Chicken-Free Buffalo Wings

When I first went veg, 7 years ago, Gardenburger had a brand of meatless Buffalo wings that were good enough to make you cry! I remember buying them in bulk. I was never one for Buffalo wings as an omnivore but as a vegetarian I just had to have them. Then one day they just disappeared. I checked the companies website and it was like they never existed. I even wrote a letter to the company to inquire about them but my letters went unanswered.

Over the years I've learned how to make my own meatless Buffalo wings (I prefer to call them buffalo bites) and my recipe is included in my upcoming book Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food. Although it doesn't take more than 30 minutes to put my Spicy Buffalo Bites together, sometimes, after dragging in the door after 9pm after a long day of work, school, working out and trying to maintain a semblance of a social life I just don't have the energy for it.

I've been eying Health is Wealth's brand of Chicken-Free Buffalo Wings for about a year now. They didn't look like they had the deep red spicy sauce of Gardenburger's meat free Buffalo Wings but since Gardenburger had decided to abandon me years ago it was only right that I give another brand a try.

5 wings only took 2 minutes to cook in the microwave. Then I threw them in the toaster oven on broil for a couple minutes to get them nice and crispy on the outside. They smelled wonderful. I got out a little vegan blue cheese dressing, carrot sticks, celery sticks, and was ready to sit down to a perfect meal. Unfortunately, these buffalo wings didn't deliver. The texture was fine, and the taste would have been fine if all i wanted was regular meatless chicken nuggets. But I was expecting buffalo wings, at least a little heat, but there was no spice to be found. Thankfully I had some hot sauce sitting around and I whipped up a bit of the sauce that I use to make my Spicy Buffalo Bites and dipped each of the buffalo wings in it. Perfection! It gave them the kick that they needed. I finished the entire package of 12 nuggets in two days using this method.

Even though these chicken-free buffalo wings weren't exactly what I was looking for I would still buy them again if I had a coupon for them or they were on sale (which happens quite often). They definitely weren't bad, they just lacked that characteristic spicy buffalo sauce.

Beat it! Natural & Herbal Insect Repellent (DEET Free)

Ever since I was a child there was just something about me that mosquito's loved. On my first trip to the south I remember being covered from head to toe in mosquito bites by day 2 and soaking in a bathtub of Avon's Skin So Soft to try to relieve some of the pain and swelling (needless to say that didn't work). As a child and even as a young adult it never occurred to me to even use any type of insect repellent. But, after I woke up one morning looking like Quasimodo with a big swollen mosquito bite over my right eye I decided it was time to take some action.

I started using all the popular brands you find in convenience stores. I used sprays, lotions, wipes, the whole gamete. They worked fine but I soon realized why my mom had kept these things from me my entire childhood. They were full of DEET, a known carcinogen. The EPA says that if you use products with DEET as the label says then you should be fine. Well, that wouldn't solve my mosquito bite on the eye issue. For years I had been slathering this stuff all over my face, behind my ears, and on every nook and cranny of my body to make sure that I stayed bite free. According to the EPA you shouldn't even put it on your hands! So after I completely freaked out and threw out everything in my house containing DEET I started searching for alternatives.

A lot of natural insect repellents tend to leave you smelling like a huge citronella candle. And that just isn't very sexy to me. Plus, somewhere in my mind, I wasn't 100% convinced that a natural/herbal product could do the same work as the heavy chemicals. When I saw Beat it! I figured I would give it a try. After all, the label claimed that it was "Jungle Strength" so that had to be some good stuff right?

I tested Beat it! in every scenario possible. Hiking trails, backyard BBQ's, the Costa Rican rainforest. Wherever I went, Beat it! went with me. And I have to say that, in my opinion, it worked even better the conventional brands of insect repellent. Plus, since it is a herbal formula, you can spray it on your clothes too, creating a nice barrier between you and the bugs that love to bite you.

Another huge advantage of using Beat It! is that it works great on animals too! I spray it on my dogs, goats and even my rabbit when he's outside. It gives me one more layer of comfort in knowing that I'm protecting my dogs from mosquito's and heartworm while not using toxic chemicals on them.

Beat it! is carried in some natural food stores and Whole Foods but can always be purchased online at http://www.jadeandpearl.com/

Coconut Bliss - 7 Minutes in Ice Cream Heaven

It's official. Coconut is the new soy. Everywhere you turn there is some new hot coconut based product. Coconut ice cream, yogurt, milk and even coconut flour. Luna & Larry have thrown one more hat into the coconut crazy ring with the addition of their Coconut Bliss line of dairy free, soy free and sugar free ice creams. I must admit as I tried each one of their 8 flavors and slipped into a soft, happy, place somewhere between the feeling of a 2 hour massage and sleeping on a bed of soft feathers (faux feathers of course. Down is so not vegan!), I started to feel like I was cheating on Purely Decadent's Coconut Ice Cream. I started to wonder how I would explain myself to you guys. How I could go from loving Purely Decadent's Coconut Ice cream more than newborn puppies to being lost in a sea of love and emotion over Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss. But then it all came to me. You can love them both equally and feel unashamed.

Coconut Bliss and Purely Decadent Coconut Ice Cream have 4 flavors in common: coconut, vanilla, chocolate and mint chocolate. But they also each have 4 unique flavors as well. So you can try Coconut Bliss' Cappuccino, Cherry Amaretto, Strawberry Lemon Love, or Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge while still being able to enjoy Purely Decadent's Cookie Dough, Mocha Almond Fudge, Passionate Mango and Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl (I've also seen a snickerdoodle flavor out there once but only at Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe).

So you see, there's enough coconut ice cream love to spread around between both brands. And this summer my freezer will be well stocked with a little of both. Ice Cream party anyone?!

Update: June/July 2009 Coconut Bliss is adding 3 new flavors to their arsenal. Chocoalte Peanut Butter, Naked Almond Fudge and Pineapple Coconut. I can't wait!!!!

Guinea Pig Updates: So Delicious Coconut Yogurt

This little guinea pig has managed to stir up quite a lot of emotion from the Purely Decadent coconut yogurt lovers out there. Here's an update on my purely decadent coconut yogurt review. Hopefully this clarifies some things. Also there are a couple new flavors that I've tried as well. http://veganguineapig.blogspot.com/2008/11/so-delicious-coconut-milk-yogurt.html

Brownies Are For Lovers...

Ghirardelli brand chocolates is not only a chocolate lover's dream but a vegan's dream as well. For all those people who think being vegan is inaccesible, hard and you have to go to a bunch of special stores to get good vegan vittles I say nay to you! I picked up a box of Ghirardelli chocolate double chocoalte brownie mix (with chocoalte chips in the mix) for $1.50 at Target. Ghirardelli's brownies were almost good enough to make me stop making brownie's from scratch all together...almost.

The add in ingredients to the mix are 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup vegetable oil and 1 egg. You can easily substitute out 1/4 cup pureed soft silken tofu or 1 egg equivalent Ener-G egg replacer for the egg in the mix. Both ways come out great. You will need to increase the cooking time by about 2-3 minutes (you can tell it's done when a toothpick passes through clean).

Aside from the phenomenal taste, texture and ease of veganizing this brownie mix has the best directions of any mix I've seen. It not only has directions for metal pan baking but glass pan baking as well. I only have glass so for me this is a huge help as I'm always left with the task of trial and error trying to translate baking times to fit the pan I'm using.

There's also a great recipe for Seven Layer Brownie Bars on the back of the box, which can also easily be veganized by trading out Earth Balance margarine for the butter and oat milk for the sweetened condensed milk to make yummy Seven Layer Brownie Bars.