Red Velvet Cafe and More.

I have been wanting to go to Red Velvet Cafe for a long time. I finally took the time to go. IT WAS VERY MUCH WORTH IT!!! My friend Jeny (I loves me some Jeny) called me up and told me she was interested in going because I had been talking to her about it for like 2 weeks. I honestly plan on trying everything on their menu before I move back to CA next summer. The restaurant serves omnivores, vegetarians AND vegans. How often does that happen? Everything on their menu is veganizable!

Veganizable? I know, I know. "That's not a real word." Oh, YES it IS!

First, we ordered the most amazing chips and guac that I've ever had in my life.

Look how much they give you! At most places the guac runs out before the chips do. this was SO not the case. I would have been totally satisfied on just this, but the food kept coming.

Closer shot:

Next up, what I ordered. I decided on the vegan Taco Salad. Very BIG, very good. I absolutely hate when I restaurant is stingy on the avocados. I swear I must have eaten the equivalency of 3 avocados. I was happy.

Vegan Taco Salad:


Inside shot after I ate 1/4 of it:

Next up, What Jeny ordered. She settled on the Veggie Panini. She actually gave me half of her order to take home because she's not good with leftovers and I am. This was even more amazing than my taco salad! Spinach, artichoke, roasted Tomato, pesto and vegan cheese. I'm drooling now thinking about it.

Veggie Panini


2nd Shot:

I'm just glad she put up with me taking pictures of the food before either of us touched it. I highly reccommend this restaurant. If you live in Las Vegas or ever visit and want to have an absolutely enjoyable meal, pick Red Velvet.

REd Velvet Cafe
7875 W. Sahara Ave Ste. 103
Las Vegas, NV

In my last pst I showed you 2 ways I like to have my grits for breakfast. I think this one beat all. I had this one day last week. I told a story about how my mom use to make grits for us all the time. Well, as we got older and learned to make them for ourselves my brothers got really into making cheese grits. It's amazing how nutritional yeast, vegan margarine and garlic can give off a cheesy flavor! That's how i made these. I made a seitan/tofu scramble with a less dense tofu (last time I used Wild Wood, which i wish I could use every day. Sadly I ran out).

"Cheesy" Grits:

Tasty-tasty it was. I leave for San diego on Wednesday (July 22) and I'll be home late Sunday. some time after that you shall see another blog of all the fun I am going to have at 2009 COMIC CON!!! Til' next time!

-Lee

MY 50TH POST!!!

Yeah, I know. Most people celebrate their 100th post, but screw all that. I'm proud that I have made it to my 50th post! I'm also ecstatic that I have almost 50 followers! I am very glad that you all have me in your thoughts. I hope I have added you all to my list of who I follow as well.

I figured since it was my 50th post I'd make it a big one! So let's get going! Sorry, there aren't any recipes in this particular post.

Last week I had some Tofurkey deli slices left and had myself a sandwich. Not a huge, wonderful sandwich, just a plain sandwich. It was good, not spectacular, but good. However, I wanted to jazz up the Vegenaise so I made a Spicy cilantro garlic spread. I mixed together crushed garlic, cilantro, Tabasco and Vegenaise. I'm not going to lie, it was just okay. It kinda had a funny taste to it, but the sandwich was still good.

Spicy Cilantro Garlic spread:

On the bread:

Just the deli slices, lettuce and the cilantro spread. I think what made my lunch better was the Three Bean Salad I had with it. The recipe is posted HERE in a previous post.

MmMmMm... Bean salad:



Tofurkey Sandwich:

A friend that I work with decided to move to Oakland, CA. This made me sad. What's even worse is none of the managers at my job gave him anything! No going away cake, no card, no we'll miss you... NOTHING! Shows how much they care about us. No one did anything for him and I thought that was kind of sad. Since I knew this was going to happen I planned to make him a whole cake just for him and his girlfriend Tonya to share. I'll miss you Allen!

Coconut Lemon Bundt cake from Veganomicon.

He had tried a slice of this cake when I took it to one of my good friend Joey's shindigs. He loved everything about the cake and asked me many times to make it for him. I kept up the whole, "I will... soon" for a good 6 months. I couldn't let him leave without making it for him. I told him I would and I refused to let him leave and remember me as the liar that never made his damn cake.

Topped off with powdered sugar:

He was so happy. I told him since no one did anything for him he shouldn't feel the need to share (bitchy of me?) but he shared anyway. Now the whole store wants me to bring in cake on a regular basis.

Breakfast Grits, Day 1:

I haven't had grits since I lived at home. I don't know why I waited so long to make this! My mom use to make grits for breakfast all the time! My mom is in town right now and I got to hang out with her a few days ago. Since then I have been thinking about her a lot and I remembered how she cooked grits and eggs for the whole family (me and my 9 brothers and sisters) on a regular basis. Since I don't eat eggs now I made tofu to go with it (I'm out of green onions unfortunately, but it still came out good).

Grits, Day 2:

I kicked it up a few DOZEN notches this morning when I had this. I topped my grits off with a super delicious teriyaki tofu/seitan scramble. I could honestly eat this every day! It was super simple. all you need is:

-1/2 tub tofu
-teriyaki sauce
-seitan (I made the Simple Seitan from Vegamonicon)
-1/2 cup chopped onion
-Vegan magarine
-nutritional yeast
-bit of salt/pepper

I don't have exact measurements, I threw in about 1 tbsp of each. (except onion and salt) It came out really good. I highly recommend it.

Veggie/Seitan Stir Fry:

In September my roommate and one of my best friends is moving to CA. This does not make me happy, but I am happy that he is finally graduating and getting out of Vegas once and for all. So, when he moves I will be moving in with the other best friend Joelle and her boyfriend. I went over to hang out the other day and brought some of the homemade seitan for her. (She's vegetarian) Her very un-vegetarian boyfriend took the seitan and whipped up an amazing vegan friendly veggie stir fry for us! It... was... so... DELICIOUS!!! He made sure to clear all ingredients with me before making it. (which was only 3 ingredients besides the veggies! Genius!)

Supa dupa tasty:

And last but not least...

Bumble Bar:

My wonderful friend Magda came to pick me up for the gym last week and brought me a little gift. I use to eat these like crazy and I hadn't had one in over a year. It's like they were somehow erased from my thoughts. I love these. Especially when I am running out the door and don't have time to make food for myself (which happens WAY too often).


And there we have it. My 50th post. I hope it wasn't too lame or boring for you. I also apologize for no real recipes in this post. I will make it up to you, I swear.

-Lee

Sushi, Martinis and Afros.

Father's Day weekend was fun. I don't talk to my father but my roommate's father and his wife came down from Portland for a few days. Last time they came for a visit we all went to a very good Japanese place across the street from my job called Momo Sushi. We went again this time. The last time they visited I wasn't vegan, so now I get the vegetarian rolls, which honestly taste just as good as their rolls tasted to me when I ate fish.

Here in Vegas we have a new outdoor shopping center called Town Square. The movie theater there is Rave Motion Pictures. There is also a martini bar there called The Blue Martini. If you go to the movies you can take your ticket stub over to Blue Martini and redeem it for 1 free martini. SWEET, RIGHT?!?! So, I got the Pomegranate martini. It was so tasty.

And I couldn't close this blog without posting my afro. I don't often put pictures of myself up on this blog, but I couldn't pass this one up.

No school= time to cook.

This school quarter is coming to an end. I have 1 more day of classes to take and then I don't have classes for 3 weeks. Oh, I am so excited! 3 weeks!!! No homework, I can work on revision of a short screenplay that I'll be producing later this year, I can watch movies and cook and relax. This past week has been pretty calm. I've been able to cook a few things:
Tortillas filled with tofu, kale, tomato and fresh garlic:

These were pretty tasty if I do say so myself. I honestly haven't had kale in months and when I first went vegan I lived off it!

Closer shot:

Strawberry BBQ Tempeh:

This is a recipe I'm working on. A strawberry bbq sauce. This was really good, but I'm not yet ready to reveal the recipe. I have time off of school so I'll be working on this. When I'm done I will surely post it!

Three Bean Salad:

-1 15 oz can White Beans

-1 15 oz can Kidney Beans

-1 15 oz can Pinto Beans

-1 rib of celery, minced

-2 tbsp onion, minced

-1-2 bulb fresh garlic, minced

-1/2 cup minced cilantro

-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

-1 tbsp agave nectar (any liquid sweetener should do, though.)

-1/2 tsp thyme

Drain and rinse your beans and place them into a bowl that has a lid. Mince all of your other ingredients that need to be and place them in the bowl. Add your vinegar, sweetener and thyme and mix well. make sure your ingredients are evenly spread out across all of the beans. Refrigerate overnight and allow flavors to blend.

And last, but most definitely not least, my favorite brand of store bought hummus. Sabra brand Red Pepper Hummus. I was use to buying this for 5 dollars a container. 5 DOLLARS!!! That's a lot when you buy it fairly often. BUT!!! I received a tip that another store has it for HALF of that price. They did, so now I don't feel as financially guilty when I buy this.

MmMmMm... look at that swirl of goodness... *sigh*

Neener's Irresistible Polenta Fries

This was my first attempt making polenta fries. I have heard nothing but good things about them and I absolutely love polenta so I figured I'd wing it and see how they come out.

NOT EVEN KIDDING... THESE WERE LEGENDARY!!!

I doubt I could top the flavor of these. I feel so bad that I didn't get the chance to share with anyone. I'm home alone! These were so amazing that no sauce was needed... at all! I was smart enough to write down the recipe as I went along. It was fairly simple. If any of you have good polenta fry recipes I would love to try many different ways of making this. I have found my new favorite side. (even more than my KALETATOES!


-1 tube of ready made polenta (I got mine @ Fresh and Easy)
-1/2 cup flour
-1/4 cup nutritional yeast
-1/3 tsp dry mustard
-1 tsp sea salt
-1/2 cup + 1-2 tbsp water
-1 crushed/grated/minced clove of garlic
-1 tsp hot pepper sesame oil (optional)
-oil for frying (I used olive oil)


Cut your polenta into thick sticks and set them in the fridge until you are ready for them. Combine the dry ingredient and mix well. Then add the water, garlic and sesame oil (or any spicy oil that you have... or don't add any) and mix well so that there are no lumps.The consistency of the batter should be a little thinner than pancake batter. I used my electric mixer, so if you have one use it.

Heat a small skillet. I used cast iron because it heats evenly. Add your oil to the pan. I only used a small amount of olive oil. Remove your polenta sticks from the fridge and dip them into the batter. Make sure you there isnt too much batter on the outside of your polenta sticks when they go into the oil. I lightly scraped the batter off so that there was a perfect layer on the outside. It may be tricky and messy though. Fry them until they reach the golden brown color that causes you to salivate.

Yes, Chipotle's Vegetarian Burritos are VEGAN...

My last few posts were a mile long each. This is going to be a short post.

Chipotle Vegetarian Burrito... MmMmMmMm...

If you get them without the obvious non-vegan items (cheese and sour cream) they are vegan friendly as well as DELICOUS!!! I am so addicted to these. If I can't decide what I want, these burritos are always what I turn to. I know they are high in calories, but I don't count calories so I'm ok. I ate half for lunch today and had half for dinner, that's how big they are. And they are under 6 dollars. I'm sold!

Oh, how I love you Veggie Burrito from Chipotle..

Ain't Nothin' but a "Veggie Thing"...

If you're like me, you have your camera on you all the time. You never know what you're going to want to photograph! Imagine you are at an awesome vegan friendly restaurant. You order your meal and when it comes to your table you can't believe how wonderful it is. You snap a picture of it's gloriousness for your blog or to show your friends or maybe even post it on the PPK forums. Not only is it extremely tasty looking, but tastes as good as it looks. Wouldn't you like to inform other vegans about this wonderful dish? Well, I have found the way to make that happen. VEGGIE THING, powered by CitySearch.com, has given us a way to flaunt those wonderful vegalicious noms we've been finding while out and about.

Like I said... It's not always easy to find vegan food while dining out in Las Vegas, but this is my small part I am taking in order to help the ones on the search find good food here. No vegan should have to settle for just having a salad (that may be without dressing depending on what a restaurant serves!) when they can have a great meal!

If you are a traveling vegan, check out this website! If you're a vegan who eats out a lot, check out this website. If you ARE NOT a vegan and love vegetables, check out this website. It's for veggie lovers everywhere. The more people there are submitting from different areas of the country, the better chance we all have at finding amazing vegan eats everywhere.

VeggieThing.com

A few things I've eaten recently.

Ladies and Gents, I have an announcement! Las Vegas has a VEGAN DONUT SHOP!!! Of all the things to have a donut shop? I don't want to sound like a complainer but it just seems odd to me. However, I hadn't had a donut in YEARS, so I decided to give it a try. Magda came over and we headed to Ronald's Donuts. It's really cool. There are 3 rows of donuts in the case and the top 2 rows are 100% vegan. I played Eenie Meenie and picked a dozen because I have plenty of people to share with. I'm not going to lie, I ate like 4 of them.

Here we have homemade trail mix. I had a bunch of different bags of snacks in the cupboard so I tossed them together. Old fashion rolled oats, raisins, peanuts, shaved coconut, chopped pistachios (very small amount. I only see a piece of one in this picture) and ground flax seed. One day last week I ended up pouring some soy milk over it because I was out of cereal. Worked out very well.

Strawberry sorbet. It has been gettin much hotter out lately and I usually try to have as many cold, healthy treats as possible.

Another falafel trip. Paymon's is where it's at! Here we have the hummus:

The warm, fluffy, delicious pita bread that comes with it:

And, YES, another falafel. Yes it is an addiction. No, i will not give it up!

I had made a gigantic pot of red beans about a month ago and froze a good portion of it. i forgot it was in the freezer! So, since I have been a little on the broke side lately I pulled it out and defrosted it. 'll be able to have this for dinner for a few days. No complaints either because they are SO GOOD! It is always best to use dry beans and cook them yourself. They always come out better.

And because I am my mother's child... I sometimes add ketchup to my red beans. Sounds strange? Try it. She has done this for as long as I can remember.

A salad for lunch. From the bottom up: Shredded (longwise) zucchini, Super Firm tofu, Organic Flax Tempeh, sesame seeds. The dressing I used was a mixture of Rice Vinegar, Agave Nectar, salt and coriander.

Lunch at Himalayan Cuisine

Today was a good day. I got a group of girlfriends together and we all went for lunch. For those of you who know me, you know I have kind of a hard time finding places to eat in Las Vegas. I always found it to be very UN-VEGAN. For the most part I am correct. However, I have been able to find a few places lately. Of course none of them are near where I live... but oh well.

Today my good friends Joelle, Magdalena, Charlotte and Marie came with me to Himalayan Cuisine. Lunch was absolutely fantastic. I researched the place before going, of course and found that they have quite a bit of vegan options. I was the only vegan in our group, but Joelle is vegetarian and eats vegan a good portion of the time. All of us were completely in love with the food.

The food I ordered:

White Strawberry Iced Tea

Chana Masala (So AMAZING!)


Wonderful basmati rice.


Together... in harmony.


The Alu Kaoli Masala


Freshly made Naan. I don't think words can describe
how light and tasty this naan was. I was so hooked!


and finally... Kakro Salad (wasn't mine, but was vegan!)

I would definitely recommend this place. My mother is visiting soon, I will have to set aside a day for us to have dinner here.

Himalayan Cuisine
730 E. Flamingo Rd.
Las Vegas, NV
Himalayan Cuisine Website