Budget cooking: It's actually vegan this time, I totally swear

So it has been brought to my attention that honey is not vegan. I think that is bullshit, but I'm not a vegan, so my ideas don't matter to their classification one way or the other. Anyway, none of that matters, because this time I'm totally super serious and confident that I made a vegan meal tonight. I even used fake butter and fake cream! Granted, I did make sandwiches, but they were, like, really fucking good sandwiches.

While I was at Kroger Saturday, I spent a long time staring blankly at the wall in the produce department trying to figure out what to get. I didn't want to keep getting the same old shit, but there wasn't a whole lot else available. Then I saw them: a small pile of eggplants near the edge of the section. I grabbed one, and the rest will be history. 

I sliced up some of the eggplant on my mandolin, chopped up a little red onion and a few stalks of asparagus, sliced up a mushroom and a couple tomatoes, and diced a big-ass clove of garlic. I started off by seasoning the eggplant slices with salt and pepper, then sautéed them in fake butter. They got all limp and shit, but it was okay.

After the eggplant slices were removed from the pan, I added some more fake butter and a little olive oil, then dropped in my chopped onion. I let that cook until the edges got all brown, then removed them, too.

Next up was the asparagus, mushroom, and garlic. I let those cook for a few minutes while I started putting together the sandwiches.

I sliced open my bread and put a little extra virgin olive oil down, then laid a couple eggplant slices on each piece.

I then added a few pieces of red onion to each, the laid some tomato slices across them, too. Notice I've got them all sitting on a baking pan with some foil down. That's important. Ish. I laid the asparagus/mushroom/garlic combo on top of the tomato slices and got started on my sauce.

Miraculously, I was able to make a roux with the fake butter. I've tried it many times before, but it never really worked well. I don't remember what kind I got, but that's the kind I'm gonna keep getting (when I decide not to have good butter...). If you're unfamiliar with a roux, you melt butter and add flour on low heat, mixing it constantly to make a nice little blob of thick tastiness. Let it get a little brown, then add whatever else you want. I went with some white wine first, then some fake cream (in this case, it was Califia Farms' Barista Blend, which is the best fake cream for cooking I've found around here) to make a pseudo-bechamel, adding a little salt and a lot of pepper. I also dumped in some spinach leaves and let them cook down a little bit in there, plus some chopped basil for flavor.

After the sauce was how I wanted it, I spooned a little bit across each sandwich, broiled the sandwiches on high for a few minutes, then plated them up with a little extra bit of basil leaf on top. Overall, the sandwiches were pretty good, but I want to try for a lighter sauce next time I do this. I also need to make sure I cut the eggplant a little thicker next time, but, otherwise, I was pleased with this one.