Wow

Wow, Whole Foods, you have outdone yourselves.

The cookie pictured above is a vegan chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven in their bakery section. I'm all for vegan foods but I have to say that I am sometimes disappointed by the vegan treats and desserts I've had. But not with this cookie! This cookie is as good as it looks, and then some. As I'm devouring it, I keep saying to myself, "This is almost too good to be true!"

Thank you Whole Foods for such a pleasant end to my dinner tonight!

Blue Koi

So we went to Blue Koi (Mission Farms location) tonight for dinner. It was recommended to us by a friend of ours whose family is also vegetarian. Blue Koi is an Asian fusion restaurant that specializes in noodles and dumplings. I thought the food was really good and there were tons of vegetarian and vegan options! In fact, after we placed our orders, the waiter asked us if we were vegetarian and then told us they could basically make any of their dishes with tofu instead of chicken, beef or shrimp. We ordered their eggplant dumplings, vegetable dumplings, and scallion pancakes to share and I ordered tofu and shitake mushrooms over noodles and we all shared the feast. Here is my tofu dish...

I thought this dish was good but my favorite was definitely the scallion pancakes. It was fun to go to a restaurant where we had so many options! I think we will definitely be back.

Vegetarian=Normal

I went to visit a potential school for my son today and was pleased by what I heard when I asked about their food options. At this particular school, food is provided for the children in the elementary school. They talked about the fact that the school has chosen a food provider that does not use any preservatives and they don't serve french fries (yay!) or desserts. And here was the thing I was really happy about; when I asked if there are vegetarian options for the children, the woman giving me the tour said, "Yes, of course" as if it was the obvious thing to provide veggie options for children.

I would bet that ten, even five, years ago, a vegetarian diet may not have been as mainstream as it is today. The way my tour guide answered my question made me feel like being vegetarian is no longer thought of as weird or on the fringe. I think now it is so much more common to have entire families, including children, eating vegetarian and it is becoming more frequent in certain schools. Even my son's current school is milk free which, as you can imagine, makes me very happy!

On the menu this weekend

My in-laws were visiting us this weekend and I have to say that they are good sports and are willing to try my vegan dishes every time they are here. Here are some of the home cooked vegan meals I made while they were here...

• banana waffles and vegan sausage
• potato-leek soup (from the Candle Cafe cookbook--this recipe continues to amaze me because all it consists of is vegetables and a little salt and pepper and it is so tasty!)
• vegetable lasagne with tofu ricotta 
• vegan pumpkin muffins
• chocolate-chocolate chip cookies (from Veganomicon--always delicious!)
• Purely Decadent Turtle Trails ice cream 

In addition to the homemade food, we went out to eat a couple times, including to BRGR, a burger place in Prairie Village which also happens to have a killer veggie burger and sweet potato fries. We also had lunch at one of our staples, Noodles and Company. This place is great because you can order your noodles with whatever protein you choose and one of their choices is tofu. Yay! It was a yummy weekend of eating vegan!

Powerful thought of the day...

"It is easier to perpetrate violence and harm when we see neither the faces of our victims nor the painful effects of our actions." (from Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur in reference to the mechanized factory farms and processing plants that are hidden from our view so that all we see is the "finished product" of a neatly packaged filet or chicken breast).

Cream Cheese

So I grew up in New Jersey, eating some of the best bagels in the world and topping them with some of the most delicious cream cheese you could get. But now I'm looking for alternative bagel toppings (I'm also looking for good bagels but alas, I now live in Kansas) that are not derived from cow's milk. After trying a couple different brands, I have settled on Tofutti which really is smooth and quite tasty. Since I've eliminated cheese products from my diet, any time I get even the slightest taste of cheese in something I'm eating my taste buds are very sensitive and the cheesiness can sometimes seem tangy to me. Tofutti cream cheese does not have that tanginess and it is a great way to top off your bagel in the morning!