Order it online! Whereever you are in the U.S.

The Hungry Vegan offers a full menu of vegan meals that can be delivered to your door, ready to heat and eat. Every week they design and create a different menu, and everyone gets the same thing. The orders placed by Tuesday at midnight are shipped out the following day, and delivered one or two days later by FedEx. The prices are reasonable for a delivery service like this: $75 for one week's meals for one person. Delivery is fairly expensive, but cheaper if you live in the regional area near the Hungry Vegan (see the website for a map).

I have just ordered one week's worth from them. I will write about my experience here. I am hoping for the best - what could be more convenient than delicious vegan meals that are sitting in your refrigerator, ready to heat?

Convenient Burritos Not Vegan

Cedarlane Foods had a labeling problem that resulted in a minor recall. The burritos use soy cheese but it's made with dairy casein. The large boxes are labeled properly, but the individual burritos were not.

Sadly, if you thought these burritos were vegan, you were mistaken.

From the FDA recall news feed:

"Cedarlane Natural Foods of Carson, California is conducting a voluntary recall of Cedarlane Low Fat Bean Rice & Cheese style Burritos because they contain undeclared casein, a milk protein. People who have an allergy, or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products. No illnesses have been reported to date.

The reason for this voluntary recall is due to the fact that an allergen, casein, (a milk protein) was not noted on the printed packaging of the individual units. Specifically, the printed outer carton contains the word casein in the allergen statement. The individually wrapped burrito however does not reference casein in the allergen statement. The labeling error was detected by a routine review at Cedarlane Natural Foods as well as the Food and Drug Administration.

Cedarlane Low Fat Bean Rice & Cheese Style Burritos are available in a 6 oz plastic film wrapped packaging as well as cartons of an 8 count, 6 oz family pack. The affected open code dates are from "062808A" (June 28, 2008) through "082908A" (August 29, 2008) and is located on the bottom right, after the heating instructions, of the print plastic wrap of the individual burrito. The open code date of the outside printed carton is similar to that of the individual units but without the 'A' and can be found on the right hand side panel, near the bottom of the carton.

Cedarlane Low Fat Bean Rice & Cheese style Burritos are distributed through all 50 states (U.S). Consumers that possess this product with the respective open code dates are advised by Cedarlane Natural Foods to return the product to the store of purchase for a full refund. Refunds can be obtained until June 1, 2008.

Grocers and distributors have been advised by Cedarlane Natural Foods to withdraw the product with respective open code dates listed above from sale and hold it for pick up from the company. Consumers with any questions may contact the company either by telephone at (800) 826-3322 and speak with Linda Manzo, extension 800, or by e-mail at we-care@cedarlanefoods.com"

I'm thinking Cedarlane needs a few emails sent to them asking that they make their burritos the vegan way.

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The Frugal Essentials

How many times have you heard or thought that being vegan is expensive?

A lot of people have the misconception that special diets require more money than traditional diets. It's not true and one blogger proves it. One Frugal Foodie blogs about a variety of special diets, (dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, etc.), all the while showing how to be thrifty. In a recent post, the Frugal Foodie outfits a kitchen with necessary cooking equipment with less than $100. Here are the recommended items:

1. $10 - Spice Grinder
2. $25 - Blender
3. $11 - Rice Cooker
4. $11 - Electric Tea Kettle
5. $15-20 - Hand Mixer
6. $10 - Toaster

It got me thinking: this is a great list of tools for a cabin, dorm, RV, or motel. It's perfect for the traveling or temporary vegan who cooks.

Read the whole article for more details >>

Free Convenient Vegan Meals

What's more convenient than eating free food someone else prepares? Well, if you're interested in going that route, try prison!

Hahaha, just kidding.

But PETA just released a list of the top ten vegan-friendly US prisons.
It's worth a look >>

Quick 'n easy snack

This simple snack - or lunch, or, for that matter, breakfast - can be made with bread or bagel. Toast the bread, layer thin tomato slices, drizzle with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle with pepper or lemon-pepper. Add salt if you like. It's easy and it's elegant. And it's good. Another variation is to slice some avocado onto the top, sprinkle with a bit of fresh cilantro.

Ode to the pressure cooker

There are specialized pans to have, and specialized pans to not have. The pressure cooker is one to have if you ever cook at all.

Pressure cookers are good for vegetables, grains and dried beans, use much less energy and time to cook and therefore are also good for the environment and for you.

For example, you can "presoak" dried beans in a pressure cooker in five minutes, and then cook the beans (with all the trimmings) for about a half-hour or 45 minutes and you're done. With prep time (chopping onions and carrots and so on) and time to bring the pot up to pressure, then, getting dried beans on the table, cooked perfectly, will take about an hour and a half - or less. Cooking beans conventionally can take up to eight hours for presoaking plus two to three hours for cooking, not including prep time. I have learned that sometimes the beans I buy are not the freshest (yes, there is a difference in dried beans) and they take a really long time to get done. Even the tough ones give in to pressure cooking, though.

Pressure cookers do an admirable job on fresh veggies, like carrots, and on grains like rice and can even be used to make some interesting desserts. You might be lucky, like I was, and get one for free on freecycle or craigslist, but however you get it be sure to use it!

Hash!

So you decided to cook the other day? Or you went out to dinner and couldn't finish? So there are bits and pieces of leftovers in the fridge? And maybe you are a little leftover-phobic? Hash might be the solution. Hash can be made with a wide variety of leftovers, combined with a few fresh ingredients if you like.

Hash usually contains potatoes so if your leftovers don't include any you might want to zap one in the microwave. Hash usually contains some sort of protein thing, too, and bits of whatever else might go with it. My general method is:

Heat a tablespoon or so of oil in a frying pan. Chop up a bit of onion, toss it in. The onion usually goes first, if you are going to use it, because it needs the chance to soften up. Add any other fresh veggie type ingredient, like bell pepper, and any fresh protein thing, like the fresh mock sausage (gimme lean is one type) so these things can cook a bit and even get a little crispy, then the chopped cooked potato. Turn the heat up a little to crisp it up (I think hash should have some crispness to it), then it's nice to add a bit of spinach or other bright green leafy veg (I use frozen). Sprinkle with some paprika or red pepper (depending on your heatness tolerance and what's in the hash) and some parsley and pepper, and that's it. At the table you can give it a shake of salt if you like.

The hash pictured has onions, leftover half baked potato, leftover cooked portabello mushroom, a bit of fresh gimme lean sausage, 1/4 red bell pepper, a bit of firm tofu, sliced, and a sprinkling of spinach. It tasted great!