5 Years of Living on the Vedge

It's been 5 years since I first sat down to share my thoughts on veggie food with you all. I started LoTV as a young freelance writer still in college who was interested in writing about vegetarian food. Since then, every few days I'd check in with a restaurant review or my latest food find in Philly (I was a hungry little thing). I had many the adventure and tried on more writing styles than Sybil, but I always found myself here, ready to put something down. It was so that I could look back on it later, but it was also to inform other people that a vegetarian could have panache, and not just be political. Through it all, I ended up becoming a vegan, learned how to cook and began posting recipes, met someone who could keep me on my faux leather clad toes, and found myself impassioned by nutrition and wellness. I've connected with some truly amazing food-lovers and entrepreneurs along the way, whom I now count as good friends and would gladly give my last bite of raw chocolate to.

I want to thank anyone who pops by here. This might never be an incredibly organized blog with a consistent schedule of beautiful recipes and exciting content. I try not to make it just a vegan blog, or an outlet focused on ethics, although that is something I feel strongly about, that's just not entirely what I'm doing here. This is my take on a vegan lifestyle, a collection of thoughtfully sourced products, a balance of nourishing recipes and vegan indulgences, and my experiences.

Some observations?

• It's hard to believe how much vegan frozen food I ate while in college, a habit that was shrugged off after eating at enough of Philly's finer restaurants and developing my palate, and I have to thank  my food-obsessed friends for showing me the way. 
• I also have no clue what anything I wrote pre-2009 even meant. I was incredibly sober and innocent, except when I was not. 
• In 2010, I fell hard for raw food. It was inspiring and totally different and never boring, and it changed my health, my body, and the way that I think about food. 
• 2011 was my favorite blog year. I spent more time in the kitchen than ever before, took too many photos, and had so much energy. The recipe ideas flowed. 
• I make a really good cocktail now.

This year, things will be a little different. I'm living in a more rural town for the first time, which happens to be a very green and vegan-welcome place, but it's certainly not Philly, where I was constantly out and about at blogger events, restaurant openings, and cooking for lots of friends and parties. My pace here is...slow, and relaxed, and enjoyable, and I prepare a lot of quinoa-bean bowls because our grad student budget is okay with that. I'll be posting recipes and travels when I feel that they're special, and I hope you'll stick with me as we prepare to step into the hospitality industry when this year is through. 

XOXO, namaste, cheers, and all of that,

-Kelly

P.S. I'll be in Philly next week, in the usual places, and perhaps some new ones? You tell me! Or let's drink together.

Summer Lovin'

It's fair to say I'm having a memorable season already. My summer loves:

Vineyard hopping on the Cayuga Wine Trail (below: Sheldrake Point), rosé, lacy espadrilles from Jeffrey Campbell, Organic Avenue & Tata Harper Love Beauty Cleanse, GT's Mystic Mango Kombucha, organic raspberry picking at Kestrel Perch Farm, smoky Mezcal-laced margaritas at Agava, Google Nexus 7 Tablet ($199, now that's refreshing!), Twilight of the Elites by Chris Hayes for non-light reading

[images via Organic Avenue, GT's Kombucha]

Waffle Frolic: Vegan Waffle Wonderland

How is it that I've lived about 100 feet away from a waffle cafe that serves vegan, gluten-free waffles, knowingly, and had yet to be drawn in by that sweet smell after passing by daily? 

Waffle Frolic has been on my to-eat list since we got here over a month and a half ago. The blissed out faces of the waffle diners who drizzle syrup onto enormous square grids outside of the shop in Ithaca's Commons is its credibility.  As for our procrastinating, Waffle Frolic opens up at 9 a.m. on weekdays, and by that time, we've already had breakfast and Mr. Vedge is sitting in his Corporate Finance class. Our waffle moment would have to wait.

Waffle Frolic specializes in waffles, from savory to sweet with 4 different bases (including one that is both vegan and gluten-free) and all of the usual toppings, and few unexpected ones, including almond butter and Earth Balance. You order a single or a twin, and then watch as things get busy at the row of waffle irons. Not in a waffle mood? There's a grilled Daiya cheese option, a vegan waffle dog served with maple mustard, flaxseed smoothies and hemp milk lattes and kombucha...

But the waffles! They're crispy, snappier than any vegan waffle I've ever turned out on my iron at home, with a sweet dough and a deep crannies waiting to be pooled with local maple. My single was more than enough, especially fashioned with berries and almond butter, and even though it wasn't quite hot by the time we sat outside, it was possibly the holy grail of vegan waffles, all golden and perfect. 

Afterwards we took the visiting in-laws over to Taughannock Falls so that we could hike it all off.

A Saturday afternoon would not be right without a visit to the Ithaca Farmer's Market for veggies, strawberries, and Macro Mamas. Pearled barley polenta with savory rhubarb and onion sauce, black beans with toasted cumin, corn, and pickled onions, collards with smoked eggplant dressing, and broccoli with garlic scape and walnut pesto.

We prepared a simple, light stir fry for dinner of seitan, garlic, bok choy from the market, and cashews. Served in lettuce wraps. Then we headed to the local roller derby game, which has become a regular event for us. 

Some short-but-sweet Father's Day family time (even if we had to celebrate a day early) and such a relaxed, delicious weekend were just what we needed. I'm feeling a bit of a life/career stall out here and can't help but feel like being inside of the Ithaca Bubble forces you to slow down a bit and check things out. So I've just been going with it, getting in my work hours when I can, but taking advantage of the brilliant sun and spending more time than usual in downward dog.  I guess this is what happens when you find yourself away from a major city for the first extended time in your life. 

Vegan Brunch at the Owl House, Rochester.

Why Rochester? We're about an hour and 45 minutes from Rochester and I was ready for a day trip. Mr. Vedge is getting hammered with class projects and I figured he could use a few hours away from Excel files. So after a bucolic ride along some remote roads, we arrived relaxed and peckish. 

Well. We didn't do a ton of planning and didn't actually spend much time IN Rochester, proper. But! I had googled a vegan restaurant for lunch and had a feeling it would be amazing. And! We had plans to visit the nearby Lululemon (this is how I know he's the one), just outside of Rochester in Pittsford. It was a Lululemon showroom, which meant less product and limited sizes, but the smell of luon pleases me immensely.

A pair of special edition speed shorts and a cool racerback in my possession, we drove a couple of miles into Rochester to the Owl House. A good deal of the menu is vegan, with tempeh sandwiches, vegan migas, avocado mousse and the like rounding out the menu. The restaurant takes up two stories of a house in what I would call the Fishtown of Rochester (there's a co-op down the street and lots of shiny, happy people with tattoos and fun hair).  

Saturday was World Gin Day, so we quickly ordered a Tom Collins and a Gin Fizz (made vegan with soy cream!? A traditional uses egg whites) from the very respectable drink menu. I love a well-stocked bar in an unexpected place, it almost immediately sets me at ease. It shows attention to detail and nearly always leads to a capable kitchen.

[photo via the Owl House Facebook]

While Fee Bros. Bitters are not the favorite bitters brand in this house, Fee Brothers is located in Rochester. We didn't visit, but that certainly explained all of the Fee bottles on the Owl House bar. My drink listed "fee foam" as an ingredient, and it was incredible. Frothy, citrusy, floral, and fun, I made short work of my Gin Fizz and had to remind myself that it was only 2pm and I had the rest of Gin Day left. I could drink these fizzes all afternoon and I'm usually a total buzzkill when it comes to afternoon drinking. 

[photo via the Owl House Facebook]

The menu has its share of vegan bar food. We saw the Vegan Mozzarella Sticks and had to experience this fried naughtiness. They order blocks of Daiya, cut them into mozza stick size, and then bread them in panko. They're stretchy like the sticks I remember as a kid, gooey, and well, it's a lot of Daiya. If you like vegan bar food, this is the answer. It made me feel like I was in Philly again, perhaps at the Memphis Taproom or the Royal Tavern. 

I had the Lentil Burger with tempeh bacon and he had the Vegan Breakfast Nachos. Not something we'd eat everyday, but this was a road trip and both were really good, although we didn't manage to get any other food shots. 

We did some more exploring and shopping, then made our way back home for more gin and socializing with some of Mr. V's classmates. If you do find yourself near Rochester, I still have no idea what to do there, but you should probably drop by the Owl House for a meal.

Vega Energizing Smoothie: My Taste Test.

The Vega One shake has long been a favorite of mine. I mostly stick with my own smoothie creations at home, relying on my hemp protein powder as a base. When I'm not feeling my best and need a boost, I pick up a packet of Vega One in the Vanilla Chai flavor and blend it with a cup of water and a few cubes of frozen banana. The flavor is right on, it has everything I could possibly need, and it's filling (it wouldn't be a meal for me but it is ideal for pre or post-workout) AND energizing.

The new "Energizing Smoothie" line from Vega intrigued me mostly because I'm already a fan, and I was expecting to like this all natural, plant-based drink powder just as much, if not more.

Each packet contains two servings of veggies (not a big concern for me) and 10 grams of plant protein, along with 5 grams of fiber. The instructions are to just "shake and go!".

I tried it first in a cocktail shaker with unsweetened almond milk. After shaking it vigorously (I'm a barman's wife so I shake HARD :), it was still chalky and there were a few clumps of powder that I knocked back. The flavor was okay, a bit of an aftertaste and a faux sweetness from the stevia. Now, I love liquid stevia dearly, but too much of it ruins a drink for me. The Bodacious Berry was almost cloying.

Next, I added the Vanilla Almondilla to my high-speed blender (it's comparable to a Vitamix) with water, strawberries, and frozen banana for creaminess. Still powdery, but not as much. Again, it had the aftertaste and I made myself finish it. It was just not as enjoyable as the regular Vega One to me.

Unfortunately, I think I will be sticking to my Vega One. Not only is it higher in protein and fiber, it's so much tastier and doesn't feel like a chore to drink. And it has a maca boost, which I find incredibly energizing.

As for the smoothies, I'm not sure that I understand their role in the Vega lineup. I think they need to work on the flavors a bit as well as the chalky tendency. I never really have this issue with other powders.

Has anyone else tried Energizing Smoothie yet? What's your take?

Raw Ginger-Scallion-Sesame Noodles.

After a week where I: ate lots of Thai food (just because it's fried tofu doesn't mean it's not fried) and had at least 3/5 of a vegan chocolate birthday cake (to be real, it was only 6"), I was jonesing for some raw food. Every summer I like to bask in the splendor of fruits and veggies by eating raw whenever possible. My body starts to crave cold dishes and even more salads, juices, and smoothies than usual.

One of our favorite raw meals is some kind of pasta or pad thai using kelp noodles. It's incredibly easy to whip up a sauce and chop up some veggies, toss it over the noodles. No spiralizer, dehydrator or food processor required. I am nuts for these glassy, slightly chewy noodles that come alive when drenched in a bright sauce. We created the most delightful sauce yet. The freshly shucked corn and brown rice miso added a sweetness to the dish, and it tasted even better the next day for lunch. If you want to bulk it up, make it a semi-raw dish and add some pan-seared tempeh OR serve with a salad. We found it very filling with all of the veggies.

And now that the birthday cake is all gone, I also made some Raw Oreos from Rawified. They were schoolboy-approved with almond milk in hand.

Raw Ginger-Scallion-Sesame Noodles


Sauce:

3 scallions, chopped finely

1-inch ginger, peeled and minced

4 tbsp tahini

3 tbsp sherry vinegar

2 tbsp grapeseed oil

1 tbsp brown rice miso

10 peppercorns, ground

To finish:

2 ears fresh corn

1 carrot, grated

1 yellow tomato, chopped

1 bag kelp noodles

Mix sauce ingredients. Cut noodles to desired length (we cut them into six parts). Add veggies and noodles to sauce mixture, toss thoroughly. Let sit in sauce for 45 minutes to an hour, at room temperature. Toss again as liquid will have settled, serve. Tastes even better the next day!

Serves 4.