Squirrel’s Vegan Kitchen

Yum, yum, yum! We had some fun last week in faux meat land. Food Fight carries several different kinds of Asian faux meat, the only one we’d tried up to this point was the chik’n nuggets. But everyone kept talking about the famed ham tube, a large frozen cylinder of faux ham with strange, sex-toy looking nodules all over it. The combination of its tube form and the freaky texture has never made it really enticing, per say, but all the hype got to me and I had to buy one.

It’s a big tube, so the first evening I made a quick pressure-cooker corn and potato chowder with some lightly friend ham cubes. It’s not really so hammy, but it makes for a good faux meat fix.

We planned on having a heathen Easter dinner anyway, so what’s better than a glazed ham tube to top the whole event?

Let me tell you, I was not that crazy about it in the chowder, but this glazed ham tube, which I glazed with a mixture of agave, apricot preserves and a hint of dijon, was SO good! I spiral cut it before glazing it and baked it covered in foil for about 1 1/2 hours at 350, turning it every 20 minutes or so. It really nicely glazed and was incredibly flavorful. And what’s more fun than saying you made a spiral cut glazed ham tube for Easter?

Here’s the whole meal: mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, homemade wheat rolls, steamed broccoli and, of course, the ham tube!

On Saturday they FINALLY came and replaced our new/broken oven and brought us our new/working oven, so I had to try it out. And what a better dessert to break in a new oven with than a Boston Cream Pie! This recipe is from my upcoming (coming up really soon!) cookbook, The Damn Tasty! Vegan Baking Guide.

Two fluffy yellow cake layers with a thick layer of vanilla cream in the middle, coated with chocolate ganache and, on Sunday, decorated with fresh strawberries. Jim and I were both huge BCP fans when we were omnis and I try not to make this too often because it doesn’t last long in our house. We polished off the last piece tonight, actually.

And as my gift to you, the recipe for this springtime treat is on my Recipes page. Enjoy!