It's not all salads people. I may have an omnivore day once and a while, but I've been eating meat less and less lately and finding new meat-free foods gets me all excited. Today I visited my local Organic Food Depot which is a great place to find, guess what, organic foods! They carry a lot of the same things as your Whole Foods would, but in a 500 sq. foot space. Today I was on a quest to find some vegan food items that I've had my eye on for a while. First, I picked up some Earth Balance buttery spread which, surprise, tastes just like butter though it is dairy free. I'm trying to find more dairy free products since cows milk is making my stomach increasingly unhappy so I also picked up some Daiya dairy free cheese in mozzarella flavor. This stuff claims to melt and stretch like real cheese and even looks like normal shredded mozzarella. They also have cheddar flavor which makes me want to try some vegan mac and cheese sometime soon. My favorite find was Field Roast slices. I purchased the lentil sage and wild mushroom flavor. They resemble slices from something like a pork tenderloin or deli meat, but they are completely vegan and can be eaten cold or heated up. I used these items to make myself the best sandwich I've made myself in a long time.
I spread some earth balance on my bread, fried up the field roast slices along with some cherry tomatoes, melted on some Daiya and plopped on some Nayonnaise eggless mayonnaise and it was awesome. The bun was perfectly buttery and the Field Roast slices were super savory and insanely good. I topped off my lunch with some spicy hummus from Trader Joes, some sliced carrot and my favorite Synergy Raw Kombucha: Divine Grape. In the past I've wondered how vegetarians can survive without something as filling and savory as a pile of deli-sliced lunch meat and a slab of cheese on bread. Now I know that vegan sandwiches aren't just vegetables on bread. This sandwich was, as the youths say "off the chain", and I'm not even a very good sandwich maker to begin with. I was very surprised at how good this sandwich was and I will definitely be making more of these. With the options available now, it's not too difficult to miss meat :)
If you haven't tried Veganaise- do! I've been vegan for a while and veg. for 3 years. Once I found Veganaise- my life was forever changed. I could eat it by the spoonfull. Also, daiya is, as I'm sure you know, so yum when melted. I think Bella Pizza and YNot use this brand in Ghent. It makes being vegan so easy.
ReplyDeleteNutritional Yeast flakes will help you in your vegan mac and cheese attempts. It's really hard to nail down a good recipe but the yeast falkes help for sure.
I think it's awesome that you are finding tasty vegan food to try.