Carnivale came early this year

We're going back to basics for this post. What does a vegan do when going out for a nice dinner in Chicago with her meat-eating (yet totally fabulous) girlfriends?

Back in October, Ali and I won a gift certificate for $100 to Carnivale (702 W. Fulton Market), an upscale and totally hip restaurant with a Latin-themed menu. So last week we went out for dinner, and we brought our friend Kate B. (who is an extremely watchable actress, by the way) because she's just so much fun.

Kate was loving the Carnivale Margarita, Ali enjoyed the caipirinha, and I sampled the white sangria and Green City Market Caipirinha. The guacamole was absolutely delicious and the accompanying tortilla chips are that fat-laden kind you always hope the restaurant serves. (Ali and Kate shared the mixto ceviche...for you none-vegans I'm told it was absolutely delightful.)

After an hour of drinks and appetizers we finally opened our menus. The waitress was very knowledgeable about the menu and helped guide me to all the dishes that could be veganized. I settled on an entree called "Quinotto" that I had never seen before but makes so much sense. It's like risotto, my favorite Italian dish, but in place of arborio rice they used quinoa, a nutritious little South American grain. Also in the Quinotto were onions, Brussels sprouts, pine nuts, mushrooms and a chile sauce on the side. Behold:

Isn't it lovely? This dish was unbelievable. I of course requested this without the goat cheese that this Quinotto normally includes. The mushrooms gave it that extra dose of "umami" I've been hearing so much about lately.

After my experience I would highly recommend a night out at Carnivale if you are a vegan but have meat-craving dining companions. They have all kinds of seafood and the steak for which Latin America is famous. (Yum?)

I'm off to Iowa today for Thanksgiving festivities. I was planning to cook an elaborate vegan meal at my apartment for my parents and brother, but last week my brother's dog had a surprise litter of puppies. So I'm riding back to Sioux City tonight to see the six little puppies. In the words of my brother, prepare yourself for some pretty extreme cuteness:

I have been looking at this photo every 30 seconds for the past two days. I can assure you that it does not get old.

Product of the Day: Obviously I'm going with a vegan's best Thanksgiving weapon, the Tofurky. I can't wait to eat this tomorrow. If you're lucky enough to be in Sioux City, they have them at Hy-Vee on Hamilton Blvd. If you are not in the vicinity of a Hy-Vee, on the Tofurky website you can find a list of retailers so you can get your own spherical bundle of meatless joy.

Everyone knows that the cover models are airbrushed

Someday my cookies will be cover-worthy. In the meantime, they taste pretty good.

The oft-neglected polenta and BOOTS OMG BOOTS!

For dinner the past two nights I made polenta with spinach, tomato sauce, garlic and olives. That's it!

Slice the polenta (you can find this little Italian import in a tube package near the pasta), layer the slices in a small Pyrex baking dish, cover it in frozen chopped spinach, sauce, garlic and olives. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, longer if your spinach is really frozen.

Recently I bought my first garlic press at Ikea for $3, and I highly recommend getting yourself one. Crushing the garlic really brings out the flavor.


Layer the polenta slices and spinach like this!

Dinner is served. Yes, those are kalamata olives. Vegecagoan is equal-opportunity and this dish is part Greek.

Product of the Day: Report Over-the-knee faux suede boots. I just got a pair of my own in black. I sleep in these things, I love them so much.

New breakfast love

Hey y'all. I had such a great breakfast this morning that I couldn't keep it to myself.

Ricera Rice Yogurt. OMG. Last week I made my first visit to the Whole Foods on Huron. I was getting a little tired of my usual Trader Joe's soy yogurt so I picked up a few different brands and types of vegan yogurts.

Why should we eat this yogurt stuff anyway? Ask Jamie Lee Curtis. Or just watch the collection of unintentionally hilarious (non-vegan) yogurt commercials over the past few years:




But I digress. To get to the point of this post, Ricera Organic Blueberry Rice Yogurt, consumed by yours truly for the first time this morning, is my new favorite "yogurt." Low in fat, with a little fiber and protein, and extremely delicious. Did you hear me? EXTREMELY delicious. A little bit sweet, a little bit tart, just like me.

Product of the Day: Seriously? Did you not read the beginning of the post? Here:

A laborious lunch

Happy Labor Day!

Just a quick post to tell you about an easy lunch I just made up today.

I started with a FlatOut Light Italian Herb Wrap, spread a bit of Sabra Hummus with Roasted Pine Nuts, then added alfalfa sprouts, three slices of Lightlife Smart Deli Turkey, and steamed zucchini and yellow squash. I'm making this for my lunches this week to take to work, but I'm thinking about substituting the hummus with a pinch of dijon mustard. I think both versions sound equally yummy.



In preparation for the Chicago Half Marathon next weekend, I ran 10 miles yesterday, which gave me just enough of a feeling of accomplishment to completely coast through the rest of the weekend.

Taco-Flavored Kisses

Last night I was totally craving tacos. I have a Mexican dinner scheduled with Marie and Kendra tonight, but I couldn't wait!

I set out some frozen spinach and sweet corn to thaw, then headed over to Dominick's to pick up the other ingredients. I found a package of 12 corn tortillas for $0.39! And you might think such a great deal would be sub-par with nasty ingredients, but these tortillas are seriously authentic and have only three ingredients: corn, water, and lime. Unbelievable.

The beauty of tacos, besides their tastiness, is their simplicity: gather your favorite Mexican-ish foods and put them in a warm tasty tortilla envelope. I layered Amy's Organic Refried Black Beans, the spinach and corn in a tortilla, heated it all in the microwave* and topped it off with some Tofutti Sour Supreme. (I bought zucchini too for these, but I had too many ingredients and the tacos were in danger of developing into full-blown burritos.) Next time I might try to add some Teese or salsa, but really these tacos had enough variety of flavors and textures, so anything else could be overkill. The beans, by the way, were fantastic, and not overly spicy. I had never had these before. Usually I am conflicted on whether to use refried beans or black beans in Mexican dishes, but this product solved that dilemma.

Looking forward to more vegan Mexican food tonight, con muchas margaritas.

Product of the Day: As if you couldn't guess, I'm loving Amy's Organic Refried Black Beans.

*I am quite afraid of the microwave oven, but I am able to use it occasionally as long as I don't think about it too much.

Big Weekend/Monday for Vegecagoans!

Unless you live under the proverbial rock, you know that this weekend our great city is hosting Lollapalooza. As if copious amounts of great music isn't enough, this year Chicago Soydairy returns to bring us their Temptation Vegan Ice Cream to enjoy at the festival. According to their blog, they will be selling cones of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Fair Trade Chocolate, Vanilla and Mint Chocolate Chip in the north food court. CC cookie dough all the way! This is the same delicious vegan ice cream that Chicago Diner uses in their shakes. Could this weekend get any better?

No. And to top it off, Ian's Pizza on Clark Street is making this upcoming Monday downright bearable. It's vegan pizza night people! They will be using Teese (also from Chicago Soydairy!) and Upton's Naturals and Yves faux meats on the pizzas, in addition to the veggies. Check out the menu and take time out of your Lolla weekend to place your order before Monday.

I have a large backlog of posts, and I will definitely blog after Lollapalooza for those of you still paying attention. Enjoy the weekend!