Newly Discovered Vegan Products - April 2016

 With my 10 week old baby I have't really been buying a lot of vegan processed foods - more living off Amy's vegan microwave meals but here are some I've accumulated over the last few months...

Follow Your Heart - Vegan Egg

As scrambled eggs I found it a bit rubbery but mixed with vegan milk and cheese and used as an omelette and it was quite delicious!

Also worked very well in baking.

This Organic Ah!Laska Chocolate Syrup has probably been around for some time but I recently discovered it at Target. Vegan and organic it's a delicious chocolate syrup for choc milk or ice-cream sundaes!

I think I found these Engine 2 Plant Strong Patties at Wholefoods. I bought two types - this one is Tuscan Kale and While Bean. I think the other one has fennel. Both very delicious and hearty!

I've bought a few of Follow Your Heart dressings before but had never tried these too...Honey Mustard which was soooo good and Vegan Bleu Cheese which was great as a dipping sauce!

Discovered these Lucy's Vegan/Gluten Free cookies at the commissary on base. They are SO GOOD! I loved both flavors but the Chocolate Chip was my favourite. Nice and crunchy - perfect for dipping in my tea ;)

Ziti

I made this for the kids and they loved it, I loved it too!! I'm not sure if it's really Italian as I'd never heard of it before coming to America but it is a great idea. You could add in your favourite vegetables at the onion stage instead of vegan ground beef also :)

Ziti

Ingredients

1 packet of ziti pasta (I used penne as I couldn't find GF ziti)
1-2 cups vegan shredded cheese (I used Daiya Cheddar & Mozarella mixed)
1 jar marinara sauce
1 container vegan ricotta (I used Tofutti)
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbls olive oil
1 packet of vegan ground beef (I used Beyond Meat)


Method

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cook pasta till al dente then put aside.
In a pot heat oil on medium then add onions.
When onions have cooked to a transparent appearance add the ground beef.
Heat through ground beef and then stir in marinara sauce.
Once heated through add in ricotta and mix well.
Pour pasta into sauce and mix well.
Pour the pasta and sauce mix into a greased baking tray.

Top with vegan shredded cheese and bake for 30 minutes.

I melt my cheese first on the stovetop with a bit of almond milk just to make sure it's melted.

Mixed Berry & Cream Cheese Muffins

I adapted this recipe from myrecipes.com and changed it up a bit. They used frozen raspberries which would be delicious also! These were really good, the batter is divine so try not to eat it all before you've made your muffins!
Vegan white chocolate chips would also be great!
I found I needed around 30 minutes to bake and I got 12 muffins and 8 mini muffins out of this mix - not sure you'd get 24 decent sized muffins as the original recipe suggested.

Mixed Berry & Cream Cheese Muffins

Ingredients

2/3 cup (5 ounces) vegan cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup vegan butter, softened
1 1/2 cups vegan sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 egg replacers
2 cups all-purpose GF flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegan milk (I used coconut & almond blend)
2 cups fresh or frozen mixed berried or raspberries
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts


Method

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl.
Beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended.
Add sugar; beat until fluffy.
Add vanilla, egg replacers; beat well.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and milk to cream cheese mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Gently fold in berries and walnuts.
Place 24 foil cup liners in muffin cups. Spoon batter evenly into liners.
Bake at 350° 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.