Chow Vegan

I love fondue. It’s one of those super fun things to eat, what with all that stabbing and dipping with extra long forks. And fire too. Well, a little tea light flame but it’s still fire.

I first saw the recipe for vegan fondue on Jennifer McCann’s Vegan Lunch Box, probably one of the first food blogs I started reading way back when. I was amazed and impressed at the innovation and thoughtfulness that went into those lunches.

Her cookbook Vegan Lunch Box: 130 Amazing, Animal-Free Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love! was released recently, which I received a copy from the publisher. It’s packed full of recipes and tips, useful not just for lunch but for any meal or snack.

Take the lunchbox fondue recipe for example – Jennifer packed it in a thermos for her son’s lunch, that in itself is such an inspired idea. But you can also serve it in a small crockpot or fondue pot. I used a fancy butter warmer alongside bread and roasted vegetables including red potatoes, carrots and shiitake mushrooms. So simple and easy to make and so cheesy and creamy to eat.

I’m so looking forward to trying many more recipes from the cookbook and maybe a few bento style lunches too.

It’s hard to believe that on Monday, summer would be over and fall begins. It seems like just yesterday I was enjoying a nice white peach. Oh wait, it was yesterday. There’s still time to get in on some late season summer produce. Hurry!

Chilled White Peach Soup
Serves 2

1 large white peach, plus an additional peach for garnish (if you want to be all fancy)
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons apple juice
Agave nectar to taste
Mint to garnish

Peel, pit and chop the peach. In a blender, combine the peach, orange juice, apple juice and agave nectar if necessary to sweeten to taste and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and chill for about an hour.

Serve with a mint garnish and a few peach slices on top.

No Croutons Required is a monthly food blogging event hosted by Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa’s Kitchen. This is my entry for September’s theme of a soup or salad with fruit, just in time to enjoy a last bite of summer fruit.

Lately I’ve been roasting a lot of vegetables, basically whatever I find at the farmer’s market. It’s simple, delicious and super easy. With this method, there’s only one bowl and one baking pan that needs to be cleaned up. As usual, the lazy part of me is extremely pleased about that.

Roasted Vegetables with Crispy Rice Cake

1. Pick up whatever veggies of choice. I like to go with baby red potatoes, carrots, trumpet mushrooms, zucchini and even a couple of garlic cloves. Slice or cut them up to be around the same size.

2. Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and dried rosemary. You can also go with just basic salt and pepper or add whatever herbs you like. Add enough olive oil to coat and not stick to the pan.

3. Spread out the veggies on the baking pan. Since I’m using veggies that are done cooking at different times, I like to separate out the mushrooms to one end so I can easily take them off and let the rest continue cooking.

4. Stick the pan in a 425 degrees oven, after 15 minutes or so, turn everything over. At this point, the veggies will have shrunk a bit so there’s more room on the pan.

5. Instead of heating up leftover rice in the microwave, I thought it would be tasty and crispy to just stick it in the oven too. After all, it’s already on. I just shaped the rice into a patty, plopped it down on the pan and seasoned it (I had leftover short-grain rice which sticks together and holds its shape by itself).

6. Ten minutes later, the mushrooms should be done and maybe the carrots if they’re thinly sliced, take those off and anything else that looks done. Flip the rest over including the rice cake.

7. And in another ten minutes, everything else should be done. Stick a fork in a potato to make sure. That’s it, a tasty autumn dinner is now ready to eat.

I’ve been drinking Odwalla’s Superfood for years, so I’m no stranger to green drinks. But I didn’t think to make my own until I saw a green smoothie on VeganTickles blog awhile back. With that bright green color, I’ve been meaning to try it and finally got around to it.

I made some changes to the recipe – I used soymilk instead of water and grapes instead of the pineapple because that’s what I had in the fridge. It came out delicious, taste just like a smoothie.

I know some people make a yucky face when they see the green. Maybe they think it tastes like green vegetables. It doesn’t.

It’s very light and refreshing and very nutritious. The trick is to make sure you have enough of the other ingredients so you don’t have a strong vegetable taste.

Would you be more willing to try it if it was in a funny green cup? Yes, yes?

Green Smoothie
Makes about 2 2/3 cups
2 bananas, sliced into rounds and frozen
4 green kale leaves
1 cup soymilk
1/2 cup grapes

Separate the kale leaves from the stem, wash and tear into smaller pieces. Combine everything in a blender. Blend until smooth.

While in Carlsbad, I stayed at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara. Living up to the Four Seasons reputation, they had some very good vegan and vegetarian food options.

Over at the pool (pictured above), one can order a Gardenburger, among other things from the Ocean Pool Bar & Grill. Imagine that – a veggie burger with fries poolside, and you can get it “to go” as well. I had it twice and both times the burger was nicely done with fresh tomato, red onion, lettuce and alfalfa sprouts on a fluffy toasted bun.

I also had an opportunity to dine at their signature Italian restaurant, Vivace. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I haven’t had much luck with Italian places besides the typical Angel Hair Capellini something or other pasta dish. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

Vivace serves its food in the Italian style of separate courses; they printed out a whole separate vegan menu for me. It actually says “Vegan Menu” on the printout. That blew me away, that I could actually pick from two different options for each of my courses.

For the insalate course, I chose the spinach with peaches salad. For primi (first course), I had the mushroom risotto that was so good – it’s my favorite dish of the entire trip. For secondi (second course), I had grilled vegetables with farro. And for dessert, a selection of various sorbets.

Sadly, I didn’t bring my camera to dinner so no pictures of the meal. But what a great and delicious surprise to find that they had already planned a vegan menu for anyone who asks (it was a last-minute decision to eat there). I would happily eat here again.