Where to buy nutritional yeast in Gainesville

If you're new to vegan food, you may be hesitant when a recipe that calls for "nutritional yeast." Outside of the vegan and niche health food world, nutritional yeast does not get much mention, despite being, well, nutritious.

But don't let your fear hold you back. You can find this cheese replacement in many stores in Gainesville.

The cheapest place to buy nutritional yeast, or "nooch,"  in Gainesville is at the bulk bins at Ward's Supermarket. Other places that stock nooch in town include Citizen's Co-op, Earth Origins (formerly Mother Earth), Publix, and Trader Joe's.

Bean Salad recipe

Not sure if it's my laziness or my lack of an attention span, but over-complicated recipes scare me. This is about as simple as it gets, but it's amazing and filling.

Time: 10 mins (5 mins prep)

Ingredients:

1 cup of black beans

1 cup of white beans

1/2 cup of finely chopped onions

1/2 cup of finely chopped pepper

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp chopped cilantro

Method:

Mix everything in a bowl. Cover and let sit in refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

Yield: 8 servings

Nutrition facts per serving:

177 calories - 0.6g total fat - 119mg sodium - 32.7g total carb - 8.3 g fiber - 1.4g sugar - 11.6g protein

Why Gainesville Is Awesome: The Tempeh Shop

One of the questions I hate answering more than "where do you get your protein" is the unavoidable "what is THAT?" whenever I'm seen eating tempeh (which I do quite a bit). Tempeh, despite being found in most major markets (the Publix here in carries it in their produce aisle), is still a big mystery. And with good reason. That's because tempeh, like a good loaf of bread, is best when made as locally as possible. Tempeh is actually pretty easy to make at home, although it does take time. However, I'm not so sure I'm ready to go out and buy myself a tempeh making set-up right this second (although I've considered it!). For people like me, Jose Caraballo has a solution.

Jose runs The Tempeh Shop here in Gainesville, and he's the reason why you see tempeh on pretty much every vegan-friendly restaurant menu in Gainesville. Not only is he awesome enough to sell his tempeh to restaurants all over Florida, he sells his tempeh directly to the public.
You can buy Jose's tempeh by the pound at Ward's Supermarket and Citizen's Co-op, but I would really suggest that you swing by the The Tempeh Shop's stand at the Union Street Farmer's Market, open from 4-7pm each Wednesday, where you can buy their tempeh for only $5/lb! Not only is it cheap tempeh, but they're pretty cool people too.

If you're just looking for a protein boost but want to avoid all the hexane is most commercially produced protein powders, The Tempeh Shop also makes protein powders out of their tempeh.

Vegan Gainesville Listings

Updated 4/29/2014


Vegan food in Midtown Gainesville

-El Indio has tempeh and bean burritos, bean tacos, and even tempeh burgers. Just ask them to hold the dairy.
-Leonardo's By The Slice has vegan slices and pies. Next door, Bistro 1245 also has a vegan dish or two.
-Relish Big Tasty Burgers has a vegetarian burger, not sure if it's vegan
-Pita Pit has plenty of vegan options.
-Flaco's has their sunshine tofu/tempeh option for bowls, sandwiches, or arepas, just make sure you specify no cheese.
-Mother's has a Tempeh Burger ($3 on Wednesdays) just ask about the bread they're using that day
-Karma Cream has vegan sandwiches
-Chipotle's bean burritos are vegan


Vegan food in Downtown Gainesville

-Boca Fiesta has plenty of vegan options, and maybe even a raw vegan option if you're lucky.
-The Top has plenty of vegan dishes on its menu
-Loving Hut, open from 3-7pm on Wednesday at the Farmer's Market
-Flaco's
-Relish (see above)


Other notable Gainesville places with vegan food

-Satchel's Pizza offers vegan options for their pizzas and calzones

-Vegan 2 Go is near Oaks Mall (at the old Green Mango) and is fairly decent

Sprouting About

Ever see those tasty little skinny things that sometimes end up in your sandwich, salad or stir-fry and not know what they are? They're sprouts, annnd they're awesome. They're crunchy, slightly nutty, but are said to pack an even better nutrient profile than its dried version. I carry a ziploc of sprouts with me everywhere and they make an awesome vegan snack.

Most seeds and beans (which are biologically also seeds) can be sprouted very easily. And although <i>most</i> sprouted seeds are edible, commonly seen sprouts include:

-Alfalfa sprouts (mostly in sandwiches, Subway and Jimmy John's carry this kind of sprout)
-Mung bean sprouts (commonly found in Asian cooking)
-Sunflower seed sprouts
-Brocolli sprouts
-Quinoa sprouts

Grocery stores usually have alfalfa sprouts in plastic boxes in the produce aisles, but packaged sprouts, aside from looking really depressing about 80% of the time, are highly notorious for beng contaminated with nasty, flesh-eating bacteria.

So, what the fuuuuck, right? Really, but not really. Making sprouts at home is easy, and they taste much better than the sad-looking sprouts in a grocery or sub store (aww =[).

HOW TO SPROUT
time: 3-7 days

1 - take whatever dried seed you're working with and rinse it thoroughly.

2 - place in a jar or container and cover the seeds with about 2-4 inches of water. these things are going double in size pretty soon, so if you're using more than two cups or so, I suggest using multiple containers

3 - take jar and put in a dry, dark area overnight (you can also use a dark container and not worry about lighting)

4 - next morning, rinse and drain seeds, then return to (dry) container and let sit for a few more hours.

Note: I use a special plastic drainer to make sure the container keeps dripping away the water, but you can always use rubber bands and cheesecloth and get the same results (and still manage to retain your punk cred)

5 - at this point they should sprout and grow pretty quickly, so just continue to rinse and drain the sprouts 2-3 times a days until they grow to your desired length.

Trader Joe's coming to Gainesville

It's not listed on their website or anything, but the Alachua County Clerk of Court records show that Trader Joe's, a specialty food grocer based out of California, is set to open a store on Archer Rd. in Gainesville.

Ever since Trader Joe's opened their first Florida location down in Naples, there's been talk of a Trader Joe's opening up in Gainesville as well. This new store will be TJ's third store in Florida, with its Sarasota location opening up in September.

Roasted Seitan Ciabatta Sandwich