Vegan Traveler's Family is travelling.

We took a train to New Orleans, and I have mixed reviews about Amtrak's food. We called before we left to ask about vegan options, but the customer service rep was so confused at why anyone would want to be vegan. She told us Gardenburgers were available on every train, but couldn't tell us if it were the vegan ones.

So we decided to bring our own food, but except for soy milk for my daughter, we didn't eat a lot of it. The waitstaff was so accomodating. We told them about our daughter's milk allergy, and they bent over backwards to check ingredients. At one meal, they made steamed vegetables just for her.

They do have Amy's veggie burgers which are vegan. They micowave them, but hey, it's not dead animals. I do not like soy burgers, but it was ok this once.

Grilled Asparagus Sandwiches

This recipe takes some previous preparation if you use the cheese substitute we did. It is from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook", and it is great for melting on sandwiches. It makes a great grilled cheese.

Grilled Asparagus Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 2-4 slices Colby Cheeze from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook"
  
• 6 stalks asparagus, cleaned and sliced
  
• 4 slices bread
  
• Earth Balance spread (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400
   
2. Place asparagus on a baking pan.
   
3. Drizzle a little olive oil on it and bake for 8.
   
4. Spread Earth Balance on the outside of your bread if you want.
   
5. On inside of sandwhich, place cheeze slices, then asparagus, then cover with butter side out.
   
6. Grill until gooey.

Great Mid-Week Meals

I didn't plan anything this week because we were trying to go through what is in our pantry and freezer.


Yesterday's Dinner:

• Leftover Lentil patties
  
• WF Potatoes O'Brien mixed with rice milk and Earth's Balance to make mashed potatoes
  
• Frozen peas

Tonight's Dinner:
Today I went to pick up some bread and came across some great looking asparagus, and we made grilled asparagus sandwiches with tater tots.

Rob's Mega-Savory Happy Fun Stuffing

My husband named this recipe, so if you think it's weird, talk to him. Anyway, this stuffing is a vegan type of boxed stuffing (like Stove Top). There is no baking required for it, so it's super fast to make.

Ingredients:

• 11-12 cups stale bread, torn into pieces (We used Trader Joe's French Baugette)
  
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 4 cloves garlic
  
• 4 stalks celery
  
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1 - 1.5 cups vegetable broth
  
• 1 Tbsp poultry seasoning
  
• 1 Tbsp parsley
  
• 1 Tbsp Bragg's

Directions:

1. Sauté onions and garlic until soft.
   
2. Add celery and cook for 2-3 minutes longer.
   
3. Add all the spices and vegetable broth, and bring to a boil.
   
4. Take pot off heat and add bread pieces.
   
5. Mix until all bread is moistened and let stand for 5 minutes.

Literary Vegan Musings

“The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.”- Alice Walker

"But for the sake of some little mouthful of meat, we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy." - Seneca, Roman philosopher

"No humane being, past the thoughtless age of boyhood, will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does." - Henry David Thoreau

I just discovered that a few people whose work I really admire were vegetarians.
Leonardo da Vinci
Albert Einstein
Ben Franklin
Bob Marley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly
Percey Bysshe Shelley
Henry David Thoreau
Vincent Van Gogh
HG Wells

Weird Al Yankovic is a vegan, and I wonder if that was before or after the "Eat It" video.

Southern Pines, North Carolina

Today, the Vegan Traveler's family went to Southern Pines, NC. In my other role as mixed media artist, I created an art book as my response to the Mixed Media Madness Mission from the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild. The opening for the show for all the projects submitted for the challenge was today at Artist's Alley at Southern Pines.

Shopping
Historic Southern Pines is a fun town with blocks of several unique and interesting boutiques and restaurants. There is also a working train than runs through the middle of the town. We had a great time walking around looking at all the shops. My favorite was the locally created art, while my 2 year old's favorite was the toy store. (Imagine that.) Here are a few scenes from the area.










Food
The town is about an hour and a half away, so by the time we arrived we were hungry. Happily, after passing an ice cream shop, a deli and a pizza place, we happened upon a Japanese restaurant called Ten-Ya. I love Japanese restaurants because there is always vegetable sushi. The decor was beautiful, nice and stylish. I got the vegetable tempura and veggie sushi. It was delicious. (I forgot to photograph the food).






Sage was not impressed by sticky rice and fried veggies and opted for beans instead.

Double Batch Cooking :Pot Pie/Mini Pot Pies

My family makes a double batch of pot pie filling, eats one for dinner, then freezes the mini ones for easy lunches later in the month. We used mushroom and brown lentils to try to get more of a beefy flavor. It wasn't beefy, but it tasted great.

Dough
Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 2 tsp Herbs de Provence
  
• 1/4 cup vegan butter (we used Earth Balance)
  
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk

Directions:

1. Blend flour, salt and herbs de Provence in a food processor until mixed.
   
2. Add vegan butter and process until mixed well.
   
3. Add non-dairy milk and process until dough is formed.
   
4. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.

Filling
Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 cup onion, chopped
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 1/2 tsp cumin
  
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
  
• 2 carrots, sliced
  
• 2 cups water (or vegetable broth)
  
• 1/2 cup brown lentils, rinsed well
  
• 1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped
  
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
  
• Mushroom Sauce
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large pot.
   
2. Sauté onion, garlic and cumin for 5 minutes.
   
3. Add celery and carrots and sauté for 3 more minutes.
   
4. Add water, lentils, and potatoes, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until lentils and potatoes are soft. It's ok if they are not done all the way, since we'll be cooking them longer in the oven.
   
5. Add frozen peas and Mushroom Sauce and heat until warm.
   

Regular Size Pot Pie:
Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. Flour your rolling surface and roll out the dough to fit your baking pan.
   
3. Add 1/2 pot pie mixture (if you made a double batch) to your baking pan
   
4. Cover with dough
   
5. Place them in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes.

While this is cooking, you can assemble the mini pot pies.

Mini Pot Pies
Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. Flour your rolling surface and roll out the dough and cut out 5' squares.
   
3. Add 2 Tbsp (or more or less depending on how much filling you like) on one square.
   
4. Cover that with another square. Press edges together, then decorate with a fork.
   
5. Brush tops with olive oil.
   
6. After all pies are assembled, place them in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes.
   
7. After the are cooled, you can put them in a freezer safe container and enjoy later.

Hint: I like to assemble my pies on parchment paper and then just slip that paper onto a cookie sheet for easy transfer to the oven.