Sunday, June 04, 2006
An Adventure with Fondue
After reading Vegan Lunch Box for a while now, I decided to make one of her famous recipes...the Lunch Box Fondue! Fondue is one of the few things that I really crave since going vegan....the OMNI and I used to love going to The Melting Pot on special occasions and indulging happily on the fantastic swiss cheese fondue. Yummmmm. I miss that, and when I saw that fondue recipe I thought I might be able to have fondue again! Yippee!
I have been squirrelling away the ingredients for the recipe for a few days, but could not find the miso! Ackkk! Where does one find mellow miso??? Well, minus the miso, I made the fondue with just a few slight adjustments. I am still unsure if I really like nutritional yeast yet, so I decreased the amount just a bit. I figured I could always add more if I felt the desire. I also added a bit of white vinegar in lieu of the miso in hopes it could impart some tangy-ness (tanginess?). Well, after I blended and cooked as the recipe reads, I tried it with a piece of bread. BLAND! Very Bland! Was the miso really that important to the taste or did I just expect more from the recipe....I dunno. But I was determined to not let this mixture go to waste, so I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to add to make it either more cheesy or just to give it more flavor. I added a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (cuz I love vinegar!), and then added a few splashes of hot sauce, hoping to wake up the flavor. It was better, but still not great. Even the OMNI tried it and said it was pretty darn bland. :-(
Then, I decided to give it one more shot and use it as the base for a Spinach Artichoke dip! Ooooh ooooh! So I thawed a bit of spinach, cut up some artichoke hearts, chopped up half a clove of garlic and added it to the fondue mixture, then topped it off with a few more splashes of hot sauce. Threw it in the oven at 350 degrees and waited. After about 10 minutes, it smelled pretty garlicky in the kitchen so I figured it was time to take it out and try it.
And, oooh oooh! It was pretty good! Here it is with some fantastic roasted garlic bread I picked up at my local grocery store.
Too bad I was too full from taste testing the first batch of fondue to eat up all of this dip, but there will be more for tomorrow!
Brooke-o-meter:
3 peas for the original fondue, 8 peas for the final outcome
Meat-eater-meter:
2 peas for the original fondue, no rating for the final outcome (he was too full and bloated from his trip to Taco Bell to taste test! That's right, may the Vegan Gods smite you for eating Taco Bell!!!)
Picky-kid-meter:
She actually liked the original fondue! No rating though.
Good-eater-kid-meter:
Not a chance! How weird!
After reading Vegan Lunch Box for a while now, I decided to make one of her famous recipes...the Lunch Box Fondue! Fondue is one of the few things that I really crave since going vegan....the OMNI and I used to love going to The Melting Pot on special occasions and indulging happily on the fantastic swiss cheese fondue. Yummmmm. I miss that, and when I saw that fondue recipe I thought I might be able to have fondue again! Yippee!
I have been squirrelling away the ingredients for the recipe for a few days, but could not find the miso! Ackkk! Where does one find mellow miso??? Well, minus the miso, I made the fondue with just a few slight adjustments. I am still unsure if I really like nutritional yeast yet, so I decreased the amount just a bit. I figured I could always add more if I felt the desire. I also added a bit of white vinegar in lieu of the miso in hopes it could impart some tangy-ness (tanginess?). Well, after I blended and cooked as the recipe reads, I tried it with a piece of bread. BLAND! Very Bland! Was the miso really that important to the taste or did I just expect more from the recipe....I dunno. But I was determined to not let this mixture go to waste, so I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to add to make it either more cheesy or just to give it more flavor. I added a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (cuz I love vinegar!), and then added a few splashes of hot sauce, hoping to wake up the flavor. It was better, but still not great. Even the OMNI tried it and said it was pretty darn bland. :-(
Then, I decided to give it one more shot and use it as the base for a Spinach Artichoke dip! Ooooh ooooh! So I thawed a bit of spinach, cut up some artichoke hearts, chopped up half a clove of garlic and added it to the fondue mixture, then topped it off with a few more splashes of hot sauce. Threw it in the oven at 350 degrees and waited. After about 10 minutes, it smelled pretty garlicky in the kitchen so I figured it was time to take it out and try it.
And, oooh oooh! It was pretty good! Here it is with some fantastic roasted garlic bread I picked up at my local grocery store.
Too bad I was too full from taste testing the first batch of fondue to eat up all of this dip, but there will be more for tomorrow!
Brooke-o-meter:
3 peas for the original fondue, 8 peas for the final outcome
Meat-eater-meter:
2 peas for the original fondue, no rating for the final outcome (he was too full and bloated from his trip to Taco Bell to taste test! That's right, may the Vegan Gods smite you for eating Taco Bell!!!)
Picky-kid-meter:
She actually liked the original fondue! No rating though.
Good-eater-kid-meter:
Not a chance! How weird!
// posted by Brooke @ 8:55 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Hi Brooke. I just saw your comment on "Fat Free Vegan" and you guessed not in AZ. I thought it was funny because I'm in Tempe and know it's for sure NOT AZ! I like your blog!
brooke, i just wanted to update you on the carnivoure husband thing. Ack. we had our first real "argument" last night about This Subject. The man has decided to go back to High Protein. :::ROLLING EYES::: because he needs to lose some weight (and I bit my tongue SO HARD it may have fallen off...) because he doens't need The Good Dr.Atkins to help him lose weight, he needs PORTION CONTROL. we don't live in the same house right now, because we're selling our home, and he's living where his new job is 400 miles away. So, everyday is a free for all when it comes to food, and apparently animals are the food of choice. It makes me sad, for him, and for them. I felt angry for the first time last night, and it was strange.
Now I have the same questions as you. Ack.
hugs.
Kari
Now I have the same questions as you. Ack.
hugs.
Kari
Kari, I feel for you! It's so hard to know what we know and feel the way we do, and still live in a meat-eater's world, especially when we share our intimate lives with them. I still struggle, but have started to find a little balance...I try to remember the times when I would fail at my vegetarianism (especially when I was pregnant)...I would eat meat on occasion and I was able to deny my feelings and instincts just to settle my cravings. I guess that our men can do this pretty easily, deny how they may feel. I know that it is a big lifestyle change for a lot of people to go veggie, and I think that may be part of why my husband isn't interested...he doesn't like to change (especially when it is for someone else).
Just keep doing what you do, and know that you are influencing a bunch of people who read these blogs. I know that I have made a dent in some of my friend's thinking...and some of them have gone veggie because of it. :-)
-Brooke
Just keep doing what you do, and know that you are influencing a bunch of people who read these blogs. I know that I have made a dent in some of my friend's thinking...and some of them have gone veggie because of it. :-)
-Brooke
I tried to make the fondue a couple of days ago, too. Now, I haven't had fondue since I was a little girl, so maybe I just don't like it, but....I don't know, I used the amount of mustard it called for...and I use nutritional yeast quite often and like it, but to me, it just tasted rather mustardy. The spinach artichoke dip is a wonderful idea, though. I hate being wasteful (and I hate it if my boyfriend sees me try a vegan recipe that doesn't work out, hehe).
My boyfriend saw my bag of nutritional yeast in the pantry the other day (I just moved in with him, so he's not used to seeing all of my funky vegan ingredients). He asked what it was and when I told him, he was rather freaked out by it (even though he's had it in stuff before and just didn't know it). Do you have trouble getting your husband to accept things with nutrional yeast?
My boyfriend saw my bag of nutritional yeast in the pantry the other day (I just moved in with him, so he's not used to seeing all of my funky vegan ingredients). He asked what it was and when I told him, he was rather freaked out by it (even though he's had it in stuff before and just didn't know it). Do you have trouble getting your husband to accept things with nutrional yeast?
Hi Brooke.
I just found your blog. It's very fun! Very creative of you to turn the fondue into the dip! I have wondered about that fondue myself, but have never made it. I do make a miso gravy and find that miso is a very unique flavour...hard to replicate. Maybe that's why it was hard to turn the fondue into something wonderful without it.
Miso - I buy mine in a health food store or in Chinese grocery stores.
I just found your blog. It's very fun! Very creative of you to turn the fondue into the dip! I have wondered about that fondue myself, but have never made it. I do make a miso gravy and find that miso is a very unique flavour...hard to replicate. Maybe that's why it was hard to turn the fondue into something wonderful without it.
Miso - I buy mine in a health food store or in Chinese grocery stores.
# posted by 
: 10:47 AM
: 10:47 AM
Hi Brooke.
I just found your blog. It's very fun! Very creative of you to turn the fondue into the dip! I have wondered about that fondue myself, but have never made it. I do make a miso gravy and find that miso is a very unique flavour...hard to replicate. Maybe that's why it was hard to turn the fondue into something wonderful without it.
Miso - I buy mine in a health food store or in Chinese grocery stores.
I just found your blog. It's very fun! Very creative of you to turn the fondue into the dip! I have wondered about that fondue myself, but have never made it. I do make a miso gravy and find that miso is a very unique flavour...hard to replicate. Maybe that's why it was hard to turn the fondue into something wonderful without it.
Miso - I buy mine in a health food store or in Chinese grocery stores.
# posted by : 10:47 AM
: 10:47 AM
I think the miso would be essential. It is smokey and very savory and also fermented so that gives it the "cheese" nip.
Post a Comment
# posted by : 12:01 PM
: 12:01 PM Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
