Chow Vegan

5 Easy Vegan Snacks for the Big Game Day

January 27, 2015 By chow 5 Comments

With Super Bowl weekend right around the corner, lazy me just wants to plop down on the couch with a big bag of potato chips and be done with it. If you’re like me, and the thought of putting out a lavish spread has you feeling deflated, here’s five easy vegan snacks for the big game day.

Buffalo Style Roasted Tofu: A vegan version of buffalo wings. It’s like bar food but you eat it at home. And on game day, you’re allowed to eat in front of the tv in the living room.

Amy’s Spicy Chili Fries: This is for the laziest of the lazy (that would be me), it’s just a can of Amy’s Kitchen Spicy Chili over homemade fries. If you’re super lazy, you could use frozen fries.

Baked King Oyster Mushroom Calamari: Just like fried but better because it’s baked. And it’s not at all fishy (can’t be stinking up the house before kick off), it’s really king oyster mushrooms also know as trumpet mushrooms, sliced into rounds, breaded and baked.

Mini Sloppy Joes: With a mix of smoky maple bacon tempeh and soy chorizo, there’s plenty of flavor packed into these pint-sized sandwiches. Serve with sweet potato fries for a full-sized meal.

Animal Style Taters: At my dream stadium, I would be able to order this, crispy tater tots with melted Daiya cheddar cheese, a drizzle of Thousand Island dressing with vegan mayo, ketchup and sweet relish and topped with caramelized onions.

As simple as everything is to make, lazy me is reserving the right to serve said bag of potato chips on Sunday.

Graze Kitchen Pismo Beach

January 10, 2015 By chow 8 Comments

So happy to have found another place to eat when visiting family down south along the central California coast. While everyone else was busy scarfing down breakfast at Old West Cinnamon Rolls in Pismo Beach, I spied a bunch of vegan options on the menu next door at the recently opened Graze Kitchen.

Since they don’t open until 10:00am on the weekends, I headed back over to pick up lunch after hanging out at the beach. I got the Chef’s Vegan Stack – grilled zucchini, eggplant, roasted red bell pepper with sun-dried tomato pesto, black olives and pepperoncini on fresh sourdough bread.

So good, the freshness of the veggies really shines through. I’ve dined out on plenty of faux meat sandwiches which I like but an all-veggie sandwich when done really well like this, is just as filling and satisfying, perhaps even more so.

I also got the Graze Quinoa and Kale Salad – marinated artichoke hearts, olives, pepperoncini, red onion, toasted almonds, tossed in an Italian vinaigrette. Expertly seasoned and dressed, with the perfect balance of kale to quinoa. And like the sandwich, you can taste all of the ingredients.

For dessert, a vegan cowboy cookie. Having never tried a cowboy cookie before, I had assumed it was just a chocolate chip cookie with a fancy name. Taking a bite, it’s a lot harder than I expected, maybe because it’s packed full of chocolate chips and walnuts.

Graze Kitchen is all about being healthy and delicious, as well as local, organic and sustainable. They’re super friendly too. With their varied menu items, there’s something for omnivores, vegetarians, vegans and the gluten-free. I’m hoping to convince the whole family to eat there next time we’re all in town.

Ramen Yamadaya SF Japantown

January 3, 2015 By chow 10 Comments

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe the holidays have come and gone, it all went by in such a blur. Time seems to speed up as I get older, when I was little, Christmas morning took forever to arrive. Now, I blink and it’s all over.

While on holiday, I had lunch at Ramen Yamadaya in San Francisco’s Japantown. After spending the morning at the Fairmont Hotel gawking at the life-sized gingerbread house*, I was more than ready for a piping hot bowl of vegan ramen.

That’s right, vegan ramen. Rarely if ever seen in Japanese restaurants, but there it was, right there in black and white on the menu amongst the meaty versions of ramen. It comes in your choice of spinach or tomato noodles.

I got the spinach noodles. It came in a flavorful, silky, milky broth, topped with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, corn and green onions. It’s just the right portion size, I finished all of it and even drank the broth. A perfect lunch for a cold winter’s day in the city.

* The life-sized gingerbread house is large enough for people to walk-thru it. It’s a bit of a Willy Wonka experience. I was surprised (and kinda grossed out) to see missing pieces of the gingerbread house, I can’t believe people would actually pick off some of the candy pieces. What did they do with it? Did they eat it? Why?

There was a life-sized gingerbread dog house too, that was really cute with the gingerbread in the shape of dog bones.