Mellow Mushroom Hummus and Pita (It's Now Vegan!)

It wasn't before, but now it is. Hummus and Pita at Mellow Mushroom is vegan!

The manager of Mellow Mushroom used his phone to take a photo of the pita bread ingredients list so I can read it. While it does have some not-so-natural things in there, it is another option for vegans. I would prefer the pita to be toasted a bit more, but I'm not complaining. I ate it all!

Click here to see the Mellow Mushroom website

Baked Sweet Potato

I baked a sweet potato and topped it with a scoop of Earth Balance. Very good!

Ajinomoto Vegetable Yakisoba

This is a frozen food I found at Costco. I was nervous about buying such a large amount of one item that I've never tried, but I do not regret it now. This is one of the best frozen meals I've ever tried. Once cooked, it tastes as fresh as restaurant food. The flavor is amazing! It tastes better than restaurant food! Look at the color. Beautiful. It cooks in the microwave in only 3 minutes. And the photograph doesn't even show all the yummy treasures hidden under the noodles. It's made with cabbage, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, pea pods, water chestnuts, edamame, red pepper, and shitake mushrooms. The ingredients list shows no questionable items, just whole food ingredients with corn starch and sugar near the end. I will need to buy more of this. The box was not easy to break apart. That's why it look's like it was mangled by a bear. My next box will look the same because I'll be excited to rip it open and eat some more.

Chipotle 3 Point Veggie Bowl

This 3 point veggie bowl has brown rice, pinto beans, and fajita veggies. I added some free Tabasco Chipotle hot sauce instead of getting salsa, because one more topping on this would make it a full priced veggie bowl.

Click here for the Chipotle website

Another Salad at Jason's Deli

Here's another excellent salad at Jason's Deli. It has just a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Sugar And Cinnamon Coated Peanuts

I found these sugar and cinnamon coated peanuts in the bulk goods section of the supermarket.

Vegan Options at Little Rosie's Taqueria in Huntsville AL

I'll begin with my first documented meal at Little Rosie's Taqueria, the standard go-to for vegans at Mexican restaurants, chips and salsa. Little Rosie's has 3 salsas from which to choose; regular red, green tomatillo, and roasted pepper, all of which are excellent. The chips appear to be fried separately from the other fried foods. I had iced tea with mine, and this meal was perfect.

Chips and Salsa at Little Rosie's Taqueria in Huntsville AL

This snack was easy to order straight from the menu, and it costs less than $5. They can make vegan versions of other menu items, but that gets complicated. I'll get into that next.

My next documented meal at Little Rosie's consisted of a Bean Burrito made with vegetarian refried beans (lard refried beans is the standard), minus cheese (usually melted inside the burrito), with ranchero sauce instead of queso (usually poured on top), chips, salsa, guacamole, and an iced tea. The bean burrito comes with lettuce and tomato on the side, which is a nice touch for a fast serve restaurant.

A vegan burrito meal at Little Rosie's Taqueria in Huntsville AL

Another option for vegetarians is to get the combo, which will include a side of beans and rice in that empty space on the plate. Just remember to get the vegetarian beans as your side of beans. The rice is made with butter. Sorry vegans.  

This meal was perfect! The taste was great, and the portion size was just right. The quality is better than most would expect from a fast serve restaurant.

Eating vegan style at Little Rosie's isn't always easy, but it can be done. And this is good stuff! Just remember to get the veggie beans. If they accidentally give you the regular beans, you'll smell the smokey lard in there. I smell mine first, and give them a little nibble before digging in. Also remember the cheese comes standard, so order the food without that if you are vegan.

After a long, hard day of work, it's good to have an adult beverage. Little Rosie's has margaritas, and they are good! I could feel this one working about a quarter of the way in. I occasionally need to stop by just for these.

Margarita on the rocks at Little Rosie's Taqueria in Huntsville AL

 

Little Rosie's Taqueria is comfortable, fun, and interesting. The interior is made with colorful reclaimed building materials. The music is almost always upbeat with Spanish lyrics, so it's always party time. The staff keeps it clean. There's usually one or two people cleaning up the self serve area and the tables. They do have some vegan and vegetarian options, and they usually get the special orders correct on the first try. Vegetarians can actually order several things straight from the menu. The restaurant does get very crowded and loud, probably because of the good food, service, and environment. Little Rosie's is a great place to hang out with your omnivorous friends. They'll love the food too. Vegans and vegetarians, go try Little Rosie's.

Pad Thai Noodles at I Love Juice Bar in Huntsville AL

I Love Juice Bar knows how to made solid food too. These noodles are very good! I didn't expect these to be spicy, but I like them. This is loaded with a variety of flavors and textures. Flavors that pop include peanut, soy sauce, spinach, sriracha, sesame seeds, and a hint of smoke.....just a hint. These are served cold, but that's fine. Sweet. Tangy. Spicy. Clean. Excellent!

Click here to see the I Love Juice Bar website

Vegan Nacho Cheese With Blue Chips

I heated the contents of a Daiya cheddar pouch. I added a little bit of salsa and chili powder to the "cheese". I then had vegan nacho cheese. I added more salsa just to make it pretty, and I ate this with Garden OF Eatin Blue Chips, which are non-GMO. This was good, but I think I'll add soy milk or more salsa next time.

Spinach Veggie Wrap Minus Cheese With Vegetarian Vegetable Soup at Jason's Deli

I got the Spinach Veggie Wrap minus cheese with salsa and a cup of Vegetarian Vegetable Soup.

I added complimentary garlic toast and spicy giardiniera. What an oily, salty mess. But it sure was good!

Amy's Enchilada Meal

This meal is awesome! It's difficult to chose a favorite Amy's meal, but this one is at the top. It doesn't look that good in this photo, but this was so good I ate every bite and licked the cardboard clean like a hungry dog! And this is a non-GMO meal!

Click here to see the Amy's Kitchen website

Harvest Snaps Snapea Crisps, Lightly Salted

Here you see another tasty non-GMO snack. Harvest Snaps have a taste and texture that reminds me of Cheetos, but they're milder and less crunchy. They have a cheesy flavor with a pea aftertaste. There's no cheese here - just peas. Very addictive! I like these!

Go Veggie Cream Cheese Alternative with Back To Nature Stoneground Wheat Crackers

Yes, this is vegan! And this is also another great non-GMO snack!

Green Beans

Another Good Meal At Zoe's Kitchen

Here you can see the potato salad, rice pilaf, and braised white beans.

Click here to see Zoe's Kitchen website

Veggie Bowl Combo at Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill

This is a Veggie Bowl Combo at Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill. It has seasoned rice, pinto beans, fajita veggies, black olives, fresh jalapeno, salsa verde, and cilantro. I also got chips and salsa verde with sweet tea. This was excellent in every way.

Again, I chose not to get the guacamole as desired because Salsarita's now charges another dollar for that.

Click here to see the Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill website

Silk Strawberry Yogurt Alternative

Gardein Fishless Filets

Gardein Fishless Filets are great! This is another one of the very few meat replacements I do like. These look, feel, and taste just like mild fish, maybe flounder, but without the fishy smell. The outside is crispy and flaky. The inside is soft and moist. This is an excellent product.

Click here to see the Gardein website

Home-made Lo Mein

This easy meal is made with the ingredients shown plus a little amount of non-GMO corn starch to get the texture right. This meal took about 20 minutes to make, and it was very inexpensive considering the amount of food that can be made with the ingredients.

Beanitos Garden Fresh Salsa Flavor

Today I'm trying the Garden Fresh Salsa flavor of Beanitos. I can't eat Doritos, but this is a great alternative. These are vegan and non-GMO!

Chao Tomato Cayenne Slices On Back To Nature Stoneground Wheat Crackers

This is an excellent snack as shown, but don't even try to heat up the Chao. Trust me. It turns into a gelatinous brown mess. It's great just like this. Very spicy and delicious. And these crackers are my favorite Back To Nature crackers. Very crisp with tasty flax seeds.

A Veggie Bowl at Whole Foods

I always try to keep this blog positive, even when the food isn't as expected. This last meal at Whole Foods was really bad for a number of reasons. I won't go into detail out of respect and compassion. I'll just show you photographic documentation of my meal and let you figure out the worst part of it.

This was suppose to be a delicious veggie bowl from the prepared food department. I will not be ordering anything from this place again.

Be careful, vegans. Always look at your food before you eat it. If you didn't make it, you don't know what's in it until you dig around and look.

Vegan Lentil Quinoa Broth Bowl at Panera Bread

I have more good news! This Vegan Lentil Quinoa Broth Bowl at Panera Bread is great! I didn't need to request special instructions. It's another real vegan product on the menu! And the flavor is so good! The umami soy-miso broth is flavorful with spices but still mild enough for all to enjoy. It's not too salty or sweet. It's loaded with vegan goodies under the surface. The lemon slice hidden in the bottom adds zest and was a pleasant surprise. The side of french baguette is good for dipping. I will return soon!

Click here for Panera Bread's vegan menu

Luvo Hawaiian Un-Fried Rice Power Bowl

This is another non-GMO meal. This is a good one!

Click here to see the Luvo website

Kashi Coconut Cashew Macaroon

Wow. This was very sweet. Nice flavor and texture, but I wasn't expecting it to be so sweet. Vegan food is usually pretty mild. But this is a great vegan alternative to candy bars. I'm in the snow, so these extra calories will help me stay warm. I know the scientists in Antarctica eat candy bars because the cold makes them burn more calories just to regulate body temperature. This is another non-GMO snack!

A Coissant with Go Veggie Vegan Cream Cheese and Berry Jam

This Go Veggie cream cheese is pretty good. I just put the "cheese" on some croissants with berry jam. It was great with morning tea. This tastes like real cream cheese but with slightly less tang. Very nice! I'm excited to try the other flavors. This was cheap, easy, and quick.

Simply Organic Tostitos with Wholly Guacamole

These two products are excellent, and the chips say they're made with non-GMO corn.

Tasty Bite Bombay Potatoes and Basmati Rice

This Tasty Bite meal takes 3 minutes to cook and it really is tasty. It has plenty of flavor but it's mild enough for kids.This is another non-GMO meal!

Click here to see the Tasty Bite website

Another Gas Station Snack: Lay's Potato Chips and Iced Tea

Lay's potato chips and a large iced tea at Mapco. Great vegan snack!

Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans

Late night snack. Cold baked beans! Small pull-tab cans like this are good for camping or eating in the car. And the serving size is good.

Chipotle Sofritas Bowl

This bowl includes brown rice, black beans, sofritas (seasoned tofu), hot salsa, and corn salsa. Chipotle gives too much food, so this can be split into two meals to cut costs and prevent wasted food. This is another non-GMO meal!

Vegans, you may want to be careful with this one. Chipotle puts the sofritas right beside the meats on the food prep line. When it gets busy, meat can drop into the sofritas. I've found meat in mine 3 times already. Go early, and always get a good look at the sofritas before you order it.

Click here for the Chipotle website

Zoe's Kitchen Orzo Tabouli Salad Without Feta

This is the Zoe's Kitchen Orzo Tabouli Salad without feta. I added a side of pita cooked extra crispy. Zoe's has several options for vegans. This place is not exactly cheap, but they are vegan friendly. The food I get is usually very good, and the food is more nutritious than some other foods I put on this blog.

Click here to see Zoe's Kitchen website

Gardein Beefless Sliders

Del Monte Sweet Peas

This is another great non-GMO snack! It comes in small pop top cans.

Rice with Soy Sauce

Home-made Potatoes, Onion Gravy, Peas, and Yorkshire Pudding

For this meal I wanted to do something a little bit more traditional. This plate does not really fit the theme of this blog because I did use a kitchen for about 2 hours, but this was very cheap and easy to make.

First, I made onion gravy using onions, garlic, mushrooms, Earth Balance, salt, black pepper, Marmite, soy sauce, miso paste, and flour. I made my own mashed potatoes using only gold potatoes, Earth Balance, salt, and black pepper. I attempted to make vegan Yorkshire Pudding with wheat flour, oil, salt, and corn starch. I added some frozen peas on the side.

This was one of the best home-made plates I've made in a while. And I didn't use any recipes. Maybe I'm just getting good at this. The Yorkshire Pudding was more like Appalachian biscuits, but it's no big deal. This meal was very filling, so I had plenty of leftovers for later.

Lentil Bowl at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

This is the Lentil Bowl. There's an upgrade option to add garlicky kale, tempeh, or tofu. This one has all of those! The bowl itself is organic brown rice, lentil stew, cauliflower, onions, and carrots topped with garlic aioli. This is a heavenly blend of textures and flavors. Adding tempeh and tofu was a great choice. Both were excellent, especially with the garlic aioli.

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

The OG Beans & Greens at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

The OG Beans & Greens comes with organic brown rice, pinto beans, and garlicky kale topped with garlic aioli. This was very good! Those beans were beautiful! The garlic aioli was fantastic! The kale was perfect.

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

Nachos at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

This is probably the best dish I've tried at The Wild Cow. This is non-GMO blue tortilla chips topped with black and pinto beans, organic brown rice, vegan queso, salsa verde, tomatoes, red onions, and vegan sour cream. This is absolutely amazing! I don't know how they do it, but it all comes together so well. I really need to try more dishes at The Wild Cow, but this one is so good I keep getting it. This costs $9 but it's worth it! And this photo makes it look smaller than it is. This is enough food for two people.

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website