Hey, don’t miss this year’s holiday bake off at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe! You all should totally enter so there’s more for us to eat when we show up fresh from vacation. Oh yeah, we’ll be out of town and unable to enter, so that’s two more chances for YOU to win! I’m actually looking forward to gobbling up other people’s yummies rather than stressing over my own this year. So bust out your mixing bowl, okay?
Category: food
Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?
After voting last Friday, I went off in search of a Goodwill that turned out to no longer be there. That seems to happen all the time with Goodwill around here. It wasn’t a total waste of time though because across the street from where it should have been was this:
What? Why has this been kept from me? I know it’s ITP OTP, but still, a vegan Jamaican restaurant! So of course I went in. The guy said everything is vegan. VEGAN. Woohoo! So I bought a callaloo pie and a tofu pie and went off to meet Kevin. Well, I ate half of each cause I was starving. Then I met Kevin at Cosmo’s and he had pie, and Ken & Leigh had pie. I think everyone agreed they were mighty tasty. So later we grabbed up Matt and went back there for dinner. Kevin got the vegetarian steak:
And I got the vegetarian ground beef. They were out of the chicken which seems pretty popular becvause everyone that walked in asked for it.
The dinners come with rice & peas and then you get a choice of salad or veggies. I know it looks remarkably brown, and blurry, but it was really tasty. The steak and ground beef had distinctively different flavors so it isn’t just the same exact stuff in another shape.
I wish this place was in closer to home but I could make it sort of be on the way to Dekalb Farmer’s Market. They also have a bunch of juices if you’re into that. The guy let us sample one and it was pretty good. While you can eat there, it is really designed more as a take out place. So don’t expect tablecloths and, uh, silverware.
Vegetarian Paradise
6125 Covington Hwy.
Lithonia, GA 30035
(678) 518-8649
Date Night Food
Friday night we had a nice date night that started with Cafe Sunflower and then was followed by the symphony. We started with pear in a wine sauce with endive. No picture because I forgot. It was refreshing though. I had the ravioli with butternut squash (I think) and tofu ricotta. They’ve switched from using regular ricotta which rocks!
And Kevin got the lemon chicken.
Oh, and we split a piece of strawberry cake. But I was too interested in tearing into it to take a picture.
I’ve had pretty consistently good food at Cafe Sunflower over the years. My only complaint has been trying to find the hidden non-vegan items. But the server this night asked us right off if we were vegan and then gave us the whole rundown of the menu and what we could and couldn’t get or substitutions that could be made. Other vegetarian restaurants should take note if they’d like to gain the trust of vegans.
Cold Weather Food
I thought yesterday morning was cold. Especially when Grover escaped as I was letting when I let Tak out for her first pee. Chasing him around the yard for ten minutes all bleary eyed at 5:30am was not much fun. He runs, he meows, he runs some more. I think he finally let me catch him when he realized he was cold. It’s a good think he’s a handsome cat. See?
On to food. If you haven’t made the Cholent from Veganomicon, this is the perfect time for it. After chasing Mr. Short Bus cat around the yard, I swear I would have eaten this for breakfast if I’d had any left. So warming and satisfying. The tvp chunks have the perfect chew to them. It’s like the stew my mom made growing up without all the death. Hell, next time I might even make it with biscuits on top like she did if I don’t make it into a pot pie form.
Papa Chorizo Frittata
Or, how to use up that half a package of veggie chorizo languishing in your freezer. I’ve been really happy with veggie omelet, quiches, etc. that I’ve tried in the past. So when I saw Alicia’s recipe, Papa Chorizo Frittata, I immediately marked it for future use. Tofu, potatoes, chorizo, roasted red peppers….what’s not to like? Plus, it’s gorgeous!
It was missing something green, and since I like to be a bit balanced, I picked up some callaloo at the market this weekend since they actually had it. If you haven’t tried this green, do. It’s really tasty. I ended up using a jamaican recipe as a vague guideline, but deviated quite a bit, so I’ll go ahead and tell you what I did.
Savory Tomato Callaloo
Cover the sun-dried tomatoes with the boiling water. Set aside. Add oil to a large deep-sided skilled heated on med-high heat. Add onion. Cook stirring occasionally until softened. Add garlic. Cook a minute more. Add tomatoes and their water and thyme. Stir. Add callaloo and cover pan. After a couple of minutes, callaloo should be wilted. Stir and replace cover. Cook a few more minutes until callaloo is tender but still bright green. Salt to taste. |
Here’s the happy dinner: Papa Chorizo Frittata, Callaloo and sliced oat bread I made this weekend.