Buffalo Seitan Wraps and Another Lovely Sunday!

Yesterday was so wonderful! Lots of great people and great food were shared to make yet another fantastic KC Vegan Crawl! I am constantly astounded at everyone's support of Sustainability Sunday happenings!!

Onto the food! Where would we be without it!?

The star of the lunch on Sunday was the Buffalo Seitan Wrap: homemade chick'n style seitan dredged in a homemade spicy buffalo wing sauce wrapped up in an organic whole wheat tortilla with homemade vegan ranch dressing, organic red onion, tomato, and spinach. Oooooh they were so delish!! The cool ranch juxtaposed against the spicy buffalo seitan was divine.

And for the side dish, I made some Spiced Potato Wedges! Local potatoes tossed in olive oil and spices, and baked until nice and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside! Yum! Man, potatoes are a perfect food. GOSH. I also made my Kickin' Ketchup for the dipping of the potato wedges. I love to dip, what can I say?!And you know I gotta have dessert!! I made my Oatmeal Cream Pies, because I just wanted and needed and craved them. I think everyone was happy with my decision...so perfectly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg for the fall, with that dollop of buttercream-style filling for a little naughty indulgent touch. I think I can declare this my new favorite dessert! There, I said it! :)

I was so very pleased with how yesterday went...now it's time to get crackin' for the next sustainability shindig!

Vegan MoFo: Denver, Part III

It's Day 26 of Vegan MoFo aaaaand it's the last post about Denver! You know you had a lot of good food on a trip when you need three posts to talk about it! Let's do it!

From the Watercourse Bakery, the all-vegan bakery in Denver:

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls! Can you believe it?! I must recreate this pastry!The Scout Cookie! Caramel-Coconut-Pecan Cookie drizzled in Dark Chocolate. Just like the Girl Scout Samoa Cookies you know and loved. Perfection.

Then, for our last lunch in Denver, we obviously had to eat at Watercourse Foods!

I had the Juan Wrap...sliced seitan (subbed for the usual cheese), cilantro pistachio pesto, grilled sweet potatoes, and sauteed mushrooms and onions. Out of this world good. Pesto!!! For my sides, I got the Southwest Quinoa Salad and Mixed Greens with Miso Tahini Dressing. I was elated. But sad this would be my last meal here for a while.
My dessert was the HoHo Cupcake, a take on the classic by Hostess! Rich chocolate cake with vanilla cream filling, vanilla icing, chocolate ganache, and some chocolate chips!! One of the best cupcakes I've ever ever ever had!!! Sarah got the BBQ Seitan Sandwich...sliced seitan, bbq sauce, and coleslaw on those awesome homemade buns...with sides of Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and Steamed Kale. Holy cow so good! Sarah's dessert was the Apple Pie! So cinnamon-y and juicy. Flaky, buttery crust. Love.
Our friend, Wendy, got the Chocolate Layer Cake a la mode with Cherry Ice Cream! Chocolate and cherry are soooo perfect together!! What more could you want?!

I'm sad to have to wrap up my posts about Denver, since the food was so fantastic. But there are more places to visit and foods to eat/love/crave/write about. Let's go get 'em!

(No Animals) Sufferin' Succotash!

Yeah, cheezy title. sorry. This post is aptly named because I discovered a new vegan-friendly restaurant in Kansas City today: Succotash! This was the first Saturday of the season that I went to the farmer's market in downtown KC, which was exciting in itself, but while I was there, I of course had to eat lunch! So when I saw Succotash, it was obvious what my job was. I had heard it was great before AND my mom had a gift certificate AND I was at the City Market, where it is located....how could I not eat there?? The restaurant is in a warehouse-type space and it is decorated really cool, lots of bright colors, paintings, retro lamps, etc.....Also, they have great food! The Pitch voted them best breakfast in Kansas City! I wouldn't say this applied to vegans, as there weren't really many vegan breakfast items, but the lunch food was wonderful! About 90% of the people who worked there were really nice and helpful, but I guess you always remember the 10% that wasn't. Anyway, one of the girls who worked there was vegan, and she pointed out some options on the menu and substitutions and whatnot.

I had the Veggie Wrap: spinach tortilla stuffed with lemony lima bean hummus (subbed for the eggs and cheese. yuck.) , succotash, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach, served with a HUGE side of home fries! This was amazing! The succotash was really crisp and flavorful, with tons of dill in it, and the lima bean hummus was amazingly creamy and fresh-tasting. I am in love!My mom had the Veggie Quesadilla: spinach tortilla with grilled succotash, tomatoes, spring greens, sun-dried tomatoes, and lemony lima bean hummus (subbed for cheese again), served with also a HUGE side of home fries. She really, really liked this, too! It was a lot like the wrap I had, since we made so many substitutions to make the items vegan, but we both loved what we had! And it was really reasonably priced! Yesssssss!While we were at the farmer's market, we picked up some Sweet Potato Pasta from Pappardelle's, a local pasta maker/vendor. They had a wide selection of pastas to choose from, but many of them had eggs in them. Luckily, they were really helpful in picking out which did not contain eggs, and I knew which one I had to have when my eyes landed on the words "sweet potato" and "pasta" since I am a carb lover and proud of it! Now I just need to figure out a meal special enough to use this in!We also stopped by a local natural foods store, Green Acres Market, to pick up a few groceries. While shopping, we discovered they had a new vegan item in their bakery: Vegan Chocolate Chip Raspberry Bars! I was pumped, because I love the raspberry chocolate chip blondies from VWAV, and these were inexpensive and already made for me! Lazy points! These were really good...not even close to as good as Isa's, duh....but quite tasty for a natural food store's bakery section! The crust was nice and dense and there was just the perfect amounts of both raspberry and chocolate. Very nice. In unrelated news, we had Waldo Pizza for dinner last night! Waldo is a KC local pizza place that has Follow Your Heart Vegan Mozzerella as a topping option, toooooons of veggie topping choices, and several vegan crust and sauce choices! They even sometimes have vegan cookies and brownies, but only if you go on the right day. Figures. We had the standard Veggie Pizza with Vegan Mozzerella...I added some Italian-Baked Tofu I made once we got it home, you know, for a litte more protein. It was so freakin' delicious!! The traditional crust is just the right thickness and it is soft and flavorful and crisp on the edges and perfect! It is nice to know you can always get a good vegan pizza in Kansas City!

Also eaten this week was my Green Tea-Almond Noodles! It's a recipe I have been working on and thinking about (you know how it is....) for a while now, and I think it is pretty much "there." This Asian-style dish is basically udon noodles, toasted almonds, veggies, and the Green Tea Almond Sauce (below), and it makes for a pretty quick and filling meal on a busy weeknight! This was a perfect pre-LOST treat!

Green Tea-Almond Sauce (makes approx. 2 1/2 cups)

2 cups water plus 2 bags green tea

1/4 cup cold water whisked with 2 Tbs cornstarch

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional for extra heat)

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 Tbs maple syrup or agave nectar

2 Tbs Dijon or spicy mustard

Bring water to a boil and add tea bags. Remove from heat and let steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags return to medium heat. Add the cornstarch slurry and the rest of the ingredients and whisk constantly for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened to a honey-like consistency. Toss with noodles, veggies, and almonds, and then serve hot or cold!

p.s. Is everybody ready to make Easter dinner tomorrow? What are you fixing?

Valentine's Food, Of Course!

First off, Happy Belated Valentine's Day to everyone! I had a great day with Steven, and we celebrated by taking a walk together, getting a couple's massage together, cooking dinner together, then watching a movie together...it was perfect! I can't imagine a better way to celebrate a holiday than making a meal with people you love. We had a Jamaican-inspired meal...I guess you could say the theme was "One Love," but only if you're super cheezy.
Here's what we had!

Appetizer: Fried Plantains with Agave Nectar

Main Course: Jamaican Jerk Tempeh, Mango-Coconut Sticky Rice, Garlic Sauteed GreensDessert: Peanut-Yam Empanadas

In addition to being happy about the great Valentine's Day events, I am also excited to be living in Columbia again! Kansas City was nice, but it is good to be with my friends and Steven. To celebrate my first night back, we went to dinner at my old ball and chain, Main Squeeze! I miss working there a whole lot, but it is also kinda nice to go there and eat and not have to worry about customers and other stresses! I got one of my all-time favorites, the Good Fortune Wrap. It is seasoned tofu, brown rice, homemade sesame-ginger sauce, carrots, spinach, cabbage, scallions, and sesame seeds all rolled up and toasted in a whole wheat tortilla...how could you say no?? The sesame-ginger sauce makes this a wrap I come back to often!

Good Fortune Wrap

On another note, I think I have perfected my Vegan Monte Cristo Sandwich recipe! woohoo! You should try it out and lemme know what you think...

Vegan Monte Cristo Sandwich (serves 2)
4 slices whole grain bread
4 slices veggie "ham"
2 slices vegan cheeze
2 Tablespoons jam, such as raspberry or blackberry
2 Tablespoons dijon or creole mustard
Nonstick cooking spray, as needed
Bread Batter:
1 cup soymilk
1/2 cup water
2 Tablespoons ground flaxseeds
1 Tbs maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Set our four slices of bread. Spread 1 Tbs jam on two of the slices and 1 Tbs spicy mustard on the other two slices. Place half of a slice of cheeze, broken up or shredded, onto each slice of slathered bread. Place slices of veggie "ham" on top of the cheeze, and top with the other slice of bread (so each sandwich has one jam slice and one mustard slice). In a wide bowl or pie pan, whisk together the batter ingredients until well-combined. Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray with nonstick cooking spray. When pan is hot, dip one sandwich in batter and flip to coat completely. Place battered sandwich in hot pan and cook on both sides until the bread is browned and toasted, and the batter has mostly cooked off...you don't want a soggy sandwich!
Repeat with the second sandwich and serve hot, drizzled with maple syrup and dusted with a little cinnamon or powdered sugar!
Note: If the cheeze doesn't melt with cooking in the skillet, place cooked sandwiches on a cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 10 or so minutes until it is more melty!!

This makes a perfect brunch entree!