The latest barage of Pizza Hut P’Zone commercials is really getting on my nerves. It shows dudes totally chowing on their $5 meal, holding the whole thing in both hands. This is a different commercial than the one they’re showing now, but you get the idea. Each dude has a whole one in front of him. Each guy is going to eat a whole one. So why is it that their nutritional information shows a serving as half an order? I know why. Because they don’t want you to know that if you eat a whole one, and I’m being kind by choosing the pepperoni one, that’s 1260 calories, 48 grams of fat and 3,160 mg of sodium. Wow, happy heart attack!
Most of the cool, vegan-friendly restaurants in Richmond are near VCU. So Monday, Memorial Day, Panda Veg was closed and so was Harrison Street Coffee Shop. I figured since Ellwood Thompson’s is a grocery store, it would be open. And it was. It’s kind of like Whole Foods, but independent and more focused on local items where possible.
They had a hot bar that didn’t look that appetizing. There was also a salad bar that looked okay. So we settled on sandwiches. They had a bunch of options for vegans. You fill out a little laminated card with all the options you want on your sandwich and they make it for you.
Mine was a vegan chicken salad on sourdough. The texture reminded me of Soul Vegetarian’s eggless salad. Kevin said it tasted better than Whole Foods’ fake chicken salad. It was tasty. And the sandwich was huge! Half would have been plenty. But I ate 3/4 of it any way.
Kevin got the vegan BBQ. It was supposed to be heated but wasn’t really all that warm. The texture was satisfying but I’d probably punch up the flavor of the sauce a bit. I like a bit more oomph to my BBQ sauce.
They also have baked goods. I picked up this orange cookie with chocolate glaze that I ended up eating on the road Tuesday. It was a fat cookie and the texture was somewhere between shortbread and a scone. I’d be tempted to eat this for breakfast. I think I’m more of a chewy cookie sort of person. The orange flavor was lovely and the simple chocolate glaze was a nice contrast.
Ellwood Thompson’s also carries some of Twin Oaks‘ products. They use only organic, Virginia-grown soybeans in the products. So I picked up their chorizo, breakfast sausage, regular tofu and Italian tofu. Once we try these out, I’ll give a report on how they were.
While we would have been perfectly happy going back to Harrison Street Coffee Shop for lunch Sunday, we decided to continue the standard food tour every vegan does when they visit a different city. So we went to Ipanema Cafe instead, which was right around the corner from Harrison Street.
Ipanema Cafe is in the basement of a building. Lots of exposed brick and definitely on the dark side. I can see it being a favorite of people with hangovers and vampires. The place was full when we got there, but the bar was empty so we decided to go ahead and sit there to eat. They were serving the brunch menu but while we were sitting there we could see the dinner menu posted on the wall and spent some time drooling over those options and wishing we could come back for dinner.
I ordered The Rubi (Tempeh Benedict) – smoky grilled tempeh resting on homemade english muffin, sautéed spinach, mushrooms, onions and marinated tomato. Topped with a vegan citrus béarnaise sauce. The tempeh was packed with flavor and sliced thin. Baked, I think. Everything else complemented it well. It was definitely a winner. It also came with sweet potato hash and fresh fruit. Here is a blurry picture thanks to the fact that my camera only focuses when it feels like it. I’m sure someone on some blog will make a snarky post about crappy food porn pics. That person can bite it.
Kevin got the French Toast with Warm Apple Compote – Billy Bread dipped in sweet apple sauce batter and griddled. It was good, but apparently didn’t come close to touching the french toast at Pick Me Up Cafe in Chicago.
The girl at Harrison Street said we HAD to get a piece of pie at Ipanema. Just as we were getting ready to ask about that, the bartender came out with a free piece of blueberry pie for us since we were from out of town. How cool was that? It had a shortbread crust with a tasty, crunchy streusel on top. It was really good, but the baker in me is always thinking of things I’d do differently. Can’t help it.
I don’t know what we’re going to do about food today. Harrison Street and Panda Veg are both closed. Time to hit up Happy Cow!
Whenever I’m visiting Virginia, if I go nowhere else, I try to get by Harrison Street Coffee Shop. They have a good assortment of breakfast and brunch items, sandwiches, soup and salad. Not big heavy meals, but exactly the amount of food I want. And almost everything is vegan. Oh yeah, and they usually have some baked goods around. And the coffee is good. They only down side is that the hours can get sketchy when VCU is out.
I realize I’m the last vegan in the world to try the Chickpea Cutlets in Veganomicon. But I’m a Chickpea Cutlet virgin no more. From all the hype on the intarwebs, I sort of expected nothing short of a multiple orgasm upon tasting these things. Eh, not so much. I mean, they’re good. And I’ll make them again. They’re similar in texture to these Ultimate Veggie Burgers which I like to keep around in the freezer. The mustard sauce did take the cutlets up a notch, that’s for sure. So I’d make that too if you planning on eating as a cutlet rather than on a bun.
Wow, the Puréed Spicy Sweet Potato & Peanut Stew with Chickpeas from Dreen Burton’s Eat, Drink & Be Vegan is so tasty! Sweet, spicy and just a hint of peanut to it. The chickpeas I used were some dark colored dried ones I picked up at the Indian grocery. When cooked up they seem to hold their shape really well without being hard at all. Kind of lentil-like that way. The recipe makes a ton, so I froze a bucket and have still been eating off of it this week. I love it when healthy tastes great! Also, if you’re watching pennies, this is pretty cheap to make.
This is what my lunches have looked like lately. Big ol’ bowls of salad. I pre-chopped a bunch of veg earlier in the week which has made this much easier every morning. Someone else needs to do that for me every week. Here I’ve got curly green lettuce, carrot, cucumber, golden beet, yellow bell pepper and raw sunflower seeds.
It’s always a good idea to have a few gluten free recipes up your sleeve just in case. And gluten free baking fascinates me. So I keep my eye out for interesting looking recipes. I had the ingredients around for these Coffee Biscuits so I whipped up a half batch. I used the buckwheat flour and potato starch options. Oh, and a couple of other changes. I used guar gum and soy milk. And of course, the vegan options. The texture was really nice. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. The buckwheat flour taste was a little strong and I can see how it might turn some people off. These don’t have a long shelf life and started getting stale within 3 days. They started getting crumbly too. I’d say these should be eaten within a day of being made for the best texture.
Good grief does this look healthy! Well, if you don’t look at all the Veganaise in it. But still! The warmer weather makes me want to eat lighter foods. Especially when I am still holding out on turning on the air conditioning. These cravings coincide nicely with my wanting to lose a few pounds. Apparently this Curried “Chicken” Salad recipe came out of Vegetarian Times. Although I have no idea where I found it. It was just hanging out in MacGourmet and appealed to me when I was making the shopping list. The leftover salad held up nicely. I can see it being tasty in a wrap.
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