On a whim this week I bought I.M. Healthy’s SoyNut butter, a peanut butter alternative made with roasted soynuts. It has 30% less fat than regular peanut butter, uses non-GMO soybeans, and is made in a peanut-free facility (great for folks that are deathly allergic to peanuts). It comes in original, honey, unsweetened, and chocolate varieties, and each one is available in creamy or chunky (except for the chocolate).

I tried a jar of the creamy original flavor and was amazed by how tasty it was. It has the exact same color and consistency of creamy peanut butter and its flavor, while not exactly matching, is extremely good. Pricewise, a regular sized jar cost me $3.99 at Giant. It tastes great with jelly or alone.

In case you haven’t noticed, last night I updated the About page and added a Cookbook Capsule Review page.

The Tunisian Vegetable Stew from Moosewood Cooks at Home came out beautifully. There were a lot of different flavors that blended well—the various spices did a great job of pulling them together. Every bite seemed to have a distinct taste to it.

It was also an attractive dish, served over couscous and topped with freshly grated feta cheese and roasted almonds (which aren’t listed on the linked recipe, but appear in the book and really add a lot to the dish).

This one’s a keeper.

Tonight, Tunisian Vegetable Stew gets a chance.

I tried Eggless Egg Salad the other day. As you can probably tell from the ingredients, it wasn’t terribly tasty. The consistency was surprisingly close, and it didn’t taste awful, but was pretty bland, even with some sea salt and freshly ground pepper on top. It was a decent enough way to finish off the rest of a package of tofu, though, I guess.

This one looks like it would probably be a lot better.

Am I the only one who doesn’t really care that Paul McCartney says vegetarianism gives him more energy?

Experts spar over milks risk, benefit for kids

Interesting article in the Chicago Tribute describing the pro-milk, anti-milk battle. It actually presents a pretty thoughtful, even discussion of the issue.

A few new recipes to report on:

Southwestern Vegetarian Pasta
This is the first dish with a Southwestern edge that I’ve tried thusfar, and it came out very well. Good spices, tasty veggies, and the chickpeas added a nice consistency to the dish. Everybody at the table went back for seconds. I replaced the vegetable oil with extra virgin olive oil.

Chrissy’s Sweet ‘n’ Sour Tomato Salad
Huyen picked out and prepared this one. It’s a great cold salad for summer days. I replaced the vegetable oil with olive oil.

Ayurvedic Smoothie
Not too bad, but didn’t come out quite right. We didn’t have access to almond milk, so we substituted vanilla soy milk. We also nixed the protein powder and put in a pinch of wheat germ. The end result was a little too gritty (thanks to the wheat germ) and the taste was off-center (thanks to the vanilla soy milk substitution). [See also: a brief introduction to Ayurveda.]

White Wave sues Dean Foods over merger

White Wave, who makes Silk soy milk, is suing Dean Foods over a possible merger with Suiza Foods, who makes Sun Soy, Silk’s biggest competitor. (Paul on the assist)

And speaking of inhumane conditions in slaughterhouses:

USDA Blamed in Slaughter Violations