Wayfare Foods review | honest scrap award

The kind folks at Wayfare Foods sent me several samples of their product, We Can't Say It's Cheese. I was pretty excited to hear that this "cheese" is made from oats, and curious to try it. When my kids were young I made a lot more cheesy sauces than I do now, and one of our favorites was from Joanne Stepaniak's "The Uncheese Cookbook," and it was made mainly from oats and nutritional yeast. Also, my favorite soft serve ice cream, OatsCreme, is made from oats so I figured there was great potential here. I received four samples — Cheddar-Style Spread, Cheddar-Style Dip, Mexi-Cheddar-Style Dip and Hickory-Smoked Cheddar-Style Spread.


Very cute double-dipper with cheese stains

I tried the Cheddar-Style Dip first, and my initial reaction was that it reminded me a little of Cheez Whiz, though it's been an awfully long time since I've tasted that, so I could be wrong. I liked it but not as much as some of the other reviewers seemed to. I took the Cheddar-Style Dip and another sample — Mexi Cheddar-Style Dip— to a family dinner that included vegans, vegetarians and omnivores. My 2-year-old granddaughter loved the Cheddar-Style Dip, and had to be given her own dip in a bowl. (Even very cute people double-dipping is kind of unsavory.) She used a baby carrot to scoop it up and suck it off, and referred to it as "hummus." Everyone else ate it but to my surprise, no one was extremely enthusiastic, and there was a lot left over. Leftovers are unusual in our family. The Mexi-Cheddar-Style Dip was less well received than the Cheddar-style, and it sat relatively untouched. This is a group of people that LOVES spicy food so I was surprised by their reaction.



Today I tried the hickory smoked spread, and I really liked it. My husband thought it was good, too. I had some plain, and then used some to make a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread. It had a pleasing, smoky-cheddary flavor, and the sandwich was good. Because the spread is already soft, it doesn't need to melt — just heat. In addition to spreading on crackers or bread, I can see using this product to conveniently add a cheddary flavor to sauces, baked goods and casseroles. I haven't tried the Cheddar-Style Spread, yet, but assume it's similar to the dip only thicker. I was kind of hoping for a mozzarella flavor but these dips and spreads are pretty dependent on nutritional yeast for their cheesy taste, making them more like cheddar.



Here is the promotional and nutritional information from the company:
Wayfare Foods has created incredible cheese alternative spreads and dips, and we’re just crazy about them! We Can’t Say It’s Cheese is not only absolutely delicious, it’s made only from simple high-quality ingredients, making it our favorite new brand for creamy, spreadable vegan cheese. Made from whole-grain oatmeal (though you’d never know it!), this unique and healthy product is unlike other vegan cheese spreads and dips in that not only does it taste like real dairy cheese, it’s actually good for you and isn’t loaded with artificial ingredients. We think it’s one of the best vegan cheese developments in years, so be sure to try it today and you’ll be a fan, just like we are! We Can’t Say It’s Cheese is available in 4 varieties – Cheddar Spread, Hickory Smoked Cheddar Spread, Cheddar Dip and Mexi-Cheddar Dip. Each 8 oz. (226g) container is $3.49.

Cheddar Spread ingredients: Non-GMO Whole grain oatmeal (water, oats), vegetable oil blend (may contain the following: safflower, olive, and coconut oil), sesame, pimentos (pimentos, water, citric acid), nutritional yeast, sea salt, calcium carbonate, onion powder, evaporated cane juice

Hickory-Smoked Cheddar Spread ingredients: Non-GMO Whole grain oatmeal (water, oats), vegetable oil blend (may contain the following: safflower, olive, and coconut oil), sesame, pimentos (pimentos, water, citric acid), nutritional yeast, sea salt, natural hickory smoke flavor (water, natural hickory smoke concentrate), calcium carbonate, onion powder, evaporated cane juice

Cheddar Dip ingredients: Non-GMO Whole grain oatmeal (water, oats), vegetable oil blend (may contain the following: safflower, olive, and coconut oil), sesame, pimentos (pimentos, water, citric acid), nutritional yeast, sea salt, calcium carbonate, onion powder, evaporated cane juice

Mexi-Cheddar Dip ingredients: Non-GMO Whole grain oatmeal (water, oats), vegetable oil blend (may contain the following: safflower, olive, and coconut oil), sesame, pimentos (pimentos, water, citric acid), nutritional yeast, sea salt, calcium carbonate, onion powder, evaporated cane juice, spices

Spread nutritional information:
Serving size – 2 tbsp. (28g)
Servings per container – 8
Calories per serving – 60
Total fat – 5g (3g saturated, 0g trans fat)
Sodium – 190mg
Total carbohydrate – 3g (1g fiber, 0g sugars)
Protein – 2g

Dip nutritional information:
Serving size – 2 tbsp. (28g)
Servings per container – 8
Calories per serving – 50
Total fat – 4g (0g saturated, 0g trans fat)
Sodium – 180mg
Total carbohydrate – 3g (1g fiber, 0g sugars)
Protein – 2g

disclaimer: I was provided with free samples of this product. I did not have to write a review, nor did I have to write a positive review.

.......................................................................




Penny (A.K.A. Scottish Vegan Homemaker) has given me an award, and I thank her for that, but now I have to share 10 honest things about myself, and present this award to 7 others. I'm particularly bad at choosing favorites, and usually avoid this by not participating, or by choosing everyone. This time I'm doing it — choosing seven blogs that I enjoy reading. Mostly they are blogs I've discovered fairly recently. Of course, the minute I transcribe this list I immediately feel terrible guilt about not picking all the other blogs I read and think are great, and which are equally deserving of recognition, even if it's only from me. On the other hand, I also feel guilty asking people to do what I just had to do. Oh well. If I don't just get on with it I'll never get this post written.

I've had to write 10 things about myself in the past (these honors used to be called memes instead of awards), and I'm thinking there might not be 10 more things to write. (I'm feeling a bit boring lately.) Anyway, since this is a food blog, I'll restrict myself to 10 food-related honest facts.

1. I love peaches. I mean, I really love them. When we lived in Madison we used to buy whole cases of peaches from a fruit and vegetable store. My husband would always ask if I thought we could really use up a whole case, and I'd murmur, "mmhmm." I felt bad about buying all those peaches because they weren't organic, and peaches are always on the "only buy organic" list, but they were so GOOD. All that pesticide residue, though. I won't disclose just how many of those peaches I could eat in a day, but let's just say if I were standing in a garden, all the insects that landed on me would probably die.

2. I really HATE the taste of fennel, anise, black licorice. Sometimes it makes me throw up. Sometimes I just feel very agitated. My husband only added anise to a dish once, and he was sorry.

3. The very first vegetarian dish I made was a vegetable loaf; I used a recipe that was filled with brewers yeast. Actually, I think every recipe in that early vegetarian cookbook was filled with brewers yeast. I pretended to like it even though it was vile because I wanted my husband to like being a vegetarian. And he didn't. (In case you're wondering, brewers yeast is NOT the same thing as nutritional yeast flakes. Not at all.)

4. I was very young when I got married, and I had no idea how to cook. Most of the vegetables I'd eaten were frozen or canned or salad ingredients. I had to ask the farmers at the farmers market what the vegetables were, and how to cook them. It was humiliating but informative.

5. I got to drink the liquid from a branch of cat's claw in the Amazon Rain Forest. Yes, this is true.

6. I once brought carob brownies to a party, and when my friend took a bite of one, he gagged and spit it out. He was upset that it wasn't chocolate, and I was very embarrassed. I would only bring chocolate, now. Only chocolate.

7. I've never been able to eat nuts in things. I like them well enough alone, but not when they mix in with other food. I'm trying to get over this because it's such a bother to pick the darn nuts out. I can eat them in salads and casseroles now, and I recently managed to eat them on TOP of cake. Still can't quite deal with them in baked goods or ice cream unless they are ground up fine.

8. Before I became a vegetarian, at a time when I was seriously considering changing my diet, I said, "I'll never be one of those weird vegetarians who asks, "what's in the soup stock?" Yes, I said that. Out loud. I'll go hide behind a rock now while you throw tofu balls at me. (This is the sort of thing I try to remember when dealing with "clueless" omnivores.)

9. I was macrobiotic for a few years and followed the macrobiotic diet pretty enthusiastically. Because we lived in the Midwest, this meant avoiding tropical fruits and veggies like bananas and mangoes. We avoided members of the nightshade family such as potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. One evening we went out to dinner, and our young son said to the waitress, "I think I'll try the mashed potatoes, I've never had those." The waitress rolled her eyes and snorted, "Where do you keep him, in a closet?" The nasal twang of her voice was not friendly, and it still buzzes in my ear when I think about it. Ouch.

10. I keep a jar of coconut oil in my bathroom to use as a moisturizer.

I'm forwarding this award to:
The Airy Way
Chow Vegan
The Crafty Kook
Haiku Tofu
Here's What You're Missing
Mitten Machen
Seitan is My Motor

Here are the rules. Do as you see fit:
Thank the person who bestowed the award and link back to their blog. List 10 honest things about yourself, and link to 7 blogs you feel embody the spirit of Honest Scrap, and which you find brilliant in design and/or concept.
(Also, I suggest being very careful how you pronounce the name of this award.)

Another chick pea salad / meme

My family moved to a new house in a different school district on my ninth birthday. It was about a month after the start of the school year, and my brother and I had to go to a new school. Although I was unhappy to leave my old, familiar school, part of me was a little excited about starting a new one. Too bad for me I was placed in the classroom of the meanest teacher in the school. Miss Yocum was built like a bulldozer on two skinny legs, and her mouth turned permanently downward. It was rumored that she wore a wig, but if she did, she chose badly. I think she told the class they were getting "a new girl" moments before I was escorted to the classroom, and she didn't bother to introduce the class and me to each other. Instead, she made a commotion about how she didn't think she could find a small enough desk (titter titter) because I was SO SMALL. So small so small. Can't find a small enough desk. Good grief. She even sent a couple of kids to the storeroom to see if they could find a smaller one. This was not the most auspicious start to a new life. I was shy anyway, and school became a burden.

One day we were informed of an art contest involving a "clean-up fix-up paint-up" poster that we were each to do as an art project. The class would vote on the best one and that selection would go on to a school contest and the winner of that would go to the city contest. If there was one thing I loved to do it was draw and paint, and I really wanted to win this contest. I painted a poster that I really liked, but I knew my chances of winning were slim. Most contests like this were based on popularity, not skill, and if one of the popular kids had a poster that was even a little bit good, he or she would win. I was resigned, but hopeful. I was still pretty new, and there were probably some kids who didn't even know my name. Popularity was not my friend.

When the class voted, I was shocked and thrilled to have my poster overwhelmingly selected. It gave me hope, and made me feel included. And I knew they really liked the poster since it was the only reason I could have won. BUT THEN...Miss Yocum said to the class, "You picked THIS one? That ladder is as crooked as a dog's hind legs." Yes. She really said that. To a nine year old child in front of the entire class. And then Miss Yocum, may she rest in peace, called for a re-vote.

I was sick a lot that year, but so were a lot of the other kids in my class. Over the course of the year I noticed that she could bring the toughest boys to their knees. Luckily, I had other adults in my life that treated me well, and I also had a touch of rebelliousness that helped me assign the horribleness of that classroom to the teacher, not me.

I'm smiling as I write this, but also wondering what would possess a teacher to be so cruel. In any case, this is number seven. : ) (see below)

Now to the chick peas. I was watching Simply Ming (the cooking show) on Wisconsin Public Television — I guess it was a show from last season — and he was putting a mix of dijon, mayo and sambal onto all kinds of (not-vegan) stuff. When he plopped it into a bowl of crab meat, I immediately imagined a bowl of spicy-tangy chickpeas and veggies instead. I admit that I stole the condiment idea from Ming, but added a bit of agavé nectar to it to compensate for the sweetness that the crab would have added. I think I will also use some of the leftover sauce to prepare tempeh this week.

Sambal is a mix of red chillies. You can find it at Asian groceries or sometimes in the international food section of regular supermarkets.



Chickpea salad

• 3 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 4 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
• juice of one lime
• 1 tablespoon sambal
  
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon agavé nectar
• 2 cans chickpeas (no salt added preferred) or 2-1/2 to 3 cups home-cooked, rinsed and drained well
  
• 1 cup finely shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

1. To make the dressing, mix together the mustard, mayo, lime, sambal and agavé in a small bowl.
2. Mash or pulse the chickpeas in a food processor until they are roughly broken up.
   
3. Mix the chickpeas, onion, celery and carrot in a medium bowl.
4. Add about 5 tablespoons of the dressing to the salad and mix until combined

...........................................




Here's a great little tool I got for $.25 at a yard sale last summer. It's so handy for getting the juice out of lemons and limes.

...........................................

The meme — 7 random or weird facts about me — I was tagged by Claire.

1. You can't tell this by reading my blog, but I am only five feet and one half inch tall. You know that song "Short People" by Randy Newman? I've always liked that song.
2. I have read all of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles as well as her Sleeping Beauty erotic novels written under the pseudonym, A. N. Roquelaure. Long time ago. I'm much more serious now.
3. I love folk dancing and contra dancing. There was a time when I danced three nights a week.
4. I used to play recorders and krummhorns and performed in two early music consorts.
5. I once took a typing test in high school and my score was minus four. I've never forgotten that and I also don't think I ever improved. I passed the class by dong extra credit.
6. I never ate or liked chocolate until a couple of years ago. This is the weirdest fact of all, right?
7. See above.

Here are the rules:

1. Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links.
4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I followed the first two rules but ignored the second two because I don't like asking people to do things they may not want to do. However, if you don't mind if I tag you, I happily will. Just let me know it's okay, either here or by e-mail.

What's a meme? Can you cook it and eat it?

A meme seems to be sort of an Internet chain letter. I've mostly been a chain-breaker except for those "send a postcard to the name at the top of the list and you'll soon receive hundreds of post cards" chain letters I always fell for when the kids were small. (STILL haven't received those post cards!) But I recently got tagged by Ricki, who I really like even though I haven't actually ever met her. So I'm going to do this, even though I only do this blog to write about food and food-related stuff. However, I'm only going to tag four others, not five. Sorry. I just don't get around blog-land enough to know that many bloggers.

The meme Ricki tagged me with requires me to grab the book I'm currently reading, go to page 123, find the fifth sentence and copy out the next three. Why, I'm not sure.

I usually like to read great novels where the writing is as important and thrilling as the story, but the last couple of books have been amazing non-fiction, written by journalists. I read "Mountains Beyond Mountains," by Tracy Kidder and "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner- City Neighborhood" by David Simon and Edward Burns. Currently I'm reading "A Crime So Monstrous: Face to Face With Modern Day Slavery" by E. Benjamin Skinner.

Why, you might wonder, am I reading this. It's because I knew the author when he was a young boy. He and my son spent many years singing in a boy choir and I drove the carpool twice a week to rehearsals. I can picture him— a serious, intelligent, polite and charming boy, in the back of my car. Well, he's all grown up. We went to hear Ben give a book talk and he's still serious, intelligent, polite and charming, as well as passionate and extremely handsome. I shared a few words with his mom about how frightening it was for her to have him researching this book for four years under very dangerous circumstances. I'm happy to plug Ben's book and bring more attention to the horrible facts surrounding present day enslavement of children and adults. You could say it's food for thought.

from page 123:
"But accession was not a fait accompli; European parliamentarians warned that problems such as human trafficking might delay the process.

Millions of Romanians had preempted the European vote with one of their own, using their feet. "Fuck Romania," one young woman had said to me, using a word that represented approximately 10 percent of her English vocabulary."

These might not be the precise three sentences that would encourage people to read this book, but I'm just following the rules here.

The four I am tagging:
Claire, my friend who blogs about real life and vegan cooking. The blog is written to keep her traveling and away-from-home children aware of home happenings.
Sangeeta, who beautifully photographs and describes her elegant cooking.
Michael, my friend whose blog is way over my head (no idea what it's about).
Sandy, my niece-in-law, who who takes wonderful photos and who is a designer at heart.