National Sandwich Day

Every St. Patrick's Day, my kids and I try a new corned beefless recipe. They've been pretty hit or miss, honestly. But this year I decided to try a new recipe, with a new twist. Instead of just the regular corned beefless as part of a meal, I decided to make reubens. Since none of us have ever had a reuben sandwich, this was definitely new to us.

Vegan Reuben Sandwiches

2 pkgs. extra firm tofu, frozen, boiled, pressed, sliced into 1/8" slices
8 c. hot water
2 large beets, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T. Balsamic vinegar
2 T. Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 cube no beef bouillon
6 bay leaves, crumbled
2 cinnamon sticks
12 allspice seeds
1 t. salt
1 t. agave syrup
1 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. liquid smoke
1/4 t. ground cloves
Olive oil for sauteing
Vegan thousand island dressing
Sauerkraut

Lightly brown the tofu slices in the olive oil. Drain. Mix everything, except the dressing and sauerkraut, in a crockpot. Make sure to submerge the tofu slices as much as possible. Cover and let cook on high for about six hours.

Spread some of the dressing on a slice of rye bread. Top with 2-3 slices of the tofu, add some sauerkraut and another slice of bread. Serve. Enjoy!

I like my bread toasted, but a couple of my kids used untoasted bread. Your choice. The tofu by itself is somewhat, surprisingly, bland. Suffice it to say the flavor is very mild, so eating it alone isn't as yummy. But added to bread with the dressing and sauerkraut, OMG! It is DELICIOUS! The picture does not do it justice!

I got the original recipe here. I had everything except the mustard seeds, and I doubled the recipe. My family absolutely loved this recipe, and I will definitely be making it again!

BTW, if you've never dealt with raw beets before, peeling them reveals a beautiful ruby red color. It will stain, so wash everything the red comes in contact with.

Vegan Corned Beef and Cabbage

On March 17, according to the  History Channel, everyone wants to be Irish. For those of us with Irish ancestry, it's an everyday thing!

I know corned beef isn't an Irish thing, it's really an American thing, but it is something we look forward to every year. When you are vegan, and Irish!, you look for ways to indulge cruelty-free, and it can be a challenge. I try out a different recipe every year to find one that everyone says, "This. This is it!" I came pretty close this year.

My daughter is a huge fan of the Meet the Shannons website. So when I found their recipe for Corned Beef-less Tips and Cabbage, I knew I had to try it. And it was delicious! It is made with Gardein Beefless Tips. The only complaint I have, and I'm not entirely sure how to fix that, is the pickling spices. They are an absolute must in duplicating the corned beef flavor, but they aren't fun to eat. Too often I found myself stopping chewing to pull out a little hard spice bit. I'm wondering if I could grind them up first, if that would work as well? It is definitely worth trying.

At any rate, this has been the best thus far and definitely a keeper.