Browsing around the grocery stores this week I ran into some new vegan items. In Kroger, I noticed Silk now has iced latte available in half gallon sizes. Being a coffee snob, I’m one to make my own iced coffees at home but for those who need a coffee fix on the go with ultimate pre-made convenience, these may fit the need.

Also, at Whole Foods the much reported Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Puffs and vegan butter popcorn and well as vegan cheddar popcorn is now available. At $3.99 a bag these we’re a bit out of my snack price range. Considering the cheddar popcorn seemed to be no more than popcorn with salt a nutritional yeast, paying more than 99 cents for a big bag is just out of the question for me. I can make that stuff at home by the metric ton. I may try the puffs if I find them cheaper or on sale, however.

Call it Ice Cream, call it Soy Cream, call it the best stuff ever.

Peppermint Ice Cream

2 cups soy milk
2 cups soy creamer
2 TBS arrowroot
½ cup evaporated cane juice
1 TBS vanilla extract
4-5 peppermint sticks, crushed

Whisk 1/4 cup of the soy milk with the arrowroot. Heat the remaining soy milk and soy creamer to a simmer. Add the evaporated cane juice to the soy mixture and stir until completely dissolved. Add the arrowroot and stir until thickened, about 2 – 3 minutes. You are not looking for a “pudding” consistency, just a light thickening.

Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Add vanilla and cool completely in refrigerator.

Prepare accordingly using your ice cream maker.

When the soy cream reaches the point where it is almost finished add the crushed peppermint and turn the ice cream maker back on/keep cranking/etc for 3 – 4 more minutes.

RELATED:  If you don’t have one of the Cuisinart Ice Cream Makers, then go now and get one.  It makes recipes like these too simple to finish up.

Fresh RumNog Pecan Cookies, I love these things. They were just made today and I have just delivered a few tins, supplemented with fudge, to some of my clients. They were baked fresh this morning and I made certain a few were left over for me to munch on for the next few hours, that’s about all they will last. In fact I have eaten two as I am writing this. We picked up fresh pecans on our way back from Atlanta earlier this week just to make these. I can’t say much more about these except DELICIOUS!

I usually get two or three nights per week where I cook only for myself. I usually just get in a hurry and want something quick and filling so I just eat a couple veggie burgers and some tater tots or a baked potato. I’ll fry up an onion and sometimes a bell pepper and then put the patties on top of the fried onions and cook it for about 15 minutes before frying it. Steamed buns on top of the burgers and onions, potato, yum, sure. All of this is just junk food to me and I eat it far too often. I just don’t want to cook a big deal of a dinner for myself. I know I should move to something else, veggie burgers aren’t all bad but when you eat them constantly you’ll fall into a vegan junk food slump, as I have. Given the onions and peppers are a fresh addition but still, fried and all the time, not good. The cooking has almost become mechanized and scheduled. I can cut up the onions, set them on to fry, do something else for the allotted time, come back add the burgers, do something else, come back and flip, you get the idea. I think that’s where I got hooked, it is easy for me to do among other things and tends to be my first choice at the end of the day, when the day isn’t really over.
I think next week I am going to try to add something new to the mix. Maybe stir fry with brown rice. Should still be just as easy to prepare and may turn out to be quicker. It should end up being a little lighter and I’ll mix up the sauce so I can give myself more variety. I already have Five Spice and Sweet and Sour sauces from Trader Joe’s. I’ll can make up teriyaki sauce in advance as well as orange sauce.

Veggie burgers once a week won’t be so bad.