Vegan Traverse City

Being vegan is difficult in Michigan. Especially outside of Ann Arbor. Especially in the Northern part of the state. I spend a lot of my spare time in Traverse City, and have compiled a list of vegan-friendly places to eat.

1. Oryana Food Co-Op (260 East 10th Street) has "Lake Street Cafe" that has several vegan sandwiches-- my favorite is the Chipotle Tempeh wrap. Oryana also has it's own homemade tofu brand (Soyworks) and a delightful bulk-bin section.

2. The Dish Cafe (108 S. Union St) has convenient location as it's main draw. The "wasabi wrap" is good because it has wasabi peas in it, and the "grumpy" greek wrap is vegan if you order it without feta. Some of their other sides/salads/whatever are also vegan.

3. The Boathouse (14039 Peninsula Dr) is a pretty fancy restaurant that I wouldn't recommend unless someone else is paying or you are trying to impress a group of snobby nonvegans. There is nothing actually vegan on the menu, but on the bottom of the menu it says something like "dietary restrictions? we love a challenge". I was a little pissy when my parents brought me here because I was like "I'm vegan, what can you make me?" and the waitress was like "I'll go check". She never came back and about 20 minutes later (right before our food was going to be served) she came out and was like "do you like surprises?". Truth be told, I hate surprises, but you can't tell a stranger that you hate surprises when she is about to surprise you or else you sound like a complete wet sandwich. So I was like, "yea...". And she brought me out an enormous tray with all these little partitions and multiple different vegetable things all over. For instance. Some fingerling potatoes with truffle oil and morel mushrooms (dried morels, but still). Some marinaded artichokes. Some roasted red peppers with peanut shoots or something that looks like a clover (I love eating anything that looks like clovers because I feel like a bunny when I do). Strawberries, etc, etc, etc. It was very good.

Aaaand.... that's about it. If you're vegan and vacationing in Traverse City, you'd best stay somewhere with a kitchen. Or come over to my house-- my mom will cook you something vegan.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have been on an insane running kick, and am therefore on an insane sugar/carbohydrate kick. It's strange/convenient how few sweets my body craves until I start exerting myself on a daily basis... and when it does... I blew through about 3 dozen cupcakes in 5 days (granted, i gave 4 to my sister and 9 to my veterinarian, and Sam ate approximately 4). I used the recipe from my red velvet birthday cake and used Pillsbury storebought cream cheese icing (VEGAN WTF) as well as rainbow sprinkles. They are pretty much the cutest and best cupcakes ever.

Tortellini Tuscan Stew

My office manager photocopied this recipe out of Good Housekeeping for me. She said it was delicious. I haven't tried it yet, but I always lose photocopied pieces of paper.

1 (2 lb) butternut squash (peeled, seeded, and cut into one inch cubes)
1 large zucchini (one inch cubes)
1 large yellow summer squash (one inch cubes)
1 large onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 oz green beans cut into 2 inch segments
1 can crushed tomatoes
12 oz veg broth
2 T. fresh oregano, chopped (or dried... whatEVER!)
2-3 cloves chopped garlic
1 t. salt
1 package frozen tortellini/ravioli (Rising Moon Organics has several vegan varieties to choose form in the freezer section)
1 bag (5 oz) baby spinach

Throw everything except the raviolis and the spinach in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6 hours (or high for 3). When you get home form work, it should look awesome. Turn it on high and stir in the raviolis and spinach for 10-15 min.

OM NOM NOM NOM.

Ridiculous junk food items that shouldn't be vegan, but are

I also refer to these items, among others as "accidentally vegan" or "so cheap/gross it's vegan"

1.  Oreos, Nutter Butters, and the majority of Meijer brand "Fudge Treasure" cookies, as well as Meijer Organics brand "Chipsters"
2. Kroger brand Orange Flavored Cinnamon Rolls
3. Sweet Spicy Chili (Purple Bag) Doritos
4. Goldberg's Peanut Chews
5.  Cinnamon Toast Crunch
6. Fruit By The Foot

so gross and good.

Vegan Lasagna

This one has a long ingredient list, but it worked out very well, so I am posting it anyhow

-Lasagna noodles
-mozzarella Daiya Cheese
-1 eggplant, sliced into small cubes
-1 c. chopped spinach
-4-5 button mushrooms, diced
-1 jar of tomato sauce
-1/2 a log of "Gimme Lean" sausage
-1/2 small onion, chopped''
-1 package of "firm" tofu
-2 T. vegan gourmet sour cream
-2 heaping T of nutritional yeast
-about 1/4 c. almond milk
-salt/basil to taste
-1 T. oil
-nonstick cooking spray/oil
-salt, garlic salt, basil, seasoning to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a saucepan, mix together the tomato sauce, onions, and sausage. Using a spoon, mash the sausage into bits while simmering on low, stirring occasionally. While you're doing that, saute the spinach, eggplant and mushroom in the 1 T. of oil in a skillet.Also bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

While those things are cooking, mix the firm (well squeezed-out) block of tofu, the sour cream, the milk, yeast, and seasoning in the blender. This makes a very convincing ricotta cheese layer.

By now, the water should be boiling, dump in your lasagna noodles... maybe about 25 of them depending on the size of your pan. Once they all sink into the water, take care to separate them so they don't stick together. You should not cook these until they are "done". They should be very very al dente, since they will continue cooking a bit more in the oven and you don't want them soggy. Mine took about 6-8 minutes, but they were whole wheat. Remove from heat, drain, rinse with cold water thoroughly.

By now the spinach mixture should be cooked and the sauce should have simmered enough. I use a large pyrex baking pan, but use whatever. Start laying. First put down a layer of nonstick cooking spray, then noodles, then spinach mixture with a bit of ricotta cheese. Then another noodle layer, then a sauce layer, then a noodle layer, then the remainder of the vegetables and sauce and all the ricotta, then a noodle layer, and top with daiya cheese. I suppose you could insert a layer of daiya anywhere you wanted, but I like it on top. Plus, I'm on a "diet" and with only 3/4 c. daiya, this recipe comes out to be approximately 200 calories per 1/16th square of this recipe.... sooooo... yea.

Caramel Corn

1.5 c. unpopped kernels
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. Earth Balance/any soy margarine
1/3 c. Agave/corn syrup/maple syrup
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2-1 c. peanuts, shelled (optional)
nonstick cooking spray/oil to grease a pan.

Preheat oven to 250. Pop the popcorn in an air popper, set aside. In a saucepan, melt the butter, sugar, syrup, and salt together over medium heat, stirring constantly. The mixture will begin to boil, and then get frothy. Let it go for 5 minutes at froth-stage stirring continuously all the while, then remove from heat. Immediately stir in the baking soda and the vanilla and pour the whole mixture over the popcorn which is in a greased baking pan. Stir thoroughly.

Cook for 60 minutes at 250 degrees fahrenheit stirring the mixture every 15 minutes. Let cool on paper (rip open a paper grocery bag and lay it flat, let it cool on there).