DC Restaurant Exploration: Busboys and Poets

Checking another restaurant off of my list of vegan-friendly DC eateries, I had the pleasure of dining last week at the indie-acclaimed Busboys and Poets. Immediately upon learning the story behind the social justice-imbued restaurant, I eagerly awaited the chance to patronize it. The brainchild of prominent Iraqi-American peace activist, artist, and restaurateur Anas “Andy” Shallal, Busboys and Poets functions as a community gathering space that works to foster racial and cultural connections, a popular spoken-word poetry venue, a progressively minded bookstore, a gallery for thought-provoking art, and a scrumptiously veg-friendly restaurant. Indeed, I wouldn’t expect any less of a socially conscious establishment from the co-founder of the pre-2003 invasion group Iraqi-Americans for Peaceful Alternatives, Peace Fellow with Seeds of Peace, member of the board of trustees for the liberal think tank The Institute for Policy Studies, and recipient of the United Nations Human Rights Community Award.

With the Peace Café program—the largest Arab-Jewish dialogue group in the DC area—Shallal continues his advocacy for conflict resolution in the Middle East through Busboys and Poets. However, Shallal does not limit the activist reach of Busboys and Poets to focus solely on Middle Eastern conflict; the restaurant also offers events centered on workers’ rights, racial equality, and issues related to the LGBTQ community. Almost expectedly, Busboys and Poets donates over 15% of its annual earnings to various non-profit organizations—for example, all proceeds from book sales go directly to Teaching for Change, which seeks to create social justice curriculum in schools—and harbors an eye toward environmental sustainability with their initiatives on recycling, fair- and direct-trade, and organic food, as well as their boycotting of Canada’s seal hunt. So, um, yeah, Busboys and Poets is a pretty cool place.

Moby speaking at Busboys and Poets on his book “Gristle.”

To those of us who recognize the intersectionality between animal rights and numerous other social justice movements—such as how oppressing one group of beings desensitizes us toward oppressing other groups—it would make sense for Busboys and Poets to offer completely vegan fare. However, the restaurant sadly abides by the “humane meat” myth, advertising their “sustainable seafood” (which doesn’t actually exist), and their “grass-fed, free-range beef” (which is still slaughtered at an early age and is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems at every scale from global to local“). Fortunately, Busboys and Poets offers a slew of tantalizing animal-free menu items, attracting plenty of vegans to the restaurant, both as customers and workers (my waitress happily revealed her veganism after I inquired as to the tastiest veg options).

Busboys and Poets dining room.

Accompanied by a longtime DC resident, spoken-word poet, and fellow vegan, I began my first Busboys and Poets experience with an extreme sense of welcoming thanks to the restaurant’s casual décor, complete with murals and plushy couches that double as dining room chairs. Overwhelmed by the bounty of mouthwatering dishes on the menu, my dinner mate Emily and I agreed to split an appetizer, as well as to order sandwiches which we would halve and share. Though the Vegan Nachos proved quite tempting, after Emily informed me of their generous portion size, I decided to wait until my return visit to B&P to sample them as my entrée. On this particular occasion, Emily and I instead opted for the Coconut Tofu Bites as our appetizer—silky smooth tofu nuggets enveloped by an impeccably crispy and subtly sweet coating of shredded toasted coconut. Served atop a sticky and slightly sour yet succulent yellow plum sauce, the tofu bites definitely constituted the highlight of our meal. Normally, I would say something to the effect of, “I fully intend to recreate these in my own kitchen,” but in the case of these tofu bites, I can guarantee that I would experience hopeless disappointment in attempting to do so—the folks at B&P have truly perfected this dish.

While the rest of our dinner sadly did not compare to the paragon of lusciousness otherwise known as the Coconut Tofu Bites, Emily and I enjoyed our festival of sandwich-sharing, nonetheless. Emily ordered the Vegan Tuna Salad Sandwich—a mash of chickpeas, sweet pickle relish, nori seaweed bits, diced celery, red onion, yellow mustard, and vegan mayonnaise served on toasted French bread with lettuce and tomato. I frequently whip up fishless tuna salads with mashed chickpeas, avocado, and dulse seaweed flakes, and I unfortunately must say that I much prefer my own version of the dish. Harboring an overly liquefied textured with a complete absence of chunky goodness, as well as an overpowering flavor of mustard, the salad itself proved unimpressive, while the bread that sandwiched it lacked substance on the inside and supplied too much crustiness on the outside. Certainly, the sandwich did not taste bad, but I tend to become rather critical of and annoyed with restaurant dishes that I could have easily created at home with more success.

Happily, the sandwich I ordered offered Emily and I more gastronomic pleasure that did the Vegan Tuna Salad. B&P’s Tempeh Panini boasts thin slices of juicy tempeh complimented by succulent caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, nicely wilted arugula, and vegan mayonnaise, all sandwiched between two slices of hearty, seeded, whole-grain bread. The only criticism I harbor with this dish stems from my experience as a seasoned veteran of cooking up delectable tempeh bacon (if you’d like the tastiest tempeh recipe on the planet, please follow this link). Though the tempeh held a quite pleasing, chewy, and (dare I say) meaty texture, I found it’s flavor a bit lacking in depth, with a distinct note of soy sauce predominating. On a rather nitpicky side note (haha, puns!), I also would have preferred that my side salad come a bit more well-dressed.

Emily and I opted to forgo dessert on this particular night, but B&P does offer a tantalizing selection of vegan treats, including an out-of-this-world cheesecake, as highly recommended by our waitress.

Vegan cheesecake. Photo borrowed from the B&P website.

All in all, I found quite delightful my first encounter with the truly progressive, trailblazing, and unique establishment of Busboys and Poets. I wholeheartedly intend to pay the B&P team another couple of visits, both to enjoy their community poetry nights and to sample more of their yummy vegan fare—pan-seared basil tofu with quinoa, roasted vegetables, and tomato cream sauce, anyone?

The next restaurant on my list of veg-friendly DC eateries: Le Pain Quotidien.

Until next time, Ali.

A Veg-anza in New Paltz

Last weekend, instead of taking the train into New York City to see my beloved mother (and now fellow vegan!), I invited her up to Poughkeepsie in honor of Vassar’s annual spring Families Weekend. While we did not engage in any of the (thrilling, I’m sure) planned campus activities, my mother and I enjoyed ourselves immensely by paying a visit to the adorable gem of a town known as New Paltz. A mere 30-minute drive from Poughkeepsie, New Paltz functions essentially as a much more thriving, hipper city than the 18th most miserable city in America that Vassar calls home (sigh). In keeping with the town’s hip young atmosphere, New Paltz boasts an all-vegan cafe, a vegan fair-trade chocolate shop, a quaint health foods co-op, plenty of vegan items on many restaurant menus, and a grand slew of unique handmade jewelry stores, clothing boutiques, and antique shops. Needless to say, I wholeheartedly wish that I could gather up the Vassar campus and relocate it to New Paltz, but as that seems rather impossible, I’ll settle for weekend visits to the happy little town.

Upon first arriving in New Paltz, my mother and I sought lunch at a traditional Japanese restaraunt called Gomen Kudasai. The noodle shop features an entire vegan menu, as well as plenty of gluten-free items, including mung bean thread and yam noodles. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the chance to experience the full extent of Gomen Kudasai’s offerings, as the restaurant only offered their brunch menu during our visit. Regardless, my mother and I found plenty of vegan options, as specially denoted by helpful symbols on the menu. We began our meal with a complimentary bowl of always-satisfying salted edamame, followed by a simple and elegant triangular prism of brown rice and seaweed known as onigiri. For her entree, my mother opted for a stir-fry of udon noodles, chewy browned tofu, and succulent vegetables in a delightful gingery sauce. As for myself, I ordered an incredibly comforting bowl of kaki ten soup with gluten-free noodles, which comprised of slippery, chewy, semi-transparent noodles and crispy shredded veggies in an unctuous umami broth. All of Gomen Kudasai’s fare tasted fresh, simple, and quite thoughtfully prepared, though it did verge on the overly salty side.

 

 

After contentedly filling ourselves with noodles and other Japanese goodies, my mother and I set out on the gorgeously sunny day to explore the town of New Paltz. Our ventures brought us first to the much-acclaimed Lagusta’s Luscious—a vegan artisanal chocolate shop with a commitment to social justice, environmentalism, and animal rights. Indeed, the lovely and hugely talented ladies at Lagusta’s source all of their ingredients from small farms and producers in and around New Paltz, package all of their chocolates in 100% post-consumer recycled paper boxes and packing materials, use only fairly traded chocolate certified not produced with child/slave labor, and often donate to various worthy causes including animal sanctuaries and feminist organizations. The shop’s proprietor, Lagusta Yearwood, also just contributed an insightful and inspiring essay to the Defiant Daughters anthology entitled “Eat Chocolate, Have Faith in Women,” which she read at the book’s launch at Bluestockings Bookstore in NYC, where I had the honor of meeting and chatting with her.

The Lagusta’s Luscious storefront.

Greeted by my favorite professor’s wife, who works at Lagusta’s Luscious and refers to me as her “vegan sister,” my mother and I gazed in awe at the tantalizing and uniquely flavored chocolate truffles and bars lining the blue-and-brown walls of the tiny shop. Yearning to spoil me after not seeing me since spring break (that’s my mother for ya), my mother eagerly gifted me an eight-piece box of assorted chocolate truffles, a smoky corn-on-the-cob chocolate bar, and a block of Lagusta’s housemade chickpea-kidney bean tempeh (I know, right?). From the glass-plated truffle case, I chose to include in my assorted chocolate box a Rosemary Sea Salt Caramel, a Sea Salt Shiitake Truffle, a Caramelized Onion and Chipotle Truffle, a Coriander-Beet Truffle, a Fennel-Apple Truffle, a Grapefruit Cream, a Macadamia Maui Vanilla Cream with Chamomile, and a Raspberry Balsamic Truffle. Um, can you say heaven on earth?

Every spice imaginable to inject oodles of flavor in Lagusta’s decadent chocolate.

The April 2013 Chocolate-of-the-Month: a vegan “bacon” bar filled with shiitake-miso-yuba caramel.

Two chocolate barks: a Sea Salt and Almond Slate, and a Fig and Fennel Bark.

My very own box of chocolate truffles.

Homemade chickpea-kidney bean tempeh.

After bading goodbye to Lagusta’s rather magical shop, my mother and I meandered around New Paltz for the better part of the afternoon, peeking inside and browsing nearly every quaint little storefront in the small town, including a shop called Scarborough Fair that specialized in artisan infused oils and vinegars. There, my mother insisted upon buying me a 4-oz bottle each of avocado oil and pomegranate balsamic vinegar (hey, I’m not complaining), but they also boasted other intriguing varieties like porcini mushroom extra virgin olive oil and fig balsamic vinegar. I hope to experiment with the avocado oil and pomegranate balsamic to produce a couple winning recipes for the blog in the near future, so keep an eye out for those.

Oil and vinegar jugs at Scarborough Fair.

Our wandering also brought my mother and me to Inquiring Minds—an independent bookstore that, incidentally, will host a reading by three contributors to the Defiant Daughters anthology, including Lagusta Yearwood herself, this Saturday at 7pm (stop by if you’re in the area!). Inside the bookstore, I excitedly discovered an entire display table devoted to vegan cookbooks and animal rights literature, including the cult classic The Sexual Politics of Meat by vegan pioneer Carol Adams. With her feminist background and newfound veganism, my mother immediately became enthralled with the book’s cover and premise. After purchasing the book, my mother and I agreed that I would read it first while at Vassar, hand it off to her when she comes to help me relocate to D.C. for the summer, and discuss the book’s still groundbreaking ideas once we had both finished reading it. I can’t wait to start paging through the book that has enlightened so many individuals to the unavoidable intersections of veganism and feminism.

Vegan & animal rights display table at Inquiring Minds bookstore.

I planned on accompanying my mother back to New York City to spend Sunday with both of my parents, so before departing from New Paltz, my mother and I picked up a dinner to enjoy on the train ride home at organic and local vegan deli, bakery, juice & smoothie bar Karma Road. Though I didn’t obtain photos of the actual food that my mother and I ordered (snapping pictures on moving trains does not translate to quality photography), I did document the deli case, which boasted gluten-free veggie burgers, coleslaw, kale pizza with Daiya cheese, mixed vegetable curry, braised greens, and spelt sweet potato biscuits among other offerings. For our to-go dinners, my mother ordered a hummus wrap and a small portion of coleslaw from the deli case, while I chose the Karma Combo salad—kale, sunflower sprouts, carrot, celery, tomato, and roasted peppers in a tahini dressing—accompanied by two logs of hearty and sweet apple juice-glazed tempeh. Followed by a piece each of my smoky corn-on-the-cob chocolate bar, our meal from Karma Road provided immense satisfaction on the train ride to NYC.

As my mother and I strolled around New Paltz, we discussed the pervasive feeling of great clarity achieved after adopting a vegan lifestyle, the abhorrently corrupt nature of the meat-industrial complex and food corporations, and cruelty-free cosmetic brands. I never could have fathomed that my own mother of all people would find herself caught up in the same issues that I hold near and dear to my heart, and feel so unbelievably greatful to now call my mother an ally in the vegan movement. To those individuals feeling frustrated with their own family members who haven’t yet found their vegan calling, I’d encourage you not to lose hope, to always speak to those family members with patience, kindness, and compassion, and to continue to embody your own values in your everyday life. Even if your loved ones don’t adopt a vegan lifestyle in this lifetime, you can rest confident that you at least shifted their consciousness, if just a smidgen, to a more compassionate mode of existence. At the end of the day, I’d call that successful advocacy.

Until next time, Ali.

Farmers Market Vegan’s 2nd Cooking Show Episode

This February, I along with the rest of the Multimedia team at Vassar’s campus newspaper the Miscellany News launched a vegan cooking show hosted by your’s truly. The first episode featured a tutorial on how to make vegan sushi, and the second, just released today, showcases a novel recipe for vegan deviled eggs, inspired by the lovely ladies at Lagusta’s Luscious vegan & fair trade chocolate company in New Paltz, NY. Check out the video and snag the recipe here.

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.

What I Ate Wednesday #61

Breakfast: A green smoothie of 1/2 of a winesap apple, 1/2 of a frozen banana, a small handful of frozen raspberries, 1 tbsp hemp seeds, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp goji berries, 1/2 tsp spirulina, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1/2 cup WholeSoy Organic Unsweetened Plain Yogurt, and 4 medium leaves of curly green kale, topped with a generous 1/2-cupful of a variation on Amie Sue’s Maple Pumpkin Spice Crunch Cereal.

I’ve recently embarked on a mission to pack a bit of padding on my slender frame, and have thus started incorporating more calorie-dense, healthy fat sources into my meals—this accounts for both the peanut butter and coconut oil gracing the smoothie I’ve featured here.

A note on the soy yogurt: Ferry House just received a bulk order of 24 oz. containers of WholeSoy Organic Unsweetened Plain Yogurt, the ingredients of which include simply soy milk, cornstarch, and live active vegan cultures. While I usually opt to exclude soy yogurt from my diet, due to the inclusion of various sugars and questionable chemical-esque products in most brands, I’ve fallen head-over-heels in love with the WholeSoy yogurt thanks to its probiotic content, creamy texture, and short ingredient list. The yogurt lends a pleasing tang and velvety consistency to smoothies such as the one above.

As for the cereal, I slightly altered Amie Sue’s original recipe by substituting half of the rolled oats for raw buckwheat groats, replacing the pumpkin puree with that of apples, using two medjool dates in place of 2 tbsp of the maple syrup, and baking the cereal at 260° for about 90 minutes. The resulting cereal proved flaky, crunchy, and just the right balance of sweet and oaty (no, these two characteristics don’t seem like opposites, but think about how you would describe unsweetened, “hippie-crunchy” granola. Oaty, right?).

Breakfast Checklist: Protein—hemp seeds, chia seeds, peanut butter, soy yogurt, almond pulp in cereal. Whole Grain—rolled oats and buckwheat in cereal. Fruit—apple, banana, raspberries, goji berries, dates in cereal. Leafy Green—kale. Superfood—hemp seeds, chia seeds, spirulina, goji berries.

Morning Tea: Numi’s Chocolate Pu-Erh tea.

Lunch: A saute of mushrooms, shredded brussels sprouts, kale, almond butter, and balsamic vinegar, topped with tangy marinated mixed beans and a sprinkling of nutritional yeast, accompanied by two thick slices of Leek-Sundried Tomato Bread stuffed with the vegan mozzarella cheese from the Sept+Oct 2012 issue of VegNews (bread recipe inspired by Ricki Heller’s Cheese-Filled Onion and Olive Bread), drizzled with flax oil.

Moist, dense, hearty, and oh-so-savory, the cheese-stuffed bread provided both novelty and immense flavor. However, I do wish that I had opted to employ a flour other than the quinoa, for its pronounced bitterness tended to overwhelm the palate’s experience of the bread. I would certainly still call this bread a huge success, though! My enthusiastic Ferry housemates would definitely agree.

My changes to Ricki’s original recipe: replaced olives with sundried tomatoes; substituted leeks for green onions; and used quinoa flour in place of amaranth flour, oat flour in place of millet flour, and chickpea flour in place of soy flour.

Meal Checklist: Protein—mixed beans, tahini, almond milk, flaxseed meal, chickpea flour (last four in bread), soy yogurt in mozzarella. Whole Grain—quinoa and oat flours in bread. Vegetables—mushrooms, leeks, sundried tomatoes. Leafy Greens—kale, brussels sprouts.

Afternoon Beverage: Choice Organic White Peony tea.

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

Dinner: Three Polenta Sweet Corn Cakes topped with schmears of vegan mozzarella and accompanied by crisp greens tossed in a dressing of olive oil, Dijon mustard, cumin, nutritional yeast, and apple cider vinegar, and topped with both a salsa of tomatoes, cucumbers, mango, jalapeno, cilantro, and lime juice, as well as a dollop of tangy marinated mixed beans.

Thanks to my dear housemates Tori and Alex for such a splendid dinner!

Meal Checklist: Protein—marinated mixed beans, soy yogurt in mozzarella. Whole Grain—cornmeal. Vegetables—corn, cucumber, cilantro, tomato, mango, jalapeno. Leafy Greens—lettuce.

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

Comment Provoking Questions: How do you feel about soy yogurt? Do you find the flavor of quinoa flour overwhelming? How do you temper its intensity?

Happy WIAW!

Until next time, Ali.

Farmers Market Vegan Has a Cooking Show!

No, I’ve not spread my humble blog to the world of Food Network or the Cooking Channel like vegan celebrity chef Jason Wrobel. Instead, I’ve collaborated with the Multimedia team at Vassar’s campus newspaper, the Miscellany News, to launch a series of YouTube videos under the Farmers Market Vegan name that features your’s truly cooking up some tantalizing vegan noms in the Ferry kitchen.

In the premiere episode, I expose the Vassar bubble to the wonders of fish-free sushi with my winning recipe for Brown Rice Sushi with Coconut-Lemongrass Tofu. Check out the first episode here!

Until next time, Ali.

What I Ate Wednesday #57

Breakfast: A green juice of apple, carrot, kale, parsley, and lemon, blended with 1/2 an avocado, 1 tbsp hemp seeds, and 1 tbsp goji berries, accompanied by a hefty slice of Raspberry Rooibos-Tea Bread from Jennifer Katzinger’s “Gluten-Free and Vegan Bread.”

As with so many other healthy eating techniques and recipes (banana soft serve and perfect tofu burgers, anyone?), my virtual buddy Gena of Choosing Raw first introduced me to the notion of blending juiced veggies with avocado to yield a creamy beverage more substantial than yet just as nourishing as a standard green juice. Figuring that if I could blend avocado into my morning juice, I could amp up its nutritional content even further by also pureeing in hemp seeds and goji berries. New breakfast triumph!

I alluded to Jennifer Katzinger’s Raspberry-Rooibos Tea Bread in my last post on the gluten-free sandwiches in which I’ve recently reveled, promising more details in this post. The recipe that called to me the most earnestly out of Jennifer’s entire book, this bread did not disappoint my high expectations for it. The bread’s base of teff flour imparted a deep hue, hearty texture, and a unique flavor wavering between earthy and nutty, while the rooibos tea lent a slightly red tone and sophisticated taste. Each layer of the bread took on a distinct characteristic—the bottom proved oh-so-moist and chewy while the top held an almost coffee-cake-like crumbly texture. Studded with tart raspberries and only mildly sweet from a minimal amount of agave nectar, the bread appealed immensely to my sugar-sensitive tastebuds and provided a complex way to wake the palate after a night’s rest. The next time I make this recipe, I intend to incorporate a bit of cocoa powder as I think it will nicely complement the bread’s flavor; besides, aren’t raspberries and chocolate a match made in heaven?

Breakfast Checklist: Protein—hemp seeds. Whole Grain—teff flour. Fruit—apple, avocado, goji berries, raspberries, lemon. Leafy Green—kale, parsley. Superfood—hemp seeds, goji berries. Added Veggie Bonus!—carrot.

Local Ingredients: Carrots from Tipi Produce.

Morning Tea: Triple Leaf Tea’s White Tea.

Lunch: A TLT (Tempeh, Lettuce, & Tomato) Sandwich with Avocado on Jennifer Katzinger’s Light Teff Sandwich Bread, accompanied by a salad of mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, mixed bean sprouts, “farmhouse mix” sprouts, carrots, and dulse flakes, all tossed in Liquid Gold Dressing and topped with the “Ferment of the Month” sauerkraut from Fizzeology.

If you haven’t yet witnessed me waxing poetic about my recent sandwich ventures, I encourage you to do so by checking out my latest post. There, you can find the details of the TLT with Avocado featured above.

As for the “Ferment of the Month” sauerkraut, this month’s mix of lactofermented yumminess contains a surprising plethora of unorthodox vegetables, which I will now list to fulfill your veggie-loving needs: green and napa cabbage, bok choy, brussels sprout tops, black radish, red pepper, carrot, red beauty heart radish, onion, cilantro, turnip, burdock root, dandelion greens, lotus root, yellow dot, evening primrose seed, wild parsnip, garlic, delicata squash, bok choy root, wild carrot, lambs quarter seed, apple, eggplant. Um, wow.

Meal Checklist: Protein—tempeh, chia seeds, almond meal, flaxseed meal (last three in bread). Whole Grain—buckwheat and teff flours in bread. Vegetables—cherry tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, mixed bean sprouts, “farmhouse mix” sprouts, carrots, sauerkraut veggies. Leafy Greens—mixed greens, dulse seaweed, greens in sauerkraut.

Local Ingredients: Carrots from Tipi Produce, alfalfa sprouts and mixed bean sprouts from Troy Community Farm, “Ferment of the Month” sauerkraut from Fizzeology, tempeh from the Simple Soyman, mixed greens from Don’s Produce (no website), “farmhouse mix” sprouts from Garden to Be.

Afternoon Beverage: A glass of NessAlla Kombucha in their seasonal Cardamom Hibiscus Ginger flavor.

Dinner: Two of Dreena Burton’s Mushroom-Pecan Burgers topped with Julie Morris’ Superfood Goddess Dressing from her book “Superfood Kitchen“; a Mixed Veggie Slaw with Peanut Lime Dressing (recipe below); and the leftover wrappers and marinated veggies from the Raw Falafel and Hummus Wraps with Marinated Mediterranean Veggies that I brought to the raw potluck last weekend.

Super hearty, densely textured, and wonderfully savory from a thoughtful combination of seasonings including miso, sage, oregano, balsamic vinegar, and tamari, Dreena’s Mushroom-Pecan Burgers filled in every box on the “Great Veggie Burgers” checklist. Slathered in Julie’s tangy Superfood Goddess Dressing—deemed as such due to the inclusion of hemp seeds, flaxseed oil, and Amazing Grass Green Superfoods powder—the burgers provided a delectable focal point to my dinner.

I drew inspiration for the Mixed Veggie Slaw with Peanut Lime Dressing from Fresh Restaurant’s recipe for Tangled Thai Salad. My simplified version of the recipe I’ve provided below—I used most of the veggies listed in the recipe simply to clean out my refrigerator, so feel free to substitute any other veggies you like.

Mixed Veggie Slaw with Peanut Lime Dressing

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

1 small head savoy cabbage, shredded
2 small beets, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup butternut squash cubes, shredded
1 medium bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 small cucumber, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp fresh cilantro
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp brown rice vinegar
1 tbsp fresh ginger or 1 tsp ground
2 tsp coconut milk (can sub any other plant-based milk)
3/4 tsp agave nectar
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup toasted sesame oil

Place all of the veggies in a large bowl and toss to combine.

To make the dressing, place all of the dressing ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

Pour the dressing over the veggies and mix well to coat.

Meal Checklist: Protein—pecans, tahini, flaxseed meal, peanut butter, hemp seeds. Whole Grain—GF rolled oats. Vegetables—butternut squash, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, zucchini, bell peppers, beets, cucumbers. Leafy Greens—spinach, savoy cabbage, Amazing Grass Green Superfoods powder.

Local Ingredients: Spinach from Snug Haven, beets from Harmony Valley Farm.

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

Comment Provoking Questions: Have you ever tried blending juice with avocado? What is your favorite sandwich? What veggies do you like to incorporate into slaws?

Happy WIAW!

Until next time, Ali.

Meeting the Madison Raw Foodies

While Vassar’s dining options include an impressive variety of creative and healthy vegan dishes, they falter, rather predictably, at providing food catering to a raw foods diet. Yes, both the Deece and the Retreat (Vassar’s main dining hall and cafe-style eatery, respectively) feature considerably well-stocked salad bars, but I certainly cannot hope to discover any cashew cheese, zucchini noodles, or kale chips within a 200-foot radius of either building. Though I don’t adhere to an exclusively raw diet simply because, from experimenting with doing so over the past couple of years, I find it unsustainable for my active lifestyle and too restrictive to truly enjoy. However, I prefer that both my daily breakfasts and lunches consist heavily of raw foods to ensure high nutrient density, thoroughly enjoy reveling in decadent raw desserts every so often, and immensely admire individuals who have vastly improved their health (many even reversing Western diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers) by committing to a raw diet. That said, I took great pleasure in sharing a potluck dinner last night with a handful of fellow members of the Madison Raw Food Meetup Group who, unlike the vast majority of my college campus, wholeheartedly appreciated the nourishing power of pure veggies, fruits, nuts, and seeds, as well as shared my enthusiasm for sprouting, dehydrating, juicing, and smoothie-ing.

Starting from top left and working clockwise, our group of health-minded folk enjoyed:

• A wonderfully tender kale salad massaged with a citrusy olive oil dressing and tossed with avocado and grapefruit.
• Mushroom Pizzas with a tahini-based pate, tomatoes, and spiced avocado slices.
• (My contribution!) Falafel and Hummus Wraps with marinated mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers (recipe here). I adored the deeply savory, quite olive-y flavor of the pumpkin seed falafel, but opted to make a more seasonal wrapper out of winter squash rather than the one called for in the original recipe.
• Satisfyingly crisp sundried tomato-basil crackers and sprouted rye berry crackers accompanied by the silkiest, most delectable cashew cream cheese in which my tastebuds have ever had the pleasure of frolicking (of course the woman who provided these dishes employed a VitaMix to yield such a creamy spread—oh, the jealousy!).
• Two superfood dessert bars—the first of hemp seeds, dried figs, dates, and almond butter; the other a chocolatey date-nut square topped with shredded coconut.

The buffet table also included apple slices and almond butter, hemp seeds to top the kale salad, a strawberry cheesecake, and a platter of my Red Peppermint “Sugar” Cookies.

Boasting a larger turnout that the last raw food meetup I attended during the summer, last night’s potluck offered an informal, friendly setting in which to chat with likeminded vegans and nutrition junkies, including two members of the Madison-based band Sexy Ester, who describe their music as “post-modern power pop.” Lyndsay, the lead singer, described to me her journey to raw foodism: she adopted a vegan lifestyle at age 18 out of a deep love for animals and decided to experiment with a raw foods diet in an attempt to ameliorate long-term digestive issues—more power to her! I intend to keep in touch with her and continue to support her band’s endeavors.

Finally, I’d like to conclude this post by rehabilitating the powerful discussion I introduced in my last raw potluck recap, which describes my experience in and advice for finding the inspiration to remain vegan for life. The post touches upon my transition from health-focused veganism to passionate animal rights advocacy, and how both educating oneself of the three major reasons—the animals, the environment, and health—for becoming vegan as well as surrounding oneself with a community supportive of a compassionate lifestyle prove necessary ”In order to thoroughly cultivate the dedication and unwavering psychology necessary to nuture a permanent vegan lifestyle” (as quoted from the post I’m referencing). I’d love if you’d take the time to read (or re-read) my musings and contribute your thoughts to the conversation.

Until next time, Ali.

What I Ate Wednesday #56

Before launching into my weekly What I Ate Wednesday spiel, I’d like to thank you all for the outpouring of support I’ve recieved for the article I posted yesterday, entitled We Can Keep Romanticizing Our Food Choices as Long as They Don’t Involve Animal Suffering. Here’s an excerpt: “Do we think that shopping in a manner that we consider morally sound, in that it supports the local economy, serves as a legitimate excuse to overlook the ethical implications of other aspects of our food choices, such as whether or not a sentient being—who would undoubtedly choose life over slaughter—died merely to satisfy our taste preferences, even though we know that humans can easily thrive on a plant-based diet?” I hope you’ll hop on over to yesterday’s post and give it a read if you haven’t already!

Breakfast: A green smoothie of 1 frozen banana, a large handful each of frozen pineapple and raspberries, 1 tbsp goji berries, 1 tbsp hemp seeds, 1/2 tsp maca powder, 1/2 scoop Amazing Grass Green Superfoods powder, 8 medium leaves of lacinato kale, and 1 cup homemade almond milk, topped with 1/2 cup of my version of Nouveau Raw’s Pumpkin Caramel Cereal.

This Christmas, I positively shrieked with delight upon unwrapping Superfood Kitchen, a gorgeous tome by Julie Morris of extremely healthy recipes featuring every superfood imaginable. Though I already incorporated many of what Julie categorizes as superfoods into my diet prior to reading her artfully written cookbook, her playful voice inspired in me an even greater awareness of the benefits of including these highly nutrient-dense foods into everyday meals. As such, I bought a bag of goji berries that have earned a spot in my morning smoothies, imparting in them an intriguing chocolately flavor, and have also began to utilize some variety of berries—the most antioxidant-rich of fruits—in every smoothie.

Breakfast Checklist: Protein—hemp seeds, almond milk, almond meal, chia seeds, sunflower seeds (last three in cereal). Whole Grain—buckwheat. Fruit—banana, raspberries, pineapple, dates, apricots, persimmons. Leafy Green—lacinato kale. “Super Food”—Amazing Grass powder, hemp seeds, maca, goji berries, chia seeds.

Local Ingredients: None.

Morning Tea: Eden Organic Genmaicha green tea.

Lunch: A salad of mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, mixed bean sprouts, carrots, parsley, and dulse flakes, all tossed with Liquid Gold Dressing and topped with Kickapoo Kimchi, accompanied by a plate of Happy Crackers with garlic powder and sundried tomatoes, a ball of Vegan Buffalo Mozzarella, and a dollop each of Roasted Garlic & Kale Hummus and Sweet Potato Hummus with Fennel Seeds and Smoked Salt.

You know it’s a good day when not one, but two hummus varieties grace your plate. A sucker for roasted garlic, kale, sweet potatoes, fennel seeds, and smoked salt, both of the hummuses in which I reveled today spoke directly to my culinary heart, nourishing my spirit as well as my health. Both hummuses pack a huge flavor punch and finish with a spicy kick—yum!

Meal Checklist: Protein—sesame and flax seeds in crackers, cashews and soy yogurt in mozzarella, tahini and garbanzo beans in hummuses. Whole Grain—brown rice and quinoa in crackers. Vegetables—parsley, alfalfa sprouts, mixed bean sprouts, carrots, kimchi veggies, sundried tomatoes, garlic, sweet potato. Leafy Greens—mixed greens, dulse seaweed, cabbage in kimchi, kale in hummus.

Local Ingredients: Carrots from Tipi Produce, alfalfa sprouts and mixed bean sprouts from Troy Community Farm, Kickapoo Kimchi from Fizzeology.

Afternoon Beverage: A tall glass of NessAlla Kombucha in a gorgeous seasonal flavor of Hibiscus Ginger Cardamom, oh my!

Dinner: Three Shiitake Cabbage Rolls with Chestnut Cream from Veggie Wedgie accompanied by a Borchst-Inspired Shredded Beet and Fennel Salad loosely based off of Leanne’s Brilliant Beet Slaw.

During the summer when I first glimpsed Veggie Wedgie’s cabbage roll recipe, which featured two of my all-time favorite ingredients—tempeh and chestnuts—I vowed to recreate it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, a little thing called college got in the way and forced me to endure five long months with this recipe tantalizing me every time I opened my “Recipes to Try” Word document. Fortunately, after finally making them, the cabbage rolls certainly lived up to the high expectations I had set for them—deeply earthy from the shiitakes, hearty and toothsome from the tempeh, refreshing and leafy from the cabbage, and decadently creamy from the chestnut sauce. This deceptively simple recipe falls short of absolutely nothing in the flavor department.

As for the shredded beet and fennel salad, I formulated the recipe out of a desire to provide a light, acidic accompaniment to the cabbage rolls while abiding by the Balkan origins of the dish. Borchst first popped into my head, but I yearned for a dish more toothsome than a pureed soup to offset the already creamy component of the chestnut sauce. However, I held onto the notion of highlighting beets in my side dish, and also decided to play off of the flavor profile of borchst by incorporating caraway seeds. A beet salad tossed with a caraway-laced dressing seemed like the perfect playmate for the cabbage rolls, and I’ve included the brightly flavored recipe here:

Borchst-Inspired Shredded Beet and Fennel Salad

¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup fresh dill
¼ cup fresh parsley
1 ½ tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp caraway seeds
2 garlic cloves
3 raw beets, peeled and finely shredded
1 large fennel bulb, finely shredded

1. Place lemon juice, dill, parsley, olive oil, seeds, and garlic in the bowl of a mini food processor. Blend until everything is broken up, but still slightly chunky.
2. Drop into a bowl with shredded beets and fennel. Stir to coat.

Meal Checklist: Protein—tempeh, chestnuts. Whole Grain—none. Vegetables—shiitake mushrooms, dill, parsley, beets, garlic, fennel. Leafy Greens—savoy cabbage.

Local Ingredients: Tempeh from The Simple Soyman, beets from Harmony Valley Farm.

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

Comment Provoking Questions: Which superfoods do you like to incoporate into your daily meals? What is your favorite creatively flavored hummus? How do you feel about borchst (I’ve never actually tried it!)?

Happy WIAW!

Until next time, Ali.

A Very Vegan Christmas

Allow me to commence this post by wishing you all a very merry Christmas, or an incredibly enjoyable Tuesday for those of you who don’t celebrate December 25th as a holiday. My family, though composed of three of the least religious people on the planet, still engages in gift-giving, Christmas-television-special-watching (It’s A Wonderful Life and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, anyone?), and holiday-treat-baking on this late December day, and this year certainly proves no different. To my extreme joy, however, I did not have to settle for partaking in these traditional activities while visiting my paternal family in Vegan Wasteland, USA (aka Alabama), like last year; instead, my father headed down south by his lonesome while my mother and I happily remained in our progressive, liberal, vegan-friendly oasis of Madison, WI.

I started off Christmas Day with a big glass of homemade green juice—a treat I’ve missed immensely while at Vassar; this one consisted of apples, lemon, carrots, cucumber, parsley, and kale—accompanied by a bowlful of Pumpkin Caramel Cereal. My mother soon joined me downstairs and bestowed upon me the go-ahead to begin tearing apart opening my presents. I didn’t request too much this year, as I consider college tuition as the ongoing and ultimate gift from my parents, and profusely thanked my mother for her lovely and quite useful presents. They include four cookbooks—Superfood Cuisine by Julie Morris, Let Them Eat Vegan! by Dreena Burton, Forks Over Knives: The Cookbook by Del Sroufe, and Gluten-Free and Vegan Bread by Jennifer Katzinger—, what I consider the two books that every animal rights proponent must read—Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows by Melanie Joy and Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer—, and donations to the organizations of three of the most inspirational women I’ve ever encountered—Our Hen House with Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan, and The Compassionate Cook with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

   

Later this morning, I headed over to Inner Fire for a Christmas Day yoga class before retreating to the kitchen for the next five hours of the day, during which I prepared a couple more batches of Butter Pecan Rum Balls and a gorgeous, accidentally Italian-inspired holiday dinner for my mother and myself.

Our Christmas meal began with a festive green-and-red appetizer tray boasting Happy Crackers with sundried tomatoes and garlic powder from My New Roots, Oil-Free Pesto from Keepin’ it Kind, Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella from the September+October 2012 issue of VegNews magazine by Miyoko Schinner, author of Artisan Vegan Cheese (you can find the recipe online here), and a couple of cherry tomatoes to round out the array.

I’ve made the Happy Crackers before, flavoring them with caraway, to yield spectacularly crunchy, hearty, punch-you-in-the-face flavorful results, and my second encounter with the recipe turned out just as well. Sweet and deriving richness from three types of nuts and seeds—cashews, pistachios, and hemp seeds—rather than from oil, the pesto provided a mellow contrast to the bold crackers. Most excited about the buffalo mozzarella, I had dreamed of crafting the cheese since salivating over the photo of vegan caprese salad in VegNews four months ago. While the cheese did not harbor the same density of dairy-based mozzarella, it offered a deliciously creamy, tangy, and cruelty-free spread in the familiar spherical mozzarella shape.

Happy Crackers with sundried tomatoes and garlic powder.

Oil-Free Pesto.

Vegan Buffalo Mozzarella.

Though my photos don’t do even a smidge of justice to this downright astounding recipe (as per usual), Sarah’s Butternut Squash Lasagna with celeriac noodles, white bean bechamel, butternut squash sauce, and wilted baby spinach comprised the main event of our modernized Italian vegan holiday meal. Every layer of the lasagna provided a unique flavor profile to form a veritable symphony of comforting gastronomic bliss: the celeriac, with its intriguing earthy-yet-clean taste, took on a more savory flavor from a quick braise in veggie stock; the silky smooth white bean bechamel offered a warming note of fresh nutmeg; the creamy butternut squash sauce packed a sharply sweet punch of garlic; and the rainbow chard, which I used instead of baby spinach, imparted that much-loved accent of green leafiness present in nearly all of my meals.

 

Meal Checklist: Protein—soy yogurt, cashews, white beans, pistachios, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds. Whole Grain—quinoa, brown rice. Vegetables—butternut squash, garlic, celeriac, sundried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, basil. Leafy Green—rainbow chard.

And thus concluded my immensely enjoyable Christmas. Of course, the most valuable gifts I’ve received both during this holiday season and the rest of the year include a loving network of friends and family who support me in all my endeavors, an inspiring and ever-expanding community of (com)passionate vegan/animal rights advocates, the enormous privilege of attending my idea of the most perfect institution of higher learning in America, and the ability to nourish my mind, body, and spirit through a healthy lifestyle. Thank you, dear readers, for contributing to this list of gifts. I wish you all the same. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must indulge in a little Grinchiness.

Much love and until next time, Ali.