i have a serious brain disease. please bring me a cat.
What do vegans bring to a Cuban potluck? I made some Gardein chicken and Daiya cheese empanadas. Pre-made empanada wrappers make these super easy.
I also made the bread for Cuban sandwiches. We used Gutenfleischer‘s ham, Daiya and pickles inside. They cooked up perfectly on a George Foreman grill.
And tostones, yucca fries, rice and beans, kale, and how did that slice of bahn mi get in there?
Another view.
And, one more.
How do you finish this off? Tres Leches cake! And ice cream.
These pre-packaged raw items by Raw in the Garden have recently shown up in Sevananda‘s island cooler. So I picked one up to try for lunch.
With a pre-packaged item, I was worried it would taste fresh, but it was fine. I think the zucchini might have been marinated which was nice, gave them more flavor. It didn’t have a crisp crust, but the flavors of everything were definitely pizza like. With the nut-based crust and cashew cream it was also pretty filling. This could be pulled off without a dehydrator. I might try this at home.
Our friends Taylor and Beth have been getting non-vegan banh mi at Lee’s Bakery for a while. They started asking about a vegan version and they said they could do that. Apparently, the menu changed about a week later.
Let’s look at that a little closer.
Yes, that says “vegan soup.” So you can get the tofu banh mi, just ask that mayo be left off, and a pho-like soup or a half sandwich and soup combo. We whipped together earth balance and veganaise and brought it with us for the sandwiches. I like the soup broth better than the Pho 96 one. It isn’t flavored with 5-spice powder. But it doesn’t have all the fake meats Pho 96 uses. Which is okay with me.
Our first visit, I did the half sandwich and soup combo. A half sandwich is about 6″ long.
And they have two sizes of the soup. This smaller one comes with the combo. Smaller, not small. Full of veggies, rice noodles, tofu, yuba, and sprinkled with green onions and fried onion. You also get a plate of sprouts and cilantro to add.
The combo is $6.95, a whole tofu banh mi sandwich is $3. I sure wish this was closer in town.
If you haven’t been to Healthful Essence yet, you should get on that. This is the $8.50 box. I’ve got rice and peas, BBQ tofu and greens with a few plantain slices on top. That fried thing on top is an unfish that Kevin ordered separately. The food here always feels like it’s pretty healthy, if you ignore that fried thing there. It’s always full of flavor without being oily or fatty. Again, don’t look at that fried thing.
Oh, hey, look it’s that garlicky kale salad that I make all the time. This time it’s the center of the meal with added veggies and some avocado to make it more filling.
The little bowl contains Yellow Bell Pepper Pine Cheese from Thrive Foods. We scooped it up with raw pumpkin chips. Crazy good! And this turned out to be plenty of food.