Chow Vegan

About a month ago at Whole Foods, I tried a sample of Alkemie, a new dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, raw ice cream. I also met co-founder and executive chef, Daniel Clary; he’s a really nice guy.

Of the three flavors currently available, I like the Vanilla Bean the best and purchased a pint. It’s smooth, creamy and rich-tasting. You get the full flavor of the vanilla, without a strong coconut taste like you do with coconut-based ice cream. But it does have a hint of cashew. Probably because it’s made of raw cashews, coconut cream and agave nectar.

Dark Chocolate and Mint Chocolate are the two other flavors. I’m not a big chocolate eater so I didn’t buy either one of those.

Daniel mentioned that they’re working on 2 new flavors, coming out in the spring. Maybe a coffee or a fruit. With all sorts of crazy flavor ideas in his head, he’s still deciding on what flavors to do next.

Since I was distracted with the sampling and the chatting, some guy mistakenly made off with my shopping cart. I had to go track him down.

At $5.99 a pint, it’s definitely at the high end of premium ice cream, vegan or not. But you get what you pay for – handcrafted, batch-churned, organic ingredients and no refined sugars.

At this price and for this quality, I’m setting a guard to watch over my ice cream. No one is going to “accidently” make off with it.

I never got the whole concept of cupcake bakeries, probably because I wasn’t able to try any of them. But now that Sprinkles in Palo Alto has a vegan version of their red velvet cupcake, I just had to see what all the fuss is about.

Since I haven’t tried red velvet cupcakes or cake before (I know, I’m so deprived), I wasn’t even sure what exactly is red velvet. Sprinkles describes theirs as “Southern style light chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.” The dairy is substituted with soy milk, tofu-based cream cheese and pure coconut oil.

After one bite, I gotta say, it’s divine – so moist and fluffy! Rich tasting with a beautiful red color and creamy frosting. The “V” on top is for vegan red velvet and is hard as a rock. I think it’s candy but I didn’t eat it as I was already floating around the room happy as can be on a sugar high.

Freshly baked, it’s everything you can ever desire in a cupcake. At $3.25 each, it’s well worth the price for the baking-impaired such as myself.

You probably heard by now that Starbucks is stocking Lucy’s cookies in their stores. They’re vegan, gluten-free and nut-free.

I had to see for myself, besides I had a couple of Starbucks gift cards burning a hole in my wallet. So I walked into the nearest store and there they were, in the back, neatly arranged on a table.

Chocolate Chip was the first of three flavors that I tried, I didn’t care for it. I prefer my cookies to be soft and chewy. This was hard and crunchy. I was kinda disappointed as I know there’s other vegan cookies that come in a package that are nice and soft.

The next flavor, Cinnamon Thin were better. I was fine with it being a crisp cookie as it reminds me of a cinnamon graham cracker. It was great dunked in a glass of soy milk.

And the last one, Sugar Cookie tasted like the cinnamon ones but without the cinnamon. It too got dunked in soy milk.

All of the cookies were on the sweet side and very crunchy and crisp. I didn’t expect that, having never heard of Lucy’s before trying them. But the crispness is perfect for dunking in milk or coffee. If I ever need a sugar rush while enjoying a Starbucks coffee, I would get the Cinnamon Thin again.

Size of a cookie is about 2 1/2″ in diameter, $1.50 a bag. One serving size is 3 cookies (there’s 4 in a bag) for 130 calories.

Who doesn’t love a sale? Especially if said sale involves food. My local Whole Foods started carrying the Field Roast Classic Meatloaf and put it on sale.

I really like some of Field Roast’s other products so I had high hopes for this meatloaf. The main ingredient is vital wheat gluten combined with carrots, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and savory spices.

Preparation is pretty straightforward, the hardest part was getting the loaf out of its skin-tight plastic bag. Place it on a baking sheet, glaze with ketchup and stick it in the oven for 30 minutes to heat up and brown.

And brown it did. The Classic Meatloaf browns beautifully and smells delicious. Its got a great rich flavor. The texture is very similar to meatloaf as I remember it and just a tab more chewier. It’s kinda on the salty side but that’s pretty much the nature of most prepared food.

Walking by the pizza station at the San Mateo Whole Foods, I saw to my astonishment that they had a little sign that read Vegan BBQ Chicken Pizza. I don’t know how many times I’ve walked by before and there was never anything remotely vegan.

I asked to be sure, that the whole pizza was vegan, not just the bbq chicken part. They answered in the affirmative; it has a thin whole wheat crust and Gardein chicken.

I thought the “chicken” pieces seemed a little dry and didn’t really add all that much to the pizza. The flavor came mostly from the bbq sauce. But I liked the onions and how it wasn’t really greasy at all.

I can’t say for sure I’ll get the bbq chicken pizza again (if it’s regularly available), as I prefer my pizza to have a combination of different vegetables. I’m hoping that the next time I walk by, they’ll have a different flavor or better yet a selection of vegan pizzas slices.

I had just taken out a batch of roasted tofu from the oven when I thought maybe I should try it with that new olive oil I got in the mail. I had received a complimentary bottle of Kenzoil from the manufacturer and was debating what to do with it.

I must admit I wasn’t sure what to expect when I was first contacted to try the stuff. I mean, come on, it’s a bottle of oil with herbs in it. As it turns out, Kenzoil is delicious as a dip for tofu. I also sprinkle a little on white rice as I didn’t have any bread to dip and that’s tasty as well. The flavor is subtly of basil and garlic with just a hint of spiciness.

Besides the fresh basil and garlic, I believe it’s those spices that put it over the top and makes it so different and special. I noticed how the label doesn’t list exactly what the spices are, it must be a secret recipe.

It’s all-natural, vegan, raw, dairy free, gluten free and nut free. Not to mention low sodium, no vinegar, no sugar and no preservatives. Just like I would make at home if I had the time and if I wasn’t so lazy and if I knew the actual recipe.

Fortunately, Kenzoil is available online and in some Midwest stores if you happen to live out there.

I can’t bake. I know it. You know it. Even the oven knows it. But after I received a review copy of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, I just had to give my favorite cookie, oatmeal raisin, a try.

It didn’t start off well. I bought the wrong kind of quick-cooking oats, somehow I missed the smaller “steel cut” type on the package. Of course, I didn’t notice until I had already mixed up all of the wet ingredients and just poured in the oats and started mixing.

After recovering from flashbacks of other ill-fated attempts at baking. I dumped everything into the garbage and headed back to the store.

I got the correct ingredients this time, after double-checking the labels on everything. Mixed up a batch and started plopping them on the baking sheet. Shoved the whole thing in the oven and prayed the entire 10 minutes that they were in there, that all would be well when they came back out.

Lo and behold, I actually made a cookie! Thank goodness for small miracles. It’s been ages since I enjoyed a freshly baked cookie hot out of the oven. It’s so good!

To celebrate, I’m giving away a copy of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar so you too may enjoy freshly baked goodies, with or without noobie drama.

The cookbook includes 100 recipes organized by type – from drop, wholesome, bar, fancy to sliced and rolled cookies. There’s also a very handy section in the beginning covering ingredients, tools, substitutions and troubleshooting.

To enter, complete the following:

1. Subscribe to chowvegan.com via RSS reader or email.

2. Leave a comment in this post that you’ve done so and tell me what is your favorite cookie. Comment must be made by midnight PST on Saturday, December 12th; one entry per person. Giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only.

One winner will be randomly selected from the comments received and announced on Monday, December 14th. Good luck!

Even though I love my spicy Butternut Squash Soup, I’m still curious about other versions, especially the ones that have fruit in them.

Seeing the Butternut Squash-Bartlett Pear Soup from Vegan Soul Kitchen in the latest issue of Vegetarian Times pushed me over the edge and into the kitchen to give it a try.

It’s a much milder, sweeter soup than what I’m used to, but still very good. Preparation and cooking were similar in both recipes. I made a couple of changes as I always seem to do; I didn’t have any coconut milk handy so I used soy milk instead.

I also didn’t have any pumpkin seeds for the garnish and so I cut up an extra piece of pear to sprinkle on top. It worked out well – adding a bit more of the pear taste and a crunch to the soup.

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