Home-made Potato Chip Sandwich

Here's another vegan poverty favorite. Potato chip sandwiches helped get me through some really hard times. This is a really good meal for a starving herbivore. Potato chip sandwiches actually taste better than they look. This sandwich had a variety of textures and flavors. Even people with money will love this tasty meal, especially kids.

To make my sandwich I included the following ingredients. I was generous with the mustard and chips since I now live above the poverty level.

I know what it's like to go without meals. Even before going vegetarian I had months and even years of wondering if I would be able to eat each day. Going vegetarian made that even more difficult because of the limitations I seemingly put on myself. To make it worse, vegetarians and vegans can't really ask for handouts. Donated food is very rarely vegetarian, vegan, healthy, and properly labeled with ingredients lists. People who get free food usually have only one choice; eat it or don't eat it.

I went to Walmart and spent $7.60 on the ingredients to make my potato chip sandwich. If my estimation is correct I should get about 6 sandwiches from this, more if I slice the bread more thinly. That's $1.27 per sandwich. I can eat 6 meals for the price of one 6 inch Subway combo meal. And I'll have left-over mustard. Not too bad.

I will not say this is a healthy way to eat, but vegans sometimes find themselves in a situation where this is the best choice. I've have many potato chips sandwiches at company cookouts and family reunions. With poverty food this good, I sometimes eat them just because I learned to like them.

Nachos with Chipotle Chorizo at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

This may be the best thing on the menu at The Wild Cow. I got the Nachos and added Chipotle Chorizo. Can you believe this is all vegan! And this tastes better than almost all non-vegan foods I've ever had!

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

Gas Station Snack; Late July Jalapeno Lime Chips and a Pepsi

Salad Bar At Ingles

West Ashevillle has a new Ingles down near the interstate. It's huge. Anything related to food can be found in there. I went to the salad bar to discover all kinds of goodies. Vegans can eat very well at this Ingles salad bar.

I didn't even have room for all the vegan items. See how many different items you can spot. I tried to get some of each, but this was about 75% of the vegan items available. This Ingles store reminded me of my old favorite, Hannaford. They had a good salad bar too.

Vegan Chili Cheese Fries at Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville NC

This was a massive plate of food. To make it vegan, just get it with the vegan queso. They also have real cheddar jack cheese, maybe for people with nut allergies. The vegan queso was excellent. The chili was filled with chunks of veggies. It was not spicy and hot but it did have a nice flavor. The fries were perfectly cooked. I took half with me. Even as soggy left-overs this was still very good. Rosetta's Kitchen never disappoints.

 

I've posted about Rosetta's Kitchen before. Please see those posts for more excellent food. Rosetta's Kitchen is in the north part of downtown Asheville on Lexington Ave. near the painted overpass. They serve vegan food with some real cheese options. The food is mostly comfort food and Southern favorites.

Click here to see the Rosetta's Kitchen website

Jalapeno Business from The Juicery in Huntsville AL

This is intense! It's is made with pineapple, apple, cucumber, organic kale, spinach, lemon, and jalapeno. I like to sip this throughout the day. It' keeps me from being hungry.

Greene Street Market in Huntsville AL

On Thursday afternoons good people gather for a street market on Greene Street in downtown Huntsville. This gathering is known as a hot spot for local vegans. The fresh produce is probably the reason. Food trucks and other vendors with healthy options are also there. This market is where I found those awesome Cherokee Purple Heirloom tomatoes a couple weeks ago. Also at this market people sell things like hand made wooden items and tie-dyed clothing. Some vendors have canned items like slaw and pickles. And others sell cupcakes and bread.

This time I enjoyed a lunch from Hippea Camper, a plant-based food truck. Here's the Beats Meatball Sub. I also bought a tea from them (not pictured, because I only have 2 arms).

Beats Meatball Sub from Hippea Camper in Huntsville AL

This meal was fantastic! I've reported on the Beats Meatball Sub before, so I'll skip the details. Trust me. It's good! The tea was equally satisfying. I took this over to the live music area so I could sit and eat this delicious but messy food while the guitar man played a classic Johnny Cash song.

After looking at everything, I went back to Suzy's Pops, a local popsicle vendor. I chose the Peach Basil pop.

Peach Basil Pop from Suzy's Pops in Huntsville AL

Suzy's Pops has many vegan flavors. Just don't get anything listed in the "Creamy" category of the menu. Everything else is vegan. These are hand-made pops with real fruit chunks inside. They even have alcoholic pops for those who want to get drunk and brain freeze simultaneously. This Peach Basil flavor is so good I keep going back to it. I should probably try the other flavors.

That's all for this visit. I will return!

Panko Battered Tofu with Dale's Seasoning Sauce

I battered some tofu chunks with Panko, baked them until crispy, then coated them with Dale's Seasoning sauce.

Veggie Pineapple at Mexiville in Chattanooga TN

Vegan Key Lime Tarts

I made these vegan Key Lime Tarts using a combination of two recipes I found online. These were mostly made of tofu, soaked cashews, lime juice, lime zest, agave nectar, and graham crackers.

Real Roots Cafe in Fort Oglethorpe GA

Real Roots Cafe in Fort Oglethorpe GA has vegan smoothies, juices, and snack foods. This was my first time eating at Real Roots. It appears to be the only place in town to get vegan foods other than the typical fast food side items.

I bought an Epic Nacho Plate. It normally comes with barbecue jackfruit, but they were sold out of that. So this included chips, lentil chili, vegan cheese, slaw, lettuce, and avocado. This was a large serving. I had to share this one with my travel companion. This was a beautiful plate of nutritious food. The slaw was excellent. The chili and cheese worked well together.

I also tried the Pizza Panini which included in-house mozzarella, fire roasted red bell pepper, black olives, capers, red onion, and vegan mayo. The filling was creamy with a slight saltiness from the capers and olives. This has a good amount of vegan cheese. The bread was nice and crunchy. It came with a side of chips. This was very flavorful.

The prices were higher than I expected, but the serving sizes were generous. The dining area was clean with a minimalist modern rustic styling. It was nice and peaceful until the loud blender came on. The service was friendly and fast enough. Overall, the food was good but did have a "health food" quality that reminded me of vitamins. Some textures were weird, probably because of the gluten-free ingredients. But don't let that scare you away. It's just a minor thing I noticed.

It seems that they specialize in jackfruit barbecue meals, smoothies, and juices, so I'll need to try some of those before I develop a fair opinion of Real Roots Cafe. I'll try to go back soon and get some jackfruit barbecue. I was excited to try that. What I ordered this time was good, but I suspect the missing jackfruit would make the nachos really come alive.

If you're traveling on I-75 and want some vegan food, check out Real Roots Cafe. It's just south of Chattanooga.

Vegan Fourth of July Cookout 2019

If you were looking for some good vegan options for your Fourth of July cookout, you can try what my family had. We made veggie kabobs. I also roasted some Brussels sprouts and shared a bowl of pre-sliced watermelon from Publix.

The kabobs included baby portabella mushrooms, onion, zucchini, red bell pepper, basil leaves, and home-grown cherry tomatoes. If you do this on the grill remember you should leave the lid off the grill when cooking veggies. You want the heat but not so much of the smoke. It's very easy to overdo the smoke on veggies.

My favorite part was the Brussels sprouts. I made these by quartering large raw sprouts and roasting them in hemp oil with a light sprinkle of Adobo seasoning. Excellent! The outer leaves got crunchy and delicious. This was as tasty as eating a bowl of potato chips! I almost ate all of them while the others where cooking.

Later I had some watermelon chunks. I kept these cool in the refrigerator. This is a really refreshing way to cool off in the summer heat.

The Stallion Italian Sausage by No Evil

No Evil Stallion Italian Sausage is very flavorful and spicy. This tastes great sliced up in vegan spaghetti or as a hot dog. I ate mine with spicy mustard on a vegan hot dog bun this time.

Chili Garlic Green Beans and Stir-fried Eggplant at P.F.Chang's

The Chili Garlic Green Beans at P.F. Chang's is an excellent side item, and it's enough food for a whole meal. This has red peppers, ginger, onion, and garlic mixed in a light sauce. It's vegan!

The Stir-fried Eggplant is another great herbivore option. It comes with rice, and it's really good with a touch of hot mustard! This is too much food for one person. It makes a good breakfast though.

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