Tour Guide Part 2

Our awkward photo to prove we hung out.

This weekend I finally got to meet up with one of the amazing people I've meet via blogging,  Larissa. I lured Larissa to Portland with the promise of Voodoo donuts, Powells, shopping, and getting to meet my cute animals.

We did head out to the suburbs so we could check out the talked-up, newly opened, Native Foods Cafe. I tried the "chicken run ranch burger" (as did Larissa, great minds think alike!) and Colin ate the "Super Italian Meatball Sub." The chicken sandwich was good, the fries were seasoned and I might skip out on the seasoning next time (if they have plain) and just dip them in their delicious vegan ranch.  I, of course, had to try dessert and ordered the "Chocolate Love Pie." To preface, I am a total vegan-dessert-snob, & I have to say, ehh. It was only alright, I wouldn't order it again. But I did have a bite of Larissa's cupcake, and it was pretty tasty.

My sandwich

Colin's Sandwich

We had a lot of fun this weekend (despite the usual Portland rain) and spent Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday morning running all over city. The rest of the time we watched some silly movies and ate a lot of food. I've discovered from playing tour guide I need at least 3 to 4 full days in Portland to give a good tour. So Larissa, please come back soon!

Meal Planning

With the stress of school, Colin and I have been falling back into a combination of actual fast food and  "home" fast food (aka: comes from a box, takes only a few minutes to make)

I've never been a person who's able to say "We will eat this meal on this day" but I do find success in coming up with a list of meals, that way each day I can pick a meal that sounds good. The way our budget is structured is we start a new "food budget" on Thursdays (And that generally means I go grocery shopping on Fridays) Here is this weeks food plan for the rest of this budget:

Meals for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday


Dinners:
Dumpling soup*
Asian Tofu, steamed broccoli, rice
Twice Baked Potatoes and Pan Browned Brussels Sprouts
Homemade Pizza & Salad


* I only roughly follow this recipe, I alternate between using gnocchi instead of bisquick and then usually throw in a bag of frozen veggies or whatever fresh veggies I have laying around in the broth.


Colin and I are pretty big supporters of eating Total for breakfast (since it's fortified to get all your vitamins/minerals) but we sometimes add a little something extra on the side. I think I'll make this, then I cut it up and freeze it so that we just microwave a piece a day. 

With each week I generally try one new food, or give a food I formerly judged a second chance (this week it's brussels sprouts). I also try to have at least one meal be a quick/low maintenance meal. This week the soup falls under that since it's easy to just throw the ingredients in the pot and walk away.


(Comic by Natalie Dee)

Pizza Deliciousness!

I am horrible at waiting! I am anxiously waiting to hear back from someone and it's supposed to happen today or tomorrow. Once I do I'll share the exciting news (No, it's not a baby!)

We bought a tomato and strawberry plant from New Seasons yesterday with our gift card that I won over at Your Vegan Mom. I also tried someone of their delicious premade pizza dough and whipped up this last night:

Yum! Daiya cheese, green peppers, olives, and Lightlife Sausage. If I made it again I probably would use a little less Daiya on my half (since Colin liked the Daiya/Pizza ratio)

Speaking of delicious local veggies, I am loving this poster!

I also really love this jumper dress, although I admit I might also like it because her tattoos make it look extra cute!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Bacon, foe or friend?

These last couple weeks I've totally been on a cooking adventure. I made made first "soup" and ventured into "fake bacon." Anyone who knows me might find this amusing, since I really don't like regular bacon (yes, I know this is blasphemy to some people) But ready? I really like fake bacon. It has a slightly different texture, but still the same good salty taste. We used Turtle Island Tempeh Smoky Maple Marinated Bacon. While other Tofurky products have not made the cut, this one totally did and made a killer sandwich. I tried Veganaise (Which actually smells exactly like mayo, it's creepy!) as well. I know, look at me, Ms. Adventurous! The result was this killer sandwich on a pub bun made by a local Portland company:

My second accomplishment was this slightly modified Vegan Dumpling Soup. I followed this recipe, but added a boiled potato chopped up as well as some frozen peas and carrots. Oh my gosh, seriously amazing. Perfect for the rainy days that are still creeping in here in Portland.

In other non-cooking news:

- I saw the book "World of Geekcraft" in person at Crafty Wonderland, and am totally in love with it. It even  has it's own website here! You can download one of their projects (pow! zap! magnets) via PDF at the Craft Blog.

- Has anyone who's gotten married recently used an Amazon registry? We did it in addition to our Target registry. I liked that it has a universal capability so you can add stuff from any website.

Vegan Eats

When we moved to pretty much the mecca of vegan eating, I decided I really should keep track of the places we eat. I know that for me, Portland is almost overwhelming of it's options. I moved from a city that had just a handful of places that were vegan-friendly. So without further ado,  I present: vegan eats.

This will be a frequently edited list of vegan places I've discovered in Portland. Yes, there are many vegan resources on the web for Portland (one of the best obviously, stumptown vegans). But, I figured if I was going to write about it on here, I might as well do it in an organized fashion.

As I update, I'll make a new post, but I'll always link it to this original post.  Note, most of the places are not exclusively vegan, but offer at least one vegan option. This list right now is just a small list of places offering vegan eats that I want to try, it has lots of room to grow!  I also separated out food stands. As the list grows I'll implement further organization.

Acme Donuts - 2929 SE Powell Blvd

Back to Eden - 2217 NE Alberta St

Bay Leaf Restaurant - 4768 SE Division St

Bella Faccia Pizzeria - 2934 NE Alberta Street

Black Sheep Cafe - 523 NE 19th Ave

Blossoming Lotus - 1713 Northeast 15th Avenue

Chaos Cafe - 2620 SE Powell Blvd

Cup and Saucer - 3000 NE Killingsworth (multiple locations)

Dick's Kitchen - 3312 Southeast Belmont Street

Dots - 2521 SE Clinton St

Dovetail Bakery - 3039 NE Alberta St

Hammy's Pizza - 2114 SE Clinton

Hot Lips (multiple locations)

Hungry Tiger Too - 207 SE 12th Ave

Jam on Hawthorne - 2239 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Junior's Cafe - 1742 SE 12th Ave

Kettleman Bagel Company - 2200 Broadway

Laughing Planet (Multiple Locations)

Laurelthirst Pub - 2958 NE Glisan St

Le Cookie Monkey - 3015 SE Berkeley Pl

Liberty Glass - 938 N Cook St

Mississippi Pizza - 3552 N Mississippi Ave

No fish Go fish - 3962 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Papa G's - 2314 SE Division St

Paradox Cafe - 3439 SE Belmont St

Pepinos - 3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Portobello Vegan Trattoria - 1125 SE Division St

Red and Black Cafe - 400 SE 12th Ave

Sizzle Pie - 624 E Burnside

Sweet Lemon Vegetarian Bistro - 4888 NW Bethany Blvd

Sweetpea Baking Company - 1205 SE Stark Ave

Thai Food Cafe - 833 N Killingsworth Ave

The Bye and Bye - 1205 SE Stark Ave

Tin Shed - 1438 NE Alberta St

Vege Thai - 3272 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Vegetarian House - 22 NW 4th Ave

Vita Cafe - 3023 NE Alberta St

Voodoo Doughnut Too - 1501 NE Davis St

Wild Abandon - 2411 SE Belmont St






Food Carts



Biscuit Bike - 3315 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Bro-Dog - SW 5th Ave and SW Stark St

Chili Pie Palace - SW 3rd and Washington St

Dreamer's Cafe - SW 5th St

El Nutri Taco - 8438 SE Woodstock

Homegrown Smoker BBQ - SW4th and College

Lickity Split - NW 10th and Hoyt

Lucielle's Balls - 43rd and Belmont

Native Bowl - N Mississippi Ave & N Skidmore St

Off the Griddle - 4926 SE Division St

Open Heart Cafe - 23rd and Alberta

Oregon Ice/Soupworks - 3221 SE Division

Potato Champion - SE 12th Ave and Hawthorne Blvd

Shelly's Garden Burritos - SW Broadway and Yamhill St

Sip (Vegan Milkshakes!) - 3029 SE 21st Ave

Son of Flavour - NE Fremont St and N Mississippi Ave

Sonny Bowl - 430 SW 3rd Ave

Taqueria Los Gorditos - SE 50th Ave and SE Division

The Ruby Dragon - 4233 N. Mississippi

TREATmachine - 20th and Morrison SE

Whiffies - SE 12th and SE Hawthorne Blvd

Kitchen Post - Vegan Taquitos

Tonight we decided to make homemade vegan taquitos!

For the recipe I bought:
- 1 can black beans
- 1 can corn
- fancy packaged corn tortillas
- mozzarella Daiya "cheese"

After cooking the black beans and corn I placed a spoonful of each on the tortilla and sprinkled just a bit of Daiya on top (for some cheezy-creaminess)

Rolled them up, and passed them on to my handsome assistant, who fried them up!

And for the finished product, I whipped up some Spanish Rice (nothing fancy, just a box mix) and my favorite Tortilla Chips & Salsa on the side -

vegan reverse peanut butter cups.

roughly based off the recipe in Alicia Silverstone's book, The Kind Diet.

too bad i've been way to barfy to eat any.

close up for drooling purposes:

pumpkin roll with cream cheese frosting

I love baking. So this morning when I had no plans and I was stuck at home unable to move much because of my back, I realized I could bake. I didn't have to move around a lot and could use the mixer for any stirring. Thus....

Pumpkin Cake Roll with Cream Cheese Frosting