Betty and Francs Vegan Love: A diary of sweethearts gone vegan for 60 days

~Betty Day 14 @ the Zenith

~Day 14 Betty

Two weeks today and going strong! We had an amazing lunch at an interesting vegetarian cafe in Pittsburgh’s South Side. Franc and I had lunch at the Zenith (at the corner of 26Th and Sara St) and saying we enjoyed ourselves is an understatement. This place is super fabulous!!! For starters it’s an art gallery slash antique store with a cafe that has a vegan/vegetarian menu. HELLO! The atmosphere is an eclectic mix of art, antiques and oodles of trinkets. The dining room is in the back but it blends right into the surroundings it’s really nice – in a shabby chic sort of way. They have an extensive tea menu and we chose a peach ginger mango green tea which we really liked. The menu is small but I was told they change it often; I think weekly. My lunch began with a beautiful side salad almost too pretty to eat.

Lovely salad from the Zenith

I ordered roasted garlic Linguine, it was light fluffy linguine with artichokes, mushrooms and roasted garlic. The pasta was not at all oily it actually barely tasted as if it had a sauce on it but it was very flavorful from the roasted garlic. I LOVED it!

Roasted garlic linguine

Franc started off with a black bean, tomato, and garlic soup which he said was very filling and hearty. He then had the Ethiopian gingered vegetable wrap and it was HUGE, and filled with chickpeas, potatoes, carrots, green beans and ginger. He really liked it and couldn’t even finish this giant sandwich! To finish off our lunch we shared a piece of vegan chocolate chip Bundt cake. I had been eyeing this cake up since we sat at our table just hoping it was vegan friendly. This cake was to die for. It was thick, rich, moist and had chocolate chips inside and out. We ate every last crumb of its chocolaty goodness J It was so good I even took home a piece for my mom (Hope you liked it mom) so she could taste how good vegan chocolate cake can be. I aspire to make one this good – if only the waiter would have given me the recipe! Believe me, I asked.

Scrumptious vegan chocolate chip cake

We’re off to visit family and do a little traveling this weekend and we’re curious how we’re going to get by eating vegan out of town and around non-vegans. We’ve got a plan to take a few things and wing the rest. Should be interesting!

TGIF,
Betty

Day 13 - Franc makes homemade bread

Hi All -

I made some quick homemade bread yesterday that really went great with Betty's veggie soup. I'm a dunker so taking a hot slice of bread with some soy butter and dunking it into the soup broth put me in heaven. If you've never made bread before it's actually pretty simple and a lot less time consuming that you would think. Here's a basic bread recipe. I encourage you to try it. Your family will really love smelling it baking and enjoying it hot out of the oven.

Basic homemade bread (makes two small loafs)

4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups warm water

Start by taking one cup of warm water and dissolving 1 table spoon of active bread yeast into the water along with the sugar. Just sprinkle the yeast into the water and let it hang out for about 4-5 min. I think what keeps people away from baking bread is that they get freaked out by using yeast and not knowing what to do. Basically all you need to look for is that the yeast water starts to get milky in color and a little bubbly. Be sure to use warm tap water. If the water is cool to the touch it will be hard to get the yeast going. As long as your yeast gets milky and frothy, it's alive and your bread will rise and be great. If your yeast looks exactly the same as when you dumped it into the water, then your yeast is dead and you need to get some new yeast. Chances are your yeast will be fine. Next add the cup of water with your yeast to your bowl with all the flour and salt in it. The slowly start adding the second cup of warm water to the bowl and begin stirring the whole ting with a wooden spoon. You may need to add a little more water or possibly use a little less. Your looking for a nice ball of dough not too dry but not pancake batter either. Once your dough has come together you want to cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for about 2-3 hours. The dough will at least double in size. After the dough has risen you want to put the dough on a floured surface and kneed it. Here's where you can add additional flour if the dough is really sticky and wet. You want to kneed the dough for a few minutes until you fell that it's silky to the touch and no longer sticks to the surface your working on. At this point cut the dough in half and shape into two round balls. Place the two loaves on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with a little cooking spray. You can slice a couple of notches in the top of the bread if you like at this point. Cover both loves with a kitchen towel and let hang out and rise a little more for at least another hour. Preheat your over to 350 and bake the bread for 35-45 minutes. That's it! Other than waiting for the bread to rise your actual working time on this is really small and the results will be worth it.

I'm also trying out a no-kneed bread recipe I found online and will let you know how that goes. I'm hoping that this bread will take even less prep time so that it will be even easier to have bread more often - even with a busy schedule. I'll keep you posted on that one.

Take care - Franc

Here's a link to the best type of bread yeast to use and a really good value compared with the small containers at the store.

~Betty Day 13 Zucchini Stew

~Betty Day 13

Its sooooo Cold here today so I decided to make some homemade vegetable soup. I’ve made my soup recipe for years and I always called it Zucchini stew because I started making it in the summer time when I would have so many zucchini and this I one of the recipes that I’d use them in, but really its just veggie soup J

In a large pot use olive oil and sauté:

Half of a large onion,

2 carrots,

2 stalks of celery,

About three cloves of garlic (more or less),

Two small or one large zucchini chopped into bite sized pieces (little half circles),

Two potatoes (in bite size pieces),

Allow these to soften a bit in the olive oil and then

Add two cans of red pack tomato sauce and one can of water,

Add a big handful of fresh green beans trimmed and cut in half,

2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

And I like to add ½ tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes for kick (optional)

Also at some point add a dash of sugar to cut down the acidity

I also like to throw in some fresh basil if I have it

Zucchini Stew and Homemade bread

Let this simmer until the vegetables soften and enjoy, now this is a no fail recipe you can add any vegetables that you have left around your house and make it different every time.

This recipe makes A LOT of soup but it freezes beautifully so make it once and eat it all month. Serve with some homemade crusty bread J

Trying to stay warm,

Betty

Franc - Day 12 Vegan Sausage

Yes, I've been out searching for more sausage again. Picked up a pack of the TraderJoes brand chorizo sausage and it was really tasty. An important note... you definitely need to remove the casing before cooking! I made this silly mistake and wondered why the casing was so plastic like and inedible - the reality was it is plastic and inedible, and the package plainly states that you should remove the casing before cooking. Opps ;-)

I also had another realization last night. I like to have a few pints with my buddys now and again. I'm a pretty big guy so I could put a few down easily without getting too tipsy. It seems that since I've gone vegan I don't seem to have much of a tolerance for alcohol any more. I wonder why that is? Perhaps I'm just imagining things. Weird. If anyone else has experienced this sort of thing I'd love to hear your feedback.

-Franc

~Betty Day 12 Trader Joes

Well we stopped by Traders Joes today. Did you know there is only one Trader Joes in Pittsburgh? I guess I hadn’t realized that, I am grateful for our one location. We dropped in and bought a couple things and their prices are great. Franc got, yet another, veg sausage to sample as well as some awesome guac and flat bread J Yummo! Also some cheapy cheapy produce. <3 Trader Joes!!!

I stopped in Subway today and I have been eating their veggie and Cheese subs forever and I actually thought that I wasn’t going to like them minus the cheese.

Once again I was wrong, the Italian and the 9 grain wheat are dairy free (wheat has honey) but it honestly tasted the same, I get tons of veggies and mustard and there was no difference. I’m starting to think that slapping all of those cheese calories on to everything that I thought added so many flavors to was really just pointless. J

Snowy day in da burgh,

Betty

~Day 11 Betty Johnny Rockets

~Betty Day 11

Hello All!! Franc has told you what we made for dinner tonight (pizza!) so I wanted to tell you where we had lunch. A friend of mine had told me that, believe it or not, Johnny Rockets which is a national chain has 100% soy Boca burgers. Today was an especially hectic day and we wanted to grab a bite so we decided to try it. We had a yummy veggie burger with lettuce, pickles, onions, mushrooms, and mustard. It was great going out to lunch we really like to eat out A LOT and with a little planning (and believe me this is not rocket science) we we’re able to eat something we liked and not feel like our lives had been drastically changed from our norm.

Franc at Johnny Rockets with his Vegan burger

We are really finding way to keep our routine quite normal and just tweek our options to fit our needs. We had a burger for lunch and pizza for dinner but they we're all plant based ingredients.

xoxo,

Betty

11th Day Franc Vegan Pizza

It was our first attempt trying Vegan Pizza today. And I can thoroughly say, it was great. I wouldn't think that having a pizza without cheese would be very appetizing, but it was totally fine. I would say that if you blindfolded the average person and gave them a pizza with lots of good veggie toppings, but no cheese, they would barely notice that the cheese was missing. I realized that the taste of the pizza comes mainly from the sauce and the toppings. Yes cheese does add some creamy, melty texture, but I don't think it adds a huge amount of extra flavor. Just try it and see for yourself. *I think I ate like five pieces it was so good!

Here's our simple Vegan Pizza we whipped up in just a few minutes...

We stared off with some 12" pre-baked pizza shells we picked up at the store.
We added about a half of a can of pizza sauce. I think when not using cheese you should always have extra sauce, so be generous here.
Earlier we sauteed about a cup of red onion and a cup of portabella mushrooms in EVOO to soften them up a bit. I think this is important since we were working with pre-baked crusts and the pizza will not have to cook as long as a raw dough crust would. I also crumbled up and sauteed in EVOO one Italian Tofurkey sausage, and cooked till a little crisp.
We then took all the sauteed ingredients and added to our sauced up crust.
The last couple things we added were some minced garlic (about 1 teaspoon or to your taste), some mild pepper rings, about a teaspoon of Italian seasonings and about a teaspoon of garlic salt.

We popped the whole thing in the over for about 8 minutes (follow the cooking instructions on the pizza shell package) and it was done. Super Easy!

One extra note. I'm sure the hard core veteran Vegans will see some of our recipes and note that we are using some packaged or prepared items and not doing everything from scratch or organically. While we strive to do the best we can with all the ingredients we use, please understand that this is a big change for us and that with our busy schedules and a family we are doing our best to make this work. We hope that over time we can perfect our technique, but I also hope that newbies to this lifestyle will also see that there are some easy recipes that taste good and are simple to make, and you don't have to feel like your just eating beans and rice every day. I think that the reason that most people are afraid to go vegan is they feel that they will have to give up all of their comfort foods like pizza and burgers and just eat a bunch of spinach and tofu, or that the food will be so difficult and time consuming to prepare that they couldn't possibly make the change. We're here to show that you can have alternative items that give you that same comfort, simply by approaching the ingredients in a new way. Also by keeping things simple you may not be a "perfect" Vegan (if there even is such a thing), but you will gain a huge benefit of eating healthier with really a very small effort and sacrifice.

- Franc

Day 10 - Franc Food Docs

Hi Everyone -

Day 10 and things are going well for us. We're on the tail end of our little cold we both had and starting to fell much better. We had a busy day today so we simply made some pasta marinara with garlic toast for dinner. We've been saving this dish for a day we didn't have much time to cook. It's quick, easy and even our kids will eat it! I tried whipping up some meatless meatballs but wasn't 100% happy with the results. I've got an idea how I can make them better and will share that with you when I'm satisfied with the results.

I did want to comment on some of the food documentaries we've been watching lately. We've found a couple of good ones, which we feel are good eye openers to our current system of food. I personally don't like being preached to, but these films do not seem to do that. They simply educate and let you form your own opinion as to what you should be doing for your health. What amazes me most about these films is how much good information is in each one that never gets out there to the majority of people. A lot of this stuff is pretty simple to get, but must people don't take the time to seek out the information and educate themselves. If you are new to healthier eating you owe it to yourself to watch a few of these so you can make the best choices for you and your family. Thanks.

Food Inc.
This movie looks at how our country has moved into mass produced, factory farming. Lots of insight into the quality of this type of food and an eye opener as to how it's produced.

King Corn
I liked this film because it shows the delema we face as Americans - Do we want good food or cheap food? The film follows two college buddies who decide to plant an acre of corn in Iowa and then follow that corn though the food system. You'll be amazed at how many things we consume that are made with corn! I also liked that this film shows the famers who are basically stuck producing what the government subsidizes.

Check these two out. I've got a few more suggestions I will be adding in future blog posts.

Franc

~Betty Day 9

Today Franc and I were sick :-( We both came down with a virus we caught from the youngest munchkin in our house and basically were couch bound the entire day, So we ate Chinese and PB&J which is plant based as long as the Jelly is made with Pectin and not Gelatin. That being said I found a link I would like to share:

http://www.vegetarianusa.com/city/Pittsburgh.html

We live in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and this website lists many Vegetarian/Vegan restaurants to try, another feature I really like is the option to change locations. Franc and I are planning a short trip and this link is going to be quite beneficial finding fabulous eateries in locations were not familiar with.

Trying to shake this bug,
Betty

~Betty day 8 Tofu Scramble

~Betty Day 8

Hello all! It’s the weekend so with some extra time on our hands we decided to cook up a nice breakfast (bagels and cereal are getting old).

I made us a delicious tofu scramble. It was a really simple dish and an easy way to use up all of the extra veggies sitting around the fridge. I used zucchini, sliced shrooms, tomato, scallions, garlic sautéed and then I added half a block of tofu crumbled ( the almost egg ) and through in some of our faux cheese. This turned out great! I also sliced up some of Francs chorizo sausage and added some whole wheat toast.

Tofu Scramble

We had a great day today experimenting in our kitchen with all of the new Veggie recipes we have. I have always really liked taking recipes and fooling around with them to make them my own. I tried to make a vinegar potato salad today but it turned out way to mustardy for my taste, but for some reason Franc liked it :-) I really think with a little bit of thought and planning we are doing quite well and neither one of us is really missing or craving anything.
xoxo,
Betty

8 Days vegan strong - Franc

I'll let Betty review the items we ate today. I wanted to focus a little more on some of the things I'm reading about being vegan. As a newcomer to this lifestyle, I really didn't know much about the health benefits of eating only plant based foods. Of course it's a nice not to harm animals for our food, but I just didn't realize that being vegan has a host of many other benefits. I found a helpful blog which touched on some of these items. Check it out. I think you'll be really surprised to learn how being vegan can lower your cholesterol, lessens your fat intake and help fend off certain types of cancers and other diseases.

http://evolvingwellness.com/posts/743/the-benefits-of-being-vegan-over-vegetarian/

I'm starting to realize that there may be a little more to eating a plant based diet.

Franc

~Betty day 7 Sweet Potato Fries

~Betty day 7

Wooohoooo! Day 7 J

Well as Franc mentioned we made sloppy Joes today. I also made homemade sweet potato fries. I’ve made different versions of these before so Ill give you and brief idea of how I did it:

I used three large sweet potatoes sliced into fry shapes (you’ll be surprised how many fries you get from only 3 potatoes)

Spray the baking pan with a non-stick spray

Lightly drizzled olive oil on the fries and then sprinkle with Chili powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste, the spicier you like them the more chili powder you can add

I use tongs and just toss them around in all of this and pop them in the oven on 425 until crispy

Very simple, I also make a dip that goes along with these fries its easy too

1 cup non-dairy sour cream

¼ cup veganaise

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/4 cup chili sauce
1/2 tsp cumin

This dip compliments the spices on the sweet potato fries beautifully.

Day 7 - One week Vegan! - Franc

We'll we've made it to the one week mark and all is going well. So far being vegan hasn't been too difficult. Yes, it does require a little more planning ahead and we're eating out less; which has actually been good on the pocket book. I feel good, have plenty of energy and I'm feeling a little skinnier from eating less fatty foods.

Today we did simple Sloppy Joes that were, in my opinion, exactly the same as the meaty version. Here's how we did it:

We really enjoy Fantastic World Foods Vegan Mixes, and the Sloppy Joe mix is no exception. (They also have a killer taco filling mix we will review a little later in the month)

We followed the Mama's Sloppy Joes recipe on the back of the box but made one important change. The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of chili powder, which we feel really over powers the rest of the flavors. Using one tablespoon of chili powder is more than enough and will ensure that the mix is not too spicy. We also feel its important to find some really nice Italian buns and not to use cheap burger buns - just makes it taste a little better. I would challenge you to try this recipe out with non vegetarians and see if they even notice that it's not beef. Enjoy!

~Day 6 Betty & Franc Ode to Joy Soup

~Betty & Franc Day 6

Today was leftover day at Betty and Francs house J HOOORAY! Nice and easy and even Abby dog got some leftover hippie loaf in her dish tonight, Abby has been a vegetarian her whole life and is enjoying our new diet since she is able to sample all of our dishes :-)

Abby Dog

Lunch was soup we had in the freezer. This recipe that we've been enjoying for some time was given to me by my girlfriend and I LOVE it the broth is delicious and feels good to your soul when you drink it, perfect for a cold, snowy day like today. Here is the recipe you can add and subtract things to it and mix it up however you like:

ODE TO JOY SOUP:

Saute' Olive oil, carrots, Celery, onions, and garlic

Add gourmet mixed mushrooms (i use slice baby portabellos but anything will work)

Add 2 cartons of organic veggie broth and some water

add salt, fresh ground black pepper, and organic cayenne all to taste (i prefer mine with a little heat)

Add a block of cubed tofu and a bag of fresh spinach I also like to throw in some bean sprouts and let simmer

*Sometimes i leave out the tofu and add some udon noodles which is also awesome, or add the tofu and the noodles whatever you have just throw it in there and this soup turns out amazing!

I also found this cool link with everyday items that you wouldn’t realize are actually vegan: I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan!. VegNews Magazine

Some of these things were surprising.

Have a fabulous day!

Betty & Franc

Day 5 - Franc Mushroom Gravy

Here's my awesome vegetarian mushroom gravy recipe, that even the meat lovers will dig! We used it over top of vegan mashed potatoes and loved it. Enjoy...

1 cup coarsely chopped baby portabella mushrooms
2 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon thyme
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of flour
1 teaspoon Gravy Master browning liquid
3 tablespoons of Soy, non-dairy butter

Start off by browning the chopped mushrooms in one tablespoon of non-dairy butter. This will help to bring out some of the flavor. Next add the vegetable broth, soy sauce, thyme, and pepper and let simmer for about 3 minutes to release all the flavors.

Once you have the sauce prepared you finish the gravy just like any other traditional gravy. Simply add the Gravy Master flour and the remaining butter and whisk over high heat until the gravy starts to thicken. This should only take about 2 minutes or so. Be sure to whisk out any lumps the four may cause. Enjoy!

Franc

~Betty Day 5 Hippie Loaf

Wondering today how I will feel after 30 days? I wonder how much weight I will lose and if I will see major changes happen in just this short time? Thus far I am happy with how things are going and just trying to get through these first few days/weeks. Franc mentioned going away in a few weeks and my mind is already wondering how to keep us happy while visiting family out of state? I am going to start working on a plan….

Tonight for dinner we made a “Hippie Loaf” thanks to the Happy Herbivore website for this recipe ;-) we also made homemade non-dairy mashed potatoes and Franc made absolutely fantastic mushroom gravy from scratch. I really liked the concept of this hippie loaf and it was the first I’ve made but I think I could have done a few things differently to this recipe that would have made myself and Franc like it just a little more. I will be working on this and I will post my recipe as soon as I master my meatless loaf.

On a side note- Normally I am not a night time snacker, but I am finding that come around 9pm I’m REALLY hungry, I need to figure out how to not get in the habit of munching this late?

xoxo,

Betty

Day 4 - Franc Earth Balance and Popcorn

Well here's the latest update on the quest for the perfect veggie wiener... Today I tried another brand of sausage "LightLife - Smart Sausages". I went with the chirizo flavor to spice things up a bit. Much like the brand from yesterday, this was another decent option for me. Again, it's not quite the flavor of it's meaty counterpart, but it's certainly tasty enough to work for me and my new diet.

Was happy with the "All American" burger and fries dinner tonight. I did not even miss the cheese on top of the burger. We sauteed some onions and mushrooms and put a little Vegenaise on top and had a really delicious, flavorful sandwich.

At the end of the evening we were watching some TV and decided to have some popcorn. We had some non salted, non flavored, microwavable, organic popcorn that we added a little melted Earth Balance Butter to and it was a great snack. That E.B. Butter is killer, and has been working great for us since we started! We've also read that nutritional yeast is a great thing to add to popcorn or anything else you want to give a little cheesy flavor to. We looking to pick some of that up soon and will give you our thoughts on it.

~Betty day 4 Veggie Burger

Betty day 4 ~

Hello all!

A pretty easy day all in all, Breakfast was some Kashi cereal and soy milk with fruit and juice.

Lunch was leftover brown rice dish from yesterday’s lunch

Dinner we made vegan veggie burgers. We are trying to make everyone in our household happy with this new change and not trying to force it upon anyone (referring to the small fries age 8 and 11) So we chose this meal knowing that my oldest daughter could still eat a regular burger and myself and Franc could have the veggie style. My youngest who has been a healthy eater all of her life now claims she’s a vegetarian?!? Maybe she is? Maybe she isn’t? I’m not really sure at this point, but what I do know is that she did not like the veggie burger, She was even heard mumbling “curse you non-delicious veggie burger” at the dinner table, so we opted to make her a peanut butter and jelly and I gave her accolades for trying, As a side note I would like to point out that I have always made an effort to have dinner with my girls as often as possible so it is going to be slightly tricky to make things that everyone can enjoy, without making totally separate meals for everyone and fit all of this into our busy schedules but I’m trying. I love veggie burgers and have been eating them forever so I was happy. We baked some frozen fries which I’m sure we could have made something healthier but we have lots to do so they worked just fine.

Got a fabulous new book today! This Crazy Vegan Life by Christina Pirello

She is extremely knowledgeable about health and nutrition and I am anxious to make some of the recipes they seem quick and easy and sound delish!!

xoxo,
Betty

Day 3 - Franc

Once again we started off the day easy with a simple Vegan Breakfast - No problem.

For lunch I had some of Betty's brown rice dish, which I really enjoyed. The citrus of the lemon with the tang of the soy was a nice surprise. I was also pleasantly surprised how quickly she whipped it up - a real time saver!

In addition to the rice I was also excited to try my first Vegan sausage sandwich. As much as Betty is a connoisseur of the curd, I consider myself somewhat of an expert in tube shaped meat. I love Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, kielbasa, brats (beer and cheese are my favs), and also all the cured sausages you could think of. There-for when going Veg, I was very interested in trying a few types of Veg alternatives to see how they might compare. Today I tried the Tofurkey (Italian Flavor) and was pretty happy with the taste. I think the key to good sausage is simply having good spices inside and this one hit the mark pretty well. The only criticism I have is that the casing didn't quite have the crunch or pop that I'm use to. All in all it's a pretty good substitute and kept my sausage cravings at bay. I have another brand I'm going to try tomorrow at lunch, just to compare.

Franc

BONUS - RANDOM PICTURE OF CAPTAIN VEGETABLE!

~Betty day 3 Brown rice veggie salad bowl

Hello!! Lots going on today and we tried a BUNCH of new items that I want to discuss. First of all breezed right through breakfast with some fruit and bagels, this breakfast thing seems simple but I don’t want to come off as overconfident so I will report back on that in the future.

I had a meeting in the morning and had to run home and whip up lunch in about 20 minutes and so I came up with this quick and easy brown rice and veggie “salad” bowl. Turned out great and it was quick and easy. I basically took some brown rice that I had and added carrots, tomatoes, scallions, some balsamic vinaigrette and the juice of half a lemon topped it with a nice sprinkle of cashews and voila! LUNCH!

We made our first trip to the natural foods store to stock up on some non-dairy staples that I’ve been wanting to try. We got all kinds of stuff. Even a little container of loaded mashed potatoes made vegan style! It was pretty cool to go to a place that had so many options for us. I wanted to taste everything but tried to get a little of this and a little of that, so we don’t get too crazy. I realize that just by eliminating meat and dairy there are still choices that aren’t necessarily healthy so I’m trying to learn as I go and take baby steps. Eliminating dairy for me is a big step so since I don’t eat much sugar normally I’m leaving that alone for now and will address white sugar some where down the road.

When we got home we were sampling everything! Let me tell you Vegenaise is unbelievable, truly fabulous alternative that I should have been using my whole life. The dairy free sour cream seems fine and will be nice to use for dips and such when we have places and things to see and do. We even bought a non dairy “magic” bar to share just to see if we liked it. Fabulous! The Newmans-O's ROCKED! Now on to my first stumbling block…… We bought follow your heart cheddar. I consider myself and Franc somewhat of cheese connoisseurs’ we are always sampling cheeses from here and there, we have restaurants that we go to just to eat their cheeseboard and enjoy a glass of wine.

There are times when I consume a nice 5 year old cheddar that I reach true euphoria.

So I was very anxious to sample this cheese, the reviews I’ve read online say this is one of the best non-dairy cheeses you can find, first off the consistency was strange felt plastic like and slightly greasy, was strangely light and not at all cheese-ish in texture or feeling, but the taste, the taste was so odd and strange I am actually struggling to find words to describe this odd alien cheese substance. I actually had to spit it out. It was that bad L Can anyone suggest a better cheese alternative that I could try? I am mourning the loss of cheese today.

Our faux grill cheese

On a slightly better note, Franc convinced me to give faux cheese a second chance and he made us a grilled cheese, I believe he was sensing I needed some comfort food at this point, he used earth balance butter, wheat bread, pseudo cheese and when it was all melty (the mock cheese does melt BTW) he put veganaise on his creation. I was extremely doubtful that I was going to be able to even stomach a bite of one of my former favorites but was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. The veganaise made it creamy and delish, I think it perfectly complemented the counterfeit cheese. We paired this with a nice salad a all was good at the house of Betty and Franc J
               xoxo,
               Betty