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Starbucks, you pissed me off. You took away my free soy milk with my registered card. Not cool! Pfft– I have no reason to be loyal anymore. I’ve moved on!
Guess what? I’m glad you failed. I found better. I found Vinaccio.
Organic, fair trade coffee beans are what I prefer. How happy I was to make this discovery! 🙂
After all, those are the kind of beans I buy for my home espresso machine. I brew at home 6 days per week and I only buy a latte outside of the house about 1 day per week.
Lesson learned:
Sometimes a ‘bad’ thing is actually a GREAT thing!
(Now…if Vinaccio wants to really impress me, then they’ll go back to offering vegan baked goods. Eric said he bought some vegan scones there once upon a time. No such luck now.)
Several weeks ago, I spotted this Gardein Holiday Roast on sale at my favorite grocery store (the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, in Mt Vernon, WA). Of course I had to buy a box, since I’m always eager to try new vegan food products.
Gardein Holiday Roast
Since we’re skiing for 4 days over this New Year’s holiday weekend, I thought it would be the perfect time to cook up this animal-free treat. The roast will feed Eric and I for 3 dinners. The box suggests that the roast serves 8, but I think 6 servings is more realistic and appropriate.
Preparation is a snap…
1. Keep the roast frozen until you’re ready to cook it.
2. Prepare the (optional) Basting Glaze from the recipe on the box…
Whisk together: 1 T tamari, 1 t vegetable oil, 1 T orange marmalade, 2 T orange juice, 1 t Dijon mustard and 1/4 t dried thyme.
(I didn’t have orange marmalade, so I used the apricot jam that I already had in my fridge. I also used all of the juice from a fresh-squeezed orange.)
3. Place the frozen roast on top of your choice of veggies with about half of the glaze. I chose onions and carrots. My loaf pan was perfect for the job.
4. Bake covered at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Drizzle half of the remaining glaze over the roast and bake another 15 minutes. Repeat one more time, for a total of 60 minutes.
Basting Glaze and Frozen Gardein Holiday Roast
Cooked Gardein Holiday Roast with Basting Glaze over Carrots and Onions
Instead of baking the potatoes in the glaze (which probably would have been better), I baked 3 potatoes in a pan.
Baked Potatoes
The roast includes a 14 ounce gravy packet that you simply thaw and heat. Note that we ate the whole packet of gravy in one night! We didn’t need to skimp on the gravy since I made extra (Mmm…that would be the Mushroom Gravy recipe out of “Big Vegan,” by Robin Asbell.)
Gardein Homestyle Gravy
If you follow this blog, you’ll recognize this Pineapple Cranberry Sauce:
Pineapple Cranberry Sauce
We rounded out the meal with steamed broccoli and cauliflower. After I took this picture I drenched everything with more gravy!
Basted Gardein Holiday Roast with Carrots & Onions, Baked Potato, Homestyle Gravy, Pineapple Cranberry Sauce, and Steamed Broccoli & Cauliflower
Finally, I must NOT forget to mention that the Gardein Holiday Roast is absolutely, utterly, and wonderfully delicious! YUM. I look forward to my next 2 dinners!
Speaking of forgetting…
I forgot to prepare a dessert…oh, BOO. Instead, a spoonful of Wax Orchards Classic Fudge will have to do!
Freeheel Vegan 