Cyn-Fully Delicious at the Conscious Life Expo

Cyn-Fully Delicious will be serving vegan lunches and dinners at the Conscious Life Expo at the LAX Hilton, February 6-8th.  We are fine tuning our menu and will announce it shortly.  Stop by and say hi to Craig and me.  Looking forward to meeting you.

Cyn-fully Delicious at the Conscious Life Expo 2015 

The Vegg French Toast Mix - Product Review

Vegan egg yolk?  Huh?  Well the folks at the Vegg have a plant-based egg yolk.  I heard about the product, so I hit Rocky Shepherd, the company’s founder, up for a sample.  He graciously sent me a package of the company’s French toast mix. 

The Vegg French Toast served with Maple Syrup & Agave

The product comes in a shiny silver pouch.  It is in powdered form and is made with:

WHOLE GRAIN BROWN RICE MILK POWDER, FORTIFIED YEAST FLAKES (DRIED YEAST, NIACIN,
PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN, THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE, FOLIC ACID, B 12), SODIUM ALGINATE, BLACK SEA SALT, ORGANIC SPICE, BETA CAROTENE

The Vegg French Toast Mix

Each package makes 18 slices and sells for $7.99 on the Vegg’ssite. 

The Vegg French Toast Mix with Soy Milk

I had some bread around, so I decided to give it a try.  The package says to whisk 2 tsps of mix with ½ cup water.  (Rocky suggested I try replacing non-dairy milk for the water for a richer french toast.)  This will make 4 slices of French toast.  So I went whisking away… Wow!  I didn’t expect this… the product started to smell like eggs.  When Craig walked in the door, he even said it smelled it. 

The smell dissipated and I placed the mixture in the frig as directed on the package. 

A few minutes later I was ready to coat the bread slices. The mixture soaked in evenly.

Bread soaked in the Vegg French Toast Mix

I coated a skillet with extra-virgin coconut oil and placed the slices in the skillet.  I went to flip the slices and they stuck a little.  When I tried again, the slices didn't stick.  They actually browned nicely with a little crispness around the edges.  Maybe my pan wasn’t hot enough at first.

The Vegg French Toast

So now the taste-test.  It actually tastes like French toast.  I topped them with the ole’ standard maple syrup and agave.  Yum-mee.

Craig is not a french toast guy, so I decided to try it out on a couple of my friends, Barbara & Stacy.  They came over for a Vegg French Toast tasting.  Barbara was really impressed.  She said, "I'll have this anytime." Stacy liked the crispy-lightness of it.

The verdict?  I highly recommend the Vegg French toast mix for an easy, almost fool-proof way to make French toast.  All you need is the bread, non-dairy milk (or just plain water), and some oil to coat your skillet.  This makes me want to try the Vegg baking mix.  Craig says he’d like to have some “eggs” with a runny yolk.  Let’s see what the product can do.  I’ll keep you posted.

Creamy Lemon Tahini Dip with Rainbow Carrots (vegan)

Happy Veganuary!
Hope many of you are taking the pledge to go vegan for the month of January.

Craig & I have been on an ooey-gooey black bean patty melt kick for the last few days.  So, now we needed a fast n easy snack that’s a little healthier. 

I just purchased a bag of organic rainbow carrots from Trader Joe’s.  They’re sweet and tasty.  What better pairing than a creamy dip?  Well, you can go with the traditional ranch… but I was thinking a little healthier. 

Why not a creamy lemon tahini dip?  This is one of my favorite go-to dips.  Tahini is a ground sesame paste, you might have had it in hummus. 

This dip is so easy to make.  All you need is tahini, a lemon, water, and salt.  That’s it. 

Rainbow Carrots with Creamy Lemon Tahini Dip

Creamy Lemon Tahini Dip

Ingredients

1/4 cup Tahini

2 Tbsp. Lemon juice (preferably from a fresh squeezed lemon)

2 Tbsp. Water

Salt to taste

Directions

Start with tahini.  I live near an international market, so I get my tahini there.  It comes in a glass jar, some look like mayonnaise jars. 

Shake and stir the tahini in the jar.  It tends to settle with the oil on the top.  If you don’t, you’ll get a thick, solid lump when you get to the bottom of the jar. 

In a small bowl, add tahini, lemon juice, water, and salt.  Stir together.  Serve.

I usually serve this dip with sliced carrots, but you can expand your horizons and try cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, …  If you’re not into raw veggies, try steaming them.  Thin out the dip a little and make it into a pourable sauce.  Then, top your steamed veggies.  Craig's new thing is thinning out the dip and pouring it over his Summertime Pita Sandwich.  Healthy made easy.