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May 17 2013
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Snacks

Epic Vegan Queso

We decided to take queso to the next level. Fortunately the preparation wasn’t epic; it is incredibly simple to make your own awesome queso at home.

You can start with Nacho Mom’s Vegan Queso or any other pre-made vegan queso or make your own.

Take your vegan queso and combine it with the following:
1 15 ounce tin of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion, diced and microwaved until soft
1 15 ounce tin of diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 package of Tofurkey soy Chorizo
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Then we microwave it until it’s hot, stirring every thirty seconds. This is perfect for a gathering with friends, even omnivores!

This is Christie, signing off!

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May 01 2013
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Snacks

May-king a Comeback!

Hi, Veganesers! It’s me, Melissa, coming back from… well, I never really left. But I haven’t been keeping up with the blog. Sadface. I have excuses — some are even valid — but this isn’t a confessional. It’s a blog about turning vegan.

Can you guys believe that it’s already May? I’m glad April is over. May 2012 brought a lot of great surprises and I’m hopeful that May 2013 will be the same. What I’m most excited about is that it finally feels like spring in Chicago. Outdoor Farmers Markets! Dining al fresco! Sunshine! Fresh garden veggies on the horizon! All that said, I still spend most of my time cooped up in the office. Luckily, I have provisions.

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Here are just some of the snacks I currently have at my desk:

The CLIF bar that’s hiding back there is my emergency snack, in case I don’t have time to get lunch or am about to hulk out from being so hungry.

The soy milk was given to me by my co-worker Joelen, who has her own food blog (it’s not vegan, but it’s wickedly awesome and she’s an awesome person so check it out). I’ll be opening it soon and using it for my morning cereal and afternoon coffee.

Last but not least are some dried mangoes that my Mom brought back from the Philippines. These are in every Asian market in Chicagoland, so you don’t need to fly to the Philippines to get them. Truth time (even though I did say that this isn’t a confessional): I used to hate these. In fact, when my Mom asked if she should bring some back, I replied, “Nah.” But I found myself craving these, so I brought a bag to work. They were so freaking delicious. Great alternative to gummy bears for anyone who is jonesing for one of those. Furthermore, my co-workers who hadn’t tried them before really liked them. I feel like they’re different enough from real mangoes to stand on their own as a vegan treat.

Not pictured but also currently at my desk are nuts, chips (sigh… chips… I can’t quit you), Biscoff spread, and granola bars. If I ever complain about being hungry at work, you have permission to slap me.

What snacks do you have at your desk or office? Let me know! It’s good to be back!!! –Melissa

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Jan 21 2013
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Snacks

New Favorites!

I’ve been making more of an effort to bring food from home to work not only to save myself from eating junk but also to save some money. 2013 is no financial joke, you guys! Thankfully, I’ve added a few new items to my list of favorite portable foods.

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Okay. So. Stonyfield O’Soy yogurt is not vegan. I realized that their cultures are milk-based after buying it. Ugh. Kind of a buzzkill, but O’Soy yogurt is still a decent alternative to other yogurts (is it just me or does everyone else in the world eat Chobani yogurt?) and definitely more nutritious than donuts or cookies that I find myself eating when I’m starving for a snack. For an actual vegan yogurt that is super delicious, try Amande! Christie uses Amande in a breakfast parfait which you can read about here. I usually add some flax meal and/or granola to my yogurt.

Speaking of granola, our friends at Cascadian Farm sent us a box of their new Berry Cobbler Granola. I love Cascadian Farm granola and go through it really quickly. I usually eat it as a cereal with some soy or almond milk and flax meal. It’s great with bananas or blueberries, too! Now, I wasn’t sure what to expect with the new Berry Cobbler flavor. How would it be different from other granola with cranberries or blueberries in it? I don’t know how they did it, but Cascadian Farm concocted granola that actually tastes very much like berry cobbler!! So good and decadent that I find myself saving it for special days.

Finally, I bought a jar of Biscoff Spread when I saw it for $3.99 at Fresh Farms. I find that it pops up in a lot of my Internet searches for Vegan treats or snacks, but I always felt that it was too expensive to even try, so I snagged it when I saw it for under $5. The spread is made with Biscoff cookies. Right on the jar, they call it out as an alternative to peanut butter. (I personally see it as a non-chocolate vegan alternative to Nutella.) It looks very much like peanut butter, has the same texture and is packaged like peanut butter, but it’s got that unmistakable Biscoff cookie taste. It’s so good on toast! It’s on the sweet side. I wouldn’t recommend eating it with jam or even eating it with fruit. My perspective has definitely changed on the cost: it’s no more expensive than almond butter or “fancy” peanut butter. If I’m feeling adventurous enough, I might try making Biscoff donuts. DELICIOUS!

So, there you have it! These are some of my new favorite products. They’re delicious AND cost-effective and (mostly) vegan. –Melissa

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Nov 20 2012
5 Comments
Snacks

Potato Wedges with Aioli

Friends and family should be arriving soon so here’s a local and personal favorite for entertaining. We’ve got a lot of Spanish influence in Miami and something that they’ve created that’s right up my alley is Catalan Allioli or aioli. It’s a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, water and sometimes egg yolks. There won’t be anymore talk of eggs today.

I chopped some sweet potato (because it’s that time of year), yam and russet potato into wedges ranging from finger to thumb thickness and length. I tossed them in a mixture of the following:

2 tbsp corn oil (corn oil is important because it has a high flash point and won’t form carcinogenic substances as easily when baking at high temperatures)

1/2 tbsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 generous pinch of paprika

1 pinch of nutmeg

garlic salt to taste

I tossed the potatoes until they were coated with the spice and oil mix and them laid them out on a metal baking sheet lined with waxed paper. I baked them at 375F/190C for one hour.

While you’re waiting on your potatoes, it’s time to make some dipping sauce. I made 2 sauces.

One was my chipotle lime sauce and the other is the aioli. Combine the following:

1/2 cup of vegenaise

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

3-4 cloves of garlic, finely minced

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp olive oil

It is possible to mix this in a food processor or blender but I don’t recommend it: it can be very thick and you’ll forever be scraping sauce off the walls of your blending device. Mix these well using a fork in a shallow dish, prepare for dipping satisfaction!

This is Christie, signing off!

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Nov 13 2012
1 Comment
Snacks

Pomegranate, Punk Rawk and Basil Sammiches!

Yeah, I’m still baking my own bread and each loaf is an experiment. Sometimes it doesn’t work out well but that’s cool; we’ve got the taste part down and now it’s about texture. Anyways… This post is about sammiches.

This sandwich didn’t quite make sense to Brent but he trusts me and tried it anyways. I slathered my bread with some Punk Rawk Labs plain cashew cheese, mooshed some pomegranate seeds into the cheese and topped it with basil from our garden. It was definitely a mouth adventure with savory cheese and spicy basil and then you get the tart fruit flavors and nutty bread as you start to chew it.

It was also as visually stunning as basil mozzarella and tomato salad with the bright red and verdant green against the sienna of the bread and creamy cheese. I won’t turn this combo down if it happens again but I’m also determined to find other great uses for my favorite fruit!

This is Christie, signing off!

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Nov 10 2012
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Lazy Vegan, Snacks

An Apple a Day…

I realized today that I haven’t been eating much fruit lately. I forced down some oranges earlier in the week but have otherwise had no appetite for fruit… or really, any food. I wanted to be good today, so I snagged an apple from my sister’s kitchen and sliced it up into wedges.

To make things more fun and interesting (and inspired after rummaging through my nieces’ Halloween candy), I took a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter and softened it by heating it in the microwave for 10 seconds, stirring it, and then heating it for another 10 seconds. I took the melty peanut butter and drizzled it on the apple slices.

Voila! One of the easiest snacks ever!

Don’t forget to eat fruit, you guys. –Melissa

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Nov 04 2012
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Snacks

NACHOS!

Brent and I like to play video games together. Nothing says “gamer” like junk food so that’s where this is headed. All you really need is tortilla chips and Daiya but crumbled seasoned tofu, olives, chopped jalapeño, diced tomato or onions, salsa, Tofutti sour cream and a lot of other things can help bring your nachos up a notch.

We baked ours in the oven to melt the Daiya after adding seasoned crumbled tofu, salsa, jalapeño, onion and salsa. A little fresh cilantro would have made this unstoppable but its absence didn’t stop us from devouring it.

I le recommend, especially if you’ve got a football game or a video game in your future.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

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Nov 02 2012
4 Comments
Snacks

Cucumber, olive and hummus sammiches!

I made a loaf of bread and decided we needed to make some awesome sammies. This is inspired by a local restaurant that started serving a similar option with ham… we are skipping that and going straight for the good stuff.

This is as amazing as it is simple. Cucumber, pitted kalamata olives, spinach and your favorite hummus. Slice the cucumber and peel it if you like.

We spread hummus on the bread, put the olives on it (slice them in half if you like), add the spinach and then use the cucumber to moosh it down. Add some more hummus to the top piece of bread if you like.

NOM!

This was an awesome snack that was crisp and cooling from the cucumber and spinach with a savory element from the olives and hummus. It is an excellent option for a hot afternoon or just as a midnight snack.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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Aug 23 2012
3 Comments
Snacks

Breakfast Parfait

Vegan doesn’t mean you have to skip parfait. We’ve found a yogurt recently that makes me dance around the kitchen. Amande is made from cultured almond milk and is completely vegan, gluten-free and delicious. It comes in strawberry, coconut, cherry, blueberry and peach. I can’t decide which is my favorite.

We combined it with Wyman’s frozen wild blueberries and Cascadian farms fruit and nut granola for a super easy tasty treat. I come from a family of blueberry addicts. I love blueberries and these are particularly flavorful. I eat them on my cereal almost every day.

It didn’t last long and had the most delightful textures. The frozen blueberries kept it cold and the crispy granola and smooth yogurt made the whole thing kinda decadent. What do you do for your quick easy snack or breakfast?

This is Christie, signing off!

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Aug 12 2012
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Snacks

Peaches and Mango

Mango is still in full swing here in Florida and we’re starting to get lovely Texas peaches (though I’m partial to the Georgia sort here in Florida) so we did what any vegan hedonist would do: PEACH MANGO DAIQUIRIS!


All you need is mango and peaches [and rum if you're so inclined]. We use Flor de Caña rum because it’s vegan. If you’re not sure about your favorite libation check Barnivore. Barnivore is a great resource for those who love a good glass of whatever and doesn’t want to feel guilty about it. We got our mango from a local powerhouse of raw vegan organic AWESOME called Glaser farms just about an hour South of us. We’ve been visiting their farmer’s market every weekend for years and they’ve made being vegan in South Florida virtually painless!

We took the flesh of one ripe mango, about 2.5 cups (they’re huge here so you might want more than one) and 2 cups of peaches and 1/2-1 cup of rum. That all went into the blender for a fresh fruity and slightly naughty treat. Its great without the booze too but this is a Sunday afternoon.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

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