Week One: So many Carrots!
Last Monday, I woke up at my usual time to get ready for work as a camp counselor. I quickly realized I had literally nothing to pack for lunch that didn't require cooking or refrigeration (which isn't always certain on camp days because of field trips). Because I was so concerned about getting enough protein in my diet, I made sure to pick up a bunch of hummus after reading about it in another vegan blog called "The Spruce Eats". So, with little time to spare and protein on my mind, I literally ate carrots and hummus for lunch and snack during the day. They were so good, but carrying around a half pound bag of carrots all day was heavy and only eating a bunch of carrots all day was not as satisfying as my normal turkey and cheese sandwich (as my face reflects).
Things got better throughout the week, but nothing was particularly exciting. I ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly's, salads, and other veggies, but I felt like I could do better. So I marched to back to Whole Foods and bought vegan cheese, meat substitutes, vegan yogurt, vegan cookies, vegan sorbet, and a few more exciting looking snacks. This is when my week took a turn for the interesting.
What the Hell is Vegan Cheese???
I'll admit my expectations for vegan cheese were pretty high, especially after seeing that Whole Foods offered both American and Mozzarella cheese (my favorite cheese in the whole world)! Both cheeses were from a brand called "Follow Your Heart" which really spoke to me because my heart was screaming for some cheese to re enter my life. I quickly bought the cheese, drove home, and turned on my trusty Gorge Foreman panini press. I opened the American cheese first, and was surprised that is looked, and smelled very much like normal american cheese! This only led to my expectations to grow as I opened the promising looking mozzarella. Sadly, I had never been more crushed in my life than when I first touched the block of vegan mozzarella. This cheese was rubbery feeling and so incredibly slimy that I almost dropped it when taking it out of the bag. Strangely enough, it smelt of copper and cleaning supplies which really dampened my appetite. But, being the strong independent woman that I am, I was able to hold my breath long enough to slice and place the cheese onto my sandwich before putting it onto the grill. I listened intently for that familiar sizzle of melty cheese on a hot surface, but (yet again) was disappointed. After nearly burning the bread to a crisp, I decided to pop the unmelted grilled cheese in the microwave to achieve that melty goodness I was so desperate for, but even that went wrong! The cheese turned into liquid within ten seconds, and I had to wait forever until I could finally bare to touch the dang thing without burning myself. Once my over complicated meal was cool enough to eat, I took a bite and was pleasantly surprised! It tasted like cheese!
So what was in this stuff anyways? Both the American and Mozzarella have pretty similar ingredients, with the only real difference being that the American cheese contained paprika. The general makeup of each cheese contained: Filtered Water, Coconut Oil, Modified Food Starch, Potato Starch, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor (Plant Sources), Olive Extract, and then various seasonings depending on the cheese. I was amazed that such bland sounding ingredients could come together to make something that tasted so cheese like, but it was for sure not as good as the real deal. This seemed to be the general consensus with many people who tasted this cheese. Youtuber "the Unnatural Vegan" really described my feelings about the mozzarella, as well as pointing out nutrition facts in her video below! (She also tries the cheddar cheese, which I ended up buying after watching the video!)
The Best Chips Ever!!!
Although my vegan cheese adventure was kind of a bust, I did find the BEST CHIPS IN THE WHOLE WORLD that also happen to be vegan! They are Bacon Habanero chips from the brand Late July and as you can see, me and my co workers went absolutely nuts for them! They did not taste like bacon, but rather they were smokey, spicy, and the crunchiest chips we had ever eaten! After finding chips like these, I can't wait to see what other gems I'll find on my vegan exploration!
