Today's episode is super exciting, because we have our very first guest! This week on the show, Cadry Nelson from Cadry's Kitchen joins us to talk about lemony potatoes, vegan sausage rolls, and eat a lot of pizza from House of Za.
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Cadry and I have known each other for around 10 years. We first met through Vegan MoFo, an online event where bloggers share recipes and food ideas around a theme for one month. One year for MoFo, she did an interview series, and she interviewed me! It was very fun!
Blogging has changed a lot since MoFo back in 2009 when we met, and it has been a lot of fun to see Cadry's site grow! She creates vegan comfort food recipes, and I love her food!
We cut our own hair.
Cadry and I have both tried similar techniques to cut our own hair, since we are both not ready to visit an indoor salon. Her method is a lot better than mine, and honestly, her hair looked amazing on the Zoom call!
She used this YouTube video and these scissors to do it.
My method is a lot more quick and dirty. I put it into a high ponytail and used Dave's beard scissors to chop a few inches off. When you take it down, you get layers! But I can't stress enough how much better Cadry's hair looked.
We got a letter!
This is not a food-related letter, but it is awesome. It's a bit longer than what we'd usually read, but so worth it. Buckle up!
Bill writes:
Dear Talkin' Tofu Podhosts,
In your most recent episode (that I've heard, at least), Becky told the story of her teacher Mr. Ivey. I will leave it to you to explain the whole Mr. Ivey "I GET to" vs "I HAVE to" thing, but I'm Team Mr. Ivey. And I've got a story to tell that bears upon the matter:
When I was in college, school was my enemy. It was a thing that I felt that I had to do in order to live a decent life. What this life was, I had no clear idea, but I knew without a doubt that I HAD to graduate.
It should perhaps then be no surprise that this mindset led me to a semester where I withdrew from most of my classes for psychiatric reasons. In the ensuing counseling, I found myself saying to a school counselor/therapist,
"You don't understand. I HAVE to graduate."
And he responded, "Well, no. You don't HAVE to graduate."
I made merciless, merciless fun of this shockingly out of touch and ignorant man at the time. What a terrible job he must have had, dealing with us students under such pressure.
Looking back, though, I see myself as a young man who was so focused on what he should do, or has to do, that he can't see that he has any agency in his own life. And looking at it that way, this counselor was absolutely right: I had plenty of options, I just chose not to take them.
Anyway, Dave has a good point: teachers sometimes give bullshit assignments, and "you GET to do this bullshit assignment" is a lame thing to say. But the older I get, the more my interests and obsessions turn into responsibilities, and the easier it is to say, "Ugh, I HAVE to write code today. I HAVE to give my puppy a flea bath. I HAVE to practice singing." And then the spark is gone, and I've forgotten how much I like programming, and puppies, and singing, and that the only reason I have a life with plenty of programming and puppies and singing is that I put them there because I like them.
Circumstances are what they are, but each day I GET to wake up and do with them what I will. So I'm on Team Mr. Ivey!
Best,
Bill (last name withheld)
Bill, I agree. That lens may not always be helpful, but giving it a shot can definitely help us approach issues in a new way. Maybe see solutions that we weren't noticing before!
Do you want to send us a letter? We will basically 100% read it. Email us at [email protected]!
New vegan products from Heinz
This week's news segment is about a new vegan range of products from Heinz in the UK. It features burgers, mayo, beans, and salad cream.
We had to look up what salad cream was, and it turns out that it's seasoned mayo that you'd use for things like slaw. Sort of like Miracle Whip.
When you make a slaw, do you prefer mayo, salad cream, or a vinegar slaw?
Cadry uses mayo and seasons it herself, sort of a homemade salad cream. We do that, too, like in my jalapeño slaw.
This led us to discuss the joy of a good potato salad. Dave brought up Dulce Vegan's Cuban potato salad, which includes green olives and is an absolute dream. Dave even begged them to add a potato salad sandwich to their menu, because the salad is that good.
Carbs on carbs, y'all!
Of course, we talked about air fryers
Dave brought up the problem of reheating part of a leftover burrito. It's just hard to do! The microwave doesn't do a great job. And Cadry suggested the air fryer.
You'd end up with a crispy tortilla that way, but at least it wouldn't be rubbery like in the microwave. The only problem is containing the filling, since we're talking half a giant burrito here.
To contain it, we might experiment with using a pan inside the basket. The pan is part of an air fryer accessories kit that I ordered long ago and promptly forgot about until this moment.
We both confessed that we never use the accessories, but boy were we excited when we ordered them!
Even when I make my air fryer tofu satay, I just use bamboo skewers that I cut in half.
Then we explained zucchini bread to Dave. In depth. It took a shocking amount of time.
Talkin' takeout
Y'all, this week Takey made a triumphant return! Cadry is a big Takey fan, and the ghost of Takey past graced the pod just for her.
The topic of this week's Takeout Corner this week was Cadry's favorite Indian place: Taste of India. It's 45 minutes from where she lives, so she and her husband. David, always place a big order to make it feel worth the round trip.
They ordered:
- samosas
- aloo pakora
- puri chana, a fried bread with saucy chickpeas to spoon on top
- aloo gobi
- so much extra cilantro chutney!
- tandoori roti
They ended up with three meals worth of food. Definitely worth the drive!
I made sausage rolls
This recipe was inspired by a much healthier but also more involved sausage rolls recipe from Connoisseurus Veg. It used puff pastry and you made lentil "sausage" crumbles from scratch. It looks amazing, just like more work than I wanted to do on a holiday weekend.
Instead of doing anything at all from scratch, here's what happened:
- Air fry four Beyond Breakfast Sausage patties. Let them cool, then chop them up.
- Scatter the chopped sausage over rectangles of dough from one tube of vegan crescent rolls. Roll them up.
- Cut each roll in half, because those rolls would be huge otherwise.
- Bake according to the crescent roll package directions.
Y'all, these were so good that we have already made them again. I think they may become a new brunch staple. So easy and satisfying!
Cadry ate lemony potatoes
This week, Cadry made a batch of her Greek-style lemony potatoes. They're yellow potato wedges in a lemon-garlic-oregano sauce.
She used them warm over a salad. Don't you just love a warm salad in the winter?
Roasting potatoes in the oven is obviously slower than in the air fryer, but so worth the wait. These saucy, vibrant potatoes make a great side dish or salad topper.
Plus, since they're in the oven, it's not like you have to be there. Go watch some TV or play the piano while you wait.
We ordered House of Za!
So, you may remember my lamenting that I couldn't find an American Flatbread Pizza with corn on it. That's because this does not exist.
But!
Cadry also recalled that, so when she saw that House of Za was offering a pizza with corn, she immediately sent me the link. And late that night, I placed an order.
House of Za used to be a brick and mortar restaurant in Chicago. They've closed their physical location and now ship frozen pizzas and other vegan deliciousness all over the country!
I am very interested in their new charcuterie boards!
Y'all, their pizza is top. NOTCH. The crust is great, their house-made cheese is melty and decadent, and the toppings are quality.
Cadry has actually ordered from them several times, so she went through her top three:
- Buffalo chicken pizza - topped with red onion and buffalo sauce and ranch for drizzling (above)
- the grinch - pesto instead of marinara with chunky tomatoes on top and house-made marinara
- pepperoni - great on its own or with pineapple and jalapeno added (below)
And here are the pizzas we got, ranked from most to least fave:
- The Day of the Dead - jalapeños, corn (!), and mango. What a dream! This was both Dave's and my favorite.
- meat lovers - pepperoni, sausage, chicken. Their pepperoni was such a delight and the standout of this pie. We both loved this one, as well. Second place from both Striepes!
- four chee - four types of vegan cheese. This one was too cheesy for Dave, but the kid and I loved it. The kid is choosy about vegan cheese, but he loved their house-made cheeses!
- the Popeye - white pizza with spinach and tomato sauce for dipping. This one was rich and delicious. The tomato sauce was a bit salty for my taste, but I still loved this creamy pizza. I even enjoyed the thick crust!
Because she and David have been ordering so many pizzas, she invested in a very cool new pizza cutter. Instead of a roller, it's a...rocker? It cuts pizza so quickly! I want one.
Cadry mentioned that the best plantbased pepperoni that she's ever had came from Miyoko Schinner's cookbook, The Homemade Vegan Pantry. She also recommends the vegan pepperoni from Herbivorous Butcher, if you'd rather not make your own from scratch.
Where to find Cadry
You can find Cadry's recipes on her website, Cadry's Kitchen. She's also @cadryskitchen on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Where to listen
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Got a favorite vegan treat that you think we should cover on the podcast? Send your suggestions to [email protected]!
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