Cakes

I turned 30 this year. It was a big deal for me. I celebrated for an entire month, and I tried to do something nice for myself each day. Here are two of the cakes I had this month. The first I made. It was the yellow cake with chocolate icing from Vegan Comfort Food. It is seriously the best cake ever. Normally, carrot cake (the second cake) is my favorite, but the double layer yellow just blew me and my guests away. The carrot cake was made by my co-op and some of my wonderfully thoughtful coworkers surprised me with it on my birthday. They also decorate my office. They were so thoughtful and made my birthday really wonderful. I'm also lucky because my co-op sells vegan carrot cake by the slice!

Viva Vegan!

Peruvian Seitan and Potato Skewers

This was a very tasty dish even though I forgot the potatoes. I'm not sure how I forgot the potatoes but forgot them I did. I would definitely make this for omnis and will probably break it out at future barbecues this summer to impress.

Home-Style Refried Beans - before cooking down and mashing

I wanted to try a new recipe, but I love this refried bean recipe so much I had to make it again. This is what they look at before starting to cook down.

Home-Style Refried Beans - finished product

The last time I made them I did make them more wet then you see here. I tried this time with less moisture. I have to say I have no preference, and I loved both ways equally.

Puttanesca Scramble - Vegan Brunch

I made the puttanesca scramble from Vegan Brunch Sunday morning. It is becoming my most favorite scramble! I made it following the recipe exactly weeks ago. It is absolutely perfect as is, but I decided this time to throw in some spinach. I also added some avocado to the top.

Here is the recipe, but I cannot recommend Vegan Brunch highly enough. I have yet to make a recipe that didn't blow me away. It is worth buying for the coffee cake recipe if nothing else!

http://theppk.com/blog/puttanesca-scramble/

Tenth Street Vegetarian Bistro Lawrence, KS

http://tenthstreetbistro.com/aboutus.aspx

A vegetarian restaurant opened late 2009 in Lawrence. The first two times I went the menu was pricey and limited. After a few months they revamped and started offering lunch portions. I've been going at least once a week since.

Below is the Hummus Plate. It was good. For my personal tastes I prefer the more creamy texture offered at Aladdin's.



This is the Sweet and Sour Vegan Chicken and Tofu. It was entirely too sweet for my taste. I ended up pushing most of the sauce covered tofu and vegan chicken to the side. I will state that this was absolutely a personal thing. I have friends who have ordered it and loved it. I think my salt taste buds have warred and won against my sweet buds.

A few notes on other things I've ordered:

• Fried Veggie Dumplings - so wonderful! The sauce isn't as good as Encore, but I order these regularly.
• The Fried Eggplant Fingers aren't Vegan. I made the mistake of assuming.
• The Monk Bowl is my second favorite thing. I think I love it mainly because their rice is beyond amazing. I don't know what they do to their fried rice, but their fried rice is so forking awesome.
• Vegan Duck: It's good, but I think the quantity isn't in correlation with the cost. I would order it again but only as a lunch portion.
• Vegan Shrimp and Tofu Fried Rice is really great. It's very simple with no stand out flavors. Because of my love of their rice this was good for me.
• Fried Vegan Fish and Chips - meh. Meh especially for the cost. I ate fish and chips in my non veg days primarily for the breading. These are very light on the breading. If you were looking for a more healthy fish and chips these may be for you. The vegan fish definitely reminded me of a flaky fish.
• Not on the Menu but Kung Pao Vegan Chicken. This is my favorite, favorite thing. This is what I get my omni people to order. It's something that is generally on special and if it isn't they'll make it for you.
  

I am trying to branch out each time I go and order something different. The problem is I love their fried rice so much that it just sucks me in. I'll say I think their Oriental Cuisine section is probably their best mainly because the owners of the restaurant also own the Vietnamese place.

Go, eat and help keep them around!

Thai Kitchen

One of my favorite lunches at work is the Thai Kitchen soup. There are a lot of different flavors, but of those at my coop Green Onion is the only one that states it's vegan. Thai Kitchen is really great about labeling things vegan. The label is generally on the back, bottom left hand corner.

On it's own I'd say it's not enough to keep me full. Rice noodles with some seasonings are not going to last me to my afternoon snack. What I've found that makes the soup super delicious and filling is adding soy sauce and frozen veggies. Here there is frozen broccoli and bean sprouts. I also add soy sauce to the soup. If you watch your sodium this is definitely not for you, but for fellow salt addicts this soup is awesome. I usually top it off with a boat load of sriracha.