Tuesday started with a protein shake using half a banana, mixed berries, flax, protein powder, and vanilla soy milk. It comes out very purple, but oh so delicious!
Things were a bit exciting around Annapolis Monday and Tuesday with House of Cards filming in the State House. I missed Monday by working from home, but I decided to head out for a couple of errands and to get lunch just for an excuse to walk by all the trucks and vans they had set up.
Unfortunately, that's all I got to see. I guess the cast was all squirreled away inside the building. All the better for them, because it was a rainy afternoon.
But by going out I got my first opportunity to do a vegan visit of an Annapolis favorite (at least amongst those working downtown) - Potato Valley. I've gone here countless times as a non-vegan because they are located conveniently on State Circle, right across from the State House. They also make your food assembly-line style like Subway or Chipotle, so it's a great place to take your food to go quickly when you need to rush back to work.
You probably already guessed the specialty of Potato Valley ... potatoes! They have sandwiches and traditional salads, but their real draw is their baked potatoes loaded with all sorts of different toppings. My old favorite was the Texas Salsa with Cheese - a baked potato topped with salsa, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and tons of salad fixings (fried onions, lettuce, cucumber, jalapenos, banana peppers, red bell pepper, and mango). I tried to adjust my old favorite by ordering it with "no cheese and no sour cream", but of course the woman taking my order looked at me like I was nuts and said "that's not really a Texas Salsa then ..." She helped me get what I wanted by taking a standard potato and preparing it with salsa and all the peppers and it came out cheaper than if I'd ordered the modified Texas Salsa. What I ended up with was still loaded with delicious toppings and I barely missed the dairy additions. A lot of people think the idea of a restaurant that serves baked potatoes is silly, but they don't know what they're missing! 
In fact, my non-Texas Salsa potato filled me up so much I barely needed a snack in the afternoon. Of course I say barely, because you know me and snacks ... So I munched on an apple to keep my inner snacker happy.
I also ended up with a pretty light dinner Tuesday evening. My boyfriend was going to be late home from work, so I took the opportunity to whip up some scallion pancakes. Not really "whip" up because after you make the dough it needs to rest for 1/2 hour ... It's not a complicated recipe, but it's a good one for when you have a little extra time and don't need dinner rushed out too quicly.
On the side we enjoyed some vegan kimchi I picked up at MOM's and a dipping sauce made from sugar, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, ginger, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Next time I make this I definitely need to scale down the proportions in the sauce because I ended up with way too much. It's a shame to waste, but at least they are "stock" ingredients - the kind of thing you always have on hand anyway. A delicious end to a healthy day! 
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