"Best Day EVER" as my youngest would say

Beautiful weather, early morning workout, husband took the girls to school, had my haircut (by an amazing hairstylist, Ritchie at Lather) and then met a friend for lunch.  Cant think of a better way to start the day.

Lunch - one of my favorite places - Super Pan.  I so enjoy their vegan BBQ tofu sandwich on a coconut bun with cabbage and cilantro.  The BBQ sauce is out of this world, spicy with a touch of sweet, accompanied by crystallized sugar on top.  Put that together with cilantro and a soft gooey bread and you have one hell of a sandwich.  Each bite melts in your mouth with a taste that is perfectly balanced between sweet and spicy.  I ate there a couple of times but never asked if the sandwich was officially "vegan".  But I got my nerve up after starting this blog.  I had reasoned with myself, that I would enjoy and eat it either way, but it would be nice to report on my blog that it was vegan.  I almost hugged the guy who was taking my order and who informed me that it was INDEED vegan.  Sweet!  This is another place that a vegan can get an outstanding, satisfying meal and any accompanying meat eater will be equally satisfied with their meal - the rest of the menu has plenty of meat options.
http://www.superpanlatinosandwichshop.com/

After Lunch-  Atlanta Food Trucks at Sweet Auburn Curb Market (will be there every last Friday of the month).  I have been reading about the Atlanta Food Truck movement in Atlanta and could not wait to check them out.  These creative entrepreneurs are trying to bring a concept to Atlanta that many other cities already get to experience.  For some reason, our city laws are not conducive to this business.  To learn more go to http://www.atlantastreetfood.com/.  (I wont pretend to understand it.)  But in the meantime you can check these food trucks out at certain times and locations.  On to my experience - really fun, happy energy as everyone lined up to try exciting food.  The first sign I saw was inspiring, they were selling tamales, and the first type to sell out was the vegetarian.  Go veggie!

Farm Mobile was another cool concept - a truck filled with local farmer's good.  I walked into the truck to do my shopping - organic bok choy and H&F Bread company loaf of bread.
www.grassfedcow.com/farmmobile.html

One food truck I was most interested in finding was Grace's Goodness.  I stumbled upon her site and immediately was drawn to her philosophy: "Grace’s Goodness was founded on the notion that honest, healthy, local food should be accessible to all."  Love it.  And, I found her.  She was full of goodness and fun energy - she had amazing vegan hummus, and homemade pimento cheese (not vegan).  I will be tracking her down again soon to refill my mason jars.  http://www.gracesgoodness.com/  Husband and both girls enjoyed the pimento cheese.

Good Food was another truck that I cant wait to try out.  We had already eaten lunch, but I cant wait to find them again and try one of their waffle cones filled with indian fare.

BEST day EVER!!

http://goodfoodtruckatl.com/

Dessert - 2 amazing finds!

I know, I know sugar is not healthy.  But sometimes a girl needs some sugar.  (And for some of us, that means daily)  So here are two AMAZING treats I buy.  The chocolate bar is just for momma, and the ice cream is for all of us.  The girls devour it.  And BOTH are VEGAN.  Surprise!!

Both are from Trader Joes - who by the way, keeps adding new amazing vegan products
One more note, husband loves the chocolate as much as I do.

Microwave or not to microwave?

I dont know...  That is such a big debate, I wont go into the reasons microwaves may or may not be harmful.  (Just search the web)  But I do know, I want to promote whole, healthy unprocessed food.  And, every time I use our microwave I definitely dont "feel" good about it.  For some reason, I just cant break the quick and easy habit with our microwave sitting in our kitchen.  So, I went out and bought a convection toaster oven.  (We did not have any type of toaster.)  I finally pulled our microwave out of its built in cabinet and got it to our counter top where I had to leave it until my husband could take it to our basement.  I was able to fit the new toaster oven into the same space.  Voila!  No more microwave.  Now to discuss the decision with my husband :)!  He was up for trying life without a microwave.  Unfortunately it was still on our counter top the next morning when he got up to fix oatmeal for our girls.  Hilarious moment when I walked down that morning to see the microwave busy heating up said oatmeal, and husbands guilty face!  Afterwards he did take it to the basement, and so far we have not missed it.
Oatmeal is now prepared on the stove top.

BEFORE

AFTER

Two little cooks are born...

Continuing on with asking what the girls would like to create in the kitchen, my oldest made a delicious sandwich for her lunchbox this morning- leftover avocados mushed with a little vegan mayonnaise spread on one piece of organic whole wheat bread, on the other she spread hummus, then laid spinach on top.   My heart swelled with pride!

Involving the Girls...

The Girls' Creation!

Adult Dinner!

As a reluctant cook, it stresses me out even more to have my little ones "help".  But with my intent to make food fun, I have decided to involve the girls more.  The girls absolutely love a recipe one night, then  a week later and they hate it.  As I was thinking of what to make for dinner and they told me my idea were awful, I began to tell them about my new website - Veggin Around.  I asked if they would like to help me with the site and if they could create a recipe.  The response was an overwhelming "Yes".   My littlest immediately began:  "I would like a plate full of pasta, then lettuce on top then FRESH tomatoes."  Fresh in her definition are large red tomatoes sliced horizontally.  She doesnt know that not all tomatoes are fresh :)  I immediately began- I sauteed fresh spinach and tomatoes with a little veggie broth, salt and pepper.  Cooked up some pasta,  threw that in with the spinach and tomatoes and added some pine nuts I had laying around.  Fabulous.  For my daughters, I gave them plates of pasta, laid out the spinach and tomatoes and let them build their creation.  (They did not want their veggies cooked.)  This was a super simple recipe that EVERYONE devoured!  (My husband did add a piece of grilled chicken.)

Spring Time Cookout

What does a vegan do when invited to a backyard cookout?  Well, the easy answer is to bring the frozen vegan Morningstar (or all the other brands out there) veggie burgers.  Bring a box over and you are done!  But, on my new adventure I wanted to try something different.  Something EASY yet tasty and filling.  I found a recipe on WholeFoods app.  Pineapple Ginger Rice with Edamame.
Recipe:

3/4 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 tablespoons brown rice miso or light yellow miso
4 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups shelled edamame
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh pineapple
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Directions

In a large, deep skillet, bring broth and ginger to a simmer over medium high heat; simmer for 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and whisk in miso. Return to heat, add rice, edamame and pineapple, toss gently and cook until liquid is absorbed and rice is hot throughout, 3 to 5 minutes more. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Wow!  It passed my test of easy, tasty and filling.  Now on to others - I received several unsolicited comments asking who made this and wow, it is good.  My daughter liked it and my husband liked it.  And, no one realized it was missing animal products.  Success.

Another person brought an excellent quinoa salad.  I will have to say I liked it better than my rice dish. So here is it:

Black Bean Quinoa Salad

2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa (put 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water in a pot w/ some salt.  heat to boiling, stir and lower to simmer for about 15 minutes or till all liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a bowl, and stir to help cool, or put in fridge for a bit).

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup finely diced tomato (about 4)
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (about 3)
2 teaspoons light agave nectar
1 teaspoon canola or olive oil
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup finely chopped scallions

Toast cumin seeds in a small dry skillet over low heat for about 5 minutes, tossing often.
Transfer to a bowl and add tomatoes, lime juice, agave, oil, and salt.  mix well.
When the quinoa has cooled, pour dressing over it and stir.
Add black beans, and scallions.

from the book on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Appetite-Reduction-Filling-Low-Fat-Recipes/dp/1600940498

"Super Duper" Dinner, Mama

What?  Really? I did it!  A meal both girls, my husband and I ALL enjoyed.  My youngest asked for seconds and said it was "super duper."  It was easy to do once I got all the ingredients together.  A couple of notes, next time I would use regular broccoli instead of broccolini - "too much stalk" per my husband.  And, on every recipe, I always try to reduce the oil as much as possible.  I only used 1.5 Tbs for the pesto.  I used a spray olive oil to coat the pan for broccolini.  (I previously tried the pesto with less than 1.5 Tbs oil and it did not turn out.  And, the recipe below served 2 adults and 2 children.  So, drum roll please... Here is the recipe from Vegan Yum Yum:
http://veganyumyum.com/2007/05/pistachio-arugula-pesto-with-penne-and-sauteed-broccolini/

Pistachio Arugula Pesto with Penne and Sauteed Broccolini

Pistachio Arugula Pesto with Penne and Sauteed Broccolini
Serves 2
8 Stalks Broccolini
2 Cups Dry Penne
2 Tbs Olive Oil
Pepper
1/2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 Pinch Salt
Pistachio Arugula Pesto – Serves four
1/2 Cup Roasted, Unsalted Pistachios
2 Tbs Sweet White Miso
1 Pinch Salt
2 Cups Arugula
4-5 Tbs Olive Oil
Fresh Cracked Pepper

Start cooking pasta, then pulse pistachios, salt, miso a few times in food processor, add roughly chopped arugula and add olive oil (I used grapeseed oil and only 1.5Tbs).  Do not process until pasta is finished.
I sauted broccolini (or broccoli) in hot pan with salt and vinegar, lightly brown. 
Once I drained the pasta and processed the pesto, I put the pasta back in the hot pot and mixed in the pesto.  I plated the pasta and put broccolini on top.  Timing all of that proved a little challenging for me, but hopefully with practice I will get the hang of it!!

One of my favorite lunch places

The other day I found myself driving around Atlanta running a lot of necessary but mindless errands after a pretty hard workout that morning.   I realized I was starving, not the kind of oh, I can get a quick smoothie and be fine, or maybe a nice salad.  I wanted something that would sustain me and that was really, really good.  I knew exactly - the veggin out sandwich at Lotta Frutta in the Old Forth Ward.  I was on the other side of town but drove all the way there to get this amazing sandwich.  I asked them to leave off the cheese, and I have them replace the sprouts with micro greens.  It has an amazing creamy avocado spread, and tomatoes, toasted like a panni and the bread is out of this world.  Note - I have not asked if the bread is vegan - will do so on next trip.  But regardless this sandwich is amazing.  And, you can't beat the atmosphere, fun people, bright colors and a place I love to hang out and enjoy my food.  As an added bonus - creative smoothies and fruit cups to complement the sandwich.  My husband, and one daughter approve also.

Fast Food Find

I may have won the best wife award today.  As we were driving back from Birmingham, after seeing our favorite band (WSP), I asked my husband to keep driving and get off on the Moreland exit.  He was in for a surprise.  I directed him to Glenwood and Moreland and asked him to pull into a CHICKEN SAUSAGE fast food stand called Delias.  He thought I had lost my mind.  Delia's is fast food, but made with fresh, handcrafted locally sourced ingredients including the chicken, and buns from H&F bread company.  But, the real reason I checked out a fast food place is that every biscuit and slinger has a vegetarian or VEGAN option.  Seriously!  My husband was in heaven, and I had great options too. He said his chicken biscuit was amazing.  I ordered the Gunn Slinger with outstanding guacamole, salsa, jalapeno slices and vegan sausage.  The bread and toppings were amazing, truly "handcrafted".  I tried the vegan sausage, and for vegan sausage it was good, but for me, I really just dont like any of the "vegan" meats.  I took the sausage off and enjoyed the guacamole and salsa sandwich.  So if you are a vegan and want to make a meat eater really, really happy - Take them to Delias and you can enjoy your meal too. 

Score - a fast food restaurant with healthy options in ATLANTA!!