Vegan Brooklyn Pad Thai, Vege Thai dinner, Mushrooms and Tulips

Hell yea, I finally made (aka picked up the ingredients for) the Brooklyn Pad Thai in VWAV.

I used Trader Joe's new rice noodles (99 cents!), and left out the onion and lemongrass, which I didn't see a need to pick up, as I was already buying bean sprouts, rice noodles, chili sauce and peanut oil. I did not garnish with cilantro, as I hate it. I also julienned carrots but forgot to add them. Regardless of the changes, it was still fantastic! The noodles were a bit annoying to stir fry, but they made it through all saucy and gave me dinner and lunch. Even my 'I don't want to eat Thai food, specially pad thai' at home boyfriend said it looked and smelled like the real thing (he had already eaten).

I've only cooked with peanut oil a couple times before, and I'm really pleased I picked it up - cooking with it smells just like Vege Thai. Greasy goodness of a treat (addiction?) that Vege Thai is....

I really, really love Vege Thai, and the downtown Veggie Express food cart. In particular, the food cart has given me opportunities to try different menu items that I probably would not try at the restaurant. Above, though at the restaurant, is something I've ordered twice now, the pineapple curry with tofu, medium heat.
Thomas' favorite - Pad Sei-iew with mock pepper steak. This one is great as well, made with a dark soy sauce. I am constantly asking to his plate.
If you go, do remember to ask for the 'vegan' chicken if you are vegan, as they have both vegan and vegetarian chicken.
The other night I was just feeling mushrooms for dinner, and made this balsamic galzed (VWAV) cremini, cherry tomato, field greens, avocado, roasted garlic and vegenaise sandwich on a ciabatta roll from New Seasons. I used white balsamic vinegar for the shrooms, since that's all I have right now, but I intend to pick up some red soon. The white just isn't as deep a flavor to me.
This is a Veganomican test recipe that I made for the second time on Monday night -
Spicy tempeh with broccoli and whole wheat pasta.
I'm a big spicy, and tempeh, garlic and broccoli and whole wheat pasta fan, so yum.

One of my favorite things to make and eat - stuffed mushrooms. This was my first time marinading the caps beforehand. They were in a mixture of red wine, shoyu, garlic, white balsamic and olive oil for over 24 hours. A similar recipe of mine, Hazelnut and Red Wine mushrooms, is currently up on the Herbivore website in the subscriber section (so subscribe!).


A little pile of Italian-y foods. Baked and bread tofu, roasted eggplant and garlic, baby spinach, and sundried tomato marinara (variation of a Veganomican test recipe).
The eggplant slices were rubbed with garlic and baked for 10 minutes on each side at 400F, and the tofu was dipped in soymilk, and then seasoned breadcrumbs and baked for 15-20 minutes at 400F on each side on parchment paper.


On Saturday night Thomas and I dined for the first time at The Farm Cafe. It was a special, fancypants excursion for us, but absolutely worth it - dinner and cocktails to celebrate our 4th anniversary, blah blah!
We both highly recommend the herb crusted tofu with mashed potatoes and mushroom Marsala sauce, as does everyone else we know who's tried it. The dish was $10 and worth every penny, every bite - and it's a place that focuses on local/organic!
Thomas had the wild mushroom (vegetarian) lasagna special. Unfortunately, no photos of the meal, but here are some lovely tulips:

Somehow, Zelda has not managed to eat these yet.