Chow Vegan

While down in Southern California, Legoland in Carlsbad popped up on the itinerary a couple of times. For lunch there, I usually go for the salad bar at the Fun Town Market Restaurant. As you can see above, I really loaded up my plate.

After all that walking around the park, I need every single morsel. Because of the high turnover, the salad bar seems very fresh. The workers are constantly refilling the different items. I’ve even seen marinated tofu cubes, not on day 1 when I took the picture but they had it on day 2. It’s about 10 bucks a plate.

Usually the family eats over at Fun Town to accommodate me, the vegan. For one meal, we tried Upper Sports Deck Cafe for a change. When asked about vegan options, the waitress mentioned the Gardenburger and the entrée salads without the meat.

I got the burger with no mayo or dressing, it came with waffle fries, also for around $10. I think the patty may be vegan but I’m unsure about the bun. Also ordered the hummus with vegetables appetizer to share.

While Legoland has vegan options, it seems like Disneyland has more to offer. Although, probably the healthiest option of all the theme parks, is the Fun Town Market salad bar.

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Vegan Dining at Disneyland Revisited
Vegan Dining at Disneyland

Sometimes I like to relax by trying out new recipes. I know it’s weird but if I have the time to relax, then I usually have the time to try cooking something new.

I’ve been eyeing the Zesty Orange Mojo Baked Tofu recipe from the Viva Vegan! cookbook. Since I’m staying at a resort with a full kitchen, it’s an ideal time to give it a go (I don’t have to clean the oven if it makes a big mess. Not that I’m going to make a mess on purpose or anything.)

It came out great, a bit differently than the actual recipe, seeing as I totally forgot about zesting the orange. I just squeezed it for the juice and threw the rest away. I only realize this as I’m staring at the remains of the orange in the trash, thinking I was suppose to zest that first.

And I had only bought one orange specifically for the recipe. Oops. So it’s just Mojo Baked Tofu. No zesty orange. Next time I try the recipe, I’ll be sure to have all of the ingredients plus extras.

On a side note, since I was traveling, I was only able to find super-firm tofu (all the other tofu was sold out). Super-firm is like the next step up from extra-firm. It’s very firm. When they say super-firm, they mean super-firm.

Stick to extra-firm to achieve that chewy outside, creamy inside kind of baked tofu. Super-firm makes it chewy all the way through.

Zesty Orange Mojo Baked Tofu
Serves 3 to 4
Time: About 55 minutes

1 pound extra-firm tofu
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Mojo Marinade
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Grated zest of 1 orange
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Slice the tofu into eight 1/2-inch-thick slices and dab the slices dry with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel. Press the tofu if desired. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a shallow glass 9 by 12-inch baking dish, combine the olive oil and soy sauce. Lay a tofu slice in the baking dish, pressing it into the sauce mixture. Flip and press again to coat with the mixture. Bake for 20 minutes; remove from the oven but don’t turn the oven off. The tofu will be bubbling and juicy.

2. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and stir well.

3. Flip each piece of tofu and pour the marinade over tofu; the marinade will nearly cover the top of the tofu. Bake for another 30 minutes until the tofu is firm and any remaining marinade has thickened up a little bit. Bake longer if an even chewier texture is desired. Serve the tofu hot and topped with any remaining marinade juices from the baking pan.

From the book Viva Vegan! by Terry Hope Romero. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2010. www.dacapopresscookbooks.com

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon link, I get a few coins tossed my way if you click on the link and make a purchase of anything.

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Visited Disneyland again this year and got to try different places to eat as there’s quite a few options nowadays.

At the Mexican place, Rancho de Zocalo over in Frontierland, I ordered the Soft Tacos Monterrey for $9.99 – two tacos with sautéed vegetables on top of rice and beans in a flour tortilla (pictured above). Included is more rice and beans on the side along with a dollop of guacamole, salsa and shredded lettuce. Request no cheese and no sour cream.

The veggies in one taco had zucchini, squash and onions; the other had mostly onions and horror of horrors, bell peppers (I’m not fond of bell peppers). I’m not sure if it’s possible but if I ever eat this again, I’m going to try to request less of those bell peppers. Other than that, it’s not bad. The rice is nicely spiced and flavorful and everything seemed fresh.

It’s served cafeteria style and the service is fast moving once you get to the front of the line. I had to say “no sour cream” quickly as I saw the plater reaching automatically for the sour cream spoon. Everything is open so you can talk to the order-taker and the plater.

Tried the veggie burger with fries at the Village Haus in Fantasyland, $7.99 (pictured above). It was just ok. The patty tasted like a brand that I had before but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I didn’t confirmed that it was vegan. I thought I read somewhere that the veggie burgers are vegan but maybe I’m getting it confused with Walt Disney World (which apparently has better and more vegan food).

Over at Disney’s California Adventure, it was lunch at the Lucky Fortune Cookery in the Pacific Wharf area. They have fast food Asian Rice Bowls with tofu and one of four sauces over seared Asian vegetables and steamed rice for $9.49. I asked if any of the sauces were vegan and was told none of them were at first.

Then the super nice chef came out to talk to me and showed me the labels for the sauces. All of them except the Thai Coconut Curry is vegan. I went with the chef’s recommendation of the Teriyaki sauce (pictured above).

I thought it was good. I especially liked the soft tofu. The only thing is, it comes in a rather tall to-go container, making it hard to eat as the rice is all at the bottom and most of the sauce ends up there too.

Also had dinner at Blue Bayou in New Orleans Square again this year. Yes, they still have the Portobello Mushroom and Couscous Maque Choux, it’s still vegan and it’s still $27.99. I didn’t really think the price would go down but glad it didn’t go up. Although I only got a stack of two portobellos, last time I got three. Comes with a salad, but be sure to ask for it to be made vegan.

Didn’t get around to the veggie gumbo or veggie po’boy on this trip, but there’s always next time.

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Gardein has been cranking out the new products like there’s no tomorrow. What a difference a year makes, I’ve reviewed their product back when they only had a few items and were called It’s All Good. Flash forward today, and one of their latest of many offerings is the Trio Fresh Meals.

Found in the refrigerated section at some Whole Foods, they’re very quick and easy to heat up in a microwave. You can be eating in 3 minutes.

Pictured above is the first one I tried, Burgundy Trio – beefless tips with veggies (carrots, onions and mushrooms in a burgundy sauce) and white basmati rice.

The flavor is okay, the chunks meaty. It’s enough to fill me up without a ton of calories, there’s 230 in one serving. The sodium is kinda high as it always is with packaged food. I attempt to mitigate the overall sodium intake for the meal by adding a side of vegetables cooked with little or no salt.

I also tried the Thai Trio – veggie stuffed chick’n with a thai flavored sauce. Of the two, I liked the Thai one better. Taking it out of the package, the one chick’n piece seems to be on the puny side. But with the basmati rice and sauce, it’s 250 calories.

When it first comes out of the microwave, the sauce seem kinda runny but let it sit for a few minutes and it’ll thicken up to just the right consistency.

The last flavor is the Sicilian Trio which I haven’t tried yet, it wasn’t on the store shelf when I bought the other two. Overall, I thought they were a easy, quick meal if you’re short on time or traveling. Made better with an addition of a side vegetable or salad.

I haven’t made roasted tofu cubes for awhile since I rarely turn on the oven in warm weather. But lately, it’s been unseasonably cool around here. So I broke out the baking pan and roasted up a batch using the method from Vegan Soul Kitchen.

Stick a little bamboo fork in a tofu cube, top it with a little pesto and you’re done. Easy peasy.

The pesto came out more walnutty than I had intended. I miscalculated the amount of usable fresh basil I had on hand so I ended up with a more-walnuts-than-basil ratio.

Because I was short on the basil, I kinda winged it on the recipe. I was trying to follow the basil mint pesto recipe from www.ppk.com. It still came out pretty tasty though.

Roasted Tofu Lollipops With Pesto
Makes about 24 lollipops

1 16-ounce block of extra-firm tofu
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons or more of pesto

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, combine the oil, paprika and salt. Cut the tofu into cubes and gently toss to coat with the mixture. Place each tofu cube in single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Roast for 15 minutes on one side, flip over and roast for another 15 minutes for a total of 30 minutes.

Stick a bamboo fork into the side of each cube, top with about 1/2 teaspoon of your favorite pesto and serve.

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon link, I get a few coins tossed my way if you click on the link and make a purchase.

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