Chili ... Mac?

Josh's work has catered food all the time, and recently they brought in a chili bar from a local chain called Hard Times.  Fortunately for us, they have many chili options, including vegetarian!  Since Josh enjoyed it so much at work, we decided to head to their Rockville location after climbing one night.  We enjoyed it so much we were back there again about a week later after climbing.  This may just become a climbing ritual for us - like Baja Fresh used to be at our old climbing gym. 

The restaurant doesn't look like much, but the staff was really friendly.  And the chili ... and the mac.  The signature dish at Hard Times is the chili of your choice served over pasta (it's not really "mac" so much as regular spaghetti) and topped with your choice of tons of toppings - onions, tomatoes, beans, jalapenos, cheese, and sour cream.  Obviously I got the first four toppings and no cheese or sour cream.  It was a ton of food - more than enough to save some for lunch the next day.  I still prefer Josh's chili to this version, but considering the convenience I'm certain this is going to become a regular spot for us now. 

Pumpkin Bread

I'm so delinquent on posting, it's ridiculous.  I don't even actually remember now when I made this pumpkin bread.  It was definitely a Friday.  Not last Friday ...  Maybe the Friday before?  I really have no idea.  If I gave it enough thought I could probably figure it out, but I won't bother.  What I do know is that before I actually got around to using this mix, it had been sitting in the cupboard for probably almost two years.  Can pumpkin bread mix go bad? 

It was a gift, and it was one of those things that I never bothered to actually make because I figured it would keep and I'm always scouring the Internet for all sorts of other tasty and fun dessert recipes so this always managed to fall by the wayside.  Needless to say, since it came into our house before I was concerned about veganism it isn't an entirely vegan mix - the dry mix itself had buttermilk.  But I did go about veganizing the rest of the recipe by making using vegan substitutions for the add-ins.  And I think it came out quite tasty indeed.  Especially warmed in the microwave and with a little Earth Balance spread on top ... Yum!  This definitely became both dessert and breakfast for a few days straight.  Maybe I'm a pumpkin bread convert now ...  Which means I'll have to go back to the Internets to scrounge up a vegan version of this fall treat.  Not a bad homework assignment. 

Sandwich Love

About a week ago Josh and I found ourselves on a huge sandwich kick - indulging in both old favorites and new over and over again.  

First on our agenda was one if our favorites - vegan tuna with bread and butter pickles on rye.  This one really never gets old.  I hope Asmars stays in business forever.  They are the best fake tuna we've tried - and we've definitely tried a few.  Needless to say, we ended up eating tuna twice for dinner last week.

Our second sandwich if the week was a new discovery - Tofurky, green apple, grilled red onion, vegan pepper jack cheese, and sun dried tomato vegannaise on sour dough bread.  It was inspired by a sandwich Tina talked about a while back on her blog, Carrots 'n Cake plus by the fact that we had Granny Smiths from apple picking the previous weekend.  Obviously I had to veganize this one heavily, but it turned out great!  On our second go around with this one I added facon, but I don't think it added much.  This sandwich is so great there's not much you can do to improve it!  Definitely keeping this recipe.

Chipotle Sofritas!

In case you hadn't heard, Chipotle launched a new vegan menu item on October 21 - sofritas!  So far you can only find the shredded, seasoned tofu burrito and taco filling in select locations, but fortunately for me that includes Maryland and DC!  Though we didn't make it in the first day, Josh and I stopped by a Chipotle in Rockville after climbing a few days after the launch and ordered ourselves a couple of sofritas burritos. 

 

The sofritas is used just like the meat options as a filling that can be paired with rice, beans, salsa, and any other filling you would normally want on your burrito.  Since the vegetarian burrito allows all of these other fillings as well, it is a step up from the vegetarian in that it doesn't just take out the meat, but actually gives you something to replace it with - so you end up with a heartier, more filling meal option.  (Not that a vegetarian burrito isn't usually plenty filling in my book, but I suppose some people might find it lacking.) 

 

Even better than adding calories and density to your Chipotle meal, though, I thought the best thing about the sofritas was that it actually added spice as well.  The added kick was a great way to add some flavor intensity to my burrito, beyond what you can get from the hot salsa.  Even Josh, who normally finds Chipotle bland and way over-hyped compared to tastier but less popular competitors, said he would be happy to return for another sofritas burrito.  And for me, anything that gives more options to vegans - and recognizes that they even exist - is a win in my book! 

Riblet Sliders

Since I planned to roast a sweet potato for Thursday night's dinner (which for some reason always takes 1 1/2 hours), we weren't going to be eating until very late.  Needing something a lot sooner, Josh and I ran out to the grocery store and grabbed French bread and artichoke spread for this quick and easy appetizer.  We ended up serving the same thing to his Dad when he came to visit Saturday - so simple, yet you look like a classy host! 

 

Eventually the sweet potato got soft enough to mash, and I put together dinner - riblet sliders with caramelized onion sweet potatoes on the side.  After I bought all those slider rolls a while back, they've been sitting in my freezer while I brainstormed what to do with them.  Without a lot of great ideas, I finally decided on using MorningStar Farms riblets.  I also caramelized onions and mixed them in with mashed sweet potatoes and a little salt and pepper for an easy (if not quick) dinner. 

 

Four slider rolls down ... eight to go!

Work Lunch Out

Last week I found myself without a lot in the house to eat for lunch at work, and also without any goodies stashed in the cupboards to make an insta-lunch (soup, noodle bowls, etc.).  So after one very underwhelming peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I decided to treat myself to a take-out lunch the other two days I headed into work in Annapolis. 

 

For the first, I got the vegetarian lunch special at a local sushi place called Nano.  The great thing about Nano is that they are so quick, all you have to do is call in your order and by the time you've walked over there it's ready for pickup.  The lunch special comes with one cucumber and one avocado roll, plus two sweet tofu skins wrapped around rice - anyone know what those are? 

 

The next day I headed out to an old favorite, Potato Valley.  I've been hesitant to go to PV since becoming vegan since the last time I went and ended up with a very tasty but convoluted order.  This time I ordered the South of the Valley, which comes with beans, corn, lime, mango, peppers, and garlic butter, served with greens and roasted onions.  I meant to order it sans garlic butter but forgot ... whomp whomp.  I'll have to remember that next time, because otherwise it's a really tasty and filling vegan lunch.  Luckily I did manage to add avocado to my order - a delicious essential. 

 

I almost always bring my lunch to work, so I don't get a lot of chances to explore the local Annapolis offerings.  This was a nice opportunity to branch out a bit and also remind myself of what there is around just in time for session starting in January - aka, no time to cook, so lots of meals out! 

Third Birthday Dinner and Founding Farmers

I don't have any pictures from my third birthday dinner last weekend, because it was at my boyfriend's parents' house and I always feel odd taking pictures of food when it's a nice family gathering like that.  So you will have to settle for description ...  Dinner was a tasty vegan bean soup with warm bread - the perfect fall meal!  For dessert, Josh's mom made a beautiful looking apple tart, but unfortunately she used butter in the crust ... which lead to a horrible awkward discussion about my tendency to allow for "exceptions" to my vegan eating.  I realized I make too many allowances, which just leads to confusion for people, and I need to stop. 

 

First, I made an exception for blackberry ice cream.  Which lead to a second exception when blackberry ice cream was made twice in one summer.  Then Josh's mom made an apple pie a while back and said she couldn't get shortening to work for the crust, so she used butter instead.  I said it was fine and I would eat the pie anyway.  So through no fault of hers, Josh's mom assumed butter crust would always be an okay exception for me.  I probably didn't handle things very well, because in hind sight I should probably have made just one more exception for my birthday dinner and eaten the tart.  Especially because when I didn't Josh's mom brought out some cookies that she had checked the ingredients on and was "sure" they were vegan.  I knew they weren't.  But because I already felt horrible and awkward at that point I ate them anyway.  So I still ended up with a non-vegan dessert, but not the one Josh's mom had worked so hard on.  Not the best end to the dinner, or my birthday weekend.  But I guess two out of three great birthday dinners isn't bad. 

 

Monday night for dinner Josh and I met friends for dinner at Founding Farmers, which ended up being our second dinner there in less than a week.  We'd met a friend for dinner there the previous week, but didn't come out of that with a photo of my delicious veggie meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  FF doesn't have a lot in the way of vegan options - in fact, their regular menu has exactly one vegan item: an appetizer of mixed nuts - but they do have vegan specials, which are helpfully labeled as vegan so you don't have to worry about hidden ingredients. 

 

For Monday's dinner I ordered the veggie bacon burger, which came with a side of beet salad.  It wasn't a stellar burger - average burger patty that wouldn't hold its shape and relatively tasteless fake bacon - but the salad was actually really good.  Fortunately a good time with friends always outweighs average food.