Creamy Spinach & Artichoke Dip and Chips!

Good morning everyone! 

How many of you love artichoke spinach dip?  I remember the first time I tried it I loved it, and now it can be found at almost every restaurant!  It is so creamy and cheesy, you almost forget it is full of veggies!  I found a great frozen dip at Trader Joe's and I had to pick it up!  You just pop it in the microwave and you make a perfect little meal for one, or a restaurant worthy appetizer!

I paired this with some great simple tortilla chips that I also picked up at Trader Joe's.

Look how simple those ingredients are! Gotta love it!

This was definitely a great find and I will be purchasing it again!

Do you guys like spinach and artichoke dip as much as I do? Have you tried this delicious one from Trader Joe's yet?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Unreal 77.

Hello everyone! Today's post is about an awesome new candy brand called Unreal.  Check out the website HERE.  Unreal takes popular candies, such as M&Ms and Snickers, and makes them all natural.  There are no artificial ingredients, no corn syrup, and no preservatives.  They also have more fiber, more protein, and less calories than the original candies they are inspired by, how awesome is that?!

Right now they only make 5 kinds.  I am actually not a big chocolate lover, so out of all the options the only one I actually like the original candy of is Reese's.  In Unreal's terms, UN77.

They come individually wrapped and are in the shape of regular Reese's.  How neat is that logo on the back?

Overall these are a winner in my book! They taste almost exactly the same as Reese's and I love knowing that they are all natural!

Will you be picking up some Unreal candy?

Bye from the veggie side!

Morning Star Chik'n Nuggets

Good morning!  Today I am going to show you something from one of my favorite veggie meat brands.   I gave up meat at 10 years old, but until then chicken nuggets were my absolute favorite food.  Actually they were pretty much the only food I ate.  My love for animals is what propelled myself into vegetarianism, and for me it was pretty easy.  But I have spoken to a lot of people that say they want to be a vegetarian but don't have the will power to give up their favorite foods.   I have found that one of the easiest ways to stay committed to vegetarianism is to find those replacements.  Love chicken nuggets like I do?  It is easy to find vegetarian ones to fill that hole in your heart and your stomach.

My favorite are Morning Star brand Chik'n Nuggets.  Morning Star makes a verity of veggie meats from buffalo chicken, to rips, to corn dogs!  One question I get about veggie meat is about taste accuracy. Does it really taste like chicken?  Well since I haven't had chicken in 11 years, I honestly don't remember.  All I know is that these Chik'n Nuggets taste amazing!  And honestly, that's all that really matters.  One more food that I like is more variation in my diet, and having options makes vegetarianism easy.

Ok. ok. So I know that's a long list of ingredients.  But these Chik'n Nuggets are full of flavor and protein and have less fat that real chicken, which is something everyone can agree on is a good thing, vegetarians and meat eaters a-like.  I even have a friend that is not a vegetarian and she absolutely loves these.

Just like a kid, I enjoy my Chik'n Nuggets piled on a plate and dipped in ketchup and mustard.  But you can get creative! Put them in pasta or add them to a wrap to get some extra protein in your meal!  Imagine what your friends will say what they see their vegetarian friend eating chicken nuggets just like they do!  

Will you be trying Morning Star Chik'n Nuggets?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Annie's Organic Honey Mustard

How many kinds of mustard should a household have? One? Two? Well of you ask my dad, and answer is four.  My dad and I absolutely love mustard. It is spicy, delicious, and goes great on so many things.  We both really enjoy the brown Jewish Deli mustard, but I also love honey mustard!  Since I don't eat meat, I never end up ordering anything at a restaurant that comes with honey mustard, since that is usually reserved for chicken tenders or other types of food like that (can you tell I have no idea what I am talking about?) The only time I get to enjoy honey mustard is when my meat-eating boyfriend, Ben, orders meat and I steal a french fry and quickly dunk it in his honey mustard before he can get that pesky chicken in it.  Because once it touches the meat, it becomes contaminated and I wont eat it.

It was time I bought some honey mustard so I could enjoy it at home with my veggie chicken and feel like a normal meat-eating American.  And if I am going to buy honey mustard, might as well make it all natural and organic!

Annie's is a great brand that makes all natural foods.  They make things from gummy candy to mac and cheese.  

Look at those natural ingredients! Yum! It tastes different than regular honey mustard, you can tell it is all natural, none of those fake flavors.  It is really good and I love it with my veggie chicken!  I am not used to being able to eat food with honey mustard so I don't even know what else to eat it with!  But I will keep trying  it with new foods and looking for new ways to enjoy it!

Have you every tried Annie's Honey Mustard? What do you think of it?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

S'agapo, Greek Yogurt!

Let's start this post with a bit of a story...* wavy flashback lines*

As a child I spent a lot of time at my grandma's house.  We played hide and seek and she let me jump on the bed when my granddaddy wasn't looking.  My grandma was Greek, and after being freed from a concentration camp, she traveled to America for success.  Including getting married and starting a family, she became a nutritionist.  So when I had lunch at her house it was always full of Greek and healthy foods.  One of my favorites was her spinach pie and homemade yogurt.  She made her pies with spinach and feta in a homemade whole wheat crust.  It was always so hot out of the oven that I loved eating it with the cold yogurt.  I loved that yogurt.  She told me that she only bought yogurt once in her life, and she used a little bit of the yogurt to make about 25 smalls jars worth.  Then once a week she would take a little yogurt from last weeks batch to make 25 more small jars.  It was always so fresh and creamy. It was not sweet at all and a little sour like sour cream.  It tasted amazing with her spinach pies.

A few years ago my granddaddy passed and she moved to a nursing home, which meant she wasn't going to be cooking anymore, and no more of grandma's yogurt.

Flash forward, a few years ago Greek yogurt was becoming very popular.  It really caught my interest, and It got me thinking.  Could this be the yogurt my grandma used to make?  I was scared to try it.  I wanted so much for it to taste like the yogurt she used to make.  I didn't want it to be sweet or thin, I wanted it to be thick and savory, I wanted to eat it with spinach pie.  It took me about a year to get up the nerve to buy a cup and try it.  I opened it up and grabbed a spoon, hoping so much that it would not be sweet.  I took a bite and was taken back to my days as a child, it tasted exactly like the homemade yogurt my grandma used to make! I had loved Greek yogurt my whole life and I never even knew it! I just thought it was my grandma's special yogurt, I thought I would never get to enjoy it again.

To this day I love Greek yogurt.  However, I only eat the plain one.  I see people eating the fruit flavors and it totally freaks me out! To me, Greek yogurt is best enjoyed with the plain flavor piled on top of spinach.

I mentioned in an Awareness Wednesday post that many yogurts are made with gelatin.  Most Greek yogurt brands do not use gelatin.  For example, Dannon Greek yogurt contains gelatin.  I will always advise reading ingredients before eating anything just to be sure.  Want to try some vegetarian Greek yogurt? My favorite brands are Oikos, Fage, and Chobani.

I know most of you have already tried Greek yogurt as it is so popular now, but most people opt for the flavors and stay away from the plain.  Go ahead and try it! You wont be disappointed.

Recently my grandma passed away, and while nothing can replace the memories I have with her, keeping some Greek yogurt in the house is my way of keeping her around.  Every time I take a spoonful I think about all the amazing times I have spent with her.  S'agapo Grandma. I love you.

Will you be trying plain Greek yogurt?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Pinterest

Hey guys!  Just a short post to tell everyone that I finally made a Pinterest account! I'd love it if you would follow me! :)
http://pinterest.com/littlemonsterxx/
Bye from the Veggie Side!

Amy's Vegetable Pie

Good morning!  Today I have a really interesting and delicious meal for you.  This is Amy's Vegetable Pie Pocket Sandwich.  I love Amy's!  All the food is vegetarian and a lot are vegan too.  Everything is completely preservative free! You can't get better then that! Oh and of course everything by Amy's is delicious.  

I love these ingredients! No MSG, no preservatives and all organic!  

Amy's Vegetable Pie is like a chicken pot pie and a Hot Pocket all wrapped into one and turned vegetarian!  It is filled with peas, carrots, potatoes and tofu in a think sauce that is very similar to a pot pie filling.  It is fast to make and easy to eat!  Its great if you need a quick meal with some extra flavoring and lots of flavor!  

Will you be picking up Amy's Vegetable Pie?

Bye from the veggie side!

The Four Seasons

Hello!  I hope all of  you had a great summer and are enjoying this transition into fall. To me fall means nice cool weather, Halloween, my birthday, and great fall foods!  I spent last weekend enjoying the last bit of summer.  I visited my boyfriend, Ben, and we had a great time going to the Eagles pre-season game, and having lots of fun at Dave&Buster's!  We also celebrated His grandma's 80th birthday at the Fountain Restaurant in the Four Seasons.  The Fountain is a very fancy and upscale restaurant which usually means no vegetarian options.  They offer foods like rabbit and bison. I have been to a couple fancy places with Ben and his family for various occasions and almost always end up with a problem finding food.  Here are a few tips for vegetarians looking to dine out at fancy restaurants:

1. Check out the menu online a head of time.  This will give you the heads up of the kinds of foods they have.  At the Fountain they have pasta on the children's menu, but not on the regular menu, so pasta can always be a good option

2. Keep the waitstaff informed.  When I was handed the menu I didn't even look at it.  I just told the waiter that I do not eat any meat, and then he listed all the vegetarian options that they had.  I thought It was strange that they had a few dishes that they make regularly that they didn't put on the menu, from salads, to vegetarian options, to even some meat dinners!

3.  Always ask.  This isn't just your local place to eat, fancy restaurants are fancy for a reason, they will do anything they can to keep you happy!  If you just ask them to make you something special I'm sure they will, and I'm sure it will taste amazing!

What I ate after the page break:

Awareness Wednesdays. What's Hidden in Yogurt.

Hello all! Today's post is about yogurt.  If you are a vegan, that is already a food that you have cut out of your diet, but us veggies still eat it.  However, if you don't read closely you'll see that most yogurt might not be vegetarian.  What is in it that makes it not vegetarian? You guessed it - gelatin.

Yoplait Yogurt

Right there in the middle, Kosher gelatin!  What is Kosher gelatin you might ask.  Well if you are familiar with Jewish traditions and eating Kosher, you would know that it is not Kosher to consume and dairy products with meat.  This threw me off.  Of course gelatin is meat, and yogurt is dairy, so how can this possibly be Kosher?  For a few years right after I became a vegetarian I still ate yogurt because I figured Kosher gelatin must not have any meat in it, like a veggie alternative.  Otherwise it couldn't be Kosher. Problem solved.  When I got older I did some research and I found out what Kosher gelatin really is.

Kosher gelatin is made from animal skins and bones, not from the actual "meat" of the animal.  Therefore it is Kosher to eat it with dairy since it its not actually meat in the Kosher sense. It also has gone through so many changes that it can no longer be considered "meat" by Kosher standards (Credit). 

So there you have it.  I might be considered Kosher, but it is certainly not considered vegetarian.  As a rule, I will not eat any yogurt that I can't read the ingredients before hand, like at a restaurant, since you can never be sure if there is Kosher gelatin in it.  

Still want yogurt? Well me too! But that is not a problem.  Many organic yogurts do not have any gelatin in them.  My favorite brand is Stonyfield.  They make delicious and organic yogurts that are always vegetarian.  The come in a lot of flavors too so it is easy to find ones that you will like

Will you be cutting out regular yogurt and opting for an organic and vegetarian brand?

Bye from the Vegie side!   

M.L.T.

Hello all!  Today I have a super simple but delicious lunch to show you guys.  It is an open-faced M.L.T., or mozzarella, lettuce, and tomato.

What you'll need:

2 Slices of whole wheat bread

4 Slices of mozzarella cheese

1 Tomato

2 Leaves of lettuce

2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons of your favorite vinegar

Powdered garlic

Dried oregano

Salt 

Pepper

Pop the bread into the toaster and while it is toasting slice up your cheese and tomato, and rinse off your lettuce.  Once the bread is out of the toaster, drizzle on the olive oil and the vinegar (I used roasted garlic red wine vinegar) onto the bread. Then layer on your cheese and tomato slices.  Sprinkle on your dry spices to taste.  Finally top with the lettuce. I like to put the lettuce on top so it acts like the top piece of bread in a regular sandwich.  I can hold onto it without getting my hands all messy.

This is a very quick and easy meal to make if you are in a rush, but it is full of flavor! Are you going to try this M.L.T open-faced sandwich?

Bye from the veggie side!