Vegan Thanksgiving 2021

Another vegan Thanksgiving is here. It's a day to be grateful and appreciative for the simple things in life. I prefer to focus on things like silent moments, gentle breezes, my favorite jacket, memories of life on the beach in the winter, the good people who are part of my amazing life story, and good plant-based foods. I shared my food with the family. Here is my part of the celebratory meal.

 

Chunky Vegan Mashed Potatoes

This is simply boiled and mashed potatoes with salt, oat milk, and Earth Balance buttery spread. A home-cooked meal is not complete without mashed potatoes. Always good.

Vegan Onion and Mushroom Gravy

I cooked diced onions and mushrooms in the skillet with soy sauce, then cooked them in water with spices. After it cooked down I blended it until mostly smooth and added oat milk. It tasted very much like beef gravy. 

Fried Tempeh With Gravy 

I lightly browned some Lightlife tempeh in the skillet and poured the vegan gravy over it. Excellent!

Green Beans with Potatoes

The green beans were cooked southern style with olive oil and potato chunks.

 

Seasoned Rice

I used white rice and added olive oil, red and yellow pepper, celery, garlic powder, spices, and salt.

Steamed Broccoli

At the last minute I threw a steamer bag of broccoli into the microwave. Steamed broccoli is great!

Vegan Avocado Hors d'oeuvres

These Simple Truth crackers are topped with Treeline Herb Garlic plant-based spread and chucks of avocado. This tasty vegan snack is a very easy way to get the party started. Your non-vegan guests will think you've fallen off the vegan wagon, because Treeline plant-based spread tastes very much like the real thing.

 

Hippea Pot Pie from Hippea Camper in Huntsville AL

Hippea Camper in Huntsville AL had a new menu item, and I just had to try it. Take a look at this vegan pot pie!

Hippea Pot Pie from Hippea Camper in Huntsville AL

Upon first receiving this perfectly sized plant based meal, I glanced down at what was in my hand. Quickly I walked away like a shoplifting thief, knowing that I had just acquired something very good and that I would have no intentions of sharing. I wanted to inspect this in privacy, so I sat on a brightly painted bench away from others.

The crusty layered top coating of this pie reduced in size during the cooking process, allowing the creamy veggie-filled interior to peek out and tease me. I wasted no time with it. I went straight for the filling.

The guts of this pie included a thick gravy-like filling with chunks of vegan chick'n and all the veggies anyone would want in a pot pie. It was fantastic! I went for the crust. Also excellent! It looked like a blanket of lasagna noodles with some type of savory sauce on it. I'm really not sure. All of this was so good I didn't take the time to study it. I was just blissfully entranced and shamelessly gobbled it up like a B-movie zombie eating fresh human brains.

A conclusion is probably unnecessary. I clearly enjoyed this pot pie. The price was a bit high at $12, but it was worth it.

Just a reminder. Everything at Hippea Camper is vegan, and the food is always great.

Click here to see the Hippea Camper website

Veggie Fajitas Lite at Mexiville in Chattanooga TN

I decided to try the Mexiville restaurant on Market St in Chattanooga. I already posted about the Cherokee Blvd location.  Mexiville is one of the very rare Mexican restaurants with a vegan menu. The server at the Cherokee Blvd location was confident that the vegan food was actually completely vegan. I assumed the visit to this location would be similar.

This location is easy to find, but the small Mexiville sign is not. Go to the intersection of Market St and W. 8th St, then look in a southwestern direction. Find the attractive building with Art Deco detailing. There it is!

The first thing I saw inside was a full bar. The ceiling is very high with highly decorative antique ceiling panels. The other areas were simple with plenty of wood furnishings. There's a bench running along the left side. I assumed that's used as seating at night when the tables are pushed away and the dancing starts. Mexiville looks like it's just as much a bar as it is a restaurant.

When visiting non-vegan restaurants I often ask about what is vegan even when there's a vegan menu because many people think vegan and vegetarian are synonymous. At Mexican restaurants I must ask about the use of butter in fried foods and rice, lard in the beans and chips, chicken fat in the rice, real cheese as a garnish, etc. The server was unsure about what was and was not vegan. After asking the server to check on some things, I was told the following meal was vegan. But the server was not as confident and convincing as I would prefer.

I enjoyed the good sweet tea, chips, and salsa as I waited. I forgot to ask if the chips were vegan, but the other location told me they are, and I didn't taste anything that would make me think they were cooked in lard. The salsa was mild with mostly tomatoes. It was good.

Veggie Fajitas Lite

Sauteed broccoli, zucchini, onions, carrots. Served with rice, beans, guacamole salad, and corn tortillas.

Veggie Fajitas Lite at Mexiville in Chattanooga TN

Veggie Fajitas Lite at Mexiville in Chattanooga TN

 

This fajita meal was very good! All the old veggie favorites were in there. They went heavy on the onions, but I would never complain about having too much of that. The broccoli and carrots really gave this the garden flavor that I hoped for. This had a nice skillet char flavor. The serving size was very large, enough for 2 people to share. I do prefer a less oil, but over all this was great. I loved it!

 

Side of Beans, Rice, and Guacamole Salad at Mexiville in Chattanooga TN

 

The beans, rice, and guacamole salad came in a separate plate and was also a generous portion. The rice had a nice mild flavor and light texture. The beans were very blended and mild with a light heat after taste. The smell made me nervous and reminded me of Vienna Sausages. I went easy on those just in case. I was hoping to be completely convinced that they were vegan. The guacamole salad was standard with lettuce, tomato, and guacamole. The guacamole was smooth and had a nice sting from jalapeno peppers.

 

Unfortunately, this guacamole salad came with stray pieces of cheese in the diced tomatoes.

 

 

Over all, this meal was very good. I do wish I could be more confident in the vegan status of the food. I like the vegan menu and the fact that the vegan menu seems to only have vegan foods listed. It appears that they know what vegan means. The smell and flavor of the beans did concern me. The server said they use soy based butter for grilling the veggies. From my experience in the food industry, I know that's the cheaper more common option for restaurants, so that does make sense. At this time, with what I do know, I can recommend this place to vegetarians and casual vegans. Very strict vegans and those with specific allergies may want to be very cautious and ask plenty of annoying questions. Check your tomatoes for cheese. But don't worry about the flavor of the food. So far, I can say it's really good.

Home-made Vegan Crumpet with Tea

I made home-made vegan crumpets from a recipe I found online. This was very spongy with a crisp ring on the edge. Very good! I used an egg ring to make it look nice and pretty. I topped this crumpet with 100% real maple syrup and a small scoop of Earth Balance Buttery Spread.

My tea was Tetley British Blend with raw cane sugar and almond milk.

 

Vegan Nachos at Moe's Southwest Grill in Cullman AL

Moe's Southwest Grill was celebrating Nation Nacho Day with $4.99 nachos. I stumbled onto this deal by accident. I didn't know there was a Nation Nacho Day. I had no plans to be in Cullman AL or at Moe's, but good things happen when you relax and go with the flow of the universe.

The ladies at Moe's let me choose whatever I wanted as toppings. I chose black beans, pinto beans, seasoned rice, onions, tofu, lettuce, and cilantro. I got some salsa on the side from the salsa bar.

According to my research and past experience, everything presented here is vegan and absolutely delicious. The serving size was more than enough for one meal. The service was great.

This was another positive experience at Moe's. The people of Cullman AL are always so nice.

Staff of Life Vegan Cafe / Kara's Kitchen and Bed and Breakfast in Cherokee AL

This entry is photographic documentation of my first visit to Staff of Life Vegan Cafe, also know as Kara's Kitchen. In the small town of Cherokee AL, hidden inside this early twentieth century mansion called the Easterwood House, amazing vegan foods are carefully crafted and served by kind and welcoming people.

The Easterwood House in Cherokee AL was originally built in about 1905 on a 12 acre lot as a wedding gift from Dr and Mrs William Cross to their daughter and son-in law Mannie and Herbert Harris. Now it is a bed and breakfast with most of the first floor being used as dining rooms and kitchen for Staff of Life Vegan Cafe. The house is amazing with large rooms, tall ceilings, and wood detailing everywhere.

The smokey smell of fireplace and home-cooked foods made the old mansion feel like home. The air was a bit chilly in some areas, but the fireplaces were alive and warm in the two front rooms.

Soothing jazz guitar music played as I appreciated the beautiful mansion and the view of the pond through the window. There was a wait time of about 20-30 minutes. Hand-crafted food made from scratch takes some time. Everything at Staff of Life is vegan. The chef is talented and experienced with knowledge of not just vegan food but also nutrition.

Black Bean Soup

To start the meal, I warmed up with a huge bowl of steaming hot Black Bean Soup. They seem to have been perfectly seasoned with mild chili spices and onion with a drizzle of olive oil. This was the best black bean soup I can remember eating. I know black bean soup is usually good, but the flavor was absolutely perfect.

Black Bean Soup at Staff of Life Vegan Cafe in Cherokee AL

 

Sweet Potato Biscuit with Vegan Sausage 

The Black Bean Soup came with a sweet potato biscuit and vegan sausage. The biscuit was softer but tastier than expected. The vegan sausage was mildly spicy and slightly crisp. The flavor and texture was enough like real sausage to please any vegan, but meat eaters would notice the difference. This was very good for such a simple side item. I would have wanted another, but I knew more delicious plant-based foods were about to come out of the kitchen.

Sweet Potato Biscuit with Sausage at Staff of Life Vegan Cafe in Cherokee AL

Double Decker Chicken Sandwich

The main dish for my day was the Double Decker Chicken Sandwich with Fries. The two "chicken" fillets were actually triple battered, hand-crafted seitan. They were double stacked on a bun and covered in three hand-made sauces with tomato and lettuce on the side.

 

Double Decker Chicken Sandwich at Staff of Life Vegan Cafe in Cherokee AL

This was fantastic! The textures and flavors were all so varied and harmonious. The consumption of this dish was joyous. Vegan food this good is a very rare treat in this part of the country. I highly recommend this plate of heavenly food as a guaranteed winning starting point for new visitors to Staff of Life Vegan Cafe. This will please any person with a normal, functioning sense of taste.

Butter Pecan Cake

The meal ended with this slice of vegan Butter Pecan Cake. This was also made from scratch. The flavor and texture of this cake was more like a traditional cake than any other vegan cake I've ever had. This was perfectly sweetened, very sweet but not as sweet as normal cake. This cake was loaded with pecans. I'm no longer a huge fan of sweets, but this cake was amazing!

Butter Pecan Cake at Staff of Life Vegan Cafe in Cherokee AL

 

I shared this meal with a member of my family. We were able to split each part of the meal. During the last half of the meal, the chef came out to meet us. Talking with her was like being with family. She was very kind, friendly, relaxed, and welcoming. After the meal we were able to walk around the mansion, study the art and antiques, and chat again in the lounge near another warm fireplace. 

Everything was very clean and neat, which is not always possible in places of this age. I inspected the dishes, bathroom, and most of the public rooms. The mansion does show its age in places, but it's very clean.

 

The price for this meal was much more than I would usually pay. But this was all hand-made food from scratch, prepared by a real chef with decades of vegan cooking experience. And the environment was unforgettable. There is a fair expectation to pay more for real food, especially food this good. There are a few lower priced items on the menu, such as chili dogs and soups. I'm not sure why the talented chef is not more regionally known. I'm hoping to help spread the word.

 

Vegans, vegetarians, and herbivores have dozens of menu options at Staff of Life Vegan Cafe. While eating at this quality level may not be financially possible for some people, I do recommend a visit. Save up some money and have a special day, or spend the night there and wake up to the smell of vegan sausage and gravy.

My lunch at Staff of Life Vegan Cafe was excellent. I hope to return soon.

A Vegan Breakfast at Dunkin Donuts

Because my body is most balanced and satisfied with plant material as fuel, I don't often eat popular  breakfast foods. Typical breakfast food in the US consists almost entirely of fried dead animals and various other concoctions involving body fluids or reproductive tissues. If I have breakfast at all it is usually something like peanut butter on saltines or just black coffee.

I wanted to try something new for breakfast. Dunkin added vegan items to the menu, so I figured I'd give them a visit.

My vegan breakfast order included:

1. A large coffee with oat milk

2. Avocado Toast

3. A plain English muffin with strawberry jam

This was a really good meal. I was very impressed by the flavor of the coffee with oat milk. It's the best coffee I've had in a while. It seems that Dunkin knows coffee. The avocado toast was very good. The tangy, lemon-garlic avocado spread was a treat. The sourdough bread had a really nice yeasty flavor. It was chewy around the edge, as it should be. The English muffin was bland. I guess its placement on the menu is mainly to support the heavier, non-vegan toppings. The strawberry jam made it worth the price as a secondary item.

Overall, this was all much better than expected. Dunkin is becoming more inviting to vegans with these breakfast options. I plan to return for more, whenever they aren't so crowded.