Cadry's Kitchen

Like many of us, several years ago I went through a fat phobic stage.  I’d put on an extra thirty pounds after leaving college and the built-in exercise that it offered.  To fight off the creep of my ever-growing pant sizes, I moved to fat free sauces and dressings, fat free cheeses, and fat free milk.  Instead of looking to the foods that are naturally fat free like most fruits and vegetables, I gravitated towards those highly processed foods that remove fat and often replace them with sugar instead.  I shunned natural peanut butter and embraced fast food menus, where I knew what could be found for 15 grams of fat or less at almost any chain.  Ordering at sit-down restaurants, ironically enough, took much longer than it does as a vegan.  “I’d like that with no cheese, egg whites only, white meat only, no mayonnaise, sauce on the side, easy on the oil…” and on and on.

At the grocery store, I bought the meats with the lowest amounts of fat, scouring over each nutrition label, until I’d figured out a way to make my then favorite sandwich, the bacon-burger-dog (made with hamburger, a hot dog, and a slice of bacon), with only 7 grams of fat.  It seemed like a feat.  Put it on a whole-wheat bun with some mustard, and in my mind it was practically health food.

I’ve heard many people talk about “defining moments” and one of mine occurred over that very sandwich.  One evening at dinner, I was holding it in my hands, eating cautiously, while it felt dry in my mouth and tears streamed down my face.  That day our family dog, Mocha, had passed away and that evening, I had a moment of clarity.  As I sat at the table mourning Mocha, in my mouth were parts of the bodies of (at least) three separate animals.  The differences between them and Mocha were really not so great.  Except Mocha had a name.  She had a family who loved her.  And she was lucky enough to be born in a country where dogs are coddled, not cutlets.  It’s all so arbitrary.  In one country it’s the norm to eat guinea pigs, in another cows, in another goats, in another horses, in another dogs and cats.  The only difference is the society determining which animals we love and which we eat.  It doesn’t mean that the animals deserve our compassion any less.  That night, I couldn’t finish my dinner.  I put it down.  I wish I could say that I went vegan immediately, but I didn’t.  That moment was a beginning.  It would still be six months until I’d watch Meet Your Meat and read John Robbins’ Food Revolution and stop eating animals.

There’s a freedom in listening to those murmurs.  At that time when I’d cook chickens’ breasts for fajitas, I’d pretend that they were interesting mushrooms.  I didn’t like to think that they were part of an animal who had felt, and lived, and died very young.  As a vegan, I don’t have to pretend anymore.  It is freedom to live without that nagging, though largely unspoken, guilt.

Last night at dinner, instead of my usual chickpea tacos for Taco Tuesday, we had Fajita Fun Night with actual mushrooms in the filling, of course.  I made the Grilled Vegetable Fajitas from Vegan Table.  These easy and delicious fajitas are amazing and can be made with a variety of vegetables.  I used red onions, red bell peppers, mushrooms, and garlic cloves.

They are tossed with oregano, cumin, and chili powder (which I replaced with paprika), lime juice, and olive oil (which I reduced by half).  The recipe directions give a variety of options for cooking the vegetables, and I opted for roasting in the oven.  Although Vegan Table doesn’t give specific directions for that, I set the oven to 425 degrees and roasted the vegetables on a couple of baking sheets, making sure not to overcrowd them, tossing them about halfway through.  (If you put too many on a sheet they will steam instead of roast).

As for fat phobia, that is also a thing of the past.  Nuts and avocados are welcome in my home.  Plant foods are nutrient-dense but generally low in fat and calories.  So when it comes to nuts, avocados, and soybeans, they are fair game.  I maintain my weight effortlessly, eating as many whole plant foods as I want, and enjoying every bite.  While plant foods that are high in fat are also higher in calories, it has been shown that when eaten as part of a balanced diet, they can help fight obesity because they increase satiety.

I served the fajitas with Cashew Sour Cream also from Vegan Table.  To my mind, raw cashews are something of a magical food.  Just as a magician, with a flick of a wand, can make an item change forms, with a few simple additions raw cashews can be used in a myriad of ways.  Blended with water and agave syrup they can be a thick, sweet cream poured over berries or a topping for pies or cakes.  Blended with vegetable stock, nutritional yeast, and caramelized onions they take on a cream cheese-like texture, and in this case, with lemon juice and cilantro they are transformed into sour cream.  I added some cilantro, a few shakes of a smoky hot sauce, and a half-teaspoon of smoked paprika for an added burst of flavor.

Study after study has shown that nut consumption correlates with reduced coronary artery disease.  Eating a handful of nuts five times a week reduces one’s risk of a heart attack by at least 15% and possibly as much as 51%.  People who eat nuts reduce their risk of diabetes and cancer, in addition to many other common ailments.  A Harvard study of more than 83,000 women found that people who ate a handful of nuts at least five times a week were more than 20% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.  In addition to all of this, nuts are a rich source of fiber, vitamin E, folate, copper, and magnesium.  As a former migraine sufferer, it’s interesting to note that low magnesium intake is a risk for migraine headaches.

Because nuts have a high concentration of fat, they have a tendency to go rancid.  They can be kept in a cool place in a sealed container for up to four months.  I prefer to keep my raw nuts in the refrigerator, where they can keep for up to six months.  (Although, they never are around that long…)

I also served the fajitas with mashed avocados, which are a rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids, potassium, fiber, folate, lutein, and magnesium, which promotes healthy bones, the cardiovascular system, and the prevention of type II diabetes.  Potassium helps regulate blood pressure and can help prevent circulatory diseases, including high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease.  Some interesting research has shown that avocados are a nutrient booster and actually improve the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from food.

To find out if your avocado is ripe, select a fruit that is unblemished and without dark sunken spots, and give it a light press.  A fruit that yields slightly to the touch indicates that it’s ready to eat.  If it’s not ready yet, let it ripen on the kitchen counter or in a paper bag.  After ripening, avocados can be moved to the refrigerator.

Plate up your perfect fajita with jalapeño peppers, slices of lime, a variety of hot sauces, and warmed organic corn tortillas.  (My favorites are made with a mere three ingredients:  organic whole corn, water, and a trace of lime.)  Complete this meal with brown rice and black beans.  It would be great for a large gathering, like a Super Bowl party, or for an easy weeknight dinner for two.

Ah, cookies.  The great divider.  At an event last spring a fellow attendee and I were discussing cookbooks.  I was of the mind that dessert is an occasional indulgence, giving it free reign for decadence.  She chided that vegan desserts should use all whole ingredients—no white flours, no refined sugars.  They should be health food, so that vegans can be a face of superior health, she claimed.

While I think there’s room for the opinion that desserts should emulate health food (i.e. there’s not much better than a raw cashew shake from Sunpower Natural Café in Studio City), I also think that sometimes a dessert can just be a dessert.  It’s not supposed to be our everyday diet; it’s a once-in-a while treat.  When the bulk of our diets are nutrient-dense whole foods and bunches of leafy greens, I’d say there’s no problem in having a chocolaty cookie littered with gooey chocolate chips every now and again.

While these Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Vegan Table do use whole wheat pastry flour, they are a far cry from any nutrition bar you’d find in a hiker’s backpack.  For the sake of science, of course, I taste-tested these cookies all along the way– their sweet endings to their cookie dough beginnings.  (That’s another great benefit of using ground flaxseed and water instead of chicken’s eggs—no worries of Salmonella.)  These rich and mouthwatering cookies would be a fabulous addition to a holiday cookie party tray or sandwiched around vanilla Coconut Bliss for a dinner party dessert.

Yearnings for leaves in reds and yellows will have to wait.

While the rest of the country is easing into crisp autumn air and changing leaves, in Los Angeles that season known as fall is more elusive.  It may be months until we’re regularly donning sweaters and scarves (and umbrellas since winter means rainy season).  Still, these past few days we’ve  been graced with weather in the seventies, which is a cool reprieve from the summer scorchers we’ve had up until recently.  I took the opportunity to enjoy the delights of squash season with the oil-free, soy-free, and wheat-free Butternut Squash Soup from The Vegan Table.

This mouthwatering soup would be great for a busy weeknight since it practically makes itself.  Just take five or ten minutes on Sunday before your busy work week gets started to cut up squash, onions, garlic, and ginger.  Then when you come home from work on Monday or Tuesday night, start the onions sizzling while you change into cozy clothes, add in the garlic and ginger and let it sauté while you dice a couple of potatoes and pull a hearty loaf of bread out of the refrigerator.  Finally, add the squash and potatoes to your soup pot with some water, and you can relax for thirty minutes while your soup is doing the hard work.  About fifteen minutes in if you feel like chopping a big, delicious salad, well, all the better.  Toast chunks of bread in the oven or toaster, and you have a healthy and satisfying meal.

Oftentimes people who don’t cook aren’t inclined to buy kitchen gadgets because it seems like a waste to spend money on something they never do.  I think this is ill advised.  Cooking is so much more pleasurable with the proper tools.  Just like when we were kids and the smell and feel of a new box of crayons inspired us to put color to page, a new kitchen toy can make what is a necessary chore seem like fun.  Although this soup can be made without any fancy gadgets, I used the opportunity to play with a few of my favorite kitchen tools, from simple to sophisticated.

I started with my standard peeler.  My preferred method for preparing a butternut squash is first by peeling it with a vegetable peeler while it’s still whole.  Then I cut it vertically and scoop out the seeds.  (Sometimes I wash the seeds to roast later for a snack or to make squash seed crusted tofu.)  At that point it’s easy to cut the squash into squares for use in a soup or to lightly coat in extra virgin olive oil, put on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet, and roast at 425 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes, tossing occasionally throughout.

The second gadget in my toolbox is my Microplane zester.  The zester is similar to a grater, but it makes light and wispy grates, perfect for zesting lemons, limes, or oranges, or in this case, using on ginger.  It’s sold in a plastic sleeve that’s great for storing.  The peel on ginger is so thin, you can simply use a spoon to scrape it off before grating.  Consider storing ginger in the freezer.  Then when you want to grate it, it won’t fall apart in big feathery shreds.  Plus, it will keep there for a long time, ready to be used in your next stir-fry, curry, or for a simple ginger tea.

Lastly, when the squash and potatoes were fully cooked, I used my immersion blender to finish this creamy soup.  I have a traditional blender as well, but I love my immersion blender when making soups.  It saves you from transferring the hot soup to the blender and then back again.  Using a traditional blender can especially be a hassle if you only want part of the soup blended.  With an immersion blender, you can simply put the wand into the soup pot and blend it as much as you like.  In this particular recipe it directs you to fully blend the soup, but I wanted a few chunks left for mouth feel.  So I blended until it was thick and creamy but with a few remaining bites of squash and potatoes.  Very inexpensive immersion blenders can be found that will still do the trick beautifully.

There’s nothing quite like a warm, brimming bowl of soup to start cravings for fuzzy blankets and soft mittens…  Of course, the folks on the news are reporting weather this weekend in the high nineties.  I’d better enjoy my soup while it lasts…

The smell of lavender wafting in the air takes me to the spa, sipping on warm chamomile tea or crisp water infused with lemons and cucumbers.  A lavender-packed eye mask weighs heavily against my face as quiet music fills the room and I lean into the gentle fingers of the massage therapist rubbing the tension away from my scalp.  

If your spa budget is waning but your desire for the relaxing scent of lavender prevails, consider these delicate Lavender Tea Cookies from Vegan Table.  They require a bit of pre-planning, because after the lemon has been zested and the wet and dry ingredients mixed, the dough needs to be refrigerated for an hour before forming into cookies.  Because the dough is on the sticky side, the warmer it is, the less manageable it becomes.  All of the effort is worth it once the oven is heated and the scent of lavender is filling your kitchen.  These light cookies are as delicate as a snowflake, perfect for nibbling with tea, staring out the window, and day dreaming of massages to come.

Cadry’s Kitchen has been quiet while I took to the skies and went to my hometown, Des Moines, Iowa, to visit family and unwind.  I’ve heard it said that our perceptions of a location say more about us than the place itself.  That’s certainly true when it comes to going home again.  There was a time in my life when every visit back meant hitting up the same old haunts I frequented in high school, going to the same places that resonated with me at seventeen.  After a while those places didn’t fit me anymore.  Just as I might feel rather conspicuous wearing clothes that were favorites in 1993 or teasing up my hair in the same way that was all the rage in the halls of my high school, as adults we have to rediscover our hometowns or else they can seem stale, as if they’re stuck in a time warp.

After toying with the options of bike riding on one of Des Moines’ many picturesque bike paths or taking a boat ride on one of the state’s human-made lakes, we landed instead on the East Village. With my mom as tour guide, we ventured to downtown Des Moines.  The East Village is full of quaint shops selling clothes, kitchen gadgets, and the work of local artists, eateries, and also includes the state’s Historical Building.  We browsed the Historical Building’s gift shop and then caught a trolley-shaped bus that runs every ten minutes.  The D-line is a free and fun way to explore downtown Des Moines.

Outgoing locals chatted with us as we rode to Ritual Cafe, a coffee shop with an all vegetarian menu and a relaxed vibe.  We started our meal with chips and garlicky salsa and then shared a delicious grilled vegetable sandwich on fresh bread from the South Union Bakery.  The roasted red pepper hummus smeared on the sandwich gave an almost pizza-like quality.   Finally, we capped the meal with a peanut butter cookie.  The staff was friendly and laidback, and Ritual Cafe seemed like one of those places where you could easily linger playing a game with friends, reading the newspaper, or in my case, bonding with mom.

After clicking pictures of Des Moines’ impressive capitol building, we left downtown and made our way to New City Market on University near Waveland Park to stock up for that evening’s dinner.  Few places make me feel more at home than a local natural foods store.  New City Market is cozy but very well stocked.  In addition to a nice selection of organic produce, they have a bulk section that includes bulk spices, which is great when visiting from out of town and buying a whole bottle of spices would be unnecessary.  They also have a good selection of specialty foods like Coconut Bliss, Earth Balance, Vegenaise, and Tofurky sausages.

Groceries in hand, I went to my best friend’s home to spend time with her and her family and treat them to a homemade dinner.  When cooking for non-vegetarians I think it’s good to stick with something familiar.  I made Butternut Squash Risotto with Toasted Sage from Vegan Table and served it with spinach sauteed in garlic.  This traditional comfort food took a bit of attention as I ladled in spoonful after spoonful of warm vegetable broth while the Arborio rice became tender and creamy.  It gave my friend and I time to reconnect in the kitchen before sitting down over a hot meal, laughing about the days of helmet hair and Guess Jeans and feeling thankful for the present.  Spending time with family and dear friends is the best thing, after all, about going home again.  Dorothy was right.  There’s no place like it.

If you plan on heading to the Des Moines area, other vegan-friendly restaurants that are worth a visit include Cool Basil and Jason’s Deli in Clive.  Cool Basil serves spicy and flavorful Thai food and has tons of easily veganizable options.  Just tell them no fish sauce or oyster sauce and that you’re vegan.  Lots of their menu items can be made with tofu or extra vegetables.  Jason’s Deli also has a few veganizable options on their menu and a really nice salad bar with many organic offerings.  I especially enjoy their chickpea, kidney bean, and edamame salad with cilantro.

The first time I drank fresh soy milk, I was amazed.  “It tastes like edamame,” I marveled.  Of course it tasted like soybeans.  Why wouldn’t it taste like soybeans? Yet, soy milks sold commercially in the US aim to somewhat duplicate the flavor of cow’s milk.  Expectations mean a lot when it comes to a food being palatable or not.  It’s sort of like when you set down your apple juice on the table, go back to drink it, and mistakenly pick up and sip your husband’s grapefruit juice instead.  The immediate reaction is a bad one.  Why?  That’s not the flavor you were expecting.  So since most Americans aren’t looking for a bean-y tasting milk, marketers don’t think an authentic soymilk would appeal to them. 

I think this can be a reason why some people aren’t immediately drawn to foods like tofu or tempeh.  They expect them to taste like meat because of their place in the meal and because they are high in protein and iron.  However, in places where people have been eating tofu and tempeh for centuries, tempeh and tofu are no more meat replacements than a red bell pepper would be a tomato replacement.  They’re different foods.  If I substituted broccoli in a recipe that called for asparagus, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to say afterwards that it lacked something because of its broccoli-like flavor.  Of course, it tasted like broccoli.  When I sit down to eat wine marinated tofu, I don’t expect or want it to taste or feel like chicken’s breast.  I want it to be tofu. 

Although it’s not widely popular in the States, tempeh has been a staple food in Indonesia for over 2,000 years.  It’s similar to tofu, in that it is made from soybeans.  Tempeh is a fermented food that is often cured with grains.  It has a nutty flavor and a wonderfully chewy texture.  It’s great steamed and then marinated and used as a main course or sandwich filling.  Today for Vegan Table Tuesday, I made the Caramelized Tempeh Shawarma.  Colleen invites readers to think of this dish as “Middle Eastern burritos.”  In addition to the sweet and salty tempeh, lavash bread is filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and parsley.  It’s then topped with a tahini sauce that is also fantastic to use as a salad dressing.  I served the filling and flavorful shawarma with potatoes roasted in lemon juice and garlic.

Photo by Patrick Shipstad

I am not what you’d call an organized person.  To my husband’s dismay, today’s mail is never left in the same place, receipts sometimes linger in my purse while he tries to balance the checkbook, and our neighbors must overhear me yelling to him desperately from upstairs, “Have you seen my sandals?”

So it was with a considerable amount of doubt that David followed me from store to store as I sought out the perfect spice rack.  Surely he imagined the rack gathering dust in disarray while the turmeric sat on the counter.  Up until that point, I’d been using a shoebox.  I’d be mid-recipe, food frying in a pan, while I sorted through jar after jar in the box, each lid looking the same as the next.  As my spice collection grew, so did my frustration.  It was as if I was playing one of those carnival games with rubber ducks floating in a child’s pool, turn it over and get a prize.  All the while, my food was becoming a menacing shade of dark brown.

I didn’t want a spice rack that came with its own already-filled jars.  I’m pretty picky about the spices I buy, and besides, I already had full jars of spices at home.  I also didn’t want a rack that came with empty jars.  Why move spices from one place to another?  Finally, I wanted a rack that would be able to hold my spices of varying shapes and sizes.

Several stores into our journey, I found what I was looking for at the Container Store.  It wasn’t quite large enough to hold all of my spices, but it was pretty close.  Then I arranged the spices alphabetically from Allspice and Asafoetida to Vanilla.  Knowing my history of organization, David must have had a giggle and a few choice thoughts about how long that would last.  He’s a wonderful husband, though.  He just smiled and said, “That’s nice, sweetheart.”

However, it’s years later and the alphabetized spices live on.  I’m now to the point where I can go on reflex to the exact place to find oregano, or basil, or cumin.  (Truth be told, though, the turmeric is, in fact, sitting on the counter.  Ironically, it’s because David likes to keep it there next to his green tea.  Every morning when he’s making his first cup of the day, he shakes in a little bit for its anti-inflammatory, cancer-fighting properties.)

I have a fondness for spices in the way that a painter might feel about paint.  They are full of possibilities, and they can bring the creation you’re dreaming about to vibrant life.  So it was with that kind of eagerness that I set out to add to my collection with the purchase of Old Bay Seasoning.  From poking about on other food sites on the internet, it seems that people who grew up with this blend of spices and herbs, which has been around since the 1940’s, have strong opinions about this being the definitive flavoring when it comes to crab cakes.

Of course, I have no plans or desire to cook crabs.  However, the Zucchini Cakes in Vegan Table could be considered Vegan Crab Cakes.  Zucchini is grated and then twisted tightly in a towel to squeeze out excess liquid.  (The recipe notes that two towels may be necessary, but I think it’s good to stop at one.  You don’t want the zucchini to be overly wet, but if it’s too dry, the cakes won’t hold together.)  Then Old Bay Seasoning is added, which is a blend of celery salt, bay leaf, mustard seed, black and red pepper, cinnamon, and ginger.  (I like to double the amount of Old Bay Seasoning in the recipe.)  Finally, bread crumbs and minced onion enter the mix before the cakes are coated in flour and fried.  I served these cakes with a big mixed salad, bread and hummus, and they were immediately gobbled up.  The seasoning stands out nicely against the very mild zucchini and bread crumbs.  The recipe says it serves eight, but I was cooking for four and they were so delicious, there was nary a cake left behind.

With the addition of Old Bay Seasoning and a few others that have made their way into Cadry’s Kitchen, I have a feeling another spice rack is in our immediate future.  Perhaps there’s still a chance that I’ll become an organized person after all… one spice at a time.

There was a cookbook trend for a while aimed at parents.  They encouraged desperate moms and dads to sneak veggies into their children’s diets.  Who are we kidding?  I think a vegan cookbook like this should be created for adults.  Studies have shown that 2/3 of Americans don’t get the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables everyday.  Many people have gotten to the point where they expect their plates to be filled with shades of beige.

Since many cuisines outside of the U.S. are naturally plant-heavy, I often gravitate towards those international dishes.  So a few months ago when I was hosting some non-vegetarian family at my house for a week, I was doing my best Tasmanian Devil impression swirling up Thai stir fries, burritos, and Greek feasts.  I was taking them to Chinese restaurants and introducing them to Ethiopian cuisine.  After the dust settled and they called from their home, they said, “Boy, I couldn’t wait to go home and have mashed potatoes.”  All of this is to say, never underestimate the power of the familiar.  Although fresh ginger and rice vinegar may seem more exciting, on some occasions oregano and thyme will do the trick better. 

Keeping these things in mind, the Old Fashioned Lentil Loaf from Vegan Table is the kind of food that is reminiscent of what you’d find in Middle America.  A glaze of ketchup makes this healthy loaf accessible to those who generally eschew “health food”.  In addition to being a fiber powerhouse, this heart-healthy loaf also has omega 3-rich walnuts, onions, parsley, thyme, and garlic.  I served it with a hearty helping of mashed potatoes smothered in Golden Mushroom Gravy.  The gravy is light on oil and absolutely packed with mushrooms.  However, any vegetable-phobes in your life would never know it.  I blended the gravy, so that there were no visible chunks.  It laid smoothly over the buttery mashed potatoes, which I made with boiled potatoes, rice milk, and a dab of Earth Balance.  Next time my family is back in town, I’ll have this recipe in my bag of tricks.  As for my sneaky vegan cookbook, I’ll have to start working on that one.  Its time has come.

Poisoned apples aside, what is there for a vegan to eat in the House of the Mouse?

I had a Disneyland record growing up that I would play, and friends and family would bring back trinkets for me from their trips.  However, the first time I went to a Disney park, I was in my twenties.  I think that period of waiting and wishing made it all the sweeter when I visited for the first time.  As a lover of magic and stories and that child-like spirit that lives within all of us, it really appealed to me.  Also as an adult, the park offers some interesting people watching.  There are people from all over the world in all sorts of different fashions.  There are men in cowboy hats next to women in hejab next to teenagers covered in piercings and tattoos.  

 So this year with Disney offering free entry to the park on your birthday, I headed to Anaheim to celebrate mine.  In addition to the ticket, I was given a “happy birthday” button.  All day long Disneyland employees and other guests wished me well.  It definitely put me in a festive spirit.

Officially Disney doesn’t allow outside food in the park, but unlike Universal Studios, they won’t stop you from bringing it in once you’re there.  The only exception is that they won’t allow alcohol or hard sided coolers.   Our bags were checked before we entered the park, but they didn’t seem to care at all about the food we had inside of them. 

So David and I carried in our lunches and a bag of warm clothes for the evening when it can get surprisingly cool.  It’s also good in case the urge to ride Splash Mountain strikes.  That happened to us once, and it became a very expensive Disney day when we were purchasing sweatshirts and sweat pants after being drenched to the bone. 

They have lockers inside the park about half way down Main Street, and you can use them all day (getting in and out of them) for one fee. Currently a large locker costs $10/all day and a small one is $7/all day.  The big ones are large enough to fit a small soft-sided cooler and a bag of clothes.  Just outside of the locker room, there are tables that are perfect for a little picnic. 

For lunch we had Roasted Red Pepper Wraps from Vegan Table, a Mediterranean salad, pickles, and fruit.  The Roasted Red Pepper wraps include hummus, carrots, and roasted red pepper rolled into whole wheat lavash.  I added spinach and pine nuts for a little crunch.  They were easy, delicious, and satisfying.  Lavash is sort of dry usually, but with the creamy hummus next to it, it stayed moist all day without being gooey or overly wet.

For dinner we had several vegan options.  There are plenty of stands selling a variety of fruits, pickles, potato chips, and iced apple juice.  There’s a vegetarian gumbo in New Orleans Square, which is served in a bread bowl.  I’ve had it in the past, and it is simple but good. The bowl and the soup are vegan, but the crackers that generally come with it are not.  In the Blue Bayou, which is the restaurant inside of Pirates of the Caribbean, they offer a grilled portobello. I had it a few years ago, and I didn’t think it was at all worth what they charge. 

We decided to go to Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port in Tomorrowland and ask about a cheeseless pizza.  I asked a young woman who was working at the pizza counter if their vegetable pizza would be vegan without the cheese.  She said that her sister is vegan and assured me that it is vegan.  She said she’d talk to the chef about the possibility of a cheeseless pizza. 

The chef came out and talked to us about our needs and said it would take about seven minutes.  We thought they might ask us to get a whole pizza (which would be a great option if you’re going with a group).  They sell them for around $30.  Instead, he brought out our cheeseless slices, loaded with lots of sauce and plenty of vegetables.  All of the staff was extremely friendly and eager to help.  It made the slices even tastier.

After more rides, we decided to get out of the park for a bit to go to Downtown Disney, which is attached to the park.  There are sit-down restaurants that can cater vegans like La Brea Bakery and Tortilla Jo’s and places to grab a drink.  We sat outside listening to music and enjoyed a beverage while the sun went down. 

We went back into the park for a train ride around the park after dark.  It was very quiet and relaxing, while the rest of the park was abuzz watching Fantasmic.  We made it back to Main Street for the fireworks, and we saw Dumbo go across the sky in addition to Tinkerbell while they played Baby Mine.  As the fireworks lit the night sky, it was a wonderful ending to a happy birthday at the Happiest Place on Earth.

If you’re planning a visit to Disneyland, and you’d like to have a meal at a sit-down restaurant inside of the park, you can call them about getting a vegan meal:

Special dietary needs — including kosher, vegetarian and medically restricted diets — can be accommodated at most table-service restaurants. Request this service at least 24 hours in advance at (714) 781-DINE (3463)

Today I had to ask myself, “Why didn’t I think of that?”  The tempeh BLT is one of my all-time favorite sandwiches, especially on sweltering July days.  Sauerkraut is one of my favorite vegetable-based condiments, well loved but underused.  The Vegan Table Tempeh Reuben recipe combines the classic tempeh BLT with crisp sauerkraut on toasted rye bread.  Tempeh is high in iron, protein, and fiber.  Plus, with the vitamin C-rich sauerkraut and tomatoes on the sandwich, the bioavailability of the iron is increased, making it easier for the body to absorb.  Unlike many tempeh bacon recipes, this one doesn’t require a lengthy marinating period.  I appreciate that when my stomach is winning over my patience.  I replaced the usual lettuce with spinach.  For the layer of sauerkraut, my preference is cool and crisp Bubbies, which can be found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.  

I also made a simple Thousand Island dressing to accompany the sandwich.  I just combined a scoop of Vegenaise, a squeeze of organic ketchup, and a bit of diced pickles.  Then I drizzled it on the sandwich as I ate.

This mouthwatering sandwich is sweet, pungent, and savory all in one hand-held package.