Tag Archives: Vegenaise

The sandwich so fresh & juicy you eat it over the kitchen sink

Posted on September 9, 2013 | 4 comments

Growing up my family didn’t do a tremendous amount of gardening unless it was in the form of flowers, which my mother has always been extremely fond of. The landscaping of our home was meticulous. My grandma however, had a pretty good size garden which was kinda like a neighborhood garden before community gardens were all the rage. She and her neighbors would plant their favorite veggies between the sticky cherry tree and big tire swing, in front of the pine layer separating her home from the IGA, and just beyond the sandbox so that none of us would “go messin’ with it.” The garden made for two things: 1) the most amazing go-cart racing track was formed from its perimeter, and 2) the amount of tomatoes that came from it in August/September was something of the stuff legends are made.

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This is the “grown up” vegan version of the tomato sandwich that we would eat nearly every day in the summer at the peak of tomato season which was comprised of gooey Wonder Bread, Miracle Whip, heavy with salt, and layered with iceberg lettuce and fresh, juicy tomatoes. So messy and heavy that you would have to eat the sandwich over the sink or end up changing your shirt after lunch.

Tomato Sandwich

  • 2 pieces soft vegan bread, toasted lightly
  • 1 medium sized ripe tomato of your choice
  • 2 big knifefuls of Vegenaise, use BBQ flavor if you want it to really make it sing
  • 1 handful, fresh picked greens of your choice, pictured here, arugula

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To assemble: spread Vegenaise on bread, layer tomato slices with arugula, smash and enjoy over the kitchen sink.

4 Comments

Posted in Dinner, Fridge Finds, Less is more, Lunch, Meatless Monday, Michigan, Quick Cooking, Recipes, Seasonal Ingredients, Vegan, Vegan MoFo, Vegetarian

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Veganized BerryCakes

Posted on August 15, 2011 | 2 comments

I just finished watching the most disgusting video (I didn’t embed it it’s so violent) regarding the treatment of pigs and piglets on a large factory farm in Pennsylvania, seriously don’t watch it if you aren’t ready to make a lifestyle change.  Suddenly I don’t miss bacon anymore.  Which then made me again question why it is I’m NOT vegan.  All I can come back to is cheese, which is lame because I can find a sub for that.

Today I decided it’s time to embrace faux cheese and gradually veganize my kitchen, and make a bigger attempt at exempting animal products one at a time.  Recently I stopped in at Saffrons-A Gluten Free Marketplace which is a local (to West Michigan) place and to my surprise ended up speaking with the owner for a while.  In addition to the ENTIRE store being Gluten Free, he has a delightful array of vegan food products.  I bought some Daiya which I’ve had before and liked as far as faux cheese goes; I also got some coconut milk, coconut milk ice cream (which frankly tastes better than regular ice cream to me), quinoa pasta, “chicken less” vegan cubes of lower sodium bouillon for soups (it’s not soup season but it’s hard to find this stuff in the winter), an egg replacement (to see how it tastes) and Vegenaise.  The owner and I had a conversation about the varying Vegenaise types (he carries the hard-to-find Soy Free variety ), I settled on the reduced fat variety.  He mentioned how excited he was to attend a food show recently, and had the opportunity to sample a new Follow Your Heart product:  block cheese.  We talked fake cheese for a while and I mentioned he should carry Teese, from Chicago Soy Dairy our neighbors to the West, it’s amazing and used widely in even the most traditional deep dish pizza joints to help their vegan customers stay loyal.  He noted the name brand and said he’d try to get some in soon.  Talk about a delightful shopping experience.  Not only did I get to meet the OWNER, but he is going to look into one of my suggestions for a product to carry in his store?  Nice.

So what’s the point Adrienne?  Oh, yes…the point is today, I veganized my pancake recipe using coconut milk, earth balance, and ground flax seeds in place of cow milk, butter and eggs, and here it is for your animal-cruelty free enjoyment.

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Vegan Pancake Batter

  • 1 1/2 C all-purpose whole grain flour
  • 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 T sugar (optional)
  • 1 tsp vanilla (optional)
  • 1 1/4 C reduced calorie coconut milk
  • 1T ground flax seed and 2T hot water, mixed together and let set for about a minute or longer
  • 3 T melted Earth Balance spread
Whisk together the dry ingredients, make a well for the wet ones, and then incorporate them all to make a batter.  Pour by 1/4 C onto a griddle you have preheated to 350-365 degrees.  Flip when the pancakes rise and bubble let cook for about a minute more and then serve.
If you want to add fruit to your pancakes like I have done in the photo.  After you pour the batter onto the hot pan, wait until it rises slightly to put a handful of fresh but dry (not DRIED, just not wet) fruit onto the cake.  I have found this helps them cook through better than adding right after you drop the batter.  Keeps them looking like pancakes and less like sloppy pancakes.

2 Comments

Posted in Breakfast, Brunch, Gluten Free, Michigan, Product Review, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

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