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Happy birthday, Red Avocado!

19 Aug

It’s hard to believe that 12 years have gone by since The Red Avocado, the lone vegan restaurant in the state of Iowa, opened its doors.  12 years.  I remember my twelfth birthday.  The year was 1987.  We were in the midst of the Iran Contra Affair and Jim Bakker scandal, Some Kind of Wonderful hit the silver screen, and my favorite t-shirt was bright purple and emblazoned with an image of Macho Man Randy Savage.  (Catch phrase: Oh, yeah…)  It was the year that Baby Jessica was rescued from the well (President Reagan’s favorite catch phrase…  Get it?  Well?  Let’s move on.)  That is to say, there was a lot of stuff happening in the world.  But time flies faster than Princess Bride quotes at a Ren Fair.  Now that cozy yet sophisticated bearer of plant-based cuisine is reaching the end of its tween-years.  (It almost makes you want to squeeze its dimpled cheeks and coo, “I remember you when you were this big…”)

In many ways the Red Avocado exemplifies the best parts of Iowa City – its setting in a comfortable old house and a menu that focuses on what is seasonal and organic.  The menu evolves throughout the year.  It’s not unusual to see scapes or oyster mushrooms at the farmers market only to walk a block up the street and see it listed on their specials menu for the day.  However, it’s also a unique gift to the area, because a person would have to make a four hour drive to reach another entirely vegan restaurant.  But as luck would have it, the Red Avocado isn’t just Iowa’s best vegan restaurant by default.  It is also a wonderful restaurant in its own right.  Their hours change depending on the time of year, but it’s a great place to go for a meal – day or night.

Sailor’s Plate - $10

French toast on the Sailor's Plate

For brunch when it’s too early to start making decisions, I love their sailor’s plate.  It’s a sampling of their brunch items, and it gives the diner an opportunity to find some new favorites for future taste escapades.  There’s the caraway tempeh and pickled cabbage from their reuben, tofu scramble, black beans and barley from their breakfast burrito, home fries, and as breakfast for dessert, mouthwatering French toast.  The preserves that adorn the top take this crisp-on-the-outside and soft-on-the-inside treat to the next level.

Breakfast Burrito - $7.25

When I’m more willing to commit, their filling breakfast burrito in a whole wheat tortilla and packed with tofu, vegetables, black beans, salsa, and cilantro fits the bill nicely.  It’s spicy without having too much of a kick for the morning.

When the clock hits noon, I like to start with a cup of their soup of the day.  (In this case it was asparagus dill.)  With their focus on what is local and seasonal, it means the soup is ever-changing.  It tastes fresh and vibrant, as if it was made at home with items fresh out of the garden.

Iowa BBQ Tofu Platter - $8.50

For the entrée I like their Iowa BBQ Tofu platter with lightly fried tofu covered in a savory barbecue sauce and placed on corn cakes with a chipotle slaw.  The barbecue sauce is not too sweet and balances the flavor of corn cakes.

White Bean Paté - $4.75 small (pictured) | $9 large

For dinner, their white bean pate made with cilantro and lime juice and served with delicate pita triangles makes for a tasty starter that sates the appetite temporarily without being overly filling.

Smoky Sunset - $18

To my mind the star of the dinner menu is the Smoky Sunset.  Succulent tempeh in a cilantro-lime sauce is served on a bed of greens with oven-roasted sweet potato fries.  The fries are covered in a chipotle aioli that is so good it could be slathered on a shoe and would make for a pretty good meal.  (But I’d advise going with the fries instead.  You’ll need your shoes on the walk home.  The snow can get deep in Iowa.)

Up for a celebration?  If you’re in the area, they’re having a party tonight with live music, complimentary chips and salsa, iced tea, and chocolate cake.  Full details are on their Facebook page.  So here’s to Red Avocado on their twelfth birthday.  If they’re anything like I was, they’re probably asking for CD’s of Belinda Carlisle and Debbie Gibson….  Consider this a birthday gift.

Steamed White Seitan and a Giveaway!

30 Nov

Find out how you can win this halter-style tank top at the bottom of this post.

I’m proud to announce that I recently received a long sought after vegan merit badge.  What?  You haven’t heard of vegan merit badges?  Oh, yes, it’s just like the Girl Scouts, but without the cute little uniforms and cookie drives.  There’s a badge for pressing tofu and for flaxseed prowess.  There’s a badge for excellence in kale steaming, cookbook collecting, and obstacle course badges for braving hills and subways to retrieve vegan cupcakes.  There’s even a companion animal-caretaker award, which I received for dutifully providing nutritional yeast flakes to my cats.  But it wasn’t until this week that I finally completed the final badge on the list: the seitan-making badge.  While I’ve used vital wheat gluten (the protein-rich flour that is essential for easy-to-make seitan) in chickpea cutlets and veggie burgers, I had never made my own traditional seitan.

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with seitan, it is chewy wheat-meat that can be used in stews, pot pies, sandwiches, stir-fries…   Really, the possibilities are endless.  It’s soy-free (unless soy sauce is used to flavor the wheat meat), and it has a really satisfying, dense texture.  I’d heard consistently good things about the steamed white seitan in Viva Vegan, and I decided it would be the perfect recipe for my maiden seitan voyage.

First, I had to make dough using vital wheat gluten flour (available in most natural grocery stores), vegetable broth, garlic, and spices.  Then I broke it into four loaves and wrapped the loaves in aluminum foil.  I steamed the loaves for a half an hour and let them rest in the refrigerator until the next day for maximum chewiness.  At that point, the seitan could be used in any way that tickled my fancy.

Steaming the seitan loaves

I marinated half of the seitan for arroz con seitan from Viva Vegan, which Terry Hope Romero refers to as “a veggie tribute to the enduring Hispanic dish (arroz con pollo) that lets the chicken cross the road for yet another day.”  I changed up some of the vegetables for the dish, based on what I already had in my refrigerator.  This filling dish was fantastic with lots of delicious spices, and I’ll definitely make it again.  FYI, it also reheated well the next day for lunch.

Later on in the week, I used the second half for some decadent comfort food – an improvised recipe for battered and fried seitan with mashed potatoes and greens.  The seitan held up well for frying, and this would be a good dish to make for non-vegetarians in your life who want a crispy centerpiece on their plate.

Making this seitan was easy and fool-proof.  I will certainly make it again, even if it turns out that there aren’t any “vegan badges” after all…

A spicy black bean scramble from The Red Avocado

Since today is the final day of Vegan MoFo, I’m having a giveaway on my blog for a halter-style tank top from Iowa’s lone vegan restaurant, The Red Avocado.  I wrote about The Red Avocado last December in an Iowa City travel post.  The Red Avocado offers delicious dinners that are perfect for a relaxing evening out with a glass of wine and the kind of quality food you’d expect to find in a much larger city.  However, as good as their dinners are, my favorite meals there are brunches.  Their specials are always unique and full of flavor.  They have scrumptious crepes, scrambles, soups, sandwiches, and more.

This new halter is pale blue and a size medium.  (Although, it runs small.)  This giveaway is international.  To win, just leave a comment on this post before Saturday, December 4th at midnight.  I’ll announce the winner on Sunday.  Check back to see if you’ve won!

A Day at the Orchard and ‘Apple Smoked’ Portobello Bacon

20 Oct

What could be a more quintessentially fall way to spend a day than a trip to the apple orchard?  The crisp air, cozy sweaters, and a wooden pail puts one in the perfect frame of mind for enjoying these final days before snow, winter coats, and icy roads.  It seems almost every Iowa City local I met had a special place in their heart for Wilson’s Orchard.  It’s the sort of place that makes an impression when you’re pint-sized and your dad lifts you up to reach the apples hanging from the branches, and it’s the kind of place that years later you’re eager to take your little ones – to ride the tractor trailer bed across the pastures, over creeks, and finally to lope along through the trees until your basket is full.

On the tractor ride over to the area where the trees were still producing we were told that there are also apples inside if you’re in a hurry, but that in the fields there’s one clear bonus – free samples.  My friends and I tasted a variety of apples – delighted by the variances in each, and it wasn’t long until we had the beginnings of apple cobbler, apple pie, apple butter, and well, apples.

Back at the weighing area, cinnamon wafted heavily in the air.  Wilson’s sells apple slushies, pies, and turnovers.  I checked the ingredients of the goods, which they also sell in the freezer case, and the turnovers and several of the pies happened to be vegan.  My husband and I shared a delicious, flaky turnover, the ooey, gooey apples in a sugary glaze still piping hot.   While we were there, we also picked up organic popcorn, which they sell by the half gallon (It pops up crisp and fresh) and their own apple butter.

Back at home, my husband set his hand at making apple pie, and I looked for more ways to use the apple butter, aside from our morning toast.  Our farmer’s market has been offering a wealth of mushrooms, and so the idea for “apple smoked” mushroom bacon was born.  It’s good for Mushroom BLTA’s, veggie reubens (just add sauerkraut and vegan Thousand Island dressing), and smoky collard greens.

Marinate thin strips of mushrooms

 

Fry the strips of mushrooms in a little hot oil.

 

“Apple Smoked” Mushroom Bacon

  • 2 Portobello mushrooms, sliced into thin strips (or the equivalent of maitake – a.k.a. hen of the woods)
  • 2 Tbsp Tamari soy sauce
  • 1 tsp liquid smoke
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil – plus 1 tsp for frying
  • 2 tsp apple butter
  • 2 tsp agave syrup or maple syrup

Combine liquid smoke, olive oil (except for the additional 1 tsp), apple butter, and agave syrup in a shallow baking dish.  Coat the strips of mushrooms in the marinade and let it soak for 30 minutes, turning once.  Preheat the pan and then fry the strips in the remaining teaspoon of olive oil.  If it begins to stick, pour any remaining marinade into the pan.  Cook until mushrooms are brown, about ten minutes.

Notes:  When buying liquid smoke, look for varieties with simple ingredients.  My preferred brand is made with water and hickory smoke concentrate.

When choosing between making this bacon with portobello mushrooms or maitake, consider this – portobellos are more widely available and generally cheaper, but maitake gives a chewier, meatier texture.

Toast bread and add smoky mushrooms, avocado, spinach, and tomato slices for a tasty BLTA.

Add sauerkraut and thousand island made with Vegenaise, a squeeze of ketchup, and diced pickles on rye for a savory veggie reuben.

Saute steamed collard greens in a generous amount of garlic, and then throw in chopped Portobello bacon for a satisfying side dish.

Tasty Vegan Fare at the ArtHouse Cafe in Waterloo

8 Oct

Driving into Waterloo, ready to exit 63 North towards the Waterloo Center for the Arts, I couldn’t help but notice the stickers adorning the rickety car in front of me.  A deer with the body of a curvaceous female lay seductively above the words “Nice rack.”  To the left, an archer holding a bow and arrow, stood in a tree stand above the letters “D.F.A.”  or “Death From Above.”  Finally, to finish the triad there was reliable old Calvin peeing on “P.E.T.A.”  The guy definitely had a theme going.  The only bumper sticker missing was, “Is this vegan heaven?  No, it’s Iowa.”

Yet, at the place where I was heading, the ArtHouse Café housed inside of the arts center, about half of the menu is, in fact, vegan.  When non-vegetarian Dan Ankrum started as head chef at the ArtHouse he knew he wanted to have some vegetarian options. He’d seen how his vegan friends in the area struggled to find delicious fare in restaurants outside of the local Chinese joint.  So when he set on creating his menu, instead of simply making a few cheese-laden vegetarian choices, he decided to add a full vegan section to the regularly-changing menu.  While they do serve meat and other animal products, currently about half of the menu is vegan with several plant-based entrees, two sandwiches, and two salads.

The café has several tables for dining and a counter where orders are placed.  That’s where we met Dan standing next to the register.  He noticed that my husband and I both ordered vegan options.

“So are you vegan?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.  “That’s actually why we came here.  I read about your restaurant online.”

Dan quickly offered us the soup of the day, mixed bean minestrone, on the house.  (There’s always at least one vegan option.)  The soup was loaded with chunky vegetables and in a tomato broth.  The mixture of beans gave a nice fullness to the soup.

For lunch, I had the aforementioned wild rice and wild local mushroom succotash.  There was a nice mix of wild and brown rice, stir fried with corn tomatoes, lima beans, and scallions.  This savory dish was spiced with tarragon.

My husband ordered the toasted brown rice pilaf.  With this dish, Dan gave the rice an interesting, toothsome texture and paired it with a blackened seared tofu.  The tofu was a bit creamy for my tastes.  I prefer a dense tofu that has been given a long press and squeezed of its excess liquid.  However, the Cajun spices on the tofu gave a bold, appealing flavor.

While we ate, Dan stopped by to chat with us about his fledgling restaurant, open only a few weeks at that point.  He said that many of his customers don’t know what “vegan” means, and he’s found himself explaining it to people.  After their questions they often order one of the vegan options, and he said that the succotash is one of the most popular items on the menu.  He’s following current trends of eating locally and seasonally, and he’s appealing to a thus far untapped audience in Waterloo.

With a grin, he told us about an incident recently on a busy day at the café when a group of older ladies came in for an afternoon lunch.  They were very inquisitive, and one of the ladies pulled him over to ask, “Where do vegans come from?”

Pulling her leg and in a bit of a hurry, Dan said, “From South Detroit.”

This only added more questions.

“So what does vegan mean?” the lady inquired.

“Vegan means no meat, no animal products or byproducts.”

“Oh,” said the lady.  “Why do the people in South Detroit want to do that?”

Well, I know, Dan.  And this South Detroitian (by way of Des Moines) couldn’t be more pleased to see creative, plant-based fare in Waterloo.

The ArtHouse Cafe is located at 225 Commercial Street in Waterloo.  They serve lunch Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00am until 2:00pm.

Scarfing in Southeast Iowa

6 Oct


At first glance, Fairfield looks like your basic small town Iowa community.  With a modest population of 9500, its quaint town square has an area for sitting and enjoying a picnic, and it’s surrounded by little shops and restaurants.  What comes next is a surprise.  In addition to the stores selling crafts and gift items, there are also massage centers and ayurvedic stores, a slew of vegetarian restaurants, and a health food store.  No doubt this is in large part because Fairfield is home to Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, which has a focus on holistic health.

My husband and I were traveling through Fairfield on our way to the American Gothic house in nearby Eldon, Iowa.  A craving for pizza was on my mind, and I’d heard good things about Revelations, a bookstore, coffee shop, and restaurant on Main Street.  Revelations has several rooms filled with used books, long tables for lingering with friends over coffee, and gift items to sell.  Food and coffee is ordered at the counter adjacent to their big brick oven for pizza-making.

I was looking over the menu and wavering between customizing my own pizza or sticking to the menu and ordering the one vegan pizza they have listed, Wilted Spinach.  Admittedly, the name doesn’t make it sound particularly appetizing.  Leaning towards choosing my own toppings, I asked the lady behind the counter if they put cheese in their pesto.  That’s when a customer next to me told me assuredly that they did.  I turned to look at him and noticed he was wearing a “Powered by tofu” t-shirt.  “Go with the Wilted Spinach.  It’s the best.”  He picked up his to-go box and away he went.  I always trust people in vegan novelty shirts, and so I said confidently, “I’ll take the Wilted Spinach.”

When our pizza arrived, it looked unlike any pizza I’d ever before seen.  It was topped with spinach, carrots, and caramelized onions.  Instead of traditional marinara or pesto, at its base layer it’s topped with a flavorful ginger sauce.  The pizza has an Asian bent, and the fire-roasted organic crust, hot out of their own brick oven, was the perfect backdrop for the flavors.  Each bite was a surprise of the unexpected– like Fairfield itself, I suppose.  The moist and smoky spinach enveloped in the warm ginger sauce took the mundane and spun it on its head.  I have to say, it was so unusual and one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had.  I also enjoyed a cup of their soup of the day, which was the vegan Asian Vegetable.  It had large chunks of vegetables with hints of ginger.

We took a quick walk around the block and peeked into a few stores selling artwork, spices, and kitchen goods, and then pointed the car towards Eldon, Iowa.  About a half an hour later we arrived at the little house that was the backdrop for Grant Wood’s American Gothic.  The modest house is adjacent to a small visitor’s center with a little museum inside, noting the history of the house, its appearances in other media, and a full set of costumes.  There’s no entry fee to the center (but donations are accepted), and they offer costumes and props that replicate those shown in the painting in sizes from baby through adult.  (Check out photos of several visitors here.  Even some canines got involved!)  It’s free to use the costumes, and one of the people working there will happily snap a photo.

Seeing the house in person was kind of like seeing a celebrity in Los Angeles.  After witnessing it many times over the years in the oft-printed painting and parodies aplenty, there it was in person looking just like it looks on the page.  (Or maybe it was like when I saw Sylvester Stallone…  Smaller than I thought it would be.)  It was really neat to see it in real life and take the opportunity to do some mugging of my own for the camera – or I suppose in the case of this picture, some glowering.

It doesn’t take long to see everything at the American Gothic house and there’s not much else to do in Eldon.  So after a half an hour or so, we were off, back on the highway, and ready for whatever the next adventure would bring.

Fostering Fungus – Growing My Own Oyster Mushrooms

4 Oct

Check out the time lapse photography my husband put together showcasing the growth of our Indian Oyster Mushroom Kit.

An inquisitive customer visits the Mushroom Mills stand at the farmers market.

My husband and I walked away from the mushroom kit stand at the Iowa City Farmers Market.  I carried a plastic bag full of straw in the form of a brick that had been colonized with mycelium.  Holding the large, weighty log, I felt like I was heading off with a new babe in arms, only this one came with a flier full of directions for future Indian oyster mushroom offspring.  That’s when I overheard a man next to me whisper with a laugh, “They bought one of those mushroom kits.”

At that moment I wondered about the ten dollars we’d just spent.  Was this the farmers market version of snipe hunting?  A fool’s errand that all of the locals know is an exercise in futility?  Did I just pay ten dollars for a garbage bag full of straw?

Still, this experiment was a long time coming.  I’d seen the mushroom kits several times before at the market, and it had been in my thoughts.  My growing experience is pretty limited.  I’ve never had a full-sized garden of my own, and I’d certainly never grown any fungus – at least not intentionally.  (There might have been a few experiments in the refrigerator and sink of my college kitchen, but that was entirely accidental…  But I’m getting distracted.)  I’d pondered about where I could keep the log without direct sunlight but not in total darkness.  I considered where it wouldn’t get too cold or too hot since Indian oyster mushrooms grow in temperatures between 65 to 85 degrees.  I decided that the workroom off of my garage would be the best place to keep it, where I could spritz it without worry, it wouldn’t get knocked over, and where the plastic bag beauty that it was also wouldn’t be the centerpiece of the room.

The owner of Mushroom Mills had told us that our kit had gotten a bit cold, and so I should leave it in a closet for a couple of days first.  So I left it on its own for two days before moving it to its final destination.  I put it on a shelf and covered it in a plastic bag to use as a tent that came with the kit.  Two skewers were inserted into the log to allow for more humidity around the fledgling ‘shrooms.   Mushroom Mills recommends spraying the colonized log with spring, well, or rainwater several times a day.  I used well water, and three or four times throughout the day I’d give it a good, thorough spritz.

After a few days, I could see the mushroom buds starting to form.  After a week, it was really taking off.  Every time I went down to spray the log, it seemed the mushrooms had grown even more, and each morning the mushrooms were noticeably larger than the day before.  Within two weeks they’d reached the size of 2-4 inches in diameter when it’s recommended to eat them.  I twisted the mushrooms at their base, and they plucked off easily.  By the time I was done, I’d almost filled a freezer bag with mushrooms.

Now round two of mushroom season can begin.  Supposedly the second flush gives considerably less mushrooms, and after that I can spread the log amongst wood chips, water frequently, and hope for the best on future growth.

This is an easy project that would be fun to do with kids or in a classroom.  It takes a small amount of time and effort, and it was a rewarding process all along the way.   I could see children really enjoying watching the quick leaps in growth that the mushrooms make, and it could be a way to get children to try a food that might be new to them.

As for my mushrooms’ culinary end, I started by making garlicky oyster mushrooms in red wine.  I cut the ends off of the mushrooms, minced an enormous clove of garlic, and sautéed the garlic in a bit of olive oil.  Then I added the mushrooms and covered them until they softened.  Once they started to stick, I added a generous spoonful of Earth Balance and a splash of Malbec.  After ten minutes, when the mushrooms were purple and golden, I served them with lemony baked tofu with rosemary and roasted delicata squash.

That night for dinner, I used several more of the mushrooms in a stir-fry with garlic, fresh grated ginger, red bell pepper slices, carrots, Anaheim pepper, bok choy, peanuts, celery, fresh basil and cilantro over wide rice noodles.  I added tamari and rice vinegar to taste for a spicy and satisfying meal.

With a simple Google search, I’ve noticed that mushroom kits are sprouting up at other farmers markets across the country.  For Iowa City locals, the Iowa City Farmers Market at the Chauncey Swan Ramp on the ground level at 410 E. Washington Street will continue through October 30th.  Mushroom Mills is usually there on Saturdays when the market is open from 7:30 am to 12 pm.

Iowa City: A True Gem in the Heartland

5 Jan

What I love most about Iowa City is that it is always evolving.  Perhaps it’s a product of being a college town.  Like the youth who appear there every fall, it grows with the times.  While one may think that we want our beloved places to stay the same, I love Iowa City because it changes, because it is revitalized, because when I visit I have something new to discover.

A liberal anomaly in the middle of farm country, Iowa City maintains bustling bookstores, coffee shops where friends mingle over hot beverages, and the smell of curry wafts out of Masala Indian Vegetarian Restaurant.  The downtown pedestrian mall, which bustles with students and locals in the spring, was rather empty on the frigid December day when I visited.

While on holiday I had the pleasure of dining at The Red Avocado, the state’s lone vegan restaurant.  In the daytime the restaurant is earthy and comfortable; at night with candles lit and a fire burning, it becomes moody and romantic.  We were there for happy hour, and they were serving a limited menu, in addition to wine, hot teas, tisanes, and coffee.

A cup of Lentil & Tomato Soup: $3.75

A cup of Coconut Corn Soup: $3.75

We ordered a deliciously creamy soy latte and cup of tea to thaw the chill of winter in our bones and followed that with a hot cup of soup for good measure.  I had the soup of the day, which was a lentil and tomato soup.  A cup of soup is $3.75 and a bowl is $6.50.  The spices were reminiscent of chili with just the right amount of seasoning.  Usually at home I make chili with several kinds of beans, but I’ll definitely be making my own lentil chili in the future after trying Red Avocado’s.

David had the Thai-inspired, Red Avocado-original, Coconut Corn Soup.  This sweet and creamy soup had bites of heat as it blended rich coconut milk with sweet corn, hot sauce, and tamari.

Iowa Barley and Black Bean Salad: $9.00

We then shared the Iowa Barley and Black Bean Salad.  A small salad is $5.00, and the full salad is $9.00.  On a bed of salad greens rested black beans, corn, tomatoes, and onions spiced with cumin and garlic, lime juice and jalepeno.   The salad was delicious, but on that icy day it would have been even better if the toppings had been warm over the salad greens.

After our bellies were satiated and spirits revived, we meandered across the street to the New Pioneer Co-op, the town’s natural foods store.  (Isn’t it telling that we call these types of places “natural foods stores”?  I think we should start calling conventional grocery stores selling products laden in high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, and hydrogenated oils their more appropriate name instead:  unnatural foods stores.)

The Co-op has a small deli counter in the back with both vegan and non-vegan options.  At their Coralville location they have a full seating area as well.  The Co-op sells freshly baked bread, fresh produce, a wide array of hummus, dolmas, dry and frozen goods, alcohol, and vegan specialty products.

I’d heard online about Vegan Cow cheeses, which are cashew-based cheeses made locally and sold at the Co-op, and I was eager to try their brie.   The brie is reminiscent of the Real Food Daily cheese in their cookbook.  Because of the agar-agar used as a coagulant it has a slightly gelatinous look, but the texture is creamy, especially when served warm.  The cheese is fairly mild on its own, and I think it would be best served with caramelized onions and thinly sliced apple or persimmon in a quesadilla or covered in preserves and warmed in a puff pastry.    (Vegan Cow cheeses are made at Fair Grounds Coffee, where they also serve vegan pastries.  Unfortunately, they were closed while we were in town, but I look forward to visiting them next time.)

Vegan Cow brie is also available on the pizza at The Wedge, which has two Iowa City locations, and they deliver.  We ordered from the The Wedge for dinner and were told on the phone that both of their crusts are vegan.  I was impressed by the variety of toppings offered, and we opted for a cheeseless pizza with artichoke hearts, red bell peppers, fresh garlic, tomato slices, and extra sauce.  The crust was chewy and the toppings tasted fresh.

No visit to Iowa City is complete without hitting the Iowa Artisans Gallery.  They sell handmade goods made by regional and national artists.  In a time when so many cities are cookie cutters of each other, the Artisans Gallery feels special and unique.  It’s a great place for buying handmade gifts, supporting artists, and finding something unusual.  While there I purchased a wooden salad serving set that will serve as a lovely reminder of a cold December day in a small town with a metropolitan air.

Who Says You Can’t Go Home?

4 Sep

Capitol Building

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.

D-lineAfter 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.

Ritual Cafe

Cafe seating

Vegan Grilled Vegetable Sandwich at Ritual CafeOutgoing 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.

New City MarketAfter 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.

Butternut Squash Risotto with Toasted Sage

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.

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