Tofu That's Sort-of Like Breakfast Sausage...

This amazing brunch was a joint effort between Shaun and myself.

Doesn't it look lovely? (If I do say so myself!)

Shaun had been wanting to copy a particular "breakfast sausage" -style tofu that's his absolute favorite menu item at "Hillside Quickie", a vegan Southern/soul food restaurant near here. The place is AMAZING but we just can't go out for breakfast every day...

I think we came pretty darn close to their recipe though!!!
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No specific amounts yet, it's still a work-in-progress, but the method we used was:

• Freeze firm tofu.
• Thaw, drain and press.
• Slice into thick slabs.
• Marinate in soy sauce, liquid smoke, red wine, and a bunch of other spices and things...
• Fry until crisp in a well-oiled HOT pan.
• Top with gravy*.
• Enjoy! (Oh, some toast is good too).

*I used Isa's "Chickpea Gravy" which is like crack in this household... someone was nice enough to post the recipe here: Punkrock Chickpea Gravy. I admit it's the main reason I own Vegan with a Vengance, (I am just SOO not a "cookbook" sorta person) but if you've never tried it, DO!!!

I don't get the "breakfast sausage" similarity quite so much, but it's deliciously juicy, smoky, chewy, fried...pretty amazing stuff!

So yeah.... that was brunch. Fall-off-your-chair sort of delicious.

The next day we went to Kokeb Ethiopian Restaurant with fellow vegan friends from Seattle.

Ethiopian is truly a dining experience everyone needs to have. Lots of restaurants here in Seattle, but none in Albuquerque, (where Shaun lives) so what better reason to go?

You can read about it on their website. Lots of vegetarian choices too!!

Not only that, but I got to hold the cutest baby in Seattle... or Washington... maybe the world. (He's vegan too, how awesome is that?).

Vegan Brunch! ("Quickie Too", in Tacoma)

I swear I still cook, I've just been doing a lot of repeats lately so I don't have much in the way of original ideas to post.

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That said, the boy and I decided we were tired of the standard Puget Sound-style drive-thru coffee-stand breakfasts (as you can see, we're BAD about that!) and we decided to venture out for some "real" breakfast food.

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We decided to do Sunday Brunch at "Quickie Too" over in Tacoma, and as always, the food ROCKED!

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Quickie Too is an all-vegan cafe owned by the same people who have Hillside Quickie and Hillside Quickie Sandwich Shop in Seattle. They call their food Vegan American-Soul Fusion which pretty much translates into GOOD! If you're ever in Seattle, or Tacoma, check them out!

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We started with these incredible melt-in-your-mouth blueberry muffins, tea and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Totally tasted as good as it looks!

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Our Brunch platter came loaded with tempeh "bacon", a seitan "steak" with gravy, grits, fried plantains, fluffy biscuits, scrambled tofu, cinnamon apples, homefried potatoes, something with sweet potatoes...

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I'm serious, ALL of that!! And even though we've been here before, we dug in so fast, we didn't THINK to take a picture, it was that good.

Hope you all had a restful, enjoyable weekend.

Brunch last Sunday...

Wheeeeee!

Had an amazing and totally vegan brunch at Tacoma's Hillside Quickie Too last Sunday with my friend, Froggy. How I love going out with friends who enjoy vegan food as much as I do!

OK, Hillside is a little hole-in-the-wall "vegan soul food" restaurant that I just HAD to blog about!!! (They don't exactly have a website, but tons of rave reviews all over the web if you're interested... ).

Not sure how many of you from the greater Pacific Northwest read this blog, but if you're in the area, you GOTTA go!!

Hillside Quickie restaurants (Seattle and Tacoma) are run by siblings from Tacoma, WA. Their mother, a follower of the Rastafarian religion and diet, began a wholesale vegan food business several decades ago.

The menus mainly feature sandwiches and wraps filled with some sort of flavored tofu, tempeh or seitan. Some of the more interesting choices include the Mama Africa which is a quinoa millet burger, the Fire Roasted Yam which comes with smoked seitan and smoked yams, and the Big Fish, a mock fish burger made with breaded tempeh.

They are probably best know for their organic, gourmet vegan sandwiches, especially at the Seattle location(s? I think there are two in Seattle now). From reading reviews on the web, I don't think many people even know about their marvelous Sunday brunch...

Brunch isn't off the menu; you are seated, and served blueberry coffee-cake, juice, coffee and a plate FULL of dee-lish home-fried potatoes, grits, tempeh, spicy fried tofu, spiced apples and...um...other things I can't even remember but it was wonderful!! If it sounds like a lot, well, it is... *burp*

I didn't even THINK to take pictures until we were finished (doesn't Froggy look content and satisfied reading his Sunday paper?) Anyway, if you're into myspace, you can see mouthwatering pictures of many of their goodies here, and fellow blogger Candi visited and took pictures last fall too! There are also pastries, cookies and daily specials including their Macaroni & Yease (made with nutritional yeast. I've had it before too - SOOO yum!).

So, yeah, that's basically all - if you're ever in Tacoma, Washington, you absolutely MUST, MUST, MUST stop here and partake.