Thai Dynamite at Pei Wei Asian Kitchen in Charlotte NC

I finally got the opportunity to eat at Pei Wei Asian Kitchen, not to be confused with Mei Wei Asian Bistro which I've posted on before. This Pei Wei experience was in the University area of Charlotte NC near N.Tryon St. and Harris Blvd.

Pei Wei focuses on fresh, hand-made foods with no preservatives or artificial flavors.. It's like a healthier version of P.F.Chang's with a walk up counter and a self-serve drink station.

To order a vegan meal at Pei Wei, I chose the Thai Dynamite with just veggies. I also chose the white rice. I could have added tofu as well, but I wanted to save money. Just to confirm, I asked the guy at the counter what he recommended for vegans. He knew the V word and immediately suggested this dish and the Honey Seared, both with veggies and tofu. The Honey Seared doesn't actually have honey in it.

This was really good. It did have an unexpected smokiness from being wok fried, but it didn't taste like meat or anything. It was slightly spicy. The veggies were cooked but still firm and brightly colored. Imagine a hot salad with a spicy soy sauce. I will try it with the tofu next time.

Also the Sweet and Sour with veggies and tofu should be vegan. They have edamame too.

A Vegan Breakfast at SpringHill Suites

SpringHill Suites had some pretty good breakfast choices for vegans. Here's the oatmeal. They had brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, and almonds to put on top.

Beans and Rice Plate at Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville NC

This is organic long-grain brown rice with organic pinto beans served with sweet southern style slaw. The cornbread was an add-on. This meal is just one of many reasons to go eat at Rosetta's Kitchen right now!

The Beans and Rice Plate is Rosetta's "pay what you can" meal. The price is $2-$6 depending on what you can afford. It's nice to know that hungry people can eat fantastic food even if they're low on cash. I no longer live below the poverty level, so I always pay full price to pass it on. It's worth it!

Click here to see the Rosetta's Kitchen website

A Visit to Vegan Vee Gluten-Free Bakery in Nashville TN

While traveling down 46th Ave. I accidentally discovered the location of Vegan Vee Gluten-Free Bakery. An investigation was essential. I was already familiar with some of their products, but I had never been to the actual bakery until this visit.

Upon entry, I was greeted with a smile from the person inside as well as the wonderful smell of freshly baked blueberry muffins. I scanned the cases to find more vegan treasures than anticipated.

There was no way I would leave without at least several days worth of goodies. I chose one of each doughnut available, a Lemon Blueberry muffin, a Samoa muffin, and a Lemon Poppyseed muffin.

Everything I got was absolutely amazing! I don't know how they do it. This was all gluten-free and vegan, but it was all so good! Most gluten-free and vegan sweets have obviously weird textures or aftertastes. Everything I got at Vegan Vee was just like the real thing unless I really put some effort into finding differences. If I picked it apart and ate just the cake part alone I could notice a difference. With the icing or coating added, it was all just as good as any sweets.....or better! The chocolate doughnuts were definitely better.

The doughnuts were fantastic as a cooled snack. The chocolate was my favorite. The coating hardened like a shell to encapsulate the fluffy mildly sweet interior. The Samoa muffin was rich with smooth chocolate and crunchy coconut. Food for royalty. The slightly tart Lemon Poopyseed muffin was heavenly and coated with hardened icing as sweet as love. The Lemon Blueberry muffin was sweet and tangy with thrilling flavors that blended like a fireworks finale. These sweets were sinfully good.

From experience I must conclude that there is no way to go wrong with this bakery. Of course I should try every item and double check my findings before I make such a claim. No problem. I will return!

Click here to see the Vegan Vee Gluten-Free Bakery website

A Vegan Publix Veggie Sub at Publix Deli

Publix Deli can make an awesome vegan sub sandwich. I got the white bread with spicy mustard, all the veggies, and topped with oil, vinegar, and oregano. I also chose to get a Publix Deli Peach Tea. This is one of the best sandwiches around! And their tea is great too!

To make this vegan, order this with the white bread. The wheat bread contains honey. They may also have other vegan bread options available, such as the White Mountain bread. But do read the ingredients first. Just go next door to the bakery and read the bread labels.

NOTE: The bread shown here contains L-Cysteine and other questionable ingredients which may or may not be animal derivatives. So this option depends on how selective one chooses to be.

Publix Deli is well-known for cleanliness. The entire deli is thoroughly sanitized everyday. The machines are completely disassembled and sanitized several times a day. Even the floor gets scrubbed and sanitized daily. Also, Publix makes the employees wear those humiliating hair and bread nets, even if they have a shaved head and light casts a shadow on a cheek. But mustaches and long arm hair are allowed? The rules really do drift into absurdity and insanity. So the cleanliness of the deli itself is not usually an issue.

The problems to watch for as a vegan is the used bread knife and gloves, the deli clerk going to the slicer for fresh ingredients, and flies caught in the plexiglass bread box. If you get there early, these issues will be the troubles of other people. Vegans, Go early!

Firstly, it's a good idea to ask for a clean knife and a glove change if you suspect possible contamination at the sub station. Anticipate that the customer before you will have already ordered a bloody roast beef sandwich with provolone cheese and mayonnaise and that the knife is covered in animal residue. Secondly, the deli clerk will occasionally run out of veggies and use the cheese slicer (or even worse, the meat slicer) to slice more veggies. According to company rules, the veggies should be sliced on a separate slicer, but some people are nasty and lazy. And at busy times, all slicers are used for animal products, so there may not be a designated veggie slicer. And finally, on too many occasions, I've seen flies trapped in the bread box. The deli clerks will act like they don't see it.

Go early. They can make a sandwich as soon as the bread is done in the morning. Publix Deli veggie subs make great vegan breakfasts!

If you'd like to see another great vegan sub from the Publix Deli, check out the new Garlic and Herb Tofu Sub.

Lance Peanut Bar

This is my favorite Lance product. I'm so glad it's still vegan, unlike the peanut butter crackers. The Peanut Bar is a sweet, salty, crunchy snack that's satisfying enough that it can replace a meal. This is one of the very few vegan items you may find in vending machines and gas stations. It's also one of the very few vegan items available from Lance. This goes very well with a cold Dr Pepper or Coca-Cola. 

Charlotte Vegfest 2019

I had a fun day at Vegfest in Charlotte NC. They had plenty of food, free samples, coupons, food trucks, and vegan products. The event was packed full of people, but it was mostly well-organized for an event this size. The huge room was loud with excited people. Everyone seemed to be very friendly and patient. Getting around was still a challenge. Maybe because everyone is going vegan! The vegans are taking over!

I knew I'd better find food fast before the vendors sold out of tasty herbivore foods. I found Ve-go Vegan To Go and ordered some nachos. They were amazing! The vegan queso was great, the pico de gallo was fresh, the beans were smooth and had a nice home-made taste. The chips were crispy, and the peppers tasted like they were just picked from the garden.

Nachos by Ve-go To Go

My travel companion had the tostadas, said they were excellent, and pointed out that the beans were especially good.

Tostadas by Ve-go To Go

I also shared the Fried Veggie Rolls by Vietgrill Vietnamese Vegan Cuisine. It's been a while since I've had one of these. It was excellent!

Fried Veggie Rolls by Vietgrill Vietnamese Vegan Cuisine

A friendly stranger sharing my table allowed me to photograph her awesome choice of lunch. Here's the Loaded Pineapple Bowl by Lotus Land. It's served in a pineapple!

Loaded Pineapple Bowl by Lotus Land

I enjoyed chatting with vendors and trying some free samples. The Barvecue is a great alternative to jerky. They had another flavor but I tried the original. It was great! It tastes like beef jerky, almost. If I see it in stores I'll buy it.

Barvecue Original Vegan Jerky

No Evil Foods is usually at these events. Here's a free sample they were offering. It looks like No Evil Pit Boss vegan barbecue. I could be wrong. All of their products are excellent.

Free samples of No Evil

Whole Foods had a really good vegan chicken salad sample but my photo was blurry. It was one of the best samples at the event.

To end the visit I had vegan Mac and Cheese by Fern, a local vegan cafe. I knew their foods are excellent from personal experience, but I never tried their Mac and Cheese until this moment. It was heavenly! Some of the best vegan mac and cheese I've had! But I found a hair in the bottom of the bowl. I really wish that didn't happen. I couldn't eat that last part. I went from being in bliss to being grossed out.

Mac and Cheese by Fern

On the way out I bought a shirt. That's all I have for you about Vegfest in Charlotte. It was fun. Maybe I'll be back next time.

Vegan Doughnuts From Mason Dixon Bakery In Huntsville AL

These were really good! The texture of these vegan, gluten-free doughnuts was a bit soft like cake, and they were very sweet and sticky like real sweets should be. Foods like this make me wonder why people are so afraid of going plant-based. We can eat the good stuff too. Vegans aren't missing out on anything! Look at this pile of heavenly halos!

Click here to see the Mason Dixon Bakery website

Simply Nuts Boiled Peanuts in Asheville NC

I got some really good boiled peanuts from this vendor in Asheville NC. He gave me a free sample of the Cajun and plain. Cajun was the one for me. I bought a large serving for $6. I had enough for two days of snacking.

The friendly peanut vendor said he slow cooks the nuts for almost 24 hours. They were flavorful and perfectly softened. As with any boiled peanuts these were a bit messy to eat, but the mess is worth it. I would suggest finding this peanut cart if you're in town. These were some good nuts!

A Vegan Bowl at Fresko Grille in Huntsville AL

I heard there was a new Greek restaurant in Huntsville's Stovehouse complex that had some vegan foods. I had to check it out. Once there I was pleased to see a very nice variety of vegan items. Look what I found.

A vegan bowl at Fresko Grille in Huntsville AL

Fresko Grille lets people pick several items from the bar. Here's how I chose from the menu:

PICK ONE BASE: Basmati Rice
PICK ONE PROTEIN: Falafel
PICK ONE SALAD: tabouli
SPREAD: Cilantro Hummus, Red pepper hummus
PICK AS MANY AS YOU LIKE VEGGIES: Spiced Chickpeas, pickled turnips, olives, carrots
SAUCE: tahini

This was awesome! There was so much freshness and flavor! This tasted like real classic Greek food. It's been so long since I've had this type of food. I forgot how good this stuff is.

I was a bit concerned about the way the falafel was prepared. Is it deep fried with something nasty and gross like chicken or lamb? I don't know. I was very trusting when I ordered it. It looked like the meats are cooked on the grill, and I did not see any other deep fried foods. I enjoyed everything about this bowl and hope to enjoy another one very soon.

My first impression was pretty good. I didn't spot the place right off because it's in a corner of the building and the sign was not as visible as I expected. I was confused about where to go to order the food. The restaurant is just a long narrow hallway with a kitchen on one side. Everything was very clean and new. I love that. The service was friendly. The price was higher than I expected. I almost chose to leave when I saw the prices because I wasn't really that hungry, but I'm glad I didn't leave. The food was worth the price. Like I said, the food was awesome. I will be back as soon as I can!

Click here to see the Fresko Grille website

A Vegan Lunch at Whiskey Trail BBQ & Steakhouse in Tullahoma TN

Once again I'm presenting a meal from a small town with limited vegan options. Tullahoma TN is not a vegan friendly town, but I did find this nice place that has a good salad bar and baked potato. I bought this meal at Whiskey Trail BBQ & Steakhouse. If you're familiar with Tullahoma, this is in the building where Crockett's Roadhouse was.

I made myself a good salad at the all-you-can-eat salad bar. I put every vegan item on here for you to see. It's really a pretty good selection of items. The only big disappointment was they had no vegan dressing, not even oil and vinegar. I ate it dry with a sprinkle of black pepper. 

The salad bar option comes with "the soup of the day" which will never be vegan. It's the same price whether you get it or not. You can tell the server you'll skip the soup completely or you can share the soup with a non-vegan lunch partner if you have one.

As I finished up the bowl of salad, my hot baked potato arrived. The server said the potatoes are cooked separately, so no there's no meat juices on the potatoes. I had to order this one "with nothing on it, just a plain potato, not even butter". It was perfectly prepared and it tasted great with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Also, the sweet iced tea was better than average. I paid $11.82 plus a good tip for this meal. I thought it was over-priced for what I ordered, but it was pretty good. I did eat well with this meal, and this was much better than the fast food vegan options in town.

The service was friendly and fast. The food was fresh. The restaurant was clean. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual. The only vegan options at Whiskey trail are right here on this page, but it's good to know an herbivore can eat well in Tullahoma. This place has plenty of great choices for omnivores. If the family needs a good meal before spending the afternoon at Splash Island, Whiskey Trail is a good choice. It's just around the corner on Wilson Ave.

Smashed Potatoes, Granny's Gravy, Sautéed Kale, and Pinto Beans at Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville NC

I returned to one of my very favorite vegan restaurants, Rosetta's Kitchen, in the weird and beautiful city of Asheville NC. Here's a smaller meal that included three a la carte items. If you want to eat like the vegan angels in heaven, go to Rosetta's and order this!

This amazing plate of food included:

• Smashed Potatoes with Granny's Gravy made with olive oil and nutritional yeast
  

• Sautéed Kale with onions, garlic, and Braggs

• Pinto Beans Savory organic beans with onion s and garlic

This was all fantastic! It was a perfect meal! I will daydream about this until I return!

A Vegan Breakfast at Comfort Inn

I had this perfectly acceptable vegan breakfast at Comfort Inn near Asheville NC. The other guests had plenty of non-vegan items from which to choose. So we were all satisfied!

First, I opened a paper envelop containing plain grits, not bacon, not buttered. I used the coffee maker to add the hot water. I stirred well and added salt.

I toasted a plain bagel, then got one of those little single serving containers of peanut butter for my topping. They also had grape jam, but I was in a peanut butter mood. I also made a cup of black coffee with sugar.

They had fruit, so on the way back up to the room I grabbed a banana and made another cup of coffee. I was happy to see ripe bananas that were ready to eat. I do not like hard green bananas. This one was perfect.

This was all pretty good. It sure beats eating peanuts from the vending machine. Everything was fresh. The breakfast bar was clean. The attendant was friendly.

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

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

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.

A Vegan Salad With Red Wine Vinegar At Jason's Deli

VeganFest 2019 in Asheville NC

I attended VeganFest 2019 in the beautifully weird city of Asheville NC. This exciting event offered vegan food with plenty of free samples, coupons, vegan clothing and accessories, information about local animal rights groups, vegan and plant-based lectures, and a chance to meet other like-minded people. The turnout was really good considering the threat of nasty weather.

My first food tasting of the day was Hempe. It was made to taste much like chicken salad with celery and spices. It was excellent! I'll be watching for this product in stores.

My next snack was a delicious serving of Mint Chocolate Chip Hemp Milk Ice Cream from a local Asheville vendor, The Hop Ice Cream Cafe. I loved the combination of flavors. Very good!

I found this Diosas Vegan Cheese. They had four flavors; Original Goddess, Garlic Herb, Smokey Chipotle, and White Cheese. All of them were great, however my favorites were Original Goddess and Garlic Herb. Diosas Vegan Cheese is another locally made product.

Tasty Bite, one of my favorite food producers, was at the festival giving out samples of Channa Masala. They had many varieties of Tasty Bite presented, however not all Tasty Bite products are vegan.

It was time to check out the food trucks.

I eventually chose a Falafel Pita Taco by Gypsy Queen Cuisine. The fluffy pita held flavorful falafel balls covered with tahini, tomato, parsley, and pickled turnips. It was awesome! The flavors and textures blended very well.

I didn't stop there. After a while, I went to the Smash Box mobile kitchen. This plate is called The Box and includes Nicaraguan rice and beans, a sweet plantain patty, cilantro lime slaw, house-made chimichuri, goddess dressing, and barbecue habanero hempeh.

That's all I've got for you. It was fun. I'll try to be there again next year!

Another Peasant Plate Combo at Blue Coast Burrito in Florence AL

My last Peasant Plate was so good I had to go back for another one. Florence AL doesn't have many places to eat vegan food. Blue Coast Burrito is the most convenient place to eat your veggies. It's on Hwy 72 just east of town, beside Five Guys.

Peasant Plate Combo at Blue Coast Burrito in Florence AL

Click here to see the Blue Coast Burrito website

Cookie Monster Cupcake From Mason Dixon Bakery In Huntsville AL

 This vegan cupcake has vegan cookie dough inside!

Cookie Monster Cupcake from Mason Dixon Bakery in Huntsville AL

Click here to see the Mason Dixon Bakery website

Resources For Plant-based Living

Here's a list of documentaries you may want to see if you're thinking about trying a healthy plant-based lifestyle. I will warn you. The last ones on the list are very disturbing, disgusting, and sad. I almost wish I never saw them, but these do need to be seen. Just to be fair, I will mention that parts of some documentaries seem to use debatable information or include opinions presented as facts. Overall, I believe this list offers a great introduction to the lifestyle, can help people see why people like me eat they way we do, and offers reasons to be more mindful about food and the systems that create it.

Food, Inc.
Veducated
Eating You Alive
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead
What The Health
Secret Ingredients
Genetic Roulette - The Gamble of Our Lives
In Defense of Food
Supersize Me
Forks Over Knives
Fed Up
Food Choices
Hungry For Change
Sugar Coated
Cowspiracy
Speciesism
Meet Your Meat
Earthlings