Project Freezer & Baking for a Friend

Now is the time of year when the farmer's market really gets busy. I can always tell because in the winter it takes me 30 seconds to find a parking spot... but right about mid-June, it's a whole different ball game. There are cherries, peaches, nectarines, blueberries, and the early veggies of summer - zucchini, green beans, even corn is coming this week. So, a girl's mind turns to the freezer. I need to start freezing up huge bags of strawberries and blueberries and peaches and corn... so that I can eat smoothies and summery flavors all winter long.

Unfortunately for me, my freezer is still jam-packed with autumn's bounty. I've got a problem! So, this week, I am on a serious mission to make way for summery goodness in that puny little freezer of ours. Out with the old and in with the new...

First up, a delicious dinner: Black Bean & Barley Chili (from 500 Vegan Recipes), Roasted Butternut Squash, and garlicky kale. This utilized: 1 butternut squash from the garage (last fall's harvest), 1 big bag of blanched kale from the freezer, 1 big jar of canned tomatoes from last summer, & 1 zucchini from our summer garden. We both really loved this chili, and the addition of barley in the chili was a great idea... chewy and substantial and a great balance to the spicy flavors.

Chipotle, Seitan & Potato Tacos from Viva Vegan. YUM! These were a great dinner... the marinade that the seitan and potatoes are cooked with was working some serious magic on my tastebuds. I will most definitely make these again, though next time I'll probably splurge and make or buy some salsa to go along with them. This delicious meal was also a real bonanza from the freezer: chipotle peppers, frozen seitan, & frozen corn tortillas. Very nice!

I have two primary problems in my freezer: frozen pumpkin/butternut squash, and frozen persimmon. I have a lot of both of these things. There are plenty of appealing pumpkin recipes out there in the world... but not quite so many for persimmon. My clever friend Sophia figured out that you can cook down persimmon (slowly, on very low heat, for a long time) until it loses a lot of its moisture, and then use it in recipes that call for pumpkin. So, with her glorious suggestion, I made these amazing Persimmon Bagels (originally Pumpkin Bagels from 500 Vegan Recipes). These are SO GOOD. It was my first time making bagels, and they turned out just perfectly, and I am so stoked to have such a yummy way to make use of persimmon puree.

I also put some pumpkin and persimmon to use with these goodies: Pumpkin Molasses Power Bars (with 1/2 pumpkin and half persimmon) from 500 Vegan Recipes, and a big batch of 8 HUGE scones (recipe from swell zine) - I subbed in Butternut Squash for the sweet potato, and ended up with these amazing Butternut-Cranberry scones. You can't really tell here, but that Pumpkin Molasses Power Bar is about 2.5-3 inches across... those scones are some serious monsters of yumminess. I could have made them smaller, but where's the fun in that? As an added bonus, I also got to use up 2 cups of frozen cranberries from my poor, overused freezer in the scones. Of course, for the record, it should be noted that I now have a freezer filled with a giant bag of scones and another giant bag of bagels, but somehow I don't think it will take me too long to make my way through those goodies!

The Persimmon-Pumpkin Power Bars were packed up nicely and tucked into a ziplock bag for a care package...

... along with some Peanut Butter Crackers (500 Vegan Recipes). These Peanut Butter Crackers were hard to part with... It was my first time making crackers and they were quick, easy, and very tasty. Now that I have opened the door to the wonderful world of cracker making, there will be no turning back!

... & finally some Double Chocolate Almond Cookies (a favorite from Vive Le Vegan), for a friend in need of some love from afar. Godspeed little package!

... now I'm off to hunt down more uses for frozen pumpkin, persimmon, seitan, and so on!

More Spanish Fun: Spanish Lentils

Tonight's dinner: Braised Lentils, Spanish Style - from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian." Plus, mashed rutabega - recipe from a friend's blog, steamed beet greens (the bestest!!), and leftover gazpacho from last night. Mmmm.

Such a great balance of veggies and starchies, light and rich, complex and simple. The lentils were actually super easy, and I got to use some of my special bittersweet Spanish pimenton/paprika. It's smoky, but not in such a heavy-handed way as actual Smoked Paprika. (which isn't meant as a slam on Smoked Paprika, one of my true loves of all the Universe) These lentils were rich and savory and were perfectly complemented by the sweetness and simplicity of mashed rutabega.

xo!

A Spanish Feast for Father's Day

Tonight we had my mom and dad over for dinner and I got to cook up all sorts of good stuff. Inspired by our trip, I decided on a Spanish theme for dinner.

For appetizers and snacks, I made some pizzas and set out a bowl of some nice green olives. There were delicious green olives on every table in Spain! For the pizzas, I copied the two I had tried in Barcelona (featured in my previous post). One had olive oil, zucchini (from our garden!), white spring onion, and black and green olives. Looking back at the picture from our trip, I realized I had forgotten the green bell pepper... Oh well, it was still delicious! The other pizza had tomato sauce, roasted eggplant strips, and roasted bell peppers. They were both great, but this one was super great! (recipes below)

Of course I made Sangria. Mmmm. Fruity and yummy. recipe below

Then, the first course was a lovely gazpacho. I adapted the recipe from Mark Bittman's book "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian." I've never made gazpacho before, but I'll definitely make it again. This was really, really good. Plus our super-duper Vitamix blender really blended that soup into a beautiful puree. I think you can see from the picture that it was almost frothy. It's basically like a smooth, liquid salad... and we all loved it. Here are the changes I made to Bittman's recpe: I didn't add any water, I did add about 1/4 of a fresh white onion from the farmer's market, and also about 1/3 cup of blanched almond slivers. Oh, and I halved the olive oil.

By the way, check out the totally cute dishes that my mom found on the street in someone's "free pile." A nearly complete set of 4 big plates, 5 bowls, 3 salad plates, & two big coffee cups! Score!

Main course was Almond-Chickpea-Veggie Veggieballs with Garden Veggie Sauce served over a simple Quinoa Pilaf. I mentioned in my blog post the other day that we had been to a great veggie restaurant in Madrid called YerbaBuena. While looking up the site to make a link, I noticed they had a recipe section in Spanish... including a recipe for albondigas (aka meatballs)! In Spain, Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats had some Albondigas ala Jardinera (aka. meatballs) at a few different places, and absolutely loved them... I was determined to try to veganize them - and once I saw this recipe, I realized someone had already done all the work for me!

The only problem was that the recipe was all in Spanish, which I don't speak So, I copied the text, ran it through a Spanish->English online translator, and started de-puzzling from there. I needed a little help from my friends at the PPK to translate one final ingredient (debittered brewer's yeast), and then I was good to go. This was a really delicious and hearty entree and was a big hit with all of us. Such a nice combination of flavors and textures. I'll include the recipe below, though it was definitely a project... not a throw-it-together weeknight kind of dinner!

Here are my meatballs after being baked, and before being added to the tomato-veggie broth. Cute!

Finally, for dessert, Key Lime Pie. No, it's not Spanish. But it is my dad's favorite, and it's Father's Day, so there. Although, my dad did point out that the Spanish were in the Florida Keys for quite a while! I used Isa's wonderful recipe and it was just great as always.

There you have it... we had a wonderful feast and everyone had a happy, nourished belly!

-- RECIPES --

Spanish Pizza Dough

makes enough for 2 long rectangle pizzas

Whisk together:

400 g flour

1 T yeast

1 t salt

1 T sugar

Whisk together:

250 ml warm water

3 T olive oil

Pour wet into dry, and mix well. Knead 5 minutes. Set in an oiled bowl in a warm place, covered with saran wrap or a dish towel until doubled in size. (I got a crazy great rise - check it out!) Punch it down and divide in two. On a floured surface, roll each half out into a long, thin rectangle and transfer to a big cooking sheet.

Spanish Pizza Topping #1

2 japanese eggplants

5-6 small garlic cloves (optional)

2 roasted red bell peppers, torn into strips (I used jarred)

1/4 c tomato sauce

1-2 T olive oil

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 t dried basil

salt

sugar

(Roasting the eggplant - this can be done well ahead of time)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut a few slits in your eggplants and stuff some small garlic cloves into the slits. Roast for about 40 minutes, then set aside to cool completely. Once cool, remove the garlic cloves. (I used mine on some toast) Then gently peel the skin off the eggplant. A little skin is okay, but it should come off easily. Tear the eggplant into small strips.

Now, brush your rolled out pizza dough with good olive oil. Then lightly brush on the tomato sauce. Sprinkle on the oregano and basil. It should just be a light sprinkle. Carefully arrange a few strips of eggplant, then a few strips of bell pepper... alternating for good effect. Sprinkle on a little bit of salt, and a little bit of sugar.

Bake at 400 F for about 20-25 minutes.

--

Spanish Pizza Topping #2

olive oil

1 small zucchini, cut into very thin rounds

1/2 medium white onion, cut into slivers

1 green bell pepper, diced

5-6 green olives

5-6 black olives

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 t dried basil

salt

Brush your rolled out pizza dough with good olive oil. Then arrange the zuke slices on the dough, just gently overlapping at the edges. Arrange a scattering of onion slivers and bell pepper dices. Sprinkle on the oregano and basil and salt. Then artfully place on the olives.

Bake at 400 F for about 20-25 minutes.

--

Amey's Sangria:

1 bottle cheap dry red wine

1 bottle sparkly water

1/2 cup simple syrup

Splash of brandy

Juice from one orange

1 orange with all pith cut off, seeded, and chopped into small bite-size chunks

1 peach or nectarine chopped into small bite-size chunks

1 apple chopped into small bite-size chunks

Combine. Drink. Make your mom sleepy by giving her sangria!

--

Chickpea-Almond-Veggie Meatballs

recipe from YerbaBuena restaurant

serves 6

Ingredients

For Meatballs:

400 g cooked chickpeas

1 onion, diced small

1 branch celery, diced small

1 leek, white / light green part, washed and diced

2 tsp dried ginger

3 T chopped fresh parsley

3 T chopped fresh cilantro

100 g blanched almond slivers (or pine nuts if you aren't afraid of pine nuts)

1/4 c brewers yeast

1/2 cup hydrated TVP (I used SoyCurls, chopped up in the food processor)

1/2 cup of oatmeal (I figured out that this meant the oatmeal already cooked with water, not just the dry grain. I used quick oats and it was very fast)

1/4 c corn flour (I used Masa Harina)

Salt to taste

For the Quinoa:

1 1/2 c quinoa

3 c water

1 tsp garlic powder (my addition, not in the original recipe)

2 bay leaves

salt to taste

For the Jardinera Sauce:

1 onion, 1/4 inch dice

1 branch celery, 1/4 inch dice

1 red bell pepper, 1/4 inch dice

1 garlic clove, minced

1 radish, 1/4 inch dice

2 carrots, 1/4 inch dice

3/4 tsp thyme

2 tsp turmeric

1 - 1 1/2 c tomato sauce (the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup, but it wasn't enough)

plus extra water as needed

Preparation

In a large skillet, over medium heat, warm a little olive oil. Add the onion, celery, and leek, and cook until softening (about 7 minutes). Add in the fresh parsley & cilantro, ginger and almonds and cook another 5 minutes or so. Then turn off the heat and set aside. Once it's cooled off a little, transfer the veggie mix to a food processor, add the chickpeas, and pulse a few times until the chickpeas and almonds are all chopped up, but it's still chunky. Scrape out into a big mixing bowl.

Into the mixing bowl, add the brewer's yeast, hydrated TVP/SoyCurl bits, oatmeal, and corn flour. Stir it all up well, making sure the whole mix is well integrated. Set aside for about 20 minutes.

After the batter has rested, heat the oven to 400 F. Form the batter into ping pong ball sized veggieballs and arrange them on a greased or floured baking sheet. They won't expand or anything, but it's still nice to leave a little space. Next, I used my oil spritzer to spray them lightly with olive oil. Bake 20 minutes, remove from oven - but leave the oven on. Using a good metal spatula, loosen the veggieballs from the baking sheet, roll them over a little, and pop them back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Remove and let cool a little. Or a lot, if you are making them ahead of time.

When you are about ready to eat, the meal will come together pretty quickly... during the time it takes to cook your quinoa:

Rinse the quinoa, and add it to a medium-sized pot. Heat over medium-high heat until some of the moisture evaporates - about 1-2 minutes - stirring often. Add the bay leaves, garlic powder, and salt (if desired - I used about 1/4 tsp). Add the water, bring to a boil, and then simmer - uncovered - for about 15-20 minutes until the water is all absorbed.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, add a splash of olive oil, and the diced veggies for the Jardinera sauce: onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, radish, & carrots. Cook over medium-high heat until soft - about 7 minutes. Add in the thyme, turmeric and cook another few minutes. Add in the tomato sauce, and water if you want it a bit thinner, and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Now, add in the veggie balls and cook for about 10 minutes. Be careful not to stir or agitate the veggieballs too vigorously, so that they don't break up.

Serve the Veggieballs in Jardinera Sauce over the quinoa, and you are all good to go!!! It's a lot of work, but it's a fun special-occasion meal and very much worth it: great flavors, great nutrition, great texture... a real hit. I hope you enjoy it!

Vegan in Spain: Barcelona & Madrid

Hoorah! The final installment of our travel food report... with just a few pics of note from Barcelona & Madrid. It's funny, looking at these pictures I find myself thinking "oh, there was lots of good stuff to eat..." but somehow I really spent a LOT of time in Spain being hungry. I even lost 7 lbs on this trip, so I know I wasn't making it all up. I think I usually got one good meal in, but there was never any breakfast - and I'm definitely a breakfast person, and exactly when I might find that one good meal was usually an unknown. Nonetheless, there were a few special highlight meals...

Oh, Maoz Falafel, how very very grateful I was to find you. Bread! Protein! Fresh Veggie! Cooked Veggie! All in one! Mmmmm. I went to Maoz twice in Barcelona and once in Madrid. Maoz is like a salad bar, but it's a falafel bar. You get a big pita, stuffed full with falafels, and then you get to pick from a big buffet of all sorts of goodies what you want to have added to your falafel sandwich. It is all vegetarian and about 90% vegan.

I liked mine with the chickpea salad, fresh tomatoey salsa, and the 5-star roasted cauliflower! Oh, and the green olive tapenade! Mmmmm.

Barcelona has a few really great big markets, full of stalls selling fruits and veggies and candies and nuts and various other non-vegan things that I won't acknowledge! So, there was definitely no shortage of nice fruit available.

Also in Barcelona, we discovered some of the small neighborhoody bakeries sold these great little pizza-type numbers - with no cheese!! Score! Being such a fan of baking and baked goodies, I loved looking at all the beautiful displays of baked goods... but there was almost never anything for me (other than the infamous plain bread). So, finding these pizza treats was very nice. I don't think I could emphasize how GREAT it felt to eat a hearty savory snack, with veggies and spices and flavors (ie. not plain crackers or plain bread or a ClifBar)... Or how so super sad I was when I dropped my slice of the zucchini one on the rainy street. I was very nearly reduced to tears. Sad, hungry Amey.

I also found this great little pizza deal with roasted bell peppers and roasted eggplant strips - it was great and I'm looking forward to recreating it sometime soon here at home. To my surprise, it had a little bit of sugar sprinkled on it. ! Unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome. On the left is a non-vegan, but delicious-looking, chocolate-filled treat belonging to Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats. Next time you are in Barcelona, definitely check out the bakeries for these pizza dealies, as they are definitely yummy! Also, eating this pizza thing will help you feel not so down in the dumps about not being able to find a vegan version of whatever Mr. VE&T is getting to eat!

We were only in Madrid for a couple of days, and generally I ate a lot of bread and fruit... but we did have one really truly delicious meal at Yerba Buena. Wow! It's in all-vegetarian menu with LOADS of all-vegan options, and also many gluten-free options!! I don't remember what Mr VE&T had, but I know he absolutely loved it. I ordered the paella, and it was very lovely. Fresh and flavorful, rich and full of veggies, and by the end of the meal that whole plate was CLEAN as a whistle, even all those little dots of green sauce were gone! Also, it's worth mentioning that they brought some really great (and big!) dark, whole-grain rolls before the meal and they were wonderful. I'm not a total healthnut, and I can definitely get behind eating loads of bread made with plain flour. But the bread here was hearty and substantial, and had a really great flavor, and I was very grateful for it.

Of course I ordered dessert! What do you take me for?! Chocolate ice cream with cornflakes (?!) - again, not something I would have ever thought of, but not altogether wrong either. The little wafer cookies weren't vegan, just to be clear, so Mr. VE&T took care of those for me. It's not a low cost spot, but the servings are generous at YerbaBuena and you would be crazy to skip this spot if you are in Madrid.

And last, but not least... airplane food!! You know you've had a less-than-perfect foodie travel experience when you are genuinely thrilled about your airplane meal. Sad, but very true. Delta Airlines brought me this "vegan" meal, and despite the "pure Irish butter" and the abundant feta cheese on my salad, I was totally stoked. Seriously, that little mound of spinach went down the hatch in seconds flat. How did they know that I was missing greens and beans more than anything else on this whole trip? I think I could have eaten four of those little entrees if they had let me.

Of course it's always nice to come home and see our pets and get back into our own little groove at home, but it was especially nice to get home the night before my favorite farmer's market here in Santa Cruz. You can bet I was down there the next day, spending wads of cash on fruit and greens and veggies and dreaming of piles of vegan food that I could cook up for myself. Ahhhhhh... home sweet home!

Vegan in Spain: Seville & Granada

Oh my goodness! I'd better hurry up with this retroactive travel blogging, I'm getting quite a back log of new pictures to post!

Overall, I found Spain a not-so-easy place to be a vegan, but Seville was definitely an exception! With the help of HappyCow (my savior!!!) I tracked down some pretty great finds and ate quite well. Seville is a really beautiful city, and I think it was my favorite place that we went in Spain. It was so lively, with spiffy Spaniards, streets and streets lined with shops, international name brands alongside local shops selling flamenco dresses, bakeries (even an all-vegan bakery!), a river (I love rivers!), modern lives and traditions coexisting happily, and my most favorite building EVER, the Alcazar. Oh MAN, that is such a beautiful, beautiful place.

In Seville, thanks to HappyCow, I found this wonderful wonderful bakery called Veganitessen, inside the big Mercado del Arenal. I was so TOTALLY stoked, I was as giddy as a little girl.

The bakery! It was run by a really cool girl (she has a blog, it's not in english, but it's not too hard to figure out some of her recipes anyway!)... I took one look at her and felt as if I was back among my people! There she is, behind the counter, typing away on her laptop (complete with vegan activism stickers on it), selling the most glorious array of vegan baked goodies. Just for the record, I didn't take a picture of it, but in addition to all the sweeties I ate, I also had a very delicious slice of her veggie empanada, which was most tasty and savory. Naturally, I went two days in a row.

Me examining my options - yes, you read correctly: OPTIONS! in Spain! for a vegan! Will wonders never cease. Plus, notice the very special "100% Vegan" sign on top of the display case. Yeah!

Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats and I picked out two sweeties to share... First, a slice of blueberry cheezecake. Mmmmmmm!

Secondly, a piece of lemon cake. This lemon cake was FREAKY GOOD. I wish I know how she did it. I am not usually a frosting person, but that lemony buttercream was so delicious.

I went back the second day for some little lemon tart pies. Soooo delicious. You can see the crazed look of joy and anticipation in my eyes. Mr. VE&T was only allowed one bite. Then I hoarded my vegan goodness like a starving dog with a big bowl of dog food - snarl!

Whaaa?! Just LOOK at all that crazy tastyness. After we left Seville, I kept dreaming of a return to this selection...

Conveniently, her shop of naughty delights was in the same market aisle as the fruit vendors, so we also stocked up on fresh fruits to atone for our sugar indulgences.

Seville, like Morocco and like the rest of Spain, is just full of orange trees. Hoorah! Beautiful and tasty.

Pisto was a fun discovery on this trip... I've seen pisto recipes in various cookbooks, and I think I've maybe even made pisto before, but I didn't realize it was Spanish. I love finding special vegan spots like Veganitessen, but I also really really love being able to walk into any ol' little bar/cafe and order something straight off the menu. We found pisto pretty quickly, and that was my go-to goodie when Mr. VE&T was trying some of the local (read: not vegan) specialties. The pisto was usually warm or room temperature, and is sort of like a chunky version of ratatouille. It was great to have such a savory, tasty, and veggie-packed Spanish menu item be 100% vegan-friendly!

The gal from Veganitessen looked at my list from HappyCow and pointed out "Habanita" as her favorite vegan-friendly spot in town (even though she was a cook at another spot!)... and it was a great recommendation! We liked it enough that we ate here twice during our time in Seville. It's not all vegetarian, but they have a really extensive and flavorful and interesting vegan selection on the menu. Much of the menu is Caribbean-inspired, and it's really fun:

Mmmmm... sangria! I've never been much of a drinker, but I liked the sangria we had. It was light, full of fruit, and not very strong at all. The first night we tried the classic red sangria....

... and the second time we went for the white sangria!

In no particular order, here are some goodies from their menu... Banana Balls in Tomato Sauce = serious yum

Cute little crunchy crackers they bring you

Tomato Salad with Oregano, Garlic, and Parsley. Ahhh, fresh tomatoes!

Thick, tomatoey, and super garlicky gazpacho! Even though I woke up the next morning with some crazy garlic breath, this stuff was worth the sacrifice. It was really intense - almost more like a dip than a soup. Obviously, we polished it off!

Ratatouille!

These black beans and rice were far beyond plain ol' beans and rice. I'm not sure how they did it, but these beans were so good, they were pretty much the menu item that compelled us to come back a second time.

Me digging into some tasty dish

So, next time you are in Seville, I can definitely recommend that you stop in at Habanita for a meal or two! Plus, it's right off of Plaza Alfalfa - which has a great little bustling scene at night, and a very vegan-friendly name to boot! Overall, I think you can see that Seville was actually a pretty good place to be a vegan traveller. We were only there a few days, and there were still places on our HappyCow list that we didn't get to... so, that shows even more promise. Plus, Seville is just a very cool spot - lots of activity, beautiful sights, and plenty to see and do.

I've only got one measley little food picture from Granada, which didn't turn out the vegan thrills quite as much as Seville did.... but, then again, that Veganitessen was a tough act to follow! Nonetheless, this place really deserves mention: Can Guru Buffet (like "kangaroo," get it?!) was just a salad bar type place, the sort you do see around in Spain (mostly a chain called Fresco), but it had really good vegan options - including a lot of bean salad items - in the line up. I'm not a person who can live off of salad, so when I recommend this place, you can be sure it was sufficiently hearty. Plus, it was nice to gorge on lots of super fresh veggies and fresh fruit!!

Me being a dork at the Alhambra in Grenada. This is shortly before Mr. VE&Ts pointed out to me that every time I get my picture taken I stand up perfectly straight and face the camera. Uh... weird? So, after this, I started being all fakey-casual in all the following shots... but alas, this picture captures my dorky ignorance!

One more travel post, and I'll be all caught up: Barcelona & Madrid!

Vegan in Lisbon

From Morocco, we took a mini flight from Casablanca to Lisbon (Portugal). Lisbon is a pretty great city - positively bustling with activity at all hours. It's jam-packed full of euro tourists speaking all their different languages and wearing their euro fashions. All of which is pretty fun. Lisbon is super hilly, full of beautiful buildings (and great tile work everywhere!), loaded with restaurants and museums and sights to see, and generally a nice place to be. It's right on the water, which makes for great views, and cold windy gusts. Also, everyone is speaking Portuguese, which turns out to be a problem because although Portuguese SOUNDS like a great language, actually it is a very tricky language designed to make you feel like a complete fool who cannot understand anything! Do not think to yourself "well, I listened to a few how-to-speak portuguese CDs, and I already speak really good Italian, I should be fine," like I did, because you will not be fine... and you will soon rely on starting every single interaction with "Fara ingles?" (Do you speak english?). Sigh!

Tiles on the side of a building in Lisbon.

So, as far as being a vegan in Lisbon, there is good news and there is bad news. First, the bad news. Traditional Portuguese food is not vegan-friendly. They like steak, with eggs on top of it, with fries on the side. Also, while you wait for your steak with eggs on top, they will bring you some sausage and cheese and tuna pate to eat. (They will also bring you bread, which you will devour). In fact, even the traditional pastries are all about eggs: many of them are bright orange, in fact, because they are almost pure egg yolks.

Some goodies from Celeiro Dieta... the little crostatine from Italy that I love so much (I still have 1 package left), some super yummy marzipan candies, quince paste, very tasty dried soy bean snack, yummy cappucino flavor soy pudding cups which served as breakfast every morning, cherry-applesauce, canned ravioli (uh... SO GOOD), and a box of vegan jello that I brought home for next time I need to make a bright green jello mold for a vegan pot luck.

BUT there's good news too. For starters, Lisbon has a whole chain of really good natural food stores (Celeiro Dieta) full of vegan treats and soy milk and granola and TONS of cool looking vegan burgers and sausages and such. If you were lucky enough to rent a place with a kitchen, I'd say you'd pretty much be good to go. These stores were really good. And of course, there are always plenty of nice fruit markets around.

More health food scores from a different store (choices!) Chocolate soy milk, some very tasty tofu & basil ravioli, a little jar of olive tapenade, and some REALLY freaking good raisin cookies which it turns out I should have bought in bulk because I liked them so much.

Even aside from the grocery stores, there are lots of great ethnic restaurants. Back in college, I spent some time in Florence, Italy, and I remember that there was ONE Chinese restaurant and one store where you could buy things like peanut butter and ketchup... Well, Lisbon is not like that. We ate Italian food, we ate Indian food (twice!), and there were plenty of other options for yummy, vegan-friendly food. It does make me a bit sad that I didn't have a chance to enjoy any local Portuguese cuisine... but it makes me happy that I was able to eat.

One delightful discovery in Lisbon was the prevalence of these little vegan "empanadas." One night, we went out to Centro Colombo, Europe's largest shopping mall... just to check it out! We found a huge restaurant zone there, and watched a particularly important soccer game with all the locals, while eating vegan Indian food... which was actually very good. After dinner, strolling the mall, we came across TWO health food stores, where I bought all sorts of goodies (see above)! I was so stoked. AND then, just across the way, I discovered a bakery that had 3 different types of savory vegan empanadas. I just about jumped for joy. Later, I found similar creations in the refrigerated section at the Celeiro Dieta, and pounced on those too. It's funny how quickly you become skilled at reading labels even in a foreign language! These little empanadas from the mall were definitely the best of any I had in Lisbon, and they were really delicious. Filled with spices, veggies, seitan or tofu... they were filling, flavorful, hearty, and delicious. Also, totally portable, which is such a great thing when traveling.

We are tennis nerds, so we spend a couple of our afternoons in Lisbon out at the Jamor National Sports Center, attending the Estoril Open. On our last day in Lisbon, we got to see Roger Federer play!! Woo hooo! Maybe you don't care about tennis, but if you do, you will understand why we were so stoked.

At the tournament they had a huge and elegant buffet lunch available... but naturally, very little of it was vegan. The gal at the register was SO sweet and charged me a kid's price. Really that was highway robbery on my part, because I don't think she understood just how much fruit salad I can put away. That fruit salad was AMAZING. Plus, a lovely green salad, plus fresh bread. Plus, being able to eat a meal together with Mr. Vegan Eats and Treats made the whole thing pretty great.

The first of my many courses of fruit salad.

Also, we saw so many ducklings in Lisbon... and I just had to share at least one duckling picture!