Accidentally Vagan

If you Google "accidentally vegan" you'll find tons of sites that list foods you can find at any grocery store that just happen to be vegan (well you'll probably find the same list copied to many sites). But my list is just some of my favorites.

Crisco- I was blown away when I found out this was vegan, I got excited when at first glance the butter flavor seemed vegan, but that pesky "natural flavor" ended up being sourced from animals. I'm excited about the crisco because although I can make cream cheese frosting for cakes, it's expensive and buttercream frosting using the Crisco is a lot more cost efficient. Shortening is also a key ingredient for a good pie crust.

Tubs of frosting- I JUST invested in a large tub of Crisco when I happened to glance at a tub of frosting and found no dairy, eggs, or even natural flavorings. Could this be? Vegan frosting? I guess it makes sense, I mean if they used a vegetable shortening like I do at home. I checked many flavors and brands and found as long as it wasn't the obvious cream cheese or milk chocolate flavor, a lot of them were vegan. It IS more expensive than making it myself, but when on sale and with an easy to acquire coupon, less than $1 is a good price to not have to clean my mixer. FYI, some of the brands have those pesky ingredients that may have come from plant or animal, it's always a good idea to contact the company (a quick call to their 800 number) before you consume.

Puff pastry- This was a total win for me, for years I was daydreaming of all the creations I could make with some puff pastry. Then one day I looked up how to make it myself and quickly realized that the sheer complication and time consumption of making puff pastry from scratch would never be worth it. I'm not sure how I came to realize it, but Pepperidge Farm makes vegan puff pastry (you can find it in most grocery stores in the frozen dessert section). It is a little more than I was hoping spend, so I didn't end up making all those fancy pants h'orderves I dreamed about, but it's always on sale around the holidays and it's a special splurge my family makes to help dress our homemade turkey (but that's another post).

Blue Bonnet Lite- I am in love with this butter, I can get a large tub of it for a whole lot less than the natural butter substitutes from the health food section. The taste is more of a buttery flavor than a margarine flavor, and even right out of the fridge it's consistency is that of a room temperature butter so it spreads like a dream. Because of the amazing consistency, it does suggest that you don't bake with it, for that I usually have a backup stick of a more expensive butter hidden in the back of the fridge.