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Archive of ‘new jersey’ category

16
Jul
2015

Killer Vegan {Restaurant Review}

categories: burger, new jersey, nj, restaurant review, review, sandwiches, Uncategorized, vegan

Killer Vegan Panini

Killer Vegan is a diner and delicatessen in Union, NJ. I love this place. They started off small with only a few sandwiches and sides and a twice a month all you can eat brunch. Yes an ALL YOU CAN EAT VEGAN BRUNCH! They have burgers, panini’s, sausage and meatball sandwiches, new dinner specials every week, disco fries (!), cheese fries (!) homemade cakes, cookies, milkshakes and more! I’ve been here a handful of times already and it’s been fun to see their menu and hours of operation grow. My last visit their I had the new Killer Vegan Panini. Filled with Country Fried Seitan, avocado, arugula, tomato, onion and chipotle mayo. It was perfectly paired with the kale slaw. The seitan was so delicious I wish I had a plate of it to myself!

All-You-Can-Eat Brunch

Brunch at Killer Vegan is alway’s All-You-Can-Eat and alway’s amazing. A buffet filled with homemade sausages and tempeh bacon, biscuits and a cashew sage gravy, tofu scramble, steamed greens, arroz con gandules, pancakes, french toast and home fries. On one or two occasions I’ve also spotted and dined on some deliciously sweet plantains.

One time a woman on line asked me what to put the cashew gravy on and I just said “Everything. Just put it on everything.”

KV Burger

Their burger menu has grown from 1 burger to 4 different burgers including the original KV Burger (pictured), the Gunslinger Burger, which my husband enjoyed on our last kidless visit there, a Pizza Burger and The Killer, which I’m looking forward to trying the next time I visit. Its 2 burgers, cheese sauce, sauteed onions and coconut bacon. I can’t say no to Coconut Bacon! The burgers are house-made, delicious and they don’t fall apart. I’ve never been disappointed.

Sausage and Peppers

One of my favorite things about Killer Vegan is that they make their own sausages. I love store-bought vegan sausages and buy them all the time for convenience but when a restaurant goes out of their way to make their own it’s special and I notice and I eat them. Nothing beats a house-made sausage and pepper sandwich!

If you can’t tell by these pictures I really dig Killer Vegans Kale Slaw. When you order a sandwich it comes with chips or you can upgrade to one of their sides. I alway’s upgrade to Kale Slaw. It tastes exactly how I make my own Kale Slaw at home and I really should go for one of their other sides like Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Fries or Mashed Potatoes but I just really love Kale Slaw!

Not pictured are the vegan Milk Shakes and desserts I’ve tried at Killer Vegan. Nine different Milkshake flavors from Mint Chocolate Chip to Butter Pecan and desserts like Red Velvet cake, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Mini Cupcakes, Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake and a Cookies and Cream Cake. I could live happily eating at Killer Vegan forever!

If you are in the area take a peek at their menu and plan a trip to eat here!

15
Jul
2015

Summertime Eats

categories: beans, new jersey, nj, sandwiches, sausage, vegan

Vegetable and Pesto Sandwiches w. Cashew Cheese (for the fireworks!)

I’ve been having a very busy summer so far with the kids home and no summer camps lined up. I regret it a little bit each day but we are also having a lot of fun together. We’ve been to the beach, put up a pretty big pool in our yard, saw some fireworks, went to the State Fair and are gearing up for our annual vacation to the Jersey Shore in a little bit. In between all of this I’ve been cooking up a storm. I have a new museli recipe ready to go, some smoothies, a blended coffee drink, a protein packed tomato sauce that is delicious on pizza and the kids have no idea what’s in it, a kale salad and a quinoa salad. I’m pumped about all of it. I also have to finish my eating out recap of Austin, Tx. I’m still dreaming of Bouldin Creek Cafe and Arlo’s. In the meantime here are some of our summertime eats from the last month. We’ve been eating quite well and I desperately need to get back to the YMCA!

Veggie Loaded Caesar Salad

Romaine, cucumbers, orange bell peppers, red onions, sunflower seeds, capers, nooch and a Just Mayo based Caesar dressing. This was very refreshing on a hot day.

Vanilla Peanut Butter Banana Milkshake

We enjoyed these Milkshakes after the Caesar Salad above.

4th of July plate

We celebrated the 4th of July, at home, potluck style with my parents. I made the kale salad and quinoa-chickpea salad along with Field Roast Sausage Rolls and my mom made the potato salad (alway’s leaving some without mayo for me so I can add my own vegan mayo) and some delicious baked beans. You can find the baked beans recipe here!

16
Jun
2014

The Marx Brothers

categories: garden, gardening, growing, homegrown, new jersey, nj, vegan

Freckle Lettuce

I was super pumped about gardening this year. The last few years have been so so on the growing food front. It was hard to take care of everything while having a toddler around for 2 years and then last year it was just a horrible growing season for a lot of people around us. I was determined to get the garden in great shape and have a successful season.

I decided to start most of the veggies by seed this year. Tomatoes I alway’s buy as seedlings. I just can’t be bothered with them and I have a great place to buy organic and heirloom varieties. My go to for seed ordering is Cubits, located in Canada. I’ve always been happy with their seeds and love the variety that they offer. Plus I like buying from a small family business. Their blog is a favorite as well.

French Breakfast Radish

At least 1/2 of the garden was planted directly with seeds from :zucchini, kale, freckle lettuch, raddish, beets, carrots, mesclun, mizuna, chard, arugula, basil, borage, burgundy beans and cilantro. I purchased seedlings of peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. Everything was growing really well and then…

2 of 4 Marx Brothers

These guys showed up. We have alway’s had a groundhog. His name is Theon. Its alway’s been just him. We fenced in the garden. He jumped the fence anyway and ate some stuff. It was fine because he didn’t eat everything. This year we took the fence down because it needed to be replaced and decided not to replace it because well…he jumps it. So what difference does it make? Well. This is the first year that baby groundhogs have been born. There are 4 of them. They eat everything and I mean everything! Nothing is left except for the tomatoes and some of the basil plants. Only because they are in containers and not ground level although some bites have been taken from them. They’ve also eaten our neighbors garden. They live under his garage.

I’m debating now wether to just give up this season or start over with more seedlings. I have plans to build my own row covers for all the salad greens and kale just to help out with the aphids so I’m hoping that will protect the plants. I’ve had offers for people who will come and trap them and take them away but I don’t want that. As destructive as they are I’m alway’s happy to see them. They need to live and eat and survive like the rest of us.

I’ve dubbed them The Marx Bros. because one of the 4 babies is a grouch! He’s hilarious! You alway’s know when he’s coming because of the grumpy noises he makes and he’s always trying to intimidate us. So we have Groucho, Harpo and Chico. They elusive 4th one, who I rarely see, is Zeppo.

At least I was able to eat one Breakfast Radish and it was delicious! (I pulled it out of the ground by accident) :)

07
Jan
2014

PositiviTea in Verona, NJ

categories: new jersey, nj, restaurant review, review, vegan

The Big WAC

One Saturday afternoon my husband and I dropped the kids off with my mother-in-law and then headed to PositiviTea in Verona, NJ to meet up with our friends Dianne from VeggieGirl, her husband Dennis and Lydia and Mauro from the blog From A to Vegan.

The place was packed! Which always makes me happy to see an all vegan place thriving. Our group scored a table up front and we settled in for some great food and conversation with our friends.

I knew right away what I would be ordering. The Big WAC! I follow PositiviTea on facebook and have been wanting to try this since Chef Abe posted about it. It’s a vegan take on the Big Mac from you know which fast food chain. It was one of my favorite burgers to eat growing up and I couldn’t wait to see what they did to mimic it. Its a double decker burger with 2 homemade vegan burgers with their own special sauce, lettuce, mayo, onions, pickles and vegan cheese served on an Organic Bun with a gluten free option of being served on a portobello mushroom. The burgers were amazing. For being a gluten free burger they hold together like nothing I’ve ever seen. I use vital wheat gluten to help hold my burgers together and would love to make my own gluten free friendly burger for friends. The Big WAC! was everything I had hoped it would be. It was big, messy and delicious. It really reminded me of my childhood favorite The Big Mac.

The All Jersey

For dessert I had to have their now famous N’ice’ Kream. Its a homemade, soy free, soft serve vegan ice cream. When we were there they had a special flavor, Egg Nog, which they ran out of just as our table was ready to order dessert. I’ll admit that I was happy they ran out of it. I really wanted to try their regular vanilla flavor and they can only have one flavor at a time. I was happy to wait the 1/2 hour or so for the vanilla to freeze up and be ready to serve.

I ordered the All Jersey N’ice Kream with is their regular soft serve with crushed organic graham crackers, organic chocolate and vegan marshmallows. It was a lot of ice cream and I ordered the small. I ate it all though! Next time I go I want to order the P.B. & Jay which is peanut butter, strawberries and graham crackers over their delicious N’ice Kream.

Off the menu dessert!

Our friend Dennis was checking out if they had any other desserts available and told Chef Abe that he wasn’t sure what he wanted. Abe said he would surprise him and this is what showed up at the table! There are THREE types of cookies in that beautiful thing! THREE! Gingerbread men, oreo’s and I believe oatmeal cookies. This was amazing to look at and I’m sure to eat.

I had been DYING to go to PositiviTea since it opened around June/July of 2013. It is basically up the road from us through 3 towns. Its a very short distance by car but we’ve never made it there until recently. I find it very funny that friends, driving up from Pennsylvania to eat there, are what made us go for the first time. It’s ridiculous but I’m so happy we got to try it and I can’t wait to go back. I’m really anxious to try their waffles.

19
Aug
2013

The Cinnamon Snail and Freezy Freeze at the Farmers Market

categories: new jersey, nj, restaurant review, review, sandwiches, Uncategorized, vegan

5-spice Lemongrass Seitan

The Cinnamon Snail is at the Red Bank, NJ, Farmers Market on Sundays. Its not possible for us to go down to them during the beach season because traffic home on a Sunday is horrendous! A 1 our trip can take over 2 hours! So since we were south of Red Bank on our vacation we traveled UP to Red Bank in the morning to hit up the Cinnamon Snail food truck. Most importantly it was without the kids! They stayed back at the beach house with my mother in law.

It was still breakfast time when we arrived but we both decided lunch would be for breakfast. Since breakfast for dinner is a thing then lunch for breakfast could be a thing…right? I ordered the 5-spice Lemongrass Seitan sandwich. It was amazing. Probably my new favorite sandwich from the truck. It is loaded with cashews. Cashews on a sandwich. Brilliant. I love cashews and this sandwich had a ton of them! Along with the load of cashews is also arugula, wasabi mayo and chili sauce.

Korean BBQ Seitan

My husband ordered the Korean BBQ Seitan sandwich. I’ve had it before and it’s always delicious. It’s seitan with chili butter, kimchi and greens. You can’t beat that.

Box of pastry!

I loved when Adams daughter asked if we would be needing a small or large box for the pastry’s. We went with a large box and ordered a few donuts, tarts and other sweets. Everything was amazing. I especially loved the S’Mores Donut and the turtle bar. This box of treats was very popular when we brought it back to the beach house.

Freezy Freeze

Across from The Cinnamon Snail is a truck called Freezy Freeze that makes Ice Cream per order with the help of SCIENCE!….A.K.A. Liquid Nitrogen. All flavors can be made vegan and they have quite the list of toppings.

I have yet to try their Ice Cream since I’m alway’s there to load up my stomach with some Snail goodies. I did order their cold brewed coffee with coconut milk and it was a delightful iced coffee. I’ve promised myself I’ll order an ice cream while I’m waiting for my Snail order to be made. (I’ve waited 45 minutes once. Totally worth it though.)

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