Good Vegan Meatballs

Yves, The Good Meatballs Yves, The Good Meatballs are good [don’t think they make these anymore, but they make a number of products], but I have had a lot of good vegan meatballs. It must be the way I am able to cook meatballs after I take them out of the bag, or package in this case.

These I fried in a little lite olive oil with onions, portabella mushrooms – which added a lot to the flavor and the ultimate gravy, and vegetarian soup stock. Then after they cooked for a while, I tossed in garlic, dried basil, and a splash of balsamic vinegar – yeow, secret ingredient, just use a little.

After everything was brown, I spooned in just a half 4oz. can of the most basic tomato sauce and added water, probably more water than the sauce until the gravy was liquid, but not watery.

I let it barely simmer on very low while I waited for my pasta to al dente and then chowed!

The gravy was brown, and had such an interesting tang to it because of the balsamic vinegar. The vegan meatballs are like little sponges in the way they drink up flavors so they were incredibly tasty.

I sprinkled some “almost vegan” cheese – Veggie Shreds Mozzarella (has casein in it) over the top because the brown gravy didn’t seem to fit with parmesan, but could have.

Vegan Menu?

I received a comment on my Panera Bread post (which gets as much traffic as any post) from someone who wanted to find a vegan menu to help out his sister.

I was touched, and I thought this might help.

veg starter kit

UPDATE [2023] That old link is bad, but now Click Here to see a nice article (FREE) on the VegNews site: How to Go Vegan: A Beginner’s Guide to Eating Plant-Based. I have no affiliation with VegNews.

You can also order a free Vegan Starter Kit from PETA if you are so inclined.

Smart Deli Bologna

When I was young, my dad used to make us fried bologna sandwiches. They were really greasy and great and it was fun to see my dad cook.

Smart Deli, Old World Bologna Style

This bologna reminded me of that, but when I made a fried sandwich out of it, it just didn’t do it for me.

So the other night I cut a wad of it into strips and tossed them, some cauliflower, onions, frozen hash browns and chopped fresh spinach into a pan with a bit of olive oil and made a very interesting meal. I seasoned it with red pepper flakes and parsley and it was really good. Just a suggestion.

5 different kinds of Smart Deli including the Bologna – Roast Turkey Style, Country Ham Style, Three Peppercorn Pastrami Style, Pepperoni Slices (which I have used on pizza and are good, and I don’t even like pepperoni). Vegan.