Last day in Portland - Shopping and good eats!

Of course it started out rainy; it's Portland!  Didn't stop Jodie the Picky Vegan from texting me out of bed to head over to the vegan mini-mall!

We popped into Herbivore first and I choose a bunch of cute recycled purse type things.  I've always wanted a seatbelt purse, so this little wristlet in front is perfect (also comes with a long purse strap.)  I skipped the heavy stuff like books, so I can keep my luggage under 50 lbs!

Then we stepped over to Food Fight Grocery.  Even though I didn't need any actual groceries, it was fun to look around when everything on the shelves is vegan!  I did pick up the cool tote bag and water bottle.

Just down the street a bit is the Hungry Tiger Too cafe.  One side of the menu is all Vegan!

Chicken and Waffles - the chicken is fried tofu and it was surprisingly flavorful with a chewy texture and the waffle was pretty darn perfect, too!

And since I've been enjoying the fake cheese and meats a bit to much over the last few days, I thought it was time I had a salad.  The citrus vinaigrette was fresh and light on a dreary day!

Jodi had one of the fancy burgers that was topped with crispy onions - that she loved, something bacony, and bbq sauce.

And when there's Mac-n-cheese on the menu how can you possibly resist.  Jodi had a good foodie word to describe the sauce at the time, but we can't remember what it was!  In any case, the garlicky cheesy sauce was bright and zippy!

Breakfast of champions - VVC day 2

I'm a sucker for a savory breakfast.  Portland brought out the best this morning with this smorgasbord of goodness.  

Breakfast pizza is da bomb.

It's really just oatmeal, and it's awesome - Viva Vegan Con day 1

So I'm here in Portland, Oregon.  I already checked into the Vida Vegan Con and picked up my awesome swag bag which is wicked heavy and needed to be stashed back at my hotel so I can walk around unencumbered.  Now I have a little time to kill and I'm starving.

I considered digging into my swag bag of treats, but really that should be for late night hotel snacking similar to raiding the mini-bar.

Did I mention I'm in the land of Portlandia?  Sometimes it's overwhelming when you know there should be vegan stuff at every corner, but nothing is popping out at you.

An then it does...

There's a block of semi-permanent looking food carts near my hotel.  Sonny's breakfast bowl is making me a happy camper.

Plus it's got cinnamon on it.  (The ninja is allergic to cinnamon, so I don't normally have it.)  

Super swag bag of awesomeness.  I didn't really dig through it all yet, but Kombucha starter kit.?  How cool is that!

Vida Vegan Con

My vacation is a vegan blogging conference.

http://vidavegancon.com

Bagels! Who knew they were so easy?

This is my 3rd round of homemade bagels in recent weeks, but I'm just getting to posting this time round.  I made bagels many years ago that turned out more like flagels than bagels.  I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to try again, but I'm really glad I did.  King Arthur Flour makes a high gluten Sir Lancelot flour that has a great recipe on the package.

Last weekend I made these with my mom in Delaware with Bread Flour and they were just as good.  I also got some authentic non-diastic malt powder for this round, but regular sugar works just as well.  I also topped half of them with Everything Bread & Bagel Topping.  

Enjoy with your favorite bagel spread.  I'm having cashew cream cheese from Artisan Vegan Cheese.

Other than using good, high protein/high gluten flour and following a recipe, there are some new tricks I learned.

1.  Unless you love kneading, use a bread machine on dough setting.  Or probably a food processor or kitchen-aid mixer with a dough hook.  The gluten needs to be worked well for this kind of smooth elastic consistency.  I know the bread machine does a better job than me and it's timed at 1.5 hours, so all I do it measure the ingredients and in an hour and a half I have perfect dough.

2.  Use a silpat.  Yes it probably costs more than the pan you're using, but make your life easy and get this non-stick beauty.  

3.  When you form the bagel hole, make it bigger than you think it should be.  It will shrink as they sit, then boil.  Not sure how to describe this, but I rolled it around my fingers through the center and this worked really well.

Here's the bagels being boiled

4.  If you're using a topping, put the bagels in the water right side up first, then flip.  This way the top will be on the bottom and you can slide onto your plate with the topping.  Then flip back on the baking sheet.  If you're not topping, do the opposite and put them in the water top side down, then flip, and slide onto the baking sheet.

After boiling with topping added.  Ready to Bake.

5.  Although you really should let them cool first, if the amazing smell of baking bagels is making your stomach growl so loud it scares the cats, then just go ahead and slice one right from the oven and enjoy.  You don't need to toast it.

Fresh from the oven.  Yum!

Rockin' Detox - Kaeng Raeng

I was sent a sample of the Kaeng Raeng 3-day beginner detox.  I ended up doing the cleanse during a busy time at work, so mixed them up when I was hungry and drank them before remembering I should take photos.  So I'm using a few stock pics from Kaeng Raeng.  

  

I mixed each one with water when I was ready to drink it.  I forgot once and made it with room temp water which was so good, so I threw in a few ice cubes.  I used a 32 oz mason jar which made the perfect amount.  I made the blue one once with unfiltered cashew milk which made it even thicker and satisfied me through the evening.  

I usually started out drinking half, but was still hungry so drank the other half shortly after.  I couple of times I had another big glass of water with it and I wasn't hungry for awhile.

There are 3 flavors, basically mango/peach, strawberry/raspberry and blueberry/banana.

The mango was just OK, and I thought it was a little watery tasting the first day, but by day 3, I had gotten used to it more.  

Both the red berry and blue were very good tasting and I thought more satisfying, so I started the day with the mango and had the other 2 later.

What I liked was that the program suggests raw vegan food like fruits and veggies in addition to the smoothies.  I did have a salad each day, but it was more the thought that it's OK to eat something that kept me going.    

I did lose 1.5 lbs in the 3 days which is always a bonus.  Helps the pants fit so I don't need to buy new pants.

I liked it so much I just ordered the 6 day Master cleanse so I'll send another update when I get through that.  It comes out to about $20 a day which is pretty reasonable for all the good stuff in it.  

Weekday lunch at Candle Cafe

I occasionally work from the office in NYC so I thought I'd take a walk up to Candle Cafe for lunch today. It's a little over 20 blocks each way so I got in a good 2 mile walk to boot.

I was hungry, so I went for the seitan burger and added daiya and tempeh bacon.  YUM!

I also had a nice fresh juice cocktail.  Greens and beets.

 

Here's a close up of the burger.  Hearty and delicious on a sesame seed bun

Meatless Monday Meet-up at Sweetgrass

One of my favorite local restaurants in Tarrytown, NY, Sweet Grass Grill has a weekly Meatless Monday tasting menu, so I've been setting up monthly meet-ups to take advantage of it.  Lately, they've had even more vegan options and sometimes a whole vegan Monday menu including dessert.  Woo-hoo!

The Beet Sliders were amazing.   What was really cool was that it was a slab of beet, not mixed all up like a ground burger.  It was perfectly chewy and wonderfully flavored.  This is a winner.  The indian spiced polenta fries were also delish with curry ketchup.  I totally stole the restaurant's photo.  Mine had a nice bite out of it and bad lighting.  I'll have to bug them next time for whatever bright space they used for this pic.

Vegan Monday Menu

 I forgot to ask why this was called a lollipop salad.  I dig kumquats.  Sweet on the outside sour on the inside. I hadn't thought to throw them in a salad before.  This was also nice.  We also had a healthy debate over the spelling on the menu.

Munched on beet burger...

  Dessert was chocolate espresso polenta.  It was dense and chocolatey and probably good for you.  A great way to end an evening.

The picky vegan was there as always, and I also met the Food Duo.  We'll all be in Portland in May for vegan blog-a-con! 

St. Patrick's Day Green Juice

Here's my contribution to St. Patrick's day.

Romaine lettuce, spinach, cucumber, celery, parsley, green apple, green grapes.

Grapefruit on cereal? Rip's Big Bowl

I read the Engine 2 Diet awhile ago and recently watched the Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue which features healthy kitchen ingredient make-overs for 2 families and some great looking recipies.  One of the "recipes" I never got around to trying before was "Rip's Big Bowl" for breakfast. I mean, it's just cereal, right?  But now that I've made it, I can see why it's a favorite.  It's got a lot going on.  4 kinds of cereal, dried fruit, fresh fruit including grapefruit*, and non-dairy milk.

The cereal part fits perfectly into a wide-mouth pint sized mason jar to easily transport to work.  It's about a 1/4 cup each Grapenuts, Uncle Sam's Cereal**, bite-sized Shreadded Wheat, and rolled oats.  The ground flax seeds, and raisins also fit in.

The grapefruit is kinda weird, but has the tangy tartness and sweetness similar to a strawberry, so I guess isn't that odd.

It's definitely a big bowl.  I'm having trouble finishing it.


*I forgot to pick up the grapefruit, but figured I'd try it out without it because grapefruit on cereal sounds weird anyway.  When I got to work, there was a grapefruit on my desk.  I still haven't figured out who gave it to me, but apparently the Universe provides. 

**I'd never heard of Uncle Sam's Cereal, but I found it in the natrual food section of the normal grocery store.

Million Bean Soup from Robin Robertson

Some beans, little bit of this, little bit of that, and voila, million bean soup!

A Crock Pot makes this easy soup a no brainier. There's a recipe, but most of the point is that there is no recipe!

I didn't have a bag of mixed dried beans to I took all the open bags of beans I had around the house and added some of each. Small white beans, kidney beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, and chick peas.

I also left out tomatoes and added some diced potatoes.

I took it another step and blended about half and added it back, so it has sort of a traditional black bean soup texture.

I've been enjoying it all week at work in my oversized teacup soup bowl.

There's no denying, Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day!

The Reuben just might be my favorite sandwich.  Toasty and tangy, it always satisfies.  This version features the Mushroom Tomato Slices from Tami and Celine's Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day!

 The Reuben is basically a grilled sandwich with a protein, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing.   Traditionally a Reuben is made with corned beef and swiss cheese, but it's the kraut and dressing that give it the boost of flavor.  Lots of vegan versions feature tempeh, but I enjoy the meaty bite of the seitan based Mushroom Tomato slices.  If you don't have rye bread, just sprinkle on some caraway seeds with the kraut for that deli rye flavor.

The gals have a whopping three Reubenesque recipes in the book from The Rachel (with cole slaw and bbq sauce!?!) to the One World Reuben to From Russia with Love.  Each making me wish I'd read the recipes again before making mine.  Tami rocks for sauces, but I used a cheater Vegenaise, pickle, and ketchup version of thousand island (aka special sauce.).  I did use Tami's secret and added some pickle juice to the sauce.  Dressing leftover from spreading on the sammy can be used to dunk the crispy parts in while your munching away.

The most ridiculous gadget you totally need - Chopped salad

Yes. It's just a bowl and a thing that looks like a double pizza cutter and it's awesome.

My building used to have a Hale and Hearty in it so it was really easy for me to grab a soup and salad for lunch. Now I've found a way to fend for myself with pretty much the same results.

I know it's silly, but I like salad better when it's chopped. One bite and you get a little bit of everything.

Hot Tamale Pie from Cookin' Crunk!

Sometimes recipes just call to me, like the Hot Tamale Pie from Bianca's amazing Southern cookbook Cookin' Crunk.  Check out her Vegan Crunk blog for lots of awesome recipes.

Spicy and savory, this hot dish is perfectly warming on a cold winter's day.  Side of salsa with fresh cashew sour cream and a little green tobasco.  Yum!

Here it is right out of the oven.  It'll be perfect for the next office pot luck!

Peanutty Sweet Potato Soup from Vegetarian Times

I needed to use up some sweet potatoes from my summer CSA that were trying to grow themselves  in my pantry.  I also had a jar of unopened jalapeño Harissa hiding in the cupboard that I had been meaning to try.  A quick internet search came up with this simple Vegetarian Times recipe which also includes peanut butter and spinach.  My mom used to make a peanut soup at Thanksgiving which I loved, so peanut butter in soup isn't that weird to me.  An immersion blender makes this a quick and easy one pot meal.

I topped it with some fresh cashew sour cream and a bit more spicy Harissa.  This would probably also be good with some sriracha if you're not into Harissa.