Return to Tasty Harmony

I've raved about Tasty Harmony before. The all vegetarian/99% vegan restaurant is a go to for local, organic, delicious food. We stopped by weekend before last and I fell in love with a salad. Which is kind of awkward since Bobby was right there. It's called "The Meal". On their website, it is described as "Two living sunflower croquettes over baby salad greens, red and green cabbage, shredded carrots, shredded beets, avocado, tomatoes and shaved red onions. Comes with a side of our Green Onion Tahini Dressing." A synonymous description could be "Pure raw veggie goodness". Here is a slightly blurry cell phone pic of it.

I included my hand as a size reference. This thing was definitely a meal

I had the chilled hibiscus tea to wash it all down. That green onion tahini dressing was so good. I think that tahini is almost as magical as bananas. I have yet to eat anything with tahini that didn't taste amazing. Those sunflower croquettes were also good enough to warrant such a fussy name. They crumbled nicely and served as a much healthier version of a crouton.

Tasty Harmony has specials that change often, and on this visit they were featuring a stuffed poblano pepper plate with their cashew cheese and vegan sour cream. It was also very good. It was similar to a chile relleno, but not quite. It wasn't my favorite relleno type dish, but it was definitely up there.

 Tasty Harmony rolled out their summer menu, so I'm sure we'll be visiting them a time or two over the next few months. In the meantime, I want to own whatever machine shredded the beets in my salad. I would never cook again, I'd just shred everything. This might be why I shouldn't own such a machine...

Tasty, Tasty Harmony

There is an all vegetarian, predominantly vegan restaurant that we love, called Tasty Harmony. I had to share these pictures of the insanely delicious food they have, even though said pictures are from my phone and, as a result, a bit blurry. All of the food pictured here is totally vegan, and completely wonderful.

 Vegan quesadillas with black beans, yam, and assorted veggies, drizzled with vegan sour cream and cashew  cheese.

 Yam with chocolate chili, drizzled with more vegan sour cream and cashew cheese. Topped with chopped green onions.

But this, this is my favorite- nachos with jackfruit "pulled pork", black beans, vegan sour cream, cashew cheese, guac, pico de gallo, and homemade chips.

If you ever have the chance to try out jackfruit prepared as meat, please do so. Jackfruit is crazy, in that the texture is so similar to pulled pork/brisket. If you get the kind canned in brine, it's not sweet, and you can marinate it in/rub it with whatever spice you want. I'm still trying to find some jackfruit around here so that I can try out a jackfruit recipe. Colorado doesn't have nearly as many Asian groceries as Texas, so I'm hoping to pick some up at the huge Asian World Market in Dallas when I'm back in Texas.

"Chicken" Fried "Steak"

The other night I was planning on using up the last slices of my favorite mock meat- Field Roast brand, Celebration Roast variety. I was going to serve it with homemade vegan gravy, dill carrots, and fresh green beans with lemon dressing. I then thought to myself "self, remember how terrible you were at frying those beet latkes? Let's give frying another try". Thus I found myself making "chicken" fried "steak" two nights ago. And oh good gadzooks, it was fabulous. Considering the fact that I have never chicken fried anything, and I've only fried anything once before- those beet latkes- I was well aware that I could have been ruining dinner, and wasting Field Roast. So I was extra thankful when it turned out.

 You can use Ener-G egg replacer and mix it with almond milk, and if you'd like extra crunch roll it in some crackers/bread crumbs instead of/in addition to  flour. I found the wheat flour I used worked just fine. I seasoned the wet and dry mixture with ground sage/salt/pepper and cayenne. Dipping wet/dry/wet/dry really helps make things extra crispy.

I fried these in coconut oil, not deep fried, just enough to coat the bottom of a pan. After I took out the cutlets I sprinkled flour in the oil, dumped in some milk, and added seasonings to taste- this is just like how my mom makes gravy, but since she's using the drippings from actual meat there is already quite a bit of seasoning and depth of flavor, so you'll have to adjust for that and add more spices. The carrots were just steamed and sprinkled with dill, the green beans were steamed and the whole pot was drizzled with maybe half a teaspoon of lemon goddess dressing. Just enough to coat and impart some flavor, pepper to taste.

I'm going to try marinating portabella mushrooms in a steak marinade, and then frying them like chicken fried steak in the future. But in the far, far distant future, because we usually don't eat fried foods at all, so it will be a while. I'm biased but I think the Field Roast Celebration Roast is probably your best bet for this approach- either that or making your own "wheat meat". My local Whole Foods sells them for $7, but I slice it into ten pieces and it feeds Bobby and I both for 2 meals and one leftover lunch. Fake meats- even all natural ones like Field Roast- are still treats for us because whole, protein rich foods like lentils, beans, and nuts are still cheaper in bulk and we like that they're less processed. When we buy things like Celebration Roast it's more like they are a side dish complement to the vegetables, not vice versa. This gives us some variety but keeps costs down.

Good luck experimenting with vegan chicken fried steak!

Sloppy Joes, Now with Lentils!

I made these a bit before we left on vacation, but I didn't work my way towards a post before we left, so instead I'll use them as an "I'm returning from vacation!" post. The recipe can be found here on Vegweb.com, a favorite site of mine. I had seen this before, and passed it over since I never loved sloppy joes that much when I ate meat, and I had never thought to replace them with a meat free substitute. But then one of my favorite frugal bloggers, Cate, featured this recipe on her blog, and it looked so good I had to try it out. The shining star of this meal is the sloppy joe sauce, made totally from scratch. I think it would be fantastic as a marinade for tofu or portabella mushrooms, or if you eat meat it would work really well with chicken.

 I really cannot express enough how absolutely delicious this sauce was. The smell was incredible. This is right before I mixed it all together, I liked the way the mustard and blackstrap molasses looked swirled together. As a side note, blackstrap molasses is a nutritional powerhouse. In one tablespoon, it has 20% of your DV of iron, as well as 20% of your DV of calcium. It's also rich in potassium- 17% DV- and relatively low in sugar- 11 grams.

 After the sauce simmers for a bit to give the tomatoes a chance to break down and incorporate the spices, you dump in the lentils (pre-cooked, they boil away happily while you make the sauce and the timing is great) and let them simmer for about 10 minutes to soak up the flavors of the sauce.

 I served these with roasted sweet potatoes and fresh green beans, lightly tossed in olive oil and shaken around a pan just enough to soften a bit but still be crisp.

 The lentil sloppy joe mix was piled on top of a potato bun, and dressed with red onions and dill pickles. Even if you think you hate lentils, even if, like me, you're not particularly fond of sloppy joes to begin with, I would highly suggest making this. At the very least, make the sauce and keep it around to put on tofu, or veggies, or peanut butter sandwiches, or coconut ice cream... ok, not really. But really, it's quite good. OH, before I forget- the recipe calls for things like a splash of this, a healthy pinch of this, a dash of that. If you'd like more specific directions, follow the recipe as Cate has it on her blog. She gives very specific measurements, and I used hers the first time around just to get an idea for the flavor. I'm so grateful that she featured this VegWeb recipe on her blog, because I so foolishly passed it up the first time.