Free Gingerbread Man

Log into Facebook and Become a Fan of Philosophy you'll receive a FREE sample of Gingerbread man Shower & Bath Gel. Once you are a fan a link will be at the top of the page to fill out the form for your free sample.

If you are already a fan click here to get your freebie!

Puffs: $1.00 Off Coupon

I've seen these on sale many times for $1 which means that you should see some free tissue in the future!

Click here to request your $1 Puffs coupon. Coupon should arrive via mail in 4-6 weeks.

Halloween Dinner Menu

Bat Brains with Pumpkin Pasta
Vampire Blood drinks
Chocolate cupcakes

I was trying to be creative for Halloween. Last year it was eyeball tacos with bloody maggots. the "eyeballs" were veggie meatballs with sour cream (obviously now it would be vegan sour cream) dollops and black sliced olives to resemble eyes. And the "bloody maggots" was Spanish rice. I want to continue to do something different every year though. This year I veganized Rachel Ray's Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage recipe and used the Italian Meatballs recipe from www.vegweb.com (any recipe or store bought vegan meatballs will work).

I also found a great recipe for Vampire Blook drinks on the Food Network website.

Bat Brains with Pumpkin Pasta
Veggie meatballs, cooked according to recipe/package directions
1 pound penne rigate, cooked to al dente
1/2 cup soy or rice milk
1/2 container (about 19 oz) of silken tofu
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, cracked and chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
4 to 6 sprigs sage leaves, cut into chiffonade, about 2 tablespoons
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup vegetable stock, canned or paper container
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
Coarse salt and black pepper

Directions

Boil water and add penne pasta. Cook to al dente (firm but not uncooked basically).


In a blender combine the soy (rice) milk and tofu. Blend until smooth.

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender.

Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes. Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble. Reduce heat and stir in tofu mixture. Season the sauce with the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

Remove the bay leaf from sauce and add in the drained pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute.

You can either mix in the veggie meatballs (aka bat brains) to give them more of a smashed/combined look or add them on top of the pasta when you serve it. I did a little of both.

Shelly's Honkin Huge Burritos

As you are very aware it's hard to find vegan lunch spots. I've been lucky with downtown Portland, OR though. The lunch truck and lunch cart craze is everywhere here and there are a few great vegan lunch spots. The closest to me, and therefore the one I frequest the most, is Shelly's Honkin Huge Burritos at Pioneer Square in Portland, OR. You can't really say that Shelly is part of the craze though since she's been at it since 1991.

Her burittos are vegetarian (beans, cheese, fresh made salsa, etc.) but she can make them vegan. I've never had the "honkin huge" sized burrito...a small is more than enough for me (and I eat a lot lol). She has a great selection of hot and mild sauces also if you want to customize a bit.

Cheap Vegan Cookbooks

I read cookbooks like most people read novels. I'm not a great cook by any means but I keep hoping that somehow I'll absorb all this knowledge from the books I read and be a great chef. Our family use to have a monthly trip to Barnes & Noble and shop the store. The kids would head off to their sections, my husband and I would grab a coffee and head to our areas. By the end of the night we would have $50 or so in books. I realized how much we had spent and accumulated when we moved from California to Washington. Instead of those monthly trips I now take the kids and head to the library. Camas, Washington has a beautiful library with a fireplace to read by. They also have the inter-library exchange where I can request books from other libraries in the area. Occasionally when I find a great book I suggest it to them as one to purchase also.

My current read is Raw Family Signature Dishes by Victoria Boutenko. I will be planning some meals from her book in the next couple weeks depending on what I find on sale.

Seitan O'Greatness

If you have ever made seitan and hated it, this is COMPLETELY different from the boiled stuff. My first time making seitan I couldn't eat it. I literally gagged. But every blog out there kept raving about Seitan O'Greatness so I thought I'd try it.

My opinion....wow! Even my meat-eater husband gave it a "not bad" which means a lot coming from him. My kids loved it (it was gone in a couple hours). The first time I made it I rolled it into two logs so they came out the diameter of pepperoni. It had a little kick to it like pepperoni also so it would be great on pizza.

If you have doubts as to whether or not you will like it just make the regular batch the first time. I plan to make it again soon but will be baking three batches at once. I figure since it takes 90 minutes to bake I might as well make enough to last a couple weeks.

Vegan Lunch Ideas for Kids

Technically you do not have to be a kid to enjoy these.

• Peanut Butter and Jelly roll ups using flour tortillas
• Smashed pinto bean and salsa roll ups
• Mini bagels with vegan cream cheese and dried currents (my favorite is cranberries or cherries)
• Vegan lunchables (slices of Seitan O'Greatness) with vegan cheese and crackers
• Orzo pasta with chopped veggies and Italian dressing
• Hummus with pita bread chips and carrots
• Pinwheel sandwiches with vegan lunchmeat and cheese and flattened bread (crusts cut off)
• Sweet potato fries with veggie nuggets (my son's favorite)

If you have some great lunch ideas for kids please comment!

Grocery Budget

So, how much do I spend on groceries? Well, first let me explain my wake up call. We are a family of 5 and were spending nearly $800 a month on groceries. When I say groceries I include everything...food for our two dogs and two turtles, laundry soap, toothpaste, hair products, etc. That was crazy. I think most of the overspending was impulse buying at Costco but either way it was too much. I started couponing but slowly realized most coupons are for processed unhealthy foods. I want to save money but I also want to eat healthy...most of the time.

Our monthly spending now on groceries is around $400. Which is not bad considering my husband and fourteen year old son are meat eaters. My six year old is vegetarian (90% of the time) and our eleven month old baby is vegetarian. To accommodate everyone I make vegan meals and then cook some type of meat for my husband and fourteen year old.

There is some effort involved in saving money on groceries and still eating healthy. I work full-time and have an hour commute each day to work and back so I don't have a whole lot of time to spend making everything from scratch or running around to five different stores. I do pay attention to sales ads though and shop according to what is on sale. One favorite store of mine is Grocery Outlet. They have great prices on vegan chorizo, spreads, side dishes and tempeh. I also buy items like vital wheat gluten and polenta from the bulk bins at places like Fred Meyer. I also like to bake and make homemade cookies, muffins, rolls, etc. on the weekend.

Since this is October 1st and my first post for the Vegan Mo Fo III, all month I will continue to share what works for me. Hopefully someone out there finds it useful :)

Cheap Vegan Livin has joined Vegan MoFo III

Since I am new to this blogging thing...and vegan thing, I knew nothing about Vegan MoFo. Apparently it was started by the great Isa Chandra . The deal is for the enitre month of October blogs from all over the world will be writing about vegan food. This is perfect for me. Not only will it commit me to posting here more frequently (yes, I've been slacking) it will hopefully incourage others to take to the vegan lifestyle.

Get ready for the grocery shopping post tomorrow!

$2.00 off RiceSelect Coupon

It's not too often that we find a high value coupon for something this healthy! The RiceSelect Coupon will allow you to print more than one and since they do not expire until the end of the year, you may want to print a couple!

Del Monte Fruit Naturals $0.67

Del Monte Fruit Naturals are on sale at Safeway for $1.00.

Use this coupon to save $1.00/3 (print two coupons).

Final Price: $0.67 each

Wishbone Salad Dressing $0.24

Wishbone Salad Dressing is on sale at Safeway for $0.99.

Use this coupon to save $0.75/1 (you should be able to print 2).

Final Price: $0.24

Not all Wishbone Salad Dressings are vegan. Read the label and look out for cheese, dairy, and casein.

6-year-old Vegetarian

6-year-old vegetarian from Brandon teaches her mom a thing or two here.

This is a really cute story and similar to the reason I became a vegetarian again and eventually vegan. I was vegetarian for a couple years and then for some unknown reason stopped. Two years ago my then four year old son came home and said he did not want to eat chicken nuggets anymore because they were made from baby chickens and he did not want to eat baby chickens. He had no influence that I am aware of to make this decision. In his little mind it just wasn't right.

$1/1 Purely Decadent or So Delicious Item

The Purely Decadent Sandwiches are the best.

To get the $1.00 off one package coupon, click here.

Great Deals at Grocery Outlet

I stopped by my local Grocery Outlet yesterday and found some great deals:

$0.79 silken Tofu
$0.99 bag of 10 apricots (very ripe...great for baby food)
$1.99 watermelons
$0.75 mushrooms

TIP: Make sure you go through the frozen section and check out their discount bin. I have found Yves lunch meats and chorizo for $0.25 a package almost every time I go there.

Grocery Outlet is a west coast discount chain grocery store. Check their website for a location near you.

$1/1 Coupon for Naked Juice

Naked Juice coupon available here. It's a PDF coupon available on the manufacturer's website so you should be able to print and use multiple coupons.

I read through their FAQ regarding vegan products and it states:

All of Naked Juice products are free of animal-derived ingredients except:

Protien Family:
Protien Zone
Banana Chocolate Protien Zone

Probiotic Family:
Tropical Mango
Very Berry

Black Eyed Pea Burgers Recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil (1/2 reserved)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup chopped red onion (yellow will work also)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
2 cups black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro
1/2 cup Pico de Gallo (or fresh salsa)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flax seed
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

Directions

1. Heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in skillet on medium heat.
2. Add garlic, cumin, onion and corn. Sauté until onions are translucent and corn is thawed.
3. Place mixture in bowl with black eyed peas, cilantro, Pico de Gallo, salt and flax seed.
4. Mash together with fork or by hand until incorporated. Form into patties and then coat with bread crumbs.
5. Heat reserved 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in skillet and cook patties on medium heat until golden brown.

Serve with Salsa, guacamole, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, or sliced avocado. Whole wheat buns, English muffins or pita works great.

Weekly Meal Planning

Week of August 2nd:

Sunday: Cucumber, lettuce and fresh tomato sandwiches with hummus and french bread
Monday: Couscous with grilled vegetables
Tuesday: Homemade black eyed pea burgers with homemade chips
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Veggie Pizza with TJ pizza dough
Friday: Soup Day: Tortilla Soup (still using up those tortillas)
Saturday: Spinach salads with sesame ginger dressing and fresh vegetables

FOOD REVIEW: LightLife's M'tballs

On my weekly trip to Grocery Outlet I found LightLife's Smart Menu Meatless Meatballs for $1.69 per bag. They are certified vegan by http://www.vegan.org/ so I thought I'd buy a few to try.

Here's the list of ingredients:

Water, isolated soy protein, soybean oil, tapioca starch, natural flavors (from vegetable sources), vital wheat gluten, vegetable gum, evaporated cane juice, yeast extract, soy sauce (water, soyeans, wheat, salt), spices, garlic powder, barley malt extract, caramel color, onion powder, corn oil.
CONTAINS: Soy, Wheat

According to the package a serving is 6 m'tballs and there are 3 servings per bag.

The Rating:

I really liked these. They had flavor and texture and did not fall apart when you cook them. I used them in a traditional spaghetti and m'tballs dish one night and then m'tball sandwiches another night.

Weekly Meal Planning

Week of June 28th

Sunday: Spaghetti and m'tballs
Monday: Meatball sandwiches with homemade chips
Tuesday: Polenta with TVP bolognaise
Wednesday: Mexican black bean lasagna with salad from the garden
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Soup Day: Zuppa Toscana (my vegan version of Olive Garden's) with French bread
Saturday: Spinach salads with warm strawberry dressing and walnuts

Even Cheaper Lemonade

In case you still have the $0.75 coupons, rumor has it that Fred Meyer has them on sale 5 for $5.00. With the coupon that's $0.25! I'm heading to the Vancouver Freddie's tonight.

Cheap Tortillas

At Safeway Mission White Corn Tortillas (30 count) are on sale for $0.99...here's how to get them for $0.24 each:

Head to the meat department (I know, horrible place to make you go for coupons but it has to be done) and look for the little coupon machines that spit out coupons (these machines are called blinkies in the coupon world). You will want to get six total (the machine can be slow and tries to trick you to think it's out of coupons but wait a minute and it'll keep spitting them out).

Now find the end stand with the tortillas. You're looking for the ones on sale for $0.99. Grab six packages (the limit for the sale).

Head to the register...that's it! For $1.44 you have enough tortillas to last a couple months. These freeze very well so if you are a tortilla person you may want to grab six more coupons and packages and head through the line again.

Mission tortillas are gluten free and vegan. I see some Vegan nachos with homemade chips in the future...yummy!

Weekly Meal Planning

Week of June 14th

Sunday: Sweet potatoes and kidney bean wraps
Monday: Tropical quinoa
Tuesday: Spaghetti and meatless meatballs
Wednesday: BBQ seitan with spinach salad
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Spicy black bean burgers and fries
Saturday: Homemade nachos with refried beans

Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade for $0.50/jar

Bi-Mart currently has a sale through Wednesday, June 17, on Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade 4/$5.00. With the $0.75 off coupon available that makes them $0.50 a jar! My son wants to have a lemonade stand this year and being that we live in a corner house he should make some good money selling organic lemonade. Plus I love this stuff so I will be stocking up. Regularly Bi-Mart sells the Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade for $1.50 each so if you can't catch it on sale it would still not be a bad price if you use the coupon.

FOOD REVIEW: Blue Horizon Organic Spring Rolls

While at Grocery Outlet I found Blue Horizon Organic Spring Rolls.
Spring rolls are my favority quick work meal. Since I sit in an office all day I like quick meals I can heat up and snack on. The brand I was buying before was at Costco (not sure if they were vegan though) but even though I begged for months they never stocked them again. For $1.89 a box I thought I'd give this brand a try.

Here's the list of ingredients:

Organic Green Beans, Organic Cabbage, Organic Palm Oil, Organic Tapioca Starch, Organic Lemongrass, Organic Cilantro, Organic Soy Sauce (organic soybeans, organic wheat, salt, water), Organic Cayenne, Salt. Wrapper: Organic Wheat Flour, Water, Salt, Soy Lecithin.

Allergens: Wheat, Soy.

The Rating:

The spring rolls come 8 to a box and supposedly 2.5 servings per box! Not sure about that, springs rolls are pretty small. That puts this little lunch at 275 calories, 10 grams of fat (3.75 saturated fat), and 7.5 grams of protient.

Since I'm at work I don't have the option of deepfrying these guys, which of course is the best way to have them. Instead, it will be the microwave.

Even deep fried these wouldn't be that much better. I can taste the lemongrass but that's about it. A couple of them were mostly wrapper and hardly any filling. After about four of these I couldn't eat anymore. The strong lemongrass taste and the greasy feel in my mouth was nasty. I think I'll toss the rest and the other box I still have in the freezer.

Oh well, I guess I need to quit being lazy and make some myself.

Earth Balance for $1.29 each!

I made my weekly stop at Grocery Outlet last night and found the 13 oz. Earth Balance Mediteranean Blend and Original Blend for $1.29. They also had the 1 lb. Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks for $1.49. The shelves were full but I may be making a trip back to stock up. Just like real butter, these can be stored in your freezer for use later.

The Best Quick Morning Breakfast

Oatmeal. Not the crappy little sugar-filled packages that you by and tear open. I'm talking about the plain Jane ones. My personal favorite is Quick Cooking Rolled Oats. They hold their shape more than instant oats. Bob's Red Mill makes a great product but I've also been satisfied with grocery store generic brands also. Unless you find them on sale, I've actually found that Costco's box of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats is not a bad price. Their website lists them for $7.32 but I only pay $6.79 at the Costco in both Portland and Vancouver.

Some flavor combinations to try:

- Brown sugar and cinnamon

- dried cranberries and walnuts

- Banana and soy milk (or rice milk)

- Maple syrup (the real stuff) and pecans

- fresh strawberries

Monday Night Dinner

A vegan spin on the kid-friendly Sloppy Joe.

One of the ingredients you may not be familiar with is TVP, textured vegetable protien.

TVP works great in place of ground beef. It has the same texture and soaks up the flavor of anything you combine it with. I purchased it from QFC (Quality Food Center) in Vancouver, WA but if you live near Milwaulkie, OR you could go straight to the source and purchase it from Bob's Red Mill.

Sloppy V Joes

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup tomato sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup Kraft Original barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)
2 cups tvp (textured vegetable protein)
3 cups water
8 Whole Wheat French rolls, split

Directions
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bell peppers and garlic. Saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, barbecue sauce, Balsamic vinegar, hot sauce and water. Stir. Add tvp to skillet. Stir. Simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Serve on whole wheat buns.

Weekend Baking

This weekend I will be baking Whole Wheat Buns. These are great for burgers, sandwiches, or just warmed up and served with olive oil and fresh cracked pepper.

Whole Wheat Buns

Ingredients
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup corn oil or canola oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup cooked oatmeal
1/4 cup flax seed, ground
1/2 cup unrefined sugar

Directions
In a glass measuring cup, mix together water and yeast. Let set 15 minutes until yeast starts to do it's thing.

In a separate bowl, mix together whole wheat flour and bread flour.

Next, in a large mixing bowl combine oil, salt, oatmeal, flax seed, and sugar. Add in the yeast mixture, followed by the flour mixture.

Turn out on a floured board and knead till smooth.

Using a little vegetable oil, grease the inside of a large bowl and place dough in it. Turn once to coat all sides. Put in a warm place to rise, covered with a warm damp towel, for about 1 hour.

When the dough has doubled in size, divide into 16 pieces. Roll into smooth balls. Flatten a little and place on a baking sheet.

Let rise till doubled, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Bake at 350* F for 18-20 minutes.

Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack. Store in a sealed bag or closed container.

Grocery List Shopping

My grocery list is going to assume that you are new at the vegan thing but that you have cooked at home before and have some things on hand. The first few trips you'll have to buy a little more than normal in order to stock your pantry (and probably go to an extra store or two). If you have some of the items then just cross them off of your list (and buy some vegan beer instead).

I'am also not going to send you all over town to five different stores. True, you could study the Sunday Newspaper and all the adds, match up coupons to the different stores and probably get some really good deals. But, gas costs money and most vegans would frown on driving all over Portland to buy their groceries. I prefer two trips, one to Costco for bulk items and the second to Safeway. I happen to drive by a Grocery Outlet on my way home every day and they're known to have great deals on organic and/or vegan food so I may stop there but that's it.

May 10th Grocery List

There are some great coupons available right now for Kraft BBQ Sauce. When you use them at Safeway this week for the Original Flavor sauce (it's vegan) with your club card you'll only pay $0.02 for a bottle. Buy four and stock up.

Now that you see coupons are a good thing...

Go here, register for Kraft Foods website and print the following coupons:

Kraft BBQ Sauce
Triscuits
Wheat Thins
Kraft Salad Dressing
Planters Nuts
Minute Rice
Starbucks Coffee
Kashi Cereal

If you hit F5 you can refresh the coupon and print it a second time.

Also, go here and print two more coupons. Then go to Safeway's website and try and print a couple more. If it doesn't work, at least get the coupon for the free strawberries.



GROCERY LIST:

Safeway
Planters Low Salt Halves And Pieces Cashews - 9.25 Oz $2.99
Eating Right Whole Wheat Couscous - 10 Oz $2.19
Safeway / Vons Black Beans - 16 Oz $1.85
green onions $0.79
La Choy Soy Sauce - 10 Fl. Oz. $1.83
O Organics Organic Vegetable Broth - 32 Oz $3.29
Safeway Tomato Paste - 6 Oz $0.65
garlic $0.50
lemon $0.50
1 green bell pepper $0.99
1 red bell pepper $1.50
Kraft Italian Salad Dressing $2.59
Kraft Original BBQ sauce (4) $4.08
potatoes $1.79
Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flour - 5 Lb $3.49
Gold Medal Bread flour - 10 Lb $5.69
Arrowhead Mills Flax Organic Seeds - 16 Oz $3.39
yeast $1.00
Safeway / Vons Pinto Beans - 16 Oz $1.75
3 tomatoes $0.70
avacado $3.00
Mission Tortillas Corn Yellow Extra Thin $2.19
Diamond Sliced Almonds - 6 Oz $4.99
2 Lipton Spanish Rice and Sauce - 5.6 Oz $3.00
S and W Long Grain Brown Rice - 48 Oz $3.89
lettuce $0.79
Barilla Pasta Tricolor Rotini - 12 Oz $1.00
Barilla Pasta Linguine $1.00
2 zucchini $1.00
red onion $0.70
Total $63.12

Coupons
Kraft BBQ Sauce (4) -$4.00
Safeway double coupons -$2.00
Mission Tortilla Coupon -$1.00
Lipton sides coupon -$0.75
planters coupon -$1.00
Kraft salad dressing -$1.50
Total -$10.25


Costco
tomato sauce $2.79
broccoli $3.79
large bag of spinach $3.79
Quaker Oatmeal $6.79
Total $14.37

Health Food Store
nutritional yeast flakes - 8oz $8.39
vital wheat gluten flour - 1.5lbs $7.55
tvp (textures vegetable protien) - .75lbs $2.61
Total $18.55

This trip is a little more expensive since you are buying some staple items (i.e. flours) but they will reduce your grocery bill the next time around since you'll already have them on hand.

Weekly Meal Planning

Do I really need to plan a freakin menu?

Yes. Planning what you will be eating for the week is one of the most important things you can do to save money, relieve stress and not eat crap. Each week I'll post a sample menu. You can follow it ingredient by ingredient or adapt it to what you like. If you're starting out with vegan living I encourage you to follow it exactly. I'll post links to coupons you can print online to get stuff either free or really cheap. I'll also share my total out of pocket (oop) cost for groceries for the week so you can see how easy this will be.


This weeks menu will be:

BREAKFAST: Oatmeal, Pumpkin Waffles, Banana Carrot Power Muffins, Cold Cereal

LUNCH: Leftovers

DINNER:

• SUNDAY: Cashew Seitan with Whole Wheat Couscous
• MONDAY: Sloppy V Joes with Green Salad
• TUESDAY: Black Bean & Brown Rice Patties with Stir Fry Vegetables
• WEDNESDAY: Grilled Polenta Torta with Spinach
• THURSDAY: Tacos, Spanish Rice and Refried Beans
• FRIDAY: Broccoli Twice Baked Potatoes
• SATURDAY: Cold Veggie Pasta

Sunday is prep day. I will be making the Whole Wheat Buns for the Sloppy V Joes and soaking the black beans (you could used canned but dried is cheaper). I'll be making the seitan from scratch. I'm also making Banana Carrot Power Muffins and Pumpkin Waffles to have on hand for breakfast during the week. It sounds like a lot of work but it'll go buy fast.