Recipe Review: Vegan Dinner

In following along with the theme of Comfort Food that I posted for my own recipe yesterday, I decided to try a different kind of comfort food. On a whim a few months ago, I purchased nutritional yeast and soy curls. For some reason, I kept thinking that I would need these ingredients for the vegan meals I would start preparing once a week. Since that purchase, these two ingredients have been taunting me from the pantry. I didn't really know what to do with them because I hadn't done enough research. But finally, I put my foot down and decided to see what their appeal is to the ordinary vegan.

Since I'm an omnivore and love meaty things, I didn't want to try anything too outside the box with these ingredients. So, I decided to keep it simple and see if I could veganize some comfort food. I found a recipe for Homestyle Soy Curls BBQ and one for Macaroni and Cheese (the creator of the macaroni proclaims it to be the best vegan macaroni and cheese in the world, but I have nothing to compare it to at the moment).

I was happy to find that the BBQ recipe was a crockpot recipe. It's always so nice to come home from work and find that dinner is basically waiting on me instead of vice versa. The first thing I did before even putting the first ingredient in the crockpot was to scale down the recipe. I didn't have nearly enough soy curls for 5 cups worth, so I cut the sauce mixture in half and just put 2 cups of soy curls in the crockpot. Also, instead of soy sauce, I used liquid aminos to try to cut back on some of the sodium. Then I dumped it all in the crockpot and set it to low. Since I'm away from home anywhere from 8-10 hours, I figured it's better to cook it on low rather than cooking on high for 5 hours when I won't be there to check on it.

While my BBQ was simmering in the crockpot, I took a moment to total up the nutritional information for both the BBQ and the macaroni and cheese. It is quite a calorie-heavy dinner, but I think I can make it work with my calorie budget if I portion correctly.

For the macaroni, I actually cut the ingredients by 1/3 before calculations. Again, using the liquid aminos instead of the soy sauce helps with the sodium level. Curiosity got the best of me. I had to know what vegan cheese sauce tastes like. I took a taste, and I can detect the "cheesiness", but it definitely isn't like real cheese in the raw sauce form.

Sorry the pic isn't better quality. I was so hungry when I finally sat down to eat that I scarfed it all up without getting a picture of it on my plate. As for my review, I was pleasantly surprised. The BBQ was really yummy. There was something about the mouthfeel of the soy curls that seemed similar to pork. It actually tasted decadent. I really enjoyed it.

I'm probably a little more picky about the macaroni and cheese. It was pretty good, but I wasn't fooled into thinking it was real cheese. I can definitely understand why people believe that nutritional yeast makes it taste cheesy. It has a tangy quality that sort of mimics cheese.

I would definitely have this meal again, and I can't wait to see what else I can do with those soy curls. I'm imagining a "beef" stew.

Comfort Food: Creamy Bacon-Wrapped Buffalo Chicken

Instead of doing a "Clean Eating" recipe this week, I've opted to do a "Comfort Food" post. One of Cliff's favorite dishes is this baked chicken recipe his mom used to make for him. She would line a baking pan with dried beef, wrap bacon around a chicken breast and lay the breast on the dried beef, then top everything with a mixture of cream of mushroom soup and sour cream. It really is quite a tasty dish. I decided to surprise Cliff with a spin on this favorite dish.

Ingredients:
8 strips of Jennie-O Extra Lean Turkey Bacon
4 Chicken Breasts (I used Perfect Portions chicken)
6 oz Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt
2 oz Cream Cheese Light
1/4 cup Blue Cheese Crumbles
4 oz Deli Turkey Breast Slices
1/4 cup + 1 tsp Frank's Red Hot Wings Sauce
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Garlic Powder
2 stalk Celery
2 Carrots

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.

Peel carrots and cut carrots and celery into small pieces. Place in a food processor and finely chop. Put chopped veggies in a large bowl.

   

Rinse out food processor. Add blue cheese, cream cheese, yogurt, garlic powder, lemon juice and 1 tsp of hot sauce to food processor. Pulse chop until well blended. Add up to 1/4 cup of water to get desired consistency.

Cut each chicken breast in half. Place in a large bowl and top with 1/4 cup of hot sauce. Toss with hands until chicken pieces are well coated.

Spray a casserole pan with cooking spray. Line the pan with turkey slices.

Place chicken pieces in carrot/celery mixture to coat (like a breading). Wrap each half chicken in with one strip of bacon. Place on top of the layer of turkey slices.

    

Spread the top of the chicken pieces with blue cheese mixture.

Cover dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 20-30 minutes until done.

Serve alongside rice or vegetable of choice. The blue cheese sauce makes an excellent gravy.

Nutrition Facts
Serves 4
Serving Size 2 pieces with 1/4 sauce (412.3g)
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Calories - 308
Calories from Fat - 92
Total Fat - 10.2 g
Saturated Fat - 3.1g
Trans Fat - 0g
Cholesterol - 118mg
Sodium - 1200mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.8g
Dietary Fiber - 1.3g
Sugar - 5g
Protein - 42.8g
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Vitamin A - 102%
Vitamin C - 9%
Calcium - 16%
Iron - 4%