Vegan Chicago: Tofurky and the City

Not everyone goes to see their family on Thanksgiving. As such, below is a list of places one could go to on Thanksgiving in Chicago.

1. The annual vegan Thanksgiving dinner (29th!) is going on at the Chicago Diner. Time slots are 12, 2, 4, and 6 p.m. Seats get taken fast, so make sure you make a reservation soon if you plan on going. They also do a carry-out version of the dinner (starting at $10.99) which you can pick up the day before or on Thanksgiving. 
2. Northdown Taproom and Cafe is doing a Thanksgiving dinner gone vegan. For more information about their dishes that night, please email them at info@northdownchicago.com.
3. Native Foods in Wicker Park is having a Thanksgiving dinner from 1-7 p.m. The dinner is $24.99 and includes lots of yummy options. Call to make reservations. Additionally, you can pick up their Native Wellington to-go instead.
4. Karyn's Raw has a Thanksgiving dinner to-go option for $50. Order in advance.
5. Karyn's Cooked also is doing a Thanksgiving dinner to-go for $40. Order in advance as well.
6. Whole Foods offers a vegan holiday roast and sides to-go.

If you plan on staying in on Thanksgiving but don't feel up to making your own homemade tofurky, there are always the frozen options out there.

1. Of course, there is the original Tofurky Roast. There are several varieties including the roast, the roast with gravy, and the savory giblet gravy. You can usually find the Tofurky holiday products at health food stores around this time.
2. Gardein has their Savory Stuffed Turk'y readily available at most Whole Foods for the holidays. 
3. Field Roast Grain Meat, Co. has their Celebration Roast which is around normally at Whole Foods and similar places.

For those of you who plan on cooking, your blog doll is going to be posting a 4-part vegan Thanksgiving feast soon so be on the look out! VegWeb of course has a plethora of recipes to use as well as VegKitchen. Mercy For Animals has a menu up on their website for a full coursed meal too.

Photo Credit: Jovan J.

Now, what are you going to do after you sit around and eat all that great vegan food? Go to Fur Free Friday! This is the annual protest against the fur industry. It usually brings out several hundred people here in Chicago. It starts at 12 p.m. at Daley Plaza on Friday, November 25th. Signs and leaflets are provided.



Have a Happy Tofurky Day! Be kind to all animals, big and small. :D

Vegan Chicago: Chicago VeganMania Is This Weekend!

 

Chicago VeganMania is upon us this weekend! This is a great festival put on every year by dedicated volunteers. It is an entirely free event too. This is its third year and the festival has grown bigger and better since its inception in 2009. VeganMania is a great way to meet others in the vegetarian community within Chicago and support local vegan and vegetarian products, companies, and restaurants. It pretty much covers everything from cooking demos, vendors, musical entertainment, a children's area, workshops with speakers, and of course, lots of vegan food to eat! If you live in Chicagoland, please come out to this awesome event. It is sure to be lots of fun!

When: THIS Saturday, November 5th

Time: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Cost: FREE!

Where: Pulaski Park Fieldhouse (in Wicker Park), 1419 W. Blackhawk, Chicago

See you there!

Po Boy Sandwich

Many moons again, I had a Po Boy Sandwich for the first time at the Chicago Diner. It was SO good. Alas, they took it off their menu. This is my attempt to recreate it, although the Diner's is better (as always!).

 Po Boy Sandwich

* Prep Time: 30 minutes
* Cook Time: 3 1/2 hours (2 hours for seitan, 1/2 hour for au jus)
* Ingredients (for seitan):

• 1/2 cup chickpeas
• 1/2 block tofu (5 oz.)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp red wine
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dried mustard
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp sage
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground fennel seed
• 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek seed
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp all spice
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 3/4 cup vital wheat gluten flour
• salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper, to taste rubbed on the seitan loaf

• 1 cup vegetable broth, add more if runs out while steaming

* Ingredients (for au jus):

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 cup vegetarian chicken broth*
• 1 cup vegetarian beef broth*
• water, if necessary
• 2 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• sea salt and pepper, to taste

* Ingredients (for building sandwich):

• 4 hoagie buns
• vegan mayonnaise, to taste on each sandwich

* Recipe (for seitan):

1. Combine wheat gluten and nutritional yeast flakes in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Combine all the rest of the ingredients in a blender. Blend well.
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the bowl. Mix well. Let the wheat gluten mixture rise for a few minutes.
4. While you wait, add the vegetable broth to a medium sized pot. Do not turn on stove yet.
5. Form the wheat gluten mixture into a log and rub the top with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Wrap the seitan log in foil.
6. Put the seitan into the pot and now turn on the stove to low heat. Place pot cover on, but allow some room for the steam.
7. Steam seitan for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Make sure you don't run out of broth as you steam. Add more if you need to as you steam.
8. To store, keep the seitan in the foil you steamed it in.

* Recipe (for au jus):

1. In the pot you steamed the seitan in, heat the olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and carrots.
2. Once the onions begin to brown, add the rest of the au jus ingredients. After you add the broths, add enough water to cover 3/4th of the seitan log.
3. Baste the top of the seitan log and rotate here and there. Keep on extremely low heat during this time. You may choose to just let the seitan "soak" in the broth rather than have it on low heat.
4. Remove seitan after about 30 minutes. Take out the bay leaf then blend the onions, carrots, and broth in a blender.
5. Return back to pot and add in bay leaf again, let heat on medium heat for 30 more minutes.
6. Take out bay leaf before serving.

 * Recipe (for building sandwich):

1. Split hoagies 3/4th of the way, leaving a hinge. Slather on vegan mayonnaise on both sides of bun to taste.
2. Slice the seitan log into thin deli style slices. Add to hoagie and top with generous amounts of au jus.

* Note: I used Frontier vegetarian beef and chicken broths. 

Vegan Chicago: Jive!

This weekend was full of vegan goodness and retro fun! Quite themed. On Friday, we went to The Chicago Diner which is probably the best known veg restaurant in Chicago. Meat Free Since '83! Ellen and Portia tried out the food there for their wedding, :]

Above is a Chiken Filet Sandwich with a side salad (Lime Cilantro dressing). The options were vegan ranch or chiptole for the sandwich, I opted for chiptole. Definitely great! Enjoyed every last bite, highly recommend it.

Vegan Mac & Cheeze! Divine. Everyone should always order a side of this stuff when they go to Chi Diner!

Retro styling for the evening! Gotta love it.

On Saturday morning, I volunteered at PAWS Chicago. It is a no kill shelter, the largest in Chicago. I spent my time there in Kitty City. Quite a few people out... weather was nice, just the time to go out and adopt a lovely pet. Heh.

After volunteering. I went to Handlebar. It is a bicycle bar that is diner veg-friendly! It is a cool place, but the service was just awful. The food was decent, nothing spectacular. I would recommend it for a one time try, at least.

I got their Everything Green Salad made vegan and a side of fries.

More retro hair and vintage dresses on Saturday night! We went on a River North mini retro throw back bar crawl.

Our bar crawl started out at The Motel Bar. So cute! I highly recommend going out of your way to this place. Had a French Martini and a champagne cocktail in a flute. Next we went to The Pump Room inside the Ambassador East Hotel. Well, we might have been the youngest ones there, but who could resist free live jazz and cabaret? Had a Pump Room special called a Pomatini. After, we went to The Green Door Tavern. It was built back in 1872! Chill place and the walls were super cute, albiet a bit much. Made a decent Cuba Libre! Our last stop was The Clark Street Ale House. Didn't have a drink here, but it was open until 5 am, haha. Apparently their beer selection is quite large and impressive.

This is The Green Door Tavern. Oh, also, our "cab ride" to this place from The Pump Room was in a half limo... at the same price as a normal cab ride? It was bizarre! What a classy bar crawl. I'm not sure you can top this and it was all of our first time doing a bar crawl.

To end this impressive bar crawl, a friend and I had Sunday brunch at Kitsch'n River North. It is right next to The Motel Bar. Loved it! I forgot to take a picture of my brunch, but it was a tofu scramble made vegan (it had cheese on it). It was a decent scramble. Definitely had better, but it was worth it for the atmosphere.

Tonight, I made a very lovely blueberry cake which I'll post about tomorrow. Phew! What a weekend, heh.