# AFC BULL MARKET TEST KITCHEN
ANIMAL-FREE = The Only Sustainable Market. Animal-free products tested for investment worthiness!
BROILED CHEESE CRACKER CANAPES
When you want something easy but spectacular to serve your guests, give these cracker canapes a try! Soft, melty tangy bites with a perfect cracker crunch!
Makes about 30 cracker canapes
Continue reading “Broiled Cheese Cracker Canapes”
IMPERIAL CHICKEN SALAD
Not your run of the mill chicken salad! I know I said I wasn’t going to cook on Christmas day, after cooking holiday dishes for two weeks, but Steve bought Lilly Belle five pounds of vegan popcorn nuggets for Christmas and I just had to make a chicken salad out of a portion of it. Technically I didn’t cook – I assembled. Like I said, not your ordinary chicken salad. Imperial!
Makes 8 cups
TOFURKEY PEPPERJACK MELT
Restaurant Ready! Go for it! Now there’s a prefect sandwich melt without grilling the bread. Who would have thought to melt the meat and cheese separately? Me!! And it worked!
Makes 1 sandwich
Go back to the drawing board. Why is it that when somebody gets into the dairy replacement manufacturing business, they have to do it all? Do you really think that cheese makers or milk sellers around the globe take that kitchen sink approach to products they intend to sell? No. They don’t. How many dairies out of all the dairies in the world make yogurt? Not many. So why do people who haven’t even gotten the vegan cheese part right yet, think they can move onto yogurt?
Too many companies are putting out product that hasn’t been fully developed, just so they can make a few sales while they finish engineering the one that’s out there. Not a good idea. Not good for business and not good for the integrity of the product.
There are other factors involved in the integrity of a product besides whether an animal was used to produce it. It’s a competitive marketplace and you need more than ‘does not contain animal products’ on the label to survive.
Nancy’s in the dairy business. That company isn’t committed to animal-free and they have no experience with soy, judging by the product they put out. They just want a piece of the vegan market, like many animal-abusing companies do. It’s all about how much money they can make and how quickly they can make it. Not this time Nancy. Not with that product. You failed miserably.
Everybody raves about Kite Hill. At least online. But then, I’m accustomed to some vegans who simply want to support a product because it’s vegan, so they’ll say they love it. What they really mean is they love that you’re trying to do something really good, but realize in their minds and via their taste buds that you aren’t there yet. ‘When is the real product, you know the end result of this experiment, going to be ready for public consumption? Let me know, I’d love to try it’, is what they’re really thinking. Don’t assume that because you have fans, that they love your product. They want to keep you afloat till you produce something much better. Don’t disappoint them.
Daiya. You have enough work to do with your other cheeses – you really do. I’m not blaming you for wanting a piece of everybody’s pie, but this yogurt does not come close to satisfactory, unless you include those people starving around the world who would cut off their arm for a case to feed their family. Greek does not simply mean thick. It failed across the board on everything that counts.
I would not buy any of these dairy-free yogurts again. Maybe in a year or two if I’m feeling adventurous, since I do know that most companies change their formulas often – sometimes so often that they miss the one time that they hit their mark. Improve on the cheeses okay?
SAFFRON PESTO ROTINI
This is just one of the uses for SAFFRON WALNUT PESTO:
Sauteed celery, red pepper and onion mixed with cooked tri-color rotini pasta, then tossed with Saffron Walnut Pesto that was heated till bubbly with a can of Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans! All the more creamy with the beans! You won’t believe how flavorful and textural this dish becomes! Tossed with fresh cut grape tomatoes and topped with a fresh combo of chopped mint, basil and sage!
Makes 9 cups
SHARON’S MANICOTTI
This has been a long time in the planning and waiting stages – mainly to get the filling right absent any animal products. It’s a success I waited three decades to achieve.
Makes 11 stuffed pasta and 5-1/4 cups sauce
Daiya’s dairy free Provolone is soft-textured, melts easily and has a strong cheese flavor that Steve said tasted just like provolone to him.
I thought is was a little too yeasty and not salty enough for provolone, but I’d certainly buy and use it again.
Next time, I’d add other ingredients to the sandwich melt to offset the strong flavors. Not a problem.
PREMELTED VEGGIE CHEESE
Ever have a problem getting your veggie cheese to melt in a grilled cheese sandwich without burning the bread – and even then many times it doesn’t melt throughout? I solved the problem by forming Daiya Veggie Mozzarella Shreds, carrot juice, prepared yellow mustard and Mancini Fried Peppers with Onion into a premelted cheese!
Makes 2-1/2 cups
CREAMED SAUERKRAUT AND PEPPERS
Sauerkraut combined with Mancini Sweet Red Roasted Peppers, Mancini Fried Peppers with Onion, garlic, fennel and Daiya Mozzarella Veggie Shreds, then cooked till creamy! A simple side dish vegetable for roasted root veggies. Can also be served over mashed or baked potatoes, or with veggie sausage!
Makes 5-3/4 cups