Shopping trip

I have totally been slacking in updating ever since I got my tooth pulled! I can finally eat normal foods again so we decided to do some food shopping. We took an hour trip to Wegman's and this is what we came home with...

 A healthy alternative to fruit snacks 

We had never tried this before and its really good! We bought strawberry, blueberry, vanilla, and raspberry! Will definitely be buying again :)

 If buying this mac and cheese, buy the one that says dairy free and soy free on the top! they make 3 different kinds

 Never tried these before but they look good. I was never a big fan of hot dogs but my daughter loves tofu pops

 Of course Daiya :) They only had mozzarella tho!

 Never had these before either. I don't think you can screw up pita chips though!

 These were expensive. Made by Caesar's . I hope they are good!

I'm really excited to try these. I'm a fan of Tofurky's products since they have never let me down.

Dominex - The Eggplant People

Recently our grocery store started carrying a new brand - Dominex. All of their products are made from eggplant. They seem like a relatively new company since all they carry right now are eggplant burgers, eggplant veggie fries, eggplant meatballs, and eggplant cutlets. For the price, you are getting your money's worth. They are about the same price as Amy's except you are getting double the amount of food. Their cutlets also come in a big box for $10, whereas the rest of their products come in a decent sized box for around $5.50. 

I've tried their cutlets and veggie fries. I absolutely love the veggie fries. The cutlets are good too, but the breading seems a little too thin for me. They would go great on a sandwich or with some Daiya cheese on top and dipped in marinara sauce. My daughter and I are addicted to the veggie fries (we are heating some up right now). We dip them in marinara sauce to add a bit of flavor.

Take a look and see if your store carries them! I can't wait to try the eggplant meatballs.

Snacks Part 2

In addition to the first snack post (which you can view here), I decided to do a part 2/what we are snacking on lately.

Broccoli,  Green beans, Peas, not too much of mushrooms tho

Veggie Straws - Our favorite

Rice Cakes

Bananas - must always have bananas in this house!

This is her new favorite - Peanut butter on toast. I can't complain! 

Original Chex Mix - an occasional snack

Chickpeas - delicious just by themselves!

Cucumbers - she loves them

 Blueberry bagels

 Strawberry Banana Orange Juice Soy Milk Smoothie (sometimes with tofu)

Wheat thins - I prefer the low fat ones! 

Banana Bread

Due to having the flu, I had about 4 bananas that were almost ready to be thrown out (among a ton of other food). So what else can you do with almost rotten bananas? Banana bread!! 

(Yes, that is steam still coming off of the bread...mmmmm)

This has to be the best banana bread I've ever made. This loaf lasted not even 4 days. It was extremely moist when first made and was still fairly moist a few days later. 

You'll need

4 bananas

1/3 cup melted Earth Balance butter

1 heaping tablespoon apple sauce

1 cup sugar or agave nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cup flour

1 pinch of salt

1 loaf pan

How to make

Preheat the oven to 350F. Now for this recipe, it works best if you break it down into steps. It mixes up better and seems to cook smoother. Start off with the melted butter and bananas. You can mush the bananas by hand if they are ripe enough. Then add the sugar, apple sauce, and vanilla. When that is all mixed, add the flour and other powdered ingredients. Pour into a buttered loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.

When it cooled, I cut it in half and put it into a sealed container to keep some moisture in it. It will probably last a week as long as you wipe out the excess moisture in the container once every day or two.

Snacks!!

Everyone loves snacks! If you are feeding a child, you need good, nutritious snacks. Here is a short list of our daughter's favorite snacks, the healthy and the unhealthy! 

Ritz Crackers - Most peanut butter crackers tend to be vegan

 Annie's Chocolate and Vanilla cookies - They are pretty good!

 The famous super pretzels, along with any pretzels not made with butter.

Yogi Granola Crisps. They are a nice size for kids to hold and chew on and they taste pretty good!

Fig Newmans - NOT Fig Newtons. They are good, a little dry. We found an off brand at the dollar store that is vegan and much better, but these will do as well.

 Kix - any kind of Kix will work but she loves the berry ones

 Thomas' mini bagels. Cinnamon raisin is her favorite so far

Chocolate Chip Teddy Grahams - Read the label before you buy any of the other flavors. Most are vegan but always double check!

 Pistachios! We eat these together :)

 Oreos - We like to mix these with vanilla vegan ice cream for a delicious treat.

 

Reeces Puffs Cereal! Sooo delicious.

i should add that these snacks are in addition to fruits and veggies as well!

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

 

I was so excited to try out this recipe at Thanksgiving! It turned out really good and I would definitely make it again! There are two ways to make this - with pre-made crust or to make the crust yourself.

What you'll need

Filling 

(you can used canned pumpkin pie filling, but that isn't any fun!)

• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1 cup soy milk
• 3/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tablespoon dark molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Crust 

(we used pre-made crust)

• 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 7 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon. salt
• 1/2 teaspoon agave nectar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoon canola oil
• 3 tablespoons soy milk plus 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3 to 4 tablespoons water

How to make

*If making the crust yourself, preheat to 425F. If using pre-made crust, heat to 350F*

We used a pre-made crust! Completely vegan and made of graham crackers 

To make the crust, mix all ingredients together and roll into a ball. Roll flat into a 11 inch circle with a rolling pin and line a 9 inch pie plate. Crimp the edges by hand or with a fork. Cover and refrigerate. 

Agave nectar was one of the ingredients we used instead of sugar. If using this, reduce the amount of liquid by a tiny tiny bit - about a tablespoon or two - and increase cooking time by 3 minutes or so.

Mix all of the ingredients together for the filling. Make sure you mix thoroughly.  Pour gently into pie pan and bake! 

*If making the crust yourself, you must bake for 10 minutes with filling at 425F, then reduce to 350F and continue to bake for 50 minutes. If using pre-made crust, simply bake for 50 minutes at 350F*

When finished, cool for 10 minutes, refrigerate, and enjoy the next day! 

Where we went wrong... 

Don't get me wrong, it tasted GREAT the first bite, but it was wayyy too sweet! We couldn't figure out why until I looked at the pictures I had taken - We used Pumpkin Pie Filling instead of pumpkin! Oops!! The next one tasted great, although there were no pictures of that :)

Mmmmm Cookie Dough

If you are an ice cream eater, try Purely Decadent ice cream! Its absolutely vegan, organic, and delicious. We love the cookie dough one!