V-Spot, Babycakes, Pie by the Pound, ‘sNice, Stogo, Lulu’s sweet apothecary, and Annam Brahma in NY

There are so many vegan options in NYC (and so many 100% vegan restaurants).  I searched for vegan and gluten-free friendly restaurants using HappyCow.net and SuperVegan.com.  SuperVegan is a NYC specific site.

All the food I tried in NYC was delicious and vegan.  I was in a vegan wonderland, seriously!

My favorite restaurant in NYC was V-Spot.  V-Spot is a 100% vegan restaurant with tasty gluten-free options like kale tostadas, quinoa pasta marinara, pad thai, tofu Thai curry, and veggie tacos.  They offer a brunch menu, fresh fruit and veggies juices, and a slew of vegan desserts.

I ordered the Pad Thai–rice noodles with sprouts, broccoli, onion, scallions, tofu and peanuts, served with lime and Thai peanut sauce.  This is the 3rd best pad thai I have had.  Very tasty.  The best pad thai I ever had was from Ruan Thai Cuisine in Savannah GA.  The 2nd best pad thai was from the Bees Knees restaurant in Augusta GA.  Hopefully I can make a trip to Augusta and blog about it in the future.  Sorry about the blurry picture!

V-Spot also sells pre-packaged food items in health food stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

V-Spot is located at 156 5th Avenue, Parkslope, Brooklyn NY 11217.

And of course we went to Babycakes Bakery as soon as our bellies had enough room for dessert!  You just cannot go wrong with vegan and gluten-free cupcakes.  I fell in love with Babycakes because of their 1st cookbook, thanks to my friend Aggie!   From their website – Babycakes offers all-natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs.

Danny and I each tried a cupcake.  I tried the gluten-free red velvet cupcake (pictured on the left).  I can’t remember which kind Danny tried…but it looks tasty nonetheless!

Babycakes Bakery is located at 248 Broome Street  New York, NY 10002-3855.

Danny searched high and low for a pizza place that offered gluten-free dough and vegan cheese.  He discovered Pie By The Pound, a pizza joint that lets you order pizza by the pound (if you didn’t get that from the name).  Various pizzas are available at the counter and you just order as many slices as you’d like and depending on how many pounds of pizza you want.

Vegan pizzas include the Marinara (capers, garlic, tomato sauce, oregano, basil), the Veggie Marinara (mixed veggies, capers, garlic, tomato sauce, oregano, basil), Olive and Onion (black olives, spanish onion, tomato sauce, oregano, basil), and Mushroom and Eggplant (garlic, portobello mushroom, eggplant, tomato sauce, oregano, arugula).

Unfortuately the gluten-free pizza dough isn’t vegan and they didn’t have any vegan cheese :/ The regular crust is vegan though.

I ordered the Mushroom and Eggplant pizza.  It was good but the dough was very soggy because of all the sauce and veggies.

Pie By The Pound is located at 124 4th Avenue (between 12th and 13th streets) New York, NY 10003-4903.

For our second day in NYC, we got brunch at ‘sNice. I don’t know what the name means or why the capitalization is funny, but the food was great!

‘sNice is an all vegetarian restaurant (with mostly vegan options).  I ordered the curried cauliflower wrap with chickpeas, brown rice, and mango chutney (minus the wrap).

The chickpeas and cauliflower wrap mixture was warm and filling after aimlessly wandering around NYC trying to find a suitable vegan brunch location in the cold.  This kept me full until dinner time, and then we decided we wanted dessert instead of dinner

‘sNice is located at 45 8th Avenue, NYC 10014 and has other locations as well.  Check out their website to find the other locations.

To satisfy our dessert craving, we stopped by Stogo–an organic vegan ice cream shop.  Stogo doesn’t use any refined sugar, preservatives, or artificial flavoring.

There we so many flavors to choose from!  I had to try the vegan and gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  It was so tasty and decadent!  This ice cream is full of flavor and fatty goodness.

After our first round of ice cream, we headed to Lulu’s Sweet Apothecary, another vegan ice cream and dessert shop.  We didn’t know Lulu’s specialized in vegan ice cream until after we arrived.  They also had vegan doughnuts (but no gluten-free ones).  Danny and I both ordered a giant ice cream cone even though it was freezing outside!  I didn’t take any pictures because it was dark outside and my hands were full of ice cream

Stogo and Lulu’s both had delicious vegan ice cream.  And since they are only a short 10 minute walk apart, why not try them both?

Stogo is located at 159 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003.  Lulu’s Sweet Apothecary is located at 516 East 6th Street, New York, NY 10009.

For dinner we decided to head back to the hotel to spend time with the dogs.  We ordered take-out from Annam Brahma, an Indian restaurant that offers a smorgasbord of vegetarian and vegan options.  Vegan options are labeled with a little V on the menu.

I ordered the masala dosa (a wheat-free rice and lentil crepe filled with savory potatoes) and a side of tofu.  The dosa was just as tasty as the dosa from the Philadelphia Chutney Company in Philly.  Yum.  I don’t have any pictures since the food was squished because we ordered it to-go.

Annam Brahma Restaurant is located at 84-43 164th Street, Jamaica, NY 11432.

Oh and Danny just had to try a slice of traditional NYC pizza.  He went to one of the places recommended by Jon Stewart (when he was ripping on Donald Trump because he eats pizza with a fork).  Doesn’t he look cute?

And here’s a picture of the dogs snoozing in the car.  They were very well behaved considering all the driving and shuffling around we did.  Such good doggies!

Gluten-free and vegan Mexican style pizza

I must make my own pizza at home since Your Pie’s gluten-free crust contains eggs and gelatin.

Not being able to order a vegan and gluten-free pizza anywhere in Athens can be irritating and inconvenient.  Fortunately, making a pizza ‘from scratch’ is much cheaper than Your Pie or Mellow Mushroom.  One bag of Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free pizza crust mix costs around $3-4 and one bag of Daiya cheese costs $5.  I would estimate the cost of other toppings to be a few dollars at most.  A homemade pizza will give you around 4-6 servings of pizza.

Ingredients:

1 package Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free pizza dough mix (located in the natural foods section in Kroger.  also available at Earthfare)

1 can vegetarian refried beans

½ teaspoon each – cumin, coriander, garlic, chili powder

Taco sauce – I used the hot variety but Kroger also has a mild flavor as well.

Daiya shredded pepper jack vegan cheese (this flavor is only available at Earthfare. Cheddar and mozzarella are available at Earthfare and Kroger.)

Pico de gallo (I purchased it pre-made from the produce department at Kroger)

Sliced olives

Sliced jalapenos

Roasted red peppers – from a jar, sliced

Any other toppings you like

Preparation:

Prepare pizza dough according to package instructions.

Open can of refried beans and scoops them into a medium bowl.  Season with cumin, coriander, garlic, and chili powder and stir.  Spread the refried beans onto the crust in a thin, even layer.  I ended up using the whole can, but feel free to use less than this amount.

The taco sauce is a replacement for traditional marinara pizza sauce.  Spread an ample amount of taco sauce on top of the beans.

Sprinkle some cheese on top of the sauce.

I combined the pico de gallo, sliced olives, and sliced jalapenos in one bowl, and spread this mixture evenly on top of the cheese.

Sprinkle more cheese on top.

Place sliced roasted red peppers and any other toppings you like on top of the pizza.  Sprinkle with a little garlic powder and place into the oven.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes.

Yum!  This makes great leftovers.

If you have a pizza emergency and need one quickly (and are also vegan and gluten-free), you should try Amy’s Spinach Pizza (available at Kroger).  This pizza has a gluten-free rice crust and is topped with soy cheese.  This pizza is tasty on its own, but I prefer adding additional toppings of mushrooms and sliced olives before sticking it in the oven.  The crust can be slightly dry and crumbly so place the pizza on a cookie sheet or on top of foil while baking.  This pizza costs around $7-8 and gives me around 2 servings.

What is your favorite type of pizza?

Gluten-free pizza at Your Pie – NOT vegan :(

UPDATE:  Unfortunately the gluten-free dough at Your Pie in GA is NOT vegan.  It contains eggs and gelatin.  The soy cheese is vegan, though.  Check out the ingredient list here: http://www.yourpie.com/your-menu/gluten-free.  Thanks to CS for bringing this to my attention!

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If you haven’t eaten at Your Pie and you live in Athens, FOR SHAME.

Your Pie is the happy little place where vegans and non-vegans can commune with friends over brick oven baked pizza.  Your Pie gives you the options of a 10-inch diameter white, wheat, or gluten-free dough, multiple sauce options like traditional marinara, bbq, hot sauce, or spicy thai, lots of different cheeses including soy cheese, and complimentary vegetable toppings aplenty.

The soy cheese is SO tasty and cheese-like that after the first bite, I had to double-check with the staff to make sure they didn’t accidentally put real cheese on my pie…and I was STILL a little skeptical because it tasted too damn good, but it’s really vegan!

My favorite pie is gluten-free dough, bbq sauce with a little bit of hot sauce, soy cheese, mushrooms, pineapple, bell pepper, broccoli, red onion, garlic, and black olives.

Try to go on Tuesdays because Your Pie has a $6.00 pizza and a drink special on this day, with the meal being a few dollars cheaper than the usual price.  My pie costs around $8-9 depending if I get tofu as a topping (premium ingredients cost extra) and the gluten-free dough is a tad more pricey than the regular white or wheat.  But it’s totally worth the price!

Also get their frequent buyer card, because if you go to Your Pie every week like I do, you will rack up points quickly and get free pizza!

Your Pie is located downtown on Broad Street, near five points, and in the Beechwood shopping center at the corner of Baxter and Alps.  Check out YourPie.com to see if there is one coming soon near your location, or to check out nutritional information on your pizza.

Birthday Weekend Fun!

I had SO MUCH fun this weekend!!  I really have the greatest friends ever!  The only thing that made me sad was that my boyfriend wasn’t here to celebrate with us   But he’s returning to the states soon, so I’ll have to whip him up some vegan foods especially for him (not that I don’t do that already…hehe).

My friend Michael helped me prepare food for my birthday party this weekend.  Everything was vegan and gluten-free!

Michael made crispy rice treats from The Gluten Free Vegan cookbook by Susan O’Brien.  Making gluten-free vegan rice crispy treats can be difficult because regular rice crispy cereal contains barley malt (which I am also allergic to, and I believe it’s related to gluten), and traditional marshmallows contain gelatin (powdered horse hooves and animal bones).  Susan O’Brien’s recipe calls for puffed rice (we found gluten-free rice crispy cereal and used this instead) and brown rice syrup as a marshmallow replacement.  Brown rice syrup is very sugary and sticky!!  You won’t miss the marshmallows.

Cassie really, really wanted to help taste test these treats…unfortunately these are human treats only because they contain raisins, and LOTS of sugary goodness.

Michael modified the recipe a bit by adding dried goji berries (loaded with vitamin A and available at Earthfare), vegan carob chips, and some other random nuts and seeds that I had lying around.

Leela couldn’t resist licking the peanut butter jar clean!

I made some gluten-free vegan mac and cheese since it’s always a crowd pleaser.  And yes, I portion out all the ingredients before I start cooking…it helps me feel like I’m food network or something…haha   Click here to see my blog post which includes the recipe for the mac and cheese.

I also made some cornbread using Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free cornbread mix.  This is available at Kroger, Earthfare, and maybe at Publix.  So far I’ve tried the gluten-free pizza crust mix in addition to the cornbread mix, and both are fantastic.  Both were light and doughy, just like “real” bread!

Here’s the collection:

Here’s Michael cutting up the rice crispy treats.  He made two batches (one had a bit of honey since we ran out of the brown rice syrup).

AND we made homemade vegan and gluten-free pizza!  Click here to read my blog post about pizza, including which vegan cheese you should use!  Fresh zucchini is one of my favorite ingredients to throw on top.  Even the non-vegans were raving about the cheese.  YUM!

And we had homemade lattes with Silk creamer to keep us motivated during all the cooking

The party (and prepping the food with Michael) was so much fun!  We only spent around $30 for all the ingredients for the food, so it wasn’t expensive at all, and I still have a few leftovers.  What a deal!

Thanks to everyone who came out (or who wanted to but couldn’t make it).  Love you all.

Homemade vegan and gluten-free pizza

Last night I decided to treat myself (and Danny!) with a homemade pizza.

Making gluten-free and vegan pizza at home isn’t as difficult as you would think.  Fortunately, Bob’s Red Mill offers a selection of premixed and gluten-free flours.  Pizza crust, pancakes, cornbread, biscuit mix, and all-purpose are a few of the mixes available at Kroger in the natural food section or Earthfare.  Each bag is printed with an easy-to-follow recipe on the back.  The only modification to the recipe is a substitution of vegan egg replacer instead of eggs.  I purchased all the ingredients for my pizza at Kroger.  Some of the Kroger brand pizza sauces contain meat, but the pizza parlor flavor is vegan.

I followed the directions on the back of the pizza crust mix bag, and topped the pizza with mushrooms, olives, and pineapple, and smothered the pizza in Daiya vegan cheese.  It is the BEST vegan cheese out there!  Trust me, it melts and tastes just like real cheese.  It’s around $5.00 a bag, but definitely worth the cost!

Here’s the finished product:

I also sprinkled a little nutritional yeast and garlic on top once it came out of the oven.

If you like a lot of toppings on your pizza, try baking the pizza for 25 minutes instead of 18 or 20, because the toppings add quite a bit of moisture to the pizza.  The dough was soft and a little chewy, and not dry like other gluten-free pizza doughs I’ve tried.

Delicious!  And it makes great leftovers