New Kids on the Block

Nope, not the band. It's all about two new cool places that opened up in New Orleans: Cafe Carmo and Poeyfarre Market.

Both are in the Warehouse District of New Orleans. Within blocks of each other. It was hot, but we walked it anyway.  First we stopped into Cafe Carmo for lunch since we'd heard about the awesome vegan options there. We ordered the special, in its vegan version:

It was some sort of Egyptian dish with lentils, chickpeas, vegan meatballs, with a little rice and pasta in there. It was pretty good! The tomato sauce had a great flavor. For me, I could have done without the pasta (white flour) and wish it had been brown rice instead of white.  But, still, it was good. I had to get the vegan dessert, which was some sort of banana cake:

REALLY moist and overly sweet. But, very good! Had to split it three ways :)

I will definitely go back. Everyone in there was really nice. Good service (though you order at the counter) and nice (but small) ambience.  It looks like they could be expanding next door...???? I saw some new French doors leading to construction. That would be great. If you're in the area, you should definitely check this place out. They did have a vegan potato salad too, which I didn't try. There are many other things on the menu that can be veganized as well. Go check it out!

Then we headed over to the new Poeyfarre Market.  Maybe not in the best area, from what I could tell, but still, quite a nice market.  There are a lot of warehouse condos here and so I'm sure this new addition will be great for the local residents.  It was very clean and nicely laid out.  Not at all crowded and cramped. They had some vegan cheese, including a vegan parmesan, lots of vegan/raw protein powders & bars. They even had kale chips!! I saw hemp milk and almond milk, and some gluten free products too, like brown rice pasta. There's lots of wine, and a big walk-in beer cooler in the back with a decent collection. Really nice market (wish it were in my neighborhood).

Other things I've been eating:

A variation of my Barley Risotto:

I made Ani Phyo's Love the Chicks Pate with some Red Enchilada Sauce:

And finally, we tried the Alexia Sweet Potato Fries. I had a coupon for them, so I purchased a bag a while back. I've gotta say....they were ultra greasy. The flavor was really good, but they were just too oily for me. It's probably just because I don't use very much oil anymore and I just wasn't used to it. Oh well. I won't buy them again. But....the flavor WAS very good (Chipotle):

That's all for now folks!

On another note, my husband and I are now teaching viola lessons via Skype! If you or anyone you know is interested, please check out the details here. Feel free to share this information with your friends :)

Eat smart,
T.

Vegan Cookbooks by Bloggers

With all the new cookbooks coming out, I thought I'd compile a list of those that were written (in the past year) by bloggers that I follow. Some I own, and some I will purchase as soon as I can.

Let's start with one that will be coming out in September:

(photo from Amazon)

Blissful Bites by Christy Morgan. You can find her blog here. She is a vegan-macrobiotic chef based in Dallas, TX. Check out her blog and find more about the classes she offers and more great recipes. She seems  very friendly and I wish I'd been able to meet up with her when I was in Dallas, but time didn't allow it.

And the most recent buzz has been all about this cookbook, which just came out:

(photo from Amazon)

Peas and Thank You by Sarah Matheny. This is one busy woman, I tell you! She's a mother to two of the cutest little girls and cooks up a storm. Sarah is one of the wittiest blog writers out there. Even if the particular post doesn't interest you, her writing will. She'll keep you reading. You can read her blog here.

And now onto one of the best vegan dessert makers:

(photo from Amazon)

Vegan Desserts by Hannah Kaminsky. I have one of her previous dessert books and it's amazing. She is by far one of the best creators of vegan desserts I've found. She also is one of the best food photographers! You'll be drooling just looking at her pictures. She contributes to various magazines and also has a crafty side. Check out her blog here.

This cookbook got a lot of buzz when it came out (yes, I own it for Kindle):

(photo from Happy Herbivore blog)

The Happy Herbivore by Lindsay S. Nixon. This is one popular lady. She currently lives in St. Maarten, which is quite a difference from her previous home of NYC. This book has a lot of recipes that are fairly easy to make and are delicious. Watch out....she's got another one on the way! Visit her blog here.

The following book got a lot of buzz too:

(photo from Post Punk Kitchen)

Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. She's already written several vegan cookbooks. This gal must be busy. She's from Brooklyn and has worked with Terry Hope Romero on a lot of projects. Check out  her blog here.

And well, this lady, is pretty famous already:

(photos from Global Vegan Kitchen)

Vegan on the Cheap and Party Vegan by Robin Robertson. She has several vegan & vegetarian cookbooks under her belt already and contributes to many magazines. Does she ever take a break? Robin lives in Virginia. Check out her blog here.

And now for the raw segment:

(photo from The Sunny Raw Kitchen)

Delightfully Raw by Carmella Soleil. I've followed her blog for a while now. She always seems to be traveling and posting beautiful photos from wherever she goes. She's got a few other e-books on her site. Check out her blog here.

I believe there is a cookbook in the works from Amber at Almost Vegan!!

And that's the lineup for today! I'll have to do another post for bloggers with e-books only available on their websites. That will be for another day.  Good job to these fellow bloggers (I guess they're not really fellows at all.....oops)! Keep the vegan cookbooks coming.......I'd love to write one someday.

So go out and support your "fellow" vegans/bloggers.....buy their cookbooks! You can help, by tweeting about this post and/or posting it on YOUR facebook or blog.

Eat smart,

T.

Vegan Parm and lots more stuff

Before I forget, remember to enter my Bob's Red Mill giveaway! There will be THREE winners, so you've got a pretty good chance.

I have to catch up here....I even ran across a couple of photos I took of stuff I made and I can't remember what it was, because I never wrote down the recipe!! Hahaha....oh well.

First, I made up some awesome vegan parmesan:

Vegan Parm:

1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
black pepper/salt to taste


Pulse in your food processor until almost in powder form (you still want a little bit of texture though). Store in a glass jar in the fridge. 

Next up, homemade sweet and sour sauce.  It was all for me, since S hates this kind of sauce :)

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

3 TB ketchup (I used Organicville with agave)

2 TB Bob's Red Mill date sugar (or any raw sugar)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
3 TB arrowroot (or cornstarch) mixed with 3 TB water


Put the 1st four ingredients into a small saucepan and heat on medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Add in the arrowroot mixed with water and stir/heat until thick.

I finally sprouted lentils for the first time! They're so good....I put them on my salads:

I recently bought two raw "cookbooks":

"Raw Food For Real People" by Rod Rotondi and "Raw Food: A Complete Guide for Every Meal of the Day" by Erica Palmcrantz and Irmela Lilja.

Both are great books. From the second one I made a few things:

Pumpkin Seed Dressing (so good!)

Indian Cauliflower Mash (a good snack)

Ranch Dressing (which I put on potatoes, because it's so good that way-not raw, I know!)

From the first book:

Hale Kale Salad (amazing!!)

(same kale salad, but with my added sprouted lentils)

I really want to add more raw meals to my diet.  S doesn't like that idea. More for me :)

More stuff I've been eating:

My Kale and Tomato Barley Risotto

Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats (so good!!)

I recently found these "burgers" at the store and thought I'd try them, since they're soy-free:

They were pretty good...not a ton of flavor, but with the added "materials" on the sprouted grain bun, a pretty good lunch. I like the idea of a soy-free burger. Do you know of others?

Eat smart,
T.

Tasty Stuff

Last week we got a HUGE amount of produce at the market: lettuce, mixed greens, radishes, turnips, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, shiitakes, kale, swiss chard, satsumas, sprouts, mustard greens, broccoli, green beans, and cucumbers.

I sort of made Robin Robertson's Fusili with Potatoes, Green Beans, and Lemon Basil Creme from her cookbook, "Vegan On the Cheap". I made noodles...udon noodles.  I left out the potatoes. I left out the oil & used almond milk instead of soy. Basically, I made her sauce and spooned it over the udon noodles with steamed vegetables (yellow squash, zucchini, & carrots). Then I had leftover sauce spooned over a baked potato with steamed veggies. Both were delicious! I'll definitely make this one again.

The other night, we had a friend over and I needed something quick for a starter, while I finished cooking my main meal. I found a recipe for Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus in "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen."  I thought I had sun-dried tomatoes.....I KNOW I have them.  I couldn't find them. Oh well, it's basically made from zucchini, which I DID have.  So I made the recipe, and just left out the tomatoes.  It was pretty good....perhaps a bit too much tahini for my taste. Next time I won't put in as much, and will add maybe a bit more salt or lemon juice.

Then for the main meal I made two parts: my mix 'n mashed potatoes and one of my Indian dishes. You can find them on my recipes page.

(the curry is in the front, the potatoes in the back)

BROWNIES! I've been craving something sweet and chocolate for a while now. I hadn't baked anything in a while, so I finally made some brownies the other night.  Found a recipe in Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet" for Coffee Fudge Brownies.  They're excellent! And I just happened to have some decaf coffee from the morning, still around. How convenient :)

I used whole wheat flour only and used raw cane sugar (1 1/4 cups).  I did add oil (what??). I mean, the recipe called for oil and I used some, but not all. I usually leave out the oil entirely. I also left out the nuts & glaze. Didn't really need the extra calories on top of the brownies themselves. The brownies were very cake-like. So if you like dense brownies, these are not for you. They are delicious though!

Remember when I went to NYC and brought back Murray's whole wheat everything bagels??? I finally pulled one out of the freezer the other day and smothered it with Tofutti Cream Cheese.  The fine folks over at Tofutti sent me some coupons for free products so I thought I'd pick up some of their cream cheese and sour cream.  They both use NON-HYDROGENATED oil! I don't use these products all that often, but for once in a while use, like my 'once every couple of weeks'  bagel n' cream cheese, it's really delicious!

(my half bagel with Tofutti Cream Cheese)

And for the sour cream, I made my Sour Cream Dip! So good!

Coming up: My CSN Store item review. It's a very cool item!

If you missed it, check out my own recipe for Vegan Queso.

What are your thoughts and experiences with these stores? Which are your favorites? (I've only shopped at Pangea & Cosmo's so far)

Pangea Vegan Store
Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe
Vegan Essentials

Eat smart,

T.

Time to catch up....again.

Can't believe it's been so long since I posted last.  Well, here I am. Back to work....and we took our short trip to Atlanta too.  HAPPY WORLD VEGETARIAN DAY!!

Today's post is just a bunch of stuff I've been eating, tofu from Averie's blog, and some samples from TastyBite.

I recently made Ani Phyo's Ginger Almond Pate from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. Delicious!  You can use it on anything:

The Pate:

The Pate in raw nori rolls:

The Pate in a raw wrap:

It makes a ton and you'll have lots of leftovers to use for several days.

Then I made my whole wheat calzones with Teese. So good! I love you, Chicago Soy Dairy :)

And I also made a Veggie Quesadilla with Teese:

Recipe:


Saute chopped veggies in a little water until mostly cooked (I like them a little crunchy)
-peppers, celery, onion, carrots, anything else you like
Flavor with cumin seeds, chili powder, oregano, salt & pepper. Set aside.
Spray a skillet with oil and put one sprouted grain tortilla in it.  Add the vegetables on top and sprinkle with Teese (I used mozzarella).  Top with other tortilla.
Press, but don't squish the filling out.  
Here's the tough part. When browned, flip. Hahahah......mine kind of fell apart at this point.  Maybe I should have put it in the toaster oven instead.
Anyway, brown the other side. Let cheese melt.  Put on plate and slice into quarters.

I got some awesome stuff from TastyBite.  They make lots of "convenience" foods that take very little time. Great for tired, working people! I don't usually rely on this kind of thing. But it sure comes in handy sometimes when I'm just too tired to cook anything and I'm out of leftovers (grains, veggies, etc.). The packages come with 2 servings. But to tell you the truth, it's really one serving if you eat it alone.  If you want to eat it with rice or potatoes, I suppose it would be 2 servings.

So far, I've tried the Kerala Vegetables, Good Korma Simmer Sauce, and the Mushroom Takatak.  All are very good. (they've got several vegan packages...all labeled!) I found them slightly oily (and you can see it in the pictures), but not overly so, especially if you combine it with a potato or something. They have lots of flavor. When I made the simmer sauce, I think I added too many vegetables! I probably could've used another packet of the sauce, but it was still a good flavor. The Mushroom Takatak I ate by itself (it already had potatoes in it).  The scary thing was....I put it in the microwave like it said and 40 seconds later it started popping and it sounded like things were exploding in there....so I took  it out...it was hot enough.  Weird! But tasty :)

I made more Eggplant Caponata atop sprouted grain bread with swiss chard:

I don't often use tofu.  But I found this cool stuff at Whole Foods, when I shopped there last month:

So I decided to try Averie's Sesame Ginger Maple Tofu. It was really tasty! My husband said it tasted like french toast. He's right....I could totally eat it for breakfast :) Thanks, Averie.

I was thinking maybe I should do one recipe per week (or every 2 weeks) from another blog. Is that a good idea? Gives more presence to those blogs, too.  And I have so many in my Google Reader that are starred for recipes, haha.  Too many. I should start making some of those things.  So maybe this is the first of my "Blogger Recipes" series!

Upcoming posts: Recipe for Millet with Roasted Vegetable Sauce and My Trip to Atlanta!

I still have a few weeks before my NYC trip, so you can still add your restaurant suggestions to that post!

Eat smart,
T.