Feeling Fall, Kimchi rice, and Brussels Sprouts

It’s fall here in Asheville, and I couldn’t be happier. I spend the whole year looking forward to October/November. I start surrounding myself with oranges and reds, cooking with cinnamon and nutmeg, and eating every imaginable pumpkin-flavored food. 

A couple days ago I purchased my first table. Buying furniture makes me feel like such an adult. I love it. To celebrate, I put together a beautiful fall-inspired centerpiece.

Later that night, I cooked a delicious dinner for a date, although I was having such a good time I forgot to take a picture. I made pumpkin risotto (which I plan on making again next week, and I will definitely share the recipe), which I served inside of a roasted pie pumpkin and topped with a few thin strips of romano cheese. I served a Caesar salad alongside of it, and for dessert served up some pumpkin cheesecake from Trader Joe’s. 

Tonight was a more subtly awesome dinner. I bought some Kimchi rice from Trader Joe’s, and then made miso-roasted Brussels sprouts to go with it, along with a (rather ugly) fried egg. I added sliced red bell pepper to the Brussels sprouts, which was a great addition. The whole meal was really fancy, and much healthier than takeout. 

My goal for this coming week is to be mindful of portion control. It’s my largest nutritional problem. Even healthy meals can become unhealthy when you eat too much of it at once. Wish me luck!

Wingbean

For folks living in Asheville, NC, an exciting new food option has been created. Wingbean, a vegan food delivery company, will deliver delicious vegan meals to your door.

For $70, you can order “3 entrees, 4 side dishes, a large soup, and a small dessert” (from their website), which will certainly help busy people eat healthy, organic food without the stress of cooking it yourself. Meals are delivered on Mondays right to your door.

Chick Pea of the Sea

There’s a different menu for every new week, so you’ll never have to face eating the same thing over and over.  There are also gluten-free options available. The dishes are beautiful, and I’m sure all of them are incredibly delicious. I’ve had plenty of food prepared by Pamela, and I’ve never been disappointed.

Portobello Steak with Tapenade and Roasted Red Pepper "Cream" Sauce

This would be a fantastic option for people who are too busy too cook, for people who just hate to cook or don’t know how, or people who don’t have access to a kitchen (like students), but who still want to be able to enjoy home-cooked food. Wingbean’s owners, Scott and Pamela, are both gracious, friendly people, so customer service is always going to be great.

Mini BBQ Tofu

To read more about Wingbean, and their services (and to place an order, which you should), take a look at their website and Facebook page, the links to which are below. Their menu for next week looks delicious. 🙂

Wingbean
Facebook 
This week’s menu 

(And thanks for Pamela for permission to share some pictures here!!)

 

 

Green Light Cafe

Today is the first day of Vegan Mofo, a month-long blogging frenzy centered around vegan food. There’s an incredibly long list of blogs participating, and I’m excited to be among them.

For today, I want to review a great vegetarian restaurant in Asheville, Green Light Cafe. It’s a fairly new restaurant, opening in 2010 in downtown Asheville. I’ve been there a few times, and each plate I tried was just as good as the others.

The atmosphere is chill and cozy. It’s rarely crowded, which I’ve never been comfortable about. I would love to see this restaurant crowded and business booming, but all the times I’ve been there it’s been slow. Hopefully it’s because I tend to go before or after main meal times; I really want to see this place succeed.

When you sit down you’re served this emerald-green water, which is made from chlorophyll. It tastes just like regular water, but the color is great to look at.

All the entrees are served with a house salad, which you can see above. This is the sesame peanut ginger dressing, which is delicious. The lemon tahini is also a good choice. I love the inclusion of sprouts and baby greens in their salads.

(Sorry about the blurriness – I was anxious to eat by now!)

I ordered the Thai Vegetable Crepe, which is “sautéed veggies and gingered baked tofu wrapped in a spelt flax crepe, topped with sesame peanut ginger sauce and served with rice.” It was delicious.

My boyfriend ordered what is without a doubt the best thing there: the Citrus BBQ Bowl. “Savory soy nuggets, coleslaw, and rice. Can also be wrapped in a wheat tortilla with dill aioli.” The soy nuggets are perfectly chewy and meaty, with a great BBQ sauce.

Green Light Cafe is located on Lexington Ave in downtown Asheville. Be sure to try it out if you visit. It’s just one of many delicious vegetarian/vegan restaurants in this amazing town. I’m sure my boyfriend and I will be going back again and again.

Aren't we adorable? 😉

A couple of restaurant meals

I’ve written before about how much I adore Rosetta’s, and luckily it’s the sort of place where vegetarians and even omnivores can enjoy a nice meal. Friday my boyfriend and I had lunch there, and decided on basically the two most unhealthy items on their menu, the chili cheese fries with vegan queso and the tempalo wings.

Both were obviously delicious. I got both myself and boyfriend hooked on the tempalo wings a few months ago after ordering them for the first time. Absolutely perfect. Plus, it was a gorgeous day, and the atmosphere at Rosetta’s just makes any day better.

I don’t like eating out very often, mainly because I love to cook so much, but on occasion it’s nice to go out and have someone cook delicious food for you. One such day was a week ago when I was exhausted. The bf lives close to a wonderful Thai restaurant (which happens to be the very first place we went out together) that is just lovely. It’s curious that we’ve only been there twice considering its close proximity to his house and our love for Thai food. Last week when we were there I ordered the red curry with tofu.

It was delicious, plus the meal itself was gorgeous! I really feel like I should work on my presentation when it comes to serving meals because good food deserves to look as lovely as it tastes.

Valentine’s Day Cookies

Happy belated Valentine’s Day everyone. I meant to post all this yesterday but just plain never got around to it.

Saturday night I got to hang out with a couple of awesome people, one of which I hadn’t seen in a long time (Hi Carol!). We went to Laughing Seed, a fancy and well-known Asheville vegetarian restaurant. I’d been there once before when I first moved here, but it’s slightly too expensive to frequent. I got the Reuben and it was delicious. The sauce made it.

Sunday my boyfriend took me to lunch at Rosetta’s, my favorite and another mostly vegan restaurant. Everything I’ve ever ate there was good. I decided to get the Hearty Miso Soup Plate, which is a miso soup served with rice and a side of kale. I was super hung over and needed to feel like I was doing something good for my body! 😉

My boyfriend got the chili-cheese fries. His were made with real cheese, but the vegan kind is available too.

Since I received Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar as Valentine’s Day gifts (which was so incredibly thoughtful), I wanted to make my boyfriend some desserts. I let him choose which two recipes he wanted me to make him, and he settled on the Peanut Butter Crisscrosses (pictured below) and the Blueberry Spice Crumb Bars. Both were delicious.

I can’t wait to make more recipes from those two books! Especially the Mucho Margarita Cupcakes – they look awesome?

Do any of you have favorite recipes from those books?