Foxy Falafel - Restaurant

After finally making it over to the Foxy Falafel food truck, I knew I had to try out their brick-and-mortar restaurant soon.

I was able to pop in for happy hour with a friend, which features an incredibly exciting $0.25 falafel ball special. That's right, all the falafel balls you could want at a mere twenty-five cents a piece. The happy hour also includes a dollar off most sides and drinks.



We ordered two of each type of falafel (curry, regular, and beet) two sauces (spicy Harissa and green tahini) and a pickle plate.



I ordered the hard lemonade habanero Bellini, while my friend had a mimosa. Yum! I really want to go back and try some of the other dishes, like Harissa potatoes.

Foxy Falafel Food Truck - Stoplight Platter

Today I was able to be in Downtown Minneapolis around 11am, which is when most of the food trucks open for business. 
I was SUPER excited to come across Foxy Falafel, which I have been meaning to try for a long time.  (They just opened a brick & mortar restaurant last year, too!)

I tried the Stoplight Flafel Platter: 2 pieces of the curry, beet, and regular falafel (6 total); cabbage. cucumber, tomato, hummus, served with pita or corn chips.  I added some of Foxy's homemade pickles and some hot sauce.  It was delicious!

Gardein Burger with Fulton Beer

Burger time!  Dinner tonight: pan-fried Gardein burger with sauteed onions.  Toasted bread with a garlic butter spread as well as thinly sliced dill pickles.  I also coated the burger in cayenne hot sauce. 

Served with Fulton here's Sweet Child Of Vine IPA, which comes in a hilarious case that I took a photo of. 

Blogging via phone!

Birthday Explosion, Part 2 of 2: Food Trucks [Vegan MoFo]

[Give Beets a Chance: veggie dog from Magic Bus Cafe @ Food Truck Food Court.]

It's Vegan Mofo! AKA the Vegan Month of Food, an annual event of vegan food bloggers. I really wanted to sign up but failed to do so by the deadline. I am going to be participating anyway and hope to blog a lot this month. You can head on over to VeganMofo.com to find out more.

Today's post is the second part of my birthday explosion. I wanted more than anything to go to the various food trucks that have popped up all over Minneapolis/Saint Paul these past few years. On Wednesdays, there is a Food Truck Food Court in Saint Paul and I went there to check it all out.

We went first to the Magic Bus Cafe, a cool purple bus serving up veggie (and meat) dogs with various relishes and toppings. The one pictured at the top of this post is a dog with a beet and sauerkraut relish, the one below is a spicy dog with jalapeno relish. Sorry for the blurriness in these photos, it is incredibly difficult to take decent photos outside with my camera.



After chowing down on dogs, we hit up Gastrotruck and had two delicious black bean burger sliders.



Finally, we had to have dessert: cupcakes! These beauties were from Cupcake On The Go, the truck version of Cupcake. These were amazing and super-rich. Yummy! Fantastic birthday lunch.

Fried Pickle Slices

No Picture, though I will DEFINITELY be making these again, very, very soon!

I started with Claussen Dill Halves, my pickle of choice. I sliced the halves up into 1/4 inch slices. I used a tempura batter mix and dipped the slices in that, then rolled in panko bread crumbs. I did a few plain, then added seasoned salt to the panko so the rest were flavored.

I used a pan with vegetable oil to pan-fry the slices, a few at a time. I fried until golden brown and flipped so the other side of the slice would match.

I drained on a paper towel on my plate, and dipped in Frank's Red Hot.

DELICIOUS. Crispy, salty, tangy. I would probably cut my slices thicker next time, 1/2 inch or more. My tempura batter could also have been a little thicker.

Veggie Wrap and trail mix - Bellagio Casino, Las Vegas, NV

I recently traveled to Las Vegas, NV, and enjoyed quite a few delicious meals. It takes a little more searching to find truly satisfying vegan food (something other than just french fries) but it exists.

Pictured above: a veggie wrap with no cheese filled with alfalfa sprouts, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, served with a little garnish salad of cabbage, sprouts and veggies as well as a pickle. It also came with a plate of french fries. This was off of the room service menu at the Bellagio.

Pictured below: tasty trail mix from the Bellagio gift shop, Tutto. Why take a picture of it? It was impressive for trail mix: pepitas, roasted soy nuts, roasted flax seeds, raisins, goji berries, sliced almonds.



We also ate at a fast food type of place in the Bellagio called "Snacks," where they had vegetarian lentil soup and fries. They also had a veggie sandwich but we didn't get it or inquire if it had cheese or other non-vegan items.

Chino Latino

Chino Latino is a local restaurant owned by Parasole which serves "Street foods from the hot zones." It's a mix of Asian, South American and Latin American foods. The waitstaff is always friendly and is willing to go to great lengths to figure out what is vegan and what is not.

This is tofu satay, which was a new offering. We usually get portobella satay, which is really tasty, but this was excellent as well. Crispy fried tofu cubes on skewers, served with sweet and sour dipping sauce, quick-pickled cucumbers, and sticky rice.



I enjoyed my skewer with soy sauce and added hot sauce. I really wish this was served with the garlic soy sauce that accompanies the portobella satay. We also had several veggie potstickers, but I didn't take any photos of those because I inhale them all too quickly. Last, but certainly not least, we had "Popocatepe" aka "nacho fries." I order it minus the dairy (cheese, sour cream, and chile de arbol sauce which apparantly has dairy in it.) It's served with pico de gallo, black beans, and guacamole.

The Great Pickle Experiment

I love Claussen Dill Pickle Halves. I ate the last one a couple nights ago and got to thinking...could I make pickles from the remaining pickle juice.

I've made homemade pickles before, but I am experimenting to see if I can get anything tasty from the pickle juice itself without adding anything. I sliced up some cucumbers and put them in the juice. We'll see in a few days if anything comes of it.

Misc foods eaten over the past few days

No pictures, just a documenting my food type of post.

Other stuff I've eaten on 7/30:

Pesto Chik'n Sandwich:
two pieces of bread, toasted if desired
spread pesto on both pieces
add one Boca Chik'n patty
Enjoy
Tomato slices and fresh spinach or basil would be great, too

Hot Chocolate with PB Toast:
Simple, satisfying and comforting snack to make on a cold day. Or a hot day where you feel like you need a hug. Or during "that time of the month", when everything chocolate is satisfying.

One mug of soymilk, plain (8oz) (or favorite non-dairy milk. However, I'd stick to plain as the cocoa I use is plenty sweet.)
Hot Chocolate Mix, 2T (I like Ah!Laska Organic Cocoa, Non-Dairy Style)
Two pieces of Toast
2-4T (or more) of Nut Butter of your choosing


Heat milk in micro or on stovetop until warmed to your liking. Mix in cocoa. Experiment with sweetness, sometimes a little is enough, sometimes there can never be enough.

Toast your bread, slather on Nut Butter.
Fold each piece in half, and --wait for it-- dip it in the hot chocolate. Yes. Seriously. It's good. The chocolate and peanut butter or whatever nut butter you use, is awesome. Then again, I used to eat bread slathered in honey, folded in half, and dipped in plain milk. I also still eat peanut butter sandwiches and tomato soup. I'm crazy.

I also had pickles today.