This was my go with the “Rustic Tomato Lentil Soup” from How it All Vegan. I did everything as in the recipe, but I was hungry and getting impatient with how long the carrots and celery were taking to soften up… so I altered things by straining out about half the vegetables/lentils and pureeing them, then mixed back in. It made for a thicker soup than it probably should have been, more like a stew, but still very tasty.

The makings for the soup (minus the ginger, that was for something else).

Delicious bean cakes and deserts from a Japanese bakery in Northridge (I’ll have to find out the name and get back to you). From top to bottom:

Date cake: Tasted more like poppy seed to me. Just as well.
Sweet red bean cake: I am in heaven.
Taro cake = Love.
Rice mochi cakes with red bean: Tasty but too mushy/soft.

Fuji apple, vanilla soy yogurt, walnuts, agave nectar.

My first attempt at sweet potato fries… and they were damn good. I used the recipe from Vegan with a Vengence (which includes cumin and coriander) and then I also added red chili pepper flakes, agave nectar and a few sprinkles of dried garlic granules to the mix. I also sprinkled them with nutritional yeast before baking.

Steamed green beans, lentils and baked tofu with walnuts and roasted red pepper vinaigrette from Seeds of Change. After I took the picture I also sprinkled on some nutrional yeast.

This was so good… everytime I come across this picture I start to salivate.

These are one of the various versions of vegan spring rolls they serve at Vinh Loi Tofu. They were interesting but a bit too dry. The funky looking drink behind it is made from basil seed. It’s really tasty (and full of sugar).

This is the “House Special” at Vinh Loi Tofu. It’s an all vegan soup with a delicious and very spicy broth, rice noodles, vegan fish, shrimp and beef, crispy garlic, cilantro, mint and probably other stuff I’m missing. It was served with the toppings shown in the next picture.

Toppings served with the soup.

Pictured here is what I got “to go” from Vinh Loi so I could have it for dinner the next day. This was a steamed bun filled with various green veggies, mushrooms, glass noodles, tofu and goodness knows what all else. The meaty looking bits are vegan “chicken” made from wheat gluten, flavored with spicy chili, ginger and lemongrass. Wow, so very good.

Today’s amazing culinary adventure came from Vinh Loi Tofu, a vegetarian (mainly vegan) Vietnamese Tofu shop in Reseda. Not only do they serve outstanding vegan dishes prepared with fresh ingredients, but they also make all their own tofu and soymilk in their own factory, adjacent to the restaurant.

Pictured here is the Udon stir-fry dish, with lots of noodles, sprouts, carrots, tofu, crispy onions, cilantro and vegan “beef”. Looks like a lot of food, huh? It was. AND I ATE IT ALL!

Vegan spring rolls stuffed with mushrooms, greens, vegan “ham” and some other yummy stuff I can’t remember or couldn’t identify. The dipping sauce was slightly sweet and peanuty. Delicious.