Vegan - Smegan.

About a week before Thanksgiving, I decided to go vegan.

I have awesome timing.

Not only did I slightly cheat on Thanksgiving (I can't help if someone else puts eggs in food) but I slightly cheated that weekend with a grilled cheese sandwich. I can't help myself. It's my favorite-ist food. Lucky for me, I found a decent substitute in Soya Kaas.

Since I started this adventure, I've been cooking a lot of vegetables, and in all different ways. I roasted my first peppers last night and let me tell you, I was eating them straight after peeling the charred skin off. I sauteed some kale (!), caramelized some onions and threw the whole mess in some pasta. Yum.

Unfortunately, this is sort of a bad time to start such a way of life. Vegan-specific products (nutritional yeast, vital wheat gluten for seitan, soy milk) are not exactly cheap. And I'm not exactly raking in the big bucks right now. So far we've been managing well as long as we load up on veggies and bulk pastas and grains. For Christmas this year we're handing out apple butter, blueberry syrup and hummus cups to friends. All are easy and cheap to make and oh-so-good. Here is the documentary on apple butter:

First you acquire a couple pounds of apples - best if they're all different types.


Chop 'em up. I used a wedding gift I didn't really anticipate using, ever - the apple master.


Throw them in the crockpot and add sugar and spices. Let it cook overnight. When you wake up your house will smell of apple pie.






Boil them for 15 minutes and then allow them to seal. I filled 14 of these baby jars.




It was a really simple process and the end result is some of the best apple product I've ever tasted. It's more of an applesauce consistency and I love it on toast and in oatmeal.

Mmmmm.