Veganmofo- Daily Planet

I e-mailed the Daily Planet http://www.dailyplanet15.com/ to inquire about the vegan options that they offer.
The Daily Planet

15 Center St.
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-9647

This is what they said:

Hi Lindsay

These are our vegan options:

Field Greens – Mixed baby greens dressed with your choice of balsamic vinaigrette 5.00


Thai Peanut Noodles – Fresh garden vegetables and linguini tossed in a spicy peanut sauce 7.00

Marinated Portabella Sandwich – Served on sundried tomato focaccia with basil pesto and fresh mozzarella. Accompanied by a spinach-roasted red pepper salad, in a balsamic vinaigrette 8.00(w/out the cheese)

Citrus Caponata Eggplant, red plums, blood oranges, figs and walnuts. Over a savory, rosemary-cracked pepper waffle 18.00 (without the waffle)

Thank you for your interest
Kristi
The Daily Planet

Veganmofo- another survey

1.. Favorite non-dairy milk?
I really like the Kirkland brand (Costco) Vanilla soymilk but lately we have been buying Westsoy which is pretty good

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Oh I have about a million recipes that I am planning to make I will however be making green bean casserole, pumpkin whoppie pies and lots of curry

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
salt, nutritional yeast, and chili powder and cumin.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
lentil soup first attempt it was just awful.

5. Favorite pickled item?
green beans.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
clutter

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
compost, recycle and trash when there is no other option

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?
chickpeas, pasta and garlic

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
mom’s monkey bread at every holiday ….yumm I wish there were vegan prepackaged biscuits 

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
purely decadent turtle something rather

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
cuisinart immersion blender

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
cumin

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
I don’t know ……my first vegan one however was vegan with a vengeance

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
raspberry jam

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
hmmmm …..curry?

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
I use tofu the most because it is the least expensive however I enjoy tempeh and seitan they all have their place.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Dinner.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
nothing there is a cupboard above it

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
edamame, frangelico, eggplant

20. What’s on your grocery list?
um about a million things I need to go shopping

21. Favorite grocery store?
Healthy Living

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.
doughnuts

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
I bloglines so I view about 500 food blogs a day my favorites however are vegan yum yum and how to feed a vegan

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
dagoba

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
umm….i have no idea.

And another questionnaire since I am bored and exhausted at work

1. If you have to choose between locally grown or organic, which do you usually choose?
local and organic haha ….probably local

2. Favorite way to prepare potatoes:
mashed

3. Do you press your tofu before preparing/cooking it (if you eat soy)?
not really. I miss the tofu you could get in Canada that isn’t waterpacked

4. Name your favorite recipe that is a tradition in your family:
green bean casserole

5. Any food allergies?
No.

6. When you want to go to a fancy dinner, where do you go?
A Single Pebble

7. When you have a cold, what do you crave?
Soup and Chili

8. What kind of water do you drink? (Filtered, spring, tap, etc.)
Filtered

9. Name a flavor of soda you’d love to see:
I don’t know?

10. If the recipes you ate as a child were compiled into a cookbook, what would the title be?
I will get back to you on that one

11. If you were allowed to grow one food that can’t grow in your climate, what would it be?
pineapple

12. Favorite type of mushroom?
portobello

13. Most frustrating part of your kitchen?
NO DISHWASHER not enough counters no vent over the stove

14. Last food you burned?
popcorn

15. Usual response to a veg*n’s favorite question, “But where do you get your protein?”:
lame question…moving on

16. If you were baking your own birthday cake today, what flavor would it be?
chai

17. Favorite brand of chocolate chips?
I don’t know

18. You have $200 of your tax return reserved for Williams Sonoma- What do you buy?
ooo there are too many things

19. Do you plan your menus in advance? Any tips to share?
I try and plan a menu at the start of the week based on what we have in our cupboards, what we desire and the new recipes that I have found

20. You have 3 minutes before you have to leave the house and you’re starving- What do you eat?
cliff bar

21. If Martha Stewart, Paula Deen, and Rachel Ray got into a fight, who would win?
Martha she went to jail she probably scrapped some there haha

22. If you eat oatmeal, what do you add to it before serving?
soy milk and raisins

23. If you got to travel to one country and learn all the traditional dishes there, where would you go (ignore commitments in your current place of residence)?
spain

24. Favorite late night snack?
spring rolls

25. Favorite springtime food?
asparagus

26. Favorite food-related magazine?
Veg News

27. Which do you prefer: shoyu, tamari, conventional soy sauce, or Bragg’s Aminos?
tamari.

28. What vegetable or fruit do you dislike the most?
baby corn

29. Name a holiday food you look forward to all year long:
green bean casserole

30. If you could convert anyone to veganism with your magic wand, who would you convert?
neil’s parents

Veganmofoing- break for a few days

Neil and I will be taking a break from blogging for a few days as his parents are visiting from New Brunswick. As well I am exhausted and did not cook yesturday because we decided to take a 2.5 hour (each way) road trip to Northampton, MA to see Okkervil River and the What Cheer Brigade

both were amazing. There was also another band- Crooked Fingers- but they were awful I took a nap during their set.

Anyways with such busy events going on there has been little time for cooking however Neil and I are going to be going to dinner with his parents while they are here since they don’t care much for vegan eats and we will be heading to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown (where there is nowhere for us to dine) but we will let you know about our dining adventures upon our return.

Veganmofo: We have a CSA share with Pete's Greens!

I have just been notified that we were able to get a CSA share with Pete’s Greens. We will be splitting this share with another couple as the fall-winter share is veggies and localvore products and although they can make the share vegetarian they are unable to make it vegan so there will be eggs and dariy products, however the couple we are splitting with are willing to take the animal products in exchange for vegan localvore products. Neil and I have wanted to do this for awhile and we are so excited about it. For $23 a week for 17 weeks we will be receiving localvore products and local organic vegetables how can you not love it. I find that this will be really inspiring to take on the challenge of using produce that is either foreign to us or not something we use in our everyday lives.

Mid-November Example Share
2 Festival Winter Squash
¾ lb. Winter Greens
1 Bunch Kale
2 lb. Ailsa Craig Onions
2 lb. Carrots
1 lb. Pac Choi
2 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes
1 Napa Cabbage
5 lb. Rolled Oats
Other products that will be taken by the other couple:
1 Dozen Eggs
½ lb. Jasper Hill Clothbound Cheddar

Visit http://www.petesgreens.com/ for more information

Veganmofo- Kismet Kitchen

Another great place that Neil failed to mention is Kismet Kitchen on Barre Street in Montpelier. Although neither vegan nor vegetarian they are very accommodating to your individual dietary needs and even have vegan crepes. It is absolutely amazing for breakfast and trust me you will leave and need to unbutton the top of your pants, untuck your shirt and loosen your belt. They are open
breakfast
brunch
and lunch…….
wednesday through sunday 8-3
(kitchen closes at 2:45)
Also be aware that is Cash or Check only! No cards!

“when the work we do is motivated by our best intentions, we are ultimately rewarded
with the divine gifts of inspiration, joy, and pleasure.
As we devote more and more of each day to this good work, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to better ourselves and our community.
At kismet, we believe that through our intimate relationships with local farmers, individual customers and clients, our staff, and our neighbors, we are able to feed ourselves with the abundance that surrounds us. We use food as our medium, like artists, musicians, or healers, to keep us engaged and connected to our vision.
Using as much local food as we can, sourcing all of our other ingredients, and making as much as we can from scratch (like butter, ketchup, mustard, and kombucha), we have the ability to control and maintain the quality and intimacy of the food we are serving.
Sure, it’s just food- but we’re sure that its good food,
and it sure does feel good making it.” (Kismet Kitchen Website- http://kismetkitchen.com/default.aspx)

VeganMofo- Italian Tomato Sauce

Yesterday Neil and I had my parents and grandma down for lunch. I made some yummy tomato sauce to go along with the salad and apple crisp my mom brought.
The sauce was adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen (copyright 1977)

Saute in a large pot:
3T olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1T minced garlic
3t italian spice
2 bay leaves
2 t salt
1/2 lb coarsely chopped mushrooms
1/2 c nutritional yeast

when onions are clear and very soft, add:
1-28oz can of roasted tomatoes
1- 13oz can of diced italian tomoatoes
2T red wine
2t sugar

Turn the heat way down. Cover and simmer for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Vegan MoFo: Review of my favourite vegan friendly restaurants in Vermont

Since moving to Vermont from Fredericton, NB, Canada, I must say that I feel rather spoiled by the great options for veg*n dining throughout Vermont. In Fredericton, there were very few options available to vegans (for the most part french fries/salad and the occasional boca type veggie burger) and what was available was often bland and uninspiring. I’m not a food critic, so I won’t go into too many details, but here’s a quick run down of some of the Vermont restaurants that my my partner, Lindsay, and I enjoy eating at as vegans are:

Stone Soup
College St
Burlington, Vermont
This vegan friendly counter service restaurant has a great, always fresh salad bar, a number of veg*n friendly hot and cold sandwiches and fresh vegan baked goods! I love the vegan macaroons and the Vegan club sandwich!

Bee’s Knees
Morrisville, Vermont
http://www.thebeesknees-vt.com/
The Bee’s Knees is a small, locally run cafe in Morrisville, Vermont with a really welcoming, community oriented feel to it. They often have many different veg*n dishes including great salads and sandwiches. My favourites are the mock pulled pork (mushrooms and eggplant i believe) and the tofu breakfast sandwiches (I love being able to get vegan breakfast that consists of more than just homefries). The menu indicates which options are vegan friendly and which can be made vegan friendly on request. They have local music acts playing there fairly regularly as well.

A Single Pebble
http://www.asinglepebble.com/intro.htm
Classical Chinese cuisine in downtown Burlington. Offers many traditional Chinese dishes including many veg*n options including my favourites mock eel (made from mushrooms) and the Buddha’s Beef (made from seitan).

Ocha/Royal Orchid
Waterbury/Montpelier, Vermont
These two Thai restaurants are owned by the same family. Both restaurants seem to have very similar menus with slight variations between the two. They have many veg*n dishes and are willing to make changes to other dishes to accommodate veg*n customers as well. The menu is split into curries, noodle dishes, rice dishes and vegetable/stir fry dishes with your choice of tofu or meat. We usually start off our meal with the fresh rolls which is a soft rice paper roll with tofu, rice noodles and just a taste of mint with a nice light sweet and sour sauce for dipping. It’s a nice light and fresh start to the meal. The entrees we have had are the pad ki mao (my personal favourite, a wide rice noodle dish with thai basil and chilli), brocolli and tofu in a nice creamy peanut sauce, penang and massuman curries (personal favourites at home when my parnter cooks them and both very well done by the restaurants) and the pad thai (with no fish sauce or eggs). The pad thai is closer to a traditional pad thai than what people in New Brunswick knew as pad thai (spicy peanut sauce with rice noodles). While the Waterbury location seems to be a bit pricier, it also has a nicer atmosphere than the Montpelier location and I typically find the food to be a little better. Entrees are typically in the $10 range while the appetizers are in the $3 to $5 range.

Pacific Rim
Burlington, Vt
Pacific Rim is one of my favourite spots to eat when we’re in Burlington. It is a mainly Korean Asian restaurant in downtown Burlington. There is a good selection of salads/appetizers and main courses that are veg*n friendly. The food is fresh, flavourful and very affordable. They also have a good drink menu with asian takes on popular drinks and lots of ginger! It’s a very informal seat yourself sort of atmosphere with fairly decent service considering how busy things can get there.

Magnolia Bistro
Burlington, Vermont
Hidden away in downtown Burlington is Vermont’s only truly green restaurant, Magnolia Bistro. Magnolia focuses on eco-friendly, fair trade, local and organic foods and offers a twist on regular breakfast and lunch fare. They have many veg*n friendly options and the menu indicates what is vegan or can be adapted to be vegan. Some of the veg*n options you can order vegan french toast, substitute eggs for tofu in breakfast dishes or if you’re not in a breakfast mood go for a garbanzo burger. The food is fresh tasting, well seasoned and fairly affordable considering the quality of ingredients used.

Time to wrap up this entry as my bus home is due to arrive any moment. Hope that some of you can elaborate more on veg*n friendly places to eat in and around Vermont or even provide more insight on the places I’ve decided to mention!

Neil