This week on the show, we'll talk about lunchtime leftover noodle bowls and review two flavors of Van Leeuwen vegan ice cream.
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We talked a lot about the 90s movie, The Net, for some reason this week. I had never seen it, and Dave got me to commit to watching it after we recorded. I'm sure we'll talk more about it next week.
That's the content you're here for, right?
Our cereal treat snack-a-thon continues.
If you're a regular listener, chances are you've picked up on the fact that we are snackers. And around the holidays, we snack on Dave's homemade Chex Mix. Constantly.
We also have started making Muddy Buddies (using vegan ingredients, of course), which is a chocolate-peanut butter cereal mix. Dave got all of the ingredients, but we still haven't made them this year.
A wrong that we will remedy ASAP!
The small wrench in our Muddy Buddies plan is that Dave has been meaning to make Rice Krispies Peanut Butter Logs. I am all in on this idea! These are also chocolate-peanut butter treats, and they look ah-mazing.
The only subs you need to make are being sure to use vegan margarine and vegan chocolate chips. Easy peasy!
What a review!
Y'all, you know that your five-star reviews warm our hearts, and we got to share a great one on this episode! Nila-D says:
Okay, something about this podcast makes me feel super relaxed—the way I feel after hanging out with friends that make me laugh, and feel lighter and happier after I’ve spent time with them. Dave and Becky have an adorable dynamic and not only engage in fun conversation, but also add valuable insight around vegan eating and cooking. Love that I learn something new with each episode! Can’t wait for more.
We'd love to read your five-star review on the pod, too! Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and there's a 98% chance that we will read it on the show.
Talkin' Ho-Ho-Ho-fu
Look, I know that we did Talkin' Ho-Ho-Ho-fu last week, but it's still the holidays, and we talked about it more. Also, Dave isn't ready to let go of this segment yet.
When he remembered that he wanted this Ho-Ho-Ho-fu thing to continue, it reminded me that I wanted to talk about our tree trimming party!
Most years, we host a big tree trimming. We make lots of holiday snacks and a signature cocktail.
The best part, though, is the ornament table. I put out every craft supply in the house, and our friends make ornaments for our tree or their own. Basically every ornament on our tree was handmade by a friend, and it's the absolute best.
This year, we didn't have a big party, but the three of us did trim the tree and watch Trey at The Beacon. I made a pot of hot cocoa, and it was a real delight!
Talkin' to-news
This week's headline is about a UK vegan pub that won an award for Best Sunday Roast. It wasn't a vegan food competition -- this roast beat out all of the meat entries!
The Round Hill nut roast looks freaking delicious, and I medium want to plan a trip to Brighton just to eat it.
So many noodles!
Our discussion of lunchtime noodles reminded me that we had another bangin' pasta casserole.
A friend of mine ordered a full-on Thanksgiving feast from Herbivorous Butcher, thinking she was going to travel. Her plans ended up getting canceled, so she passed some of the extra feast on to us!
She gave us:
- a full container of their camembert sauce
- 3 strips of their bacon
- a miniature turkeyless roast
For supper, I cooked up more spaghetti and broccoli than necessary. Then, while the pasta drained, I fried up the bacon with onion and garlic in a little bit of olive oil.
When the bacon was nice and crispy, I tossed the drained pasta and broccoli into the pan and added the cheese sauce. Then, I baked it. What a treat!
I totally misjudged how much pasta I was making, though, so we had half a package of plain, cooked spaghetti with broccoli left in the fridge.
For lunch the next day, I warmed up the noodles and broccoli, air fried some tofu, and tossed it with plenty of Gu's Amazing Sauce. (I called it Awesome Sauce on the pod, which is arguably just as great a name.)
What a lunch! Now I want to always make too much spaghetti!
Van Leeuwen vegan ice cream review
The first flavor we talked about was the Bourbon Vanilla Apple Crisp. This was oatmilk bourbon-vanilla ice cream with basically a whole apple crisp crushed up into the mix.
I thought this ice cream tasted like a bowlful of fall. The ice cream was rich and creamy, and I thought that the texture from the crisp topping and apple pieces went so well with the sweet, boozy ice cream base.
It reminded me of the Apple Piescream that I used to get from Jake's Ice Cream here in Atlanta back before I went vegan.
Dave said he liked this one okay but that it had too much going on.
The second flavor we tried was the Vegan Oat Milk Brown Sugar Chunk. This was a brown sugar vanilla base with pieces of cookie dough, candied oat clusters, and brownies. Oh my WORD!
Dave and I agreed that this ice cream was amazing. It had the same creamy, oatmilk base as the apple crisp ice cream did. Dave thought that the oat clusters in the oatmilk ice cream really sent this over the top. Double oat power!
He described it as eating an oatmeal cookie ice cream. Not an ice cream with oatmeal cookies in it, but ice cream that evoked oatmeal cookies, if that makes sense? It's a subtle difference, but also a big difference.
My favorite part, predictably, was the fudgy bits of brownie. Chocolate is always going to be my favorite part. I also loved the base, which also reminded me of a beloved Jake's flavor: Brown Sugar Vanilla.
I only got to sample a few spoonfuls, because Dave put down the entire pint in three days. We will definitely buy this flavor again!
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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