Don't ask, just eat.

Hello friends. :) Weekend is almost here. Wooohoo!

So I have been dying to try a vegan restaurant in the city, Chicago Diner. On yelp, our most trusted source for dining reviews, it boasts 4 stars out of 5..and that's with over 500 reviews! People rave about this place, meat eaters included. I took my hubby there last Saturday with high hopes. He was nervous as to what he would get and what exactly would be the special ingredients to imitate his 'meat' dish. I told him, don't ask, just eat. Hm. Easier said than done.

We started off with their sweet potato fries which were heavenly and perfect and also their nachos. The picture of those is strangely missing from my camera so no photo but basically it was a big plate of nacho chips with beans, fried seitan, vegan cheese, guacamole, and salsa. I was a big fan of those! You honestly could not tell the difference.
For my lunch I ordered the 'rabbit food' salad which was a huge portion of spiralized beet and carrots, broccoli, tomatoes and other veggies. I got the ginger dressing on the side and this salad was so fresh and packed with veggies! It was fun to eat too. Those spiralized veggies were like 12 inches long, lol.
Now you're probably wondering what my husband, D, ordered. I would rather not go there. :) I didn't take a picture but basically he asked the waitress (who was extremely sweet and a great waitress) what he should order and she recommended the BBQ sandwich with mac n cheese. It was your typical BBQ on a hoagie bun with peppers and onions smothered in BBQ sauce. Fried seitan was the 'BBQ'. I could tell immediately by the look on his face that he could not stomach it. Some people just aren't cut out for that type of thing, my hubs included. At first, I was a little upset I admit. But then I felt stupid. Stupid for being that wife who tries to shove vegan food down her husband's throat! I do not want to be that person. I love my manly, steak & ribs eating husband and will gladly make it for him! He did like the mac n cheese tho! And the beer! So D went and got a Caribou coffee while I savored every sip of this vegan chocolate peanut butter shake for dessert. There really are no words to describe this shake, so smooth and creamy. Better than any shake I've ever had from ANY place ever. Period.

It was so rich and decadent and I couldn't bear to waste a single drop of this. I finished the whole thing and was in a food coma until I went to bed that night! I definitely indulged that day but it was worth it. I can't wait to go back to Chicago Diner and try their other dishes. But maybe I will go with my veggie friend, Andrea, instead. :) If any of my local friends reading this want to go (you know who you are!) I'll be happy to take you!!

We went to a cookout and my good friend Kate went out of her way to provide me vegan options! How sweet. She had a huge fruit salad prepared.
Grilled vegetables and delicious chickpea salad. She got this chickpea dish pre-made from Costco. It was so good, I went back for 3rds!
Some other random eats included organic oranges and bananas.
Banana with organic jam and cinnamon.
I have something very exciting for you all!! I don't create a lot of in depth raw dishes because 1) they take a lot of prep time and 2) I hardly ever have the ingredients on hand. But I was feeling bored one day and wanted to make the corn tortilla chips from Raw Food Real World. All I did was take fresh raw corn, some flax meal, lime juice, and these seasonings and threw them in a food processor.
It became a nice thick, creamy consistency. I then spread it onto wax paper in my dehydrator and left them in there to get crispy for about 5-6 hours.
These turned out wonderful! They got very crispy and the seasonings reminded me of savory Mexican food. Sorry, no photo of the finished product. Are you catching on I scarf down my food too fast before I can get the camera out?!

My obsessive snack as of lately, tart red grapes. Have you ever tried freezing your grapes? Try it! Frozen grapes make the best refreshing snack.
And carrot/orange juice from Jamba Juice. I'm impressed this chain will make you fresh juice. I think its great and hope other smoothie places will catch on! I'll take this any day over a $4 latte.
Well I have a lot of packing to do...my friend and I are off for a weekend in Oshkosh, WI to visit family. I can't wait! Hope you have a great weekend!