Vegan MoFo 2014 - Natural Selection Foods

Sorry about the photo-less post - I can't be arsed turning on my laptop, so I'm doing this from my iPad. I'm being lazy in another way in that I'm just gonna talk about a shop because I just made standard tofu scramble for dinner, which is nothing new.

Yesterday we went to lunch with Mike's mum at the city centre-ish location of Bonsai. When we left, I noticed a new shop around the corner, so we checked it out. It's called Natural Selection Foods, which frankly makes me a little uncomfortable. They mostly have stuff like packaged nuts and dried fruits, teas, flours, and snack bars, which I guess is where the natural part comes in. I think it's the muscle gain products that put that bit of discomfort in.

They had some high-protein cookies that happened to be vegan, so we got some of those. The brand is Lenny and Larry's, which I would've linked to but I keep getting an error on their site. They also did a lot of the other body builder-type snacks (like Fit brownies or something like that). Anyway, we got a chocolate chip, a double chocolate chip, and a pumpkin spice cookie, and we ate the first two when we got hot chocolate at Starbucks (ha!). I thought they were good for GF cookies, and then I realised that they weren't GF. Oops. They weren't bad, but they were a little dry. I think that's because they're kinda fitness snacks, so instead of fat they have a protein flour blend. They were £2.50 each, but I'm not sure if that was reasonable or a rip off. They were pretty big, but still.

We worried going in that this shop would give Real Foods a run for their money, but I think RF is safe. Like I said, they mostly just have snacks, whereas RF has pretty vastly different stuff. NSF doesn't have chocolate, toiletries, fresh fruit and veg, frozen or fridge foods, etc. I think the two shops would compliment each other, but I don't think one will drive the other out of business.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Sunday Baking: Whole Wheat Beer Bread

It's Sunday baking day!  Today I made the Whole Wheat Beer Bread from Cookin' Crunk.

Warm bread always means jam piece for me.

Beer breads are pretty great - you get freshly baked bread in about an hour, and you don't have to knead!  This came together so quickly that I actually had to do some other stuff while my oven pre-heated before I put the beer in because I didn't want to mess up the chemical reaction by having it sit around before going in the oven.

So, as you can see, I used Innis & Gunn Toasted Oak IPA*.  I had a wee taste of it before I poured it into the bowl, and it was super hoppy.  That really comes out in the bread.  Unfortunately, what I can't handle with beer is the hops part, so I thought the bread had a bitter note to it.  The slice on the right is a bit thicker than the slice on the left, and I almost gave up on the bread because the bitterness overwhelmed the sweetness of the jam.

Apart from that, it's got a lovely texture - slightly dense (without feeling like a brick), moist, and soft.  It definitely has potential, and I think it's my mistake that makes it not fantastic.  Since this is the first time I've made this, I'm gonna assume it's the particular beer and not the recipe itself, because I have had beer breads I've enjoyed.  I might try this again with a less hoppy beer.

*Innis & Gunn are Edinburgh brewers, and most if not all of their beers are vegan.  Woot!

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Bagels I've known

First things first - I am so annoyed with myself that I didn't call my coffee post Coffee Talk.  Seriously, what is wrong with me?

Moving on and speaking of cop-out posts, today is another because I don't really have anything to talk about.  I thought I might review a cafe I went to this afternoon, but I ended up only getting cake because none of the savoury food appealed (and they had surprisingly few vegan options knowing that a large group of vegans was visiting).  And this place is known to be shutting in the next 6 months, so really there's no point.

So I'm gonna talk about bagels.

I eat a bagel for breakfast almost every day.  But I don't think I can call myself a bagel purist.  I mean, I'm Southern, and we don't really do bagels the way the North (specifically NY) does bagels.  I grew up on frozen Lender's Bagels and never knew a fresh bagel until adulthood.  I had one bagel when I visited NYC and, sadly, wasn't that impressed.  I think that's mostly because I like my bagels toasted, and this bagel was cold (baked that day, but not fresh from the oven).  It was alright because garlic bagel, but it wasn't the life-altering experience I expected a NY bagel to be.  And of course, living in the UK, I only have access to store-bought bagels.

That said, I do have preferences.  I used to favour plain bagels, but then I discovered sesame.  I can't remember why I picked up the sesame bagels - either I was curious or that was the only variety available other than the dreaded cinnamon raisin (cinnamon yes, raisin no*).  But now sesame is my go-to bagel.

I've made my own bagels before (the ones in Vegan Brunch, I think), and they were great.  But I sucked at shaping them, and even though it was pretty easy as far as bread-making goes, it was still far more complicated and difficult than buying them.  I convinced myself it was so easy to make them that I shouldn't ever have to buy them again, so I went without for months.  Those were dark times.

As far as brand - Sainsbury's bakery only.  I've tried every other store and shelf brand (New York Bagel Company, you're fooling no one), and the Sainsbury's bakery bagels are the only ones that are even tolerable.  I think the most disappointing bagels I've ever eaten were the Asda sesame bagels - they looked and felt exactly the same as Sainsbury's, but once cut and toasted, you realise that they're horribly dry in the middle.  They were so bad, worse even than Tesco because at least you knew going in that those were inferior.

I always eat them toasted.  I just can't handle cold bagels.  I've eaten my bagels the same way forever - toasted, layer of margarine, then a layer of cream cheese (Tofutti - other brands here have a wang).  If I'm honest, they're mostly a conveyance for cream cheese.  I think I've tried other things - I'm pretty sure I've had a plain bagel with either chocolate hazelnut spread or Speculoos because sometimes I run out of cream cheese.

Like I've said before, I'm a creature of habit.

I'm sure my bagel-eating ways will be blasphemous to some, but I like what I like. So what are your feelings about bagels?  Favourite flavour?  Toppings?  Toasted vs untoasted?

*OK, so I think I've mentioned my thing about dried fruit but never explained.  I have issues with the texture and appearance of dried fruit in things.  Frankly, it creeps me out.  And when I bite into dried fruit, especially when I'm not expecting it, honestly, my eyes water and I gag a little bit, and I sometimes think I might cry.  So, not that this is likely, but if you ever want to make me something, don't put dried fruit in it unless you want me to cry.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Review: Pizza Express

I may or may not have reviewed Pizza Express before, but I’m not bothering to check.  I mean, since Mike introduced his dad to the Pizza Express near our flat, it’s the only place we ever go when he’s in town.  Ever.  So I’ve eaten there a fair few times, which means I might have written about it before.

The reason I’m (re-)reviewing now is twofold:  a) They now have a pizza that’s specifically vegan, and 2) On our last visit, they told me which wines are vegan, and since they all have the same wine list, this information is pertinent to everyone.

So, the wine list:  We took my bff Eva to PE for one of my birthday dinners in August.  They’d sent me a voucher for a free bottle of Prosecco, so I asked the server if she knew whether or not it was vegan.  About 5 minutes later, we got tired of waiting and looked it up*.  While we were in the middle of that, the manager actually came out and gave us the full list of wines that are suitable for vegans.  Well, actually, he gave us the list that *aren’t* sfv.  So here are the vegan wines:

Pizza Express vegan-safe wine list
Red:
Nero d'Avola Syrah, Sicily, Italy
Merlot, Sicily, Italy
Barbera d'Alba D.O.C., Piemonte, Italy
Chianti Riserva D.O.C.G., Tuscany, Italy

White:
Grillo Chardonnay, Sicily, Italy
Trebbiano, Marche, Italy
Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand
Gavi, Piemonte, Italy

Rosé:
Merlot Rosé, Veneto, Italy

Or for ease, the ones that aren’t sfv are the Montepulciano and Valpolicella (red), Moscato (white) and Pinot Grigio (all varieties).

Onto the food.

As I said, Pizza Express now has a specifically vegan pizza (which most of you probably knew).  For those of us who were asking for vegan cheese, unfortunately, that’s not how they played it.  Yes, it’s a bit nonsensical that they would create an entirely vegan pizza by just making a new veggie one without cheese, since nearly any veggie pizza ordered without cheese is vegan.  So I don’t know if they were trolling us or throwing us a bone (not vegan) by creating the Pianta.  At least they kinda paid attention to the vegan request, just not exactly what we asked for.

That said, I actually like the Pianta, though I do have to modify it a bit.  I’m allergic to pine nuts, so those have to go, but I replace them with olives.  I like a bit of extra garlic oil on mine too, because if I have to forgo cheese, I have to make my pizza deliciously greasy somehow.  They go a little heavy on the rocket, but otherwise it’s really quite good.  It’s now my usual every time we go (because I’m also a creature of habit and stick with things I know are good).

I’ve heard that you can bring in a sealed bag of shredded vegan cheese and they’ll use it on your pizza, but I’ve never tried it.  Maybe I’ll do that next time.

*We never really figured out if the Prosecco was sfv.  We couldn’t find the specific one they were offering online, but all the ones we could find that matched generally (Prosecco from that particular region) were coming up vegan.  We took a chance on it, but I’m not necessarily advocating that everyone else do the same.  Please let me know in the comments if you happen to know one way or the other if it’s sfv.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Chili Cheese Dogs

When Mike and I went to Mono last week, we were there on a Thursday.  They do daily specials, and the one for Thursdays is £5 for a chili dog and a beer.  I fully anticipated getting that, but it turned out that the only beer option was Heineken*.  I don't actually like beer so was hoping we could substitute for, say, one of their microbrewed drinks.  But even if we could have, the only one available was ginger beer, and I wasn't in a ginger beer mood.  And since they wanted £4 for the dogs, I just said, I can make that at home.

And so I did.

I made chili cheese dogs with fried onions (which you can't see because they're under the chili and cheese).  And in case you were wondering, yes, I did cover my broccoli with cheese sauce after I took the picture.

I used Fry's hot dogs, Asda meat-free chili (I can't remember the exact name), to which I added some of the leftover weird non-Latin passatta, and leftover Basic Cheese Sauce from Cookin' Crunk.  Served with Tesco beer-battered onion rings and steamed broccoli.  They were pretty damn good.  Though the onion rings were surprisingly bland - most things have too much salt, but these had too little.

*So, that's another complaint I have about Mono, though not referring specifically to Heineken.  They have a lot of alcoholic beverages that are known to be non-vegan, e.g. Guinness and Strongbow (and I think they stock Rekorderlig or Bulmers).  Yeah, they say all their food is vegan, so they can get away with saying they never said they were a vegan establishment, but they're listed in Happy Cow as vegan.  I wonder if, when a customer orders a non-vegan booze option, they tell them that it isn't vegan or just assume the person knows what they're ordering.  I dunno, it just feels sketchy to me.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - PSA: coffee and milk

I was thinking about not posting tonight because I'm super tired and just made Linda McCartney sausages and hash browns for dinner. But then Mike asked me to make coffee, and I thought of something to blog about - how to make coffee without curdling the milk.

It's pretty easy with regular coffee. If you're brewing coffee, you just put the milk in the mug first. And you pretty much do the same with instant, but you put the coffee in the milk and give it a good stir before pouring the (not boiling) hot water over it.

It gets a bit trickier with decaf, which is a recent problem. Mike and I both discovered that regular coffee upsets our stomachs, so we've had to switch. The first couple of times I made decaf, I did my normal method and the milk kept curdling. After some trial and error, I realised that the milk mostly doesn't curdle if it's heated before adding the water. It's slightly annoying because the point of instant is to eliminate all those steps and the time it takes to do things, but at least I can just pop it in the microwave while the kettle boils.

Oh yeah, I should mention that I use soy milk exclusively. I've tried a lot of different types of non-dairy milk, and I keep coming back to soy. As long as it's cold, it has the best mouth feel and flavour, and it has the best consistency for things like tea/coffee and cereal. I'll use other stuff in baking/cooking (unless it needs to curdle - I've found nothing else really curdles like soy) if I've decided to experiment and need to use it up. Obviously any recipe I post can use any non-dairy milk (apart from the hot chocolate, which requires soy for idealogical reasons, though someone kicked up a fuss about almond milk so you could use that too). I guess I just am who I am, which means I find what I like and stick with it. And it doesn't hurt that soy is about 70p cheaper (usually) than the next cheapest non-dairy milk, so I'm saving £7+ per month.

Do you have any tricks for making coffee? Seriously, I need to figure out this curdling biz.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Newsday Tuesday: Cookin' Crunk Breakfast Lasagna

It's Newsday Tuesday!  I can't remember if I explained why I chose to do my food experimentation on Tuesdays.  It's not just because it rhymes.  Mike works late on a Tuesday, so I have more time to make stuff without someone else constantly asking me when dinner will be ready.  He's usually home at the weekend, so Tuesday is pretty much the only distraction-free day I can do stuff like this.

Today's recipe cuts two carrots with one knife as it's also part of my project, Cooking Through Cookin' Crunk.  If you're new to the joint, I'm attempting to make all of the recipes in Cookin' Crunk before I turn 40.  When you think about the time frame (I started last year and have another 5 years to go), it doesn't seem very ambitious.  But having this project has helped get me out of a cooking slump a couple of times, so it's better than letting my cookbooks moulder on the shelf while I eat 18p ramen all the time.

I almost didn't make tonight's recipe - I've been sleeping really badly lately and got home exhausted and already hungry, which is a terrible combination for cooking something with this many steps.  It has so many steps!  You have to

1. make cheese sauce
2. peel, slice, and cook the potato
3. slice and cook the sausage
4. make tofu scramble
5. layer and bake everything

But if you overlap some steps (make the sauce while the tatties cook) or make stuff ahead of time (the recipe kinda assumes you've already made the sauce), it actually comes together pretty quickly.  It's not a regular weeknight meal (OK, technically it's breakfast), but it's not a half-day project.

As you can see, we had this with some garlicky asparagus on the side.  I figured we needed something green.  Obviously this isn't really pretty, and, as per usual, it's dark and shadowy.  Sorry 'bout it.

For those of you in the UK, I used the Fry's slicing sausage/polony.  It probably affected the taste because it doesn't taste anything like US breakfast sausage, but it was still tasty.  And that was the only substitution I made!

So, yeah, this was super delicious and totally worth the effort.  I would absolutely make this again, and from the way Mike was all but licking his plate, I think he'd be OK for me to make it again.  Plus, now I have 2 days' worth of breakfast and I was able to use the leftover cheese sauce in the burritos I made for my lunches (leftovers from taco night, woo!).