Curried Carrot-Coconut Salad

Every Sunday and Wednesday nights mark the biweekly grocery shopping excursions embarked upon to replenish the Ferry House refrigerator with its usual bounty of fresh produce. However, because a house full of 21 hungry veg*n college students shares this bounty, it disappears into happy tummies. Fast. So fast that by the time the upcoming grocery shopping trip rolls around, one will most likely find a quite empty Ferry refrigerator. Case in point:

This temporary dearth of veggies proves most disheartening to the Ferry House members responsible for cooking dinner on Sunday and Wednesday night, seeing as grocery shopping happens after or during dinnertime. This Sunday, my spunky fellow Ferry-er Tamsin and I faced the refrigerator displayed above while charged with creating a satisfying meal for our 20 other house members. Containing nothing other than tomatoes, carrots, green bell peppers, garlic, lemons, and the previous night’s leftovers, the refrigerator essentially defined our dinner menu: a salsa of roasted tomatoes, peppers, and garlic; leftover adzuki-amaranth patties refurbished into a “pilaf” with lemon juice; and a shredded carrot salad.

Amazingly, Tamsin and I managed to create three rather phenomenally flavored dishes, but the carrot salad in particular stood out as the highlight of dinner. Tangy, succulent, and refreshing with the coconut’s tropical hint, the curry’s mellow spiciness, and the maple syrup’s deep sweetness, this salad earned multiple compliments from my dear Ferries. Though not available to Tamsin and I in the house’s brief food shortage, raisins and scallions would make lovely additions to this salad.

Curried Carrot-Coconut Salad—Raw, Soy Free, Nut Free, Low Sodium, Low Fat

Serves 8-10.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs carrots (about 8 large carrots), shredded
2/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1-1 1/2 tsp curry powder
Black pepper and salt to taste

Combine the shredded carrots and coconut in a large bowl. Mix well until combined.

Whisk together the maple syrup, oil, vinegar, and curry powder. Pour over the carrot mixture and toss until well-coated. Serve and enjoy!

Comment Provoking Questions: What are some of your favorite improvised dishes?

Until next time, Ali.

Virtual Vegan Potluck 2013: Pomegranate-Infused Brown Rice Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash, Cauliflower, Hazelnuts, and Arugula

 

Today I could not harbor more excitement toward participating in the third biannual Virtual Vegan Potluck! Hosted by three dedicated vegan bloggers, Virtual Vegan Potluck connects vegan bloggers worldwide in an online extravaganza of vegan recipe-sharing and food-gawking. Each participating blogger signs up to post a recipe for an appetizer, a beverage, a bread, a salad, a side dish, a soup, a main dish, or a dessert at exactly the same time on exactly the same day to simulate a real-life potluck for our beloved online vegan community. This year’s potluck garnered 169 participants—the largest turnout yet—and I cannot wait to see what plant-based compassionate yummies everyone cooked up.

For my contribution to the virtual party, I signed up to create a refreshing yet complexly flavored salad in celebration of the hot-weather foods I’ve craved since the onset of springtime. Way back in January during my college winter break, I visited my good friend and current housemate at his permanent residence in Brooklyn, NY. After meeting my friend at his capoeira class, I excitedly received a full tour of the vibrant Park Slope neighborhood in which he grew up, stopping at independent bookstores, health food co-ops, and Prospect Park along the way. Late in the afternoon, my friend and I met up with his mother and brother at the Brooklyn Museum to see the mind-boggling “Gravity and Grace” exhibition by Nigerian artist El Anatsui.

Having not eaten a proper meal for the entire day, my friend requested after we departed from the museum that we stop into a nearby modern café and deli called Lincoln Station. The sleekly decorated local-centric eatery serves soups, salads, and sandwiches to order, as well as an array of deli items made fresh daily. Though not a vegan business by any means, the café did offer a respectable array of animal-free options, including a delightful farro salad in which my friend chose to partake. Emphatically singing the praises of this salad as he munched, my friend eloquently narrated how each individual ingredient—roasted butternut squash and cauliflower, toasted hazelnuts, and arugula—sang with purity of flavor while peppered among the chewy, nutty farro and lightly coated in a simple, lemony dressing.

Upon returning to our home of Ferry House at Vassar, my friend requested that we recreate this salad together. We finally did so in celebration of the end of the academic year, and of the Virtual Vegan Potluck, of course. I did, however, imbue the salad with my own mischievous twists: First, I substituted short-grain brown rice for the glutinous farro. Second, I roasted the butternut squash and cauliflower with a hint of sweet, tart, and unctuous pomegranate vinegar, obtained at an artisan oil and vinegar shop called Scarborough Fare during my recent jaunt to New Paltz. The flavor of the resulting salad proved layered, complex, tangy, succulent, bright, and oh so delicious—perfect to share in the Virtual Vegan Potluck.

One important suggestion: immediately after toasting and chopping the hazelnuts, stick your nose right into them and get a big ol’ whiff. Your entire day—nay, week—will be fulfilled.

Pomegranate-Infused Brown Rice Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash, Cauliflower, Hazelnuts, and Arugula—Soy Free, Low Sodium

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

2 cups short-grain brown rice
1 medium head of cauliflower, trimmed into small florets
1 smallish butternut squash, peeled and small-diced
4 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tbsp pomegranate vinegar, divided
1 cup raw hazelnuts
Juice of 1 lemon
2-3 oz baby arugula

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In a large skillet, toast the rice over high heat until fragrant but not browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add the toasted rice and boil for 45-50 minutes or until tender. If needed, add more water to ensure that the rice can move around freely rather than stick together. This will ensure that the rice will remain in individual grains rather than clumped together in the finished salad. When cooked, drain the rice and spread over a baking sheet to cool and to again prevent clumping.

While the rice cooks, in a medium bowl toss the diced butternut squash with 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp pomegranate vinegar. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes. Repeat with the cauliflower florets. Transfer both roasted veggies to a large bowl.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast for 5-7 minutes, checking diligently to ensure that they don’t burn. Lay out a large dishtowel on the countertop and transfer the toasted hazelnuts into the middle of it. Pick up the corners of the towel to form a pouch and vigorously rub the hazelnuts around in it to remove their skins. Roughly chop the skinned hazelnuts and add them to the bowl with the roasted veggies. Stir to combine.

Spoon the brown rice into the veggie/hazelnut bowl in batches, stirring well to combine after each addition until all of the rice is fully incorporated. Add the lemon juice to the mixture and stir well to incorporate. Gently stir in the arugula in small handfuls until well-mixed. Serve and enjoy!

Recipe submitted to Healthy Vegan Friday and Wellness Weekend.

Check out Bite Me (I’m Vegan)’s bread recipe!

Check out Luminous Vegans’ salad recipe!

Until next time, Ali.

A Night of Academic Discussion and Vegan Deliciousness

A number of readers have expressed interest in hearing more about the general happenings as well as the fantastic food of Ferry House, the egalitarian vegetarian/vegan co-op in which I reside at Vassar along with 20 of the kindest, most insightful individuals I’ve ever met. To fulfill such readers’ wishes, I thought it fitting to recount on the ol’ blog a recent Ferry event: Professor Dinner. Every semester, the members of Ferry invite one or more of their favorite professors to enjoy a convivial vegan potluck dinner in the Ferry living and dining rooms, as well as to engage in stimulating conversations with the academics they most admire. Rife with a cornucopia of plant-based yummies and enough throught-provoking interactions to blow the roof off of Ferry, this semester’s Professor Dinner proved wildly successful and highly enjoyable. Pictured below is the vast array of dishes on the Professor Dinner buffet table, contributed by Ferry members and professors alike.

Mixed berry smoothies served in an assortment of mix-and-match glassware.

Gluten-free spicy tempeh empanadas with sweet potatoes, swiss chard, raisins, and pepitas. Made by yours’ truly and inspired by the recipe to which this picture links.

Shepherd’s Pie with mixed veggies, veggie meat crumbles, and mashed potato topping.

Fruit salad–a rare and coveted occurrence in Ferry since fruit proves too expensive to fit into our weekly shopping budget. For Professor Dinner, though, we go all out!

Salad with dark-leaf lettuce, carrots, snap peas, and cherry tomatoes served with a take on my famous Liquid Gold Dressing.

Whole wheat linguine tossed with peanut sauce and roasted tofu, carrots, and broccoli, with a smaller portion of gluten-free peanut noodles next to it.

Millet pilaf with almonds and raisins.

Peanut butter bread.

GUACAMOLE! Also a highly prized dish in Ferry since avocados cost a pretty penny.

My plate of Professor Dinner scrumptiousness.

To my immense disappointment, the professor I invited to the potluck—fellow vegan, animal rights advocate, Joyce-lover, and blogger—had to cancel at the last minute, but luckily, my dear friend and fellow VARC member Alan had invited another like-minded professor to dinner—Jill Schneiderman from the Earth Science department. Professor Schneiderman shared a troubling story with Alan and I that detailed a social experiment she performed informally on a group of students she planned to take on a week-long venture to the deserts of the American Southwest. In preparation for the trip, Professor Schneiderman had to collect the eating preferences of the participating students so that the desert facility where they would stay could adequately cater to their needs. As a pondrous vegetarian and scientific researcher, Professor Schneiderman decided to tell her students that the facility provided vegetarian meals by default, and that individuals who wanted to eat meat had to request it specially. She then passed around a sheet on which students could denote whether or not they felt it necessary to eat meat on the trip, and to make the facility provide dining options that included meat. To Professor Schneiderman’s surprise, nearly all of the students checked the “Wants to Eat Meat on Trip” box, and displayed their indignance that the facility would dare not serve meat unless specifically asked. The situation reminded me of Melanie Joy’s book—Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows—which discusses how society regards the eating of animals as “normal” and the abstention from eating sentient beings as “deviant.”

While rather disheartening that such a phenomenon would occur on a college campus as progressive and liberal-minded as that of Vassar, the fact that at least a handful of incredibly passionate students and faculty members understand the ethical implications of eating animals and work to spread this awareness throughout campus make me proud to attend Vassar. Additionally, since many of these individuals live in Ferry or often interact with Ferry members, I feel so lucky and honored to reside in a house surrounded by like-minded individuals, which provides me with the strength to interact with those who may not share my viewpoints on veganism and animal rights in a compassionate manner. All hail, Ferry House!

Until next time, Ali.

What I Ate Wednesday #65

Before I dive into regaling my weekly eats, I’d like to direct you toward the essay on Michael Pollan’s that I recently published on the blog. In it, I demonstrate how Pollan manages his audience’s emotions in order to persuade him both of the acceptability of eating meat, and of the impossibility of vegetariansim. I also argue that Pollan wrote the book essentially to justify his own meat-eating. I do hope you’ll check out the piece. Thank you.

Breakfast: A plate of baby kale water-sauteed with cumin and fennel seeds, wilted down, and mixed with nutritional yeast, Bragg’s liquid aminos, ground ginger, and coconut oil—my new favorite way to prepare greens, introduced to me by The Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen cookbook. I accompanied the greens with a bowl of Whole Soy’s unsweetened plain soy yogurt, 1 tbsp homemade sprouted almond butter, about 3/4 cup Hemp and Greens Superfood Cereal, and about 1 tbsp goji berries.

Since returning to Ferry Haus from my two-week-long spring break, I’ve eschewed my habitual morning smoothie in favor of this new breakfast pairing of lightly cooked, ridiculously flavorful, and (dare I say…) downright buttery greenswith a crunchy-creamy bowl of granola, soy yogurt, goji berries, and almond butter. After returning from Austin, I ventured straight to Whole Foods to purchase more of the absolutely astounding raw sprouted granola from Live Superfoods that I enjoyed while in Texas. To my sheer glee, Whole Foods now stocks that very granola in their bulk section, along with a fairly large selection of other sprouted granolas, trail mixes, nuts, and grains. I also partook in a large bag of sprouted almonds, with which I pureed up a batch of homemade sprouted almond butter. After experiencing the ease and frugality of homemaking nut butter, I’m never again purchasing another jar of the stuff. Yay, economics! I’ve seen on a number of blog posts offering directions on how to make almond butter that the almonds take quite a long time to transform into creamy lusciousness; however, my sprouted almonds made the shift from ground to buttery relatively quickly—after about 7-10 minutes as opposed to the 20 that I’ve commonly heard other bloggers experiencing. Moral of the story: if you want more digestible almond butter more quickly, use sprouted almonds.

Breakfast Checklist: Protein—soy yogurt, sprouted almond butter, sprouted sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, hemp protein. Whole Grain—sprouted buckwheat, brown rice bran & germ. Fruit—coconut, bananas, sultanas, goji berries. Leafy Green—baby kale. Superfoods—spinach powder, spirulina, chlorella, alfalfa powder, dandelion leaf powder, goji berries.

Morning Tea: Eden Organic Genmaicha tea.

Lunch: A waffle sandwich of two herbed carrot-chickpea waffles slathered with pesto chutney from the Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen and encasing a brown rice-beluga lentil-roasted sweet potato & broccoli burger inspired by Gena’s Leftover Grain & Bean Burgers. I served the sandwich alongside a simple salad of mixed greens and dulse seaweed flakes tossed with Liquid Gold Dressing and topped with brown rice and kimchi.

Waffles: A savory take on my Spirulina-Mango Waffles with Goji Berries that omits the cardamom, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and spirulina while replacing the mango puree with the parsley and thyme carrot sauce in the Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, the plant-based milk with salt-free vegetable stock, and the goji berries with chickpeas.

Pesto Chutney: a generously herbed and spiced spread of tahini, dulse seaweed, lemon juice, flax oil, dill, parsley, fennel seeds, and cumin based on the recipe in the Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen. Perhaps due to my minor substitutions as well as my accidental purchasing of lemon-flavored flax oil, the pesto imparted much too harsh of a flavor for my liking and adopted a displeasing bitterness after a few days of refrigeration, even though the directions assure that it will keep for up to three weeks.

Burgers: Based on Gena’s instructions, in a food processor I mixed together 3 cups of leftover short-grain brown rice; 2 cups of a salad of beluga lentils, roasted broccoli, and sweet potatoes in a lemon vinaigrette (a take on this recipe from Cookie and Kate); and 1/4 cup flaxseed meal to create 14 hearty patties of smoky, crispy deliciousness.

Meal Checklist: Protein—chickpea flour, fava flour, flaxseed meal, chickpeas, tahini, beluga lentils. Whole Grain—sorghum flour, brown rice. Vegetables/Fruit—carrot, parsley, dill, sweet potato, broccoli, dulse seaweed, kimchi veggies. Leafy Greens—broccoli, mixed greens, dill, parsley, cabbage in kimchi.

Afternoon Beverage: Choice Organic White Peony tea.

A bottle of GT’s Kombucha in Original flavor.

Dinner: The French Lentil Salad with Creamy Yogurt Dressing from the Modern Vegetarian Kitchen served alongside roasted brussels sprouts and brown rice.

Peter Berley, author of the Modern Vegetarian Kitchen and former executive chef of 37-year-old NYC vegan restaurant Angelica Kitchen, combines toothsome French lentils; finely diced carrots, celery, and bell peppers; and plenty of fresh herbs with a tangy dressing of yogurt, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and olive oil in his French Lentil Salad with Creamy Yogurt Dressing. Naturally, I substituted soy yogurt for dairy-based, added mixed greens along with the rest of the veggies, and served this refreshing, light salad to my fellow Ferries for dinner to yield rave reviews.

Meal Checklist: Protein—lentils, soy yogurt. Whole Grain—brown rice. Vegetables—carrots, bell peppers, celery, dill, parsley, brussels sprouts. Leafy Greens—mixed greens, parsley, dill, brussels sprouts.

After-Dinner Beverage: Traditional Medicinals’ Organic Eater’s Digest tea.

Happy WIAW!

Until next time, Ali.

Austin Extravaganza, Day 4: Daily Juice, Sweet Ritual, & the Wheatsville Co-op

Aware that the conclusion of my Austin adventure would pass the next morning, I resolved to take full advantage of my final day in the southern gem of a city by indulging in vegan soft-serve sundaes at Sweet Ritual and sampling the animal-product-free portion of Austin’s famed taco culture. Ashley and I intended to accomplish the latter endeavor at The Vegan Nom—an electric-blue food truck self-described as “Austin’s first vegan taco hub” specializing in breakfast and regular tacos loaded with tofu scrambles, caramelized veggies, alfalfa sprouts, avocados, plant-based meats, refried beans, and non-dairy cheeses. However, after waiting for a bus that arrived over 30 minutes late, trekking down a rather godforsaken street, and all the while nursing a grumbling tummy, we reached a very not-open Vegan Nom only to discover the owner preparing to take the truck in for inspection. Short story: no tacos for Ali and Ashley.

Disappointed, irritated, and ravenous, Ashley and I frantically searched HappyCow.net on her iPhone, desperately hoping for a vegan restaurant within walking distance. Thankfully, we discovered that dining at Mother’s Cafe and Garden—a vegetarian restaurant boasting standard café-style fare as well as enchiladas—would require only a couple block’s walk. However, as we approached the intersection of Duval and 45th Streets, a mere two blocks away from Mother’s, Ashley and I stumbled upon an adorable eatery called Daily Juice located in a refurbished gas station and offering nourishing vegan eats alongside raw entrees, desserts, and green juices. Lo and behold, the cozy sunlight establishment also housed Sweet Ritual, the vegan soft-serve joint that Ashley and I had planned to patronize since day one of my arrival to Austin. Clearly, the universe decided to smile upon Ashley and I after throwing us a curveball of a morning.

Never one to pass up a gourmet raw meal, I ordered from the uncooked portion of the Daily Juice menu, opting for the Raw Enchilada—a tomato “tortilla” rolled around a kale salad with sesame seeds and Bragg’s liquid aminos, smothered in cashew queso and topped with red bell peppers and alfalfa sprouts. Tempted by the raw dessert case while waiting for my entree, I decided to immediately satisfy my hunger with a chocolate-walnut truffle cup topped with a mixture of goji berries and coconut. Gorgeously dense, silky smooth chocolate encased crunchy walnuts and provided a decadent base for the fruity, chewy topping to culminate in an extravaganza of bittersweet gastronomic luxury. So, like, yeah, the truffle was okay. As for the enchilada, each of its components offered a lovely fresh flavor, though the massaged kale filling felt a bit ersatz without a more hearty accompaniment inside the tortilla—perhaps some spiced ground walnut meat?

Raw chocolate-covered strawberries with walnuts and coconut in Daily Juice’s dessert case.

Goji chocolate truffle cups.

YUM.

Raw Enchilada.

Ashley fell for the Avocado Wrap—a spinach tortilla folded around a generous amount of avocado, mixed salad greens, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, and onions. Both overly excited and overly hungry, Ashley began to devour the wrap before I could even snap a photo (hence the teeth marks in the picture below).

After returning to Ashley’s apartment and working up another appetite, Ashley and I commissioned her skeptical-of-veganism boyfriend to drive us back to the Daily Juice location for vegan ice cream sundaes at Sweet Ritual. The shoppe’s hard-pack case offered such tantalizing flavors as lavender blossom blueberry, salted caramel, and raspberry chocolate, while the sundae menu included Rocky Road (chocolate sauce, Dandie’s marshmallows, and pecans), Dirt and Worms (oreos and gummy worms), Faux Butterfinger (Chick-o-Stix and chocolate sauce), and Glitterbeast (salted caramel sauce, strawberry sauce, and edible glitter). Seduced by the lavender blossom blueberry and salted caramel ice creams, I opted for one scoop of each flavor topped with toasted coconut, while Ashley (after much deliberation) ordered the Turtle Sundae—vanilla soft-serve drizzled in chocolate sauce and sprinkled with pecans (no photo, many apologies!). Somewhat begrudgingly, Ashley’s boyfriend tested the waters of vegan desserts with the sundae of the day—salted caramel ice cream drizzled with peanut butter hard-shell, salted peanuts, and chocolate-covered cookies. Needless to say, all three of us immensely enjoyed the creamy, animal-cruelty-free deliciousness. What better way to showcase the pleasures of a vegan lifestyle to cynics than with plant-based ice cream? Effective and yummy, I must say.

Lavender Blossom Blueberry and Salted Caramel ice creams topped with toasted coconut.

Sundae of the Day.

I mentioned in my Austin Extravaganza, Day 3 post an absolutely magical place known as the Wheatsville Co-op. Enamored with the vast array of vegan & gluten-free baked goods; the hot foods bar rife with vegan options, the entire half-aisle devoted to raw foods like kale chips; flax crackers, and cacao truffles; the well-stocked bulk section; and a whole host of other various health-food products, Ashley and I journeyed to the co-op two days in a row to gawk at the impressive selection housed between their colorful walls. While perhaps Wheatsville’s material offerings don’t appear too dissimilar from those of other co-ops around the country, the overwhelmingly welcoming, knowledgable atmosphere cultivated in this friendly Austin co-op provided in me a deep sense of homecoming—I felt quite confident that the vast majority of the co-op’s employees wouldn’t question my veganism or choice not to consume sugar, would share in my enthusiasm for kombucha, and would understand (and confidently answer) my inquiry as to the gluten-free-ness of the tempeh taco filling offered on the deli menu. In other words, the folks at Wheatsville seemed like my kind of people.

One of many vegan & gluten-free baked goods at Wheatsville.

Samples of raw energy bars from local company the Bearded Bros.

During our first excursion to Wheatsville, Ashley and I merely oohed and ahhed at their exciting selection, but on our second visit, we actually purchased some of the co-op’s tantalizing offerings in the form of our final dinner together in Austin. Determined to enjoy tacos in the land of acclaimed southwestern food before I returned to the east coast, I ameliorated my lunchtime taco failure by ordering from the Wheatsville made-to-order deli counter two fragrant corn tortillas filled with juicy and spicy tempeh crumbles, diced tomatoes, jalapeno slices, shredded carrot, romaine lettuce, and alfalfa sprouts. I accompanied these delightful handheld eats with a salad of kale, beets, and alfala sprouts coated liberally in a creamy, tangy tahini dressing, also from the deli case. To round out the meal, I picked up a small box of raw chocolate-hazelnut “love” truffles from Lulu’s. Ashley and I enjoyed our meal while basking in the evening’s setting sun and entertaining Bella, Ashley’s boyfriend’s absolutely delightful canine companion—a perfect finale to a perfect four-day adventure.

Tacos!

Kale-Beet Salad.

Lulu’s Chocolate-Hazelnut “Love” Truffle.

Needless to say, my four days in Austin proved absolutely magical, both because of the 48 straight hours I spent with my best friend of eleven years after not seeing her in person since sophomore year of high school, and because of the vibrant vegan community rampant in the heart of Texas. I also found myself truly appreciating Ashley’s open-mindedness regarding and support of my veganism—by the end of my visit, she truly seemed to understand the reasons behind my leading a vegan lifestyle. I don’t know if she intends to start making the shift towards a plant-based diet, but the fact that she will advocate on behalf of the vegan community against her antagonistic boyfriend means the world to me. My spreading of the compassionate message into Ashley’s life, as well as into the lives of everyone I meet wherever I journey, reminds me of Johnny Appleseed except with veganism—just call me Ali Vegan-seed!…or something like that. I eagerly await my next bout of traveling during which to positively affect the hearts and minds of those I meet.

Until next time, Ali.

What I Ate Wednesday #64

Breakfast: A green smoothie of 1 cup frozen mango, 3 deglet noor dates, 1 scoop Amazing Grass Green Superfoods powder, 2 tbsp chia seeds, 4 large leaves lacinato kale, and 1 cup homemade almond milk, all topped with a homemade granola of apples, buckwheat groats, cooked brown rice, walnuts, goji berries, blueberries, hemp seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, maple syrup, and coconut oil.

I crafted this particular granola on the first morning of my stay in my parents’ NYC apartment over Vassar’s spring break, implementing the limited supply of items in their pantry as well as the various superfood ingredients that had traveled with me. Thus, instead of abiding by my usual template for fresh fruit-sweetened granola by pureeing up a mixture of fresh & dried fruit with various spices and coconut oil in which to coat nuts and grains, I shredded an apple and mixed it with about 2 tbsp each of maple syrup and olive oil to provide adequate moisture for the rest of the granola. Quite crunchy, nicely spiced, and bejeweled with bursts of juicy blueberries, this makeshift granola turned out surprisingly well for a creation comprised of odds and ends.

Breakfast Checklist: Protein—chia seeds, almond milk, walnuts, hemp seeds. Whole Grain—buckwheat, brown rice. Fruit—mango, dates, apples, goji berries, blueberries. Leafy Green—kale. Superfoods—Amazing Grass powder, chia seeds, hemp seeds, goji berries.

Morning Tea: Mayan Secret Green Tea from local NYC store Spices and Tease.

Though the aroma of this tea (which includes sencha green, mate, rooibos, and darjeeling teas mixed with lemongrass and bits of carrot, pineapple, and papaya) promised a complex fruity flavor, the amalgamation of various teas created a harshness that vastly overpowered any hope of a pleasingly refreshing tang. Perhaps I’ll simply have to play around with the steeping time and amount of tea used for each cup, but my experiences with this tea thus far have proved rather unfortunate.

Lunch: A sandwich of BBQ Tempeh strips, celery-apple-carrot slaw coated in Luscious Lemon Dressing from the Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen, and avocado slices between two experimental cornbread fritters. I served the sandwich alongside a salad of mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, mixed bean sprouts, sprouted almonds, and dulse flakes, tossed with Liquid Gold Dressing and topped with Green Raw Slaw from Bao’s. For dessert, I enjoyed a raw truffle made with sprouted sunflower seeds, sprouted almonds, dates, and maca powder, inspired by this recipe.

The impetus for this sandwich began with my discovery of a waffle iron hidden in the back of a cabinet in the NYC apartment currently subletted by my parents. Inspired to craft a savory waffle in part by this recipe of Kristy’s, I contemplated a southern-flavored checkered quickbread to complement the Barbequed Tempeh Sandwich Filling that I had made earlier that day from a new cookbook of mine—the James Beard award winning Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Berley, who apparently served as the executive chef at NYC vegan staple restaurant Angelica Kitchen for nine years. Unfortunately, the lack of gluten-free flours in my parents’ sparse pantry rendered me scrounging for waffle base options. In a bout of vegan MacGyver-ness, I combined 1/2 cup white cornmeal (already in the pantry), 1/4 cup roasted buckwheat grouts finely ground in the food processor, and 1/4 cup almond pulp leftover from the milk I had made that morning to comprise the full cup of flour required for four waffles. After mixing the flours with nooch, baking powder, baking soda, paprika, cumin, oregano, tomato paste, maple syrup, liquid smoke, almond milk, and coconut oil, I excitedly heated up the waffle iron, oiled it, spooned the batter in to yield a satisfying sizzle, closed the iron, waited for the light to signal the waffle’s completion, opened the iron, and…experienced utter failure. The batter had all but completely stuck to the iron, probably due to both an inadequate oiling of the iron and an overly thick batter lacking in a starch of any sort. Sigh. I managed to salvage the remaning batter by pan-frying it into thick pancakes, but still reeled from crushed waffle-based dreams. Curse you waffle iron! I shall prevail eventually.

Meal Checklist: Protein—tempeh, sprouted almonds, sprouted sunflower seeds, almond meal, tahini. Whole Grain—cornmeal, buckwheat flour. Vegetables/Fruit—celery, apple, carrot, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, bean sprouts, dulse flakes, ginger, pears, dates. Leafy Greens—mixed greens, kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, radish greens.

Afternoon Beverage: Choice Organic White Peony tea.

A bottle of Carpe Diem’s Kombucha in Quince flavor.

With an off-putting taste of artificial sweetener (certainly not one of the actual ingredients, though) and an inadequate amount of carbonation, this particular brand of kombucha failed to fully satisfy my mid-afternoon beverage needs. Try as I might to find a brand of local kombucha (other than the Madison-based NessAlla, of course) of as high a caliber as GT’s, I’ve not yet honed in on one. The search continues!

Dinner: A Middle Eastern feast, shared with my parents in their temporary NYC apartment, of Cookie & Kate’s Crispy Baked Falafel with Creamy Tahini and Dill Dressing, sandwiched between Cara’s Gluten-Free Pita Bread along with mixed greens and cherry tomatoes, accompanied by a side of cauliflower and carrots roasted with cumin, paprika, and coconut oil.

My changes to Kate’s original falafel recipe include substituting canned chickpeas for dried (I worried about the digestibility of merely soaked rather than fully cooked beans), adding 1/2 cup sprouted almonds and 1 tbsp GF flour blend to the mixture, and omitting the salt. Though Kate warns against implementing canned beans in the recipe, I found that adding the almonds and flour ensured adequate binding of the falafel, even when using the more moist canned chickpeas. Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and not at all dry or mealy like many of the falafel recipes with which I’ve experimented in the past, the falafel verily impressed my parents (and fulfilled my mother’s three-day-long craving for falafel), who helped me to scarf down the entire batch of herby chickpea fritters. My only critique of the recipe pertains to the Creamy Tahini and Dill Dressing; the lemon tasted a bit too harsh, in my opinion. However, that minor flaw certainly did not prevent me from slathering the dressing all over my falafel sandwich.

As for the pita bread, I utilized the gluten-free flour blend from Bob’s Red Mill instead of Cara’s homemade blend, replaced the sugar with maple syrup, substituted 1 tbsp flaxseed meal for the xanthan gum, and decreased the salt to 1/4 tsp. I had rather excited myself about the prospect of perfectly crisp, toasty, homemade pita pockets, and therefore became thoroughly disappointed when the pitas would not puff up or slice open as promised (reasons for this fault include the omission of xanthan gum, not allowing the water bath to adequately heat up in the oven, or over-working the dough). Regardless of cooking complications, the pitas still tasted delicious, acting as sliced of bread between which to sandwich the falafel and fixings, rather than as pockets in which to stuff the ingredients.

Meal Checklist: Protein—chickpeas, sprouted almonds, tahini, chickpea flour, fava bean flour. Whole Grain—sorghum flour. Vegetables—onion, garlic, tomatoes, cauliflower, carrots. Leafy Greens—mixed green, parsley, cilantro, dill.

After-Dinner Beverage: Traditional Medicinals’ Organic Eater’s Digest tea.

Comment Provoking Questions: How do you adapt your cooking to kitchens not as well-stocked as to which you’re accustomed? Do you own a waffle iron? Have you had luck with it? What is your favorite brand of kombucha other than GT’s? Have you made pita bread yourself before?

Happy WIAW!

Until next time, Ali.

Austin Extravaganza, Day 3: Casa de Luz & Beets Cafe

Don’t miss the vegan eats and adventures of my first two days in Austin here and here.

The penultimate day of my visit to the liberal-hippie-progressive-veg-friendly city of Austin, TX commenced with a scenic stroll along Lady Bird Lake, which eventually led Ashley and I to our lunch destination of Casa de Luz. The “favorite place in the world to eat” of one of my ultimate vegan inspirations James McWilliams, who attests to patronizing the restaurant for breakfast every morning, Casa de Luz serves macrobiotic vegan fare out of an open kitchen in a community-centered atmosphere, with a group of different chefs providing each meal. The restaurant offers a set meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day (no menus here!), which always includes tea, soup, salad, and an entree complete with a whole grain, a bean, a leafy green, and a pickled vegetable—all for $12, not including dessert. On the day that Ashley and I patronized Casa de Luz, the menu boasted a creamy soup of cauliflower and yellow squash; a salad of crisp greens and red cabbage in a tangy sunflower seed, basil, and parsley dressing; meltingly tender pinto beans swimming in their own silky broth; short-grain brown rice in an earthy mushroom sauce; a saute of crisp-tender burdock root, carrots, and green beans; steamed greens topped with a dollop of sesame-almond-pecan sauce; and pickled red sauerkraut. I sprinkled my serving generously with a Japanese sesame seed condiment known as gomasio, a jar of which graced every table.

The picturesque walkway into Casa de Luz.

Casa de Luz’s open-style kitchen.

Creamy cauliflower and yellow squash soup.

Crisp Salad with Sunflower Seed, Basil and Parsley Dressing.

Entree plate.

Gluten-Free Pecan Pie.

Nourishing to both the body and the soul, macrobiotic cuisine never fails to impart a feeling of having given a generous gift to myself; indeed, I would argue that nothing more holistically fulfilling exists than the act of enjoying and truly appreciating a wholesome vegan meal prepared by caring hands. Surrounded by diners and restaurant employees who clearly shared in my sentiments, I could certainly understand why James McWilliams speaks so highly of Casa de Luz. Before departing from the oasis-esque nature of Casa de Luz, Ashley and I shared a slice of sticky and scrumptious gluten-free pecan pie, and browsed through the shelves of the restaurant’s mini macrobiotic market, which offers books on macrobiotic principles, animal rights, and veganism, as well as traditional Japanese food products and cooking supplies like miso, umeboshi plums, mochi, bamboo rolling mats, and suribachi.

Raspberry-flavored brown rice syrup; yes, please.

Love me some mochi, especially with medicinal herbs thrown in!

Harboring an avid sweet tooth and a passion for crafting baked goods, Ashley requested to learn the ways of animal secretion-free baking from the experienced vegan gastronomer that she held at her fingertips for the next couple of days. Thanks to the multiple dairy-and-egg-less desserts we’d enjoyed prior to our baking excursion, Ashley already felt quite confident about the high quality of sweet vegan treats, and ardently awaited the opportunity to craft her own. Unfortunely, our first bout of recipe experimentation with a veganized version of this Pomegranate-Soaked Almond Hazelnut Cake fell rather flat due to my mistaking of the 1/2 cup measure for the full cup measure to yield a lack of flour…oops. Determined to fully impart to Ashley the joy and success that usually ensues from vegan baking, I searched for recipes that would use up the rest of the baking ingredients we had purchased from Whole Foods, and discovered two cookies: Almond Flour Cookies with Almond Butter and Pistachios (we subbed peanut butter for almond butter and walnuts for pistachios), and Banana-Flax Crackers. Both of these recipes yielded infinitely more delicious results than our failed cake, and even impressed Ashley’s skeptical meat-eating boyfriend.

Our baking extravaganza filled up most of the afternoon, but Ashley and I decided to while away the remaining few hours before dinner by perusing the area around Guadalupe Street, which includes such desirable locations as the nostalgic wonderland of Toy Joy; the vintage, thrift, and clothing swap store of Buffalo Exchange, which recently participated in the noble endeavors of discontinuing the use of plastic bags and accepting used fur apparel donations to benefit Coats for Cubs; and my new happiest place on earth, the Wheatsville Co-op, of which I’ll provide a full review in the blog post regaling my final day in Austin.

For dinner, Ashley and I excitedly visited Beets Café—a raw restaurant serving up gourmet uncooked cuisine in a chic yet unpretentious and quite welcoming dining room to everyone from moms with strollers to bulky machismos to bespectacled hipsters to college students. After a bit of a bus-induced planning hiccup (thank you, Austin bus system, for picking us up an hour later than scheduled), Ashley and I yearned to fill our growling tummies immediately and began our meal with raw treats from Beets Cafe’s dessert case. While all of the sweets looked absolutely beautiful and surely ambrosial (can you say Blueberry-Lavender Cheesecake and Chocolate Macaroons?), Ashley and I decided to partake in the Almond-Raspberry Cookies and the cacao-coated Superfood Clusters (chock full of goji berries, coconut, brazil nuts, spirulina, raisins, inca berries, maca powder, and mesquite powder), respectively. Bittersweet, chewy, crunchy, and creamy all at once, the Superfood Clusters served as the perfect beginning to a stunning meal. However, even though Ashley regaled the wonders of her Almond-Raspberry Cookies, the bite I snuck of them left me unimpressed by their miserly amount of raspberry filling and rather unflavorful cookie exterior. Glad I made the right choice on pre-dinner dessert.

While I beat Ashley on dessert choices, she prevailed in entree selection by ordering the Raw Reuben—two pliable slices of sunflower seed flatbread layered with Thousand Island dressing, sauerkraut, marinated portabella mushrooms, dehydrated “caramelized” onions, and cashew Swiss cheese, served alongside a shredded beet salad and a pile of dill-and-nooch-dusted sweet potato chips. Ashley generously offered me a bite of her sandwich, which transported me to veritable raw food heaven due to the genius mingling of creamy-tender-tangy-umami-ness bursting from in between the flatbread, the hearty and chewy texture of which impressed me more than most of the raw flatbreads I’ve sampled in the past. With Ashley’s blessing, I also finished off the last of her sweet potato chips, which exactly resembled an oil-free, dehydrated variation on sour-cream-and-onion potato chips.

Though Ashley’s entree proved a tad more extraordinary than mine, I still thoroughly enjoyed my Cha-Lu-Pas—two crunchy corn tostadas spread with sunflower seed “refried beans,” topped with shredded lettuce, salsa, guacamole, and olives, drizzled with a cashew sour cream, and served alongside a kale salad in a tangy marinara-style dressing. All of the components proved quite fresh-tasting, though the creamy sunflower seed beans served as my favorite aspect of the dish, which satisfied my intense day-long craving for avocado. While quite tasty, the Cha-Lu-Pas simply could not match the sheer perfection of Ashley’s Reuben. I suppose I’ll just have to return to Beets Café during my next visit to Austin—darn.

On the bus ride back to her apartment, Ashley expressed her happy surprise at how much she enjoyed her first experience at a raw food restaurant. In fact, for the remainder of my trip, she continually waxed poetic about her sandwich at Beets Café, and even asked me if she could make a version of the sunflower seed flatbread at home (I passed these two recipes from Gena at Choosing Raw along to her). If not for the slightly out-of-reach price tag, Ashley would have suggested that we dine at Beets Café again the next day. Instead, we planned our meals for my final day in Austin to include ice cream at Sweet Ritual and dinner from the Wheatsville Co-op (more details on our eventful lunch excursion in the next post).

Until next time, Ali.

Austin Extravaganza, Day 2: Juiceland, Nomad Dosa, & Counter Culture

You can find the first post of my Austin Extravaganza series here.

The first full day of my long-anticipated spring break jaunt to Austin, TX began with a green smoothie sprinkled with my new favorite granola, both of which I picked up at the flagship Whole Foods market the night before. After waiting for Ashley—my best friend of eleven years who provided the main reason for my visit to the southern U.S.—to awake from her slumber, I suggested that we kick off our action-packed day with a journey to Barton Springs. A man-made pool incorporated into a channel of Barton Creek, Barton Springs serves as a popular venue for nature enthusiasts who prefer to swim in fresh spring water, as opposed to chemically treated pools, surrounded by chirping birds and lush foliage. The area proved absolutely gorgeous and rife with wildlife, including lizards and a regal blue jay of whom I managed to snap a photo.

During our lengthy stroll to Barton Springs, I began to feel a bit peckish and enthusiastically welcomed the sight of Juiceland, a juice and smoothie bar with four locations around Austin that specializes in cleanses and liquid nutrition. Their extensive menu boasts three categories of juices (milder “fresh & easy” juices; fruity agua frescas; and “next-level” juices packed with veggies, greens, and spices), four categories of smoothies (basic fruit smoothies; sweet green smoothies; protein smoothies—many of which implement whey protein, unfortunately—; decadent dessert smoothies; and “next-level” smoothies, one of which even includes durian fruit, wowza!), superfood “cocktails,” herbal tonics, energizing shots, and a selection of premade to-go salads and raw desserts. The tiny liquiteria also sold a wide array of locally prepared kombucha, fresh young thai coconuts, raw chocolates, and vegan fruit-and-nut bars, including those crafted by Caleb and Chris of the Bearded Brothers—an organic snackfood company specializing in generously sized raw, gluten-free, and vegan energy bars. Ashley and I would later have the pleasure of sampling their tantalizing snack bars at the Wheatsville Co-op, but for the time being, we would simply stare longingly at mouthwatering flavors like Bodacious Blueberry Vanilla, Fabulous Ginger Peach, and Mighty Maca Chocolate. Yum. Wanting to satiate myself until lunch without ruining my appetite, I opted for a light snack of a wheatgrass shot and a couple sips of Ashley’s “Hydrator” smoothie of watermelon juice, peaches, and lemon.

Premade juices, oodles of kombucha, and fresh coconuts for sippin’.

Ahh, the sound of a wheatgrass juicer motor.

A journey back across town to Congress Ave landed Ashley and I smack-dab in the middle of a conglomeration of food trucks, including a health-conscious Indian one, referenced in many of my Google searches of “best food trucks Austin,” known as Nomad Dosa. The young hipsters inside Nomad Dosa’s sleek, silver caravan create all of the truck’s fare without the use of meat, wheat, gluten, soy, additives, gums, refined flours, and sugars (whew!), and implement nourishing food preparations including fermenting their soaked rice-and-lentil batter for several hours, carefully selecting spices to optimize digestion, and utilizing only olive and coconut oils in their cooking. Not only do Nomad Dosa’s gastronomic tenets jive perfectly with my own, they also mingle to produce some of the freshest, most flavorful, and most satisfying Indian cuisine I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting—completely unlike the overly greasy, muddled-tasting dishes I’ve sampled at many an Indian restaurant. Hungry and eager to dosa, Ashley and I put in our orders, paid an incredibly reasonable sum (only $9-$10 for ginormous dosa, a chutney, and a side of either rice or lentil soup), and awaited our food for a mere five minutes before hearing the sweet call of, “Ali and Ashley—your order is ready!” Ashley ordered the “Holy Cow” filling—creamy spiced potatoes, sauteed onions, roasted cashews, and green peas—on a soft dosa topped with shredded carrots served alongside a mild coconut chutney and a lentil dipping soup known as sambar, while I opted for the “Kerala Kokonut” filling—butternut squash, zucchini, eggplant, carrots, and cauliflower in a coconut curry—on a soft dosa topped with romaine lettuce and avocado, served alongside a spicy cilantro chutney and sambar. A spongy, sourdough-tasting dosa wrapped around impeccably spiced, veggie-laden stews and accompanied by a thick, bliss-inducing lentil soup? Be still my beating heart.

Ashley’s “Holy Cow” dosa.

An inside view of my “Kerala Kokonut” dosa.

After our immensely fulfilling lunch, Ashley and I meandered down Congress Ave, popping in just about every storefront along the road, including a nifty antique shop called Uncommon Objects, described by Austinites as “your eccentric uncle’s attic on steroids.” There, I fawned over the vintage mason jars, old-style cameras, and clickety-clacky typewriters while Ashley revealed a peculiar obsession with science-lab-style glass vials. We also passed an open-air adoption event hosted by Austin Pets Alive!, the city’s most prominent and almost completely volunteer-run organization devoted to achiving a 100% no-kill rate of sheltered companion animals in Austin.

Sufficiently tuckered out after our active morning and afternoon, Ashley and I rejuvenated from the balmy Austin weather in her air-conditioned apartment. However, another bout of hunger soon overcame us, and we trekked out once more to enjoy a casual yet scrumptious meal at Austin’s almost-one-year-old vegan restaurant, Counter Culture. Born from humble beginnings in July 2009 as a food truck, Counter Culture launched a wildly successful Kickstarter project in February 2012, the 195 donors of which enabled the business to relocate to a brick-and-mortar, diner-style restaurant bedecked in cheerful aquamarine-and-brown decor. On the Counter Culture menu, owner Sue Davis emphasizes nourishing, wholesome versions of comfort foods alongside playful raw dishes, while devoting her restaurant’s ethos to animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and long-term health. In utter support of Counter Culture’s mission and drooling over the tantalizing photos on their website, I quite looked forward to sampling their dinner fare. Though the Raw Bruschetta with flax crackers, cashew cheese, pesto, and tomatoes called my name, Ashley turned down my offer to split the appetizer, arguing that she’d like to save her money for dessert. Her miserliness couldn’t stop me, however, from ordering the Meltdown sandwich—a creamy garbanzo bean “tuna” salad with celery and dulse flakes, topped with melty cashew cheese and sliced tomatoes, layered between two slices of toasted gluten-free bread and accompanied by a side of the novel Pac Man salad of kale, Pac-Man-shaped carrot slices, and chia seeds in a creamy garlic dressing. If you recall my recent declaration of love for sandwiches, you can no doubt envision a starry-eyed, beaming Ali munching on the Meltdown’s hearty layers, each bursting with unique flavor (including the tomatoes! Perhaps the south enjoys quality tomatoes earlier in the year than does the midwest). After analyzing Counter Culture’s online menu, Ashley continually expressed her excitement toward ordering the Jackfruit BBQ sandwich—shredded jackfruit smothered in chipotle barbeque sauce, topped with red onions and pickles, and stuffed inside a multigrain hoagie bun, accompanied by a side of perfectly roasted sweet potatoes and beets. The meal certainly lived up to Ashley’s high expectations, causing her to exclaim how surprisingly accurately the shredded jackfruit resembled pulled pork (in texture and flavor, not oppression and exploitation, of course). For dessert, Ashley and I shared an ice cream sundae of vanilla coconut milk ice cream (supplied by local vegan ice creamery Sweet Ritual, which Ashley and I would visit in two days), silky raw cashew cream, and berries, as well as a tropical-flavored raw truffle of almonds, dried pineapple, shredded coconut, and dates. While delicious, the meal left my stomach not quite as full as I would have preferred; Counter Culture seems to keep its portions on the small side. I knew I should have partaken in that bruschetta appetizer!

Counter Culture interior.

Meltdown Sandwich with Pac-Man kale salad.

BBQ Jackfruit Sandwich with roasted sweet potatoes and beets.

Ice cream sundae.

Raw tropical truffle.

After catching a bus back to Ashley’s apartment and pajama-ing up, we planned our eating excursions for the following day, which would include lunch at Austin’s staple macrobiotic, community-based restaurant, Casa de Luz, and dinner at the gourmet raw eatery of Beets Cafe. Stay tuned for summaries of those meals in an upcoming post.

Until next time, Ali.

Austin Extravaganza, Day 1: Welcome & the Whole Foods Flagship Market

If you’ve followed the recent flurry of activity on my Facebook account and Twitter feed, you’ll know full well that for the past four days I’ve reveled in the sheer joy inspired by the southern hippie hub of Austin, Texas. Three years ago, my best friend of eleven years relocated from Madison to Austin (much to my obvious and immense dismay), and I finally found the time and resources to complete the halfway-cross-country trek and visit my dearest Ashley. The trip, however, not only constituted a long-awaited and quite heartfelt reunion, but also a veritable festival of impressive vegan eats, a peek into one of the most extensive food truck cultures in the nation, an almost comical abundance of vintage/thrift shops, and a 75° escape from the brisk New York weather.

To the Vassar students who wrinkled their noses and inquired accusatorily, “Why are you going down south for spring break?”, unaware of Austin’s intensely liberal, progressive atmosphere, I silently pitied their geographical ignorance before calmly reciting this analogy: Austin is to the southern United States as Madison is to Wisconsin; both serve as open-minded oases in conservative deserts. Indeed, Austin holds a number of hip titles, including live music capital of the world; #1 city in the U.S. to live, work, and make movies; #7 of America’s best hipster neighborhoods; #2 best city for young adults; and (most importantly) #8 of America’s top vegetarian cities, as ranked by number of vegetarian restaurants. Boasting four all-vegan food trucks, four all-vegan bakeries, two vegan catering/delivery services, the infamous vegan queso company Food for Lovers, and a 90% save-rate of animals in shelters, Austin offers one heck of a cruelty-free scene that even those harboring the most ardent aversion to southern culture won’t want to miss.

I arrived at the Austin-Bergstrom Internation Airport at 4:40 pm on Saturday afternoon—perfect timing to shower my best friend with love and hugs, acquaint myself with her apartment, and semi-unpack before experiencing my first taste (pun oh-so intended) of Austin’s vegan culture at Whole Foods’ flagship market. With 30 years of history, 80,000 square feet, a rooftop patio, a bike-repair center, and nearly every health-food product known to humankind, this Whole Foods reduced me to a incoherent maniac exclaiming gleefully at every bottle of locally brewed kombucha, superfood-infused granola, and raw chocolate bar I discovered. You can imagine my absolute explosion of excitement when I spotted the 100% vegan, largely raw deli counter flanked by the produce and bulk sections, at which I picked up a glorious dinner of avocado-massaged kale salad, creamy chickpea salad with cashew mayonnaise and celery, and cinnamon-dusted butternut squash slices.

After preparing for the days ahead by purchasing four bottles of kombucha, four green smoothies from the juice bar, and a bag of astoundingly delicious raw granola called Hemp and Green Superfood Cereal, I accompanied Ashley up to the roof to share a lovely meal, a slice of raw blueberry cheesecake from Earth Cafe (which left Ashley, who previously harbored a rather negative view of vegan desserts, absolutely emphatic about animal-product-free sweet treats), and a flood of intriguing conversation by which to catch up on the current events of each others’ lives.

Ashley and I decided to enjoy the rest of the balmy evening by walking back to her apartment via one of Austin’s lively main drags of Congress Avenue. Loaded with cafes, food truck gathering spots, and vintage stores, Congress Ave immediately endeared me to the city and ensured our return to the street the following day. That night, however, my travel fatigue kicked in and prompted an early bedtime for Ashley and I, after which I dreamed of the many vegan noms and adventures soon to ensue.

Stay tuned for the next post regaling my second day of Austin ventures, which featured mouthwatering jaunts to Juiceland, Nomad Dosa, and Counter Culture.

Until next time, Ali.

What I Ate Wednesday #63

Breakfast: A green smoothie of 1/2 a cameo apple, 1/2 of a frozen banana, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp hemp seeds, 1 tsp maca, 1/2 tsp spirulina, 1 tbsp goji berries, a large handful of kale, and 1/2 cup Gingerberry kombucha, topped with the last half-cupful of my most recent granola creation featuring GF rolled oats, raw buckwheat groats, unsweetened shredded coconut, flaxseed meal, pecans, and walnuts coated in a puree of apples, dried apricots, almond extract, cardamom, cinnamon, and coconut oil.

Though I ran out of almond milk for this particular smoothie, later this morning I blended up an experimental milk comprised of the nutty odds-and-ends in my pantry to create a hybrid almond-cashew-pistachio-flax milk. Tinted slightly green from the pistachios, this milk serves as a deliciously creamy precursor to the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day festivities, and boasts those heart-healthy omega-3′s about which we health-conscious folk rave thanks to the flax seeds. I may just start regularly incorporating different nuts into my homemade milk routine to compliment the standard almonds.

Breakfast Checklist: Protein—chia seeds, hemp seeds, flaxseed meal, pecans, walnuts. Whole Grain—GF rolled oats, buckwheat. Fruit—apple, banana, goji berries, dried apricots. Leafy Green—kale. Superfood—hemp seeds, chia seeds, spirulina, goji berries, maca, flaxseed meal, kombucha.

Morning Tea: Pukka Herbs’ Three Fennel tea with sweet fennel seed, wild fennel seed, and fennel leaf.

I picked up three sample packets of this lovely tea at last weekend’s NYC Vegetarian Food Festival and have adored its powerful anise flavor and aroma for the past couple of days. A huge sucker for anything fennel, I fell in love with this tea upon first glance and deeply regret having already exhausted my meager supply of it. Perhaps a tea shipment is in order…

Lunch: A salad of mixed greens, shredded carrots, slivered almonds, diced dried apricots, sage-braised giant white beans, brown rice, and dulse seaweed flakes, all tossed in Liquid Gold Dressing and topped with Bao Fermented Food’s Green Raw Slaw of kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, radish greens, apples, pears, garlic, and ginger.

Unexpected leftovers discovered in the refrigerator comprise a wonderfully positive aspect of living in Ferry Haus along with 20 other talented veg*n cooks. The sage-braised white beans gracing this salad stem from one such occasion of wonderful lunchtime surprise.

As for the Green Raw Slaw, I picked up a jar from Bao’s booth at the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival and cannot adequately express my happiness with my frugal ($4 off of the original price at the festival!) and mouthwatering purchase. Kale and fermented food all rolled into one immensely flavorful salad topper? Be still my beating heart.

Meal Checklist: Protein—white beans, almonds. Whole Grain—brown rice. Vegetables/Fruit—carrots, apricots, apples, pears, garlic, ginger, dulse flakes. Leafy Greens—mixed greens, kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, radish greens.

Afternoon Beverage: Choice Organic White Peony tea.

A bottle of GT’s Organic Raw Kombucha in Gingerade flavor.

Dinner: A simple saute of broccoli, brussels sprouts, and Bragg’s Liquid Aminos; an amaranth-millet pilaf seasoned with liquid smoke and paprika; and a pile of crunchy roasted chickpeas seasoned with liquid smoke, agave nectar, and paprika.

Stay tuned for the recipe for this deeply satisfying dish, inspired by my mother (who recently adopted a vegan diet after watching Forks Over Knives), in an upcoming blog post.

Meal Checklist: Protein—chickpeas. Whole Grain—amaranth, millet. Vegetables—brussels sprouts, broccoli. Leafy Greens—brussels sprouts, broccoli.

After-Dinner Beverage: Traditional Medicinals’ Organic Eater’s Digest tea.

Comment Provoking Questions: Do you like to combine different nut/seed varieties when making plant-based milks? How do you feel about fennel/anise-flavored items? Does your local grocer carry Bao’s tasty raw, fermented products? Have you tried roasting chickpeas before?

Happy WIAW!

Until next time, Ali.