The end of Vegan MoFo just happened to coincide with a vacation that Ryan and I had been planning for a few months.  We went down to Venice, Florida, where my parents have a house in which they spend a good part of the winter.  (If you’ve ever been through a Chicago winter, you understand why!)  They were there along with my sister’s family, so we got to spend some much needed time with everyone, including our two adorable nephews.

As a result of being away, I’m now trying to catch up with work – including blogging.  I’m excited to start posting Thanksgiving recipes this month, so keep your eye out for those.  In the meantime, I thought I’d post this photo that Ryan took at Sharky’s On The Pier - one of our favorite places to have cocktails in Venice.  He posted a series of photos from the trip on his blog, and just looking at all of them makes me wish we were back on vacation!

I finally got the chance to eat some Taste of Life a couple months ago, and I’m probably the last vegan in LA to try this stuff!  It’s certainly old news to many, but since becoming a vendor at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market, Ryan and I have had it almost every week.  Apparently they’ve closed the restaurant, but are still doing catering and the market.  Their food is really amazing, and they couldn’t be nicer.

I’m not a big tofu fan, but their barbecued tofu is awesome.  I don’t like tofu that’s too soft or that tastes tofu-ey (my new favorite word), and this stuff is neither.  The mac n’ cheese is creamy and fantastic, as are the greens and the black eyed peas. They also make a lasagna and seitan pot roast, but the plate above is my favorite assortment.  I’m a sucker for a good piece of cornbread, and this one delivers. We’re pretty spoiled with vegan options at the market, and this is definitely one of our favorites!

When I became a vendor at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market, I had no idea what the other vendors would be like.  We’d done some other farmers markets and most of the people were very nice, but you never really know what you’re in for.  So driving over to Hollywood that morning, I was pretty nervous.  You have to see these people each week, and in a way it’s sort of like starting a new job.  We were so lucky to end up next Johnny and Ricky of Chili Addiction, who couldn’t have been nicer.  We’re on a side street of the market known as “Gourmet Alley”, where all the vendors were incredibly welcoming to us.  When we left that first day, I felt silly for having been so worried about it.

So for a couple weeks, we were next to Chili Addiction, and I was getting high off of the smells that were coming from their stand.  Since we figured it was all probably meat based, we didn’t even bother to ask if they had any vegan options.  Turns out, they do, and once we found this out, we were really excited to try it.  That first week we had the three bean chili, and it was so delicious!  The following week, they made a wheat berry version, pictured above and absolutely amazing.  As you can see, you can choose to have it  over pasta, which is also really tasty.  The guys never used to advertise that they had vegan options, but that was before they had a vegan baked goods booth as their neighbors!  We really try to make sure to let our customers know that they have vegan choices, because I think it’s easy to assume that when you see meat that there must not be anything for you.  Just like we did.

In addition to the amazing chili, the guys also sell homemade mustard and hot sauces, and my favorite – sauerkraut!  The first time I tasted this sauerkraut I could not believe how delicious and flavorful it was.  Then I had my mind blown again when Johnny told me that rather than using cabbage, they use onions!  You would never have any idea from the taste, which is so intense and multi-dimensional.  I know that sounds kind of crazy, but I don’t know how else to describe it.

We got some of the kraut and told the guys we were going have with it Tofurky Beer Brats.  They make all their own sausages, and told us that they actually used to make a vegan sausage but stopped because no one bought it.  Homemade vegan sausage, cooked up by experts?!  We were begging them to make some again, and I bet they will if they see enough demand for it.  It’s a good lesson in remembering to let non-vegan businesses know that there is a demand for vegan food, and it’s worth their time to provide it.

Last week they made a pumpkin mole chili and also a super intense raw chili.  Here are the descriptions on their menu.  Both were delicious, as usual.  We’ve been so happy to find so many vegan options at the market, and it’s been great see Johnny’s excitement in creating new vegan chilis each week.  If you’re in the LA area, you should definitely stop by their booth, and be sure to ask them to make some vegan sausages. We’re dying to try them!

UPDATE:  The Chili guys are no longer at the market as they’ve opened a restaurant at 408 N La Cienega Blvd.  Head over there for these and other great vegan products!

Ryan and I had another chance to head over to SunPower Natural Cafe, and I guess I’m a fan of their drinks since this is the second one that I’m posting about! This is the Fresh Squeezed Lemonade with Agave, and I think I can say without exaggeration, that this is the best lemonade I’ve ever had.  It’s the perfect balance of tart and sweet, without being sour or super sugary.  This lemonade is especially refreshing in this 90 degree weather we’ve been having.

We decided that we’d split a couple of entrees, and for the first one we chose the Asian Salad.  It consists of marinated tofu, cashews, orange slices, raisins, onions, sesame seeds, water chestnuts and greens with orange-ginger dressing.  I’ll admit that I was wary of both the tofu and the raisins in this salad since neither are my favorite, but both added great flavor and texture in combination with all the other ingredients.  I would definitely order this again.  It’s a refreshing and tasty salad.

The other dish that we decided to split was the Lettuce Tacos.  On the menu they’re described as “Savory SunPower ‘chorizo’, tomato sauce, green onions, tomatoes, pine nuts, cashew cheese, ranch dressing and avocado, wrapped in Romaine leaves.”  We’d had these tacos before, and they were definitely good enough to order again.  Ryan was a little skeptical the first time we ordered them, but we both loved them at first bite.  Like a lot of raw food, they may not seem like they’d be enough to fill you up, but they definitely do.

We’ve yet to have a bad meal at SunPower.  All of the food is fresh tasting and very satisfying.  It can be a bit pricey, but I don’t think that’s outside the norm for raw foods.  If you get a chance to head over there for a bite, you won’t be disappointed!

The next dish that I made for our Hollywood Bowl Picnic was the tempeh pate from the Native Foods Cookbook.  This is one of my favorite recipes, and I can’t even count how many times I’ve made this.  We’ve eaten it in Palm Springs wraps (Ryan’s favorite), I’ve baked it in puff pastry, served it on crostini and have also just put it out with crackers like I did yesterday.

This is my favorite way to eat tempeh, and the recipe isn’t hard to make at all.  You start by searing the tempeh patties, dousing them in a ginger and garlic loaded soy sauce mixture, and then dicing them up to mix with vegan mayo, green onions, dill, salt and whatever other fixings you might like.  We’ve served this to many non-vegetarians, and it’s always a hit, even though they usually have no idea what tempeh is.  I always tell them to just trust me and try it, and they’re never disappointed when they do.

I don’t know if I’ve ever had real pastrami, but years ago, I used to get a Reuben sandwich in my home town that used turkey pastrami.  I think that was my first introduction to Reubens, and since then I’ve only had veggie versions.  One that we kind of overdosed on is this avocado reuben.  It’s actually really good, and so easy to make, but if you eat it a lot, it can be a bit much.  Lotta tang going on there.

Reubens are one of those sandwiches that I don’t really make at home that much, even though there are a lot of great vegan recipes out there.  But I do love them, and being able to get a vegan Reuben at Follow Your Heart is super exciting to me.  Their version is great because it’s not too overpowering.  They use a cottage-style tofu on theirs (pictured above) for the vegan version, which scared me because I always hated cottage cheese, but it’s actually really good.

Another yummy vegan option at Follow Your Heart is the braised tempeh tacos.  They come with rice, beans, non-dairy sour cream and guac.  This plate is super filling, and it’s a great combination of tastes and textures.  I think this would definitely satisfy any meat eater.  I just wish Follow Your Heart wasn’t such a drive for us so that we could get out there more often.  Their market has a lot of hard to find vegan products, and it’s always pretty awesome to go somewhere where you can choose from almost every single item on the menu.  Follow Your Heart is a really unique place, and if you haven’t been there, I definitely recommend checking it out.

Ah, Hugo’s Tacos -  so good, so fast, and so affordable.  We love this place, and like both of Hugo’s Restaurants, there are lots of vegan options.  It’s also a great place to go if not everyone in your group is vegetarian, because there’s something for everyone.  Another bonus is that Hugo’s uses really high quality ingredients, and you feel that you’re getting a really healthy meal even though it tastes decadent.  This picture is of the bowl, which I like to get sans cheese, although they do offer Follow Your Heart, which I want to try this with one of these days.  We always get an order of chips on the side, and they’re perfect to use instead of a fork to eat this with.  They have several filling options (I like the soy chorizo & potato combo) and several salsa options (pico de gallo for me).  This is one of those places that I would really miss if we didn’t live in LA.

We also have to throw Hugo’s Restaurant(s) on that list as well.  Like their taco stand, this is a great place to bring people for dinner because the menu has so many options.  People in your group won’t complain about having to eat vegan food, and you can actually choose what you want since they have more than one vegan item on the menu, which can be rare at “regular” restaurants.  This photos is of the very green casserole, one of my favorite things to get at Hugo’s.  It’s so tasty and comforting.  The veggie patty that they use is amazing.  It’s so good that I’d actually consider getting it on it’s own.  I usually shy away from ordering veggie burgers because they’re usually not that great, but this patty is crispy and yummy.  I wrote about both of these dishes for Veggie Thing because they’re two of my favorites that I get over and over again.  We’re lucky to live so close to both of these places, but even if we didn’t, it would be worth the trek!

I was really hoping for a reprieve after Worldfest, but things have been as busy as ever!  While I continue to recover, I thought I’d let you enjoy this beautiful photo (thanks, Ryan!) of yummy dairy-free chocolate sorbetto from the Gelato Bar.  This stuff is amazing.  It is super rich and chocolaty.  Gelato Bar isn’t a vegan establishment, but they do offer several vegan sorbets.  I’m usually the one that doesn’t want the fruit sorbet and wishes I could just have the tiramisu, but this flavor of sorbetto is so decadent that it doesn’t feel like you’re giving anything up.  Plus, it’s lower in sugar than their other flavors, and low in fat.  Gelato Bar is also serving amazing espresso based drinks, and they have soy milk so vegans can enjoy them as well.

Speaking of vegan enjoyment, I feel like I’d be remiss if I didn’t do a Worldfest wrap-up.  We didn’t take many photos because we were pretty busy throughout the day, but we had a great time.  Below is a photo of Ryan that our friend Justin took on what we refer to as his cool, weird Holga camera.  We got to see lots of friends and also make some new ones, not to mention the fact that we got to finally try Maggie Mudd!  We started and ended the day with ice cream cups, and had some great food in between.  We really wished we’d known about Worldfest before this year because it’s so fun, and we’re definitely already looking forward to WF 2010!

Ryan and I stopped in at the new SunPower Natural Cafe last week, and we were so glad we did!  It’s in Studio City, which is very exciting because it’s so close to us, the people there are incredibly nice, and it has amazing food!  SunPower Natural Cafe serves mostly raw food, and we don’t eat raw all that often, so it’s really a treat when we do.  I always feel like it’s so much healthier, which makes the food taste even better to me.

We tried a lot of different things, but two of my favorites (maybe because it was 90 degrees outside) were the lemonade, which was the best I’ve ever had, and the strawberry shake.  It was so tasty and unique that I submitted it to Veggie Thing, the Citysearch site that features great vegan food around the country.  When I looked at this picture again this morning, I told Ryan we should probably get this for breakfast.  It was so yummy!  It’s a cashew based shake that was is incredibly creamy and rich, and it’s flavored with real strawberries instead of something artificial.  It’s probably not something you should drink at every meal, but for an occasional treat – which is what a shake should be! – it’s a much healthier option that going through the drive-thru somewhere.  They also have a cacao version that I’m dying to try.  I’m hoping they have it at Worldfest tomorrow!

I’m very excited to announce that a website I’ve been contributing to for Citysearch launched today!  It’s called Veggie Thing, and it features great vegan dishes in different towns across the country.  It also has links to lots of other great blogs, and my favorite part – tons of photos of amazing looking food.  I’ve really enjoyed contributing to this venture, and I hope you enjoy reading about all the great vegan food out there!

One of my posts for them was this Native Foods Ensalada Azteca.  It isn’t the first thing I’d think to order off the menu – I’m more of a fried faux-chicken kind of girl – but this salad is amazing!  I can almost taste it again as I look at this photo.  I love Native Foods.  Tanya’s cookbook is one of our favorites, so much so that it’s falling apart because of how much we use it.  The food is awesome, and everyone who works there has always been great to us.  The only downside is that it’s a bit of a drive for us.  Even so, it’s totally worth it!