5.31.09 | tempeh salad

i couldn't go to sleep sunday night which probably had a lot to do with all the earl grey i had during the day and our late dinner. i decided to put my restlessness to good use and make some lunch for steve to take to work the next day. after checking out what i had in the fridge and doing a bit of research online, i came across an easy recipe for tempeh salad.

tempeh salad (recipe available at vegweb.com)
i love the fact that you can pretty much throw in whatever you have available in your fridge and still get great results. i ended up with the following mix of ingredients:

1 - 8 oz package of tempeh (steamed for 15 min)
1/2 cup of finely diced onion
1/2 cup of finely diced green, yellow and red bell pepper (trader joe's melange a trois frozen strips)
1/4 cup of raw sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons of braggs liquid aminos
1/2 teaspoon pressed garlic
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon dry dill weed
2 teaspoons of dried parsley (was too scared to go into my backyard and pick fresh parsley from the garden at night!)
tons of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup of vegan mayo

i mixed everything up in a bowl then put a bit of salad over some romaine lettuce on multi-grain bread....just like a tuna salad sandwich!! i like to use fresh organic veggies in my recipes, but i always have some frozen staples from trader joe's in stock for last minute meals such as this. can't wait to try this again...maybe next time i'll make some vegan chicken curry salad.

5.29.09 | mendocino farms

steve and i decided to head out for a sandwich on his friday off and i suggested mendocino farms, an "eco-artisan" sandwich shop in downtown. i had gone once before and had an amazing soy-cutlet sandwich which sadly turned out not to be vegan after some investigating by local blogger quarry girl. we settled on the vegan shwarma which was just as delicious.

vegan schwarma: mediterranean soy shwarma with merquez lentil and white bean puree, vegan tzatziki, ren onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and shredded romaine on grilled tortilla wrap.

what i love about mendocino farms is their fresh seasonal ingrediants and the fact that they are a certified green business, always a plus in my book. the sandwiches are a bit steep ($9.25 for the shwarma), but you are paying for quality. steve and I offset this by splitting a sandwich and bringing our own home-made salad with organic mixed greens, tomatoes, hemp oil, balsamic vinegar and hemp seeds. the seating is patio food-court style and shared by all the lunch shops in area, so we were being frugal, not ghetto :)

sadly they are only open on weekdays from 11:00am to 3:00pm, but perhaps this is a good thing...

5.23.09 I vegan sandwiches in echo parque

of all my years exploring the east side, i somehow never found my way to echo park blvd. but suddenly there i was, with boyfriend and dog in tow, on a sunny saturday afternoon in search of some vegan sandwiches at chango coffee house. the particular block we were on was so cute and reminded me of being in san francisco...sigh!! we made our way in and promptly ordered our food...pesto chicken salad sandwich for me and the manlier and "meatier" steak and cheese for steve, both of which were toasted upon ordering. the sandwiches were so freakin good!! the bread was nice and toasted on the outside, but warm and chewy on the inside...yum!! I thought the steak and cheese could have used a couple more minutes in the oven to fully melt the teese, but steve didn't seem to mind one bit. i also ordered an iced soy latte, which I can't really comment on because i couldn't get over my delicious sandwich. apparently the sandwiches are a hit and we were lucky enough to score the last two of the day...nice! full review available at quarrygirl.com.

afterwards we headed over to scoops for some vegan soy ice cream. a one-scoop serving split between banana chocolate and chocolate peanut butter was enough to fulfill both our sweet tooth cravings. best vegan ice cream in l.a.!!!