Vegetarian Deli at Home - Mushroom Lunch Meat and Almond Cheese

As I've noted before, as a good Northeastern Jewish girl, I've spent a lot of time eating deli food.  Clearly, as a vegetarian, I'm not eating corned beef, BLTs or tuna melts any more.  But, I did have a curiosity about vegetarian lunch meats and if they would be a passable substitute in a deli style sandwich.  To that end, I decided to make myself a vegetarian melt.

Some of the more popular vegan and vegetarian items, like Tofurky Deli Slices or Light Life's Smart Deli brand are off limits to me because of the soy.  But, Field Roast Grain Meat Company makes vegan deli slices that are soy free.  Varieties include lentil sage, wild mushroom and smoked tomato.  The only version I saw available at Whole Foods was the wild mushroom variety, so I grabbed that.

I had been eating regular cheese on occasion, but it's been upsetting my stomach more and more, so I'm cutting back.  Daiya has been a terrific option for me (in fact, I'll be using it in tonight's vegan cooking experiment - stay tuned), but I was curious to try a "nut cheese."  The raw food and vegan communities have embraced this type of "cheese," which has a similar texture to dairy, but healthier fats and no animal products.

At Whole Foods, I was able to pick up a shredded almond cheddar style cheese by Lisanatti Foods.  Upon closer inspection, I saw that the cheese contains casein, which is milk protein.  So, this cheese is not appropriate for those who are strictly vegan, those with milk allergies or those avoiding casein for dietary reasons.  So, you may, ask - why bother?  Well, like I mentioned earlier, I've been having stomach trouble with dairy-based cheese, but I was curious as to whether I can even tolerate casein.  Also, if you do a side by side comparison of one serving (1oz or 28 grams) of almond style cheese versus regular full-fat cheddar cheese, it looks something like this:

	Almond Cheddar Cheese	Traditional Cheddar Cheese
Calories	63	110
Fat	3g	5g
Saturated Fat	0g	5g
Cholesterol	0g	25mg
Sodium	190mg	180mg
Protein	7g	7g
Calcium	25% DV	20mg

So, there are some nutritional advantages here, especially if you're looking to avoid saturated fat and cholesterol.

With all that background, back to my deli melt experiment.  Our local market has excellent fresh pumpernickel bread, so we picked up a loaf of that.  I fired up our toaster oven and put in two slices of the  pumpernickel, topping them each with a wild mushroom deli slice and a generous sprinkle of almond cheese.  I let it go in the toaster oven at 400 until the almond cheese melted to my satisfaction.  Like daiya and other soy cheeses, it didn't get as gooey as traditional cheese, but it did achieve a decent meltiness.

I topped my open faced sandwich with spinach leaves and sliced grape tomatoes.  The taste evaluation?  Fell solidly in the "decent" level.  I wasn't swooning over it, but it wasn't awful either.  The texture was good, and the cheese especially had a good mouthfeel to it.  The biggest bonus?  No allergic reaction whatsoever, which, after a week where I've been particularly soy sensitive, was a welcome relief.

I think the deli slices will be a good addition to my convenience product staples - sometimes, I may not have time to make a proper lunch, so it will be nice to have these handy if I want to make a quick sandwich. 

A Vegetarian Walks Into a Deli

When you think "deli," vegetarian rarely, if ever, comes to mind.  But, given I was raised Jewish and the Northeast, deli is as close to a sacred eating experience as I can get.  When I was more pescetarian than vegetarian, deli was easy - lox & cream cheese on a bagel. But now that I have eliminated seafood from my diet, and that I'm also cutting back on dairy, would I still be able to enjoy a good Deli meal?

Enter Bubby's, a new deli on Cordell Avenue in Downtown Bethesda.  At first glance, Bubby's is your traditional deli - luncheon meats, rye bread and lots and lots of pickles.  I figured I'd be able to get a cheese sandwich or a salad, or perhaps some tabouleh.  But, this morning, when I checked out the menu on Bubby's website, I found some pleasant surprises.  Not only were there vegetarian options, but a number of vegan options!  These include:

• Southwestern Quinoa Salad: Mixed baby greens, quinoa, avocado, black beans, corn and toasted pepitas with orange vinaigrette (Vegan)
• Roasted Garden Vegetable Sandwich: Eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, mushrooms, pickled red onion, spinach, chickpea puree and balsamic glaze on ciabatta (Vegan)
• Powerhouse Sandwich: House-made hummus, sprouts, avocado, cucumber, lettuce, pickled red onion and tomato piled high on ciabatta roll (Vegan)
• Crispy Eggplant Sandwich: Eggplant, black olive tapenade, roasted tomato and provolone on ciabatta (Vegetarian)
• The Vegan Burger: Housemade vegan mushroom grain burger with lettuce, tomato, pickled red onion and "Bubby's Vegan Sauce" (Vegan)
• Crispy Eggplant Stack: Eggplant slices, layered with sauteed spinach over Ratatouille (Vegan) 

 For my meal, I opted to try The Vegan Burger.  It was good, though, in retrospect, I'd recommend the following tweaks - cut down on the spicy Vegan sauce, which was a bit overwhelming, and switch to a ciabatta or whole grain roll versus the overwhelming Kaiser.  But the "burger" had a nice flavor, and it paired well with the crisp lettuce and juicy tomato garnish.

The owner, Jeff Manas (who I recognized from his picture in the entryway), stopped by my table to ask how my meal was.  He then said, "You ordered The Vegan Burger, right?  We make that from scratch in house!"  I told him that I had and that I enjoyed it.  He then told me his son came up with the recipe.  When I said I was pleasantly surprised to see so many vegan and vegetarian options available, he explained that his son and his daughter-in-law were vegans and thus they decided to make multiple vegan options available.