Veestro Review | “Chicken” Quesadilla

I followed instructions on this Veestro meal as I do on all of them but it seems this didn’t get completely thawed in the center. First recommendation if you make this is to cook it a little longer and make sure the center, thickest part, is warm all the way through.

Make sure you use the sauce on this dish as well, it was a good one. I’ve never been a huge fan of vegan cheese. It just doesn’t taste like real cheese. Maybe you can get past this but it still bothers me. Because of the cheese on this I probably won’t get this one again, too bad as the sauce was great!

Veestro | Savory Croquettes

Breakfast again. Veestro vegan savory croquettes should be cooked in the oven. Their brochure says to take a meal out of the freezer the day before, but then the instructions are from frozen not thawed. So I decided not to burn this using the oven instructions and instead cooked this meal in the microwave. I think that was a mistake. As you can see from the images above the croquettes are breaded and I think they would have been better oven cooked. Maybe they would have been a bit toasty. Cooked in the microwave they were mushy.

The taste of the croquettes was very good. Looks like they were tofu based while it tasted light it was very filling. The sauce was not too flavorful but was a good addition. I could see if they were cooked in the oven that they might get dry so the sauce is a good idea. the veggies included were very good. They were my favorite. Again they were small like the other dishes, not sure if this is to make sure the defrost quickly or if it is another reason. The meal also included some chopped walnuts. I’m not sure how well they complemented the meal, but they tasted fine. In the pictures I covered them with some sauce. I would order this meal again.

Veestro Review

Veestro is a meal box subscription service. You can choose what is sent to you. The food is 100% cooked, you just have to warm it up. The best part of this service is that all the food is vegan. Today we received our first box and I tried Southwest BBQ Chick’n. The chicken of course is not real chicken. It doesn’t taste like chicken, but its not bad. The sauce was good and taste with just the right amount of tang. The chicken was just okay.

The meal also came with fingerling potatoes, these were very well done and I added some ketchup to make them perfect. Lastly, there was a mix of vegetables that consisted of chopped squash and corn. It was good but a little mushy.

To be fair I did microwave the meal and I think if I had cooked it in the oven the vegetables would have turned out better and probably improved the potatoes as well. I was just too hungry to wait.

We have a lot more of these meals, I hope to remember to take pictures and rate them here for you. So you can decide if this meal option is right for you.

Book Review |The End of Animal Farming: How Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and Activists Are Building an Animal-Free Food System

The End of Animal Farming
The End of Animal Farming

I’m reading more and more vegan or animal-free books. When walking through my local library this bright red book cover caught my attention. I wondered if they would discuss Impossible Foods, a food brand that has created meat, that taste very near the real thing. So much like the real thing many people can’t tell the difference. Not only does Jacy dive into this he does a very deep dive in, The End of Animal Farming. There is a lot of work put into this book and polished. Jacy has included many ways that we as individuals can help beyond just changing our diet.

“…technology therorist Tom Chatfield listed “eating mean and factory farming” first in his predictions of what our descendants in centuries to come will deplore about today’s society.”

For those that believe in saving animals, whether you are vegan, vegetarian or not, it doesn’t matter. You can make a difference.

“…the average American consumes far more that the Recommednded Daily Allowance of protien, around 145 percent the RDA for women and 176 percent for men.”

“…vegetarian diet can spare 371 to 582 animals each year.”

“I’d guess it’ll take another ten to twenty years–around 2038 to 2068–for animal-free foods to make up the majority of meat, dairy, and eggs in high0income countries”

As you might be able to tell this is an important topic to me. I hope you take the time to watch the video above and if you want to learn more please give Jacy’s book a try. You will learn a lot. This book earned 4 stars from me.

Book Review | Eating Animals

Eating Animals

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer is a very powerful book.  It may change the way you eat forever.  In the book, Jonathan tells the story of how he became vegetarian.  I think he did a lot more research than the average person.  This was the first book that I have read of his.  It was his first time writing non-fiction.  Since this book, he has gone on to write more non-fiction.

I picked up this book because it is at the top of the list for books about veganism and vegetarianism on goodreads.  Jonathan has filled the book full of numbers to drive home his points:

“Americans choose to eat less than .25%of the known edible food on the planet”

“Ninety-nine percent of all land animals eaten or used to produce milk and eggs in the United States are factory farmed.”

“… omnivores contribute seven times the volume of greenhouse gages that vegans do.”

There are more, many more.  Before you balk at these statements let me tell you that Jonathan had the book fact-checked by two independent professional fact-checkers.

When you read this you can’t dismiss it.  This is how our nation is creating food for us at low prices.  We are suffering for it.  I really don’t think that people know this is happening.  If they do they are ignoring it.  This is not good for us, the animals, our nation or our planet and we simply don’t have to do it.  If you have doubts read the book.

The documentary of this book came out on 9/2/17.  I can’t find it online.  I believe its release may have been limited to Sundance.  I’ll keep an eye out for it.  The bonus is that Natalie Portman narrates it.  She actually reached out to Jonathan to help him produce the documentary.

As if it needs to be said, I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.