Tag Archives: lunch/dinner

Lunching out

30 Jan

I apologize for my brief hiatus, but basking in the glow of my new engagement was something I couldn’t pass up. We’re actually getting married in 26 days, so this period will be very short-lived. I’ll be a married lady before I know it!

Anyway, I do have some foodie pics to share.

I was naughty last week and didn’t cook a single lunch for myself. So much for saving money!

On Monday, it was Rainbow for a juice (apple-cucumber-ginger), lentil vegetable soup, and a small salad (lettuce, mushrooms, carrots, beats, red bell pepper, sunflower seeds, and Follow Your Heart Vegan Lemon Herb dressing.

Wednesday brought me a delicious Yo Amigo Taco Salad from Native Foods Cafe: “A blend of romaine, cabbage, Native Taco Meat, and salsa fresca. Topped with corn, green onion, cilantro, and tortilla chip croutons. Served with our original creamy chipotle dressing on the side.” I added avocado for a buck. This salad was huge and heavenly and took me almost an hour to eat. Normally I consume my meals with the abandon of a ravenous wolf, but this salad was so dense and filling that I had to slow down. I couldn’t even eat all of it!

On Friday, I went back to my friend Rainbow for some hot-bar action. More than half a pound of roasted Brussels sprouts, tofu chili, and a Hansen’s root beer. I brought some fine aromatics into the office, fo’ sho’.

Um, yeah, Fatburger fat fries may have been dinner one migrained night.

There has been plenty of tea, too, with happy messages. So timely. :)

I was back to the kitchen this weekend, however, so I’ll have some homemade yummies and a recipe to share starting tomorrow.

Call me the pizzaiola

20 Jan

That’s me! Or at least it was last night.

Delicious vegan pizza on a whole wheat crust. I asked for crust recipes last week and gave one submitted by my fellow former Scrippsie Jessie a whirl. Here’s her recipe, and below are my modifications:

  • I used one cup of unbleached white flour and one cup of whole wheat
  • I used a Fleischmann’s yeast packet, which has slightly more than two teaspoons
  • The seasoning was oregano and thyme only
  • I reduced the olive oil to 1 tablespoon
  • I subbed two pinches of raw sugar for the honey (and mixed it with the dry instead of the wet)

The tweaks sound like a lot more than they really were. We followed the instructions to a T, except that I “rolled” the dough out by hand since I don’t own a rolling pin. It was actually really fun, but obviously it resulted in oddly shaped pizzas. The dough came together super quickly and tasted incredible. Seriously. I can see spicing it up differently and using it like a flatbread with all kinds of toppings: hummus, refried beans, pesto pizza, etc. If you’ve never worked with yeast before, I highly recommend this recipe. It was foolproof, even with the small changes I made. Thanks so much, Jessie!

We decided to whip up a homemade sauce to go with it. This is more of a method than a recipe, since most of the measuring was to taste, but I’ll share anyway.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes
  • Two drizzles of olive oil
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 2-6 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly (depending on your preferences)
  • Dash (maybe 1/4 cup) dry red wine, optional
  • Pinch of salt
  • Dried oregano
  • Crushed red pepper

Preheat oven to 400° F. Wash and dry the tomatoes, then place them in a small baking dish (not a cookie sheet — use something with sides) and drizzle on a little olive oil. Toss to coat, and stick ‘em in the oven until they get soft and start to shrivel. It’ll take 10-15 minutes, or longer if you like ‘em thoroughly roasted.

Heat the other drizzle of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt, and saute until they soften. Add the tomatoes as well as the juices they released in the baking dish. Use your stirring implement to mash the tomatoes and stir it all together so it becomes saucy. Add the wine, if using. I only threw some in because we were drinking an old-vine Zinfandel. Now add the oregano and crushed red pepper to taste. Stir and reduce the heat to low while you finish preparing the rest of your pizza ingredients. If you like your sauce pureed, feel free to throw it in the blender or use an immersion blender.

It was a really tasty and easy sauce. It’s a little oniony, though, so if that’s not your thing, feel free to use less. I’m pro-onion myself. Same goes with the garlic. I may have used more than six cloves honestly, but I do have a love affair with the stuff. The recipe made the perfect amount for two people, plus a little extra for today’s lunch, which I’ll talk about below.

We each had our own incredibly delicious, filling pizza topped with the sauce, fresh cremini mushrooms from the farmers market, artichoke hearts (from a can, but packed in water), and caramelized onion (thanks for the suggestion, Lynn!). These totally made the pizzas!). His also had mozzarella cheese, but I went with a healthy sprinkle of nooch. These were a meal in themselves, and I can’t wait to make them again!

Ways to reduce the fat from this meal:

  • I will use less oil in the pizza dough next time. The result wasn’t oily-tasting at all, but I think I could get away with a teaspoon.
  • Tossing the tomatoes with oil before throwing them in the oven wasn’t necessary. I was worried about them sticking, but a shot of cooking spray would have done the trick.
  • I might even try sweating out the onions and garlic in a little broth next time.

The best part about making pizza for dinner last night is today’s experimental lunch. I set aside a small amount of the dough and some toppings to throw together a calzone of sorts.

Yes, very rustic. I didn’t pre-bake the dough like I did for the pizzas. Instead, I just piled sauce, veggies, nutritional yeast, and crushed red pepper in the middle of the dough, folded it, and coaxed the edges together. I baked it for about 15 minutes by accident (did I mention the old-vine Zin?), but it survived the cooking time admirably. Today, I reheated it for 1:30 in the microwave, and it was delicious! It didn’t get mushy or anything. The flavors had time to meld and mingle overnight, and it was really a mid-day delight. I served it up with some farmers-market lettuce topped with salad dressing (TJ’s balsamic vinaigrette) stolen from the work kitchen again.

Delicious and a lot more exciting than yesterday’s PB sammie.

Duchess of Sandwich

19 Jan

I’ve been having food cravings lately. Namely, I want sandwiches pretty much constantly. I honestly find this a little sad. Sandwiches are awesome and all, but there’s a whole world of other kinds of food out there that just don’t particularly appeal to me at the moment. It’s a phase that’ll pass, but in the meantime, I’ve been giving in a lot recently.

Last week, I made a really awesome wrap:

And clearly, I almost ate it entirely before I remembered to snap a pic.

It was a tofu-cilantro spread with broiled zucchini. So good! The tofu recipe was from Student’s Go Vegan Cookbook, but I don’t have a blender yet (tear), so it was modified from a dip to a chunky filling. Essentially you just mash 1/3 of a block of silken tofu with a bunch of cilantro, garlic, lime juice, optional olive oil, salt and pepper. I bet it’s yummy pureed, but I thought it was great this way, too, and I’m not normally a silken tofu enthusiast. The zucchini was very simple: cut into thin spears, toss with a little olive oil and salt and pepper, and broil on a cookie sheet until it browns. I flipped halfway through, and it took about 10 minutes. Delicious!

Yesterday, I bought a sammie from The Curious Palate. I’d show it to you, but my memory card is suddenly not working and I’m too angry to troubleshoot. Here’s someone else’s photo, though:

(from Kristie Manning.)

It was the Florentine minus olives: “goat cheese, baby artichokes, roasted tomatoes, spinach, avocado & Moroccan olives on 5-grain w/ balsamic vinaigrette.” It’s a truly delicious sandwich.

It comes with a quinoa salad that I never eat because it contains either olives or raisins and a housemade pickle. I ate half of it, despite my general pickle dislike, but it was too salty. I also enjoyed OJ that was freshly squeezed and delicious. I haven’t been getting enough fruit in my diet lately.

Today’s lunch is a little sad: Peanut butter on bread. Yep. It’s tasty but not exactly mind-blowing. However, two lunches out during the week is definitely a spending limit for me, so expect something similar tomorrow. On the side I had a “salad” of organic romaine (that I washed in the bathroom sink) and miso dressing (that I stole from a co-worker — sorry!). No pic because my phone’s acting cray cray. Also, it was the lamest lunch ever. I ate each piece of bread separately to slow down my normal eating speed.

Tonight, though, I’m making homemade pizza! Vegan for me; vegetarian for him. I can’t wait!

Are you in a food rut? What’s your poison?

Love that juice

17 Jan

I was so happy to have yesterday off in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling very well, so I spent most of the day languishing in bed watching Felicity for the first time. Blame lady troubles and a random fever. I did manage to wash the dishes — to which Mr. X exclaimed, “But babe, that’s the one chore you should never do!” Apparently I’m the worst dish washer ever — and walk to Trader Joe’s for some sustenance. However, dinner last night was chips and salsa and a root beer float, so it’s not really worth documenting.

Today I feel so much better, and it’s a good thing because I’m back at the office. Work work work. I didn’t get lunches for the week made last night because of how craptastic I felt, so I allowed myself a trip to Rainbow:

An apple-cucumber-ginger juice and a salad bar run. My concoction included spring mix, artichoke hearts, red pepper strips, shredded carrots and beets, a little eggless salad (vegan, made with tofu), avocado, mushrooms, Follow Your Heart Vegan Lemon Herb dressing, and raw sunflower seeds. I’m officially in love with the juice combo and am now in “need” of a juicer. I also adored the salad, as always. I love shredded raw beets but am way too lazy to do them myself.

I had to photograph it in the car because I knew the juice wouldn’t last the drive back to work! Also, proof that I should never be allowed to wear nail polish.

I had a snack at 2 p.m. of tea and chocolate:

My favorite bar ON SALE! Except I only had a little:

For the record, I only put the chocolate on my cup like that for the photo. However, the warm tea slightly melted the chocolate, which was awesome. I’m sure other people like to hold wrapped chocolate in their hot hands before eating them, right?

Dinner will be another salad with avocado and mushrooms, but I promise it will be a creation unto its own.

Goals

I’ve really been working hard to attack all the goals I lined up for myself and, almost more importantly, the things I admitted to putting off. Aside from the ones I’ve already mentioned, here’s some more points of progress:

  • Something involving my car that I’m afraid to post until it’s actually done for fear the man might come bitchslap me. I made an appointment with the DMV for Friday so I can cross this one off my list — and stop driving in fear.
  • Be a better friend/Call a friend just to chat. I chatted on the phone with my dear friend who is recovering from a major health scare. She called me, but it to return a call I’d originally placed to her. I’m so glad to hear that she’s doing well. She’s seriously the strongest, smartest woman I’ve ever met.
  • Clear my name at the library. I paid them off, dammit, and just in time to pick up my copy of Mama Pea‘s cookbook! I’m so excited!

How’s your week starting off? Did you have Monday off?

Quinoa Mushroom Soup

12 Jan

I made soup. A lot of soup. I intended to end up with four servings, but the result was at least six. Maybe eight. It’s hard to tell, since I’ve only consumed three bowls, but I expect Mr. X will do away with the rest soon.

I had planned to make taco salad for my lunches and barley mushroom soup for dinners, but X decided he really wanted the salad, so I switched ‘em. Because I’m trying to save money on my grocery bill, I decided to use quinoa instead of barley because I already had some in the house. I also subbed green split peas for another type of bean to eliminate soaking and pre-cooking time. I also cooked the whole thing in my slow cooker, which was an excellent choice. The result was earthy and surprisingly filling. I will add a picture when my memory card stops misbehaving.

Quinoa Mushroom Soup

  • 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
  • 3/4 cup green split peas, rinsed and picked over
  • 1 container shiitake mushrooms
  • 2 ribs of celery, chopped
  • 3 medium carrots, chopped
  • 1/2 large onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 to a whole bunch of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse what needs to be rinsed, and chop what needs to be chopped. Throw everything but the salt, pepper, and parsley into the slow cooker with five cups of water. Set it on high for about three hours, or until the split peas have softened. Add the parsley and reduce to low for as long as you like. I did about three hours. Add salt and pepper (and more thyme, if desired) to taste and serve.

Makes 100,000 6 servings.

The soup is warm, thick, comforting, and incredibly healthy. Notice that there is no fat at all. You could add tomato paste or other veggies, but I loved how basic and satisfying it was with just the thyme and delicate veggie flavors shining through. Feel free to make it on the stove. I would guess that you should simmer it for about an hour. Serve it and savor the homey, happy taste.

Taco salad

10 Jan

Dinner #1 (to be repeated tonight) this week is taco salad.

Taco salad isn’t sexy or fancy or ground-breaking, but it is delicious and healthful, when prepared lovingly. And if you have cooked beans on hand, it qualifies as a quick and tasty meal suggestion!

Here’s our variation on Taco Salad this week:

  • 1 bag of organic greens (the crunchier, the better, but we used baby romaine this time), squeaky clean and dry
  • 3 cups cooked pinto beans, warmed and tossed with spices (cumin and chili powder) – optional
  • 1 large or 2 small avocados, sliced
  • 1 jar prepared salsa (anything low in sugar, sodium and salt — I’m in love with Trader Joe’s garlic chipotle salsa)
  • 1/2 a bunch green onions, washed and sliced
  • Baked tortilla chips*

Just layer everything in order (or your preference) in a large bowl. Toss and enjoy! Serves 4.

Basic but delicious. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll note that X topped his salad with low-fat sour cream, but mine remained dairy-free. I made the pinto beans from scratch — actually, Mr. X did! And the kitchen didn’t catch on fire! I’m so proud. I also baked the tortilla chips myself using an incredibly simple method. You just preheat the oven to about 375, cut tortillas (I use whole wheat from Trader Joe’s) into 1/8ths, lightly toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt (and optional cumin and/or chili powder), and bake for a little under 10 minutes. I like to flip mine after a few minutes, but I think it’s unnecessary. I’m just paranoid of burning the chips, having done so on several occasions in the past.

It was lurve — healthy, spicy, beany love. Mr. X revealed to me this weekend that he loves salads, just not basic lettuce-tomato-dressing ones, so expect more slightly jazzed-up versions in the coming weeks.

On a slightly related subject, I’m aching to try making pizza next week, so I was hoping some of you might have homemade dough recipes to share. I prefer it to contain some whole wheat, and it cannot require a food processor or mixer, as I’m totally technology-less in the kitchen still. I’ll keep Googling, but a tried-and-true recipe from a reader would be great!

Empty pantry scramble

8 Jan

My bank account is so close to empty right now that every In N Out order – and, heck, dollar in the parking meter – stings. So I decided to spend no money yesterday (which addresses my financial goal) and cook using only what we had in the fridge and cabinets (touching on my dairy-free one, since we have very little in the apartment). Here’s what I was working with:

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Food cabinet. This is where I keep my beans, grains, peanut butter, oils, vinegar, and such. Eventually this will go in the pantry . . . once it has shelves.

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Grapefruit and tomato (that ended up being rotten – blech) on the counter.

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Spice cabinet. I also keep tea and a few random things in here. This, incidentally, is my favorite thing about the kitchen.

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Fridge scariness. Normal things, plus really old takeout.

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Freezer. Apparently it only contains, flours, sugar, vodka, and ice.

For breakfast, I decided to go with a classic bowl of oats:

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Ugly but delicious. In the mix: Trader Joe’s hot breakfast mix (oats, barley, rye, and wheat) with peanut butter, homemade pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, a splash of coconut milk, six (yes, six) chocolate chips, and a pinch of raw sugar. ‘Twas delicious. A couple of hours later, I made Mr. X a slightly different oat combo (jam instead of PB) and we split the grapefruit.

For lunch, I was excited to use up two little zucchini (and the tomato and partial onion, but both ended up being deceased). I decided to give farinata a new twist:

It was incredible. I know I said the last one I made was the best, but this one was even better. It contained: garbanzo flour, water, garlic, nooch, oregano, zucchini, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper. I sauteed the zucchini and topped the farinata with it after about a minute on the stove.

I dusted off the slow cooker (literally — the thing was pretty dirty inside) to make dinner:

Weirdly glowing barbecued lentils and rice with steamed Swiss chard. The meal contained: dry brown lentils, dry brown rice, water, garlic, a tad of zucchini, barbecue sauce, chard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. For the entree, I added half a cup of lentils, a cup of brown rice, three cloves of chopped garlic, and three cups of water to the slow cooker and set it on high for about three hours. When everything is cooked, I added a small amount of zucchini (what was left over from lunch) and about a half cup of barbecue sauce. I didn’t measure, just pouring and mixing until it coated everything well. Then I put the lid on and set it to low for another three-ish hours, when we were ready to eat. It made a lot! Probably four servings.

Just before eating, I prepared the chard: set a pan over medium-low, washed the chard, tore it, and tossed it in the pan without drying it. About a minute later, it was lightly wilted. I plated it and squeezed a little lemon juice on top, as well as salt and pepper. Yum!

While dinner simmered in the slow cooker, I decided to throw together some dessert:

PB&J Cookies! These contained: unbleached white flour, whole wheat flour, oats, raw sugar, peanut butter, canola oil, water, salt, vanilla, and jam. I’ll share the whole recipe tomorrow, but I will tell you now that they are awesome!

All in all, I was really excited about the success of my experiment and plan to try the challenge again soon. Not next Saturday, though, since we’ll be celebrating our anniversary. :)

Progress and (im)perfection

6 Jan

I woke up with allergy nonsense today: itchy dry eyes, burning throat, the snufflies, and the sleepies. Blech. It’s just about 9:30 in the morning here, and I’m already on my fourth hot beverage of the day (one cup of black tea with honey followed by two mugs of miso soup and now a cup of DeTox tea). They are helping somewhat, but I’m in still in that yucky days that accompanies the sickies. If anyone has good, natural allergy remedies, please let me know. I’m using my neti pot, gargling with salt water, drinking hot liquids and cold water, and putting raw local honey in my tea.

Anyway, despite being sick on top of the awkwardness of settling back into my routine, I’ve been working hard this week to made progress on both sets of goals I mapped out. Here’s how it’s gone so far:

January:

  • 1. a. Cook dinner at home three days a week every week in January. So far, I’ve cooked dinner twice (see details below) and plan to do so again tonight! I’m proud of myself. I love cooking, but the long days make having the energy difficult. Still, the rewards are worth it.
  • That’s it so far, but I have plans for the others.

This Week (things I’ve been putting off):

  • 2. Do more yoga. The night I wrote that post, I went home and did one of my favorite 20-minute podcasts from Yoga Download! It felt incredible. My arms are still a little sore from it today, which is a good thing.

Not a ton of progress, but not bad either for only a couple of days.

Now back to that cooking thang. I can’t tell you how excited we are to have our stuff in our new apartment. Not that it’s all (or even mostly) unpacked yet, but we’re working on it. Slowly.

One thing I was happy to be reunited with was my rice cooker. Not that cooking rice on the stovetop is terribly burdensome, but I like being able to ignore the little cooker and have it not take up real estate on my cooking area. Well, we decided to do a simple, cheap stir fry of mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots, onion, broccoli and tofu over brown rice on Tuesday night. My rice cooker is very unsophisticated (it doesn’t have any settings other than cook and warm, so nothing special for different kinds of rice or grains), which means I have to guesstimate how much water to use when I cook up brown rice. Apparently I was rusty. The result was a total disaster. The rice was all waterlogged, and then I stupidly thought to add more rice to soak up the rest. I don’t recommend it. I would have taken a picture, but it was really, really gross. Instead, I had to send Mr. X to the Chinese place up the road to get some precooked rice. Dinner was saved, thankfully, but the rice was one exciting kitchen failure.

The next night, I planned to make my Gnocchi with Arrabbiata Sauce, but X ended up getting booked for a show that filmed later, so he didn’t get home until after 9. I knew better than to make myself wait that long, and when he said they were feeding him dinner on set, I decided to make something I haven’t in a very long time: farinata. Also called socca, it’s kind of a chickpea flour “pizza,” though I use that term loosely. Maybe “pancake” would be more accurate. Anyway, I used to make it all the time in my previous life but haven’t attempted it in over a year. It’s crazy-easy, though, and requires few ingredients, so I gave it a whirl. The result:

Seriously the best one I’ve ever made! Somehow my cheap-o IKEA frying pan has a perfect nonstick coating that made removing the usually sticky result so easy I couldn’t believe it. The spices were spot-on, too, and I devoured every bite after my yoga session. Here are the basics of making farinata:

Basic Farinata

  • 2/3 cup garbanzo flour
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1 cup water
  • Spices to taste
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

In a medium bowl, combine the garbanzo flour and salt (I use Bob’s Red Mill garbanzo/fava flour combination because it’s tasty and also the only kind I’ve ever found in a store) with about 1/4 cup of water until it forms a paste. Slowly add the rest of the water, stirring vigorously with a fork until all the lumps are gone. Cover the bowl with a towel (or whatever) and let it hang out on the counter for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the broiler. Stir the batter from the bottom and add any spices you want. I like to go Italian with mine and this time threw in dried oregano, nutritional yeast, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Now heat two teaspoons of olive oil in a 12-inch frying pan (make sure it’s oven safe!) over medium or medium-high heat. When warm, pour in the batter. Drizzle on the remaining tablespoon of oil. Let it cook for about four minutes or until it’s set. It’s a little like eggs in texture, if that helps, and you don’t want any runniness.

Now stick it under the broiler for about four minutes or until light brown spots begin to appear. Cut into triangles, like a pizza, and serve. Makes enough for one hungry person or two as part of a larger meal.

You can really add any kind of herbs and spices you want to the batter, but I pretty much always use this combination. A generic Italian seasoning is great in place of the oregano, and I suspect herbes de Provence would be great, too.

So while my rice cooking was a total, unequivocal disaster, the next night I managed to make the best farinata of my life. Go figure.

Have you had any major kitchen mishaps or successes lately?

Mushroom pasta delight

12 Oct

The big, nasty fight with our roommate went down on a Monday, and we weren’t willing to hit the kitch again until Friday. I won’t even recount the fast-food meals and wasted money that characterized the rest of the week.

Anyway, we decided to make a third recipe from The Voluptuous Vegan, namely the Pasta with Fresh Shiitakes, Tomatoes, and Basil. However, by the end of the week, the fresh tomatoes were gone, as was nearly all of my garlic, so our version was highly, highly altered. Plus, a 1/2 cup of olive oil? Really? I cut that way, way down. Enter the B&X spin:

Shiitake Mushroom Pasta with Basil
6 to 8 ounces of fresh shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 box whole wheat pasta (I used rotini, but farfalle or fusilli would have been good, too)
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup basil, washed and cut into a chiffonade
Black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Add the mushrooms to a bowl and top with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and the soy sauce, mixing to coat thoroughly. Pour them on a prepared baking sheet and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every 10 or so.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of water until al dente (according to package directions). Drain and set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive in a pot over a medium-low flame. Add the sliced onions and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until caramelized and fragrant. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for about two minutes or until softened but not browned. By now, the mushrooms should be warm and soft. Remove them from the oven and add them along with the pasta and basil to the pot, stirring to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes until everything is warmed through. Top with black pepper to taste.

Serves 4.

It was deeeeeeliiiiiicious. The mushrooms cooked with soy sauce were an ingenious addition to super-basic pasta. I never would have thought to combine them with fresh basil, but I certainly will again. I topped mine with nutritional yeast, which was tasty but not necessary. I would increase the garlic next time and cook it a little longer, but this method worked in a pinch.

What’s your favorite pasta ingredient?

Review: Green Peas ****

3 Oct

To kick off Vegan MoFo, X and I decided to head to a local place that serves vegan breakfast items. After some research, we settled on Green Peas, partly because they were near our morning errands, partly because of the favorable review on The Actor’s Diet, and largely because of the prices ($6.95? Yes, please.). Their website is down, so we called first to make sure they still exist, and thankfully they do.

The place is super cute, I must say. It’s also really close to work – dangerous!

I started with coffee and he opted for freshly squeezed orange juice:

My beverage was just the way I like it: really delicious, dark and oily without any burnt or bitter flavor. It was perfect. The OJ was divine. It was sweet and fresh and lip-smacking good.

Anyway, it was tough to choose from their robust menu, but we both ended up leaping at the Vegan Breakfast Burrito #2:

It is described as containing: “Garden chicken, potatoes, grill onions, red bell peppers, daiya cheddar cheese and spinach on wheat tortilla” (spelling and capitalization theirs). Breakfast items come with your choice of potatoes or fruit. We both opted for the latter, as you can see. I’m not a huge melon fan, other than that of the water variety, but I decided to chomp down on the honeydew this time and was pleasantly surprised. I skipped the cantaloupe, however. I would like to blame the Listeria outbreak, but the truth is that I really, really dislike the stuff. I loved how tiny the pieces were, and definitely how perfectly fresh they tasted.

The burrito came with a side of unidentified spicy sauce that was the love child of salsa and a sun-dried tomato sauce. Delightful. In all, the burrito was not my absolute favorite vegan brunch item of all time, but it was quite good. I think the boy liked it even more than I did. I’m not sure if it was the Gardein chicken or what, but something just didn’t send me quite all the way over the moon. All that said, I will certainly be back to try some of the other offerings.

In fact, I was excited enough by the tantalizing menu of vegan sandwiches that I returned for lunch today. It may be true that my Sunday-night laziness, which prevented me from preparing my lunch, was in part spurred by the possibility of hitting Green Peas up at the noontime hour. That, and I had a hideous migraine yesterday.

Anyway, I decided to try something that I wouldn’t normally order and landed on the Rolling Steak Sandwich. It is described as containing, “Gardein steak, Grilled onions, cilantro, spinach, avocado, mozzarella daiya cheese, and vegenaise” (capitalization/spelling theirs).

As you can see, I opted for house salad on the side. The other options are soup and roasted potatoes. Here’s another shot of the sandwich:

This was a very tasty combination. I’m not usually a fan of soy cheeses – yes, including Daiya – but I loved the vegan mozzarella on this concoction. I would go so far as to say that it totally made the meal. The avocado was wonderful, as always, too. I think I actually prefer the fake beef to Saturday’s faux chicken, which surprised me. However, Gardein products are gluteny, and my stomach isn’t feeling 100% at the moment. Next time I hit up Green Peas, I’ll have to try a tofu- or veggie-based meal instead. Not their fault, obviously. My stomach just doesn’t like vital wheat gluten very much.

And the salad was awesome. It was basic – just greens and shredded carrots – but the garlicky balsamic dressing was wonderful. I will definitely eat it again.

Rating: ***** for veggie options and *** for deliciousness.

Green Peas is at 4437 Sepulveda Boulevard in Culver City.

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