I'm failing in my ongoing crusade to get my local Trader Joe's and other grocery stores to carry the healthier non-hydrogenated Tofutti cream cheese (in the yellow container). This is frustrating because the only local store that carries this version of this product is Whole Foods, and they don't always have it in stock either. So we tend to buy three or four containers when the stars are in alignment and WF has it in stock. Personally, I don't understand why this is even an issue. Most of the consumers who purchase "alternative" products do so for health reasons. Shouldn't it follow then that the healthier version of the product would be the better seller? The regular Tofutti contains partially hydrogenated soybean oil (partially hydrogenated oils are BAD!!!!), and it appears to be the same price. And why is Tofutti still making most of their cream cheese alternatives with partially hydrogenated oils anyway? (Must dash off consumer correspondence to Tofutti!!!)

In the past, Jane has even cleaned out a few of the empties and we've brought them in to our local store managers. You'd think that would illustrate our desire for them to carry this product. We've even suggested that Whole Foods is getting business that these other stores would get if they carried the non-hydrogenated Tofutti, which is true to some extent. We don't use WF as our "regular" grocery store. We shop there for specialty items since they have a much more extensive selection of vegan products.

If I sound a little off-balance here, it's just that this is one of those products that really works as a vegan alternative. You can feed it to your omni friends and they'll never know the difference, unless they read the label. Tofutti, it's time to dump the partially hydrogenated oils!

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I was recently sent an article on miso by IamQuarry, a Stumble friend.  We love miso.  Jane makes an excellent gravy by whisking miso into vegetable stock.  Yum.  She also makes her own miso soup (not difficult at all), salad dressing (although I prefer our balsamic/dijon dressing), and it's an ingredient in a number of recipes we really enjoy.... So we always have it sitting in the back of the fridge somewhere.

The article I mentioned above, A Little Bit About Miso, on Foodproof.com, is just that, a little bit about miso... an introduction.  It's an interesting read if you don't have much experience with miso.  Even if you do there are a few tips that might be of value.  I particularly like the suggestion to use miso as a glaze to broil vegetables:

There are a bunch of ways of doing vegetables, commonly called dengaku. The usual is a thin Asian eggplant, which you cut lengthwise in half (and sometimes across, depending on size) after washing and cutting off the stem. Then you skewer the halves on bamboo forks. Broil the eggplant, cut-side down, for a minute or so until barely getting saggy. Turn them over, spread with the miso paste, and broil about the same amount of time. Serve hot. You can also do firm tofu this way (NOT the soft, silky stuff I talk about in that blog entry, which will fall to bits instantly!). One note, though: Don't worry about the bamboo forks, which are a pain in the butt as well as hard to find, in my experience. Just do them in the broiler on a sheet of oiled aluminum foil and move them around with tongs.

We've tried red, white, and yellow miso.  We tend to lean towards red or yellow miso these days.  The red miso has the stronger flavor of the three; we find the white miso is a little too mild, although it works nicely in dressing.

You can find miso in the refrigerated section at your natural foods store or asian market.  If you're lucky you can even find it in your grocery store, near the tofu...  Miso is a "living" food, full of active cultures, enzymes and micronutrients, so once you get it home you should be keep your miso in the  refrigerator.  Use a clean spoon when removing some from the container to avoid contamination.  The miso will have an expiration date stamped on the tub, it keeps for months!  Oh, and don't overcook/boil your miso.  You don't want to "kill" the beneficial properties.

If you're looking for more in depth information on miso (inlcuding nutritional information) World's Healthiest Foods has a good write up, as does Wikipedia.

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If you've been reading this blog for awhile, one of the things you've heard me complaining about is that we haven't found a cow's milk replacement that Jane or I have been happy to eat with cereal. For all other purposes, we're rather happy with the homemade almond milk, and we're huge fans of Silk Light Chocolate Milk. But a palatable milk for cereal has remained elusive. A number of you have suggested your favorites, and we've tried most of them. But taste is subjective, and we hadn't really found anything we cared for, until about three weeks ago. And the winner is... WestSoy Non-Fat Plain. Now we've been vegan for a year, so we're not sure if we've simply forgotten what cow's milk tasted like or if this is a passable facsimile, but it tastes almost exactly as we remember non-fat cow's milk to taste, and it's good in cereal.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the casein/morphine connection, and the addictive nature of milk and cheese and Elaine suggested WestSoy non-fat plain soy milk (comment #7). Woo hoo! Thank you, Elaine. With that suggestion you've given us a very viable option for cereal. I don't know if you've been able to feel the love, but we've been walking around our house thanking you out loud!

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Jane is an addict. There I've said it. She's not in denial of her habit, and they do say that admitting you have a problem is the first step down the road to a cure. But I'm not sure that she's seeking a cure! So what is she addicted to? SnackSalad's Snappea Crisps.

The package is $1.49 at our local Trader Joe's. They also sell them at Whole Foods. Every week we buy two packages. At 3.3 ounces, the packages aren't huge. Supposedly they're 3.3 servings for the entire bag. Jane has been known to devour an entire bag in one sitting. At 500 calories for the whole bag, she's not beating herself up. Of course, that's not to say that either one of us would advocate eating an entire bag in one sitting, I'm just saying you won't have blown your entire day's allotment of calories if you do. And if you're eating a 2,000 calorie per day diet, you're still way under the suggested 45 grams of fat (there are 26.4grams of fat in the bag). Now, they're certainly not as good for you as eating an apple, but they aren't quite as bad as potato chips. So, if you're jonesing for a new vice... we highly recommend them. If you're trying to eat well, you should probably go for that apple instead!

Note to our readers: The Caesar variety is made with milk, so if you're going to try these (and are looking for a vegan snack), make sure to get the "Original" flavor, and don't blame us when your craving your next fix!

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