Product Review: Rawtella Stuffed French Toast

A vegan coffee shop here in Chicago sells rawtella in their cafe. I've heard about this product before so I thought I would try it out. I don't have much to compare it too, though, because I've never had Nutella before (shocking, I know)! Of course, one could always makes their own vegan Nutella. There are several recipes floating around out there that I hear are pretty delicious.

The flavor I tried out was the original chocolate hazelnut. I completely understand why people put this on toast now or with bananas. It's good! I imagine rawtella is similar to Nutella and making it would be pretty fun. If you're feeling lazy, though, this is a neat product to have in your cupboard.


Speaking of things I have never tried... I've never had a meal of "real" french toast either! I was never fond of the prominent taste of egg and french toast was always too egg-y for me. The Chicago Diner has vegan french toast which I've had there. With this rawtella, I decided to make a vegan stuffed french toast. It was really tasty! It definitely is missing a certain taste of that egg wash feel, but it's a pretty good replacement.

Rawtella Stuffed French Toast

* Prep Time: 10 minutes
* Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
* Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegan butter*
• 4 tbsp corn starch
• 1 cup non-dairy milk*
• 4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp sugar*
• 6 tbsp all-purpose flour
• pinch salt
• 2 slices vegan challah bread, cut in 1-1.5 in. slices*
• 2-3 tbsp rawtella or vegan nutella
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• powdered sugar, to taste
• maple syrup, to taste
• vegan whipped cream, to taste*

* Recipe:

1. Heat the vegan butter in a medium sized skillet over low-medium heat.
2. In a bowl, combine the cornstarch and non-dairy milk well until all clumps are gone. Add the vanilla extract, sugar, flour, and salt. Combine until a smooth batter is formed.
3. Spread rawtella on one side of each piece of bread. Press together to form a sandwich with the rawtella on the inside.
4. Coat one side of the sandwich with the batter. Fry in the skillet until golden brown.
5. Pour batter over the other side of the sandwich and flip over. Allow to fry until golden brown.
6. Dust with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Serve with maple syrup and vegan whipped cream.

* Note: I used Earth Balance for vegan butter. For non-dairy milk, I used hemp milk as that's what I had. Feel free to use whatever you like. Make sure your sugar is vegan! I found vegan challah bread at the store (which really surprised me). Use any sort of thick, fluffy bread you can find. You want it to be similar to brioche (sans all the eggs in the bread). Soyatoo makes a canned vegan whipped cream that's pretty awesome. They carry it at the Whole Foods near me, but you can order it online too.

Shephard’s Pie Stuffed Portobello

This recipe was a spur of the moment thing this week. It was really good! These were accompanied by my really awesome vegetable soup I made earlier this week and a salad.

Shepard's Pie Stuffed Portobello

* Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
* Cook Time: 25 minutes
* Ingredients:

• 2 large portobello caps, stems & "gills" removed
• 1 8-10 oz bag of frozen peas and carrots
• 1 lb red creamer potatoes, peeled & quartered
• 1 8 oz Upton’s Naturals Ground Beef seitan*
• ½ onion, diced
• Pinch of salt (to sautee onions)
• 4 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup vegan cream of mushroom soup*
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp vegan soy butter*
• ½ cup almond milk*
• 2 tbsp dried or fresh chives
• Vegan Parmesan Cheese, as need*
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil (for cooking seitan)
• Salt & pepper, to taste

* Recipe:

1. After potatoes are peeled and quartered, place the potatoes and garlic cloves in a sauce pan with water at least an inch above potatoes. Salt and bring to a boil.
2. Once the potatoes are soft enough to stick a fork into and they break apart, remove from heat and strain the water. In the sauce pan or a separate bowl, add the boiled potatoes, soy butter, almond milk, and chives. Mash to a smooth consistency.
3. While potatoes are boiling, start to prepare the filling. Heat a skillet with the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions and pinch of salt; sweat until the onions are translucent. Next, crumble the seitan into the skillet and brown. Time to add the peas and carrots. Add the peas and carrots to the skillet and cook until tender.
4. While the vegetables are cooking, preheat the oven to 375°F.
   
5. In a cup, mix the cornstarch and cream of mushroom soup until the cornstarch is evenly mixed. Add to the seitan mixture and stir until even coated. Cook for just a few minutes until the soup has thickened and remove from the heat.Using a spoon, start stuffing the mushrooms with the seitan mixture. Be sure to pack the mixture in so that all the gaps are filled.  Top the mushrooms with the mashed potatoes liberally; you are basically sealing the stuffing in. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top and place in the oven to 10 minutes on the top rack.
6. After 10 minutes, place the oven on broil and let the tops brown, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.
    

* Note: Upton's Naturals is a local Chicago seitan company. They sell their faux meats here in Chicagoland. You could use other seitan-style meat crumbles such as Boca Ground Crumbles. For cream of mushroom soup, I used Imagine Foods Natural Creamy Portobello Mushroom soup. For soy butter, I used Earth Balance. Feel free to use whatever type of non-dairy milk you want. I just keep almond milk at home over soy milk, etc. Lastly, for vegan Parmesan I used Vegan Topping by Galaxy Nutritional Foods. You can find the soup, soy butter, and cheese at your local health food store or places like Whole Foods.