Month: November 2013

Disney World as a Vegan

Detour:
Walt Disney World
Orlando, Florida

Again, prior to my 9 day trip in September to the most magical place on earth, I did my research. I searched Google, I viewed hashtags on Instagram and perused Facebook pages. I took notes. I packed my own snacks. None of this fully prepared me for my foodie endeavor in the land of princesses and talking animals. While there I vowed to return home and blog about my experience to give future vegans in Disney World further reference because , believe me, the more information you have, the better.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Lunch – Counter Service
Backlot Express

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich – basil asiago artisan bread, mushrooms, red peppers, zucchini, tomato, watercress and cheese with sundried tomato pesto, served with carrot sticks or french fries

VEGANIZED: Order without cheese and with the multigrain bread. I would also opt for the carrot sticks; fryers are not separate for meat products and french fries

Backlot Express

Epcot

Lunch – Counter Service
Sunshine Seasons

ALREADY VEGAN: Orange Sesame Glazed Vegan Chick’n Chunks with Stir Fry Noodles

Seasons

Dinner – Table Service
Teppan Edo – Hibachi Style Dining

Appetizer: Garden Salad – Mixed greens and seasonal vegetables with your choice of our original ginger dressing or creamy sesame dressing

VEGANIZED: Choose the ginger dressing for the salad.

Salad

Yasai – fresh seasonal vegetables
– includes seasonal vegetables with udon noodles and steamed sukiyaki beef rice

VEGANIZED: Mention to the manager, waitress and chef that you are vegan. In my case, they cooked all vegetables prior to cooking meat products. Opt out of the udon noodles and steamed sukiyaki beef rice and ask for white rice.

Stir Fry 3

Snack
Food & Wine Festival

Terra

ALREADY VEGAN:
Trick’n Chick’n Curry with Basmati Rice featuring Gardein Chick’n Breast
Chili Colorado with House Made Chips & Cashew Cheese, featuring Gardein Beefless Tips
Chocolate Cake with Passion Fruit Sorbet and Coconut Foam

terra

Scotland

Vegetarian Haggis with Neeps and Tatties-Griddled Vegetable Cake with Rutabaga and Mashed Potatoes

VEGANIZED: Opt for doubly rutabaga. The mashed potatoes are not vegan

hagis

Japan

ALREADY VEGAN: Youki Tofu topped with Miso Sauce, Edamame and Served with Grilled Vegetables

tofu

Animal Kingdom

Breakfast – Buffet
Tusker House – Donald’s Safari Breakfast

There are a handful of buffet items that can be veganized. Mention to your waiter and the hostess at check-in that you have a dietary restriction. They will send out the chef upon arrival at your table. Thankfully, one of the chefs at Tusker House was over the top helpful and took me around the entire buffet pointing out what was vegan and what could be made vegan upon request.

VEGANIZED: The chef prepared the following items special per the vegan diet.

  • Mickey waffles – Also gluten free
  • Tator Tots – Pan fried opposed to fried
  • Yam Casserole – without cheese.

ALREADY VEGAN: Fresh Fruit

Tusker House

Magic Kingdom

Lunch – Counter Service
Columbia Harbor House

ALREADY VEGAN: Vegetarian Chili

Lighthouse Sandwich – hummus with tomato & broccoli slaw on toasted multigrain bread with potato chips $9.19

VEGANIZED: Order without broccoli slaw.

Lighthouse

Resorts

Dinner – Table Service
Contemporary – California Grill

Chefs at the California Grill, atop the Contemporary resort, opt for a four mini entree to meet the dietary needs of a vegan.  I could not tell you what exactly my four mini entrees were.  To the best of my knowledge they were a risotto dish, a ratatouille dish, mini flat breads and a salad.  It was delicious and with each vegan this selection will change.

Contem

Downtown Disney

Snacks
BabyCakes NYC

All vegan bakery in the marketplace area of Downtown Disney with cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts, brownies and more! (I picked up snacks for the week)

Babycakes

All Parks

ALREADY VEGAN: Pretzels and Popcorn throughout the parks are vegan as is!

Popcorn

And there you have it… vegan options in Disney from my point of view.  There are a few more, but these are the ones that worked best for me.  For further vegan options, I would view AllEars.net.

How to Make Vegan Stuffing

Thanksgiving: Stuffing Veganized

Thanksgiving for vegans is normally a time of questions. “What can you eat?” “What are you going to eat?” “Why?”  For me, even when I was a meat eater, Thanksgiving was all about the sides. Who does not love mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn and of course, STUFFING!    Stuffing was always a favorite.  The problem: this is normally made with chicken stock, butter, etc.  This weekend, however, I sat down with my oh-so-not-vegan Mom and she taught me the recipe while I altered with vegan friendly substitutes.   This is a stuffing recipe that is simple yet delicious, even non vegans will enjoy it.

Friendsgiving

Stuffing 
Serves 10

Ingredients
1 Loaf Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread left out overnight to stale a bit
1 package fresh Celery chopped
1 package fresh Mushrooms chopped
5 cups Onions chopped
3 T Salt
3 T Pepper
5 T Poultry Seasoning
16 ounce Vegetable Stock
1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In large sauce pan, add Earth Balance and celery  and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.
  3. Add onions.  Continue to cook for 15 additional minutes or until celery is soft.
  4. Meanwhile, cut bread and mushrooms into nickle sized pieces.
  5. Add all ingredients to large, greased, baking dish (around 12″ x 9″), combine well.  (I have found the best way to do this is with newly washed hands)
  6. Add seasonings and vegetable stock to bread/vegetable mix.  Continue to combine.
  7. Cover.
  8. Bake for 1 hour.
  9. Stir and SERVE.

Map of the Philadelphian Vegan World

With the launch of Pinterest place pins today, we have compiled a map of all the vegan restaurants, markets, and cafes, etc. in the Philadelphia area that we personally tasted and favor.  This map is not complete.  It will continue to grow as restaurants open their menus to vegan friendly items. In the coming weeks, we will be spot lighting some of our these spots but in the meantime, take a look at the big picture.  

It might not make the top 10 but Philadelphia is quite the vegan friendly city.