Kraut Brothers Review...mmm (finally)

It has been a hectic few days....so....time to catch up!!!

First off... The Kraut Brothers Meatless Smoked Bratwurst...I am always a excited and a little weary of trying new fake meat products because you just never know what to expect. To this day my favourite faux hotdogs have been the Veggie Patch hotdogs. They were a brief occurence here in Canada, They had them at the local Costco, for a few months last summer, (they also carried their burgers, ground, and meat balls) I think that all they have left now is ground and nuggets (?). Anyway they were amazing. I have never in my life been so excited to eat hotdogs in my life...and now they are gone. So along came Kraut Brothers... I had seen them in some odd location on the net...and then there they were at Whole Foods (oh how we love thee and thou money taking abilities!! he he). So the only rational thing to do...buy and eat, and so it was.

This is the package (they are locted in the freezer section), Kraut Brothers is part of Flora Health.

This is the finished/cooked product ( finished does not exactly look like that...) I left in the pan a little too long...ooops but still delicious!!

The bratwursts were rather fantastic (it is very odd for me to call them by their proper name because, I am born and raised German, faux meat by real meat name very strange ha ha). They were beyond fantastic, even though they were a little on the "almost" burned side, very nice, moist, flavourful and filling! I am just glad that they are bratwursts and not hot dogs, so that I don't have to choose between Veggie Patch and Kaut Brothers...

I followed the cooking instructions on the bag ( sautee in pan with a little oil...)

On the side we each had a massive salad, ( romaine, red pepper, red onion, cucumber, and a yummy dressing (my own creation...ground flax, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, grey poupon mustard (it always makes me laugh...), agave... If you want the full recipe let me know!!

A fantastic meal, and very filling.

Hubby Rating: Brats: they pretty good, a big 8 out of 10.. , 10 out of 10 for the salad based on the dressing alone...Wow.

What I learned today: focus on the stuff in the pan, not the thing on the other side of the room...hmm...I think that would equal a few less blackened brats...

Shopping, soul food, and product reviews

This is my second attempt to post this particular entry..for some reason the computer and I are just not getting along today. But that is ok I suppose.

Usually Sundays aren't the most exciting days for us, but today certainly was. Early this morning we went for a wee little shopping spree at Whole Foods (oh yeah, I am like a kid in a candy store), and what a spree it was. We got all kinds of fun new things. So over the next couple of days I am going to review some of the products because they are new and they sure look exciting.

So let's get started.

1. Sencha Shot by ITO EN

Around here we love, love, love our green tea, nutritious and delicious, and this just seemed like a very fab thing. This little can (6.4 fl.oz/190 ml) packs a lot of punch, and it contains 5 times the regular amount of antioxidants found in a regular cup of green tea. It is very concentrated tea, therefore it is very intense in taste as well. You really have to like green tea in order to like this. I enjoyed it I must say, it also does pack a nice little energy boost. Hubby says that it tates like Matcha tea powder in water... he's on to something there ha ha...but still not as intense. I give it thumbs up!

On to the food...

We had an early dinner tonight, which was nice. We picked up some nice organic collard greens today, so I was very excited to use them. I must say that I really haven't cooked a lot of collards, ( I have eaten more than I have cooked!) so I thought that I would look around on the web for some recipe ideas. Well most of the recipes that I found were not very veg friendly. So I had some experimenting to do. Since most recipes included pork hocks ( I believe that is pork cankle...) I decided to replace it with some seitan salamo ( yes I have changed the name because I really don't feel like calling it salami any longer). I sauteed some red onion, garlic and the collards, added some veg stock, the salamo, a can of cannellini beans with liquid, let that simmer for a while and then add some asparagus. mmm already. On the side are some nice roasted baby potatoes ( although they had to be cut in half because they weren't all that baby) with Earth Balance, dill, and summer savoury (this is one of my fave spice combos for potatoes, and yams, pretty much anything starchy). I absoloutely love potatoes, and if I could live off them I would!!

This meal turned out a lot better than I thought it would, since I was a little intimidated by the collards he he. The collards did retain some of their density which was great because they did not turn into a slimy goo woo hoo. It was actually one of those meals that i think I would love to have again real soon!

Hubby Rating: A solid 8 out of 10, the reason it was great but the "stew" ( I don't know what else to call it) was lacking in the spice department ( when I offered him some hot sauce he said no..go figure), but the taters get a 10/10...wow...I would like to thank the academy...he he....But I do admit they turned out fantastic!!

What I learned today: One bunch of collard greens only goes so far, I knew that it was going to cook down but I really didn't think that it was going to be this much...ah well, next time just pick up 2. Also, Seitan salami will no longer be called that it will be know as SALAMO..he he ( i really hope that this is not a copy written name... i was just thinking tuno...salamo... please let me if it is, i don't want to step on toes!!!)

More reviews coming up,

Toodles

Groundhog: Providing false hopes to the northern hemisphere since ancient times!!

DO I LOOK LIKE CAN IPREDICT THE WEATHER???

Does this charming little creature look like it can predict the weather? Although cute, the answer is still no! I can get Smokey to predict the weather too!! I am sure chinchillas are as credible as groundhogs...eventhough groundhogs and their "mystical" powers have been perfecting the art giving people false hopes since the ancient pagan times.

In case anyone was wondering I think that I may have a little problem with Groundhog day this year...I realize that it was a month ago exactly, but I believe that it means that there should only be 6 weeks of winter left if in fact he did see his shadow. Which he did not therefore we should have early spring . Wiarton Willy is our groundhog, he is an albino/white "rodent", he lives in a castle in Wiarton, we did not choose him or vote for him, he is geographically closest to us therefore we are stuck with him... ! Well mr groundhog there is only about 2 or 3 weeks of winter left , anyway, and it does not seem to be spring-ish quite yet. So I think that you were very wrong! Oh and by the way, how does the mayor of the town know if the groundhog saw anything, and what exactly that may have been. Is there some kind of secret g-hog language that I may not be aware of... the secret g-hogish language?

Today (Thursday) we were greeted with a lovely snow storm (which provoked this little gem of a rant), it was more like icy, wet, heavy, snow chunks, falling from the sky at a very rapud rate. Within an hour the streets were covered, doors and windows were nicely iced over. It is just fantastic. It took 2 hours to get fom work to home (oh yeah I left work early, and apparently everybody had that very same idea at the same time as me!!) on a normal day work to home takes about 20 minutes!! hmm..very interesting indeed.

This is a view of a plaza drive way (taken fromt he car of course)
Lovely isn't it!!
The trees in this picture must have cold feet since the snow is trying to bury them.

Well I think that I am now done ranting about the Groundhogs for the day!!!

Dinner was delicious as well ( sorry no pic's) . We had some nice veggie soup with a clear broth and some very thinly sliced seitan salami, and some angle hair noodles. The seitan salami was great in the soup it got nice and soft while it was boiling in the broth, let me tell you this soup will be had again! Oh did I mention that I am a soup fiend?? aha

Back to shoveling snow...(and I will avoid a rant about the shoveling and snow plow connection, I will save that for the next snow day!! I have ranted enough for today!)

Toodles

Wednesday's Pic's

Here is the lovely seitan pepperoni/salami in all its glory cooling on the rack. The dark lines on the left one are sundried tomatoes...mmm around here we love us some seitan!


And this is the burning stir fry. I still enjoyed it!! he he I think that I should change the name for this one to Hell's Stirfry! bah ha