Friday, December 18, 2015

So Much Food!

                                      
This is one of my favorite vegan cooking YouTube channels, and I just watched this video, and almost drooled! I have made the General Tso's cauliflower many times now, and love it so so much, and I just bought a head of cauliflower yesterday! I have to make this. I've been meaning to make cauliflower wings, but I always end up craving the General Tso's. I will be making this very soon. Don't you just love getting new ideas?
I  went searching for bulk yesterday and failed miserably. So far since being back in Seattle, several stores that used to have nice size bulk bins have downsized drastically. One thing that is in abundance in bulk is granola! It's the weirdest thing. I guess I'm going to have to use Whole Foods as my bulk connection. There's one other store called the Ballard Market that has a very nice bulk section, but from what I remember it is always a zoo. The store can be a graveyard, but the bulk section will be at full capacity. I remember many times of not getting everything I needed because I just felt too claustrophobic. I guess I'll have to compare the two to see which store is more comfortable. I did find some bulk lentils, so I guess it wasn't a total fail. Sigh.
I splurged and got these. It's been quite awhile since I've had Tofurky sausages. I don't even know if I've had this flavor, but they sound delicious! I'm a big fan of Tofurky's new look. Very classic, just like them!
My chocolate drawer was dangerously low, so I needed to stock up. The Ritter sport bars were on sale two for four, which is a great deal. I won't embarrass myself by admitting  how many I bought. It's the holidays!
I've never seen the little mini peppers with purple peppers! I feel like I don't eat enough purple food, so this should help.
Last night I got around to making dinner later than planned, so I looked into my freezer and found a bag of Gardein Crab cakes that I've been wanting to try forever. I decided to make crab cake tacos as suggested on the back of the bag.
Very flaky inside. They nailed it.
I made a quick spicy mayo sauce with Just Mayo and Texas Pete's hot sauce, and made tacos with lettuce, green onion and cilantro. The crabcakes are crispy on the outside, and seriously flaky on the inside. I don't know how they do it. Gardein is really excellent at textures. To be honest I probably wouldn't buy these again because they are VERY sea-like.  My mouth had the taste of fish and it just wasn't for me. If you loved and miss crab cakes, these will be your best friend. These will make your vegan life complete. Or, if you know someone who says they just can't give up seafood, serve them these, and say welcome to Veganville!
I also learned of a new snack that is vegan, and I've walked by it a MILLION times never knowing!
You see white cheddar from a company that isn't a vegan company, and you walk on by. I forget where I read/heard that this was vegan, but sure enough it is. It says vegan certified on the back of the bag and everything. It doesn't have a super strong cheddar flavor, but it's still really tasty. I prefer earth Balance popcorn for sure, but this Skinny Pop is much easier to find. Even here in Seattle Earth Balance snacks aren't the easiest to come across. This popcorn is also non GMO which is important, especially for corn. Anyway, it's always nice to find another "accidentally vegan" snack!
It's Friday, so It's a little late for MidWeek Munchies, but let's just call it LateWeek munchies for today!







11 comments:

  1. I love grocery hauls and seeing new things! Purple peppers must have a ton of anti-oxidants as well as being fun to say - "Petulant Paula perused the plaza to purchase purple peppers". :) I like those Ritter Marzipan bars, too. I'm not a big chocolate fan but there's a brand of holiday bars by Chocolove that had currants, cherries, orange, nuts & ginger that intrigued me enough to try last year at Whole Foods. Okay, last week I saw them at Mother's Market & there were 6 left in the box, on sale for 1.89 each. So no judgment from me ;)

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    1. I love seeing grocery hauls too! It;s funny, when you cut into the purple peppers, the inside is a light green, kind of like a Hungarian pepper!
      That bar sounds amazing! I'm going to Whole Foods sometime this week to get some bulk stuff, I will have to look out for that bar!

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    2. If you can't find any, I'll mail you some of mine :)

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    3. Ha! Thanks! I'm going to Whole Foods tomorrow! (yikes)

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  2. I hope those Crab Cakes make it down here. The fish filets are here, but I feel weird about buying those.

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    1. I love the fish, these are a million times more realistic. They're so flaky too. Like I said, gardein really is great with textures!

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  3. Funny hubby and I are the opposite with popcorn situation. We liked the Skinny Pop more than the Earth Balance. Weird right? I think there is a particular taste in the popcorn in the Earth Balance that is too much for me, maybe they are trying to replicate the same mouth feel as cheese? I can't place my finger on it.

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    1. I agree, the Earth Balance has the same strong taste as their mac and cheese. It's a strong like butter/nutritional yeast or something like that. I feel like the skinny pop needs a little more, and EB a little less. They need to mate and have a baby! But I am super glad that Skinny Pop is vegan because it is much easier to find, and also a little cheaper.

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    2. Yeah I like that taste in the mac and cheese, not sure why not in popcorn. BUT I do like the type of corn they pop more than the skinny pop. It is much denser which I like.

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    3. I agree, it's almost like it isn't popcorn. I really think they need to mate, and out will come the perfect vegan popcorn!

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