Buddha's Feast at P.F.Chang's

This is the Buddha's Feast with no special requests, however they did go a bit light on the sauce this time. I usually get this with no mushrooms, steamed, and with extra broccoli, but I was feeling like doing something crazy. This came with brown rice. It was a bit expensive, but I had enough to make 2 meals of it. This was very good!

Click here to see P.F.Chang's website

Vegan Orzo Pasta

I found this at the Earth Fare deli. This is really good!

Cashew Coconut Cupcake at Graze in Nashville TN

This vegan cupcake was amazing! Plant-based life is great!

I was told by the staff that this was made by The Moody Foodie, a vegan bakery in Nashville.

Click here to see the Graze website

Vegan Pepper Steak with Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, and Bread

I got this at a vegan food sharing event. The potatoes, gravy, and bread were all excellent. The "steak" was rubbery and bland. I believe it was that canned wheat gluten product that omnivores use as a reference to criticize vegan food. I still ate it. I though it was okay.

Home-made Curried Potatoes and Peas

I diced a potato, mixed in some frozen peas, and cooked it with coconut oil. Then I added cumin, Sharwood's Mild Curry Powder, salt, and a little bit of water. I let it simmer until the potatoes were slightly brown. This tasted great, it was cheap, and it took about a half hour to make.

Beyond Meat Beyond Beef Crumbles

I occasionally try some meat substitutes.This is a good one that tastes enough like beef to please me. It cooks just like ground beef chunks. It may even fool a carnivore.

I cooked some of this in a skillet with Dale's sauce and put it on a sour dough hoagie bun. This was similar to a Po Boy or Sloppy Joe. I made vegan slaw as a side item. This was really good! This is a product I will be buying again. I'm sure this will make a great "meaty" spaghetti like the one on the package.

Vegan Liquid Part 1

Liquid Vegan Part 1

This blog entry highlights some of the many vegan beverage options. I just picked some of my own favorites. These drinks do not contain blood, pus, or bee vomit. Drink up!

Coffee at Panera Bread

Alo Crisp Aloe Vera Water

 Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk

Kevita Apple Cider Vinegar Tonic

Hanson's Cola

Bojangle's Tea with extra lemon

Sweet Greens from Juice Bar in Huntsville AL

Milo's Sweet Tea

Spice Of Life juice at Graze in Nashville TN

Panera Bread sweet tea and green tea mix in Cullman AL

Martinelli's Apple Juice

Teavana Shaken Iced Passion Tango Tea from Starbucks

A Snack at El Olmeca in Huntsville AL

There's not much on the menu for plant eaters at El Olmeca. The chips, salsa, and guacamole seem to be vegan. This was very good, especially the chunky guacamole. The restaurant was very loud during almost every time I've been there.

Vegan Hot Dogs With Peppers

To make vegan hot dogs I used 365 Everyday Value Whole Wheat Hot Dog Buns, Lightlife Smart Dogs, and Gulden's spicy mustard. I topped them with leftover grilled peppers.

Late July Jalapeno Lime Tortilla Chips

Here's a tasty snack. This is non-GMO and vegan. Very good!

Maya Kaimal Everyday Dal

This is my first time trying a Maya Kaimal product. This is another quick and easy meal that comes in a microwavable pouch. 

This tastes like a hearty vegetable soup with more exotic flavors. This product is mild enough for the young and old, but it still has the nice spices I would expect from a mild Indian dish. The kidney beans, carrot, and tamarind give it a slight sweetness. This was very good. I ate mine with Sprouts Tandoori Naan. This ws another good vegan meal.

Roots Spinach Hummus

I discovered another excellent hummus. Roots Spinach Hummus is addictive and delicious! This is another great non-GMO vegan product.

Home-made Guacamole Salad with Beans and Rice

I topped mixed lettuce with pico de gallo, guacamole, and Sprouts Mild Salsa. I served it with cilantro rice and Sprouts Vegetarian Refried Beans. It's all vegan!

Big Sir Breakfast Burrito by Sweet Earth

A Vegan Pizza at Your Pie in Birmingham AL

I accidentally ended up at Your Pie in downtown Birmingham AL, and I ended up with a delicious meal that I would gladly repeat. Your Pie is another brick oven build-your-own style pizza restaurant. I chose regular crust, regular marinara sauce, vegan cheese, black olives, fresh garlic, and onions.

This was a clean restaurant with good service at the time of my visit. I was surprised to see they have vegan meat and cheese. They have plenty of other toppings for omnivores. The crew behind the counter casually made the food at a slower pace than other places, but that's probably why the restaurant was so clean and organized. Some places are in such a rush that they make a mess of the makeline. This slower pace let the crew keep things nice and neat. I appreciate mindful food building. This meal was excellent! They did accidentally give me a piece of green pepper, but it's okay. It's all vegan!

Your Pie restaurants can presently be found in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, but I expect more locations in the future.

Click here to see the Your Pie website

A Great Breakfast at Panera Bread

I ordered a toasted sesame bagel. I asked for the cilantro hummus that comes on the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich. That's not on the menu, but I knew they had it back there somewhere. They price it just like it's a side of jelly. I added a coffee. Excellent breakfast!

Buffalo Tempeh Strips at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

I ordered the Buffalo Tempeh Strips just to see how good they are. It's not a choice I would normally make, but I've tried almost everything else on the menu, so I figured I'd try this one too. This tempeh was tossed in Buffalo hot sauce and served on a bed of fresh greens. It came with vegan ranch dipping sauce, carrot sticks, and celery sticks.

Like everything else at The Wild Cow, this was very good. The tempeh was mostly firm and chunky with a noticeable skillet fried char flavor. The Buffalo sauce tasted like a typical vinegar based hot sauce with a little bit of oiliness. The carrots and celery were as good as expected. The vegan ranch dipping sauce was amazing and enhanced the flavor of each stick perfectly. The ranch was the highlight of this plate. It brought everything together.

The tempeh's dirtier flavor was balance with the fresh, clean flavors of the veggie sticks and the light, refreshing ranch sauce. This is a great choice for anyone. I may order this again.

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

Plant Snacks Vegan Cheddar

This is another great plant-based snack!

Oreo Cookies

Guess what! Oreos are vegan! Almost everyone loves Oreos. The world will be at peace for a short moment when we realize what we all have in common. In a world of tribal us-against-them attitudes, the love of Oreos could be what saves us all from self-destruction.

Vegan Rob's Jackfruit Puffs

These puff snacks are pretty good. The flavor is light and a tiny bit sweet, almost like a breakfast cereal. There's also a very subtle yeastiness. These are gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, and kosher.

Veggie Burger at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

I returned to one of my favorite vegan restaurants in Nashville. The Wild Cow never disappoints me. This time went as well as expected. The food was great, the service was friendly, and the wait time was reasonable considering the popularity of the establishment.

I ordered the Veggie Burger which is described as a "house made black bean patty with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and veganaise, served on a whole wheat bun". It comes with a choice of one side item. I chose the Vegan Queso Dip and Chips.

The patty itself was soft inside and firm outside, much like a pot of refried beans after cooling. The patty includes some whole black beans and other chunks to give it a nice mouthfeel. The flavor wasn't what I expected, but it was pretty good. It was pleasantly beany with a charred smokiness like that of skillet fried foods found at greasy spoon type roadside cafes. It wasn't as clean and natural as I expected it to be, but once I realized what the deal was with it I enjoyed it very much. Meat eaters would like this choice becuase it is a bit dirtier in flavor. The toppings and bun were all perfect. They did forget to include the Vegenaise, but it was great without it. I may order it again in the future.

The queso was excellent. The texture was a little bit slimy, but the taste was perfect. The chips were also perfect.

This was another great meal at The Wild Cow. I will return soon!


Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

Lilly's Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

This is really good stuff. Lilly's hummus has a mild, beany flavor and a clean, refreshing mouthfeel. It isn't as oily as other brands. I do like the original flavor much better, but this red pepper flavor is also good. The roasted red peppers give it a smokier flavor that freaks me out a bit because it reminds me of smoked ham. After a few bites, I get adjusted to it. I like to use this as a dip for tortilla chips. This product is non-GMO, organic, and vegan.

Things I Found In My Vegan Food Part 1

Every once in a while I find nasty things in my food. This post is just a visual reminder to check your food before you eat it, especially in restaurants. Vegan food can somehow end up having meat in it. And I hope you know that if you're eating veggies and don't occasionally pick a bug from your food, you are probably eating bugs! Check out this photographic documentation of the nasty non-vegan things people have tied to feed me. This is disgusting!

mystery meat in the grilled veggies at Zoe's Kitchen

dozens of live rice weevils in Earth Fare bulk rice

mystery meat at Whole Foods burrito bar

disgusting body fluid on falafel at Zoe's Kitchen

a fortune in the tea at P.F. Chang's

meat hiding under a Tostada at Taco Bell

Cali Bowl at Fire & Spice TexMex Smokehouse in Huntsville AL

Since my first visit to Fire & Spice went well I decided to go back to try the Cali Bowl, which is one of several vegan options. Surprisingly, it was crowded in there. I had to sit at the bar. But that worked out very well. It gave me a great view of the impressively clean kitchen. Even the bar was spotlessly clean. The food arrived after a few minutes. Check out this bowl full of real food!

Cali Bowl at Fire & Spice TexMex Smokehouse in Huntsville AL

The Cali Bowl is made with layers of rice, pinto beans, roasted onions and peppers, corn salsa, cilantro, hot sauce, and guacamole. Everything about this was excellent! The seasoned rice and corn salsa really got my attention. This meal was not cheap. I paid about $15 plus a good tip for this meal. That's way too much money for the average beans, rice, and veggie bowl with tea. But this was not average! It tasted like real food made with fresh ingredients by people who actually care. Real food does have a price, and I'll pay that price when I can. It was worth what I paid, but I will need to save this kind of spending for special occasions. The Cali Bowl is a large bowl of food, so it could easily make two meals.

During this visit the large crowd was unusually quiet. The classic pop music was playing at a reasonable sound level. It was peaceful and comfortable even with a full house. The service was friendly enough and fast enough.This was another great lunch at Fire & Spice!

UPDATE: I returned to Fire & Spice for another awesome meal. I have more details on the food. All fried foods share the same oil, so the tortilla chips and fried cauliflower may not be considered acceptable for very strict vegans. That explains why I thought the chips tasted kind of dirty during my first visit. The sauteed veggies are cooked on the flat top grill, but they do have a separate area for the veggies. This may still not be acceptable for strict vegans, because it is the same grill with possibilities for cross contamination. The vegan burritos and quesadillas are toasted on the same flat top grill.

On my latest visit, I had a friendly discussion with a server and a member of management just for clarity. They are very familiar with food restrictions. They went over the menu and helped me understand how things are done in the kitchen. For my recent meal they gladly made it "allergy style. They used a clean pan for the sauteed veggies and to toast my burrito. They made it their mission to make it right. The service and food were excellent. It was the best food I've had in months! I will surely return!

Click here to see the Fire & Spice website