TNG & Vegan Cashew Queso

Question of the day: in the Star Trek universe, is replicated food vegan?¹ I say yes, since it's not technically an animal product.  R says no, since it's indistinguishable from animal protein. Google tells me this is a hotly contested issue whose arguments fall along the same lines currently dividing our own household.   I definitely get that if one is accustomed to avoiding animal protein, one would want to avoid artificial animal protein as well - however, this doesn't change the fact that replicator "meat" isn't derived from animal sources.  Or. . . is it?  The original blueprint for space bacon had to come from somewhere, right?  So this facsimile couldn't exist without the death of one final sacrificial pig.  VEGAN NERDS, PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR OPINIONS.

(Nacho & vegan queso discussion under the jump.)

Favorite Recipes of Other People

Kale Salad with Avocado Dressing
This is also really good with other fruit - sectioned tangerines with a sprinkling of sesame seeds, for example - and toasted little tofu croutons.

Chickpea cutlets
This is the most go-to of all my go-to recipes.  I keep them on hand and use them for everything!  Heat them up and make a sandwich wrap with a little avocado, hummus, and salad greens!  Saute with some onions & taco seasoning for a truly deceptively meaty taco filling!  Make some gravy for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner-type meal.  NOT gluten free.

Otsu Recipe
We make this sauce, and douse a bowl of brown rice, kale, sauteed tempeh & ribboned carrots with it, but the original recipe is amazing too!

Red beans + coconut rice (for Carson)

For a period of time in my feckless late-twenties, this is all I ate.  I mean that  - some Saturdays, I'd take 3 or 4 hours and make a giant pot, and then eat them for lunch and dinner every single day until they were gone.  This is one of the mildly disgusting things you can do when you're a single person that you cannot do when you have a witness/partner who thinks it's gross to eat the same thing for even two meals in a row.  Which, you know, probably he has a point!  I haven't eaten these in years!  However, I really loved them like crazy for a while, so that must mean something.  This recipe makes an ungodly amount, so be ready for that.

RED BEANS & COCONUT RICE under the jump

Beachy Biscuits

Like most of my regular recipes, this is a simplified synthesis of several different versions.  When you look at the temperature, you'll probably think, "Dang, that's not right.  450 degrees?  Absurd!  I will lower the temperature to 350 instead."  This won't end in tragedy, but you won't get the towering, flaky biscuit you want.

These are not vegan but you definitely could convert them: sub out chilled refined coconut oil for the butter, and almond milk + apple cider vinegar for the milk.  

On beans

Friends, how do you feel about beans?  They're ok, right?  They fill you up, they're cheap & generally pretty accessible, and burritos are the most perfect food in the world, sure.  Beans in & of themselves, though?  Eh.  Kind of boring, kind of chalky, kind of bland.  You buy them in a can because dry beans aren't really worth the time it takes to prepare them.  WELL.  LET ME TELL YOU.


(Here I am telling you below the jump.)