It’s Late May and I’m Still Eating Cold Weather Food

Hello and Happy Thursday!  Only one more day until the weekend.  I can hardly believe that this one will bring the start of June!

No but actually, it’s really hard to believe, especially after last night, when I had to turn the heat back on in my house, and even then sleep under the covers in a long-sleeved shirt and sweatshirt.  Also, on Tuesday one of my friends said she saw snow (that’s right, SNOW) falling in Boston.  Not cool, weather, not cool at all.

I’ve been a little clandestine with my blogging activity lately, meaning that I’ve been lurking on many of your blogs but unfortunately not being able to fully read and comment.  I do apologize and hope to be back to my previous level of participation very soon!

Part of my silence has been busy-ness/laziness, and to be perfectly honest part of it has been crankiness and not feeling like seeing all of the beautiful warm-weather food everyone else seems to be enjoying while I’m stuck in the rainy high 40’s (or mid-50’s if we’re really lucky).  World’s smallest violin, I know.

To cope though, I’ve been eating lots of yummy hot food when I go out, and assembling scrumptious comfort food meals at home.

Yesterday I had a very satisfying vegetarian pho at a tiny Vietnamese & Thai restaurant in Woburn called Pho #1.  It’s a little hole in the wall with some seriously delicious eats and a decent-sized veg menu.

The soup was hot and steamy and just what I needed.

On the side I had possibly the best summer rolls (for luck, y’know?) I’ve ever tasted. They were SO fresh and had just the right amount of mint. And that peanut sauce–wow!

I am considering going back today to get more of them, even though I brought my lunch.

At home I’ve been very into baked potatoes.  A baked potato with chili is one of the quickest, cheapest meals I know of, and never fails to be delish, so that has made a few appearances.  But the one I’m really proud of is my Loaded Baked Potato from last week.

Feast your eyes.

This thing was SO FRIGGIN GOOD!  I baked the potato in the microwave, spread a little Earth Balance inside, then added steamed broccoli, a generous drizzle of Jackie’s cheese sauce (yeah definitely added more after the pictures were taken), and some chopped Upton’s Naturals bacon seitan on top.

I need to make some more cheese sauce, because I want to eat this again tonight.  And maybe tomorrow night as well.

Oh also, this was my first time trying Upton’s bacon seitan and I am hooked!  In case anyone is keeping track 🙂

See you all in your comments boxes soon!

Oh and a reminder–if you want to give Beyond Meat a try this weekend, you can get some using this Buy One Get One Free coupon.  It expires June 1!

Vegan “Hamburger Helper” & a BOGO Beyond Meat Coupon!

Hello there!  Do I have a treat for you today!

It’s no secret that I love me some meat analogues.  In fact, I have always loved these going way back, many years before I had even contemplated going vegan.  At present, I work pretty hard to ensure that my diet is comprised of 80-90% whole foods, but every so often I still like to indulge in some meaty goodness (cruelty-free of course!).

I’ve blogged about Beyond Meat’s chicken-style strips before (check out this Grilled Chicken and Avocado Sandwich or this Spicy Chicken Quesadilla), but it was not until last week that I finally got my hands on some of their beef-free crumbles (using a Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon that you can snag for yourself at the bottom of this post).

The bottom line: I LOVE IT.  I think this is the best ground beef analogue I’ve had.  And yes, it’s processed food, but it also happens to not be complete garbage.  The ingredients are 100% gluten-free and soy-free, and do not include GMO’s.

The first thing I did with my Beef-free Crumbles was to recreate a comfort food that throws it WAY back: Hamburger Helper.  Or, to take my darling H’s suggestion, we can refer to it as “Herbivore Helper.”

For the cheesy sauce, I used a recipe that one of my favorite bloggers, Jackie at Vegan Yack Attack, posted last week as part of her Vegan Cuts Pizza Party.  I could have made my own cheese sauce, but hers is so damn good that there would be no sense to that!  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

Okay, the recipe!
Vegan Hamburger Helper, aka Herbivore Helper, featuring Beyond Meat Beef-free Crumbles
Serves 2 very hungry people, or 4 normals…I am not normal
Vegan, dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free option 

Ingredients
4 oz. pappardelle pasta (or other pasta of choice…use GF pasta for gluten-free)
1 cup Beyond Meat beef-free crumbles
1 recipe of Jackie’s Cheese Sauce (or other cheese sauce of choice)–you will only need about half of it for this recipe, but make the whole thing and then go nuts putting the leftovers on everything!
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste (optional)
Additional nutritional yeast (optional)

Directions
[Remember to put the cashews for the cheese sauce out to soak for at least 30 minutes before starting the rest of the ingredients!]

Boil water for pasta.  While the water is coming to a boil, warm the beef-free crumbles in a skillet with a little bit of oil (per package directions).

When the water comes to a boil, add the pasta, while it’s cooking, make the cheese sauce in your blender (it’ll yield about 3/4 cup).

When pasta is done cooking, drain it, then add it to a large bowl and toss with 1/2 of the cheese sauce (use more or less to taste), beef-free crumbles, basil, and garlic powder.  Add salt, pepper, and additional nutritional yeast to taste.

Scarf it down!

The second I was done snapping these photos, I completely devoured a heaping bowl of this stuff (like seriously, 3-4 times the size of the pictured serving).  This is good, solid comfort food, folks.  Even H, who normally is very picky and skeptical about any “fake” meats, tried a bite, and then asked for another, and another.  I’d say it’s a winner!

If you would like your own Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon, redeemable for any Beyond Meat product, you can get one by clicking this link.  The coupon is good through June 1st.  Stock up this week for Memorial Day 🙂

Disclaimer: I am a 2014 Beyond Meat ambassador.  I am not compensated in any way for this, other than by getting awesome coupons that I can then share with you!  All opinions are my own and as always, completely honest.