Review: Vegetarian Plus Vegan Pepper Steaks and Spareribs

Monday, May 13, 2013

Vegan Black Pepper Steaks Before I begin my review, have you read my recent post “To Vegan Meat or Not Vegan Meat?” In case you didn’t know, and I didn’t, VegeUSA has a line of food products called Vegetarian Plus, with over 20 items, 13 of them vegan. They were nice enough to send me a couple of coupons so we could try some of their vegan products. Unfortunately, only two of the vegan items, the Vegan Black Pepper Steaks and the Vegan Citrus Sparerib Cutlet, are available here in PA. Luckily, our...

Review: Soyummi Pudding

Friday, May 10, 2013

Last year I got a couple of coupons for free Soyummi puddings. I was so excited because I had seen them at my local grocery/health food store, but when I went to buy them they didn’t carry them any more I searched all my local stores for months and they’re finally back on the shelves (in the refrigerated aisle). I got two flavors, the Soyummi dark chocolate and rice puddings. Their website lists three more flavors —tapioca, cherry and lime—but these were all I found. They’re dairy-free (of course), gluten-free,...

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To Vegan Meat or Not Vegan Meat? That is the question.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Oh, the conundrum. Not really. It’s really a no-brainer, literally —no animal brains were consumed during this post. I decided to write about this because we love to eat and we post a lot of food reviews, most of them including some product or dish with a vegan meat or dairy analog. Occasionally people will ask us why we eat vegan versions of typically animal-derived foods. We’ve even had a non-veg friend who was appalled when we once tweeted that we were eating vegan calamari (100% plant-based). Some think we...

Vegan Gastronomy Weekend – Philly Burbs

Friday, May 3, 2013

It finally feels like spring here in southeastern PA and that makes us feel like dancing, singing and eating lots of good vegan food. So I decided it’s time for another Vegan Gastronomy tour of our beloved keystone state. A few weeks back I contributed to Vance Lemkuhl’s article “Vegan dining in the Philly ‘burbs” on Philly.com. Reading the final article gave me some ideas on where I wanted to go to explore some Philly burb eateries. Hang in there, ’cause we were all over the map. Day...

Review: Vgë Café – Bryn Mawr, PA

Friday, May 3, 2013

It’s been a year since Vgë Café opened and we finally got out there to try their delicious sandwiches. Mauro and I decided to check it out on one of our drive-abouts a couple of weeks back. And let me tell you, we really missed out on some good stuff this past year. We took a nice scenic and hilly route out there. It was a gorgeous day and perfect weather for driving around, it made me appreciate the lush, green scenery and how much I love living in this part of the country. We were pretty hungry by the time...

Review: Artisan Exchange – West Chester, PA

Friday, May 3, 2013

A couple weeks back I contributed to Vance Lemkuhl’s article “Vegan dining in the Philly ‘burbs” on Philly.com and I really wanted to try the Rawsome fudge listed. I visited Artisan Exchange‘s website to see if there were any other vegan vendors and I saw that a couple other favorites listed. Since we were headed out that way one Saturday anyway, I decided to give it a shot and see how many other vegan yummies are available at this market. I had a blast schmoozing with all the vendors and encouraging...

Review: Veganissimo A to Z

Thursday, May 2, 2013

If you are like me and basically every single vegan I know, you read the ingredient labels of everything you buy, even when the package says “vegan”. Besides the obvious precautions to avoid consuming animal products by accident, a lot of vegans tend to develop an aversion to long, unreadable ingredient lists. So, when you’re faced with a label like the one in the picture below and you really want to buy that item, what do you do? Most people, unless they’re Chemistry majors, probably have no...

Review: Om Nom Nom Cookies

Monday, March 25, 2013

The lovely folks at Om Nom Nom Cookies were sweet enough to send me a few samples of their, well, appropriately named cookies to sample and review. The name says it all for sure! I sampled five flavors: orange zested chocolate chip, chocolate snickerdoodle, spicy Mexican snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, and ultimate peanut butter. I actually managed to contain myself to sample them over the course of 2 days and even share them with Mauro—oh my! We started out with the spicier cookies (the first three flavors listed),...

Featured Article

Interview with Allyson Kramer

Allyson Kramer is an artist, food photographer, blogger, vegan and gluten-free recipe writer, and cookbook author. Allyson has been cooking since her teens but didn’t learn of her gluten intolerance until a health scare forced her to research treatments for her ailments. Now in great health, Allyson has a new cookbook, Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats, and has recently completed a second book which is due out next year. Her web site, Manifest Vegan, is a popular resource for... Read More

Cooking Videos

Beans, beans, the magical fruit

The term “beans” is currently associated with a large number of legumes such as the actual beans (black, fava, pinto, etc) and also soy, lentils, chickpeas and peas. They are good sources of fiber, protein and iron. They’re very versatile and make good soups, salads, stews, curries, dips and spreads, you name it. In this [...]

Purses

Review: Harveys Seatbelt Bags

I willingly admit I have an affinity for handbags. Some people like shoes, some like clothes—I’m that person who collects handbags. It’s comforting to me when I can contain my belongings in something cute and carry it around; and then find something else that’s cute and carry it around in that. I think it may [...]

Animal Rights

Friends of Animals

The non-profit Friends of Animals is working to end the cruelty and exploitation of animals around the world. Mauro talks to Lee Hall about Friends of Animals, stopping the bird trade, and Primarily Primates. Primarily Primates is a non-profit sanctuary that houses, protects, and rehabilitates apes and monkeys. These primates are cast offs from the [...]

Food Product Reviews

Review: Vegetarian Plus Vegan Pepper Steaks and Spareribs

Before I begin my review, have you read my recent post “To Vegan Meat or Not Vegan Meat?” In case you didn’t know, and I didn’t, VegeUSA has a line of food products called Vegetarian Plus, with over 20 items, 13 of them vegan. They were nice enough to send me a couple of [...]