Vegan Teese Brand Cheese Sticks

Vegan Teese Brand Cheese Sticks

* Prep Time: 2 hours
* Cook Time: 20 minutes
* Ingredients:

• 1 mozarella Teese, ends cut and then cut into 1/4" wide sticks (some will be funny shaped since the Teese is a roll)*
• 1 cup of egg re-placer mixed to liquid as directed (more maybe depending on use)*
• 1 can organic Italian herb breadcrumbs*
• Italian seasoning
• "Parmesan" cheese*
• Sea salt
• Olive oil

* Recipe:

1.  Combine breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese, and salt salt on a plate.
2. One by one, dip each stick in egg re-placer then dredge in seasoned breadcrumbs and gently press any loose crumbs. Place aside. 
3. Once all of the sticks have been dredged, repeat the process by placing the first dredged stick in the egg re-placer and dredge a second time. 
4. Place on a cookie sheet or other container so the cheese sticks are not touching each other and place in the freezer until frozen, at least an 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours.
5. In a skillet, place enough olive oil to cover half of the stick while laying down. Fry until golden brown, gently flipping to fry the top side. 
6. Gently remove from oil and place on a wire rack to allow oil to drain and cool.

* Note: If the cheese sticks are too hot, they will just fall apart when you bite into them. Wait a bit for them to cool. One may try baking them too, but I did not. For these cheese sticks, I used Chicago Soydairy's Teese cheese. For egg re-placer, I used Bob's Red Mill Vegetarian Egg Replacer. For bread crumbs, I used Edward & Sons Organic Italian Herb Breadcrumbs. Lastly, for Parmesan cheese, I used Galaxy Vegan Topping.

Vegan Montreal

This weekend, I went to Montreal for a few days. Montreal is lovely; a bit of old Europe in North America. They have a several vegan restaurants and vegan/vegetarian-friendly restaurants. I only got the chance to go to one of them because the others were lunch spots or closed. I tried going to Bonnys Vegetarian and Organic Cuisine, but the owner was sick so it was closed. The other restaurants I heard were good but did not try Aux Vivres, Le Commensal, and Lola Rosa Cafe. We plan on going back to Montreal since it is only a 2 hour plane ride from Chicago, so I'm excited to try these restaurants.


We went to a great Lebanese restaurant on Rue Sherbrooke, but I didn't write down the name of it. Located across the street from the hotel, it was a tasty jaunt over. We had fattoush, tabbouleh, homemade hummus and baba ghanoush, and a chickpea soup type dish with olive oil, onion, radish, tomato, and spices - all with pita.

For the two nights I was there, I went to ChuChai, a Thai vegetarian restaurant. This restaurant is a bit pricey, but worth it! They have a whole line of mock meats including shrimp, fish, beef, chicken, and duck. They also have only vegetable dishes and vegetable dishes with tofu. The menu is truly extensive. Since it is Thai, most of the dishes are influenced by the cuisine. For example, they have several varieties of Tom Yum soup with various types of meat and/or coconut milk, several types of dumplings and spring rolls, and each section of mock meat has their own specialty entrees.


Above is a picture of the peanut sauce chicken with crispy spinach.

 Vegan wonton soup.

Tom Yum soup with vegan shrimp.

Crispy, deep-fried seaweed with tangy sauce.

Vegan duck with spinach in a soy sauce dressing.

My favorite dishes were the wonton soup and the vegan duck. The duck surprisingly tasted a lot like real duck... which was odd, but interesting. Other dishes we tried were bok choy with shiitake mushrooms, Chinese chicken salad, pan fried dumplings, and lychee for dessert. Overall, I am excited to go back to Montreal and try new restaurants!