After I moved out of my parents’ house at 18 and had to quickly learn how to feed myself, I relied on a few packaged products to keep me from going hungry. One product that I basically survived on was Stouffers’ frozen macaroni and cheese.

Man, I thought those were delicious back then! Now though, not so much.

I don’t know why, but on a whim at the grocery store the other day I decided to pick up one of these to see if it compared at all to the beloved memory of my frozen mac and cheese.

I really like many of Amy’s products, so I figured it was worth a shot. Also, the ingredient list told me that they use Daiya cheeze, win!

I pulled it out of the freezer for lunch today because I was completely and totally unmotivated to make anything else. However, as soon as I took it out of the box I had doubts.

I immediately thought, “That sure seems like an awful lot of cheeze for such a small quantity of pasta.”

Hope emerged as it started to bubble away in the container. It was even starting to get that crispy cheese edge that you get with the Stouffers’ brand! (You know what I’m talking about.)

I thought I’d be a lady today and not eat it directly out of the cardboard, so I spooned it into a bowl.

Meh. I really didn’t care for it and couldn’t even manage to finish it. The pasta really did taste like rice which was off-putting for some reason. The cheeze sauce had a waxy plastic-y mouthfeel that coated the roof of my mouth with grossness. The flavor of the sauce wasn’t terrible, but still tasted pretty artificial. I guess I like Daiya cheeze better in small quantities.

Maybe I just haven’t been away from real cheese long enough to appreciate this? I’m glad that it exists, but it’s definitely not something I’ll purchase again.

Are there any frozen vegan products you would recommend?

November 17, 2010 Alayna Discussion 2 comments

Achievement unlocked!

I have absolutely hit on a divine combination with this one.  I cannot believe that from such humble stuffs arose this magical creature.

I started by chopping a whole onion and two cloves of garlic and let them start to brown in sesame oil. When they were just starting to caramelize I threw in a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas.

After those had a few minutes to warm up I added a generous swishing of soy sauce, a tsp. or so of rice vinegar, two squirts of hoisin sauce, and a few teeny dollops of chili garlic sauce.

After a few more minutes the sauces had reduced and glazed the chickpeas and onions with a spicy, salty, sweet coating.

It sits on a bed of jasmine rice, fluffy like a pillow. Toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions top it all off.

This was one of those dishes where I had little idea what I was making until I was halfway there. I assure you it will go swiftly into the “make again” file, it’s just too easy and too good!

Spicy chickpea and onion donburi

Chickpeas and onions glazed with a spicy sauce, served over rice.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 2-3 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. hoisin sauce
• approx. 1/2 tsp. chili garlic sauce
• sesame oil for sauteing

Cooking Directions

1. Saute diced onion and garlic in sesame oil.
2. When onions begin to caramelize, add chickpeas and sauces.
3. Allow sauces to heat up and form a glaze over the chickpeas and onions.
4. Serve over jasmine rice and top with scallions and toasted sesame seeds if desired.

It’s glorified rice and beans, people!  And it’s insane!

November 16, 2010 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 5 comments

I don’t know why, but I’ve been craving banana pudding for a week or so.  I thought I’d try to veganize it for Vegan MoFo and this is what I ended up with…

It was a little soupy and didn’t have the intense banana flavor I was hoping for.

Here’s what I started with:

• 3 bananas
• 1 package silken tofu
• about 2 tbsp. agave nectar
• a package of vanilla wafers that just happened to be vegan

I started by mixing the tofu, bananas, and agave together in the food processor.

I tasted the mixture and decided that it needed more flavor, so I added a sprinkle of cinnamon and about 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

I lined the bottom of a bowl with the wafer cookies…

….then added a layer of the pudding mixture and more cookies…

then more pudding and lots more cookies.

After the last of the pudding was added I crushed even more cookies on top.

Normally I would let something like this set up in the fridge first but I really wanted to try it so I dug right in.

It was good, but just not “bananaey” enough. I think that I would want more like 4 or even 5 bananas in it next time.

I had a bit this morning after it had set up overnight in the fridge and while the pudding was a much thicker and decadent consistency this time, the cookies had turned to mush. Surprisingly, I didn’t find it that gross though.

Overall I think I made a pretty tasty vegan nanner puddin’, but it could still use some tweaks to be perfect.

Any ideas on what you would have done differently?

November 15, 2010 Alayna Discussion 1 comment