Vegan Week - Day 4

Squash soup with ciabatta toasts.

Well, it wasn't the most exciting start to the day's menu, but breakfast was a simple 'n' sweet pb&j (the "j" was raspberry jam) with a side of applesauce. Some protein, some fruit, something substantial to last the morning.

I had a lunch meeting today with my friend Carolyn, whom I've known practically since I arrived in town two years ago, and my new friend Whitney; we were discussing the upcoming Mobile Meals Chili Cook-Off, so I can write a preview story about the event. We'd originally picked a different place, but then I blundered into this little vegan adventure. So we switched to Grumpy's precisely so I could order a very specific menu item: the Homemade Sweet Potato Vegan Burger.

Homemade Sweet Potato Vegan Burger at Grumpy's in Toledo.

The burger was huge, and the avocado made it slippery, but it tasted good! And avocado, of course, contains the so-called "good" fats. This was fun food, rather than the sterile stereotype of vegan fare.

Personally, I'd have served regular ol' potato chips instead of the kale chips, since they'd be vegan if they only had potatoes, oil, and salt. (Or, even better, salt and freshly ground black pepper ... ooh!) Please note that this is not a criticism of Grumpy's, which I love; rather, it is an indictment of kale. I can eat it, though when it's made into chips it reminds me of little wisps of burnt paper floating away from a bonfire. Kale chips ... potato chips. Which would you choose???

Having had such a generous lunch (of course, I ate the garlicky dill pickle, too!), I only needed a light dinner. So I made a squash soup with a splash of hard apple cider, and I served it with a couple of lightly-toasted ciabatta toasts.

Dessert was one I'd anticipated all week, but had to wait for. Craig eats bananas when they've still got some green on them, when they're not even ripe. I eat them when they're just starting to speckle. I cook with them when they've got a few more spots, and I bake with them when they're close to mush.

Bourbon and Brown Sugar Bananas with Toasted Coconut.

So, to get a better caramelization, I couldn't make this dish until the bananas had reached the perfect point of ripeness ... and today was the day! (This dessert was going to be my reward, last night, for filing Tuesday's feature story for the Food page; but it was better to wait 'til today, to make dinner seem less sparse.)

A pat of butter substitute, a splash of bourbon, a sprinkle of brown sugar, and some crispy toasted coconut - such simple ingredients, but such fabulous flavors to pair with the fruit! And don't forget the chocolate syrup which, believe it or not, is vegan. Not a speck of milk or whey or any other dairy product to be found!

So, the lesson for today is this: you don't need to eat anything elaborate, sophisticated, or complicated to enjoy good food. And you can still eat hearty food and sweet treats while eating as a vegan.


Squash Soup with Ciabatta Toasts

1 12-ounce package frozen squash
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup hard apple cider
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 slices ciabatta bread
Earth Balance butter substitute

Place the squash, stock, cider, applesauce, salt, and pepper into a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir until squash is defrosted and soup is thoroughly heated.

Toast the bread, then spread with butter substitute.

Yield: 2 servings
Source: Mary Bilyeu


Bourbon and Brown Sugar Bananas with Toasted Coconut

2 tablespoons shredded coconut
1/2 tablespoon Earth Balance butter substitute
2 tablespoons bourbon
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 large banana
Chocolate syrup

Toast the coconut over low heat in a small skillet until just golden; set aside.

In the same skillet, melt the butter substitute, bourbon, and brown sugar together over medium-low heat. Slice the banana in half cross-wise, then slice each piece in half vertically. Place the banana pieces into the skillet and cook briefly on each side, just until golden.

Place the banana onto a serving plate, being sure to pour the caramelized syrup from the skillet over the fruit. Drizzle with syrup, then top with coconut.

Yield: 1 serving
Source: Mary Bilyeu

Frugal Floozie Friday - Bell's Diner

Bell's Diner, today's Frugal Floozie Friday feature, is a place which - as it states on its menu - invites you to "Call it your home." Very friendly, it's a great place to go for breakfast, lunch, or just to find "good, homemade food in a casual and cheerful atmosphere." It's an Ann Arbor institution.

Many, many options qualify for our mandatory $5 per person budget, and it's really hard to choose among them! But since Craig and I were there in the early afternoon, I was feeling more inclined towards lunch than towards breakfast.

Thus, I ordered the Deluxe Cheeseburger, which offered a choice of American, Cheddar, Swiss, or Jack cheese and was served with either fries or onion rings. Most places charge extra for an option other than the potatoes, but this full plate of food fell perfectly within our limit at $4.99.

Craig ordered breakfast, as he's a traditional kinda guy when it comes to food and this was his first meal of the day. While his generously-filled plate snuck just above our limit to $5.29, you can order this entire meal without the hash browns - thus, "2 eggs with bacon, sausage, or ham and toast" - for a mere $4.59. It was so much food that Craig even shared some of the bacon to supplement my cheeseburger!

Some other choices include homemade sausage gravy with a biscuit for $3.59; two large pancakes with one egg for $4.29; or a three-egg cheese omelette served with toast for $4.59.

Regular sandwiches (served with potato chips, pickles, and cole slaw) that meet our budgetary limit include the grilled cheese, the egg salad, the BLT, the hot dog, and the Coney Island. Deluxe sandwiches (served with lettuce, fries or onion rings, cole slaw, and pickles) that qualify are the grilled cheese, the egg salad, and the hot dog.

All of the regular burgers (same terms as the sandwiches, above) are great frugal options; or you can order a deluxe hamburger or cheeseburger.

One of the many great aspects of Bell's is that it serves both diner food and also Korean classics. So you can even enjoy a six-piece plate of Mandoo - "seasoned vegetables wrapped in pasta and deep fried" - with sweet and sour sauce for only $3.99.

If you just want dessert and a cup of coffee, Bell's offers fresh pie for $2.49, or enjoy it a la mode for $3.49. A hot fudge sundae also costs $3.49.

Stop by Bell's for a warm welcome, a cozy atmosphere, and great food for very inexpensive prices!


Bell's Diner
2167 W. Stadium Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
734-995-0226
Monday: 6:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Tuesday - Saturday: 6:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Sunday: 8 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.



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Frugal Floozie Friday - The Broken Egg

Craig and I enjoyed a spur-of-the-moment lunch at The Broken Egg the other day, when my office closed early and I had some free time in the afternoon. Comfort food was calling; and so we enjoyed a meal at a place which excels at it, and which serves breakfast all day.

The Classic Belgian Waffle was Craig's choice - huge and fragrant and wonderful. Unfortunately, it just exceeds our $5 per person budget at $5.50. It's large enough to share, but I know how folks get a bit testy when I divvy up dishes. We did split a side order of bacon for $3.25.

For $4.75, I ordered The Light Side: 2 eggs, an enormous quantity of hash browns, and a generous serving of toast. I chose to have my eggs cooked "over easy," and I picked the rye bread. Although I'm a good eater - Craig and others can attest to this! - the plate was more than I could finish. It was very good - perfectly cooked. But a lot of food for a tremendous value.

Other breakfast options that qualify for our project are the thick-cut toast, either studded with raisins or with cherries and walnuts. Oatmeal, bagels, and sides of sausage or bacon or ham are other suggestions.

If you're not interested in breakfast, chili and soup both qualify for our mandatory frugal budget, as does the House Salad. Sandwiches are generous, and are served with chips and pickles; they could easily be split, and all come in at under $9 total, for a per person share of $4.50 or less.

We arrived at the restaurant around 2:15 p.m., and were warmly welcomed despite having gotten there just a short time before closing at 3 p.m. We weren't rushed or pressured, and the staff was wonderfully friendly, making us feel like old friends.

The Broken Egg is just the sort of place you'd want to be a regular, with its wide variety of fabulous menu items, many of which are readily affordable on a frugal budget.


The Broken Egg
221 N. Main St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-665-5340
Monday - Saturday: 7 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Sunday: 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.




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Frugal Floozie Friday -- The Bomber

It's Frugal Floozie Friday, and today's feature offers the most gargantuan quantity of food yet for our measly budget of $5 per person! What you see in the photo is the infamous Bomber Breakfast, found only at the Bomber restaurant.

Jeremy recently had an early morning appointment, and his dad, Stuart, and I went along with him. Afterwards, we decided we could use some breakfast; and so we ended up at this Ypsilanti institution:

"The Bomber opened in 1936 as Baldwin's Diner. In the 1940s the name was changed to the Bomber, only to be discarded in favor of Bob's Barbecue in the mid-1970s. Finally in 1986, the name Bomber returned and the current owners John Sebestyen and Johanna McCoy purchased it in 1995".

The restaurant is noted for the historical artifacts linings its walls - everything from uniforms to posters to autographed photos to rifles - not to mention the 24 model airplanes which hang from the ceiling. It is also noted for friendly service, generous portions, and the kind of atmosphere that encourages eating, reading the paper, having just a little bit more coffee, chatting with other customers, and making oneself at home.

The signature dish - the Bomber Breakfast - is so enormous that it was once featured on the Food Network's "Top Five Overindulgences" show. There is enough food, truly, to feed a family of four: a pound of hash browns with cheese and onions, 2 full slices of toast, 4 eggs any style, and a choice of 6 sausage patties or 7 sausage links or 10 slices of bacon or 2 slices of ham. (Our waitress told us, upon seeing our eyes glaze over, that we could mix-'n'-match if we wanted to.)

So, how much does this platter full of food cost?

$9.95.

And since Stuart and I split it - though we couldn't finish it, despite valiant efforts! - it came in at under our mandatory $5 per person limit.

As though this wasn't enough indulgence, Jeremy ordered an obscenely rich and decadent breakfast for himself: Chocolate Hazelnut French Toast. A half order - 2 portions of thick bread filled with luscious Nutella, dipped in batter and drenched in syrup - costs only $4.95.

The Bomber also features weekday breakfast specials for $4.50, featuring everything from traditional pancakes and eggs and oatmeal to breakfast sandwiches. There are many items on the menu which could qualify for our Frugal Floozie Friday mission.

The Bomber is a great place to go for a hearty breakfast or lunch, and is easily a place where you could become a regular.

Bomber
306 East Michigan Ave.
Ypsilanti, Michigan
734-482-0550


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Summer Vegetable and Bacon Sandwich

Tom and I ate dinner together the other night, and made ourselves a hot, open-faced sandwich very typical of what he eats on a regular basis. Tom often stir-fries vegetables, and he adores sandwiches; so we combined them into one happy dish.

His sister Anne (whom we consider to be our guardian angel) had recently visited from Kentucky and very much wanted to shop at Zingerman's, since she regularly gets their catalogues. So Tom had taken her to the Bakehouse to buy coffee cakes and other treats, both for gifts and for herself ('cause she's worth it!). And, well, of course he couldn't leave there without buying himself a present too - a loaf of Sicilian Sesame Semolina Bread.

So, for our dinner we started with one slice each of the bread, lightly toasted so that it wouldn't be too crispy when we tried to cut into it. We then peered into the refrigerator and found a lovely assortment of fresh vegetables, as well as some fabulous maple-flavored bacon. Toss in a little bit of the white cheddar that I'd contributed to the cause, and voila - dinner!

This was immensely flavorful, easy to make, and was a perfect light meal for a summer evening.

Summer Vegetable and Bacon Sandwich

5 slices maple-flavored bacon, cut into 1" pieces
1/2 small red onion, halved, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 zucchini, quartered lengthwise, sliced
6 asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
2 cups baby spinach leaves
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 slices Zingerman's Sesame Semolina Bread
2 slices white cheddar cheese

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium until starting to turn golden. Add onion, garlic, zucchini and asparagus; cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes until vegetables are tender and caramelized. Add spinach, salt and pepper; turn off heat, and let spinach wilt.

Lightly toast the slices of bread.

Place 1 slice of toast onto each of 2 serving plates. Divide vegetable-bacon mixture, pouring it over the toast. Top with cheese and microwave for 30 seconds or so, just until melted.

Serve immediately, with pickles or chips or fruit on the side.

Serves 2.