A weekend in Arizona

What a fun weekend! After six weeks of no air travel – a time in which my body may have gone into shock – I was back at it this weekend to kick off the Vegan Pressure Cooking book tour. Arizona was a great place to begin! a weekend in arizona 1

Upon arriving I rented a car and used Happy Cow to find a place to eat. My car magically transported me to Green New American Vegetarian (a 100% vegan restaurant). I stood in line, ordered my food and grabbed a table. This was at about 6:30 p.m. green new vegetarian kitchen 1

Within 15 minutes the line was out the door. Whew!

Green New Vegetarian tofu and noodle bowl

I had a tofu and noodle bowl with egg rolls. Wonderful!

a weekend in arizona 2

When I checked in, rolling my show kit (affectionately named Big Bertha) filled with a pressure cooker, recipe ingredients, etc., I was thrilled to see my books arrived from the publisher! Whew! I stay at Courtyard Marriott hotels because they are affordable and almost always have a refrigerator and microwave in the room. I got some Anasazi beans soaking right away. Umami Anasazi Beans | Vegan Pressure Cooking book tour

I got up early on Saturday and headed over to the Scottsdale Civic Center for the first-ever Arizona Vegetarian Food Festival. Arizona Vegetarian Food Festival | JLgoesVegan.com

I had such a blast talking to the crowd about easy ways to add more plants to their diet. Then I hit the Eat Vegan Food food truck up for a tempeh salad wrap and this Frito pie.

Eat Vegan Food frito pie

While hanging out with my girl, Joni Marie Newman. Such a wonderful time! Then I was off to Whole Foods to shop for a private vegan pressure cooking 101 class that I was teaching at my friend Patti’s home.

JL and Patti | Vegan Pressure Cooking book tour

I prepared Umami Anasazi Beans and Mushroom Rice, from the cookbook, and a kale salad (massaged with ripe avocado, lime juice and tossed with hemp seeds). There were six in the class and it was the perfect size for lots of Q&A and personalized attention. Vegan Pressure Cooking book tour AZ 1

Vegan Pressure Cooking book tour AZ 2

Vegan Pressure Cooking book tour AZ 3

When I was at the store grabbing ingredients I really wanted to make something for dessert. So I bought a few pink lady apples and a pint of almond milk vanilla ice cream. While the participants were eating up the beans, rice, and kale, I made a simple pressure cooker dessert: I chopped the apples and added them to the pressure cooker. I added ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and a pinch of sugar and about half a cup of water. I cooked at high pressure for three minutes, quick release and then quickly mashed them before serving over the ice cream.

Vegan Pressure Cooking book tour AZ 5 YUMMY! Sunday I spent most of the day in my hotel room working (no rest for the weary!) and then met my pal Sam for a very late lunch at True Food Kitchen.

True Food Kitchen Phoenix 1

We started with this ridiculously beautiful bowl of vegetable crudites. True Food Kitchen Phoenix 2

And the Anasazi bean tacos, hold the meat/cheese/sour cream, add roasted vegetables. True Food Kitchen Phoenix 3

So good! This morning I was up early. I had tofu lettuce wraps for breakfast (I ordered them on the way out of True Food Kitchen) in my hotel room.

True Food Kitchen Phoenix 5

I gassed up the rental car, checked Big Bertha, got to my gate, boarded the plane….and was delayed. So delayed that I missed my connection in Denver. I hopped the train from terminal B to terminal C to enjoy a long lunch at Root Down DIA. I ordered a veganized Banh Mi with country fried tofu.

Root Down DIA | vegan banh mi

And it was perfect.

Now I sit here in the United Club, writing to you, because my new connecting flight was just postponed by 2 hours. So, a seven hour layover in a city that is an hour and a half drive from my home.

It’s all good. I’m making lemonade out of lemons! Yummy, yummy lemons wine!

2 thoughts on “A weekend in Arizona”

  1. Oh man, sorry about that crappy layover! But at least the airport had some good vegan food!! The one time I got laid over overnight (due to a very rare snowstorm happening in Memphis), I was in SLC airport, and that’s a VERY vegan-friendly airport. So that made it better. But still, one can only eat and drink so much. Good luck! The cooking class looks fun!

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