vegansaurus!

Posts tagged "desserts"

07/28/2010

You know how, as a vegan, there are certain places you don’t even bother to check out because you already know there’s nothing for you? Like ‘The Meat Hut’ or ‘The Cheese Shack’ or whatever? You might think MilkShake Werks in Redwood Shores is kind of like that, but you’d be making a huge mistake! Because…VEGAN MILKSHAKES! Yay! SIDE NOTE: Actually, you might think all of Redwood Shores is kind of like that. It’s mostly a big tangle of housing developments that sprang up south of Redwood City after Marine World moved away; on first glance not a lot of exciting vegan potential. But again, huge mistake! More on that later. First, MilkShake Werks and their delicious VEGAN MILKSHAKES! The shop has been there for a while, but we only found out about the vegan shakes recently—surprise! We zoomed over and ordered chocolate-chocolate chip, which was the vegan flavor the owner made that morning. All the ice cream is handmade from scratch (not delivered in bulk by some stinky truck) using plenty of local ingredients. There’s always at least one vegan option, but the available flavors are determined by what got made most recently, so call and check if there’s a flavor you MUST have. Anyway, back to the shakes: we were sooo happy. Haven’t had a “real” milkshake in years and years, and this more than lived up to the memory. It was thick but not TOO thick–-easily drinkable through a straw, no problem. Lots of yummy speckles of dark chocolate throughout. Special bonus: the shakes are served in Greenware cups that are actually made from plants, so no plastic or Styrofoam guilt there. Once we figured out they had vegan ice cream, I starting nosing around and other possibilities opened up as well. They’ll make vegan ice cream cakes! You can have a regular sized one or a cute little one that serves 4 to 6. Also, the hot fudge isn’t vegan (boo) but the chocolate sauce is, so you can even pig out on vegan banana splits. Nice. From 4 to 6 p.m. every day is Milkshake Happy Hour-–20 percent off — and they’re always hosting special events like the “Shake It” Milkshake Drinking Contest this Saturday (July 31). The owner says the vegan ice cream has been a hit so far, so keep sending them love!  Now, let’s say that for some reason you consider a milkshake or banana split to be merely dessert? There are tons of meal options in easy walking distance. You could try: Yeah! Chinese: The menu has a vegan-meat section, subbing in faux pork, beef, fish or chicken in some classic dishes, but that’s just a starting point – they’ll veganize almost anything on the menu. Definitely try the (vegan) sweet-and-sour pork if you’re eating with die-hard meat-eaters and want to fool them. It’s so realistic we freaked out the first time and demanded proof that it was really fake (it is.) Or if faux meat isn’t your thing, they have a big selection of veggie-based main courses also. Or how about Ike’s Place: Yes, I said Ike’s Place! Almost no one knows about their Redwood Shores location because it’s tucked in an office building and is phone-order only, but no problem–-just call from the parking lot then stroll in for the BEST VEGAN SANDWICHES EVER. (You may have to duck in to grab a copy of their huge menu first.) Just try not to hog all the soy cheese because they sometimes run out, OK? I want some too. Or Amici’s: Yes, a Redwood Shores location! Their vegan pizza used to be kind of meh, and now is great because they switched to Daiya cheese. And their pizza sauce has no hidden meat–-only tomatoes, basil, garlic and salt–-so you can go ahead and order any pizza you want, just ask for the vegan cheese. Yum yum yum. Thanks to writer/illustrator/vegan/feral cat feeder/Vegansaurus reader Rhonda for this fabulous write-up on what to do in Redwood Shores! If you want to highlight your town and let readers know about what the vegan options are, holler at your dino! Or your other dino! All of the dinos are here to serve you. I actually think this is kind of a rad idea because we can’t fully cover all the vegan options in the Bay Area, so if we’ve neglected your slice of the Bay, we want to know!

You know how, as a vegan, there are certain places you don’t even bother to check out because you already know there’s nothing for you? Like ‘The Meat Hut’ or ‘The Cheese Shack’ or whatever? You might think MilkShake Werks in Redwood Shores is kind of like that, but you’d be making a huge mistake! Because…VEGAN MILKSHAKES! Yay! SIDE NOTE: Actually, you might think all of Redwood Shores is kind of like that. It’s mostly a big tangle of housing developments that sprang up south of Redwood City after Marine World moved away; on first glance not a lot of exciting vegan potential. But again, huge mistake! More on that later.
 
First, MilkShake Werks and their delicious VEGAN MILKSHAKES! The shop has been there for a while, but we only found out about the vegan shakes recently—surprise! We zoomed over and ordered chocolate-chocolate chip, which was the vegan flavor the owner made that morning. All the ice cream is handmade from scratch (not delivered in bulk by some stinky truck) using plenty of local ingredients. There’s always at least one vegan option, but the available flavors are determined by what got made most recently, so call and check if there’s a flavor you MUST have. Anyway, back to the shakes: we were sooo happy. Haven’t had a “real” milkshake in years and years, and this more than lived up to the memory. It was thick but not TOO thick–-easily drinkable through a straw, no problem. Lots of yummy speckles of dark chocolate throughout. Special bonus: the shakes are served in Greenware cups that are actually made from plants, so no plastic or Styrofoam guilt there.
 
Once we figured out they had vegan ice cream, I starting nosing around and other possibilities opened up as well. They’ll make vegan ice cream cakes! You can have a regular sized one or a cute little one that serves 4 to 6. Also, the hot fudge isn’t vegan (boo) but the chocolate sauce is, so you can even pig out on vegan banana splits. Nice.
 
From 4 to 6 p.m. every day is Milkshake Happy Hour-–20 percent off — and they’re always hosting special events like the “Shake It” Milkshake Drinking Contest this Saturday (July 31). The owner says the vegan ice cream has been a hit so far, so keep sending them love!
  
Now, let’s say that for some reason you consider a milkshake or banana split to be merely dessert? There are tons of meal options in easy walking distance. You could try:
 
Yeah! Chinese: The menu has a vegan-meat section, subbing in faux pork, beef, fish or chicken in some classic dishes, but that’s just a starting point – they’ll veganize almost anything on the menu. Definitely try the (vegan) sweet-and-sour pork if you’re eating with die-hard meat-eaters and want to fool them. It’s so realistic we freaked out the first time and demanded proof that it was really fake (it is.) Or if faux meat isn’t your thing, they have a big selection of veggie-based main courses also.
 
Or how about Ike’s Place: Yes, I said Ike’s Place! Almost no one knows about their Redwood Shores location because it’s tucked in an office building and is phone-order only, but no problem–-just call from the parking lot then stroll in for the BEST VEGAN SANDWICHES EVER. (You may have to duck in to grab a copy of their huge menu first.) Just try not to hog all the soy cheese because they sometimes run out, OK? I want some too.

Or Amici’s: Yes, a Redwood Shores location! Their vegan pizza used to be kind of meh, and now is great because they switched to Daiya cheese. And their pizza sauce has no hidden meat–-only tomatoes, basil, garlic and salt–-so you can go ahead and order any pizza you want, just ask for the vegan cheese. Yum yum yum.

Thanks to writer/illustrator/vegan/feral cat feeder/Vegansaurus reader Rhonda for this fabulous write-up on what to do in Redwood Shores! If you want to highlight your town and let readers know about what the vegan options are, holler at your dino! Or your other dino! All of the dinos are here to serve you. I actually think this is kind of a rad idea because we can’t fully cover all the vegan options in the Bay Area, so if we’ve neglected your slice of the Bay, we want to know!

Photo posted at 11:47 by mrpenguino

07/15/2010

CINNAHOLIC IS OPENING SATURDAY, JULY 17! Yes, that’s two days from now. We cannot contain our giant erections and we don’t want to. Oh also, I wrote them up in SFist for my Three Vegan Dishes Worth Creaming Your Culinary Pants For article! CHECK IT OUT, I’m getting international, folks! And by international, I mean another San Francisco-based website. Whatevs!

CINNAHOLIC IS OPENING SATURDAY, JULY 17! Yes, that’s two days from now. We cannot contain our giant erections and we don’t want to.

Oh also, I wrote them up in SFist for my Three Vegan Dishes Worth Creaming Your Culinary Pants For article! CHECK IT OUT, I’m getting international, folks! And by international, I mean another San Francisco-based website. Whatevs!

Photo posted at 13:35 by mrpenguino

07/02/2010

When I think about raw food, I think about GET THE EFF AWAY FROM ME! I kid, there is plenty of great raw food out there, and Sidesaddle Kitchen cookies are no exception. The chocolate mint thins are strongly reminiscent of the Girl Scout favorites, except filled with stuff that’s good for you and not stuff that will kill you. Also, they’re very delicious frozen GOD LOVE A FROZEN COOKIE. Oooh or you could melt them a little in the microwave (LAY OFF THEY’RE HELPFUL) and put a little coconut ice cream on top YES PLEASE. The chocolate sea salt macaroons are extremely tasty haystacks that I want to build a hut out of and live in. Seriously, it’s fantastic stuff. They’re currently available at SF Underground Market and through Etsy, but my guess is this shiz will be available everywhere pretty soon.

When I think about raw food, I think about GET THE EFF AWAY FROM ME! I kid, there is plenty of great raw food out there, and Sidesaddle Kitchen cookies are no exception. The chocolate mint thins are strongly reminiscent of the Girl Scout favorites, except filled with stuff that’s good for you and not stuff that will kill you. Also, they’re very delicious frozen GOD LOVE A FROZEN COOKIE. Oooh or you could melt them a little in the microwave (LAY OFF THEY’RE HELPFUL) and put a little coconut ice cream on top YES PLEASE. The chocolate sea salt macaroons are extremely tasty haystacks that I want to build a hut out of and live in. Seriously, it’s fantastic stuff. They’re currently available at SF Underground Market and through Etsy, but my guess is this shiz will be available everywhere pretty soon.

Photo posted at 08:01 by mrpenguino

06/28/2010

We’ve heard from a Friend of Vegansaurus (Hi Karin!), that there are now three flavors of vegan cupcakes available at Cako in Union Square. The three flavors are red velvet, double chocolate, and mocha. HELLO! Karin tried the double chocolate and said it was pretty damn good. Has anyone else been there?! It seems like it might be a good stop after dinner at Golden Era or Lahore Karahi. It’s on O’Farrell at Powell (right off BART! Yes!) and open everyday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., so you Tenderloin-living fat-asses can get your vegan cupcakes pretty much all the time (except between 9 p.m. and 10 a.m., which is fine because those are good times to stay indoors in your neighborhood. That is funny because you live in a crack den lolz!). 

We’ve heard from a Friend of Vegansaurus (Hi Karin!), that there are now three flavors of vegan cupcakes available at Cako in Union Square. The three flavors are red velvet, double chocolate, and mocha. HELLO! Karin tried the double chocolate and said it was pretty damn good. Has anyone else been there?! It seems like it might be a good stop after dinner at Golden Era or Lahore Karahi. It’s on O’Farrell at Powell (right off BART! Yes!) and open everyday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., so you Tenderloin-living fat-asses can get your vegan cupcakes pretty much all the time (except between 9 p.m. and 10 a.m., which is fine because those are good times to stay indoors in your neighborhood. That is funny because you live in a crack den lolz!). 

Photo posted at 13:10 by mrpenguino

05/17/2010

It’s spring, let’s make a pie!

Start with two pounds of cherries that were fresh last week. Realize you have to do something with them, and look up recipes until you find the right one for you. Realize you don’t have enough cherries, and add fresh strawberries until ideal weight is achieved. Wash, stem, and pit cherries. This will take longer than you think, but it won’t be nearly as irritating as you expect, I swear.

Adjust your recipe according to your ingredients and tastes. “But it’s a pie! I’m afraid!” Don’t be; the filling is super-easy and you have leftover crust from your last pie in the freezer, so now all the hard work is over.

I adapted the above-linked recipe and this is roughly what constituted the filling:
2 pounds fresh cherries, and 1/2 pound fresh strawberries
1/2 cup sugar (could’ve been less, really, the cherries were very sweet)
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract (there wasn’t any almond)
a dash of whiskey
Stir, cover, and let sit for a few hours. Now you can defrost your pie crust, and clean up your mess. Fun!

Now instead of making one giant pie, maybe you want to make two smaller pies. I did! Unfortunately after rolling out two pie crusts and heaping the tins full of filling—no pre-baking the crust this time—I didn’t have any crust left over for a top. What to do? Make a crisp topping, obviously!
1 cup oats
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup non-dairy butter
cinnamon, to taste
Combine in a bowl until everything is all pebbly. Then sprinkle across the tops of your pies, like so. Very nice!

While you’ve been mixing and sprinkling, your oven has been preheating to 400 F. When it’s ready, pop the pies in, with foil over the tops, but make sure they’re on some kind of tray, because they will probably erupt a bit and you don’t want cherry-strawberry mess all over your oven. I had to bake mine individually because of this. Pro tip: If you re-use a tray that’s already covered in semi-carbonized pie overflow, it’ll bake on so hard it may never come off. Best not to.

After 30 minutes, reduce heat to 350 F and remove the foil from the pie. Bake for another 30 to 45 minutes (mine needed 30), then take out of the oven—mind the spillage on those trays!—and place on a wire rack to cool. See how much overflow there was? Thank goodness I used a tray!

Now, allow to cool for a good long time before devouring. Why? First, because the pie filling is like sweet, delicious lava that will blister ever part of you that it touches. Second, because, like a pudding, it’s still setting. You don’t want to cut it open and have all the filling spill out like some ridiculous fruit-waterfall, right? Of course not. So, wait. Give it a good hour at least.

Finally, slice and eat. Although to be honest, this pie is best served at room temperature at least 12 hours after baking. The flavors need more time to develop, I guess, to get comfortable with each other, so try not to eat it all up that night. Allow their relationship time to grow!

Still, definitely eat a piece when it’s done. You pitted cherries for this!

[pictures by Meave]

Posted at 11:54 by meaverly

04/28/2010

Sticky Toffee Sandwich Cookies with cream filling at Wholesome Bakery. Now you owe me your firstborn. I’ll name it Borg if it’s a girl, or Sheryl if it’s a boy. The primary rearing will be done by my dog, Hazel. No, it’s for the best.

Sticky Toffee Sandwich Cookies with cream filling at Wholesome Bakery.

Now you owe me your firstborn. I’ll name it Borg if it’s a girl, or Sheryl if it’s a boy. The primary rearing will be done by my dog, Hazel. No, it’s for the best.

Photo posted at 13:37 by mumblingmynah

04/23/2010

Hell Yeah It’s Vegan never fails to induce salivating and pawing at the screen. BY MY DOG. Not by me, I’m a lady. Well, so is my dog OKAY FINE IT’S BOTH OF US. 

Hell Yeah It’s Vegan never fails to induce salivating and pawing at the screen. BY MY DOG. Not by me, I’m a lady. Well, so is my dog OKAY FINE IT’S BOTH OF US. 

Photo posted at 13:28 by mrpenguino

04/12/2010

Vegansaurus NYC: Tiengarden!

Another day in New York, another vegan restaurant! I ventured out of Brooklyn to meet my pal Brittany in her neighborhood, the Lower East Side. OMG my big day in the city! We were searching for a place by her apartment and with the help of Happy Cow and SuperVegan, we decided on Tiengarden. It’s completely vegan and the internets are calling it Chinese food but I felt like it was kind of Thai (the lovely Brittany agrees), but maybe I’m a racist.

We shared spring rolls and they were adequate. I’m like a spring roll ninja (why’s it got to be a ninja Megan? Racist!) so you can’t just come at me with any old thing, but they were enjoyable. Brit (an omni) got the stir-fried noodles and she liked it, but says it was a little oily. But dude, she was totally into it. She was even talking about becoming a vegan but she didn’t really have any other reason besides liking the stir-fried noodles. I was like, homegirl, it takes commitment! It’s like on America’s Next Top Model, you can’t roll in on day one thinking you’re Tyra! You can’t even smile with your eyes!

Whaaaaaat was I talking about? Ah yes, nuggets! Well, I was about to. I had T11, the special nuggets with peanut curry sauce. Boy were those nuggets special! I think they were deep-fried chunks of tofu—I can get down with that. There were also zucchini, broccoli and other veggies along with some sort of brown rice. I’m a peanut sauce enthusiast and the more it tastes like peanut butter, the better. This sauce was excellent, very peanut-buttery (not thick like it, just the taste). If you like that spicy non-peanut-buttery peanut sauce, you are out of luck.

Other things to note: they have lots of desserts available but I didn’t try any because I had places to be (I’m a big-city girl now!) but they looked good. I’ll definitely have to try the carrot cake next time—cake is my favorite vegetable! Oh and they didn’t have regular soda but Brittany got this Chinese cola thing and now she’s all about it. It’s like, there goes Brittany with that Chinese cola! Sheesh, if I had a nickle…etc.

Posted at 08:00 by youtalkfunny

03/24/2010

Mango Cupcakes with Mango Buttercream: all vegan GIVE IT TO ME. I really have nothing left to say. I mean, what is there? Maybe these might be better left to summer eating when mango is easily available, but I’ve got some stuff frozen from last summer in my freezer and I’m busting it out. Wait, will that kill me? Who cares! If I’m gonna go down, I want to go down eating these cupcakes. And preferably having sex on a cloud and getting a massage from Jude Law and petting my dog and eating French fries and accepting an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize and doing the can-can with a chorus of kittens YES ALL AT ONCE, PERV. 

Mango Cupcakes with Mango Buttercream: all vegan GIVE IT TO ME. I really have nothing left to say. I mean, what is there? Maybe these might be better left to summer eating when mango is easily available, but I’ve got some stuff frozen from last summer in my freezer and I’m busting it out. Wait, will that kill me? Who cares! If I’m gonna go down, I want to go down eating these cupcakes. And preferably having sex on a cloud and getting a massage from Jude Law and petting my dog and eating French fries and accepting an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize and doing the can-can with a chorus of kittens YES ALL AT ONCE, PERV. 

Photo posted at 11:54 by mrpenguino

03/16/2010

Vegansaurus goes to another trendy sandwich place in the Mission

We field-tripped to Dagwood & Scoops today. Not because Thrillist told us to (yarg), but because we happened to be hankering for some Pal’s after a meeting at Uptown Almanac HQ and saw it first (Sorry Pal’s!).

While it does cater to a meat-and-cheese audience (plug your ears if your delicate sensibilities “don’t come to a vegan blog to hear about” this, but by all means continue to shop at supermarkets), they are appropriately vegan-friendly for their zipcode, and definitely more so than Pal’s or Kitchenette or whatever.

There is at least one totally vegan sandwich on the menu at all times (the $7 “Hum-Baby” with hummus, peppers, artichoke hearts, tomato & basil), plus several veggie options easily veganized. Of these, I’m going to have to recommend the “Paulie’s Vegwood”—the veg version of the namesake sandwich (a meatstravaganza of East Coast proportions.)

The Vegwood (hold the Swiss cheese) comes on a toasty roll, with a huge amount of hummus, olive tapenade, marinated artichoke hearts, sprouts, avocado, pepperoncini, and probably some other shit I’m forgetting because it was a big-ass epic sandwich. It was seriously the neverending sandwich. It’s also $10, but I’m going to say worth it. I’m super full, every bite was enjoyable, and $14 for a good sandwich and a kombucha (they sell GT’s—the Mountain Dew of the West Coast) was in my budget for today, if maybe not every day.

Oh and guess what else! They sell WHOLE PACKAGES of Newman-O’s! Including PEANUT BUTTER NEWMAN-O’S!! I mean, what!?? But I’m not complaining! I didn’t buy any but I wish I did!

Newman-O’s!! With your sandwich!

[photos by Megan Allison]

Posted at 15:13 by meganallison

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