Amy's GF Non-Dairy Burrito

I'm gonna be honest here. I am not really a fan of most vegan food products. They're processed food, first of all. My general rule of thumb is that if my great grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, I'd prefer not to eat it. Of course, I do break that rule, but whenever possible, I like food that's for the most part, non- or minimally processed.

With that in mind, I bought one of these gluten free, vegan burritos the other day. 

Here's the label and ingredients list next to the frozen burrito on my plate..

Since I'm the one responsible for my health, I read every label every time. Just in case. Formulas and recipes can change without a complete label re-design.

This burrito looks safe. Time to nuke it.
It cracked a little. Big whoop.

Time to eat! It's pretty much all beans in some sort of beany paste. This needs some sort of sauce, and since cheese and sour cream aren't an option, I squeezed on a little mayo.

I put mayo on all sorts of things.

Don't frown at that - it's good!

Anyway, I actually liked this and now we always keep one on hand in the freezer for when I need something fast.

Mississippi Pizza

Date night at the laundromat.

Okay, this isn't just any laundromat, this is the place we lovingly refer to as "The Hipster Laundromat." Others know it a Spin City Laundromat. 

It's a great place for date night. Really. Buy an espresso drink after 10pm and get a free dry. They serve beer and wine. And gluten free snacks. This really is a neat place to do the wash.

But this blog post is about where we went after finishing up the laundry. It was 9pm and we were starving, so we drove up Mississippi a few blocks and landed at Mississippi Pizza. 

There was a live band on one side, and one little free table on the pizza side, so we meandered up to the counter and pondered our options. 

I explained to the girl behind the counter that I'm GF and DF and she said, "Oh! We can do that!"

Loved her attitude. This is what makes eating out fun - someone who is willing to help me find something tasty and safe. 

Almost all of the pizzas were available to me with only slight modification, if that, so it was great to have almost a full menu to choose from. She set me up with a chicken bacon basil tomato artichoke pine nut GF pizza with no cheese. She suggested a sprinkling of nutritional yeast on it to give it the tangy umami of cheese. I'd never tried that, so I said "Sure!" 

She mentioned that one of her vegan co-workers uses Daiya cheese on her pizza and would I like that as well? Not a fan of Daiya, so this was fine. 

Here's the finished product. I was so hungry and anxious to try it that I scarfed down the first slice before getting a picture. 

It was DELICIOUS.
One of the best pizzas I've had.

Dave ordered his own pizza with a traditional crust, meat, cheese, etc, and according to him, it was good. I believe him; he didn't box up any leftovers for lunch the next day.

The two pizzas plus soda ran us about $45, so it was a little spendy in my opinion, but we did order two whole pizzas. And I had leftovers the next day.

Now, on the local GF Facebook group I occasionally chat with, some have said they are sensitive to cross contamination here, and others have expressed horror at the amount of wheat flour in the air from making traditional pies. This is definitely an issue for some, but as long as I stay on the wagon consistently, I can handle a little bit of this.

Mississippi Pizza is a definite yes, and I can't wait to go back.

Daiya GF Cheeze Pizza

This "pizza" can be described this in three words:

VOMIT-FLAVORED VELVEETA

The whole story is brief -
I was craving pizza one night and grabbed this at the local Freddy's. Wanting more than just "cheese" on it, I added my own pepperoni, which turned out to be the only edible thing on this pizza.

It was disgusting; probably the worst thing I have ever eaten. The crust was tasteless and the "cheese" was like vomit-flavored Velveeta. When I returned it to get my $8.50 back, the lady at the service desk said, 

"Yeah, I hear these are pretty gross."

Apparently mine wasn't the first return.

Next time, I'm going to try assembling my own with a GF crust and began cheese from Trader Joe's. I hear theirs is much closer to real cheese.

Silk Plain Unsweetened

My go-to creamer is Silk Plain Unsweetened. The flavor took a little getting used to at first (I am now used to not having the cheesy cow dairy flavor of real half and half in my cup.) I like how it's the right creaminess without being syrupy, and the neutral flavor lets the roasty coffee flavor come through.

I'm intrigued that this is sometimes hard to find in stores. My local Fred Meyer and Winco both carry it, but are occasionally sold out. Sometimes I can find it at Albertson's, but it's not guaranteed. The grocery store closest to me is Safeway, and they do not carry it, despite multiple requests from me to do so. They carry every other kind of unsweetened plain alternative milk, and all varieties of soy milk, including unsweetened vanilla in the blue box, and sweetened plain in the red box. 

I don't get it. 

When I run out of my Silk, it can be a pain in the butt to quickly run to the store to get another one. We are now in the habit of buying two cartons at a time to make sure there's always a backup in the fridge, but sometimes life gets busy and we can't get to the store once a week to replace the backup carton. 

This is why I keep the Kikkoman Pearl on hand in my pantry. Just in case.

Kikkoman Pearl Plain Unsweetened

My favorite coffee creamer product is Kikkoman Pearl Plain Unsweetened. I'd use this as my everyday coffee creamer, but it only comes in smaller boxes, and I go through so much per week that I'd rather get the larger Silk and be done with it.

I do like that it doesn't have to be refrigerated, so I keep several boxes on hand in the pantry as my emergency backup. I keep a box of this in the fridge at work, and like that I can keep a spare box in my desk, ready to go when I've used up the one in the fridge.

Unsweetened Plain Cashew Milk

Not a fan. The texture is very similar to the bottles of super sweet, flavored coffee creamer that I dislike, only there was zero flavor. It was weird, being so syrupy but lacking any flavor whatsoever, so drinking it was like drinking syrupy coffee. It was just wrong in my mouth.

I added sugar to the cup, as is my habit when choking down bad coffee, but then dumped it down the sink. The texture was just awful in coffee. 

No thank you

Laughing Planet - Gabriel Park

Laughing Planet is one of those places I kinda sorta like sometimes. You know what I mean?

Most of the time I avoid places that feature the popular vegan cafe "Veggie Bowl" or "Veggie Wrap" thing. It just doesn't appeal to me. This is why every time I venture into Cafe Yumm, I see this on the menu and venture back out to seek out another place to eat. 

When I'm desperate I find myself at Laughing Planet, and it seems like every time I go here, that's what I find. There is one near a laundromat we use, and that's usually when I eat there. 

Despite not liking the bowls or wraps, this place makes it easy to find food that I can eat. 

Last laundry night we ended up here just before closing I found a Paleo Bowl that seemed edible, and I asked about the Killer Green sauce that comes with it. The gal at the counter said, 

"Oh, it's very mild. It has avocado, cilantro, serrano pepper... (blah blah blah)...and other chile peppers"

"Can I have a taste first?" I asked.

Holy crap. Serrano was a red flag that I overlooked because I trusted her when she said it's mild. It is NOT mild, and I coughed and choked and wished for a piece of bread of glass of milk to kill the heat. 

"I like spicy food," she said, "So I guess it seems mild to me. Do you want to try the BBQ sauce or peanut sauce?"

Having previously learned that their BBQ sauce is super spicy, I asked to try the peanut sauce. 

It was tasty, but the one taste continued to heat up as we talked, and I knew I wouldn't be able to handle a whole dinner with that all over it. 

After tasting the hummus, I went with that. Dinner was ok. I ate more kale than I normally do. 

Dave ordered a quesadilla and it was ok, but he wished it had more cheese. 

This is why we save this place for days when we're desperate. 

Here's the Laughing Planet menu. It is very easy to order GFDF here. 

Petunia's Pies and Pastries

Valentine's Day.
I wanted cake, dammit, and I didn't want to get sick. Plus, it had been a very rough previous 6+ weeks (my dad became very ill then passed away) so this was an especially big treat.

We entered the beautiful shop and studied the menu. 

Grilled cheese sandwiches? I know this is a 100% GF place, but cheese? Is it vegan or not?

I asked the girl at the counter about the cheese. She said, "Yes, it's grilled 'cheese,'" giving me air quotes with the word "cheese." Ahh, THAT kind of cheese. Okay. This place is 100% GF and 100% vegan That means no dairy. 

Yay! I don't have to think, and every single thing on the menu is safe. 

It's very hard, being both GF and DF. Once I find out what the GF options are, I have to further narrow them down to find the DF choices within my limited options. When it comes to dessert, this usually means I get nothing. Even at fully GF places like Ground Breaker, there are no dairy free dessert options. 

So. I got the Champagne Cake. As expected, it was heavier than traditional cake, and a little beany, but the frosting made up for the bean flavor of the cake. It was pretty good, considering it was GF.

Dave got the chocolate cake. Again, it was very dense. The chocolate flavor masked the bean taste, but we both agreed it could have used a little more sugar. He ate about 6 bites and said I can have the rest. It's not his thing. 

We spent about $29 for two slices of cake plus a mocha and a latte, and a tip for the very helpful girls at the counter. I was a little disappointed that so-so cake was $7.99 for a slice. Yes, I realize that GF ingredients cost more, but for that price I'd expect cake that didn't have so much bean flavor. ( I can make a GF cake without so much sorghum or other bean flavored flours, but maybe keeping the eggs out makes other flours more difficult to use?) Anyway, it was just okay. It was cake. I'm impressed by the bakery, not so much by the cake.

Maybe someday we might return for cupcakes or other bakery, but we're not in any rush to do so.

Here is Petunia's Pies & Pastry's menu. It is very easy to order GFDF here.

El Nutri-Taco

While on a late night date night stroll down NE Alberta, Dave and I came across this joint. The menu looks good. Must try it sometime when it's warmer outside.

The Sudra

This is a vegan Indian restaurant with a decent GFDF dessert on the menu.

Dave and I had been out and were looking for a decent place to get a nice dessert.

We ended up meandering around NE and ended up at 24th and Glisan, where there is a neat food pod of micro-restaurants in a brick and mortar setting.

We first ventured into The Pie Spot, and I really wanted pie, but their GF pies still had butter in the crust, so that was a no go. Dave got pie, and I wandered around to see what other restaurants were on the block. 

That's when I discovered The Sudra, and ordered their vegan payasam (kind of like an apple crisp) with coconut bliss ice cream.

This food pod has community seating shared by all the restaurants, under a neat covered wagon tent made out or red vinyl.

Nice desserts, nice atmosphere, (nice prices), and a very nice evening.

Pretty cool.

Amy's GF DF Burrito

It's vegan, but quite tasty. 

Not so spicy my wimpy mouth can't eat it.

Looks like hell, but who cares. I liked it.

I'd buy it again. 

  

North Atlantic Tofu

This was pointed out and giggled at one night when we went out to eat.

I can just imagine the little white block of tofu happily swimming in the cold north Atlantic waters, dodging sharks and swordfish until it unknowingly swims into the net of an ambitious tofurman and hauled onto the deck of his boat. 

Poor little tofu.

I hope the tofurman treated it humanely, so PETT* doesn't get upset.

*People for the Ethical Treatment of Tofu

The Slide Inn

Hands down, the most tasty burger (patty) I've ever had.
The bun, however, disintegrated. It was dry and dense and crumbly and had no flavor.

I scraped the bun crumbles off my burger and ate the rest with a fork. Our waitress said the buns are hit or miss. Some batches are good, others not so good. This one was definitely not so good.

The Slide Inn menu is well-marked to make it easy to order GF, but takes some conversation and back and forth from the kitchen to make sure the bun and other things are dairy free.

We spent $37 including tip for two burgers, a coke, and a hard cider.

Service was really really slow on the evening we were there. On the other hand, we were there to hear a Dave's friend Jardima sing, and the place was completely packed and the staff was running like crazy.

Overall, the burger (patty) was excellent, and I'd like to go back there again to see if I can get a bun from a good batch.