Harrison Street Coffee Shop

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.

 

Black Bean Hummus Wrap
Black Bean Hummus Wrap

 

 

Beer Battered Tofu Sandwich
Beer Battered Tofu Sandwich

 

Biscuits and Vegan Sausage Gravy
Biscuits and Vegan Sausage Gravy

About to commit blasphemy

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.

Puréed Spicy Sweet Potato & Peanut Stew with Chickpeas

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.

Lunch Salad

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.

Gluten Free Coffee Biscuits

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.