my vegan cheese sauces - MOST of my vegan cheese sauces seem to be a 'one and done'.  Meaning I throw everything into my blender - wet and dry - make the cheese sauce - and throw it on whatever I am wanting to CHEESE UP.  Especially if I am using cashews or another kind of nut for the creamy base this will be a pretty expensive vegan cheese sauce...considering a pound of cashews are anywhere between $11 and $16.  When I have made Vegan Cheese Sauces in the past I usually use 1 cup of cashews on the average.  So that means 1 cup of cashews for 1 dish.  After Googling this I have noticed that you usually get about 4 cups of cashews in a pound.  So that means that I'm spending between $2.75 and $4 per dish just on the cashews (if they are between 11 and 16 bucks).  WHAT?  OMG!  So...there is a method for all of this MADNESS here, REALLY!  PROMISE!  Keep reading...

I recently came across a recipe on Veg Kitchen and it was a recipe from Miyoko Schinner.  Yes...THAT Miyoko Schinner!  Miyoko...the Vegan Cheese Goddess!  You can see her recipe at the link above.  You know me - I use what I have on hand - so I tried a few tweaks - and they seemed to work nicely!  The first photo above is the aftermath of this recipe my first day.  The second photo is from ALMOST the beginning.  I used my Vitamix.  I can't believe I'm going to say this but I don't think a Vitamix is the way to go with this.  Unless you are REALLY patient and do it 'low and slow'.  If you KNOW ME - you know I'm NOT the most patient person.  It WORKED tho!  This was my first attempt.  There were some clumps but I put individual portion sizes of the dry mix in the refrigerator and then when I took one of them out I put it in a coffee grinder to loosen and 'all was well.'

Here you can see the coffee grinder attempt to 'fluffen' the dry powdery mix.  I have a small coffee grinder that I use for spices and such.  I don't use it as an actual coffee grinder.  When making the actual SAUCE I take 1/3 C of this mixture and whisk it into 1 C of Almond Milk and about 1/3 C Water.  And then you have your sauce.  I was able to get at least 4 batches of sauce with this dry mix.  It's described my many as a vegan equivalent to the dry mix in boxed Mac & Cheese!

So if I was able to get at least 4 uses out of this dry mix - the serving sauce on the cashew part - is between 69 cents and $1 - if the 1 pound of cashews cost $11 to $16.  I know this has been one HUGE blab fest about the cost of cashews and serving sizes but I thought it was interesting.  This will NOT make me stop trying other Vegan Cheese Sauces, flavors, mixtures, etc. but it's certainly something to keep in mind when the bank account it lower than usual.

I will say that it tasted quite good.  It's not a sharper cheese sauce like some of mine are but it more than gets the job done.

In this photo you can see what it looks like as I whisked!  Yes, I know, I'm a messy cook!

What do you think so far?  I have more photos!

In this attempt - the same one as above - I used a tomato based penne pasta.  It was pretty fabulous!  In the photo below I added some Turmeric to the dry mix or even while on the stove top heating and thickening.  It made it more orange/yellow.  I used organic pasta.  The elbow variety of course.  I topped with Wildtree Dill.  It was YUMMY.  At first I thought that there was a lot of sea salt in this but it worked.  And if you think about salt/sodium in those boxed powders it probably levels up!

Here's the recipe I used - including my own alterations...

1 C Cashews
3/4 C Nutritional Yeast
1/2 C Garbanzo Bean Flour
1 T Smoked Paprika
1 T Organic Cane Sugar
3 tea Black Himalayan Sea Salt
2 tea Wildtree Absolutely Onion
2 squirts Yellow Mustard

I put all of these ingredients into a blender/grinder until powdery.

1/3 C Dry Mix
1 C Almond Milk
1/3 Water

Whisked on low to medium heat until desired consistency is reached.

Eton on Chagrin, Miyoko's Vegan Cheese, Vegan Mushroom Melt at Melt Bar & Grilled, Another Vegan Dipping Sauce, & Leucistic Red Tailed Hawk...

I've been telling you bit and pieces of my trip to Trader Joe's and other places in and around Woodmere, OH, which is near Mentor, OH.  We usually go to the Whole Foods Market out there when we do go but I wanted to specifically stop at Trader Joe's this time around!  It's was INSANELY busy!

This Trader Joe's in Woodmere is within a shopping development called Eton on Chagrin Boulevard.  If you have a minute be sure to check out the website...the design of the shopping center is STUNNING!  I wish I had more time to visit the other stores.  Hopefully in the spring.

I've also been chatting about the Whole Foods Co-Op in Erie, PA, the last few days and I forgot to tell you that they now carry Miyoko's Vegan Cheeses.  I was able to grab this one!  It's the first of the Miyoko's I have been able to try and I have to say I'm in LOVE!  It was on sale for $2 off!  It's expensive but a little bit goes a LONG way!  It's creamy and much more of a spread than a hard solid cheese.  The flavor is very rich and flavorful!  I'm so grateful I was finally able to locate it and purchase it!

I couldn't help but try it with pasta!  I added a few table spoons of the vegan cheese and melted it with a little Earth Balance and Almond Milk.  It was tasty!

Also I have been telling you more about our latest trip to MELT Bar & Grilled!  I was telling you about their Mushroom Melt I brought home.  This is one of their graphics - of course I opted for the VEGAN one!  The Caramelized Onions really took it to the next level flavor-wise!

Last night for dinner I had the Anasazi Burrito from Sweet Earth and I made a Peanut Dipping Sauce for it.

Again...not the BEST photo of the sauce...but you get the picture!  Here's the recipe...

About 1 C Peanut Butter

1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 C Water

5 Squirts Bragg's Liquid Aminos

4 T Agave Nectar

1 Garlic Clove, Minced

Lemon Pepper to taste

More Water if needed

On our way home I saw something beautiful!  Something that I don't ever remember seeing before!  It ended up being a Leucistic Red Tailed Hawk.  This photo isn't mine but it's very close to the bird I saw!  You can read more about these birds HERE.