The Perfect Sandwich

Since I know that not everyone who reads this blog is vegetarian or vegan, I thought I would give my carnivorous friends a chance to chime in with this post as well.

My brother and I like to watch food-related shows and we love shows that feature sandwiches of some sort.  One of our favorite shows is Man V. Food on the Travel Channel.  So I wondered what he thinks the perfect sandwich would be.  As it turns out, his 8-year-old mind keeps things pretty simple.

So, my question for you all is what is your perfect sandwich?

Leave a comment and let everyone know how big you want it and what kinds of goodies you would pile on your sandwich.

I really look forward to reading what you all create.

(And let us all know if you’ve actually made the sandwich!)

– Chef Wendy

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Halloween Popcorn Ball Recipe

Check out this basic recipe for Halloween Popcorn Balls.

To veganize it, be sure to use vegan butter and vegan marshmallows in the recipe.

Here is the recipe link from about.com: http://parentingteens.about.com/od/recipesforkids/r/halloween210.htm

If anyone has any vegan/vegetarian recipes for popcorn balls for halloween or any other holiday, leave a comment below and include the link to your recipe!

- Chef Wendy

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Food Review: Diet to Go

Over the past week I have had the privilege of trying a great new service call Diet to Go.  Their motto is “We cook the food, you lose the weight.”  And after only one week on their vegetarian meal plan I am down 3 pounds (and that’s with no additional exercise).

So, what is Diet to Go anyway? It’s like having a personal chef but a person doesn’t actually show up at your house.

There are 3 meal plans: low carb, low fat, and vegetarian.  You choose the meal plan and then choose whether you want the 1200 calorie meals (like I chose) or 1600 calories.

You can further customize it from there if you have allergies or intolerance to certain foods.

And to further make this truly your meal plan, you choose whether you want 4, 5, 6, or 7 days of food and if you want breakfast only, lunch only, dinner only, or some combination thereof.  What that allows you to do is substitute Diet to Go meals for the meals when you are unlikely to eat healthy.  What a great idea!

So what’s the vegetarian food like? Great!  I’ve had curried couscous, soy salisbury steak, and lentil loaf.  None of which I had the inclination to make before but thoroughly enjoyed when mealtime came.

There is one other thing to figure out: how you’ll get your food.

You see, in certain markets (like here in Baltimore), Diet to Go food can be picked up fresh twice per week.  But don’t worry if you don’t live in a local market because you can still have the food delivered to you.

And speaking from past experience with having food delivered on a meal plan, you are going to love this food no matter which meal plan you choose.

Head on over to Diet to Go’s website and checkout all that they have to offer.  Tell them Wendy Stewart sent you!

If you have any questions, contact them and they will get back to you quickly (did I mean that they have great customer service?).

*Wendy Stewart, The Vegan Chef

——-> Have you tried Diet to Go? Share your experiences by leaving a comment here on the blog!

TV Review: Top Chef: Las Vegas

I finally got to see the season premiere of “Top Chef: Las Vegas.”

Due to boredom, I actually haven’t seen the show in a couple of seasons, but I wanted to see if this new season had anything compelling to offer.

As you know, season 6 is in Las Vegas with 17 new cheftestants.  Two of the cheftestants are brothers and there are a large number from Atlanta.  Also, there is only one chef from New York City, which I thought was odd, but I was glad to see my hometown of Baltimore represented by cheftestant Jesse Sandlin, executive chef at Abacrombie Fine Foods.  Jesse, we’ll be cheering for you here in Charm City!

The episode began with a quick-fire challenge that was actually a relay race.  Since there were to be 4 groups, one cheftestant was able to sit out the challenge and get immunity from elimination by drawing the gold poker chip when teams were determined.  How very Las Vegas.  If you love ribs and seafood, then you would have loved the clams, prawns, and lobster involved in the quick-fire challenge and the resulting challenge.

The team elimination challenge involved creating a dish based on vices.  Well, since they’re in sin city, I guess that fits.  But this challenge had guest judge Wolfgang Puck, so I think the stakes were much higher.  Kudos should go to cheftestant Jennifer Zavala for including seitan in her dish.  Although it seemed to be summarily dismissed by her fellow contestants and the judges (saying it just didn’t taste good), I think it took some courage to include a meat-free protein.  Cheers from the veggie fans on that one.

Unfortunately Jen was the first to be eliminated.  Will any other chefs have the guts to step up and use a meat-free anything? Who knows, but I heard that Natalie Portman is slated to be a guest judge this season….so who knows?

I’m going to keep watching “Top Chef” while I hope for more creativity from the cheftestants.  We’ll see if the season holds up to its promises or will it be too over-the-top because of the Las Vegas location.

——> What did you think of the “Top Chef: Las Vegas” premiere? Will you keep watching or are you disappointed already?

Let your voice be heard by leaving a comment!

Chef Wendy

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New Veggie Options in Charm City

Big thanks to PETA (via Twitter) and Oriole Park at Camden Yards (home of the Baltimore Orioles) for now offering veggie dogs and veggie burgers.

According to Soy Happy Venue Guide, “The O’s are now offering veggie dogs! They are sold along with veggie burgers at the Pastimes stand. They also offer a roasted veggie wrap (made to order), various salads, onion rings, french fries, chips, cole slaw, popcorn, soft serve yogurt, caramel apples, nachos, corn bread, sunflower seeds, peanuts, pretzels.

*The veggie dogs are Lightlife’s Smart Dogs (vegan and certified kosher.) The veggie burgers are probably not vegan. We will update the information here when we get a confirmation.”

It’s always good to know when vegetarians and vegans have more options to enjoy along with America’s favorite pastime.

Now if the Orioles were having a better season, there would be even more reason to celebrate!

—–> What is your new favorite place that has veggie options? Leave a comment and let me know!

Chef Wendy

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Food Review: Quizno’s Veggie Sammie

It’s been awhile since I visited Quizno’s.  Not because it’s a bad place to eat or more expensive than Subway.  I just didn’t really have the time.

On a recent visit I tried the Veggie Sammies on the menu.  The menu lists the following ingredients: guacamole, black olives, lettuce, tomato, red onion, mushrooms, mozzarella, cheddar, and Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing.

Obviously to make this a vegan sandwich (without getting to technical) you can order it without the mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.

Although my brother described the guacamole as the green slime he’s seen on Nickelodeon, I assured him that it would be good.  And it was.  The sandwich, overall, had a great taste.  And although I am not a big fan of red onions, I barely noticed them in the sammie.

None of the ingredients overcame each other and I found the sammie to be a well-balanced sammie for such a small size.

There was only one problem: the dressing.

The problem with the dressing actually wasn’t the taste, I think there was just too much of it on such a small sammie.  So, by the time I got back home with the sammies, the dressing had saturated some of the bread and made it a bit messy.

The bottom line is that it is a great sammie overall for vegetarians and vegans and a tasty option for eating on the go (especially since sammies are only $2 each).  My only recommendation is that if you aren’t going to eat the sammies right away, then ask for less dressing.  Otherwise, eat up.  Also, don’t forget to check out the website for sammies for more detailed nutritional info with and without the cheese and dressing.

Quizno’s Veggie Sammies gets 4 out of 5 chef’s hats (working on a good visual for that).

—–> What do you think of the Veggie Sammies at Quizno’s? Comments are always welcome!

* I also want to know what foods you would like to see reviewed here on the blog!

Guacamole, black olives, lettuce, tomato, red onion, mushrooms, mozzarella, cheddar, Red Wine Vinaigrette DressingGuacamole, black olives, lettuce, tomato, red onion, mushrooms, mozzarella, cheddar, Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing

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Top Chef Season Premiere

My understanding is that the Top Chef season premiere was tonight on Bravo. I’ll write with observations tomorrow.

Vegan Lunch Box Recipes

Courtesy of chow.com and Jennifer McCann’s book Vegan Lunchbox, chow.com lists 10 best ideas for vegan lunch recipes.

I plan on using many of them and checking out her book.

Click here for the Vegan Lunch Box Recipes.

—-> As always, comments are always welcome!

Top Chef Masters Fall Flat

In a recent episode of “Top Chef Masters,” the final champions were challenged to make a meal for actress/singer Zooey Deschanel and her friends.  There were just a couple of twists for them.

As many of us know, Zooey is a vegan.  She is also gluten intolerant and is restrictive of the amount of soy in her diet.  So, given these “restrictions” the chefs had to create a great meal.

Each chef was responsible for a different part of the meal, on through dessert, and it was a pathetic sight to see.

The concept behind “Top Chef Masters” was to bring together some of the most respected chefs in the country and have them compete for money for their chosen charity (instead of the regular “Top Chef” contestant model).  So, in theory, these chefs, by the champion round, should be the best of the best.

But, once again, we have seen that in the mainstream and in culinary education there is too much emphasis on meat and fatty dishes and sauces.  I can’t tell you how often the cheftestants want to try and make foie gras.

In any case, when presented with these dietary restrictions, even the most TV-famous of the chefs, Michael Chiarello, saw this as a negative thing.  He basically summed up the challenge by saying that if you take all of the things you love to cook and say no, then that’s what you’re left with in this challenge.

What a slap in the face to those of us who are vegetarian or vegan! It’s even a slap in the face to those who are intolerant of soy, gluten, and dairy…things over which we would have no control.

I want to thank the program for having Zooey Daschanel as a guest and showing the world how much is lacking in the culinary world.  (BTW, I heard Natalie Portman is slated as a guest judge for the upcoming season of “Top Chef.”)

It’s sad that such accomplished chefs could not really handle a vegan menu and their trip to the market really highlighted how little they knew about other foods.

Continue to watch “Top Chef” if you like, but it will continue to be, as it has been, hard to stomach with all of the meat-centered dishes.

—-> What do you think of “Top Chef” and “Top Chef Masters?” Do you enjoy the shows despite the menus? Would you like to see more healthy and vegetarian foods? Comments are always welcome!