Early April was a busy month of travel for me. I was on vacation the first week and then just a few days after returning from fun in the sun, I was off to NYC to teach at the Main Street Vegan Academy. I stayed with the VeganMos and basically ate my way through Brooklyn.
I enjoyed meals at Wild Ginger, White Tiger, and Toad Style in Brooklyn and we also had a spectacular meal at Mother of Pearl in Manhattan. Other noteworthy stops: Dun-Well Doughnuts, Brooklyn Whiskers and Riverdel Vegan Cheese Shop. Most spectacular, however, were the meals created by Michael and Ethan: soy curl buns for dinner and chocolate cinnamon rolls + red velvet pancakes for breakfast for the win!
Upon returning home I realized how much I’ve been missing cooking. See, when you travel for year cooking on a book tour, well, the appeal for cooking at home can diminish. Since the first to the year I felt like I was sort of phoning it in. But over the past week or so I’ve been having an absolute blast in the kitchen, cooking the way I do – real world vegan style – easy, and with a little help.
I cooked up lentils in one pressure cooker and potatoes in another and ended up making an incredibly hearty dinner salad one evening.
I picked lots of leafy greens at the grocery store + some pre-cut melons and they came together in a tasty, refreshing morning smoothie.
I like to purchase shelled edamame (frozen or fresh) to toss into meals. I used them in this salad starring cabbage, romaine, tomatoes, pumpkin seeds and avocado.
We enjoyed the Fiesta Chick-style Casserole with Jalapeño Nacho Chips (the giveaway for a 6-pack of chips ends Thursday so enter now!) that we pulled out of the freezer.
I recently picked up the cookbook Tofu Cookery and am having fun! I made the baked BBQ tofu, marinated in a soynut butter sauce and then baked with the sauce + BBQ sauce. I served it with roasted onions and Brussels sprouts, and mushroom rice (pressure cooked!).
I’ve been buying bagged, shredded collard greens to add to smoothies and stir-fries. I braised them one morning with onion, mushrooms, and red peppers (in a splash of apple cider vinegar) and served them over savory oats (I cook 1 cups of rolled oats with 3 1/2 cups of vegetable broth in the pressure cooker for 5 – 6 minutes and stir in nutritional yeast before serving).
On Friday, I got home from a long day and cracked open a can of wine (yes, a CAN). It’s vegan, natch.
While I sipped wine, I turned back to Tofu Cookery and made a tofu loaf that was positively delectable! I served it with fried rice: I sautéed onions, red peppers, and mushrooms in a cast iron skillet and then added leftover mushroom rice.
Saturday night we were supposed to go to a vegan prom in Denver. But mother nature had other plans (hello, spring snowstorm!). So we layered the week’s leftover veggies (braised collards, roasted Brussels) and layered them on a frozen Vicolo cornmeal pizza crust with marinara sauce and slivers of the Heinrich Riverdel cheese I brought home from Brooklyn. Basically perfect.
So there you have it. A typical week in the kitchen of a real world vegan: I cook some whole foods; I use cookbooks; I don’t shy away from pre-washed/bagged produce or convenience foods. Keepin’ it real!
This weekend I’ll be on another plane, this time flying to New Mexico for the first ever Red & Green VegFest Albuquerque. I’m doing a demo and talk at 12:30: Five Ways to Eat Vegan in the Real World. ‘Cause that’s how I roll!
