Homemade Jalapeno Hash Browns And Field Roast Apple Maple Breakfast Sausage

 

Vegan Thanksgiving 2020

I present to you my 2020 Thanksgiving meal. Everything shown here is vegan. I shared this Thanksgiving meal with one omnivore and one other vegan. We each made a few things. This plate includes all the vegan items that were available.

Gardein Holiday Roast With Gravy

I bought and cooked this because it's absolutely heavenly! This is one of my favorite Gardein products. The bag came with 2 holiday roasts and 2 servings of gravy, which was perfect for us.

 

Home-made Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

The other vegan in the family made chunky mashed potatoes with a small amount of almond milk. The gravy was made with mushrooms, onions, Edward & Son's Not Ckick'n bouillon cubes, almond milk, and spices. Very good.

Home-made Vegan Pupusas with Salsa

I spent about 2 hours making home-made jalapeno and "cheese" pupusas and some black bean pupusas. They were very good with Garden Fresh Gourmet salsa, however the family didn't seem interested in them at all. I'm the weirdo of the family, as usual.

Home-made Dressing

The other vegan family member made this with vegan cornbread. a leftover hamburger bun, flax seeds, egg replacement powder, cranberries, celery, onions, garlic, and plenty of spices. This was very earthy and delicious.

Garlic Green Beans

I cooked these green beans with fresh garlic, olive oil, salt, and cracked pepper.

Crowder Peas

The omnivore made crowder peas from a can. They were seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil.

A Vegan Publix Garlic And Herb Tofu Sub At Publix Deli

I noticed a new vegan sandwich on the Publix Deli menu, so I had to try it. I now present to you my Publix Deli Garlic and Herb Tofu sandwich as it looked when I unwrapped it in my car.

The awesome new Publix Deli Garlic and Herb Tofu sandwich is made fresh in the deli and includes avocado, vegan ranch dressing, garlic and herb tofu crumbles, and a choice of veggies. I chose to add lettuce, tomato, and onion, and I went with the standard white sub roll. The price was $4.99 for a half sandwich and $6.49 for a whole sandwich.

I got the impression this sandwich is not a big hit at my local Publix Deli. The deli clerk had to gather the necessary ingredients from the store and needed to go out front to read the menu to know what to put on it. This did end up with guacamole instead of avocado just because that was more convenient for everyone. I bet this sandwich would be more popular if people would just try it, because this was awesome! It was worth the wait.

The tofu crumbles were semi-firm bite-sized cubes, and they were covered in flavorful herbs. It looked like they used Nasoya Toss'ables Garlic and Herb tofu. The veggies were fresh and crisp. The vegan ranch dressing was a pleasant surprise, because I never thought I'd see Publix Deli go this far to be vegan friendly. The bread was fresh as always. The deli clerk was friendly. The deli was very clean as usual.

I got a bag of Dirty Potato Chips and a Publix Deli tea to go with the sandwich. Both were perfect.

 

Once again, I got a great plant-based meal from the Publix Deli. From a vegan perspective, this is a big step in the right direction for Publix.  This is the best sandwich I've received from the Publix Deli. I would recommend this to all people. Even omnivores will love this sandwich.

If you'd like to see another vegan sub option at Publix Deli, check out the Publix Veggie Sub I posted about a while back.

Lentil Patty Melt at Sluggo's Vegan Cafe In Chattanooga TN.

Today I made another visit to Sluggo's in Chattanooga TN. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic they were only doing curbside pickup orders. I walked there, so I placed my order by phone and waited on the bench in the front of the cafe. Today I ordered a Lentil Patty Melt on rye with a side of Garlic Mashed Potatoes with mushroom gravy. I also got a bottle of Boylan Black Cherry soda.

The sandwich was served in a take-out box with a pickle on the side. Everything about it was great! This included a lentil patty topped with grilled onions and mushrooms, a vegan cheezy sauce, vegan mayo, and mustard on toasted rye. I love the toasted rye. It stayed crunchy almost to the end. The lentil patty was soft with small chunks. The generous amount of onions and peppers were cooked to perfection and had a good skillet-cooked flavor. The creamy cheezy sauce was not as flavorful as I would prefer, but it did play an important part in the composition and overall taste. This sandwich offered a variety of textures and flavors that were perfectly pleasing. Even the pickle was great.

The side of Garlic Mashed Potatoes was larger than expected. This was almost a heavy family-sized portion. Fortunately for me, it was some of the best potatoes and gravy I've had in years! I ate half and saved half for later. The potatoes were partially smooth with delicious grilled chunks and a little bit of potato skin. The thick gravy was loaded with flavor and had an oily texture. This soul food side item was pleasantly peppery and spiced like a Thanksgiving meal. It completely satisfied my craving for real food. The presentation was not great, but this is southern comfort food. It was served exactly as expected.

This lunch experience was further enhanced with Sluggo's impressive collection of take-out drinks. I wanted to keep it simple and easy. I asked for Boylan's Black Cherry soda. It was served cold and fresh. 

Sluggo's Vegan Cafe has impressed me again with quality, portion size, and value. My meal was large and tasty with a final price that beats the competition down the road. The service was very friendly. Even with curbside ordering, this experience was completely positive and has left me with many reasons to return as soon as possible. Good job Sluggo's!

Vegan Cocktail; Captain OJ

I made this home-made Captain OJ using one part Captain Morgan Spiced Rum and five parts orange juice. I was able to get such a beautiful photograph of this drink only because I captured this image before drinking this cocktail and the ones that followed it.

Personally, I believe this to be a healthy dietary supplement that positively supports good mental health. Drinking this will ease stress and increase confidence and self esteem. But you should never get health advice from a drunk blogger.

Home-made Tomato Soup With Black Bean Dumplings And Jalapenos

To make this I used a can of Campbell's tomato soup, which was surprisingly vegan, along with canned black beans, jalapenos, and Nasoya won ton wraps. I wrapped some black beans with the won ton wraps in a dumpling style and also let some beans swim freely in the soup with the sliced peppers. This was good!.

Home-made Vegan Tamale With Adobo Sauce

I made tamales from a vegan cookbook recipe. The filling is a black bean base and is loaded with other vegan goodies. The outer wrap is mostly made with Bob's Red Mill Organic Masa Harina. I topped this one with a simple adobo sauce. This is my first time making tamales, and I'm very pleased with the results.

 

Here's most of the ingredients I used. The recipe is in the cookbook seen in the back.

 

Annie Chun's Pad Thai Noodles

Here's another winner from Annie Chun's! It's vegan and non- GMO!

Betty Lou's Strawberry Fruit Bar

This is a good pocket-sized snack for hiking or biking. It's non-GMO, vegan, and gluten free.

Willy's Fresh Salsa

This is one of my regular products. When I need salsa this is one I frequently get. It's always very fresh and flavorful. It's vegan and non-GMO.

Click here to see the Willy's Fresh Salsa website

Veggie Combo at Firehouse Subs

I occasionally go to Firehouse Subs for a Veggie sub. To make the Veggie sub vegan I ordered it on white bread with no mayonnaise, no cheese, and no mushrooms. 

This meal was very good. The lettuce and spicy mustard go very well with the sauteed peppers. I love this sandwich with Dave Insanity Sauce and a side of Fritos. The pickle speak makes it even better.

I've been getting mixed information about the sauteed mushrooms that is usually included with the Veggie. Some employees and managers have said the mushrooms are marinated in Worcestershire sauce and contains anchovies. Other sources say it is made with a plant-based Worcestershire sauce. I'd rather not have doubts about it so I just order it without mushrooms. The website currently shows no fish or shellfish allergens for that ingredient.

On this visit I didn't even see this sub listed on the menu. I had to ask if they still had it. Maybe I just didn't notice it. Firehouse Subs is not as vegan friendly as I'd like. This is the only vegan meal they make as far as I know. They clearly serve the omnivore crowd. But it's good to know there's something herbivores can eat. And this is really good; good enough to create an occasional Firehouse craving.

Also I should mention that the Firehouse Subs house sauce is not vegan. It's made with anchovies. So if you go get some hot sauce, be sure to check the ingredients. There's usually a couple dozen hot sauces from which to chose. Many of them are vegan. But beware. They are often insanely hot. 

Click here to see the Firehouse Subs website

Home-made Vegan Hoppin' John

Hoppin' John is a traditional Southern food eaten on New Year's Day. This deep South poverty food is seemingly made of table scraps, but it is said to bring good luck and wealth for the new year. I added a side of spinach because greens are said to further add to future financial gain. Even if it's not New Year's Day, I could really use some good fortune.

To make vegan Hoppin' John, first I made a pot of Minute Rice. When that was cooked, I sprinkled in some chili oil, chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper flakes, seasoning salt, and Weber's Kick'n Chicken Seasoning. I added skillet-fried bell pepper and onion and canned black eyed peas. I then added some skillet-fried Soyrizo to give it the smokey meaty flavor of pork, because Hoppin' John usually has ham in it. I stirred it all together and it was then a delicious pot of luck.

This was my first time making Hoppin' John and I really like it! This was cheap and easy to make. I have plenty of leftovers. Next time I'll go lighter on the cayenne pepper. It did have me hoppin'.

Jackfruit Nachos at Cashew In Chattanooga TN

This meal was perfect in every way, as usual. The jackfruit and slaw together made this meal amazing.  Cashew Plant Based Vegan Cafe is my first choice for food in Chattanooga.

Click here for the Cashew Plant Based Vegan Cafe website

Homemade Vegan Pumpkin Pie

This pie was made with a pre-made frozen graham cracker crust, Libby's canned pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Very simple.

 

The label on the canned pumpkin said "Ingredients: pumpkin". No added sugar or artificial flavors and colors. No milk, eggs, or butter. Just pumpkin.

When using pre-made pie crusts vegans will need to watch for ingredients such as lard and beef tallow. I have no idea why such nasty things are added to a simple product. This crust was made with vegan ingredients, and I'm sure it was just as good as the nasty crusts. There's no reason to pollute the food with slaughterhouse byproducts.