This weekend was a fairly busy and yet uneventful one and I could really go for an extra day off.
Friday was a ridiculously busy day- none of which did I make time to capture in photographs- but it started with a frustrating morning at the dealership where I went to get my oil changed and it turned into a whole big, extra long mess. Then it was off to work later than planned to finish a grant proposal that was due at 5pm. I had a later day at the office than usual but was able to finish the application and get it sent off at 3:40pm! Following that I had to pick up the Hubz and head to the hospital to visit my mom who was having out-patient surgery on her knee. After our brief visit and long day the Hubz and I were ready for a margarita and portobello fajitas.
Saturday was as little bit more relaxed; we spent most of the day at home working on our projects. We stopped around noon and decided to try out this Vegan Harvest pizza from American Flatbread that I had picked up on a whim.
The verdict: the pizza was meh-okay. The Hubz and I both though the crust was delicious but that’s a given because American Flatbread has the best crust. The pizza overall was greasy and really lacked in flavor. It had a tiny bit of sauce on it and a ton of Daiya. I would have liked to have seen vegetables on the pizza and a few more herbs. Overall I don’t think we’d buy this again because we can make a veggie filled home-made pizza for the same that it costs us to buy this frozen pizza.
The Hubz went snowboarding with a friend on Sunday so I spent the entire day working on edits for my e-book that will hopefully be released on Tuesday or Wednesday! Fingers Crossed! Here is a sneak peak
Also don’t forget that you still have until February 10th to enter the Fiery Vegan Valentine Contest! You can enter for all three categories!
Yesterday morning I had my heart set on making this recipe . I had all the ingredients for the mole sauce and prepared it in the morning so I would only have to worry about making the tamales when I arrived home after work. Well I spent the rest of the day thinking about the fact that I wasn’t in love with the mole sauce and also how it seemed silly to try to make something when corn isn’t in season and frozen corn for the tamales just didn’t seem like it would be as good. So, I scrapped it which put me in another dilemma- How can I use this sauce?
I decided to make enchiladas and I picked up the fixings for them which was the easy part. Now to the hard part making this raw mole sauce into a mole enchilada sauce that tasted good. I started by heating the mole sauce with vegetable broth to thin it out, however this did not improve the taste- it just was like spicy, nutty, chocolate soup. Then I got the idea to add more chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, ume plum vinegar, tomato sauce and a number of other things I can’t remember until it tasted good.
I made a filling of refried beans, mushrooms and spinach which I then rolled up and placed in a baking dish. I topped with the mole enchilada sauce and a dusting of nutritional yeast and placed in the oven to bake for 20 minutes uncovered. Once it came out of the oven I topped with a drizzle of smoky paprika cheeze sauce (based off this recipe) and a little avocado.
Well they look good right? Now the test was to see if they actually tasted as good as they look. The verdict: they were really amazing, however due to all the playing around to make the sauce taste good it is going to be difficult to recreate this dish that turned out amazing by mistake. Oh well, I think I have enough knowledge on how to recreate it and I hope to try it again- but this time I will write everything down so you can try it too!
For dessert we tried one of the sample cookies sent to me from Enjoy Life Foods; they sent the Snickerdoodle, Double Chocolate Brownie and Lively Lemon to test out for them. Last night we tried the Snickerdoodle, overall the Hubz and I thought that they were okay. They were nice and soft but we both felt that they were super sugary tasting and the texture was almost like eating brown sugar (we just aren’t sugar lovers). I am hoping that the other two flavors are better.
Occasionally the Hubz and I like to have an early morning breakfast date during the week; yesterday just happened to be one of those days. Lately our favorite spot has been Penny Cluse Cafe in Burlington because of it’s early hours, delicious coffee and tasty tofu scramble. Yesterday morning we stopped in and had settled on the Pesto Tofu Scramble, a griddled tomato and dry rye toast, oh and of course coffee. Well come to find out the pesto which we had asked about on our last visit and were told was vegan actually is not vegan. So we decided on the peanut-ginger sauce instead. The waitress feeling bad about our last waitress misinforming us brought us each over a complimentary glass of tangerine juice.
My Trio of Beverages
Peanut-Ginger Tofu, Griddled Tomato and Dry Rye Toast
The Peanut-Ginger Tofu is really delicious. The sauce coats the tofu perfectly and you get great flavor with every bite. Also the ginger is really a mild flavor and balanced perfectly with the peanut. “I really like how the sauce is kind of crispy too and the ginger, well you can tell it’s real ginger not just a flavor” – Quote by The Hubz
The Griddled Tomato is my new favorite breakfast item. Cooking the tomato locks in all the juices and just creates a whole new depth of flavor; place it on top of the rye toast and you’ve got a winner.
As for the beverages I would say they have one of the best cups of coffee in town. The water was refreshing. The tangerine juice was surprisingly not overly sweet and I really enjoyed it- I may even order it next visit!
Just a heads up to vegans interested in eating here the homefries are not vegan.
Ratings:
Value: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Vegan Friendly: 3/5- all though not a ton of vegan options the ones they do have are delicious.
Atmosphere: 4/5
Melisser Elliott is the author of the upcoming book “The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life”, as well as the blogger behind award-winning blog, The Urban Housewife, beauty blog Cruelty Free Face, and the founder of Sugar Beat Sweets bakery in San Francisco, CA. When not at the keyboard, she participates in animal activism, vegan outreach, &
spends time with her husband Ryan, & rescued friends Strummer, Beamish, & Scurvy. She currently resides in Vienna, Austria.
Inspiration behind the book:
I wanted to write a vegan lifestyle book from a female vegan’s
perspective, although it’s certainly not only for a book for women. The book includes not just about the food we eat, but the other things people forget about or may not know about veganism. I wanted to reduce the learning curve for new vegans by showing them how easy it can be, while appealing to current vegans with new recipes and fun crafts. It’s an easy read, but informative, nonetheless.
Q: Who is your target audience? I know that it is the “vegan girls guide” but do you think it applies to men as well?
Melisser: I consider it a lifestyle guide for the vegan curious, as well as current vegans. The book was written from a female’s perspective, but men can utilize it as well. They may find the beauty section less useful though!
In your book you ask many of your featured bloggers questions such as:
Q: What is your funniest vegan moment?
Melisser: It’s hard to pinpoint one, there’s been lots of silly misunderstandings and unbelievable questions I’ve been asked!
Q: What is your favorite accidental vegan food?
Melisser: Hungarian Baumkuchen from Naschmarkt in Vienna!
Q: What do you say to vegan haters?
Melisser: It depends on the situation, but I love to throw out facts to prove them wrong or make them think. Sometimes it’s better to just make a joke back to them, being a hater back is rarely effective.
Q: What is the one thing that you want you readers to get out of this book?
Melisser: Anyone can be vegan, it’s not a lifestyle for a certain type of person, gender, race, or orientation. With a bit of research and strong convictions, you can make the important decision to lead a vegan lifestyle.
Q:I know you are on a big book tour right now where else will you be stopping?
Melisser: I’m in the UK now doing talks in London, but in January I’ll be in San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland- dates coming soon!
My Take: I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I received this book for review all I knew was that it as written by Melisser Elliot a very well known blogger (and blog I follow) and had something to do with being vegan (obviously). I finally sat down and started into the book and this is what I came to find:
I found a lot of information that I already knew– being a 4 year vegan and a holistic health counselor and a lot of the information regarding food and nutrition I already knew. The information regarding animal welfare, factory farming, ect was all information I am already very informed about.
Interviews: There were interviews with bloggers and vegan company owners. I really loved these because it gave me an opportunity to learn more about the bloggers behind the blogs I read and about the business entrepreneurs of stores that I already shop from, as well as about new bloggers and new places to shop.
Besides the beauty info this book is not just for girls. Yes this is The Vegan Girls Guide to Lifeand is written through the perspective of a girl but the information is really good for anyone male or female- however some men may find that the information about beauty supplies does not apply to them; however if you are like my husband you might take interest anyway.
A few recipes. This book was not meant to be a recipe book and you can tell by the lack of vegan recipes, however there are a few and they all sound really yummy.
Overall I think that this is a very well done book and is perfect for those who are vegan curious or a new vegan. If you have been around the vegan block a few times on a whole this book probably won’t hold your interest for very long; however don’t be too quick to dismiss it because the recipes, blogger features and vegan store/shopping info is worth reading.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this book for review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway or add this to my OpenSky shop in return for a discount on this product.
I have always been a huge fan of Wasa Crispbread- it is such a great snack. I love to top mine with tofutti and tomato it is so yummy with the cream cheeze and the crunch cracker. I was delighted with Wasa said they would send me their new flatbread to try since Wasa Crispbread is already a staple at Chez Cook.Vegan.Lover. Wasa sent me the sesame, original and rosemary flatbreads to try and the Hubz and I tried them out a few different ways
1. with hummus- YUM
2. with chickpea dip- YUM (totally different than hummus)
3. My favorite way however was like a bruschetta (see below)
Overall I really enjoyed these little flatbreads; they are great on their own or with a dip or topper. I have to say that I love the Crispbread more but the flatbreads are way better for entertaining and less mess. The flatbreads are light an airy and have a great crispy to them. My favorite flavor was the rosemary it was wonderful as a bruschetta, the sesame was great with peanut butter and the plan with hummus; overall a very versatile snack. So now that I have told you what I think and how much I enjoy these Wasa is providing you with an insane prize pack. All you have to do is……
All entries must be submitted by November 26th at 8pm. For each entry you MUST leave a SEPARATE comment for the entry to qualify.
TO ENTER:
1. Check out the flatbread flavors and tell me how you would enjoy them. (REQUIRED ENTRY)
Additional Chances to win (PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY; also if you already do any of these ie. follow me on twitter/facebook, ect it counts so leave a comment).
Visit the Wasa site and let me know something interesting you learned.
Our pizza from the last post was actually inspired by a visit to American Flatbread a few weeks ago where we sipped the best beer and ate the most delicious pizza. This is one of our go to restaurants because they have amazing flatbread that is made from local and/or organic ingredients. Plus they keep it simple- their menu has a salad (which is amazing) and a number of flatbread creations as well as an option to create your own flatbread. THAT IS IT. They don’t need to put anything more on that menu because it is perfect keeping it simple. They also have a special salad, vegetarian pizza and omnivore pizza each night as well as dessert specials.
On top of having a great salad and flatbreads they easily accommodate vegans and they brew their own beer. Now their dining menu maybe short and sweet but the beer list is extensive and filled with a great selection of microbrews as well as their house made which are all really good.
Veganized Special- white pizza with delicata squash, apples, garlic and maple glazed hazelnuts
Goody GoodStuffsent me a selection of their gummy candies to try. Good Good Stuff gummy candies are gelatin free, fat free and dairy free. They also are made with all natural flavors and no artificial colors. All of the gummies are vegetarian and 4 of the flavors are vegan:
Vegan Flavors:
Sour Mix and Match Sour Fruit Salad Summer Peaches Cola Breeze
My husband and I really had to practice self control with these snacks because like chips you just can’t eat one. Once we opened a bag of these it was really hard not to just eat the entire bag in one sitting. I have tried a number of different vegan gummies and these are by far my favorite and the closest in texture to the gelatin (eww) gummies I had as a child.
My favorite was the Sour Fruit Salad; it wasn’t really that sour but it had a good tang with cute fruit shaped gummies. Coming in 2nd were the Sour Mix and Match, 3rd the Cola and 4th the peach (I’m just really not into peach flavors.
My husband’s favorite was the cola, surprise-surprise! The Hubz is a a former cola addict so when he saw these his eyes lit up and he was in love at first sight. For him the peaches came in 2nd, the fruit salad 3rd and the mix and match last.
Unfortunately you can’t find these wonderful UK gummies every where in the U.S. yet but you can find them on Veganessentials.com, amazon.com and in Stop&Shop’s.
Melisser Elliott is the author of the upcoming book “The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life”, as well as the blogger behind award-winning blog, The Urban Housewife, beauty blog Cruelty Free Face, and the founder of Sugar Beat Sweets bakery in San Francisco, CA. When not at the keyboard, she participates in animal activism, vegan outreach, &
