Amanda Eats SLC

Chow Truck!

2012-02-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

I can't help it; I think it's fun to buy food from a truck. It's like the ice-cream man, but with food! And if you work across the street from the Gallivan Center, where the city's food trucks gather for lunch every Thursday, it's impossible to resist.

Usually I'm faithful to the little sushi truck, Cruzn Sushi, but not today. I've tried the Chow Truck before, but wasn't in love. Today might change that.

Coming back to the office with a fresh salad and Asian Spiced Root Chips is a Win. The salad was romaine lettuce with asian slaw topped with panko fried tofu with a cilantro chili pesto (and lots of Sriracha!) and was well worth $5. I could have had that alone and been happy and full. It was flavorful, had loads of different textures and the pesto was light and refreshing. And I don't mean to sound like some foodie douche, but there was just a lot of different flavors and textures. And they were good! The chips were spicy and crunchy and root-y. They've put a lot of thought into these. The veggies include golden yukon potatoes, purple potatoes, carrots, yams, beets and lotus root and they're sweet/spicy

Chow Truck also serves decent coffee, has loads of fun canned drinks and has Sriracha. AND IT'S A TRUCK THAT SELLS YOU FOOD!!!!

Cindy Lee Cafe re-opens

2012-01-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

tofu noodle salad! ask for no fish sauce and they'll sub a tasty ginger sauce!

One of my favorite places to grab lunch downtown closed their doors for a few weeks a while ago. I was sad.

They re-opened with a new menu with a lot of missing vegetarian dishes like Pho and a bunch of my favorite Thai dishes. Not one to give up easily, I've been back and ordered a few things. They've all been pretty good and reasonably priced. But really, it's just not as good and veggie-friendly.

Cindy Lee Cafe (801) 359-4544 Downtown 264 S Main St Map.791d7c9 Salt Lake City, UT 84101

So Good Seaweed Roll

2012-01-29T10:16:00.001-07:00

spring roll, Szechuan Soy Bean (yum! ) and the So Good Seawed Roll

Over a month later and I'm still craving the Evergreen menu at Golden Phoenix. According to their Facebook page, the dishes are getting more authentic as the chef's learn the menu. I've never been disappointed, but I rarely visited their old location. Dumb me!

My favorite item on the menu is the So Good Seaweed roll. I have an affinity towards vegetarian sea food, and this roll was especially delicious. It's also very clever - the seaweed makes it taste fishy, of course, but the soy on the inside is flaky, moist and savory. They made a whole vegetarian fish. Crazy. It's served with either a brown sauce, a hot and sour sauce and a spicy sauce. (I just realized that I haven't tried the sweet and sour sauce yet! Goodness.) Either sauce is yummy. Also - this might be TMI but leftovers are really good straight out of the fridge. With your hands.

Vegan Calamari with Spicy Aoli

2011-12-10T10:24:00.001-07:00

Sophie's Calamari with a super easy spicy aoli

In my pregan days, seafood was my favorite thing to eat. Sophie's Kitchen has lovingly recreated all my favorite seafoods! How thoughtful. :)

These are so creepy realistic and delicious. They're really the most meat-like vegan thing I've had. And they're like five dollars at Whole Foods. Just a win-win-win. I get to feel like I'm at TGI Friday's, nobody has to die and it's easy.

Spicy Aoli

Three parts Veganaise to one part Sriracha

Fresh lemon juice

Smoked Paprika

....

ta da.

Evergreen House! At Golden Phoenix! What!?

2011-12-08T18:03:00.001-07:00

Tofu Bao

Number 7. Curry Potato Soybean


YUM. This even tastes good on a paper plate.

I never went to Evergreen House as much as I wanted, but I loved it. My favorite dishes were the Number 7 (pictured above!) and the Broccoli and Beancurd. So, when it closed last summer I was sad because I've missed out on this huge part of Salt Lake's vegetarian history. There were so many things I hadn't tried!

Here's my chance. A new incarnation of Evergreen House lives inside of Golden Phoenix. There is a separate menu, dining area and kitchen space. (thanks Facebook for all this info!) They're located on 1084 South State Street in Salt Lake City.

I've never had Tofu Bao before and it was fascinating to me. Flaky, chewy, fried and savory with sweet sauce. I need to learn more about this dish because I've never had anything like it. The Number 7 was as I remembered. Next time I'm trying it with the mushroom stem, I bet it's fantastic!

I'm so excited to try everything on the menu. It's crazy that I'm getting a second chance to try all this great food!

Rich's Mighty Fine Burgers & Grub

2011-12-07T15:46:00.001-07:00


well hello there. fries, and a vegan patty w/ artichoke hearts and tomatoes.

The veggie burger at 'Rich's Mighty Fine Burgers and Grub' is pretty tasty. It's made from black beans and veggies but needs something to hold it together. With that easy improvement, I think we could be looking at one of the best veggie burgers in Salt Lake!

It's unusual to walk into a burger place and find something vegan and good, but Rich's uses top-notch ingredients that elevate a regular veggie patty into something memorable. And OMG the fries were dope.

I was more than happy with the fresh-cut fries on my plate, but the cashier brought me out another plate because she "didn't think those fries were good enough'. I like a place that's serious about fries.

Bike Junkie's Visit to Cedars of Lebanon

2011-12-07T12:35:00.001-07:00

I was captivated by these photos that @bike_junkie took from the lunch buffet at Cedar's of Lebanon and wanted to share. The buffet is $9.99 and looks wonderful! The restaurant is located at 152 E 200 S in downtown Salt Lake.

Cedars of Lebanon was included in the Veg News declaration of Salt Lake City being the new vegan hotspot!

Here is a link to my last visit to Cedar's!

And here is another time I've ripped off Bike Junkie. :)

Vote for the Vertical Diner!

2011-12-06T14:33:00.001-07:00

Pancakes w/ local raspberry syrup, tofu scramble, 'sausage' and home fries.

Peta2 has nominated our little Vertical Diner as 'The Best Local Restaurant' and we all know it's true. Ya, I've kvetched about it occasionally, but damn. Look at these pictures!

Head over here to get your vote in. They also have a lot of other fun food categories! And I like to vote for things!

The Mountain

Delicious Chicken Pot Pie

40 Before 40

2011-11-30T18:10:00.001-07:00

Since I'm turning 37 in a few months, I think it's time to tackle some serious stuff. Some of it's silly, some vegan stuff and some ridiculously indulgent stuff.

1. Find a job I'm passionate about. (okay, I don't really hate my job and I love a lot of people I work with, so I'm kinda lucky actually.)

2. Start an Italian food blog with my grandparent's recipes. Veganized of course!
3. Visit Moab. And be outdoorsy. At least once!
4. Visit Disneyland.
5. TNR my neighborhood.
6. Host a vegan movie night.
7. Get my lip pierced. (I am over this)
8. Learn to swim.
9. Watch every movie in Fangoria's Top 300 issue.
10. Buy a VW Beetle.
11. Lose 25 lbs.
12. Develop a yoga practice.
13. Eat a lot of raw foods and smoothies!
14. Rescue a rattie or two.
15. Write a cookzine.
16. Make a movie with marionette puppets and my cats.
17. Own only 100 things.
18. Build a tiny house.Not by myself. (Okay, I can't really do this is three years.)
19. Learn how to build a winter cat house for the feral babies.
20. Learn to knit.
21. Hang out with my niece more.
22. Volunteer with a animal shelter.
23. Volunteer with a food thing.
24. Give out Tofurkys for Thanksgiving.
25. Learn to cook Indian food.
26. Buy a fancy convection oven.
27. Catch up on Dr. Who finally!
28. Run a marathon. A small one.
29. Go on one of those vegetarian cruises!
30. Go to one of those cheesy beach resorts and wear a big hat.
31. Adopt a Chihuahua. Name him/her "Popcorn". (I can't do this. Darby is such an only dog.)
32. Become a better baker.
33. Write a white trash vegan cookbook.
34. Get an article published in a magazine.
35. Rescue chickens!
36. Adopt a Crazy Sexy Diet.
37. Learn to sew. Make cute clothes and stuffed monsters.
38. Go on a ridiculously decadent Las Vegas vacation.
39. GARDENGARDENGARDEN
40. Be debt free. :)

Realistic edits in PURPLE!!! December 5, 2011

Happy Green Bean Casserole Day!

2011-11-24T19:24:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your Mom-in-Law made you some killer vegan green bean casserole!

Cali's Holiday Meal Package for Thanksgiving

2011-11-19T16:28:00.001-07:00

be lazy for Thanksgiving like I was last year! And I copied and pasted this from their Facebook page because I'm still lazy! PRE-ORDER YOUR HOLIDAY MEAL PACKAGE! $15 -Homemade Turkey Seitan 8oz -Mashed Potatoes 8 oz -Gravy 8 oz -Stuffing 8 oz -2 Biscuits Call 801-483-2254 or e-mail info@calisnatural foods by 11/23 (or until we run out!) and pick up next Mon-Wed from 12-7pm.

Nice Veggie Options at Rice

2011-11-19T13:16:00.001-07:00

Inexpensive lunch specials, tons of vegetarian and vegan options, a beautiful space and veggie-savvy waiters. I don't know what's not to like about Rice!

I ordered the Masuman Curry lunch special for $7.00. The lunch special comes with soup and a potsticker - those weren't vegetarian so the waitress suggested a salad and spring roll.

It's so nice when an asian restaurant substitutes vegetarian things. A lot of time they don't! The salad was had mandarin oranges and was pretty tasty. Especially with lots of Sriaracha. I'll have to go back to give you an honest opinion of the curry. It was good, but I had a cold! And I put half the bottle of Sriracha on top of it. I like Sriracha. :) Anyhoo, they have a lot of vegan things to eat and even more vegetarian things. Like some kind of crazy veggie chicken! Interesting!

House of Tibet's Legendary Lunch Buffet

2011-11-10T21:39:00.001-07:00

Some things are so comforting and familiar that it's hard to look at them objectively. The lunch buffet from House of Tibet is one of those things. While the spicy potatoes are awesome, and the veggie mo-mo's good with hot sauce, everything is sort of starchy and bland.

And sometimes, I find myself really craving this. It's also nice to support such a cute little family business, and most of the items on the lunch buffet are vegan. The lunch buffet is just under ten bucks and can easily fill you up for the entire day!

25 Vegan Sandwiches

2011-11-01T14:49:00.002-06:00

Here is the Florida Avocado Summer Sandwich. The rest of them are just as lovely!

Sandwiches are my favorite. Partly because they are old-timey and partly because they involve no cooking, just assembling. I can totally do that.

Here are 25 VEGAN SANDWICHES FOR BACK TO SCHOOL from Healthy, Happy Life (an amazing blog!). The sandwiches are for "kids" but "whatever".

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! My dog is a cow!

2011-10-31T21:07:00.000-06:00

Darby was a cow for Halloween. He totally loved his costume this year. It was cozy and warm. He was even good at keeping the hat on!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! :)

Gravedigger's Martini

2011-10-29T14:21:00.000-06:00

When Snarky Vegan asked for testers for her Creepy Cocktails, I jumped at the chance! Cocktails and creepiness are among my favorite things. I tweaked her original recipe according to things I have at home and ended up with ...

Gravedigger's Martini

2 oz. vodka

2 oz. Khalua

a drop of chocolate sauce

a splash of soy milk

________

to rim the glass:

Sweet and Sara's graham crackers, crushed

vegan chocolate syrup

________________________________

Place the first four ingredients in a shaker and add to delicious graham cracker and chocolatey rimmed martini glass. Then sprinkle a little of the graham cracker on top to look like dirt.

This drink tasktes a White Russian cookie. With lots of vodka. Or, like my husband said, "less white, more Russian".Perfect for digging up fresh graves, and keeping warm a spooky fall night.

Keep the black cats out of the chocolate syrup.

Check out the other Creepy Cocktails from the group of testers!

snarkyvegan

the tasty vegan

kohlrabi and quince
little things big things
tak-home-a
jenojoon

Winterize Me.

2011-10-27T18:30:00.000-06:00

Sooo. It's winter. Again. This year I'm finally replacing my purple 100 year old, raggedy, 10% wool coat with something a lot nicer to sheep. Wool is totally gross and unbelievably cruel. I've gotten as many years as I could out of it and it cost me $17.00 on clearance from Target. It's kind of bulky and itchy anyway.

Since the only store I ever go to is Target, I happened to find this cute velvet pea coat for under $40.00. The only thing missing is a hood. And cat ears.

like these!

I found this reasonably priced Ninja Cat Hat on Ebay. It will be perfect for chilly walks to the bus stop and robbing liquor stores. I'm all set.

Bring it on, Winter!

Future Pizza

2011-10-26T19:36:00.000-06:00

Pre-made pizza sauce (the brand was Organic-ville or some kind of hippie-ville), Daiya cheese and pre-made cornmeal pizza crusts are 15 minutes and 450 degrees away from creating a decent pizza. It's perfectly good as it is (I had a slice with some tempeh and veggies tonight) but I have bigger plans. I'm going to throw these slices of cheese pizza in the freezer. And one day, Future Me is going to top them with fresh roasted veggies, seitan, tempeh sausage, and who knows what else.

Halloween Treats

2011-10-25T18:00:00.000-06:00

Here's a few interesting links to help feed your little monsters (and your big monsters, too!) this Halloween.

The Official Guide to Halloween Candy - from Veg News

A Vegan Halloween Party - from Vegetarians in Paradise

How to Roast Squash Seeds - from Chow

Pumpkin Seed and Pistachio Dukka - from Punk Domestics

I'll be posting more stuff as I find it. I can't help myself. Halloween is my favorite day!

Tofu Xpress magic!

2011-10-24T20:49:00.000-06:00

Besides saving me millions of paper towels, the Tofu Xpress turns cheap tofu into the really good stuff! In just a few hours, it presses all the water out, leaving a dense cake of tofu that is easily cubed, covered in cornstarch and FRIED.

If the world knew how to make awesome fried tofu, I think there would be a lot more vegetarians. Just saying.

Here is the tofu when I first put it into the press. After three hours it was half the size. Magic! I guess it does a bunch of other stuff (check out their website), but turning cheap watery tofu into awesome is more than enough for me.

All of the things I normally use tofu for (scrambles, "egg" salad and stir fry) have all been greatly improved by this clever little gadget.

The Curryer - hot food for cold weather!

2011-10-20T10:46:00.000-06:00


Vegetable Korma and fresh Naan

We all said a sad goodbye to Union Street Eats a few weeks ago, and City Dogs is closing this week. But it looks like The Curryer will be braving the elements this fall and winter to bring us delicious curries and vegan naan.

I'm so happy to hear this! They're becoming my favorite lunch destination since I don't take leisurely one hour lunches anymore. Also, they're really cheap. Fresh naan and tons of curry for $5.

It will be exciting to see what they serve during the colder months. I've heard rumors of pumpkin.

Thanks Curryer! :)

Vegan Fake Blood for Halloween

2011-10-19T12:10:00.000-06:00

Visit CHOW to learn how to make delicious fake blood!

You are welcome.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

2011-10-09T17:15:00.000-06:00

So easy and yummy! Gardein's Savory Stuffed Turky is delicious. And very appropriate for Canadian Thanksgiving. It's not rubbery and hard to cook like Tofurky. All you need to do is cook it for 25 minutes and microwave the gravy!

I made a quick salad with an orange-y garlic vinaigrette, grilled some bread and dinner was finished within a half hour! A seemingly fancy dinner even.


olive oil, orange juice, chopped garlic and Braggs Sprinkle Seasoning

A cute work lunch for Thursday

2011-10-06T13:19:00.000-06:00

Tucked into my husband's vintage Clash of the Titans lunch box is a perfectly ripe peach, a container of dates, applesauce, Annie Chun's Seaweed Snacks and a hilarious sandwich. The sandwich is hilarious because it contains Tofurky, fake bologna, Daiya cheddar, mustard and Veganaise. This totally cracks me up for some reason. So does eating Seaweed Snacks instead of chips. Wacky vegans.

Pantry Curry

2011-10-05T14:57:00.000-06:00

This recipe is worthy of Sandra Dee herself. Not entirely brilliant, but tasty. Made from stuff that will last forever in your pantry, it's zombie/earthquake/apocalypse friendly. (guess who's husband spent the summer planning for disasters!!??)

holy shit.

I sauteed a chopped baked potato, some slices of eggplant, a handful of peanuts and browned Companion canned seitan (buy it from Food Fight!) with green curry sauce. After it simmered for a few minutes, it thickened up nicely. I added Sriracha, green onions and poured a cold pear cider and dressed up my prettiest princess dress and murdered people.