Food Finds Friday: Tofu Pups vs. Smart Dogs

Okay everyone, so I've been on vacation, and whilst visiting grocery stores that are very different from the ones near my own house, I have come across many curiosities.

So, Lightlife makes many vegan products, including hot dog alternatives. I have only ever come across their Smart Dogs before.

These things are decent. For being vegan, gluten-free, only 50 Calories, and packing 7g of protein, I don't mind that they don't have the most fabulous flavor. If you eat them with some sort of toppings, it tastes better anyway. The texture is pretty much the same as real hot dogs. 

But then I found Lightlife's Tofu Pups. 

These things are significantly softer than both the Smart Dogs, and real hot dogs. It's kind of weird at first, but it's not bad. The taste is, in my opinion, much better than smart dogs though. Granted, they still don't taste like hot dogs, but that's totally okay! I didn't like hot dogs very much anyway. Good news is, they are also vegan, gluten-free, 50 Calories, and 7g of protein. Crazy huh? But they're definitely different. I think I might have to take some back home with me if there's space in the car.

I hope this was helpful, everyone! Have you tried either or both of these faux hot dogs? Which is your favorite? Have you found vegan (and preferably gluten-free) hot dogs my another brand that are better? Let me know in the comments!

Fall Veggie Favorites

So, as you are surely well aware at this point, it is Pumpkin Everything Season. (Also known as Autumn or Fall.) However, there are lots of other kinds of squash that are soooo in this season. Today, I'm hopefully going to convince you to try a slightly less common one: Spaghetti Squash.

Why is it called spaghetti squash? Well, for starters, it's a squash. And when you prepare it, it looks a whole lot like spaghetti. Here's the part where I blow your mind. (Maybe.) You can even eat it like you would eat spaghetti. OMG. This is too much! But I'm serious.

Are you looking for something to eat that's easy, cheap, delicious, satisfying, vegan, (also gluten-free,) and good for you? (Note: vegan food is not always actually good for you. Might I remind you, french fries and Oreos. It's okay. We're all guilty. But anyway. . .) You really should try it. I got a medium-sized spaghetti squash for under $3 at Trader Joe's, and I got about 6 servings out of it. Add marinara sauce with gluten-free, vegan faux beef crumbles (for protein,) and vegan Parmesan cheese, and you've basically got everything you need in a meal in one dish. (BTW,  you can get all those things, except maybe vegan Parmesan, at Trader Joe's for cheapsies. P.S. They'll also be organic.) Preparing Spaghetti Squash is also really easy, like I said. Basically, you vent your frustration with *insert noun here* by stabbing the squash several times. Then you put the squash on a plate or even just some paper towels, and cook it in the microwave. NOTE: Cooking times vary depending on the size of the squash. Just look it up on the internet. It's pretty simple. Again, mine was a medium squash. I cooked it for 20 minutes, and it was perfect. Whenever you're done cooking it, pull off the stem carefully, and cut the squash in half. Scoop out all the little spaghetti-looking parts, and eat it! No boiling water or stirring necessary. Congrats. You're so fancy. That would cost you about $10 per plate at Ruby Tuesday. (My version is normally less than $3 a serving with toppings, and you can eat it at your own house. What.)



This is one of the most amazing vegetables out there, so what are you waiting for? Do you have a good spaghetti squash recipe? (Hint: You can also eat this stuff NOT like spaghetti. What.) What do you think about spaghetti squash? Have you ever tried it? Do you love it? Is it your favorite thing? Let me know in the comments! Until next time! Much love.

Food Finds Friday: Fall Favorites

First, I would like to apologize for so much alliteration in the title. It was just so perfect. Alright. So, first of all, dear vegans, Fall is coming, and with it, the jealous lusting after pumpkin spice lattes that still aren't vegan. (Though, if you have seen those ingredient list things circulating the internet, you're probably a lot less jealous now.) I'm sorry to say that I have yet to come up with the perfect vegan pumpkin spice latte. I'll work on that. But I have found some delicious things that will make it all better. (Hopefully.)

First, Archer Farms hot chocolate. I'm pretty sure it's available at Target exclusively. I haven't checked all the flavors they have, but FYI, not all of them are vegan. I do know that the dark chocolate, peppermint, and coconut macaroon flavors are vegan though. I like making them with either coconut milk or almond milk, which makes them super-creamy and wonderful. If you're a fan of Mayan/Aztec hot chocolate, you can add a VERY SMALL dash of cayenne pepper to your dark chocolate powder to give it that tiny extra kick. Be SUPER careful though. The only way to fix it if you add too much pepper is to make a ton more of the hot chocolate, and mix them all together until it's diluted enough. (Then you'd probably have to store the rest in the fridge and reheat it when you're ready to drink it.) So, while it's not a pumpkin spice latte, I hope this is a fall beverage you'll enjoy.



The other find I have for you today actually IS pumpkin spice. However, it's not a drink. Pumpkin Spice WAFFLES, everybody. These are gluten-free, AND vegan. On top of that, they're made with super-healthy things like quinoa and flax. OMG. I cannot express in words how delicious these are. My little sister, who is neither gluten-free, nor vegan, ate an entire box of them while I wasn't looking. This might be my new answer to "If you were stranded on an island with only one food, what would it be?" Last time I checked, Whole Foods had them on sale. Try them! You will like them! You will see! I think I'm going to go clean out my freezer so I can just load up my freezer completely full of these. (Perhaps I should just come up with a gluten-free, vegan pumpkin spice waffle recipe on my own. OMG SO YUMMY.) This is fabulous as breakfast or dessert. Or both.



Do yourself a favor, and go try both these things. After you've tried them, I'm betting you won't miss the PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) at all. VEGAN PUMPKIN POWER! Let me know how you like these in the comments below! Also, If you have found any other fabulous pumpkin things, let me know! I want pumpkin all the things.

Food Finds Friday: Chocolate Edition

As I've mentioned recently, I've found some pretty impressive things in grocery stores recently. REALLY impressive. For any chocolate lovers out there, (this should be just about everyone in existence,) I've found some absolutely DELICIOUS ready-made chocolatey desserts. (Are you drooling yet?) I'm going to be sharing 2 items that are both gluten-free, and vegan. Both can be found for sure at Whole Foods, and probably several other health food stores. Are you ready?

Set?

LET'S GO!

1. Zen Pudding



This pudding if so rich, you'll forget you're a poor college student. Or maybe that's just me. This stuff is really great though. I totally enjoyed it. I had to make myself ration it out, or I would have eaten the whole pack of four in one sitting. They have several flavors, including chocolate, vanilla, chocolate and vanilla, and chocolate almond milk (depicted above.) It is a tiny bit more on the expensive side though. While I really enjoyed it, I probably won't buy it often, especially when there are several Vegan College Cookbook recipes for chocolate pudding, such as Break-Up Pudding! If you make the pudding yourself, there's more to go around. So, my final verdict is: it tastes great, but the price is not right.

2. The Piping Gourmets Whoopie Pies

For the love of everything beautiful in this world, thank you for existing. So far, I've been able to try the first 3 flavors from the left. Let me tell you: they are amazing. If I had to choose between being rich and famous and having a lifetime supply of these, it would be a pretty tough toss-up. They come frozen, and personally, I think they taste best thawed, but they taste fine frozen too if you really cannot wait. If you're cooking dinner though, and you get one out to thaw while you're cooking, it'll be ready for dessert. These are so rich, and so yummy. It's very difficult to describe them with words. If you spoke whoopie pie, I'd get one out and roll it around on the keyboard so you'd know. . . These taste perfectly real, except for that they're so good, it's unreal. They don't have that I'm-an-allergen-free-version-of-a-delicious-food taste to them. I have no idea how to make something this delicious! I'm perfectly happy to buy them. I think this is love. Final verdict: Oh, kale yeah.

Alright, well I'm going to wrap this post up now, because I want to go eat another whoopie pie after talking about them so much. I hope these product reviews were helpful! If you have any products to suggest for review, leave a comment saying what I should try!

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Sushi Salad

So, I'm a huge fan of sushi (vegan, obviously,) but I don't have one of those fancy sushi-roller-things, and getting sushi from a restaurant gets kind of pricey. It adds up pretty quickly if you get it on a regular basis. Now, I don't mind going out to a fancy sushi restaurant where I can get fancy things that I can't make for myself, or don't want to anyway, for special occasions or dates, but just your standard pre-made veggie sushi, I've kind of decided that it's not worth it. Now, recently, I've seen a lot of "deconstructed sushi bowl" and "sushi salad" recipes for and I decided to give it a go. Actually what happened was, I saw that my parents were cooking rice, and I was eating seaweed snacks, and I thought to myself: "Self, it would be so cool if I could eat some sushi." And then I thought, "But wait, it would taste the same whether it's all just a mess in a bowl, or if it is neatly arranged into little rounds. I will make a mess in a bowl." And so a mess in a bowl I made.

It was so delicious. But as I was saying, that was the messy version. I did make it look nicer first. But I'll post a picture of that later. I'm going to tell you how to make it. It's kind of up to you how you put it together.

What You Need:

• cooked rice
• seaweed snacks, torn into small pieces
• chopped carrots, avocados, cucumbers, or whatever vegetables you like in sushi
• soy sauce (gluten-free if you need)
• gluten-free, vegan fish or tofu (If desired)

What To Do:

• put everything into a bowl in the proportions you desire

I wish I'd had cucumbers, but I used avocado, chopped carrots, and gluten-free, vegan fish. obviously I used rice and seaweed, and my soy sauce was gluten-free. Here's what it looked like:

How pretty is that? I thought it was pretty. . . well. . . pretty. And you can put as much or as little of any ingredient as you want! So you can make it really easily. Personally, I didn't have to go to the store to buy any ingredients. I just used what I already had. So, I didn't have to spend any extra money. Also, it was incredibly satisfying, and I felt full, but not over-stuffed. It was a great balance, and I feel like it had a lot of good nutritional value. It doesn't take that much effort really, and you could honestly put even less effort than I did if you were just feeling extra lazy. No judgments. I hope you guys like this recipe as much as I did. I think if I was stranded on a desert island and I could only have one food, this would be in the running. For sure. Anyway, good luck! Enjoy!

Veggie Grab Bag

One of my local organic, small-business grocery/diners regularly has coupons for half off of a giant grab bag of in-season locally grown veggies. I got one and had a lot of fun cooking and eating them. What I did for most of the root vegetables was to make bakes (not fries) out of them. It's super-easy.

What you need:

• Assortment of your favorite root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, beets, etc.)
• olive oil
• your favorite blend of spices (I recommend salt, pepper, Rosemary, cumin, red pepper, Italian seasoning.) ( Note: For veggies like sweet potatoes or beets, I like putting cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar on then instead.)
• large mixing bowl
• baking sheet

What to do:

• preheat oven to 350°
• peel and chop your vegetables into small sticks or chips (depending on the natural shape of the vegetable.)
• place the chopped veggies in the bowl and drizzle a sparing amount of olive oil on the vegetables. Toss or stir the vegetables until all are lightly coated in olive oil.
• add your spices to the bowl, and toss or stir until all veggies until the spices are relatively evenly distributed.
• place veggies on the baking sheet in a single later (you might have to bake in multiple batches.)
• place baking sherry in oven and cook for approximately 10 minutes or until veggies begin to crisp.
• allow veggies to cool enough that you won't burn your mouth of when you bite into them.
• enjoy! 

CTTVCC: Vegan Mac 'N' Cheez

This recipe can be found on page 187. This is a pretty good recipe, though I admit I wound up making several adjustments to it. I've been searching for the perfect vegan macaroni and cheese recipe, and while I am still hoping to find or some up with one that tastes a little more authentic, this one isn't bad. In my opinion, it ended up tasting a little bit plain, so I'd pair it with some high-flavor sides.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 5 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup vegan margarine
• salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to taste

I used Ancient Harvest Quinoa macaroni, which is very yellow to begin with. Actually, I think that's where most of the color in the dish was coming from once I'd finished making the whole thing. I love quinoa pastas because they're higher in protein because quinoa is simply packed full of it. It's some of the best gluten-free pasta out there because many brands don't actually hold together very well, and just turn into mush. This, however, has rather good structural integrity.

For soy milk, I used West Soy shelf stable soy milk. By the way, shelf stable alternative milks are simply a must. All too often, I've run out of fake milk when the store isn't open, and then my coffee, tea, cereal, recipes, etc. either don't turn out, or can't be made at all. Save yourself some drama. Keep a few cartons in your sock drawer.

I've finally switched to buying my nutritional yeast in bulk at my local health food stores. I still haven't found the exact sort of container I'd like to keep it in, but it'll probably end up going in a plastic-bag lined sealable canister of some sort.

For the margarine, I used Earth Balance Coconut Buttery Spread. This is some of my favorite butter replacements ever invented. Coconut is so good for you, an it has an extremely delicious taste. The only downside is that it remains rather firm, so you have to let it sit out for a while if you want to be able to really spread it smoothly.

Salt, pepper, and garlic powder were a random assortment of things from my parent's pantry. Like a mentioned at the beginning of this post, I added a few things in. I used red pepper in addition to the black pepper. I ended up having to use way more nutritional yeast because the sauce was too runny. I probably should have added more garlic powder, except for that I didn't want to have garlic breath when I was going to be hanging out with my boyfriend later. 

All in all, this is a decent recipe. It goes really well with veggies like sugar snap peas, corn, or broccoli. It also is delicious with extra-seasoned potato wedges or fries. I will probably try more macaroni recipes before I make this one again, but I can definitely see myself making this again. I suppose smaller kids might like this because younger children tend to prefer more bland foods than foods with a kick. If you did anything to this recipe to alter it, let me know in a comment, and tell me what you thought! I'm really excited to perfect vegan macaroni and cheese. 

Back to School

I'm taking a quick break from CTTVCC to address an upcoming issue many of us will be facing shortly, if not already.

So, one of the biggest problems going back to school for a vegan in pre-college levels or for college day students is what you can pack in your lunch. Well, never fear, I'm here to help you with that! Now, this is going to assume for the most part that you will have access to a microwave during your lunch hour. Sticking with the philosophy of The Vegan College Cookbook, I want to try and give you tips that are inexpensive, healthy (for the most part,) and delicious.

First, many of The Vegan College Cookbook's recipes work great for packing in a lunch. I have found that these recipes tend to generate a lot of leftovers. It's best to pack leftovers in a sealable microwaveable container if you intend to reheat the food. If it's something like a salad or something else that you don't have to heat, microwaveableness is then not necessary, but it never hurts.

Just a tip about salads though, if you're packing a black bean and corn salad or any other salad that has a lot of liquid, I would recommend draining it the night before you intend to eat it. It keeps it from getting quite as messy. If you don't want to waste the liquid, it makes a really great marinade for grilling tofu. Or if you don't have enough left for marinade, you can always add a little bit of another vegan sauce or dressing, and you can toss in a few herbs like rosemary, pepper, or whatever you like. Then you'll have plenty.

I must not overlook an obvious option. Fresh fruits make delicious sides for lunch. Bananas work very well, because they require practically no preparation. Citrus fruits like oranges, tangerines, clementines, or grapefruits are best pre-peeled and put into sealed containers. Peeling them in advance saves you time, and saves you a mess when you're trying to eat your lunch. Apples, pears, and other fruits with a core and stem can be eaten around the core, and thusly, do not require preparation, but again, if you want to save some mess, you can pre-cut them. If you do, I recommend dipping them in a bowl of lemon juice or orange juice immediately after cutting them, and before putting them into a sealed container. The same thing goes for peaches, plums, and other fruits with a pit. Berries and grapes require little preparation, so they work great as well. For grapes, I'd recommend taking them off the stem, and for strawberries, I'd say to cut the tops off, and dip them in a citrus juice before packing them into a sealed container that doesn't have a lot of extra space, so they won't roll around and get bruised. Melons, mango, or pineapple work best sliced into small chunks and packed into a sealed container with as little juice as possible.

On the other hand, many fresh veggies are also perfect for lunches. Some of my favorites are baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and celery (chopped into smaller pieces,) stringless sugar snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber slices, and sliced bell pepper. Some good choices of dips for those veggies would be peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower seed butter, cashew butter, hummus, or black bean dip. All of those options can be purchased in single-serving, doesn't-need-to-be-refrigerated packages, though buying them in traditional packaging is cheaper, and easier. I would avoid packing salad dressings to dip them in, because they are rather high in calories, with little redeeming nutritional value. Also, they're terribly messy.

There are many varieties of frozen meals that you can take from companies such as Amy's or Candle Cafe, but keeping them cold can be sort of a problem. Also, there's not always a good selection if you have to be gluten-free too.

Now,  an absolute must is shelf stable food. Why? Because I'm sure that you've forgotten to pack your lunch until the last second and grabbing a Clif Bar way too many times. Because I forget my lunch all the time, and I'm sure everyone else in the world does too. Whether you remember in enough time to grab something handy-dandy-healthy, or you stash a collection in your locker for those occasions like I do, not having to keep all your food cold can be a great thing. Here are some of my favorites:

As a side note, not all GoPicnics are vegan, and there are some vegan ones that aren't gluten-free. But, they're on sale this week at Target, so stock up if you have the chance. Now then, I hope that you found everything super-helpful. If you'd like to share some of your lunch favorites with me, I would absolutely LOVE to hear them. I mean seriously. I like variety, and trying new things. So, enlighten me. 

CTTVCC: Georgia Peach Cobbler

I apologize in advance for the unexpected, and thus, unannounced hiatus from my blog. There has recently been a series of unfortunate events in my life. . . More like tragedies actually. A girl who used to go to my school was murdered by her boyfriend, one of my cats passed away of old age, (Rest in peace, Arwen.) and my grandmother has been in and out of the hospital. I've been rather busy. But enough sad stories, let's get to talking about yummy food!

This scrumptious, and not-completely-bad-for-you dessert is located on page 295. This is a great comfort food, especially for those times when you have already eaten a whole pan of brownies, and you still need some comforting. This fruity goodness just wants to give your tummy a hug. I don't know about you, but I crave chocolate during the winter, but during the summer, I tend to want fruity desserts. Perhaps that's because subconsciously, I know that summer is the season of fruit, and that's why I want it more then. Anyway, this is something you should try next time you're feeling down. This relatively healthy, light, fruity dessert will make your tummy (and hopefully you,) happier in no time!

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (15 ounce) can peaches with syrup
• 1/4 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup corn flakes or granola
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

I used generic peaches but I made sure to get the kind that's in light syrup. This recipe would probably still work even if you got peaches "in their own juice" if you want to be extra-healthy. 

I used generic quick oats, cinnamon and brown sugar. Because I love cinnamon, I used a whole teaspoon of it. Cinnamon is great for you though, so I don't care if it's not exactly following the recipe. Speaking of not following the recipe exactly, I kind of went a little crazy with the oatmeal and granola layers, and ended up using twice the amount of the mixture then it called for. Oh well.

Here is my finished cobbler:

As you can see, the fruit to oats ratio is way off. It was still delicious. This is one of the simplest dessert recipes that I've ever made, and it's extremely satisfying. If I hadn't already decided not to remake recipes for myself until I'd gone through that recipe's whole section in the cookbook, I think I would end up making this 50 times before I finished everything else in desserts. I also would totally eat this for breakfast as well because it's got fruit, granola and oatmeal. That makes it breakfast food too, right? Well, anyway, I hope you enjoy this recipe just like I did!

CTTVCC: Pantry Raid Pasta

This recipe is on page 163. This recipe is phenomenally delicious. It tasted like I had put a bunch of effort into it when really, you just throw it together. This honestly tastes better than some restaurant Italian food I've had, and it's ready so much faster, and costs so much less. Even my non-vegan family members fell in love with this. I foresee making this a lot in the future.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (16-ounce) box elbow pasta
• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 (8-ounce) bags vegan chicken strips
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Okay, so I didn't use elbow pasta. But isn't that the point of the pantry raid? I had gotten a sampler box of a bunch of random gluten-free foods from Vitacost, and the company had sent a gluten-free penne the month that I bought it. The package was, most appropriately, almost completely in Italian, but lucky for me, there was also a French section, and I was able to figure out that the only ingredient in the pasta was corn. It was all just made of corn. I found it a little hard to believe, but I figured that I wouldn't die from it. After I cooked it, I realized that it probably was entirely made of corn because it lost all structural integrity, and basically shredded itself, so obviously it didn't  have a very effective binding agent. It tasted great though!

I used generic diced tomatoes, but I used ones with Italian seasonings mixed in with the tomatoes. I would definitely recommend using  tomatoes with Italian seasonings because you don't want your pasta to taste bland.

For the faux chicken, I used a mix of Beyond Meat Grilled Strips and Beyond Meat Lightly Seasoned Strips, just to mix things up a bit. Actually, I just didn't have enough of the lightly seasoned strips to make the recipe, so I opened the other package to augment it.

I tried not to use too much salt, but I was very generous with the pepper. I am a firm believer that pepper helps enhance the flavor. Also, I've heard that eating spicy foods boosts your metabolism. Maybe it'll counteract some of those pasta-carbs. 

Here is my finished dish:

Mmmmmm. That stuff was crazy-good. Can you see all that shredded pasta? Even though it's molecular integrity was compromised, it still tasted amazing! I just can't get over how delicious this was. If I wasn't trying to cook through the whole cookbook, I'd probably stop and just make this over and over for at least a week. It's that good people, it's that good. Let me know how yours turned out, and if you liked it as much as I did by leaving me a comment below. Comments are always welcome!

CTTVCC: Chick-Un Parm Sammich

Open the Vegan College Cookbook to page 49 for this recipe. This is a delicious, savory recipe that is great for when you want some Italian finger food that is relatively cheap, and you don't mind making a bit of a mess. Or a lot of a mess. I guess that depends on your level of skills.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 vegan chicken patty
• 2 slices whole-wheat bread
• 2 tablespoons marinara sauce
• 1 slice vegan mozzarella cheese

I used Beyond Meat Lightly Seasoned Strips for the chicken, which, I know, isn't a patty. But It's the only gluten-free, vegan chick'n I've been able to find. They worked fine though. Granted, a patty would have been a bit easier to eat, but still. I'm just waiting for Beyond Meat to come out with some more products that I can eat, and use for making these recipes!

Obviously, with my gluten-free restriction, whole wheat bread is a bit out of the question, so I used Food for Life Rice Millet Bread. If the point of suggesting whole wheat bread was just so people would pick a more wholesome bread than basic white bread, then I'm sure this counts. 

I used generic marinara sauce, but I picked one that was garden vegetable style so it had a bit more flavor than plain tomato sauce. Plus, extra veggies! Extra veggies are a good way to roll.

Follow Your Heart Vegan Mozzarella Cheese was the only vegan mozzarella cheese I had, and it wasn't pre-sliced. So, I used more than one slice of it otherwise it wouldn't have covered all the chick'n. Don't want my fake meat getting scandalous, now do I?

Here is my finished sammich:

If you can't tell, I really like my vegan cheese.

This is a nomalicious recipe that I will definitely be making again. It's perfect for using up little bits of leftover pizza/ pasta sauce. I must say though, don't wear a white shirt while you're eating it. It's a very high-risk sort of thing, putting marinara on a sammich. In fact, wear red. Or something dark. And for the love of vegan food, don't eat this on a first date. I probably wouldn't even eat this with my boyfriend around unless he was preoccupied, and wouldn't see me, or if I made it in a wrap instead. But really, if you won't be humiliated in front of someone you're trying to impress, or you won't be ruining one of your favorite shirts, it is so worth it. 

CTTVCC: Wicked Good Wafflewich

This recipe is found on page 71. Is this dessert or is it breakfast? Who cares? Not me! It's delicious. It was not as messy as it seemed like it was going to be, and it was really tasty. I am not quite sure it could really claim to be good for you, but it's not really bad for you either. This seems like a really good comfort food though. Bad test? Bad day? Bad breakup? I could see myself going through a stack of these.

The recipe calls for:

• 2 vegan waffles, toasted
• Vegan chocolate chips, to taste
• Peanut butter, to taste
• Maple syrup, to taste

I used Van's original gluten-free, (also vegan) waffles. They're pretty good. If I didn't know they were gluten-free and vegan, I wouldn't think they were. 

I used Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips, generic peanut butter, and I used agave nectar instead of maple syrup. I think that the taste of the agave was actually better than it would have been with maple syrup, because it is a light flavor, and allows you to enjoy the chocolate and peanut butter without their flavors being overpowered.

Here is my finished breakfast:

Like I was saying, this recipe is great. It's indulgent, yet it won't forever ruin your figure, I'm sure, you know, with moderation and all that stuff. Whatever. It's definitely got a great flavor and it's so simple! I don't think I would have come up with it on my own. I wouldn't have put peanut butter and syrup (or agave) on the same wafflewich, and I don't think I would have put the chocolate chips on. I would have probably been boring, and used something like, I don't know, jelly. I hope you all enjoy this recipe!

CTTVCC: Pink Princess Pie

This cool, refreshing, summery dessert, found on page 314, is absolutely to die for. The combination of flavors is just phenomenal! It's tangy, yet sweet; soft, yet crunchy; ice cream, yet pie. It has a scrumptious flavor that makes every single bite delicious, yet a single slice was satisfying. I mean, how does this cookbook do that? Most of the time, cooking dessert goes down like this: Cook dessert. Eat entire thing. What's up with this? I mean, is it trying to show you that portion control might actually work? Sneaky, sneaky.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (12-ounce) can pink lemonade concentrate
• 2 1/2 cups soy ice crream
• vegan graham cracker pie crust

I couldn't find pink lemonade concentrate for the life of me. Finally, I just gave up and bought regular, store-brand, lemonade concentrate. When I was mixing all the filling ingredients together, I added two packets of pink raspberry crystal light water-mix-in-powder-stuff to the filling to make it pink. Now, one of the coolest part about this recipe, is that you could mix in whatever flavor of water-mix-in-stuff that you want. You could put fruit punch, grape (which would be awesome, because grape lemonade is delicious,) or whatever your heart desired. You could also use orange juice concentrate instead of lemonade concentrate, or whatever flavor of concentrate that you wanted! I am actually thinking about experimenting with different concentrates in this recipe.

I did use soy ice cream for this recipe, simply because the containers for the soy ice cream at my grocery store are bigger than the containers of coconut ice cream. In my opinion, coconut ice cream tastes closer to regular un-vegan ice cream. By the way you all, I think the recipe means for you to assume vanilla ice cream. Which, yes. Use vanilla ice cream, unless you wanted to experiment with flavors such as chocolate with orange juice concentrate. Would it taste like chocolate oranges that people always buy at Christmas? Hmmm. . . it's a good thing that this recipe is so simple, because I have a feeling that I will be making a lot of it in the future. Anyway, I used So Delicious Creamy Vanilla.

Alright. I was completely unable to find gluten-free, vegan graham cracker pie crust. I couldn't even find gluten-free, vegan graham crackers to make my own pie crust! I ended up using cookies to make my own pie crust. I used a combination of Enjoy Life Sugar Crisp cookies and Dr. Lucy's Cinnamon Thins, but I would have bought the Dr. Lucy's sugar cookies if I'd been able to find them. I also used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks to make the crust. 

Here is my finished pie:

The crust got a little bit crispy as you can see. Oops! It still tasted great. When you accidentally burn sugar, it just tastes like caramel.

Don't you just wish I could hand you a bite of this through your screen? Mmmmmmmmm. So yummy.

This recipe is now gong to be one of my "go-to" recipes. It's so delicious and easy (especially if you don't have to make your own crust.) You absolutely have to store it in the freezer though. My dad moved the last slice of mine into the refrigerator, and it turned into a puddle and disintegrated the crust. So sad. Really. It was very sad. Rest in peace, piece of pink princess pie. (Try saying that 5 times, fast.) This stuff is great. I will definitely make it again, for any excuse I can come up with. Got your tonsils taken out? Here. I'll bring over one of these pies, and I'll eat most of it for you. How does that sound? Great!

CTTVCC: Brainy Bac'n Cheese Toast

This yummy recipe can be found on 37. This is listed as a breakfast recipe. However, It didn't really taste breakfast-y to me. In fact, I ate it for lunch. It was very good though. It had a good savory taste and I liked it a lot, even though I am not that big a fan of tomatoes. It has a great combination of flavors that makes each bite taste just as delicious as the bite before it. It would take a lot of these sandwiches to start noticing the law of diminishing return. (Thank you, economics class.) 

The recipe calls for:

• 2 slices bread, toasted
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 tablespoons vegan bacon bits
• 2 slices vegan cheddar cheese

I used Food for Life Gluten-Free Brown Rice Bread, which I then proceeded to toast. The nice thing about rice bread is that is is very moist and soft, so when you toast it, it gets lightly crisped on the outside, and it's still soft on the inside. Perfection.

I used a combination of cherry tomatoes and yellow grape tomatoes just to be more colorful and fun. You know, give it variety and all that good stuff. Retrospectively, I wish I had made a little checkerboard pattern, just to be extra fun and cutesies. Oh well. I also think that maybe this recipe would be better (at least with gluten-free bread, which tends to be smaller,) with 6 halved cherry tomatoes rather than 8. When I was eating it, it seemed that one of the tomatoes was always falling out.

I used Frontier Bac'uns for the vegan bacon bits. They were pretty good. They had a nice crunch to them, which was pretty good. Squishy-bacony-fat always disgusted me. Ugh. Even just thinking about it. I must say though, I would recommend cutting the bacon bits in half. Not literally cutting each bit in half of course, but only using 2 tablespoons. I think that 4 tablespoons was just too much of a good thing. I couldn't get them all to stay in the sandwich, and at times, the bits were a bit overpowering. The nice thing about these things are that they're also already gluten-free. 

My 3-legged cat, C3PO, certainly thought they smelled legit though. Isn't he just a cutie-pie? Not that you can really tell that well in this picture. . .

I used Daiya Cheddar Style Slices for the fake cheese. I had split the bac'n bits between the two slices of bread, and then I melted the cheese slices over the bits in an attempt to keep the bits on the bread. 

Here is my finished sandwich:

Doesn't that just look scrumptious though? Just looking at these pictures makes me want to make another one of these sandwiches. Though, maybe I'll make it a wrap instead of a sandwich. On a 10" tortilla, you probably wouldn't need to cut down any of the ingredients, plus you wouldn't have to worry about having facon and tomatoes abandoning you whenever you took a bite. This is a great recipe though, and it's highly satisfying. I hope you all love it!

CTTVCC: Leafy Nuggets

The recipe for this salad can be found on page 93. The book claims that this is a painless way to get your greens, and they're totally right. I've never had a problem with eating my vegetables, but occasionally, simple salads are just too boring. Even though this is an extremely basic salad, it's still delicious.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (16 ounce) bag of pre-washed salad greens
• 1 (10 ounce) box vegan chicken patties
• Vegan salad dressing, to taste

I picked Organic Girl 50/50 salad mix which is half spring greens, and half spinach. Spinach is one of my favorite greens, if not my absolute favorite. It's my main source of iron (probably, that is, I've never sat down and actually calculated that.) The main thing to remember about spinach is that you have to consume plenty of vitamin C along with it in order to absorb the iron from the leaves.



I used Beyond Meat Lightly Seasoned Chicken-Free Strips which are gluten-free, and vegan. I have only been able to find gluten-free, vegan strips though, not patties. lucky for me, this recipe ends up turning these into strips, which saved me a bit of work. For those of you who can still have gluten, I'm sure Gardein would work fine. Really though, it tastes so much like chicken that I actually felt guilty the first time I used it in a recipe, even though I knew it was completely fake. It's almost creepy how similar the texture is to meat. I just hope I don't develop a soy allergy, or I won't be able to eat any pseudo-meat.



I used Annie's fat-free raspberry balsamic, but it really would have tasted better with Italian dressing or a vegan ranch. The sweetness didn't compliment the faux meat very well in my opinion, but it wasn't bad. Even a tangy fruit dressing would have worked. Hey, just straight up lemon juice would taste awesome with this.



Overall this is great. I really don't know if I've ever put faux meat on a salad before. I might have put chopped up veggie burger on a salad one or twice before, but I don't ever remember it. Honestly, I don't know if it had occurred to me to put faux chicken on a salad. It seems super-obvious, but since I was never a huge fan of meat, even before gong vegan, I never felt like I was missing out. It seems like a good way to get protein though. I definitely plan on making this again.

CTTVCC: Hearty Hummus Sandwich

Hi Everyone, and welcome to another entry in CTTVCC! Today's recipe is on page 50. This is a delicious, and simple, yet filling sandwich. I happen to really like hummus sandwiches, especially since my school's sandwich shop offers hummus as a protein on their "create your own" sandwich menu. Hummus is also incredibly good on veggie burgers. Then you have awesomely protein-packed deliciouswhiches. All that to say, hummus is really good on sandwiches.

The recipe calls for:

• Hummus, to taste
• 2 slices thick-crusted sourdough bread
• 1-2 leaves lettuce
• 3-4 cherry tomatoes, halved

I used Publix original hummus, but I would recommend Sabra Tuscan Herb Garden Hummus, which is the favorite of pretty much everyone in my family. It's got a lot of flavor to it, which would help make sure your sandwich isn't boring.

 

I used Food For Life Brown Rice Bread, because obviously, I can't eat regular sourdough bread. 

I used generic lettuce and these cute little yellow grape tomatoes. I figured that yellow tomatoes are less common, and thus more exotic. I think they're also a little sweeter than regular cherry tomatoes.

Here is my finished sandwich:

Overall, I think this is pretty good. It's a little simplistic, but that's not always a bad thing. Perhaps if you swapped the lettuce for spinach. Then you could pack in a bit of extra iron. That sounds really good actually. I want to go make that now. I also kind of wish that I'd used some cherry tomatoes too though. I could have made a little pattern with the yellow and red tomato halves. That would be cute! This is a pretty low-effort recipe, and obviously, it's not something to make when you're pretending to be fancy, but it's pretty balanced for when you need a quick bite to eat, I think. If you're absolutely famished, you'll probably want a bit more to eat than just this sandwich, though. Also, these can get a bit messy if you put too much hummus on them. But, as long as no one's watching, the mess is worth it!

CTTVCC: Rent's Due "Cheezy" Ramen

If you turn to page 133 of TVCC, you will find this super-simple, easy "cheezy" recipe. This is delicious, and super-simple. I can't believe I'd never thought of putting nutritional yeast in noodles before. I mean, you already have to add a package of powder-flavoring, so why not just add some extra powdered nutritional yeast? Easy. Plus, it actually gives your ramen some protein and vitamins so you aren't just eating carbs with water.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 package ramen (try Top Ramen Oriental flavor)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

The only vegan, gluten-free "ramen" I've been able to find is Dr. McDougall's Pad Thai Noodle Soup because Pad Thai uses rice noodles. If you have been able to find other gluten-free noodles, please, comment and let me know.



I accidentally grabbed Dr. McDougall's Pad Thai Noodle, which isn't a soup. It doesn't use as much water, so it leaves a sauce instead of a broth. So, I just used extra water to make it more soupy. This stuff comes with little tofu cubes that are reconstituted when you cook them in the water, so that your food isn't totally boring.


I used Red Star nutritional yeast. I'm actually starting to kind of run low on the stuff. I'm thinking about trying a different brand, or perhaps buying it in bulk to see if they all taste the same.

Here is what my soup looked like:

When I made this, I only had the cup-sized noodle packages, which is one serving, and the full-sized packages are 2 servings, so I just cut the nutritional yeast in half. Pad Thai has a lot of it's own flavor, but it didn't clash with the nutritional yeast flavor. I think the nutritional yeast actually helped enhance the flavor. I've pretty much decided that unless I'm making a different Vegan College Cookbook recipe, I'm always going to put nutritional yeast in my noodles. I would definitely recommend this recipe is you're wanting to make noodles. It was rather tasty. If you made your soup with a different flavor, let me know how it turned out! I'm really curious to try other favors, (especially the flavor that the book recommends,) but obviously, if it's not gluten-free too, I can't eat it. I hope you guys were as impressed as I was!

CTTVCC: Booty Shakin' Bagel

Today's recipe is located on page 41. This is a rather tasty recipe, and great for when you don't have much time, but want to eat something filling. It's very customizable and simple, yet not too simple. (I mean, you do have to actually do something. The recipe doesn't just say "open a vegan pop-tart package and eat it.")

The recipe calls for:

• 2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons jelly (your fave flavor)
• 1 bagel, sliced in half

I used Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, which is the brand most available to me, though, I'm sure other brands would work just as well, as long as you like the flavor.

For the jelly, I used Polaner Sugar-Free Blackberry Jelly with fiber.

Now, when it comes to the bagel, I could not fin gluten-free, vegan bagels for the life of me. I looked in all the grocery stores I could find, and got nothing. So, I decided that a gluten-free, vegan English muffin would work well too. I picked Food for Life Brown Rice English muffins, and toasted one. They have just the right amount of crisp to the outside, and they're deliciously soft on the inside.

 

So here is my finished not-bagel:

 

Because I had to switch out the bagel for an English muffin, I paired this recipe with a nice warm cup of English breakfast tea soy latte, and felt thoroughly like an American person wishing to feel like a British person. Really though, the combination is very good. The simple fruit-and-(vegan)-cream-cheese-on-(gluten-free)-bread taste went very well with mellow, sweet taste of the tea latte. The recipe is one I will definitely make again.

CTTVCC: Fake Blondes

The natural habitat of this phenomenal recipe is page 294 of TVCC. How many girls wouldn't kill for instant brownies? Guys, I'm sure you can win the heart of any girl with these babies. Girls, I'm betting this recipe will be going on your list of favorites. This is pretty much as close as I've ever seen anyone come to successful instant brownies. Not to mention vegan, gluten-free (I'm my case anyway) brownies. These were a delicious, satisfying, easy, don't-have-to-have-much-patience, rich, relatively not bad for you, amazing chocolate fix. They were good enough to eat the entire batch, yet rich enough to be perfectly satisfied with one serving. When has that ever happened before? How about NEVER.

The recipe calls for:

• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

I used Earth Fare brand sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and Earth Fare brand sugar-free applesauce. I would advise trying to find applesauce without high fructose corn syrup. A lot of name brand apple sauce sneaks that in there and it makes your food not as good for you. Just a tip, I have found that when you use applesauce as an ingredient in baking, your food won't stick to the sides of the container you bake them in. In fact, there's always a bit of a gap between the edge, and the baked item. My super-scientific guess is that the water in the applesauce mostly evaporates, and when it does so, the food slightly shrinks, pulling it away from the edge of the pan/bowl/whatever. It makes sense to me, but hey, I'm not a chemist . . or a professional chef.

My mother absolutely detests canola oil, so I didn't have any around the house. Instead I used Earth Fare brand extra-virgin olive oil. I was a bit nervous when I was putting the mixed batter in the microwave because I could still smell the olive oil a bit, but once they were completely cooked, I couldn't smell it or taste it.

Since I'm gluten-free, I obviously didn't use whole wheat flour. I used Jules all-purpose gluten-free flour. I think the gluten-free flour made my fake blondes a bit chewier than normal brownies, so anyone who used normal flour (you non-gluten-free humans out there,) please let me know how the consistency turned out. I am super-curious, but obviously, I can't try it out myself.

For the coca powder, I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder because I LOVE dark chocolate. I'm sure non-dark chocolate works great too though.

Lastly, I used Enjoy Life semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, and I cannot tell a lie, I didn't measure them. I had a mostly used up bag of them, and I figured there was at least half a cup, and that if my brownies had extra chocolate, then Vive La Chocolat! (Pardon my french.)

Here is my delicious finished product:

This is actually the surface of the moon. They lied. It's not made of cheese. It's made of Fake Blondes. Just kidding. But seriously, the moon would be a lot cooler if it was made of this and not fancy rocks.

Ahhhhh! Don't you just want to bite your screen? Mmmmmmmmm. Mmmmmmmmake these now. They're so yummy.

One thing I must say is that they weren't very blonde. Perhaps they have gone back to their natural color? Haha! I was expecting blondies though, because of the name, but these were definitely brownies. Or maybe that's why they're "fake" blondes. . . because they're really brunettes? Eh. . . I don't know. I do want to make blondies with this recipe now though. (As soon as I'm done not sharing the other 3 servings of these things.) By the way, these taste best when they're at least warm, if not hot, with a side of your favorite vegan vanilla ice cream.

P.S. I like your natural hair color best!