Eating Vegan on the Road: 500 Miles Atlanta <--> Central Virginia

Sometimes when we travel, it’s more about the food than the trip. Asheville, I’m looking at you. But sometimes we need to travel somewhere for other reasons, usually involving relatives or maybe work.

Eating vegan on the road used to be a little more challenging but with chains like Chipotle stepping up it’s become so much easier. And if you have time to veer off the highway, Happy Cow can help you find vegan friendly spots along the way.

On this recent trip to Virginia, I decided to pack a small cooler with food for the way there. A Tofurky cold cut sandwich, some chips that I got at a gas station when filling up and maybe some Oreos ended up going into my pie hole. I really wanted a Chick-O-Stick, but none of the convenience stores seemed to have them. It’s definitely less than a perfect road trip without Chick-O-Stick.

I brought Tak along. She’s a pretty good traveler but on the way there she’s so excited that she doesn’t want to lay down and sleep. Which wore her out pretty good. And that was fine.

boston terrier on a road trip

Normally when I go visit my mom, I make every effort to go into Richmond and eat all of their vegan food. But this time was more about family, so I brought some provisions and stuck close to home.

Since I was driving, I hauled the Vitamix with me so I could have smoothies every morning. I also used it to make a raw cashew cheesecake that I took to our Passover dinner. Other provisions included Soy Curls, BBQ sauce, tofu, nutritional yeast, black salt and some Earth Balance. I knew my mom would have vegetables, so this was plenty to keep me fed.

The first night, my mom and partner wanted to go out to dinner. And they didn’t want to go to Richmond. So I got on my phone and started searching around for something. A Mexican place called Don Pepe popped up and they had a vegetarian section to their menu. That’s something I can work with. By the way, this place is right off of I-95 if you’re ever passing through.

As you can see, I was a bit hungry and attacked this before I remembered to take a picture. It’s a bean burrito with rice and I got an order of guacamole as well. It was really good. The sauce on the burrito was fresh and flavorful. And the guacamole wasn’t filled with a bunch of filler like some places do.

eating vegan on the road mexican  food in chester, virginia

The next night, I made BBQ Soy Curls with sautéed kale and a couple of pieces of toast. Soy Curls make an excellent provision since they don’t require refrigeration and they’re light. As a matter of fact, I’m making a mental note right now to pack some when we head to Mexico in a couple of months. My mom was pretty adventurous this visit and tried the BBQ Soy Curls and really liked them.  Whenever I cooked something, she pretty much ate what I ate.

vegan bbq soy curls, kale, toast

For Passover, I made up a batch of tofu scramble and took a little box with me. It was packed with veggies too so it could be a full meal. There were various munchies around I could eat as well. I’m assuming you’ve seen a tofu scramble and also I forgot to take a picture, so here’s a lovely haggadah.passover

The next day, we met some family at the cemetery to visit relatives.

grave stone at Blandford Cemetery

Then headed to Old Town Petersburg to walk around. This is a good side trip from Richmond.

old bricks in petersburg virginia

old brick facade in petersburg virginia

After that, my mom and I grabbed lunch at Wabi Sabi. The menu is a mix of sushi and sandwiches. With the sushi option, I knew I could make something work. That something turned out to be veggie sushi with a side of sweet potato fries. My mom may or may not have learned an important lesson about wasabi when she accidentally scooped up the whole dollop with a piece of her sushi. Ouch!

vegan sushi

sweet potato fries

wabi sabi petersburg virginia

Finally, my last day in town, we did make it to Richmond for lunch. There was a new place I was thinking about trying, but they were closed Mondays, so we went to an old favorite, Ipanema Cafe.  It’s a vegetarian sandwich place with lots of vegan options, including a jackfruit sandwich, and more importantly vegan pie. ipanema cafe richmond virginia

My mom and I both got the tempeh reuben. Delicious and only a little messy. My mom really liked it which is pretty impressive. Tempeh can be a hard sell.

tempeh reuben at ipanema cafe richmond virginia

And pie could not be resisted. My choice was the cherry pie which I had with the soy ice cream because it was the right decision to make. It had a crumb top and shortbread crust. Yum!

vegan cherry pie from ipanema cafe in richmond virginia

After that fine dessert, coffee was necessary and Harrison Street Coffee Shop, another favorite, is right around the corner. They also have simple sandwiches and vegan breakfast items. Plus it’s one of my favorite coffee shop spaces. Oh, it’s also vegetarian. Yay!

eating vegan on the road harrison street coffee shop iced latte

On the drive back, I didn’t want to worry with packing anything. I decided I’d just wing eating vegan on the road. This time I hit the old standby, Taco Bell. I learned the lesson long ago, to always check the innards of a wrapped food before biting unless you’re in a vegan restaurant. Taco Bell is no exception. Save yourself some grief and open them up at the counter before you take off. Even though my ticket was right, both of my burritos were wrong. They put some ranch sauce in my modified 7 layer burrito that doesn’t even come on it and there was cheese on my bean burrito. No worries, just had them remade and was on my way. Why did I go to Taco Bell rather than Chipotle? Because you can hold a Taco Bell burrito in one hand while driving.

taco bell bean burrito

How do you handle eating vegan on the road? Do you carry food, research spots along the way and plan or just wing it?

Grilling out and gaga dance

gloATL had a weekend of performances set up at the Old Fourth Ward Skate Park and even though it wasn’t clear exactly what would be happening, we decided to check it out. But first, we grilled out over at Star & Simon’s. Or, we watched Simon grill and then enjoyed eating it.

Field Roast’s frankfurters are the best veggie dogs you can get.

Simon made a rack of Gutenfleischer’s ribs. Nom.

We brought leftover chili and Daiya to top the dogs. Star made a kale and kelp noodle salad. And we brought chips & ranch dip.

After dinner, we walked the still-in-progress Beltline to the skate park.

The dancers were in the skating bowls and also moving through the crowd. Skating continued during the performance and sometimes the skaters intricately worked their way through and around the dancers.

Apparently it was a style of dance called Gaga.

After watching and getting rained on a little bit we headed back. And had the Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Pie from Vegan Pie in the Sky with coconut ice cream.

The pie potluck

Yes, yes we did. Pies savory and sweet. Pies, pies, pies.

I made the Scalloped Potato Pie from Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites.

And, the Gingerbread Apple Pie from Vegan With A Vengeance.

More pie goodies…. quiche, I think.

Frito Pie

Spanikopita

My plate o’ pie

Of course there’s a dessert plate. Duh. Steph made two different ice cream pies. Both needed to be tried. Plus the gingerbread apple pie. With ice cream. *BLORT*

Vegan Pie in the Sky book signing with Isa Chandra Moskowitz!

Vegan cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz will be in Atlanta Sunday, October 30th signing Vegan Pie in the Sky (and apparently your whole collection of her books if you haul ’em up there.) Oh, and it’ll be at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe, our own vegan owned, completely vegan shop. You knew we had one here, right? It’s 2-3pm and I heard some kind of rumor about pie sampling. Here’s the Facebook page for the event if you want to say you’re going, pass it around, etc. Also, PIE.

Coconut Cream Pie

I’d probably be content smearing the Earth Balance coconut spread on various baked goods, but they sent a nice little pamphlet full of recipes that sound tasty, so it was time to dive in. Okay, I did cheat a little and bought the crust. If you’re looking for a cool, easy summer dessert, this one is nice. There’s only a bit of the coconut spread in the filling, but it adds an extra creaminess. Also, since it uses light coconut milk, it isn’t all that bad for you, 249 calories a serving.

Coconut Cream Pie with Graham Cracker Crust

Crust

13 graham crackers (to make 1 1/2 cups crushed)
3 Tbs raw cane sugar
1 pinch of salt
1/4 cup melted Earth Balance Coconut Spread

Topping

1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 7oz can vegan whipped topping

Filling

2 1/2 cups unsweetened light coconut milk
1/2 cup raw cane sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup finely shredded coconut
2 Tbs Earth Balance Coconut Spread
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp coconut extract

Preheat oven to 350℉ .

Place graham crackers in a plastic ziplock bag and crush using a rolling pin.

Place crushed graham crackers in a bowl and stir in sugar, salt and melted Earth Balance Coconut Spread.

Press graham cracker mixture into a 9-inch pie pan, making sure the bottom and sides are covered. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Keep oven and 350℉.

Place flaked coconut for the topping on a baking sheet and toast in oven 4 to 5 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

Whisk together coconut milk, sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then turn down to a simmer, stirring continuously until the mixture begins to thicken, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Once the mixture is thick, stir in shredded coconut, Earth Balance Coconut Spread, vanilla extract and coconut extract.

Spoon filling into cooled pie crust, cover with foil and chill for at least one hour.

Top the pie with vegan whipped topping and toasted coconut.

Recipe from Earth Balance Cooking with Coconut pamphlet.