Is your beer vegan?

I used to hate beer. But thanks to S, I'm a craft beer lover now.

I'm going to tell you that a lot of beer is actually vegan! And your first thought's going to be..."Why wouldn't it be?" Right? Let me explain.

There are several ingredients which are used to filter/clarify, color, and flavor beer. These ingredients are NOT vegan: isinglass, honey (if you're pretty strict), gelatin, and other animal products. Usually, these ingredients don't actually end up in your glass of beer, but are used in the brewing or bottling/casking process. You can actually find a list of more of these ingredients here (a good beer site).

Lucky for you, there's a great website called Barnivore, where you can look up all your favorite beer to see if indeed it is vegan. People are always emailing/calling breweries to find out if their beers are suitable for vegans. I've also contributed to the site by checking with breweries. So if YOU know if your beer is vegan (and it's not already listed), please email that site and let them know, so they can add it to the list. (you can also see if your favorite wine and other liquor is vegan here too!)

These days it's a lot easier to find vegan beer. Though there are some holdouts. I find that English/Irish ales are often not vegan. The same goes for most cask-conditioned ales. And then there's honey......there are several beers that use it. But these will most likely tell you right on the label. Common beer ingredients: hops, barley, yeast, malt, and water. Though many add in other varieties of grains, spices, fruit, and herbs.

No, I'm not a wine drinker.

And if you do love your beer, like I do, you're welcome to follow along in my beer tastings on my beer blog: A Taste of Beer.

What are your favorite brews?

Cheers!!

Eat smart,
T.

Cashew Tomato Sauce

So I made some sauce the other day in my food processor, and it was good mixed into mashed potatoes, and really good mixed into pasta! Here it is:

Cashew Tomato Sauce:

1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup cashews
2 roma tomatoes
1 TB tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Creole Seasoning (or comb. of salt/cayenne peppers)
salt to taste
2 TB red wine (optional)
1/4 cup water (for thinning, if necessary)


Process the cashews first, until powdery. Then add the rest of the ingredients, except water, and process. If it's too thick for you, add the water, as needed, and process. Serve it over warm pasta, or mixed into mashed potatoes.

I also made a wild rice salad a while ago (I forgot about it).  I soaked some wild rice for 2 days or so, rinsing a few times a day. Then mixed it with some other veggies, and added balsamic vinegar, garlic, onion, and salt to taste. So good! The wild rice is very chewy. It was my first time enjoying soaked wild rice.

Hope you are all enjoying your summer. I may or may not start the p90x workout soon. Have any of you tried it??

PS- if any of you love craft beer, or know of others that do, please check out my other blog: A Taste of Beer.

Eat smart,
T.

Brownies and Roasted Tomatoes, etc.

I've been so behind.  I'm really trying to catch up, but work was so busy for a while and now I finally have some time off to catch up on everything, from cleaning up, to taxes, to my beer blog, to this blog....it never ends!

They look good, don't they? They are! I got the recipe here. Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies! I changed it up just a bit by using whole wheat flour, MUCH less sugar, and more applesauce with just a little oil. To me, this was more like half blondie, half brownie because the cookie part was so thick.  Maybe I should've added more liquid so that I could've spread it more easily on top.  Nonetheless, still delicious :) I highly recommend it for that special once-in-a-while dessert (I can't make stuff like this very often, unless I want to put all my weight back on!).

I slow roasted tomatoes! Yup....so easy and so tasty.  Never done that before.  Here's how:

Take a pound or two of roma tomatoes and slice them in half.  Spray two cookie sheets (or however many you need) with some oil and lay the tomatoes on them, cut side down.  Put a few cloves of garlic in between them and cook in the oven on 250 degrees for around 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  Watch them and make sure they don't burn.  They are absolutely amazing done this way!

They go in like this:

And come out like this:

I had some with a few other roasted veggies alongside this Lemony Yellow Split Pea dish. The split peas were awesome....I cooked them a bit longer, because I like them soft and mushy. But maybe that's just me :) But I actually got the idea from this blog....

Other stuff I've eaten recently.....

Raw Marinara with zucchini/carrot spirals:

A sandwich of my own sprouts, salad, and kale, with sweet pickles and Vegenaise on sprouted grain bread:

Hey, does anyone know of a good "standalone" vegan cheese? One you can just eat a piece of by itself? I like to put Dr. Cow on crackers...I don't think I could eat it by itself though. And I use Daiya, Teese, and Rice Vegan slices to melt onto things.  But I've got nothing to just eat plain, or in a sandwich. Any ideas?

And don't forget to give me your travel ideas on my last blog post!! It's very important.

On another note, if you love beer, please let me know if you'd be interested in this book at all. I'm trying to decide if I should do a giveaway on my beer blog.....if there are enough people that want it.

Eat smart,
T.

A beer blog!!

Hello! This is just a quick post. I just wanted to let you know that I've just started a new blog about beer over at A Taste of Beer. If you love beer, you might want to check it out. I will be updating it with all sorts of new beer that I try from around the world.

Just a warning....it may not ALL be vegan beer.  I do my best to keep up with what's vegan and what isn't, but I don't always know until after I've already consumed the beer.  The best way to keep up with that is on Barnivore, but that is not a complete list of beer either. They do their best to keep it updated, and I have also submitted emails I've gotten from breweries. You can too!

Please join me over there if you're so inclined. Cheers!

Eat smart,
T.

Random Eats

Hey there! I think I'm finally getting over this stupid sickness. Still a bit of coughing and a runny nose, but hopefully that will subside soon enough.

And even though I haven't been blogging about it, I HAVE been cooking.  So here are some recent eats:

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (with date sugar)

Home grown arugula,greens, kale, & sprouts in my homemade bagel!

Udon noodles with Lindsay's Almond Butter Sauce & Soy Sesame broccoli (& other veg)

SO GOOD!!! (I tried to use more almond milk to replace some of the coconut milk, for less fat)

Ummm, more roasted vegetables??

Valentine's dessert: Strawberry Peach Cobbler with vegan granola.Yum.

From the Happy Herbivore Cookbook!

Hawaiian Chickpea Teriyaki. Excellent! Just needed a bit more sauce to go over the rice :)

Roasted Veggies with Lindsay's Cheddar Cheesy Sauce, although I've also made her Quick Queso Sauce (also very good and so easy to make)

Other stuff:

A broccoli rice dish....might post a recipe if I can remember it :)

My Broccoli/Cauliflower a la Lemon dish atop Trader Joe's Harvest Grains.

And there you have it.  

I'm thinking of starting a beer blog.....about beer tasting.  You know, since I drink so much of it.....and I love to try new beers all the time....might make sense.  I'm ALWAYS taking pictures of my beer, so why not?

Here's a question for you bloggers out there: Wordpress or Blogger?  Which is better and why? Which is easier to blog from the road/travel?

Eat smart,

T.

Atlanta Trip

I know, I know, it's taken me forever to get around to posting about Atlanta. But you know what? It was a really short trip and there weren't a ton of restaurant choices.  But here we go:

Some scenic pics taken in Piedmont Park:

I walked two miles to get to Trader Joe's! And look what I got:

(we don't have Trader Joe's down here....sniff....)

Then, we had to drive north towards Marietta to Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe!!

(notice Lindsay's awesome totebag she sent me!)

 (Nacho Mom's Vegan Queso.....amazing!!)

We did get a recommendation from a friend to eat at R. Thomas' Deluxe Grill, so we walked there. Was just over a mile from our hotel, I think. Really nice waiter. Lots of vegan/raw stuff on the menu:

(raw guac & sunflower seed/walnut-I think-pate with flax crackers)

-I don't think the raw items are on the online menu-

Portabella Saute Bowl (vegan)

Thai Express Bowl with tempeh

It was all really tasty. And...they have good organic beer and wine on the menu! And lots of juices too.

Next: Tap GastroPub. Awesome.  I've read lots of different reviews about this place, some good, some bad. I decided to go and check it out for myself.  We got really great waiters each time we went (yes, we went pretty much every night). We went once for dinner, once for an appetizer and beer, and once just for beer.  The first night we had a really nice waitress, don't know what her name was.  We got some great food:

honey glazed Kabocha squash topped with arugula-was ordered without the prosciutto-delicious

Black bean burger-ordered without the cheese with a side of spicy cucumbers-very good. (the avocado mayo is just mashed avocado-no mayo in there!)

When we went back for the appetizer on a different night, we ordered the lemony hummus with tortilla chips instead of the naan (yes, our waiter thought the naan was not vegan, so he went back and checked-he was correct). His name was Tripp....thank you, Tripp! Great waiter.  Great beer. They have lots of amazing taps at this place. My opinion: good place to hang for dinner and/or beers in midtown.

We also went with a friend to Antico pizza. The cashiers refused to change anything on the menu (and can you believe their pizzas are around $20 each?) Our friend knew the pizza makers in the kitchen, which is actually where you eat....so she asked them to leave the cheese off of ours and they gladly did it. Delicious pizza! Very nice cooks :)

Atlanta and the surrounding area has excellent beer: Sweetwater, Atlanta Brewing, and Terrapin. Look for my post on some of those awesome beers I tasted and brought home from Mac's Liquor Store in Atlanta.

I guess that's it.  Tune in for our next trip. It's gonna be a good one!

If anyone's into opera, the Met Live in HD is doing Das Rheingold by Wagner tomorrow (Oct 9th) at noon in select theaters. Check it out!

Eat smart,

T.

Texas Trip and Good Eats: Austin and Texas Beer

Now for the best part of the whole trip! WE LOVED AUSTIN!!  That's my new favorite city. Never thought I'd say that about somewhere in Texas, but....it is.  There are bars everywhere, lots of vegan/raw food places, it's a very walkable city, great texas beer, and nice walking paths along the river.  What more do you need??? Oh....a job.  Hahahaha.....there aren't any full-time orchestras in Austin, so that won't be happening.  But, if you know of maybe 15-20 kids who need violin or viola lessons......we're in! Sign us up :)

Now for the food.

AUSTIN:

Borboleta Gourmet/Ambrosia. Yes, they've gone through several names, including The Talkhouse.  But they're still there and open! The woman inside was really friendly and talked to us a ton about Austin.  Their menu is very limited, but very good. I think they only had maybe 4 items to choose from, for an entree. 

"S" got the Raw Lasagna, which was really tasty and so pretty:

I got the Raw Pizza with kale salad. Delicious! The kale salad was pretty strong with the lemon juice, I think, or something sourish, but it was still really good.

And for dessert, a mesquite ball and chocolate macaroon. Both tasty.

And although I didn't get any, here's a picture of their fermenting kombucha, which they sell:

We walked a few miles to get to this place and it was definitely worth it. Besides, 6th street is awesome, so it's great if you feel like a beer along the way :)


Speaking of, we were dying of heat walking there and stopped in at an outdoor bar for water.  Well, I asked for club soda to go and she said they didn't have to go cups (geaux cups here in Louisiana).  We forgot we were not in Louisiana anymore.  So we sat down to drink it there.  She didn't even want our money!  I must've looked like I was about to keel over from walking 3 miles or so in 100 degrees.  Well we gave her a good tip at least....thank you whoever you are!!

The people in Austin are SO nice.

Mothers Cafe.  A friend of ours recommended this place to us and was supposed to meet us there, but came down with the stomach flu. Guess we'll meet up with them next time!  Anyway, this restaurant was awesome.

We started with a cup of the Tomato Artichoke Bisque (vegan), which was out of this world!!

(and that's "S's" wine)

"S" ordered the Spicy Tempeh Enchiladas, which were excellent:

I ordered the Vegetables Rancheros....also delicious. That sauce is awesome!

And we couldn't skip out on dessert.  But we even had to take some of the food back to our hotel! So I got the Belgian Mocha Fudge Chocolate Cake to go :) WOW! Delicious!!

The menu here is all vegetarian but shows you what is vegan and what they can veganize for you, which is a lot of stuff.  And the room in the back is really great.....a fountain, lots of trees and greenery.  Nice staff too.

Beets Living Foods Cafe.  Huge menu.....very bright, clean, and modern looking.  You can park free in the garage of the building, so that's a plus.  It's not far from Borboleta Cafe. The waitress was really nice and very smiley. This is raw vegan place. They also sell a few items (yes, I bought a shirt) like raw books, shirts, powders, etc...

We started with their special: Curried Carrot Chips with Tahini dip. So good.

"S" got the Portobello Fajita Plate with a side of TexMex Cabbage.  Tasty:

I ordered the Asian Style Noodle Salad with kelp noodles. It was almost too pretty to eat! But it was absolutely delcious and hit the spot on a hot summer day:

More pictures, because it was so pretty:

Got a brownie for dessert, but they had way more stuff....just didn't want to overdo it this time:

And the last place we ate was Daily Juice Cafe, on our way out of town. Also a huge menu.  We ordered what the woman behind the counter suggested which were both really great.

We got the "Tuna" Boat....really delicious, but probably high calorie!

...and some sort of Enchilada, which was also awesome (you can order one or two, we got one):

I also got the Chocolate Prana smoothie...tasted like liquid chocolate mousse....lots of coconut flavor.

It was a good drink/dessert for the road!

Our last morning, we walked to Little City Espresso Bar, near the Capitol building on Congress. Very nice place and really good coffee. They even played Queen the whole time we were in there!! (yes, I love Queen)

PS-I forgot....we walked to Aster's Ethiopian too (about 2 miles from our hotel).  Looks a bit like a "hole in the wall" kind of place, but the people were really nice and the food was great! They've got a vegan/vegetarian combo. Picture was taken on my phone:

BEER:

Texas has great beer! Who knew??

While in Houston,  I was able to have Saint Arnold's Amber on tap at our hotel.  Very good session beer. 

Saint Arnold's also has a Summer Pils that's a good session beer (tried that at the Ginger Man in Austin). And I brought back a bottle of their Wheat beer, which I had last night and it was excellent!

512-yes it's the Austin area code, but it also happens to be a great brewing company!

A kind gentleman at Darwin's Pub on 6th street told us we should try the Ginger Man on 4th and Lavaca for some 512 beer (I asked if they had any). Thank you, whoever you are. I told you, people in Austin are just too nice. So, back to the beer.

512 makes an excellent Pecan Porter that was recommended to us by several locals. Thank you, Ginger Man, for carrying quite a few 512 beers for us to try :)

They also make a very refreshing Wheat, called a Wit and a very hoppy/grapefruity IPA. Both very good!

Real Ale-it's real and it's good.  I had picked up a 6-pack variety when I was in Houston, without having tried any, so this was a good opportunity to have some (at the Ginger Man bar).  Actually, I'd had their Fireman's #4 Blonde Ale at our hotel the previous night.  Another good session beer....not too strong, but good. We had their Hans Pils (one of their summer seasonals) and that was pretty darn refreshing! Their Rio Blanco Pale Ale is one of their year-round beers.....pretty grapefruity.  All good.

Live Oak: yet another local Austin brewery.  Yup, they have a ton.  We had their Big Bark Amber Lager at the hotel and it's a darn good beer. Hmmmm, I thought we tried more at the Ginger Man, but I can't remember now.....too many beers?? They did have 36 taps and it was raining in there, so we were in there a while.  

The Ginger Man pub. It's where we tasted most of those beers.  The man behind the counter was oh so helpful and very friendly.  We tasted a lot, we had actual pints as well (what? did you think we'd just go in for free tastings?? Although that doesn't sound half bad...)

And last, but not least......I broke down and went to Whole Foods.  I guess Austin is the mother of all Whole Foods.......we ate there one day for lunch.  I went back on another day to pick up a tote full of goodies.  Expensive goodies, but.......here it is:

(No, those 3 TX hot sauces are not from WF.  Vegan granola, agave, raw almond butter, local coffee, Geeta's Jalfrezi sauce-amazing stuff, and local Strawberry Almond jam) Oh, and I picked up that one bottle of St. Arnold's beer there too.

And that's all....wow....that was a lot of food....and beer.  But seriously, Austin is my new favorite place. Who wants to hire me?

Upcoming giveaway: Dr. Neil Barnard's "Get Healthy, Go Vegan" book!!

Eat smart,

T.