Wednesday, November 30, 2011

French Dip & Broccoli Love

When I was a kid, I lived on roast beef sandwiches from Rax, an Arby's-esque roast beef chain that once operated a few stores in the South. Rax is still around, but not in these parts. In fact, when I went vegetarian at age 14 in 1994, I missed French dip subs the most.

Since 1994, I've only had two vegan French dip subs. One is on the menu at Imagine Vegan Cafe, and it's so perfect with its seitan steak filling and savory "beef" broth dip. But I recently ran across some Yves Roast Beef Slices on sale, and I knew just how I wanted to use them. I made a French Dip Sub at home!

It's so simple that I can't believe I'd not done it earlier. For the broth, I heated a little water seasoned with soy sauce, vegan Worcestershire sauce, and onion powder. The sandwich was just the slices and a little Miso Mayo on a steak roll.

Another childhood comfort food I've missed for years is Broccoli Cheese Soup. And I recently found an easy recipe for a vegan version on Pixiepine's blog!

I served this with my sub. It's basically like a vegan noochy sauce with broccoli — just nutritional yeast, flour, water, garlic powder, Earth Balance, onions, and broccoli. This was perfect on this ridiculously cold night.

What non-vegan foods do you miss the most?

20 comments:

Southern Purple Veggie said...

The one thing that I miss is ceaser salad from pizza bella, I grew up on eating that my whole life. However it is far from being vegan.

Jagadeesh said...

I miss gummy worms!!! That's the only thing (at this moment)! Pepperoni sometimes. Smoked sausage. Cured meats. Let's see what we can do to wrangle up a recipe for a good vegan muffaletta, emkai?

Scissors and Spice said...

I miss my mom's Buche de Noel the most. That thing is all egg whites and cocoa powder and whipped cream. There is no way to capture it eggless. There isn't even flour in it!

Anonymous said...

I remember Rax also, I used to love their sandwiches!! What I miss is the deviled crabs that they sell at the supermarkets around here, I ate them all the time before going vegetarian years ago.

Shannon said...

I missed broccoli and cheese soup tons too, but I found this recipe and it fixed all that. While I'm sure there are loads more calories then in your nooch based soup, this thick daiya version was really what I was after.

http://www.cybelepascal.com/?p=1928

foodfeud said...

The soup looks great. Funny the base is pretty much watery sauce, haha.

VeggieLow said...

swedish meatballs with egg noodles! i never really ate red meat ever... except for meatballs... used to gobble them up. i can make pretty good meatballs for spaghetti w/ gimme lean, but just can't nail the swedish flavorings/sauce... one of these days!

Babette said...

That looks good! I think I could say there is not much I miss, because nowadays we can do pretty much everything ourselves, with the help of Daiya and other fake products, of course, but I miss the convenience, the ability to order some junk food anywhere.

Caitlin said...

your broccoli and cheese soup looks so good! i love the huge chunks of broccoli ;)

i honestly don't know what i miss at this point..i'm pretty content with my diet ;)

climbinvegan said...

I really miss munster cheese and applesauce... which sounds really weird- but tastes awesome.
In society, I miss being able to order whatever I wanted in restaurants without the fear of cross contamination, and I miss having everyone accept my dietary choice. Thats ok though, being vegan is so worth it!

Ali - YumVeggieBurger said...

yum! i am going to try that soup, sounds delicious :)

Leslie Richman said...

Yum- nice combo!

Erin said...

Oh my god, I totally used to eat at Rax too. I loved their salad bar because it had pudding. There's not much I miss that I can't replicate now, but I do miss the blue box of mac n cheese...not the mac n cheese itself really, but the ease of preparation.

Tami said...

Bianca, thanks for your post on my blog. You are very sweet. I can't wait for your book to come out!

tender b. said...

Rax? I thought there was only one of them, a random location in Carlisle, PA. I loved their roast beef too but once they left I stopped eating them.

Anonymous said...

Oh my...that soup looks awesome. I bet using the Leahey's cheese mix would work as well. And I have a big ol' bag!

Caz said...

while i think cheese wasn't too hard to give up, i really miss cottage cheese! i get crazy cravings and haven't found a good substitute yet. daiya or toffuti need to get on that!

Jess of Midwest Vegan said...

Ahh... yogurt. For sure. And smoked gouda cheese. Oh, and the occasional turkey sandwich. Actually, that's about it. I've never really liked meat and I'm lactose intolerant, so I was primed for the vegan diet. Lol. :)

Oh... and the occasional Zinger!

Sarah Creighton said...

That broccoli soup looks too good! But then again I'm partial to broccoli (maybe 'cuz of a lil' book I wrote about it..."The Boy Who Loved Broccoli"). Anyway, I really miss cheese but can get by on the Daiya shreds as long as they're all melty and gooey yummy!
-Sarah with VeggieKids.Blogspot

The Soulful Vegan said...

I adore your Blog Post Vegan Crunk! I'd say I miss cheese for sure, if I had to pick!
-Keep it up!
Bethany @ thesoulfulvegan.blogspot.com