Vegan Fast Food

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

I admit that I really miss the convenience of being able to swing by a drive-thru for an occasional prepared meal or pick up a quick slice of pizza. I don’t miss the cheesy food, just the convenience. But it’s still possible to eat delicious and mostly healthy vegan food from fast food joints when there’s no time to make a meal from scratch. Here are some recent fast food experiences, all positive:
Villa Madina. We ordered the Vegetable Plate which was a choice of 7 items for about $8.00, not bad at all. We chose the following items that we were assured were vegan: rice-stuffed vine leaves, falafels, broccoli, carrots and mango salad, hummus, beans and spiced rice with lentils. Overall, very good! Everything tasted fresh and healthy, not too greasy or salty, and there were plenty of vegetables to choose from. We were impressed! Villa Madina has several locations across Canada.

Tandori. I appreciated that when I said “I’m vegan”, expecting to have to elaborate further, the server kindly said “no problem at all” and pointed out all the dishes I could have. There were enough options to create a plate full of delicious Indian fare. We had the Chana Masala (chick pea curry), which came with Naan (delicious soft pita bread), potatoes and samosas. It was all very tasty. In fact, we preferred the taste of the chickpea curry and Naan better at Tandori than Classic Indian (where they spell it “Chenna”), the more expensive sit-down restaurant. Tandori advertises that their food is cooked in trans-fat free vegetable oil with no added MSG. Another winner! Both Villa Madina and Tandori advertise that they are Halal; for me that means I can relax knowing I won’t end up with an allergic reaction from any alcohol which is often a hidden ingredient in sauces. Both these food court establishments served their meals on Styrofoam plates, something that I didn’t bat an eyelash at a few years ago and now makes me cringe. There are plenty of places that serve their fast food in compostable or at least recyclable plates and containers, and hopefully this will become more commonplace. A side note, at the first food court place we tried to eat at (which had hummus on the menu, often a sign of vegan-friendliness), the server looked at me like I had three heads when I said the word vegan, then shook her head in bafflement and moved to the next customer without further acknowledgment. Hmm, guess we won’t be eating there.Burrito Boyz. You already know I love this place. Burrito Boyz has nine locations in Ontario; we ordered from the Mississauga location, which is take-out only. I ordered the soy veggie with black beans, re-fried beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, salsa, cilantro and vegan guacamole. Their regular guacamole has dairy, but they do have a vegan guacamole stashed in the fridge if you ask for it. I’ve also learned they always have cilantro but you often have to ask special for it, they don’t offer it. They grill them to perfection, no cheese required for a delicious burrito! A small veggie soy was just $5.97, a pretty decent price for a lot of yummy food.

I’ll happily eat at all three of these places again!

Any other fast food places to recommend for vegan eats?

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos with Cilantro Lime Sauce

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

I love to barbecue. Wait, that’s not right. Because I don’t barbecue. I love it when my husband barbecues for me. I handle all other food creation and preparation, and the barbecue is his domain. And we love burritos. We especially love them from Burrito Boyz, where they wrap the burritos in foil and heat them on the grill, which gave me the idea that I could easily grill them on the barbecue myself. I mean, get my husband to grill them. I used to make burritos with soy crumbles and not that they aren’t delicious, but I’ve been scaling back lately on the faux meats that tend to be highly processed and high in sodium and instead using more veggies and beans closer to their whole food state. The cumin and cilantro bring great flavour to the creamy sweet potatoes and protein-rich beans.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos
3 sweet potatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped sweet onion
olive oil for sautéing
1 tsp cumin
sea salt + black pepper
540 ml cooked black beans (or 1 large can of beans, drained and rinsed)
12 whole grain large tortillas
Cilantro Lime Sauce (recipe below)
Your favourite burrito fillings like salsa, avocado, Daiya, rice, green pepper, cilantro, etc.

Cilantro Lime Sauce
1 cup vegan sour cream
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup lime juice
1/8 tsp cumin

Combine all sauce ingredients in a food processor and combine well. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Scrub the sweet potatoes clean, cut into bite-sized chunks and steam until just tender.

While the sweet potatoes are cooking, heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium. Cook the garlic and onions for about five minutes. Add the cumin, sea salt and pepper to taste and stir to coat for another minute. Reduce heat to low and add the sweet potatoes, black beans and stir until well combined.

Spoon out a twelfth of the mixture and place in the middle of a tortilla. Drizzle with Cilantro Lime Sauce. Add your favourite toppings. I like mine with mild salsa, avocado, cilantro and Daiya. Fold the sides in, fold the bottom up and wrap tightly. Wrap the tortilla in foil and set aside. Repeat for the rest of the filling and tortillas. Makes 12 burritos.

Barbecue the burritos about five minutes each side until hot all the way through. Remove the foil and serve with Cilantro Lime Sauce.

Make ahead and freeze option
You can pop the foil-wrapped burritos in a bag and freeze to enjoy later. The night before you barbecue them, put the bag of burritos in the fridge to defrost, then barbecue. Naturally, a cold burrito from the fridge will take a bit longer to heat through than a freshly made, room-temperature burrito.

We brought these burritos to the cottage with us and they were a hit with everyone.

These burritos are my submission to this week’s Healthy Vegan Friday’s blog party, hosted by The Veggie Nook, Carrie On Vegan and Everyday Vegan Girl. If you haven’t yet checked out the weekly celebration of healthy eating, click the pic below to peruse the submitted recipes!

Vegan at the cottage

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Sarina @ Earthgiven Kitchen

Our family vacation this summer was a week at a cottage in beautiful Muskoka, Ontario and the ten of us had a wonderful time.

I’m grateful that even though I’m the lone vegan in the family, the rest of my family members are either nearly vegan, semi-vegetarian or veg-supportive. All family meals were predominantly vegan. We saved time and stress by preparing many of the meals ahead of time and freezing them, like my BBQ burritos and my sister’s delicious vegan shepherd’s pie. I made sure to pack with me all the foods I wouldn’t want to go a week without and wouldn’t be able to find in the nearest grocery store, like my sandwich spread (Vegenaise + mustard + fresh herbs from my garden), Tofurky slices, hemp seeds, organic fruit, almond milk, etc.

So, for What I ate Wednesday‘s submission #2, here is what I ate one day last week at the cottage:

Breakfast: Raw cherry almond granola. Recipe coming soon. We adored getting to see this view every day as we ate. So peaceful. August’s WIAW theme is “summer staples”, celebrating the foods in season right now. For me, nothing says summer like fresh berries, and I used both raw strawberries and cherries in my granola. Summer food staples in my house are also burgers and anything else barbecued, which we certainly enjoyed at the cottage.

Lunch: Mountain Veggie Burger with Daiya, relish and tomatoes and almonds and watermelon for dessert. This was my first time trying this brand and I really liked it. It’s made from vegetables and beans and only 3 grams of fat per burger, a nice break from the fatty and soy-based (though delicious) burgers out there. They were bought at Organic Garage in Oakville. Snack of tortilla chips and salsa, Barbara’s blueberry fig bars and dried apricots.

Dinner: Sweet potato black bean burritos with cilantro lime sauce! Recipe coming soon. These were a big hit. I made them a few weeks before hand, wrapped them individually in aluminum foil and froze them before the trip. They defrosted over night in the fridge then barbecued about five minutes each side so they will be hot all the way through. We served them with Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream, guacamole and salsa. Delicious! Easily my favourite meal at the cottage.

Dessert: Birthday cake! We treated ourselves to Sweets from the Earth chocolate cheesecake for my son’s birthday celebration. I adored cheesecake before I went vegan and so far have not had lucky myself creating an excellent vegan cheesecake, but that’s okay because we can always get a delicious Sweets from the Earth cake to satisfy our cheesecake cravings. Their very best cake, in my opinion, is their carrot cake. Completely addictive. All Sweets from the Earth foods are made from natural vegan ingredients; no preservatives, GMOs, hydrogenated food or refined sugars. And they are from Toronto! Sweet indeed.