Have you heard exuberant cries of excitement and delight echoing across the country? It's probably because Coles has recently begun stocking Bio Cheese, previously very hard to get in Australia. So there is now finally a vegan cheese available in a major supermarket! Yay Coles!
But what does it taste like? Well, apparently very very good. The internet was going crazy about it, so I decided I had better get into it and see what all the fuss was about. At $9.50 for 250g, it's not cheap, but vegan cheese never is, is it? So I forked out and excitedly unwrapped it and took a bite of a slice. Now as I have mentioned before, I have been burned by vegan cheese before, so I cautiously chewed my mouthful and carefully analysed the flavour and texture, but I'll be damned, it is very nice! The flavour and texture are both very reminiscent of Edam or Swiss cheese, and it is very hard to stop at just one slice. I have eaten it by itself, and on Arnott's Jatz biscuits, and both are delicious.
Next, the toughest test; the melt test. To be able to best analyse the melt texture and flavour, I made some simple cheese on toast (and very handily, 3 slices of Bio Cheese are the exact perfect fit for a slice of bread!). The cheese bubbled well under the grill and melted very well I think, compared to other vegan cheeses. Compared to dairy cheese, Bio Cheese melts like processed cheese slices, with a skin on the top and creamy melted cheese within. My only issue with this was that the skin got stuck on my teeth. Do not eat in public. The melted cheese within was very nice though, very creamy. It didn't stretch but hey, you can't have it all!
I think this cheese is great, definitely the closest I've ever tasted to dairy cheese. I think that it would be great in a toasted sandwich, as you wouldn't get the processed cheese skin issue, and I really want to experiment with putting it in pastas, soups, and seeing how it reacts when grated and spread on a pizza. Whie I still have a soft spot for Sheese on Jatz biscuits, I think that Bio Cheese is a definite winner, and very readily available! Yay! A sure sign that the vegan market is growing and becoming more influential, and a perfect example of the cycle of consume and demand. Companies only provide what you ask for with your money, if you ask for ethical foods and practices, that's what you'll get. So much for the "But you're only one person" argument, we're all only one person, and together we are billions of people.
Happy eating! :)
Another of my new treats from my Everything Vegan shopping spree was this packet of 'Kinda Bacon', bacon bits made with coconut (of all things!).
Oh. My. God. Salty, smokey, crunchy, fatty, amazing.
I never was a fan of bacon. I never really ate any pork products as a child in fact, excluding certain thinly sliced, extremely lean ham, even then I wasn't really a fan of it. However, I was always an avid muncher on bacon bits, which used to be produced by Masterfoods (and were vegan), but sadly they stopped making them a couple of years ago.
I've been very upset about this for a long time, I even wrote on their facebook page begging them to bring the bacon bits back (sad, I know). However, I think that Kinda Bacon has healed my broken fake-bacon heart.
Totes amazeballs is, I think, the only accurate way to describe them. The smokiness is so yummy, almost spicy, and my God, they should come with a warning as they are highly addictive! Jeff had to actually physically remove me from their presence as I couldn't stop myself from going back for "Just one more little bit". It was the only way to stop me!
After that, I managed to control myself and I tucked them into the back of the pantry so they'd stop looking at me. I succeeded in saving them until we made baked potatoes and then I again relished their salty, fatty, loveliness. On our baked potatoes we also put Nuttelex, capsicum, pineapple, cashew sour cream (homemade), and grated strong cheddar Sheese:
I just had another "little bit" of these bacon bits before sitting down to write this post.
Just so that the taste was fresh in my mouth so I could write an accurate review.
I fear they may not last much longer...
Happy eating! :)
Yesterday I was very lucky and my lovely mum treated me to a shopping spree at Adelaide's vegan supermarket, Everything Vegan (if you don't live in Adelaide, you can buy from their online shop at Vegan Online).
Though I have bought from them online before and my mum is a regular customer, it was the first time I'd actually been there myself. It was really cool and pretty reasonably priced considering how much we got. Most importantly, the owners also own and run Freedom Hill Sanctuary, the only farm animal sanctuary in South Australia, so I'm more than happy to throw money at them (even though in this instance it wasn't my money!).
I got a few old favourites and staples (such as savoury yeast flakes, Amy's Soups, Soyatoo whipped cream, Cheatin' Chicken and my favourite lip balm, Yaoh hemp seed oil in blueberry), and also lots and lots of new things to try. So watch this space as I'll be reviewing the products as I try them. Mmm... I'm looking forward to it!
Happy eating! :)
Yesterday my mum visited a newly opened vegan store called Everything Vegan. Located at 270 Wright Street, Everything Vegan is Adelaide's first all-vegan grocery store. Apparently it is amazing, mum came away with lots of goodies for me and I'm planning a visit there myself soon. A quick look at their facebook page has got me very excited indeed! These are the presents that my lovely mum bought me:
Tofutti 'Marry Me' chocolate covered vanilla ice-creams, Tofutti Flowers chocolate covered flower flavoured ice-creams, Linda McCartney Country Pies, Fabulous Fudge Factory Dairy Free Fudge, Lentilicious Lime Time lentil meal, Fresca Ocean scented deodorant, and both Maple flavoured and French Vanilla Spun Fairy Floss.
But wait, there's more! Upon talking to the owner of Everything Vegan, my mum discovered that she runs a farm animal sanctuary a la Edgar's Mission (which I mentioned in this post) called Freedom Hill Sanctuary (you can also find their facebook page here) which is located in Woodside in the Adelaide Hills. Freedom Hill is the only farm animal sanctuary in South Australia and I cannot tell you how over the moon I am to have discovered it! I am so glad that places like these exist and since discovering Edgar's Mission, I had been wishing that there was a similar sanctuary here in South Australia. The sanctuary takes in abused and abandoned farm animals and their website shares the stories of the residents and how they came to be rescued. You can also donate money that goes towards animal care and vet bills, sponsor a sanctuary resident, or volunteer so if you think any of those things are things you might be interested in doing, please pop on over to their website.
But wait, there's EVEN MORE! I quick little wander in the realm of the Internet also informed me that the VERY SAME PEOPLE run Vegan Online, an online vegan grocery store that I have made many a purchase from and blogged about previously.
THESE PEOPLE ARE THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!
Happy eating (and shopping)! :)
As mentioned in my last post, for Christmas I received a voucher for The Cruelty Free Shop. One of the things we bought with that voucher was Linda McCartney sausage rolls. Being a massive, bordering-on-obsessive fan of Linda McCartney country pies (as mentioned in this post and this post), I had high hopes for this product.
I was not let down.
All I can say is yuuuuuuuummm! Yum yum yum yum yum! Mouthgasm.
I actually did a little happy dance while sitting on the lounge eating these and watching Chuck. They are that good.
As good as the country pies? Hmmm... maybe not. But sausage rolls are never as good as pies are they? These are the perfect sausage rolls. Serve them up to even the fussiest meat eaters (children) and I bet they will love them too.
I wish I had more right now. I'd have them for breakfast.
Having now tried more than one product, I can safely say that Linda McCartney goes down on this blog as a Cool Company!
Happy eating! :)
My mum recently bought me some Coyo coconut yoghurt in both original and mixed berry varieties from The Organik Store at Gleneng. All I can say is this: dear lord I am in love! Coyo yoghurt is everything soy yoghurts are not; creamy, tangy, appetizing...
I see Coyo as being a hit with children as well as adults and it strikes me that no one has thought of making yoghurt out of coconut milk before. Maybe they have but they could just never hit it on the head like Coyo has. A quick google has informed me that the yoghurt also comes in passion fruit and mango varieties, which I am keen to try. Coyo also apparently makes 3 varieties of ice-cream! Natural, chocolate, and acai berry, yum!
Coyo is going down on this blog as a cool company and I think that everybody should go the Coyo. Beware though! You might go on a yoghurt binge and make yourself feel very sick like I did!
Here is one of my delicious breakfasts of fresh fruit salad topped with Coyo coconut yoghurt.
Happy eating! :)
Day 42 of vegan challenge.
Breakfast
I bought some marmite, imported from England, when I went shopping. I tried some on toast with Nuttelex. I only spread a little bit on because I thought the flavour would be quite strong. However, I found the taste a lot milder than Vegemite. Also, rather than being a thick paste like Vegemite (as I had expected), it was more like a syrup. It was quite pleasant in taste but the flavour is so mild that I think you'd have to use a lot to really taste it. I'll put more on next time and see how it is. Unlike Vegemite, marmite has vitamin B12. This is why I bought it. Vegan sources of vitamin B12 are fortified soy milk, tofu, and cereals. However, I don't really like tofu, fortified cereals that don't also have honey in them were hard to find/gross, and I don't think I really drink enough soy milk to be getting enough vitamin B12. So I bought marmite to add a bit more B12 to my diet. I'll see how I go.
I only had one slice of white bread to put my marmite on so I also had a bowl of Uncle Toby's Plus Omega 3 cereal.
Lunch
Leftover sausage and bean bake from the night before.
Dinner
It was my sister's birthday and we had pizza and cake at my mum's house. Mum had a pizza (a HUGE pizza!) catered for me by Tasty Goodness. Tasty Goodness is owned by Pixie, an old work colleague of my mum's. I believe all the food is vegan, though I might be wrong and some is only vegetarian. Some of the food is also gluten free. Tasty Goodness is often at the Gilles Street Markets, and Pixie also does catering large and small, and cooking classes. All her food is great! Here is an article written at the end of last year about the market stall. You should all go check it out! So affordable and delicious!
My mum also made me some vegan chocolate cupcakes from scratch. Mmm they were so good!
Day 26 of vegan challenge.
Breakfast
Freedom Foods Quick Cook Oats with strawberry jam mixed in.
Lunch
Leftover pizza from last night. Made with store bought pizza base (look out for dairy in the ingredients though, eg whey), topped with tomato paste, Italian herbs, capsicum, mushroom, pineapple, and baby spinach. I now realise what that cheese was always hiding, how few veggies are actually on a pizza! I will be putting on more from now on! I also had an Aribar and a tub of peaches in mango puree.
Dinner
I had dinner at the in-laws' and I had two Fry's Chicken Style Patties (I think that's what they're called!), two Helga's Sandwich Thins with olive spread, oven chips, salad, and beetroot.
For dessert I had 2 bowls of freshly made fruit salad.
Snacks
A Go Max Go! Jokerz bar which I bought online from The Vegan Store. It's like a Snickers bar except cruelty free. I love Snickers, they are my favourite chocolate bars, but I stopped eating them when I was vegetarian because I found out that Mars tests on animals, conducting sickening "experiments" that are not at all necessary for food products (or any products!). Anyway, now I can enjoy Snickers bars again without funding animal torture. This Jokerz bar was delicious! Go Max Go! also make a whole range of other chocolate bars, even the Twilight bar which is a vegan Mars Bar. Check them out.
I also had 3 Wholemeal Saladas.
Oh my god. Is this the cutest soy milk you've ever seen or what?
Who cares how it tastes or what it costs? It has a panda on it. Look how blissful that panda is. This must be the most heavenly of drinks. You can buy it from Vegan Online.
Happy eating! :)
Through some web surfing I have just discovered an awesome Adelaide blog called Little Vegan Steps. One of the posts in particular caught my attention, On ex-vegans: why people become, stay, or stop being vegan. I think that this is relevant to anyone who is vegetarian, vegan, or thinking of becoming vegetarian or vegan.
The blog has also flared that desire I have to be vegan. I am one of the people mentioned who says "I want to, but it's too hard because I like dairy too much" etc. God knows I've tried vegan alternatives but I really hate them. And If I was vegan I would have to do so much more cooking, which I really don't have the time to do. It would probably help if I had some vegan friends. Is that a good enough excuse though? Does that excuse me for supporting all the things I'm trying to work against through being vegetarian, slaughter, abuse, and animal cruelty?
Cognitive dissonance. That's what this is called, when you have an internal conflict raging inside you. It is a psychological state caused when a person's beliefs and their actions are in conflict. It's extremely uncomfortable and stressful to live with and eventually something's got to give. Either the person changes their beliefs to fit their actions, or they change their actions to fit their beliefs. Do I think I will eventually go vegan? Yes. How that will affect my life though, I can't say. I think my vegan side will eventually win this war that is raging inside me, as my vegetarian side won over my... omnivorous side? I'm actually still omnivorous because I still eat dairy, eggs, and honey. So vegan is actually... vegetarian. And vegetarian is... not. Interesting. Food for thought my friends.
Well, when the vegan side does eventually win out, at least there are more and more vegan companies growing. An interesting one that was mentioned on Little Vegan Steps is Rose Petals Vegan Weddings. Now that's a nice thought isn't it? I mean, ok sure they appear to be based in the United States, but the site still gives lots of ideas for anyone wanting to have a cruelty-free wedding. Or any type of event really.
If you live in Adelaide, there is also an amazing vegan cook called Pixie who runs Tasty Goodness. She does catering and you can buy some of her delicious creations at the Gillies Street markets. Check out the facebook page for updates on when she's going to be there.
Yesterday my Mum and I went for a drive into the Adelaide Hills to Stirling, which is a lovely town. We walked under the beautiful shady trees and window shopped before going to The Organic Market and Cafe for afternoon tea. This is one of our favourite shops. My Mum very kindly gave me a spending allowance of $100! We had lots of fun looking at all the beautiful foods and other products and indulging in some retail therapy.
But before I go on to what I bought, I'll tell you more about the shop. It is sort of divided into a fruit and vegetable shop, grocery shop, and cafe. At the fruit and vegetable and grocery counter, they also sell cakes and pastries, many of which are vegan. They do also sell meat, eggs, and dairy, which some people may not like but they are not a vegan or vegetarian shop, they are an organic shop so that is understandable. Being an organic shop, everything is of course, organic and made with organic ingredients. As well as food, the shop also sells toiletries and baby products (none of which I believe are tested on animals), cleaning products (again, I believe not tested on animals), supplements (*eye-roll*), and natural medicines and therapies. If you live in the Adelaide area I highly recommend you visit this shop!
So, what did I buy? Well, I decided to buy things that either I had never tried, or special treats that I would not usually buy for myself as I cannot justify the expense to our household budget. Here are some of the vegan foods that I bought:
1. Tartex Original. Tartex is kind of like pate, but not made out of livers (eww). I can't describe it's flavour but I can say that it is yummy. It is also available in other flavours.
2. Orgran Gluten Free Bread Mix. For perhaps the last week I have had an urge to bake bread. I've never made bread before and I don't even know what ingredients I'd need. Then I saw this bread mix and I thought, 'add water and oil? I can do that!'. As you can see from the packet, this bread is free from everything. I'm intrigued to see how it turns out.
3. Madhava Amber Agave Nectar. You may have noticed from my blog that I am interested in veganism. Indeed, I am interested in becoming vegan. I've been wanting to try agave nectar for some time. For those who are not familiar with vegan food, agave nectar is commonly used to replace honey. It can also be used as a low-calorie sugar alternative, as the back of the bottle says, "1.4x as sweeter than sugar - use less, save calories!". I tasted some and I don't know what I expected but what I tasted wasn't it. I found it had a slightly metallic taste but having said that it definitely wasn't unpleasant. I will be eating more.
4. Vege Bears Pastilles. I have had actual Vege Bears before and they are additively delicious, the pastilles are too. These won't last long!
5. Lentilicious Coconut Fusion quick cook lentil side dish. Call me vegetarian, but I love lentils. The prospect of a fast-foodish version of this lovely legume was too much to pass up. And it's coconut flavour. I'm thinking of having it with some steamed vegies.
6.The Redwood Co Gourmet Meat Free Fish Style Fingers. I had these for dinner last night and they were nice. They don't taste like fish, which I think is a good thing, but they have the flaky texture of fish. I bet children would love them. You only get 6 in a packet though.
7. Cheezly Soy Free Style Cheese. As I said before, I am very interested in becoming vegan. The thing that is stopping me is dairy. I love dairy and I have tried a couple of brands of vegan cheese and I have tried vegan yogurt and...I just hate them! I know it is selfish of me but I cannot bring myself to go vegan because the dairy is revolting and I can't live my life without cheese. I have read in the Internet though, that Cheezly is the best brand of vegan cheese. I decided to give it a go. I couldn't bring myself to try soy cheese though, after my past bad experiences, so I went for the soy free type. It probably tastes worse than the soy ones but I was afraid! I'm still afraid. It's still sitting in my fridge looking at me. I will try it. Tomorrow. Or maybe the day after...
8. Soyatoo! Soy Whip. Another dairy alternative, this is soy whipped cream. After previously discussed bad experiences with vegan dairy products, I was scared to try this too (but not as scared as I am about the cheese). Soyatoo! is another brand that the Internet tells me is very good. I put a bit on a spoon this morning. It sure looked great. I ate a little bit and...it was great! I love this stuff! It's so sweet and delicious! It's much better than ordinary whipped cream.
9. Life Free From Dairy Free Parmazano. I have been wanting to get my hands on this for some time as it seems that this is the only way to get rennet-free parmesan cheese that you don't have to grate. I am looking forward to trying it. It doesn't even need refrigerating.
10. St Claire's Organic Throat Soothers. My lovely mum knew that I had a sore throat and she bought me these. They don't look very appetizing but they sure are tasty!
Happy eating :)
Breakfast
Fruit salad (vegan).
Lunch?
I don't know if you would really call it lunch, it was more a 1pm snack so that I didn't pass out in the car driving into the hills with Mum for a walk and afternoon tea. I really need to stop myself when I'm getting really into something and make myself eat, in this case Wii Fit. Anyway, I had Nuttelex and Vegemite on toast (vegan).
Dinner
I was looking forward to a quick and easy microwave meal in the form of Sun Rice Thai Vegetable Curry. I looked at the ingredients to see if it was vegan for the purposes of this blog and found that it contains fish sauce and shrimp paste! This goes to show that even after 5 years of being vegetarian, you still can't always pick which products are going to have sneaky killers in them, even those that look so vegetarian like this one. The moral of this story is, check your labels. I now paid money for food I won't eat. Take a look at this packet, and avoid it.
After the sad experience of having my much awaited dinner snatched away by sea-kitten killers, I had a bit of difficulty thinking of an alternative, missing ingredients, not enough time, etc. I finally settled to try two things I've never had before. One was some sort of quick cook quinoa lime and thyme flavoured side dish that I got from Coles (threw the packet in the bin, next time I'll let you know the brand), and the other was The Redwood Co Gourmet Meat Free Fish Style Fingers which I got from The Organic Market and Cafe at Stirling. I had these with a very boring green salad that consisted of mixed lettuce and cucumber. However, it was a very tasty dinner. I'm still undecided as to whether I liked the lime and thyme quinoa side dish or not, I think I will need another tasting. The 'fish fingers' didn't taste like fish, they tasted more like Fry's Vegetarian Crumbed Schnitzels but had the flaky texture of fish. They were pretty tasty. This meal was vegan :)
Snacks
We had afternoon tea at The Organic Market and Cafe in Stirling which is an awesome shop. They sell lots of vegan groceries, cakes, pasties etc as well as lots of free-from foods. And, of course, everything is organic. The shop consists of a fruit and vegetable section, grocery section, and cafe. The grocery section is great and has lots of tubs and barrels full of different flours, legumes, etc and you can make your own peanut butter there. They also sell organic alcohol. However, they do sell meat, dairy, etc as well so some people may not like that. At the cafe I had a chocolate fudge brownie that had icing sugar on the top, and a pot of jasmine tea. I was so caught up in the atmosphere of such a lovely day though that I forgot to take a photo so instead, here is another of my artistic drawings.
I went to uni to study in the library all day today so I brought lots of snacks to munch on to keep myself going. Then I got home and whipped up some great salads for dinner before going out to do the grocery shopping.
Breakfast
Uncle Toby's Honey Oats with a cup of Higher Living Evening Tea (even though it was the morning!).
Lunch
Lunch consisted of all day snacking while in the library. I had Ajitas Vege Crisps which can be purchased in the health food section of the supermarket. They are delicious and these ones were a new flavour, garlic and rosemary. The chips are made from purple and orange sweet potato, and taro. They are vegan.
I also had some cashews, dried apricots, and prunes (vegan).
I put these in a set of awesome little snack containers by Nude Food Movers, if you don't have any I highly recommend you get some. They screw or unscrew on top of each other so you can have as many or as few stacked up as you want. They are so handy and mean that you don't have to create any rubbish.
I also had some Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate
and a Leda Triple Berry Fruit Bar (vegan).
Dinner
For dinner I made a delicious warm potato salad and a carrot and walnut salad which I had with a Fry's Vegetarian Schnitzel. Jeff had a Quorn Cheese and Spinach Schnitzel, I don't like them because I think they taste like chicken which makes me feel sick, but Jeff does. Both of these schnitzels are vegan and all Quorn products are soy free.
Snacks
While shopping, I had a Wendy's Sherbet Cone.
When I got home, I had a Woolworths Fruitless Hot-Cross Bun (with nuttelex) and a cup of Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Tea. The hot-cross buns are vegan. Though they do have a warning that the buns may contain traces of egg or milk, I think this is just to cover themselves from litigation.
