Vegan MoFo VI - Product Review - Alpro/Provamel Puddin' Cups

I was gonna do the Blue Plate Special from Vegan Diner tonight, but I dicked around too long and finally decided that I didn't feel like making the waffles because it takes about 10 minutes per set of waffles.  So I ended up eating another burrito (mmm...burrito) and decided to do a product review.

I'll say right now that I don't get free stuff from companies.  I bought all of these at some point (apart from the one a friend gave me) and I'm reviewing them because I feel like it, not because I'm compelled to.  But hey, if Alpro (or any other vegan company) wants to hook me up, I won't say no.

So, I'm not entirely clear on this, but I think* Provamel and Alpro are essentially the same company, but Provamel only makes organic stuff, whereas Alpro mostly does non-organic but with a few organic things.  Basically, they have about the same products give or take a few, but the Alpro stuff tends to be fortified (and, at least for the vanilla soy milks, sweeter).  Alpro is sold in big box grocery stores, but Provamel is only sold in health food shops.

Both brands just call these things desserts, but if we were in the US, we'd be talking puddin' cups.  Different countries have different varieties on offer.  In the UK, Alpro offers vanilla, caramel, dark chocolate, and "smooth" chocolate (which I guess is meant to be like milk chocolate), while Provamel offers vanilla, chocolate, caramel and "moka" (according to their website - the package I have says cappuccino).  But other countries might have other things - I know for sure that Belgium gets Alpro speculoos puddin' cups, the lucky bastards.

The good stuff.

So how are they?  Well, I'll admit two things:  a) I've never tried the vanilla of either brand as far as I can recall, and 2) I can never remember which of the chocolate varieties I like.  That said, I quite like the Alpro caramel, though I prefer it mixed with chocolate.  The Provamel moka/cappuccino is good on its own (though I don't know where they get off calling it moka, which implies chocolate, when there's no chocolate in it).  And I think I like one of the Alpro chocolates, but I'm too cheap to buy both to figure it out because then I'll have a package of stuff I don't like (though I'm sure Mike would eat them).  Of course, the standout winner is the speculoos stuff, but I've only had that once (well, one package of 4) because, like I said, it's only available in Belgium.

They're also kinda diet friendly, if you're looking for that kind of thing.  My bff, who isn't even veg, loves the dark chocolate for a dessert, not only because it's tasty, but because it usually fits within her calorie budget.  (I can also confirm that the Alpro Light Chocolate Soya Milk works well if you need a hot chocolate fix but don't want to consume 500 calories in one cup.)

I'd definitely recommend giving these a try.  They're usually pretty tasty, not too bad for calories, and almost always on sale somewhere (at least the Alpro ones are - usually 2 for £2.50 at Sainsbury's and/or Tesco).

*Thanks for clearing that up, Professor Wikipedia!  Also, they're from Belgium, which is why the Belgians get all the good stuff first.

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 2 - Cookbook Challenge - Vegan Diner

Over on the PPK, we're doing what seems to be the annual Cookbook Challenge.  The point of this (if you've forgotten from the last 3 years) is that we vote on cookbooks from which to cook, then cook from them - 3 recipes each for the week that cookbook is chosen - posting the results in the dedicated thread.

As I mentioned yesterday, this week's book is Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson.  I hate to say it, but for some reason, though many of the recipes struck my fancy (because Lard knows I love diner food), I've hardly made anything from this book.

Tonight I made the Smoky Potato Scramble, because brinner is the best meal of the day.  The only mods I made were to slightly decrease the oil and slightly increase the nooch.  I'm super particular about my scramble, so I'm always pretty reluctant to try new ones.  And this one didn't have any cumin, so.

As it turns out, this was really, really good.  It suffered a bit health-wise by having onions as the only veg, but it was super tasty.  It was really easy to make, too, though slightly time-consuming due to having to first boil potatoes (which she does mention you can do the day before).  I think I'd make this again, though I'd maybe add some spinach or something to make it a bit healthier.

I had planned to make the Blue Plate Special - this scramble, cornmeal waffles, and gravy - but I didn't have the patience for it.  But I'm not firmly committed to my project for tomorrow (since we already have a pretty sizable amount of leftovers), so I think I'll make the other components tomorrow.

Do you have Vegan Diner?  What are your favourite recipes?

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 1 - Mike Makes Monday Meals

It's MoFo time again!

Yeah, I've been pretty crap at updating, in that I've posted once this year before today.  But I moved house, and I kinda hate my kitchen (I'll probably use a weekend post to explain why), so I haven't been terribly motivated to cook.  But I'm sucking it up for MoFo.

So, a brief overview of some of my plans - I don't have a particular theme for every day, only because I won't always be able to do the stuff the same day of every week.  But here's what I'm thinking:

Sunday Baking - I checked out Have Your Cake and Vegan Too from the library, so I'm using Sundays to try out the stuff I like the look of.  I'll make it on a Sunday and take it in to work the next day so Mike and I don't have to get through a cake every week.

Mike Makes Monday Meals - I'm going away on holiday for 3 weeks in November, which means Mike will have to fend for himself.  So he'll be making dinner every Monday to learn how to cook a few simple things so that he doesn't eat nothing but biscuits and hummus every day for 3 weeks.

British Food Fridays - There are a few classic British dishes that I'd like to try my hand at, so I'll post about these on a Friday (though I may make them the Thursday night).  So far, the only definite things I'm making are treacle tart and bakewell tart.  My co-workers are gonna get so fat.

Because of how Mike's schedule works, I can't be definite with any other days, partially because one of the things I'm doing is restaurant reviews.  I'll also be doing the Cookbook Challenge that's happening on the PPK.

This post encompasses two of my themes.  Tonight, Mike made the Quick and Hearty Chili from Vegan Diner, which is the current Cookbook Challenge book.

This was a great recipe to start with.  Mike said that he didn't feel like there were any complicated directions and that it was easy to make.  It was also incredibly delicious.

The only subs we made were to double the TVP, add an extra can of beans (so one each of red kidney, pinto, and black beans), leave out the cocoa powder (we didn't have any), and add a couple drops of hickory liquid smoke.  OK, maybe that sounds like a lot of changes, but it wasn't too drastic.  Anyway, it came together really quickly.  We ate it with rice - I had mine bowl-style with some mixed baby leaf salad on the bottom.  It was so, so good.  I would definitely recommend it.

I'm looking forward to making more from this book, and I'm looking forward to the rest of MoFo!

Still hungry

Oh hai!  I haven't blogged since the end of last year, so, just over 6 1/2 months.  Part of it is, as I'm sure you'll realise, laziness.  However, in fairness, I did move house, and the oven in our new(ish) place doesn't work.  So most of the time, I barely feel like cooking, let alone blogging about it.

However, I felt the need to blog about this.

This

...is a single serving of Mornflake Chocolatey Squares cereal*.

Look at that!  You can almost count the number of biscuits in the photo!

I wanted to title this blog post "People at Mornflake are on crack", because clearly there are drugs involved when you think that amount of cereal is gonna be filling for a grown-ass adult (the box is brown and doesn't have any cartoon animals on it, so I'm calling it an adult cereal).  Also, if you were to taste this cereal, you'd know that it's next to impossible to eat that little.  It's so good.  So. Good. The only cereal better than this is Speculoos cereal.

One 30g serving (dry) has about 143 calories.  And I've been eating probably thrice this amount plus milk with every bowl (and I like a lot of milk in my cereal).  I guess at least I'm getting a lot of extra vitamins and iron.  But this solves the mystery of why I've been gaining weight even though I'm working out 5 times a week.

I think I'm gonna go back to oatmeal** in the morning.

*Though not verified with the company, who would probably give me the "traces of milk" line, several thorough readings of the ingredient list assure me this is vegan.

**I recently bought 2 slow cooker cookbooks, and one of them, The Vegan Slow Cooker, has a few oatmeal recipes.  The author, Kathy Hester, has loads on her blog as well.

Catching up to finish the year

I took pictures of things that I made and then didn't bother to blog about them.  That's because I'm lazy.  But here they are.  First up, I finally made Mo's kolaches!

As you can probably tell from the picture, I did mine a bit differently from hers.  I actually remembered having kolaches when I was younger, and this is pretty much what I always got - sausage in bread.  These were good but, because I didn't have enough filling, they were way too bread-y.  I'll almost certainly make these again, but I'll probably use different sausage (and more of it) and make them smaller.

Next up is Xmas dinner!

I made porkless pie with Granose sausage mix and the buttery double crust (vodka variation, no sugar) from Vegan Pie in the Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  It wasn't exactly traditional, but it was probably the best porkless pie I've ever eaten.  I served it with leftover rice (I think I was ill and couldn't be bothered) and roasted broccoli.  Nom!

Dessert was yule log!  It was better than the last one I made, but that's not saying much.  Well, both were tasty, but this one was better looking, if only because it didn't fall apart as completely as the last one.  I used the chocolate cupcake and chocolate buttercream recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for this.  I'll probably try my hand at the log again, but I'll make a few changes - a) different filling (shocking as this is, I thought it was too much chocolate) and 2) use a bit of black cocoa powder for the buttercream to give it a darker, more log-like appearance.

And finally, our last meal of 2011!

This is the new Redwood's haggis with noochy Smash and steamed broccoli.  REDWOOD'S HAGGIS?!  It's really, really good - meatier texture than any other veg haggis I've ever had (it uses vwg), spicy, moist.  I haven't had f'real haggis for ... 8 years, and I think this might be the best fake I've ever had.  It's not just a bunch of kidney beans!  It could maybe be a little oatier, but otherwise it's excellent (as far as I can remember to compare).

I just had a look on the Redwood's site, and they don't even have it on there.  I think this might be a super secret Scotland-only product!  First time ever!  It kinda makes me feel special.  I hope no one is able to burst my bubble and tell me they have it in London or Brighton or something.

Anyway, last post of 2011!  I don't have much to say about 2011 - it was a mixed bag of mediocrity for me (including buying the flat, considering the work we have ahead of us), and I've heard a lot of people didn't have a great year.  So, here's to hoping that 2012 far exceeds 2011 in awesomeness!

PPK package swap!

It's the most wonderful time of the year ... that's right - PPK package swap time!  The swap always seems to happen around November/December, which is both good (treats are always good) and bad (let's just say I'm glad I already bought a party dress that's a bit too big).

The pic at the top is a bit small, so I'll just say what I got.  From left to right - soy curls, candy cane Joe-Joe's, TJ's maple cream cookies, dark chocolate bar, sea salt chocolate bar, Taza drinking chocolate, Clif spiced pumpkin pie and peppermint stick bars, two each of Go Max Twilight and Buccaneer bars, Sugar Plum Spice tea, agave sticks, and honey-flavoured agave nectar.  And everything is sitting atop an adorable Oregon tea towel!  We've already eaten a few Joe-Joe's and maple cookies, Mike had the peppermint stick Clif bar, and I made hot chocolate with the Taza chocolate.

It's such an amazing package, and I'm once again overwhelmed by the awesomeness and generosity of PPKers.  I also kinda feel like a dick because the package I sent was nowhere near as awesome.  I left out some stuff because postage was starting to cost more than the items themselves.  But then I got this, and she clearly spent more on shipping than on the stuff inside.  So I think Imma buy some more stuff and send her a second package (though maybe after Xmas so it doesn't get stuck in a warehouse for 2 weeks).

Oh, and bonus picture of the Taza drinking chocolate in action:

Lookit the foam on that bastard!  This was the first time I'd done proper Mexican hot chocolate (with the foaming, though I used my electric mixer with a whisk attachment instead of a molinillo).  It was pretty good, though it was kinda bitty.  Oh well.  The point to make here is that is a giant-ass mug, and it's half full of foam.  Mmm...foam.

I can't wait to see everyone else's swap packages!

Catch-up on testing and cookbook challenging

I'm so far behind blogging about tester recipes.  It's pretty bad.

A couple of weeks ago (seriously), I had 2/3 of the Ethnocrew to dinner for for Nigel Tufnel Day and, incongruously, Eastern European food.  Well, it wasn't all Eastern European - dessert was well American.  But here's how we got on.

We started with the Roasted Beet Salad with Apples and Dill Vinaigrette.  This was a project, and salad shouldn't be a project.  It took over an hour to make, mostly because I had to first peel and then roast the beets.  I wasn't terribly keen on it, but the girls liked it.  I think it might have been better if the beets had been a little saltier (and roastier) and if we'd left out the lettuce.  At least it was pretty.

Our main was Shchi (Sauerkraut and Mushroom Soup) with Sour Dilly Cream.  This was really nice, and the cream really brought the flavours together.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much the cream tasted like sour cream without actually containing vegan sour cream (i.e., Tofutti).  The soup was lovely as well.  It was just the right amount of healthy, salty, and comforting.

Dessert that night was two cookbook challenge recipes - Chocolate Chip Skillet Cake and Very Vanilla Ice Cream from Vegan Diner.  Let's not pretend that this is anything other than a giant chocolate chip cookie.  It was really good, though I would've liked it to be a bit moister.  The ice cream did what it says on the tin - it was very vanilla.  It worked really well with the cookie cake.  I quite liked both, but I think, if I made the ice cream again, I'd use a bit more soy cream so it was a little fattier/creamier.

I also made a couple of tester recipes this week:

Sunday night, I made Pumpkin Black Bean Posole (but with butternut squash instead of pumpkin).  I love posole.  This was lovely, light and comforting.  It was also easy and quick to throw together.  The only thing I'd change about it is that it needs more cumin.  I'd definitely make this again (but with more cumin).  I might like it with cornbread instead of corn chips, though the corn chips make a lovely presentation.  (NB - I didn't use most of the suggested toppings because I'm either allergic, don't like them, or couldn't be bothered.  It didn't detract from the deliciousness.)

This was tonight's dinner - Gnocchi with Roasted Tomato Caper Sauce and Braised Greens with Lemon and Olive Oil.  The gnocchi was good but salty:  olives + capers + added salt in the sauce and pasta = way too much salt.  I like the concept, so I'd probably do this again with tinned tomatoes (for the laziness/sauciness factor) and no added salt.  The greens (spinach, to be precise) were delicious, quick, and easy.  Seriously, about 15 minutes from washing to eating (or possibly less if I had been focused on one recipe at a time).  I'd definitely make this again.  It's kinda like a Mediterranean version of the chard recipe from Viva Vegan!, which is one of my favourite ways to eat chard.  Also, that doesn't look like much, but we ate an entire bag of spinach between the two of us.  I think Mike got more than I did though.  I was too generous.

Hopefully I'll keep up better with testing (and posting about testing) over the next couple of months, though we'll see what happens when we start moving flats and everything.  All being well, we get the keys next Friday (OMG!!!)!