This week on the show, we'll talk about vegan chicken and dumplings and Dragon Bowl and eat Tofurky Ham.
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Dave says that he's going to stop critiquing the intro. So only time will tell on that.
In other news, our laundry nook continues to fall to pieces. You may recall that the door fell from its hinges, and then a cabinet fell off of the wall.
Now, the washer's spin cycle has become so violent that it flings things off of nearby surfaces. It knocked a glass pitcher off of a high wall shelf.
The pitcher shattered all over the floor. In conclusion, our laundry nook is haunted. Send help.
Project: hydration
Y'all, it is DRY in this house. We have a humidifier, but even that can't totally make up for how dry the winters are in Atlanta.
Dave has been suffering the most in this environment, so he has been trying out different hydration powders that you add to water. He's tried quite a few and has really liked Nuun tablets.
During the episode, he was drinking the tangerine-lime flavor and commented that those flavors don't go together, which is incorrect. They go together like a dream!
In fact, that's two of the three citrus fruits I use to infuse my citrus gin.
Anyway, Nuun tablets are great. I like the strawberry lemonade the best.
We're a call-in show now?
We didn't have a new review or letter to share this week, so instead, Dave phoned a friend! He called our buddy, Marilyn (Merle), with no warning.
Marilyn is an excellent sport. Thank you for letting us use your call on the show!
Marilyn says that the night before we called, she ate a full container of Simple Truth French Onion Dip with Ruffles. Living her best life!
Important tip from Merle: you need about half a bag of Ruffles to eat that whole container of dip.
But hey! If you're not Marilyn, review the podcast, why dontcha? Your five-star reviews really do help us out. We are a small show with no budget, and reviews tell Apple to bump us up in the rankings.
Already reviewed the show? send us a letter at [email protected] There's an almost 100% chance we will read it on the pod.
Talkin' to-news
Another week, another great fast food announcement for UK vegans. Plant Based News reports that Papa John's launched vegan stuffed crust pizza and vegan "chicken" bites in the UK.
That is so exciting, UK vegan friends!
But also, having this only available outside of the US solves a moral dilemma for both me and Dave. Neither of us is a big fan of "The Papa John", and now we don't have to wrestle with whether more vegan options is a reason to support a chain owned by a truly awful human.
This is something we both wrestle with often. Most large companies do awful things. Is it worth overlooking those things to reward them when they do a thing that is good? Tell us your thoughts!
We drowned our sorrows in Mellow Mushroom
Vegan Papa John's may be UK-only, but Mellow Mushroom here in the states does vegan pizza delivery! We've talked about this before, but it came up again on this episode.
If you order online, they have a whole vegan section, where they automatically remove meat and dairy from the items there, and the pizza has vegan cheese.
Dave has a new favorite pizza order from there: a vegan pie with portobello mushrooms, jalapenos, and spinach. It is a really good pizza!
It would be even better with pineapple added, but Dave was a hard no on that.
Extra! Extra!
Bonus to-news! Mars has introduced vegan Topic and Bounty bars. In the UK.
What? I'm fine. I don't need candy. I'm happy for you, UK vegans!
Vegan chicken and dumplings
It has been years since I made us chicken and dumplings, and I have no idea why. This was a huge hit with the family!
Traditionally, you shred the chicken in chicken and dumplings, but the brand we had in the freezer would not shred for me! So I just sort of diced it up.
For the broth, I used chickenless broth cubes. I wouldn't use regular veggie broth, because I think that the chickenless broth brings a lot of the flavor you'd expect to the pot.
I started with a recipe from Delish and tweaked and veganized it. The kid literally snacked on the raw dumpling dough and said it was the best dough he's ever eaten.
For the cream, I used Dave's favorite coffee creamer, which is from Califia Farms.
Anyway, it was a hit. Even our stew-shunning child loved it!
Talkin' takeout
This week, we ordered takeout from Dragon Bowl, which is owned by local Atlanta chain, Doc Chey's. They do all kinds of delicious bowl dishes.
Dave and I are both partial to the build your own bowl option on their menu.
Dave ordered:
- ramen noodle base
- grilled tofu
- broccoli
- carrots
- beets
- sweet pickles
- kimchi pickles
- no sauce
I ordered:
- the kale salad base
- broccoli
- grilled tofu
- crispy Brussels sprouts
- roasted beets
- sweet pickles
- kimchi pickles
- tahini miso sauce
These bowls are huge, y'all, and can easily be two meals. I always put half of mine into a bowl and the other half into the fridge, so I can have Dragon Bowl again for lunch the next day.
Tofurky Ham
Oh my word, we finally found a Tofurky Ham, y'all! Dave talked about this product in a previous episode during Talkin' To-News, and we've been on the hunt ever since.
We made this on New Year's Eve along with mashed potatoes, corn pudding, and creamed kale. It was a real feast!
Y'all, I'm going to get really real here: the price of this ham was outrageous. It was $15 for a roast that was about half the size of your typical veggie roast.
To put that in context, the Whole Foods brand roast that we had for Christmas was $6.
I cooked the ham according to the package directions. It comes with a maple glaze that it very delightful.
The ham itself tasted a lot like a veggie dog to me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. That was just what the flavor evoked. It went really well with that glaze!
If we could find it for half the price, I'd definitely eat it again.
Dave agreed with my assessment and added that he thought the casing was on point. It had the....rind?...that you'd expect from a ham.
He also thought that the seasoning was really good, and he liked the flavor overall. It wasn't overly salty and still tasted great.
Dave did find the texture a little bit tough, but I enjoyed it very much.
I do have one other complaint: it comes shrink-wrapped in plastic, and that plastic is a huge pain to get off. I had painted my nails a few hours before preparing this, and removing the plastic took forever and ruined my nails.
If you can find Tofurky Ham at a reasonable price, first of all, tell us where! Second of all: get it!
Where to listen
Thank you so much for listening (or reading!). We record these episodes for you, and we'd love to hear from you.
Got a favorite vegan treat that you think we should cover on the podcast? Send your suggestions to [email protected]!
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