Eating Consciously

I recently visited two highly recommended vegan restaurants, Candle Cafe and Horizons. Candle Cafe is located on Third Avenue at 75th Street in New York City. It is a full-service restaurant with a juice bar atmosphere and has some really amazing food. I ordered the Tuscan Lasagna- Grilled zucchini, peppers and onions, tofu basil ricotta, soy cheese and seitan ragout topped with a tomato truffle sauce. Served with sautéed greens. Although I forgot to snap pictures, I would recommend the Mezze Plate for first course and the Banana Cake for dessert. For wine, I would also recommend Ventura Lontué Valley Malbec, 1999 from Chile. Last night I visited Horizons here in Philadelphia located on 7th and Kater Streets (right off of South Street). If you live in Philadelphia, or ever visit, you MUST have dinner at Horizons. In my opinion, Horizons is one of the top vegan restaurants in the country and probably even the world. The atmosphere is an upscale, intimate 35-seat dining room wit...

I just invented the best buffalo sauce ever!!! It's quite a nice variation from the usual hot sauce and earth balance blend. Buffalo Sauce 1/2 C smooth peanut butter 1 C hot sauce Mix together until smooth and creamy! You can't even taste the peanut butter because of the hot sauce, but it lends a creamy and thick texture. This recipe can also be adjusted to make any size batch by simplifying it to one part peanut butter to two parts hot sauce! Try it!!! Yummmy!

I hesitate to continue to apologize for not being on time with my posts. In the future, I believe I will stop making pre-planned announcements and continue to post as I see fit. It seems to have worked well that way for the past year. Moving forward, Animal Rights 2008 was fantastic. There were tons of great speakers, interesting food, and lots of attendees. The most exciting part of the whole conference was actually meeting all of the people who are involved in the movement and sensing that you are not alone in your actions and opinions. The big debate this year was welfarism vs. abolition. If you are not familiar, the premise is that those within the animal rights movement are beginning to question whether welfare reforms, such as the switch to controlled atmospheric killing, will result in animal liberation in the future and may they actually inhibit the process? The abolitionist approach basically takes the stance that those within the movement should not be supporting actio...

MMM...I just got finished eating a delicious Temptation vegan cookie dough ice cream cone! One of the many great vegan goodies I have discovered here so far. Not surprisingly, I did not find time to get in a blog post yesterday, which was the start of the conference, so I am recapping it for you now. I arrived around 5 pm, ate dinner and attended the opening ceremony. I cannot believe the quality of the food the hotel has been providing us. Here's a look at what I had for dinner: Whole wheat penne with kalamata olives, a vegan "stuffed chicken breast", broccoli rabe, and a salad with beets and garbanzo beans. Amazing! After dinner, I attended the opening ceremonies and got a recap on the current issues in animal rights. I heard some inspiring people speak about topics such as the wildlife services attack on grey wolves , whale protection by Sea Shepherd , and the continued vivisection being conducting at facilities such as Huntington Life Sciences . I also fin...

I know! It's been a bit since my last post. Okay, who am I kidding? It's been 16 days!!! That's over 2 weeks!!! I'm here, but I have been busy. A lot has been going on recently. I switched jobs and now work with an awesome organic tea company and am going to begin taking clients for nutrition, cooking, and shopping sessions. Which leads me to tell you about my new site you can expect very soon. It will be located here at www.eatingconsciously.com, and will feature the services that I offer, interesting pro-vegan facts, my recipes, and of course, MY BLOG!! So, don't worry, I'll still be here blogging away. I'm still making it look pretty before I put it up. Alright, I'll let you guys take a sneak peak and tell me what you think! Don't forget it's still a work in progress... In other news, I'm getting ready for the annual Animal Rights Conference 2008 which I'm totally excited about!!!! I'm going for the whole five days. ...

I had previously posted a recipe for shells and cheese using healthy ingredients such as tofu, carrots, and nutritional yeast for the sauce. Here is a recipe that's a bit more decadent and I have found to be extremely satisfying when you are looking for something REALLY "cheesy!" Mac and Cheese 1/2 lb whole wheat macaroni (feel free to use any small pasta) 2 tbs non-hydrogenated, non-dairy butter (I use Earth Balance) 3 tbs whole wheat pastry flour 1.5 C soy milk 1 C shredded vegan cheddar cheese (or 8 slices of vegan cheddar ripped into pieces if you can't find shredded) 1 tsp spicy mustard hot sauce to taste salt and pepper to taste Cook your pasta and set aside. In a pan, melt the non-dairy butter and mix in the pastry flour. Add the soymilk and mix well until thoroughly combined (use a whisk if you have one). Add the "cheese" and stir over medium heat until the cheese melts. Add the mustard, salt, and pepper. Heat for 2-3 minutes longer until sauce...

Came up with this one last night. Enjoy! Stuffed Eggplant with Penne 1 large eggplant 1 can no salt tomato sauce 1/2 block extra firm tofu 1/2 lb whole wheat penne 1/2 C soy milk 1 large portobello mushroom 1/4 C sun dried tomatoes 1 tbs oregano (fresh or dried) 1 tbs thyme (fresh or dried) 1 tbs basil (fresh or dried) 1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional) 1 tbs olive oil, extra for drizzling 1 tsp lemon juice 2 tbs nutritional yeast salt and pepper to taste Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice your eggplant into thin slices about 1/4" thick, lay the slices out on a parchment lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until eggplant slices are soft and pliable. Allow to cool slightly. In a food processor, combine the tofu, soy milk, mushroom, sun dried tomatoes, oregano, thyme, basil, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth and creamy. Spoon the mixture onto half of each piece of eggplant and fold over the other ...