Birthday Treats for a Birthday Girl

Birthdays are a wonderful reason to celebrate with delicious food...especially if you are a foodie, like me! My 22nd bday was a few days ago, so here's a few treats with which I was blessed on my special day!!

Even though it was my birthday, I did do a little cooking. One, because I love to cook, and two, because I really wanted biscuits and gravy on my special morning for breakfast...and there was no one else around who could make them like I like them! Anyway, I made up some whole wheat biscuits and herbed tofu sausage gravy (still working on this recipe! I'll put it up after it's perfected.) for my mother and myself. It was a great morning!

For my birthday lunch, my mom took me to one of our favorite restaurants in Kansas City, and the world, Eden Alley! I had my favorite menu item: the Sweet Potato Burrito! It is a big flour tortilla stuffed with roasted rosemary sweet potatoes, homemade hummus, and brown rice, topped with fruit salsa and served on a bed of organic baby greens. This is such a refreshing meal on a warm summer day!

My mom had the Falafel Platter, which is their homemade baked falafel patties with brown rice, homemade hummus, and warm local pita bread! She loved this dish, and I loved the bite I snuck from her plate!For dessert, we split a piece of their Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Icing and Candied Walnuts...I love carrot cake so much!! This was delish!We also split some of their homemade vegan ice cream! You can't have your birthday cake without ice cream! We got the Coconut-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream and it was mind-blowing! I love the creaminess of the ice cream interspersed with crunchy bits of frozen chocolate chips!!
For my birthday dinner, my dad and his family took me to Waldo Pizza in Kansas City. I adore this place! They are one of the few pizza joints that carry vegan mozzarella and they have tons of veggie toppings! They even have a special vegan menu. So sweet.

For my pie, I got vegan mozzarella, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, and roasted red peppers. This was amaaaazing! Sweet and salty and savory and wonderful.
Aaaaaand they even had vegan cupcakes! My dad and I both got the Cappuccino Cupcakes. I have to say that this was one of the BEST cupcakes I've ever eaten....and that's been a lot of cupcakes! He thought it was amazing, too! It was just sooooo moist and rich yet light and had the most intense cappuccino flavor! I want one now just thinking about it!

While I was visiting my family in KC for my birthday, I also had to hit up the all-vegan restaurant, Cafe Seed! This place has food that would make anyone want to go vegan!

My mom and I each had our respective favorites: I had the Chik'n Sandwich on a Biscuit (which IS what I will eat in Heaven everyday.), served with an awesome side salad... And my mom got the Veggie Burger on a sprouted wheat bun, served with awesome homemade thick-cut fries. This burger has caramelized onions on it, folks! These people are NOT playing around!!

And, since it was my special week, my mom even surprised me with some sorbet! This is the Pomegranate-Blood Orange Sorbet made my Archer Farms, one of the Target gourmet store brands. OMG this sorbet tastes like a push-pop from my childhood!!! And it is beautiful! Tastes really good topped with some frozen berries, too! Aaaaah, summer is here!!

Kansas City + Lawrence Eats!

I really can't believe it has been two weeks since I posted! I would apologize, chalking it up to my laziness, but actually I have a legitimate reason! I am staying in Kansas City for a month-long internship at the Harvesters Food Bank, in the nutrition department...which is in combination with my other schoolwork, so I have been a busy bee with little time to cook or blog. Luckily, I have had a chill weekend so far, and now I can finally catch up! hooray!

This weekend I went to Lawrence, KS (where KU is) to visit my wonderful friend Anna. She showed me around, which means we went to all the good places to get vegan food! Lawrence is a really cool town, and there seems to be a lot of appreciation there for good food...that's how I judge a place, I guess! :)

For my first day, we went to lunch at the Nice Cafe, which is located downtown in a natural foods market called the Casbah. This is some of the best and cheapest food ever!! They specialize in homemade patties, which are another word for empandadas. They are really healthy, too, as they are baked instead of fried and made with whole wheat flour! YES!

I had the Jerk Tofu Patty and the Jamaican Slaw, both rocked my face clean off!! I got the sweet dipping sauce, and I was in heaven.The Jerk Tofu Patty, Jamaican Slaw, and Sweet Dipping Sauce

Crappy inside shot of the Jerk Tofu Patty...

And for dessert, I got a yummy cookie by Ancient Grains, a bakery in Lawrence! They make the best GF cookies I have ever had. I had the choc-choc chip for lunch and the even better oatmeal raisin variety for dinner.Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookie

Anna and her bf, Dan, got the Jamaican Rice and Peas with Jerk Tofu on top, and that sauce on top is the spicy dipping sauce...made with yams! whoa! This was also delicious.Jamaican Rice and Peas, with Jerk Tofu and Spicy Dipping Sauce

And here's the cuties, smooching at Nice Cafe.

For dinner, we hit up Local Burger. This place has every kind of burger you could imagine, all from local sources! They have an awesome vegan Veggie Burger, made with quinoa, so I knew I had to try it. I got it topped with avocado...duh...and got a side of their Progressive Potatoes (aka awesome fries). I was in greasy-vegan food-heaven!Veggie Burger with Avocado on Wheat Bun, with Progressive Potatoes

Then this morning for breakfast, we went to Wheatfields Bakery. This didn't have many vegan options, unfortunately, but they did have bagels...which I love! I got a BIG poppy seed bagel with a schmear of natural peanut butter, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Sometimes you have to get creative. Oh, and they had amazing coffee! score!

Poppy Seed Bagel with Peanut Butter, Honey, and Cinnamon

That was pretty much my weekend in Lawrence...and it was great! We even got to ride bikes and play outside yesterday because it was soooo beautiful! I am blessed.

Ok, now I will tell you about some of the good stuff I've been eating in Kansas City. Believe it or not, KC has its very own all-vegan restaurant, Cafe Seed. The owner/chef even used to work with Isa Moskowitz back when they both lived in Brooklyn! So, you know this lady can cook! One of my favorite things to do is to get breakfast here...especially because they have the best biscuits I've ever eaten. ever. But, last time we went there, they were all out!! NOO! So, we had to "settle" (haha) with other amazing stuff...Belgian Waffle with Fresh Fruit Topping and Veg Sausage Links

Pancakes with Fresh Fruit Topping and Veg Sausage with "Cheese"

My other favorite place to eat in KC is Eden Alley, which is all vegetarian and mostly vegan. It has been around for over 12 years, and it is so wonderful! I think this food could turn anyone to being an herbivore. I especially like their desserts...

Two Berry-More Cake with Fresh Berry Frosting

Raw Apple-Cinnamon Pie with Coconut Crust...Steven's fav.

KC also has some great coffee shops. One of my favorites is Broadway Cafe, which has great everything and even has some vegan sandwiches and pumpkin bread. wow. The other neat place is the Filling Station, which uses Broadway's coffee for their roaster. They make killer soy lattes...Soy Latte from The Filling Station

And lots of people who work there are vegan, so they have some vegan sandwiches/wraps and almost always have a vegan dessert, usually some kind of fruit pie. This particular day, they had a triple berry! More like triple awesome!

Triple Berry Pie

I have only been doing a little cooking since I have been so busy, but here's a recipe I have been working on: Apple-Sage Seitan Sausages...bursting with fresh sage and apples and spices and deliciousness. They aren't quite perfect yet, but they will get there soon! Apple Sage Sausages with Roasted Potatoes and Garlic Brussel SproutsThe inside of a beautiful sausage

And, yes, since I am staying in Kansas City for a bit, and I missing my Steven VERY MUCH! Here we are, being ridiculous and sweet at Cafe Seed.... awww. Last weekend I did get to see him for our one year anniversary, though. Pics to come on those meals!

Whew, that was a long post! I hope you're hungry now!