Dinner in a Snap: Coconut-Curry Tofu Steaks, Cheesy-Chickpea Quesadilla, Spinach-Sesame Salad

So last night, I had one of my good friends over for dinner. We met many moons ago when we both lived in the notorious "ghetto" in Ottawa. The "ghetto" was a student housing complex close to the Byward Market. It featured a robust French Madame as the landlady and her itsy-bity French Monsieur (with a Cheshire cat smile) as the landlord. The pair together was the bane of us students' existence. Regardless, it was one of the best times of my life.

Any hoo, this friend is a vegetarian and she has seen me transition over the years from omnivore, to indecisive pescatarian and now, to gung-ho vegan. She has been very patient and understanding with me throughout my journey. When we get together, all we seem to do is cook, eat and talk. It's awesome.

We had both had long days and we were simply ravinous!  I had had hopes of cooking up a gorgeous and extravagant meal with her, perhaps with quinoa or some exotic varieties of legumes and whole grains that neither of us had ever heard of before. But we were both so manic with hunger that we bee-lined straight to the grocery store to buy whatever looked good and cheap.

At the grocery we zipped right to the simplest and easiest place for veggie people to grab grub - the tofu/soy-wiener/veggie-ground-round section! We found some enticing coconut-curry tofu steaks made by President's Choice. Done. Then, in the impulse rack nearby, we happened upon whole wheat tortilla shells (on sale). Quesadilla? Done.

Now we had our protein (tofu steaks), grain (tortilla), so all we needed was a filler for the latter and some veg. The only obstacle we encountered was finding vegan cheese to go in our quesadilla - it turned out to be a bit of a wild goose chase. A successful one, albeit.

The grocery had "Soya" brand cheese loaf. But my conscience could not allow me to buy it after perusing the ingredients and finding (to my horror) casein (a milk protein) in it. Casein is one of those secret/hidden ingredients that gets vegans when they least expect it! It's also said to be the protein that makes calves bond to their mommas and evidentally, humans bond to their milk and cheese.

But any hoo, we hit up another grocer and checked their deli out. Again, only "Soya" brand cheese, which, my friends, is not vegan! We were troubled and dismayed. In my emotional turmoil, and since my friend is a veggie and not a full-blown vegan, I said to her, "Go ahead. Put cheese in your quesadillas and I'll eat mine plain. I don't mind."

I lied.

But I felt proud of myself for saying this. I felt like I was being a martyr. But as it turns out, she could not bear the idea of enjoying a cheesy quesadilla whilst I could not.

"No," she firmly stated. She had already selflessly decided that if I was going down, she was going down with me! What a keeper.

So we danced with the idea of making our own cheese out of silken tofu (it would take too long), or out of nutritional yeast (she didn't like the smell of it), and just when we were about to give up and eat our quesadillas cheese-free, we decided to ask the deli lady where we might find some vegan cheese. She wasn't sure, but her advice was, "Try the milk and butter section."

So we zipped over there, and low-and-behold, there it was in all its glory, shining out amongst the crowd of margarine and butter and other vegan untouchables: Earth Island Cheese! Our choice of mozarella or cheddar. We were both thrilled! Despite its announcement of being "vegan" on the package, I, still feeling untrusting after the "Soya" cheese incident, quickly checked the ingredients. To my delight, it was vegan all the way. Groovy.

We raced home, and whipped up our delicious dinner in 5 minutes flat:

Coconut-Curry Tofu Steaks +
Cheesy-Chickpea Quesadilla with spinach, peppers and mushroom on whole wheat tortillas +
Spinach Salad with grated carrots, peppers, sesame seeds, and mandarin-sesame dressing
________________________
= Yum!

Now, as a vegan rookie, there were some valuable lessons that I learned from this incident:
1. Get in the habit of checking the ingredients of foodstuffs. I will blog on secret/hidden animal ingredients soon (don't worry, there aren't a lot).
2. Be bold! Ask the deli guy, or the store manager if they have vegan alternatives for things like cheese, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, etc. From my experience, the more hip the grocer, the more choices they will have. This is also a good practice because it gets in the grocer's mind that there is demand out there for vegan options.
 
:)