Semi-Recent Eats Post

The last couple of weeks have been madness for me. I slacked off on the food photography a bit because I was too busy/rushed/preoccupied/forgetful, but I do have a few meals to share with you. Some of them date back a couple of weeks, which is why this is a "semi-recent" eats post.

Chickpea Noodle Soup (unfortunately watered down because I didn't realize how low I was on vegetable broth. Still decent, though.)


I had a coupon to try a free WayFare oat-based "cheese" product and picked up the Mexican-style spread to use in nachos. It's reminiscent of Play Food (cashew-based cheese sauce that was made and distributed just in the Kansas City area for a limited time). Though not as good as Play Food, this was still a nice addition to nachos.


It reads, "It Melts!" on the container, which I thought was strange, because it's already a spread. Then I glopped it on top of nachos before sticking the whole pan in the oven and why, yes, it really does melt!


I needed a fast dinner one night and decided to give this little carton of soup a whirl.

It has a beautiful color!

However, just a few bites in and I was done. I'm not sure what it was about it, but a few spoonfuls was more than enough for me. It is cashew-based, so it's kind of rich. The flavors are great, but overwhelming (for me) in large doses.

I finally tried a Tofurky pizza! I went with the fire roasted vegetable variety.

It tastes very much like a frozen pizza, especially the vegetables. The crust was pretty bland and I felt the pizza was too light on the sauce (I'm a saucy kind of gal). Otherwise, it was a decent pizza. I think in the future, should I decide to get another one, I'd get a plain "cheese" one and top it myself with fresher, better ingredients.


I had read a few reviews of Mary's Gone Crackers around the blogosphere, so when I saw them on sale at a nearby health food store, I decided to give them a whirl. (And I also happened to have some "smoked cheddar" variety of WayFare spreads.)


I picked up the "original" flavor of crackers (seemed like a good place to start). The crackers are wheat-free and gluten-free, with ingredients including brown rice, whole quinoa, flax seeds, and sesame seeds.

The crackers are very thin and crispy. They just barely held up to the WayFare spread. I could taste every single grain that was used in the cracker, which was pretty cool. No weird fillers -- you can taste it all! I wouldn't pay full price for these, but if they're on sale, I would certainly be inclined to purchase them again.

I hate coffee. The only thing I'll order at a coffee shop, typically, is an iced soy chai tea (and it has to be iced because I always burn my tongue on coffee shop hot beverages. I'm such a wimp). Anyway, those things are expensive, and I prefer to keep some chai concentrate on hand and make my own. I gave this brand a try and found it overwhelmingly clove-y. If you really like the taste of cloves, this would be the brand for you. It gave me a bit of a flashback of the clove cigarettes of my high school years. Blech.


While house- and dog-sitting over the holidays, I made a big batch of black bean-veggie stew. I'm very pleased with how it came out.


I kind of hate corn, but it was included in an otherwise-awesome blend of veggies from Publix, so I made an exception.


Some Mary's Gone Crackers went well with this, too.

The new year is around the corner and this year, I am determined to make something with black-eye peas "for luck," since I've never done that before. Hopefully I can find the time and energy to make it happen. If I do, you'll see it here!

So We Wheat Again

I had a few run ins with that bully, Wheat last week. I don't know if Wheat is more a bully or a sweet talker, but either way, Wheat is trouble!

I went to the Loving Hut in Tampa for the first time last week to listen to a presentation from Nick Cooney, the director of the Humane League. There also happened to be a very affordable buffet for the occasion, so I hopped in line. Unfortunately, most of the offerings were pasta-based. Ho hum.
At least there was soup, which was PERFECT because it was a cold night.

This soup had an interesting consistency. It was mostly creamy. It had coconut, rice, and tofu.
I went ahead and grabbed a little bit of everything, for the sake of reviewing. (The things I do for this blog, eh?)

Another con to the offerings: too many mock meats! Mock meats weird me out a bit. I definitely did not like the meatballs, and the chicken-esque bits in that creamy pasta dish were a little too realistic (I haven't eaten meat since 1995, but those chunks almost gave me a disturbing flashback). That dish could have used more broccoli and other veggies, less weird stuff, though the sauce was awesome. (I'm not sure if this was supposed to be like alfredo sauce or not. I don't remember what alfredo tastes like!) The tofu was fine and the eggplant chunks were a bit undercooked. So really, the offerings were VERY hit or miss. This tapioca-based pudding was fun, though.

The creamy pasta with mushroom and broccoli was the best of the options.

This was my first time at the Loving Hut, and a friend of mine there said that the buffet offerings didn't quite reflect their regular menu. I'd be willing to give them another try some day.

Then the next day, a friend invited me out to pizza. Oy. Not the smartest of moves, but when a nice person invites you to get pizza, you go, am I right? We went to Mellow Mushroom. Unfortunately, their gluten-free crusts are not vegan, but their regular crust and sauce is. They now offer Daiya cheese, as well.
My friend ordered a small field salad, which I helped eat.


Hummus was also ordered (note the cucumber slices - that'd be my wheat-free dippers right there).


We ordered the pizza with the most veggies on it: the Mega Veggie sans cheese. Since it included crumbled tofu, we skipped the Daiya.

sun dried tomatoes, green peppers, spinach, mushrooms, olives, onions, broccoli, Roma tomato, and artichoke hearts. Whew! Mellow Mushroom should make the Mega Veggie available as a salad, as well.

So, between Loving Hut and Mellow Mushroom, I was quickly wheated out. I'm ashamed to admit this, but because of my schedule these days, I hadn't cooked at home in days. I'd just been eating salads, raw veggies with hummus, Larabars, and then eating on the go with friends. On Wednesday, I was happy to get back in the kitchen and whip up a couple dinners for myself: Wednesday night I roasted Brussels sprouts with bell peppers and ate it with quinoa and spinach. Thursday night I made a cozy little pot of red lentil stew, throwing in the leftover quinoa at the last minute. It all worked together nicely. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of either of these, nor of the dinner and dessert I made with my friend, D: stuffed green bell peppers and a fruit crisp. I've been slacking, folks!

I won a coupon for a free Tofurky product during Vegan MoFo and finally used it a few days ago on their Hickory Smoked Tempeh Bacon. Before trying this product, I hadn't been able to find a way to truly enjoy tempeh.

Let me say, I LOVE THIS! Granted, there is SOME wheat in it, but it's soooo good. I didn't even heat it; I just tore the strips into pieces and added them to a salad, and it was heavenly.

I will certainly be purchasing this tempeh again.
And of course, everything is better with Annie's goddess dressing.

Speaking of goddess dressing, I have turned TWO people to the ways of the goddess: a fellow vegan, and an omnivore. Goddess is quite the siren of salad dressings.

Also, check out this CLUB of Annie's I picked up at the Greenwise Market a couple of weeks ago.

BAM! You could seriously club someone with this bottle.

And it was less than a dollar more than what the normal size would cost at any other grocery store.