Obviously, Germany’s a bit far afield from this blog’s explicitly geographic focus, but I wanted to post about it here anyway for a few reasons.

“Yes, EVERYTHING here is vegan!”

First, I’ve run into a lot of skepticism that veganism is even possible in the land of Wurst, Schnitzel and Käsespätzle. As you’ll see, with only a few challenges it’s not only possible, but we here in the States are missing out on some really good vegan food. Also, given that there are hurdles to get over any time one travels, I thought a post like this might offer some ideas about how to travel as a vegan in areas not as easy as the PNW. Finally, for whatever relevant readership finds its way to this post, I just wanted to give some props to the outstanding businesses I found over there in hopes that I might help them succeed now that I can’t stop by multiple times in a day and give them money.

Our trip followed sort of an odd path across Germany (with a quick crossing of France and a short visit to Luxembourg), which was a factor of where we were able to fly in and out of, where we had friends to visit, and which areas of the country we particularly wanted to see by bike or simply visit:

What this meant for eating was that we spent time both in several major cities and university towns, but also in teeny little villages that dot the countryside every few kilometers. As you’d expect, we had a lot more options in the former than the latter, but we got by ok just about everywhere.

We got off to a great start in Frankfurt, with a very kind shopkeeper making us some (delicious) sandwiches to go even after the café, Savory, had closed. Did we want some tiramisu to go with that also? Um, duh.

Our first dinner! There was one with vegan cheese slices, also, followed by excellent tiramisu.

The next day, we got some tasty snacks and beverages from the cozy-and-casual Edelkiosk, which is also entirely vegan:

We opted for the white-chocolate-pistachio cookies.

Of course, we couldn’t leave Frankfurt without stopping by its entirely vegan grocery store, Veganz.

One happy vegan blogger/traveler

Germans are really, really into stuff to spread on bread, and the quality of the spreads tends to be right up there with the outstanding quality of the breads themselves. Here’s a small portion of the wall o’ spreads sold at that Veganz store, which doesn’t include the large selection of savory spreads we ate almost daily during our trip:

Yes, that stuff in the jars with the purple lids is a vegan version of Nutella. Yes, I brought a couple jars home!

I knew from previous trips to Germany that Tartex spreads could be a vegan traveler’s best friend. These spreads are not exactly health food, but they are flavorful additions to rolls and sandwiches, and you can buy assortments of single-serving containers that don’t need refrigeration. I always made sure to have at least a few in my bag for breakfast/snack/lunch on the go. That is, until we discovered the “Cremisso” line from the same company. These spreads are made with a sunflower seed (rather than vegetable oil) base and have a consistency (though not flavor) similar to hummus, rather than margarine. This brand had a similar line of products, which proved easier to find and just as good. We got so hooked on these that I later bought a cookbook of vegan spread recipes so I can try to replicate some of these back at home. Also, I was thrilled to see that Vegan Haven carries a variety of sunflower-based spreads I’d thought I’d need to order from Vegan Essentials. I had tried these at Vegfest and loved them. And yep, they’re German!

At Veganz I also picked up a handful of single-serving packets of coffee whitener, since soy milk is very, very rare to find in coffee shops and even after 11 years in Seattle I just can’t drink coffee black. Despite the super-unfortunate name (which became a running joke for us), this was a very handy product to have with us, and I later bought a much larger container.

The unfortunately named, indispensible coffee condiment.

We quickly worked out sort of a pattern for our daily meals: Bread with spread(s) for breakfast, either from a bakery or included with our lodging; lunch from a vegan-friendly business if we found it or sandwiches made on the go if not; dinner at a restaurant found in earlier research or via Happy Cow while underway. We brought lots of snacks with us (I took an ungodly number of Raw Revolution bars as quick cycling/travel fuel, which were great until some of them came open and leaked oil all over the rest of them. Ew.) and also bought quite a few snacks along the way. A basic trail mix called Studentenfutter (literally, fodder for students) is sold nearly everywhere, as are quite a few other vegan options for snacks.

A common lunch on the go, in this case prepared on the back of my bike while on a train platform: tomatoes and cukes on a pumpkin-seed roll with Tartex spread.

This worked great for us until, um, day 3. That’s when we hit our first holiday (Ascension Day), which in Germany means that nearly every business closes–even bakeries and grocery stores. Having forgotten that, we had to rely on our packed food for lunch as we pedaled down the Rhine (in this case, soy jerky, Clif Mojo bars and peanut-butter pretzels from Trader Joe’s). Things took a really depressing turn when (for other reasons) we had to settle for an edge-of-town motel for lodging that night with nothing that looked even adaptable in the attached restaurant. Our remaining option? The neighboring gas station, which is one of the only types of businesses that stays open on holidays. Alas, this was not a particularly well stocked gas station, so our dinner wound up being pretty ridiculous:

Lesson learned: plan ahead for German holidays if you want to eat properly!

Things looked up from there, though. The very next day we found another all-vegan store, in the Mannheim train station of all places.

Bit of a different vibe from lots of vegan stores! The style of this one reflects that it’s focused more on health aspects of vegan food than other reasons for following that diet, which is much more common in Germany than it is in the States.

We also got the benefit of staying for a couple days with a friend in the university town of Freiburg, who really went out of her way to make sure we were well fed. Two nights of wonderful home-cooked food plus amazing bounties of food at breakfast quickly made us forget all about our dinner of potato chips.

As in the States, we often found vegan food at restaurants specializing in cuisines that include lots of vegetarian dishes, like Indian or Middle Eastern places. However, we were reminded that each “host” country also has an effect on what is on menus in such places: you wouldn’t believe how many Turkish shops we passed that didn’t sell falafel or hummus in any form, or how ubiquitous meat was on menus even when the restaurant was called “Ghandi.” Still, places like that were typically more vegan-friendly than ones specializing in German cuisine.

Winding through the villages in the Moselle wine country, we ran into the problem that these places primarily serve tourists in restaurants, and the towns are too small to have their own grocery store or even small market. Sometimes, this meant planning ahead a little and making a large salad with canned beans in our hotel room or in a park (I carried small plastic bottles of olive oil, vinegar, and a few spices for just this purpose).

Those collapsible, Sea to Summit silicone dishes treated us very well and will travel with us again. The bottom of the bowl can be used as a cutting board.

Other times, it meant nicely asking the staff at the German-focused restaurants if they could pull something together for us that would be vegan. Some places “got” it more than others, but we never went hungry. Here’s a vegetable plate we got in the little town of Bernkastel:

Well prepared, seasonal vegetables, even at a place with nothing vegan on the menu. It never hurts to ask!

Dortmund was unexpectedly great. We got into town juuust in time to catch the tail end of the all-you-can-eat vegan brunch at the adorable and friendly Cakes ‘n’ Treats. Yes, you read that right. Why do we not have all-you-can-eat vegan brunch in the PNW, guys? Or even pay by the pound. This brunch buffet was so, so good, and I want to relive it!

Northwest businesses? Are you reading? Do this, please!

The scalloped potatoes (next to the roll) and the mushrooms were especially good, but man–it was all great! There was even a chocolate fountain for the skewers of fruit!

The timing also worked out right for us to catch dinner in the one vegan restaurant in Oberhausen, which we found by virtue of a hail-Mary search on Happy Cow. We were really lucky, since it’s only open a few nights a week, and it was quite good. My favorite was the gyro plate:

Seitan gyros with soy-based tzatziki, at Kombüse 22.

Pushing on to Leipzig, we found more great vegan options. The fast-food joint Vleischerei (a spin on the word “Fleischerei,” which means butcher shop or meat market) does such a fantastic job with vegan meats that we resolved immediately to go back before leaving town. The first time, we each had a burger, and later I had a “Vöner” (i.e., a vegan “Döner,” which Canadians know as donair) while Jud had this excellent “Thüringer” sausage sandwich–a regional specialty:

I’m already plotting to try to replicate this at home, too.

Between visits to the Vleischerei, we went to the other end of the dining spectrum, to the shmanzy Zest.

These empanadas were stuffed with an habanero-spiked tofu mixture, and the breaded-and-fried tomatoes added wonderful flavor and textural contrasts.

That would be pecan cake, layered with chocolate mousse and served with marinated raspberries. Un. Real.

In Potsdam, outside Berlin, we lucked out again with timing and caught the grand opening of a new vegan treat shop: good dEATs. Sadly, their truffle promotion had been so successful that they were sold out of those, but we got some tasty savory things to enjoy at the super-cute café (the decor reminded me of Petunia’s in Portland) and a slice of each of their cakes to share with friends and sample.

Oh my god. Out of the park. All of them. Every single one, I would love to eat again, and our omnivorous friends seemed to agree.

In Berlin, as you might guess, there are more options than anywhere, and even a handy app to help you navigate them. Berlin has not just one but two Veganz stores, and of course I went to both of them. We actually wound up at a hotel just a couple blocks away from the Prenzlauerberg store, which is nestled into a little strip of vegan businesses much like Portland’s vegan mini mall.

Part of the bakery case at the newest Veganz store, in Warschauer Str. Savories, chocolate croissants, and far more cakes than you see here. They also served me the best iced chai I’ve ever had.

From another deliciously greasy, fast-food lunch at Yellow Sunshine to our fancy “last supper” at the Lucky Leek, we ate very well indeed in Berlin.

The outstanding mango-chili risotto at Lucky Leek.

So…to sum it up? You can eat really, really well as a vegan in Germany. Just as smaller towns in the US and Canada might require a little more research or resourcefulness to provide vegan food, you might run into some blips in the Dörfer of Germany, but it’s certainly manageable. And where you find vegan or vegan-oriented businesses, which you will with surprising frequency, you will find some really excellent food in a range of price points from a 5-Euro sandwich to 50-Euro, five-course prix fixe meals (we didn’t eat any of those!).

If you go, some quick Google searches will give you a good idea of what options are available for the area(s) you’ll be visiting. Just be sure to check their hours and days of operation, since most are not open 7 days a week and may open only mornings or only evenings. Nearly every town large enough to have grocery stores will have a Bioladen, or natural food store. There you’ll find those wonderful savory spreads that will make for quick and cheap breakfasts or sandwiches, often along with a surprisingly good selection of vegan “cheese” slices and lunchmeats. I found the texture of the cheeses to be a little on the plasticky side, but the flavor was often better than the ones we have over here, and the small packages of sandwich-size slices made for easy travel food. Even grocery stores in larger towns will usually have a case or two in the refrigerator section of such products, which can save you a stop if you don’t spot a Bioladen nearby.

If you’re a latte person, you’ll need to dig a bit to find places that offer soy milk with coffee–unless you happen across a Starbucks, which always offers it, along with precious free WiFi.

If you’re negotiating a vegan dish at a non-veg place, know that you’ll need to really spell out what you do and don’t want. Obviously, that’s easiest if you speak German, but if not a Vegan Passport should get you what you need. In many places there is little or no awareness of veganism (though in others it’s widely understood and accommodated), and people aren’t used to thinking in terms of “dairy” or other broad categories of ingredients. When we thought we’d been very clear at one place about avoiding all dairy products–specifically calling out the cheese that was mentioned on the menu–we wound up with bread served with Quark (a cultured dairy product similar to sour cream or yogurt) and a plate of vegetables with no cheese, but two large pats of butter in the middle. And you should know that Speck, which is similar to bacon, is generally viewed as a condiment and often doesn’t register in a German’s mind as “meat.” It’s never a bad idea to specify that you don’t want Speck on your salad, pasta, soup, etc.

Even though I’ve rattled on now for more than 2500 words, there’s a lot I skimmed or skipped over. If you’re headed to Germany and would like any more detail please don’t hesitate to drop me a line! As you can probably tell, I love talking about this stuff.

German bread is the best in the world, and much of it is vegan!

Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Coconut and Ginger

1 tangerine-sized shallot, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. coconut oil (preferably skimmed from the top of the coconut milk)
½ tsp. red curry paste (watch out for shrimp in the ingredients of some brands)
1 Tbsp. minced or grated fresh ginger
15-oz. can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!)
2 cups broth (I used Better Than Bouillon vegan chicken style)
½ cup coconut milk (one of the small, 5-oz. cans would be great)
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Heat the oil over medium low in a pot with a wide base, like a Dutch oven. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or until quite soft and just starting to color. Add the curry paste and ginger, and cook two more minutes. Add the pumpkin, broth and coconut milk, and stir well to break up any lumps. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. With an immersion blender or conventional blender, puree the soup until smooth. Add the lemon juice and taste to adjust other seasonings. If you use a low-sodium broth you might want to add salt, but it wasn’t needed with what I used.

Makes a little over a quart, for two large servings or four small ones.

First, let me say this: I’ve always hated seafood. With the occasional exception of tuna in childhood sandwiches or casseroles, even in my meat-eating days I wanted nothing to do with fish or shellfish. Which is why it’s sort of odd that my reaction today, upon reading a reference to Italian-style shellfish soup, was immediately, “I need to veganize that!”

I’ve never had shellfish soup, and other than a mention that the soup in question was made with tomatoes–and clams and mussels–I really had no idea what I was doing. But a few minutes with Google fixed all of that, and a stop at Whole Foods on my way home had me ready to go.

Ready for some fish-o’-the woods soup!

Here’s what I came up with, and I’m pleased to report that I’m quite happy with it. It’s kind of exactly what I wanted. I have no idea whether it resembles any traditional shellfish soup, but it’s really good in any case–warming against the cold front that just showed up, full of vegetables and tangy tomato and lemon, and with just a hint of seafood flavor that could be played up for those who don’t share my aversion. The soup is relatively light, so round it out to make a meal. Some blackened tempeh and avocado would be great with this.

No shells–just tasty soup

Vegan Italian-style Shellfish Soup

6 large cloves garlic, minced and divided
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced, ends and any leaves reserved
1 medium bulb fennel: green tops cut off and set aside; white bulb quartered, cored and thinly sliced.
1 large leek: green tops cut off, washed well and set aside; white part quartered, washed well and thinly sliced.
4 shallots, halved and thinly sliced
3/4 lb. oyster mushrooms: thick/tough stems trimmed off and set aside; remaining parts chopped in small bites
1/4 lb. lobster mushrooms (more if you like fishier flavor), minced and divided
3 sprigs thyme or 1/4 tsp. whole dried thyme. Lemon thyme would be great if you have it.
1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. yellow mustard seed
1/2 tsp. dill seed or 1 tsp. dried dill weed
olive oil
1 tsp. Herbamare (or 3/4 tsp. salt)
1-1/2 tsp. fish seasoning
1/2 tsp. aji amarillo paste (optional–adds a little heat and a nice, fruity flavor. I found mine at Big John’s PFI)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 15-oz. can diced fire-roasted tomatoes (if the tomatoes are salted, you might want less salt in the recipe)
good handful flat-leaf parsley
juice of 1/2 lemon
black pepper

First, make a “fish” broth based on many of the trimmings from your soup vegetables. If you have a pressure cooker, this won’t slow you down much. If not, you should build in another 30-60 minutes. In a pressure cooker, combine half of the garlic; the ends and leaves trimmed from the celery; half of the tops trimmed from the fennel, coarsely chopped; the leek tops, coarsely chopped; the stems from the oyster mushrooms and about 1/3 of the lobster mushrooms; and 1/4 of the shallots. Add the thyme, whole peppercorns, mustard and dill. Add 1 quart water and seal the pressure cooker. Bring to high pressure; lower the heat and keep at pressure for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let pressure release naturally. Strain and set aside. Without a pressure cooker, start with a brief sautéing of the vegetables, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 30-60 minutes before straining.

Straining the broth with my handy nut-milk bag

While that’s cooking, chop the rest of your vegetables and start them cooking.

Shallots, leeks and fennel, chopped and ready to go

In a Dutch oven or other soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the remaining garlic, celery, fennel, leek, and shallots. Saute 8-10 minutes, or until vegetables are softened but still have some texture.

While those vegetables are cooking, on another burner heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add a bit of olive oil and then the lobster mushrooms, stirring until about half tender. Add the oyster mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are softened and reduced in volume by roughly half–about 4-6 minutes.

When the vegetables in the Dutch oven are ready, add the fish seasoning, the chili paste (if using) and the Herbamare or salt. Cook for one minute more. Add the white wine and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until liquid is mostly evaporated. Add the cooked mushrooms, the broth and the tomatoes. Cook another 5 minutes, not allowing the soup to get above a simmer. Add the parsley, the lemon juice and several grinds of black pepper. Check for salt and other seasonings and adjust as needed. If you really want it fishy, you’ll probably want to add some dulse, nori, or kelp to the broth or the finished product. Makes about two quarts, which should serve 4-6.

The basics

Overall, it’s going well. For the most part, it’s really not that hard, though it’s making me spend significantly more time in the kitchen. To compensate, I’m often eating much more simply than I normally would. Friday night I took leftover roasted broccoli and sweet potato, added some pinto beans and chopped fresh tomato from the CSA, splashed on my new favorite hot sauce (purchased at Sugarpill Apothecary), topped it with chopped avocado, and that was dinner. No multistage cooking; no custom blend of herbs and spices, freshly ground in a mortar; no multiple dishes–just a melange of stuff heated up and thrown in a bowl. And it was good!

I do miss having so many options of places to eat out–or variety of dishes I can choose from the menus of vegan restaurants–but thanks to Thrive, Chaco Canyon, Veggie Grill and Whole Foods I haven’t had to rely entirely on my own cooking and could have some very tasty food prepared by others now and then. Jud has (as usual!) been quite supportive and flexible with where we eat, and has even forgone some processed foods in my presence in solidarity. And my awesome friends brought lots of unprocessed food to eat at a potluck brunch I hosted, so there was plenty of variety then.

I’ve definitely embraced some routines for the sake of time and simplicity: breakfast is very often a rice cake topped with peanut butter or sunflower seed butter, along with an apple or banana. Could I make a rice cake in my kitchen? Absolutely not. But when the only ingredients are whole grain rice and air, I’d say that counts as unprocessed. Lunches are often brown rice + beans + broccoli + oil/vinegar/spices, if I don’t have leftovers from dinner to heat up.

In general, I’m eating far fewer grains because it’s so much less convenient to grab ready-made stuff or make pasta the center of a meal, but since I know grains and grain-like seeds have a lot of valuable nutrients, I’m making a point not to get too skimpy on them. I’m eating a ton of nuts and seeds, and lots of fruits and vegetables. Although I am “allowing” oil in this challenge, I’m being more judicious with it than I normally am, and trying to get my fats from less-processed sources. For example, instead of a standard vinaigrette, I’ve been dressing salads and vegetables with lemon-tahini dressing and sauce.

The low points

For the first two weeks I actually felt pretty lousy. I had a stomach ache almost all the time. I honestly don’t know how much of that–if any–had to do with the dietary change. I’m sure there was some adjustment to the extra fiber I was consuming, but both generally and in this particular case I’m quite skeptical of things like “detoxing,” so I don’t attribute it to that. It’s also fair to say there has been plenty of stress in my life recently, which frequently manifests itself in the form of stomach upset. So there’s that. A bummer, but it’s better now.

Also, it seems I may be more sensitive to soy in certain forms than I’d previously thought, so I’m steering clear of soy milk for now, and when I do eat soy it’s usually as tempeh. I figure that’s one of the least-processed forms of soy anyway.

Discoveries

Freshly made almond milk is fantastically delicious. If you’ve only had the stuff in boxes, I highly recommend trying it freshly made. I’ve been working on a couple experimental recipes to use the pulp from my current batch of milk, and I’ll post soon with the results! I also tried making hazelnut milk–and made hot chocolate with it using roasted-and-ground cacao nibs, cinnamon and vanilla. It was a little more textured than I would have liked, but quite tasty nonetheless. I’d also like to try roasting the hazelnuts first rather than using them raw.

There are some nice chocolate bars out there that arguably fit the unprocessed guidelines–and some that I really don’t like at all. Stirs the Soul makes a line that is not cheap, but in some cases is quite tasty. I particularly recommend the orange goji-berry (even though I’m not particularly fond of goji berries) and the mint. I was much less impressed with the cayenne-cinnamon and the currant-chai flavors, which seemed not sweet enough (all are lightly sweetened only with whole dates) and with poorly balanced flavors. If I’m going to splurge on expensive, raw chocolate, I want it to really satisfy that chocolate craving. Speaking of expensive chocolate, I picked up one of these at Thrive, and it was very, very tasty. This Hibiscus-Ginger chocolate, on the other hand, I didn’t like at all. I might try other flavors from that line, but the tartness of the hibiscus did not work for me in this bar.

I’ve become pretty well hooked on Heidi Ho Veganics Chipotle Cheddar (overlooking the agar, it’s remarkably unprocessed), and today I tried an herb-cashew cheese from Punk Rawk Labs, which was just as delicious as it was expensive ($10 for a 5-oz. tin–ouch!). At the same time I picked up the smoked cashew variety, which I haven’t yet tried. At that price, I can’t see those cheeses becoming a regular item in my fridge, but they sure would be nice for an occasional splurge.

Some things I’ve been eating for dinner

Tabbouli with homegrown parsley and mint, plus homemade hummus and carrots (yes, they’re supposed to be yellow rather than orange!)

A small-plate-style dinner after a late lunch: Rice cake and Triscuit-type crackers with Heidi Ho Veganics Chipotle Cheddar, pickled asparagus and pepper, and an heirloom-tomato-avocado salad with smoked salt

Mexican-inspired dinner of polenta, pinto beans cooked with zucchini and tomato, raw heirloom tomatoes, avocado, pepitas and cilantro

Yes to potatoes!

I was immediately drawn to the idea. I’ve always liked personal challenges like this and have tried many of them over the years. For me, they’re a way to bump myself out of routine, to question assumptions about how I live and interact with the world, and to learn which pieces of a different approach to living I might want to adopt as longer-term ways of life.

October is always a very demanding month for me at work, so I’m going to be a little extra forgiving with myself on exceptions when I really think I need them. But what the heck? I’m going to give it a try.

I like Wilder’s definition of unprocessed, and in general, I’ll follow his approach, with tweaks as they make sense to me. So no white flour, no white sugar (and limited sweeteners like agave or maple syrup), no Daiya, no seitan. I will include oil (anyone who knows me knows I need every calorie I can get!), but during October I will pass on delicious, greasy sandwiches from Highline or Wayward or donuts from Mighty-O. Good thing I had all of those things this past weekend

Really, though, I have confidence that despite all the things I’ll be cutting out, in so doing I’ll also be forced to try new things and in many ways expand my food choices and cooking repertoire, just like when I went vegan. Although I won’t be making any effort to restrict gluten, I expect I’ll be eating significantly less of it because I’ll be avoiding many of the things that contain it.

What’s there to miss?

I’m hoping to eat more healthfully, to reduce the amount of packaging I buy with prepared-food shortcuts, to eat more locally produced food, and to learn some new tricks.

And periodically throughout the month, I’ll blog about it here!

Here’s what food has looked like for day one:

Breakfast: Rice cakes with sunflower seed butter and an MacIntosh apple
Snack: Hazelnuts with cacao nibs (you didn’t think I was going to skip chocolate, did you?), and homemade nectarine fruit leather
Lunch:

(Brown rice with broccoli and black beans, topped with raw pepitas and dressed with olive oil, vinegar, smoked salt and red chili flakes)

Snack: Banana and cashews
Dinner:

(Pumpkin-crusted tempeh with baked sweet potato, topped with parsley-lemon sauce)

With a demanding schedule I won’t promise much in the way of stellar food photography, but I’ll try to include representative photos as I go, plus recipes when I find ones worth recommending. If you have recipes I should try, I’d love to see them! And if you have suggestions for making my pumpkin-crusted tempeh less dry, I’d love to hear about those, too.

Portland’s Vegan Street of Dreams: Alberta

Dining Vegan in Portland: Portobello’s new brunch, and getting down to Brass Tacks

This weekend we returned, putting our bikes on the Amtrak Cascades train for a car-free trip that took advantage of this ongoing beautiful weather–and gave us a hand in working off some of the food we shoved into our mouths for another 24-hour whirlwind. Although it might seem odd to have skipped VegFest, which was happening while we were there, it would have been the third such festival Jud and I would have attended in less than a year–and we’re not much on crowds. So we focused instead on enjoying a handful of businesses and the beautiful sunshine!

We started with a delicious lunch at Blossoming Lotus. I won’t go into a lot of detail and will just say that this is one of my favorite, most consistently good restaurants anywhere. The menu is a mix of raw and cooked items (all vegan, with several gluten-free options) prepared in fresh, creative combinations. The atmosphere is pleasant and would be very nice for a special date but also works for a casual drop-in while wearing bike-friendly clothing, and the prices are quite reasonable for the quality of food and ambience. There’s a Sunday brunch I’d love to try sometime.

Fruit and cheese plate, with house-made nut-based cheese spreads

BBQ soy curl sandwich with whiskey BBQ sauce

Tempeh with a coconutty red curry sauce and yams

Raw falafel wraps. I was alone in thinking they didn’t taste that much like falafel, but we all agreed they were very good.

My sister also grabbed a gluten-free brownie to go, which we tried later. Yowza. Super, super good. Fudgy without being stodgy, and plenty of chocolate intensity.

There was a bit of time left before the Portland Farmers Market at PSU closed, so we headed over there and made a beeline for Petunia’s Pies and Pastries (Note: the website automatically plays music when you load it–don’t jump!). I’d read about this all-vegan, all-gluten-free bakery business on Facebook and heard my sister’s enthusiastic reviews, but I hadn’t yet tried any of the treats.

Now I have, and I can tell you with authority that you should find your way to some of these products just as soon as your legs will carry you (regardless of whether or not you can eat gluten). Check out this case:

So many difficult choices! Fortunately, Lisa, the owner, was on hand to help me narrow things down, but it was still a struggle.

Those would be s’mores cupcakes, with graham-cracker bases, chocolate cake, marshmallow frosting, chocolate ganache and more cracker crumbs. Tragically, I did not sample. But Maren did and gave full approval.

Fluffernutter cupcakes. Seriously. I also summoned the courage to pass on these since I knew they wouldn’t travel well in a pannier.

My spoils: Olive-oil orange bundt cake, Almond Joy pie, and a chocolate-covered peanut-butter crispy treat bar. Amazing, every one.

I also tried a bite of the pumpkin-chocolate-chip whoopie pie. Perfection. If you like any one of those things, even if you don’t like the others, you want one of these pies. And today, I lucked out and found more Petunia’s products at a Stumptown coffee, allowing me to try one of the mint-chocolate brownies I’d reluctantly left behind yesterday. Again, spot on:

I might guess that this was gluten free, but I absolutely wouldn’t care. Definitely up there with the best brownies I’ve had.

Petunia’s is scheduled to open a storefront in January, which will make it easier to get a hold of these wonderful treats. I will insist on a stop the next time I’m in town!

It was time to take a break from eating for a while, so we hit Powell’s, took a ride on the brand-new Eastside Streetcar and checked out the grand opening of the Oregon Rail Heritage Center. We still weren’t hungry, so we threw in a little more biking and a short walk before settling in for dinner at Canteen, the relatively new storefront run by the owners of the Sip juice cart. Canteen is a small, casual place, with about as much seating outside as in. The inside part smells wonderful from the fresh juices being prepared behind the counter, but we went for the bowls that make up the bulk of their menu.

The Portland Bowl, with quinoa, maple tempeh (or sub Soy Curls), delicious yeasty sauce and hazelnuts. I loved the bite I had and would be glad to get my own another time.

The Bangkok Bowl: brown rice, adzuki beans, steamed vegetables and kimchi, with peanut sauce. Very good, if maybe a little too similar to the lunch I’d had.

Walnut taco salad. OMG. Maren alerted us that someone needed to get this, and she was so right. Next time, this is what I’m ordering. You can see how bright and fresh it is, and the flavors were wonderfully balanced.

I wish there were more restaurants that served food like this: nutritious food, simply prepared in delicious combinations. Grain (usually) + legume + vegetables + fabulous sauce. In a reasonable portion and for a reasonable price. Why is this so rare to find in restaurants? If this business were anywhere in Seattle I would be there all the time.

Brunch today was at Portobello. For the most part, I love Portobello as much as the next food-lovin’ vegan northwesterner. Maybe because it does so much so well, I found a few nits to pick, but we did have another fantastic meal there.

We were pleasantly surprised to beat the line by getting there when they opened (beating a breakfast line is no small feat in Portland, and our last brunch at Portobello involved a little more competition), but for the second time were perplexed at how long it took to get seated with no obvious reason for delays. Once we sat down, the service was just fine, but going two for two on being left to stand around with little acknowledgement was a bit obnoxious.

Still, we were in for lots of good food:

Cashew-cheese-filled “Sweety Pepps,” which were a surprise hit.

Jud got the “Vegan Benedict,” which was easily the best version of several I’ve tried. The Hollandaise had a faint almond flavor to it, which was an interesting surprise, and the “housemade smoky seitan ham” was outstanding.

Brian got the blueberry waffle. I overload quickly on sweet dishes at breakfast and therefore don’t tend to order them, but the bite I had was delicious.

I ordered the “Wild Cascadia” omelet, which I liked but don’t know that I’d order again. In hindsight, I’m not sure they included the cashew cheese sauce it was supposed to come with, which could have made a difference. The chanterelles and slightly cooked heirloom tomatoes were a nice reflection of the shifting seasons, though.

Maren got the current incarnation of the savory waffle. The one I ordered last time, I declared–and still believe to be–one of the best dishes I’ve ever had, period. I only tried one bite of this one, so I can’t say whether it still reached that high, but it was excellent, and I’d urge you to try it if you you find it on the brunch menu. It’s gluten free, to boot!

Mushroom homefries, with lots of parsley pesto, were another big hit with all of us.

After twice trying both the mimosa and the bloody Mary on their menu, I’d encourage you to stick with the mimosa. It’s very well done, and has some nuances of flavor that don’t show up in most mimosas. The bloody Marys, somewhat surprisingly, are the opposite: the one last year was made with tasty, raw, heirloom tomato juice and came with a pickled green bean and wedge of lemon, though its spicing was really underwhelming, and some more fresh or pickled vegetables would have been welcome. Today’s drink, with standard, heat-processed tomato juice, was oddly ordinary and bland, and came with no “salad” at all–just a lone slice of lime. Given the skill and attention to detail evidenced in the rest of their menu, I’m not sure why this one drink seems to slip through the cracks, but it certainly needn’t get in the way of a great meal.

This afternoon, I squeezed in one last purchase at Stumptown, which I enjoyed on the train:

This cookie had some of the unfortunate crumbliness that’s hard to avoid in gluten-free baking, but it was very tasty and among the best gluten-free cookies I’ve tried. For those who love Skydottir cookies in Seattle, you should definitely look for these when in Portland.

All in all, another fantastic trip! The bike-train combo worked pretty much exactly as planned (be sure to reserve a bike spot well in advance if you do this, since there are only six spots available per train), and we got home to Seattle in time for dinner. Next time I hope to plan far enough in advance to get dinner reservations at Natural Selection or Portobello, which have now twice eluded me in each place.

For those of you who went to VegFest, what did I miss?

La Vida Vegan is an all-vegan food truck serving a simple menu of tacos and tamales, plus lots of made-to-order juices and a few sweets. Although they’re based in the central-Vancouver-Island town of Parksville, Jud and I caught up with them in Qualicum Beach and managed a quick snack before meeting my parents for dinner farther up island.

La Vida Vegan, serving up delicious food at the Qualicum Beach visitors’ center.

We opted for one taco and one tamal to share, plus juices.

Both dishes were really delicious–topped with similar crema, salsa verde and fermented vegetables (similar to sauerkraut), but different in form, of course, and with different fillings of black beans, lentils and vegetables. Their focus on making their products from scratch clearly comes through in nicely balanced fresh flavors, right down to the tortillas.

Jud had a beety “Duncan” juice, and I had a “Tofino,” with celery and lime. Thumbs up on both!

If we hadn’t already had dinner plans, I would have been glad to make a meal of some more tacos and tamales. Did I mention that they’re gluten free to boot?

Check them out on Twitter and Facebook to learn where to find them on a given day.

It’s a magical little shop on Seattle’s Capitol Hill just begging for a long browse, a chance to check out new flavors or new scents, or to find a lovely gift even for those hard-to-shop-for people.

Don’t you want to go in there?

SugarPill Apothecary is a relative newcomer to the neighborhood, but the shop fits the space so well it’s easy to imagine that it’s been there for decades. Karyn Schwartz, the proprietor, has an energy that’s at once very warm and very calm, and just furthers the sense that you should stay a while. Let’s take a tour.

The Wall of Salts

One of the first things that you’ll notice upon walking in is this beautiful display of dozens of different salts, both in their natural states and seasoned in various ways. Open containers of each one invite sniffs of wonderful smoky, savory, spicy flavors overlaid on the salty base, and many of them have gorgeous colors and textures to add to the appeal. In a country where plain ol’ table salt gets painfully overused in part because it’s so neutral, I love the opportunity to focus instead on using just a bit of a more special salt to add complexity to food.

Salts to keep you busy all day

See that Spicy Celery Salt at upper right? I initially got it for Bloody Marys, and I still look forward to trying it that way. But meanwhile, I seem to add it to everything: fried potatoes, salad dressing, and most especially to this super-easy-and-addictive Chickpea and Avocado Smash from Emmy Cooks. You’ll also find a wide array of natural salts from around the world, like Himalayan pink or Hawaiian black, along with a variety of smoked salts (which make everything delicious), and ones infused with things like wine, hot chilies or wild mushrooms.

Most of the salts come in those flat silver tins, in either tiny or medium sizes. Obviously the larger ones are a better deal if you’re going to be using a lot of the product, but the tiny ones are wonderful for traveling. It’s fairly common for me to cook in other people’s kitchens, including rental ones without much in the way of spices. Having a bit of a complex spice blend or some rich smoked salt with me is an easy and compact way to make much more interesting food when I don’t have my full spice collection available. They’re also great to have tucked in your purse for those tragic times when you might get stuck with a plain baked potato or a stripped-down salad as your only vegan options. Neutral foods will perk right up with some of that spicy celery salt, or the lemon pepper blend.

And if that weren’t enough, the tins are attractive enough to make nice gifts, and there are even pre-grouped sets of them bundled neatly together for that very purpose to save you some time and difficult choices.

Ok, enough about salt. How about chocolate?

Spiced up or straight up, your chocolate options are many.

Much of the chocolate is not vegan (some even has bacon in it…), but you’ll find lots of options that are, in high-quality offerings of bars, powders and nibs, with a strong emphasis on fair trade products.

Speaking of which, let’s focus for a moment on this lovely thing:

“Nutella for grown-ups,” the proprietor calls it. “Heaven for vegans,” I call it.

Yes, it’s a creamy-smooth chocolate-hazelnut spread that’s vegan. Let that soak in a while. Special bonus? The hazelnuts are locally grown, by Lynden, Washington’s Holmquist Hazelnuts, and the chocolate is sourced directly from the cacao farmers in the Philippines. It’s decidedly less sweet than Nutella, and with a much deeper chocolate flavor (very much a dark, and not a milk chocolate). I find that those things just mean I’m able to make a jar last longer. Which is good because the stuff is not. cheap. But damn, it’s a nice splurge!

And there’s more: A wide assortment of small-batch bitters for your craft cocktails. Fancy oils for dressing your salads. Letterpress cards for every occasion. Soaps, lotions and other personal-care products, many of which are explicitly labeled as vegan. Rancho Gordo beans. Specialty mustards and locally made pickles. Even Washington-grown organic grains and grain products from Bluebird Grain Farms.

So many temptations to explore!

Finally, SugarPill stocks a wide array of medicinal herbs (seen filling the cases behind the owner in the first photo). I haven’t tried any of those, but if–as I would expect–they’re prepared with the same care and attention as the rest of their products, people looking for herbal remedies should definitely take a look. Rebekah Denn, writing for my employer, covered much of the medicinal side of the business in her recent Pacific NW Magazine story.

SugarPill Apothecary is open daily starting at 11am; closing time varies by the day of the week. Stop by, and/or check out special offers or information about new products on Facebook or Twitter.

There are so many! With little more than 24 hours in their visit, there were only so many places we could cram in (despite our very best efforts!), but safe to say, a vegan avoiding gluten could last a long time in this town before needing to return to the same spot. I should note, though, that only a few places are gluten-free establishments. If you’re sensitive enough to gluten that cross-contamination is an issue you should (as you surely already know) ask the staff at other places about how well they’re able to manage contact with gluten ingredients.

We started at Pizza Pi, source of many delicious vegan pizzas over the years. Sure enough, they offer a gluten-free crust, and since their sauces and cheese are already gluten free, there are lots of options on the pizza menu. We started with a “Saucy Sampler,” with one order of regular bread and one order of gluten free, both smothered in Teese.

Four sauces to go with gluten-free or conventional breadsticks

We all found the gluten-free crust (used both for breadsticks and for the 9″ personal size pizzas) to be quite respectable, even to those of us still used to eating gluten, and the sauces were all the same delicious ones I knew from the regular menu.

Maren tried the St. Patrick’s Revenge pizza (spinach and artichoke sauce, green peppers, broccoli, spinach and fresh basil), and I had a sample of it (the rest of us ordered gluten-containing items):

For some reason, it didn’t taste as good as usual (that pizza is one of my favorites), but I don’t think the different crust was the reason–maybe just an off day. I wouldn’t hesitate to order a gluten-free pizza there, or a St. Patrick’s Revenge, again, though just in case I might try a different combo next time.

We were all stuffed by the time we left, but of course we had to stop at Sidecar for the World Wide Vegan Bake Sale. In addition to the many gluten-free items the store carries regularly, the bake sale had an entire section of gluten-free treats. We picked up an assortment of goodies for later and headed off on a walk–mostly to make room in our bellies for the next stop: Jodee’s Desserts.

I’ve written about Jodee’s before, so I’ll just say that it once again delivered the goods–this time in the form of a slice of Key Lime Pie that we shared, along with some samples of other flavors. I’ll also point out that the menu is entirely gluten free (and vegan), so sample and order anything you want!

After some visits to Pike Place Market and the Olympic Sculpture Park, we were (eventually) ready for dinner. Maren and Brian hadn’t yet been to Travelers Thali House, which I’d recently discovered to be very friendly to GF/V diners.

My first meal at Travelers, with different dishes but the same format each month.

Sure enough, we had another great meal from the April menu, different from the one featured in my post, but in the same thali format. We made sure to order extra papadams to avoid having to fight over the two that came with our order.

For breakfast we hit Wayward. I wouldn’t have thought they’d have so many gluten-free options, but they really came through! As you can see from their gluten-free menu, many of their regular items are already gluten free or can be made so pretty easily.

I’ve been wanting to try their Club sandwich for ages, and I decided this was the time since a gluten-free version was available:

Gluten-free Club at Wayward. Be sure to specify, since there’s also a Club with gluten.

Normally, this comes with vegan turkey and ham along with the tempeh bacon, but the first two things must contain gluten since they’re excluded here. Thus, the Club really turns into a BLT, but it’s quite a tasty sandwich, even on rice bread. The French fries that came with it were excellent, and getting a pickle on the side (hidden behind the sandwich) always wins me over.

Brian tried the Gluten-Free Sampler (scrambled tofu, hashbrowns, greens, and tempeh bacon):

He enjoyed it, and having tried each of those things via their regular menu, I can vouch for them all being good.

Maren got one of my favorite items from the standard menu, which happens to be gluten free: the Very Veggie Omelet, served with home fries:

Vegetable-rich, filling and very tasty!

Of course as long as we were in the U-District we couldn’t miss Chaco Canyon, so we headed there to get some baked goods to eat later.

With a case like this right up front, you know you’re in good hands:

…and when you realize that the much-larger case below it contains a majority of gluten-free items as well (clearly labeled along with indications of raw items and those without soy ingredients), you start to feel the panic of very difficult choices:

Of course, writing a food blog gives you license (right??) to make all kinds of choices that would otherwise be ridiculous, so I got a chocolate-hazelnut cookie, a piece of rhubarb upside-down cake, AND a piece of that vanilla-lemon cake. The cookie was tasty, if a little dry and crumbly, as gluten-free cookies nearly always are. The cakes, though, were outstanding. Chaco has really mastered the art of making gluten-free cakes (and muffins) that you wouldn’t guess were gluten free. You taste rhubarb (and maybe a hint of fennel?), not garbanzo bean flour, and the texture is moist and only slightly more dense than a comparable counterpart would be with gluten.

This time I reluctantly skipped one of my very favorite desserts that they carry–raw chocolate brownies with hazelnuts. More like a truffle in bar form than a brownie, these things are so decadent, smooth and rich I would put them high on the list of things to feed skeptics who think that vegans eat unsweetened tree bark for dessert.

Chaco also serves “real food” if you want breakfast, lunch or dinner, and there are lots of gluten-free options (raw and cooked) on those menus also.

Finally (after a long walk around Discovery Park), no gluten-free tour of Seattle would be complete without a stop at Flying Apron in Fremont. This all-vegan, all-gluten-free establishment has been around for years, and I’ve heard many times how beloved it is by locals who avoid gluten. I confess that my experiences with their baked goods have been pretty hit or miss, so I hadn’t been by since they opened their storefront in Fremont. A couple weeks ago, I decided I needed to give them another try, and I’m so glad I did.

The new (not so new anymore, but new to me!) storefront in the middle of Fremont is adorable and welcoming–a huge improvement over the tiny, basement-level counter they used to occupy in the U-District.

There’s even a bit of sidewalk seating for nice days.

When I visited recently with Jud, I tried a couple baked items and a few things out of the savory case.

A hit and a miss: LOVED the lasagna; was disappointed in the Ginger Wheel cookie.

I must say, that experience reinforced my earlier experience with their baked items: dry and gritty. I will add that the cookie and the pecan cinnamon roll we also tried had really good flavor–they just fell far short of my hopes for texture. The cookie was quite hard, which would have been less annoying if it hadn’t also been quite thick. I think the cinnamon roll would have been much more enjoyable if it had been called something else. “Cinnamon Spiral,” maybe? For me, a cinnamon roll is soft and pillowy. This was crisp and brittle, much more like a scone. Again, the flavor was very good, but I had a hard time getting past the texture based on my associations with that particular baked good.

The Pecan Cinnamon Roll that should perhaps be called something else.

But. The stuff we got out of the savory case knocked my socks off. That lasagna you see up there? It’s one of the best lasagnas I’ve ever had, bar none. Complex flavor, plenty of veggies, and I would never guess that the noodles are made of rice and gluten free. Jud’s shepherd’s pie was not quite at that level, but it was very enjoyable, and I’d definitely order it again if I wasn’t in the mood for lasagna.

Shepherd’s pie at Flying Apron: rich and savory.

Jud also ordered a broccoli salad, with which I am now officially obsessed, so he ordered a large when we returned with Maren and Brian:

I could eat this daily for a good long time.

Raw broccoli (of which I’m not usually a fan, but gladly make an exception here), cabbage, and carrots with plenty of cashews and raisins in a lightly sweet, creamy dressing. Holy cow. Don’t miss this if you go.

On this most recent visit I also tried the Mac and Cheese, which is mixed with spinach:

Again, the rice-based pasta did not betray its gluten-free nature, and this was a very well-made mac and cheese. I appreciated the added spinach, both for nutrition and for flavor and visual interest, and the garlicky sauce was nicely creamy without being over-the-top greasy like some versions are.

I also tried a few other baked goods:

Russian Tea Cake (Have you ever seen one that big?! It’s easily 3″ across.) and Chocolate Chip Cookie

Chocolate Shortbread Cookie (and blue sugar cookies I didn’t try)

Finally, we had some winners. I actually liked all three of these quite a bit. The Russian Tea Cake was my favorite, with nice walnut flavor and subtle sweetness that didn’t take over the cookie. Because these cookies tend to be crumbly anyway, the texture achieved with gluten-free flours wasn’t far at all from the traditional results. I was pleasantly surprised to find the chocolate-chip cookie to be soft and even a little chewy, and the shortbread had a pronounced chocolate flavor while maintaining the just-crumbly-enough texture of a shortbread–with an unusually attractive presentation.

Fortunately, Flying Apron has a wonderful policy of a 100% guarantee: if you try something you don’t like, they’ll give you a refund. I didn’t take them up on this, but I hope it takes out enough of the risk factor for you to try some of their wares. You may not like all of them, but I bet you’ll find some that you do. And in any case, don’t miss the savory items! The only thing I haven’t liked so far was the vegetable-topped flatbread that features more peppers than I prefer (and many would consider that a plus).

There are lots of other places that would be high on my list for gluten-free, vegan dining in Seattle. We only skipped Bouteloua Bakery because it was closed for the weekend, but they do an excellent job with gluten-free cupcakes and cakes by the slice. Thrive on 65th is another place that’s entirely vegan and gluten free, serving mostly raw food with a few cooked items. Sutra, which I’ve also raved about before, is so focused on vegetable-centered dishes and local ingredients that many of its menus are already gluten free, but if you alert them ahead of time they can assure you of a gluten-free meal. St. Dames, in Columbia City, is an ovo-lacto place with a good assortment of vegan, gluten-free, and GF/V options for brunch/lunch/dinner. Finally, Plum Bistro and Sage Bakery and Cafe are well-loved vegan restaurants that cater easily to those avoiding gluten.

You want a map? Of course you do.

This is still just the tip of the iceberg. Where have you found good gluten-free vegan food in or around Seattle?

But just as enthusiastically, I like to learn about different ways of preparing foods and ways of accommodating others’ diets. So I was glad to try a new eBook by Veronica Patenaude, aka The Low Fat Vegan Chef: Comfort Soups to Keep You Warm (I got a free review copy). Patenaude’s self-published eBook contains 30 soup recipes (plus some extras), all developed for use without any added oils.

I honestly had a hard time picking which recipes to try first, since the pictures and recipe titles (all viewable here) made a pretty strong case for all of them. I decided to start with the Greek Fasolada (White Bean) Soup, using some beautiful little Orca beans I found at the farmers’ market.

Greek Fasolada Soup, with Orca Beans

I liked the different colors in this soup, and the subtle heartiness of the beans. On the down side, as someone accustomed to foods with added oil, was that I did miss the oil, especially at first. It tasted pretty bland, despite the inclusion of flavorful ingredients like fire-roasted tomatoes and fresh lemon juice. Patenaude points out that some people unaccustomed to low-fat cooking might want to use a little extra salt as their taste buds adjust, and I did find that that helped, especially using a spicy celery salt that added more complex flavor than salt alone could have provided. Indeed, the book typically calls for Herbamare, but offers plain salt as a substitute. Based on my experience, I would not recommend using plain salt in these recipes. Whether you use Herbamare or another seasoned salt blend, I found that that extra element of flavor was really important for compensating for the lack of oil.

I wish that I had held back a serving of the soup to try the next day, since bean soups so often improve in flavor overnight. However, the friends I shared the soup with tried it after a day, and they gave it thumbs up. I will also say that if I hadn’t been full after the generous first bowl I served myself, I would have gone back for more. One friend agreed that he liked the soup more as he ate more of it.

For the next recipe, I went for the Creamy Potato Corn Chowder, made with coconut milk and lime:

Creamy Potato Corn Chowder

This time I resolved to make my own broth, using my own un-recipe (turns out I don’t like the Pacific brand low-sodium broth she recommends if homemade is not available). The chowder takes an interesting turn from traditional corn chowders, using chili powder along with the lime and coconut milk for a unique fusion approach. In general I liked it, though I agreed with my friends that the lime was a little overpowering and made the soup too tangy. A smaller amount would have been just right, I think. The lite coconut milk called for in the recipe did a good job of incorporating the creaminess you want in a chowder–and a mild coconut flavor–while adding a minimal amount of fat.

Finally, I was drawn to the Moroccan Chickpea Soup, with plenty of spices to accompany the beans and vegetables.

Moroccan Chickpea Soup

I used the rest of my homemade broth in this recipe, along with freshly cooked chickpeas. The results–with fresh ginger, cinnamon, and other spices–were a well-balanced nod to Moroccan flavors and ingredients, and an enjoyable lunch for me the past two days. Although it looks similar to the Greek soup due to similar vegetables, the flavors are totally different, and it’s another soup entirely.

I confess that I miss the oil in this one a bit, too, but I do think that has a lot to do with what my palate is accustomed to. For someone already accustomed to low-fat cooking, I think this book would provide a number of varied recipes to try, and for someone interested or otherwise motivated to try more cooking without added oils, there are lots of good tips on technique and ingredients to help beginners. I would not recommend it as an introduction to vegan food for someone accustomed to omnivorous or rich vegetarian fare, as I think such a person would have a hard time seeing past what’s not there to see what is there to enjoy.

Overall, one thing I found frustrating was the wide variation in serving sizes used throughout the book. In her introduction, Patenaude explains that the serving sizes are subjective, based on her recommendation for that recipe. I can see the value in that approach, but it made for some very unpredictable yields. The Greek soup I made said it would serve six, and it produced 3-1/2 quarts of soup. The chowder also said it would serve six, but it only made 2-1/2 quarts. Then the Moroccan soup listed as four servings and also made 2-1/2 quarts. I would say that any of those could be reasonable servings for those soups, but the inconsistency between recipes meant, among other things, that I didn’t know how much fridge or freezer space to plan for once the soups were done.

The eBook is available as a PDF file (also formatted for Kindle and iPad), simply designed but easy to use, with clickable table of contents and easy key word look-ups using the find function. I had no trouble bringing it up on my Android phone, which would be very helpful for quick look-ups while at the grocery store, or keeping the book handy for cooking in someone else’s kitchen. It sells for $19.95 (ETA: I had erroneously said before that this was Canadian, but the book ships from the US and is priced in US dollars), which is on the high end for an eBook, but it does come with a money-back guarantee if you find you don’t like the book, plus notification of any revisions (I did catch a missing ingredient, which I’m told will be corrected for future distribution of the book). You can also try for yourself her recipe for Low Fat Vegan Mexican Black Bean Corn Soup, which just might be next on my list to try.

Patenaude’s writing is conversational but clear, and she takes advantage of the electronic format to err on the side of thoroughness in explanations and introductory material. Because of the format and design, though, it’s easy to skip over those sections when you want to just get to your recipe. I appreciated that every recipe had a (well-done) photograph, which is a huge help for visual people like me in picking what recipe to make. You might notice that my images show “brothier” results than the ones in the book. I’m not sure whether she styled her photos differently in an effort to better show the elements of each soup, or whether the recipes might have called for more broth than would ideally be included. If you try them, you might want to hold back one cup of broth and consider what consistency you prefer as you’re finishing the soup.

In good news for those with other dietary restrictions, the recipe collection is largely gluten- and soy-free (or can easily be modified to be), which made it very easy for me to share the results with my friend who avoids both of those things.

It’s tempting to think that in mid-April soup weather is now many months away, but we in this part of the world know better: there will be “soup days” for months yet, and if you’re looking for a source of low-fat recipes this would be a good one to check out.

And hey, there’s a GIVEAWAY!

Yep, the author is generously making available a free copy of Comfort Soups to Keep You Warm to one of my readers. To enter, just comment with either your favorite kind of soup or a tip you use for flavorful, low-fat cooking (or both, of course, if you want to). A winner will be chosen at random from entries received by end of day (midnight, PDT) Sunday. I’ll announce the winner Monday.