Virtual Trip to PDX via Everyday Dish TV

It's been over a year since my last trip to Portland, and with the Try Vegan Week and Let Live Conference going on in the month of June; I've found myself wishing for a free plane ticket to this vegan friendly city! Instead, I think I found the next best thing.... a gastronomical tour of Portland's cuisine from right here in Houston, courtesy of Everyday Dish TV.

I started my virtual trip with a simple, yet fancy-sounding dish served at the vegan restaurant Nutshell (where there has been some recent controversy), sauteed chard with cherry ginger gastrique. This is a great way to eat more greens! The sweet yet sour sauce really helps mask the bitterness of the chard. I served this over sauteed polenta, with a side of grilled tempeh.
This next dish I was super-psyched to see, since it is the exact dish I got for dinner at the Farm Cafe.... herb crusted tofu with mushroom marsala. Although it took a bit of time to put together, this was a perfect Friday night meal to celebrate the end of the week. I think this is a tofu dish that would really impress for dinner parties, it's so crisp and flavorful! Plus you can have fun with the presentation. (and oops! I forgot to cut my tofu into pretty triangles!)
Next I tackled a recipe that has made the rounds already on pretty much every blog I've seen (and for good reason!), Julie's spicy Italian sausages. Where have these been all my life? I made a few sausages as well as some cutlets. The cutlets I sauteed in the leftover breading from the herb crusted tofu and served over pasta.... parmigiana-style. Soooo good. And I thought it was so cute to see Julie's dog roam into the kitchen during the demonstration! And to complete my tour, I had to make dessert! Chocolate mocha cake seemed like the natural choice. This is a rich, deep chocolatey cake that gets a kick from fresh-brewed coffee and a splash of alcohol (I used Kahlua versus the suggested rum). Finished with a chocolate ganache... what could be better?
I was sad to miss the vegan prom in Portland last weekend, so I took a trip down memory lane instead and dug out my high school prom pictures! Don't you just love the cheesy backdrop? Even though I did have the sparkly dress on, at least I didn't have big Texas hair! Isn't my date cute :-) Too bad he only exists in photoshop.
Thanks so much to Julie for bringing us such wonderful vegan cooking shows on Everyday Dish TV. Now hurry and go take a virtual trip of your own! Plane tickets aren't getting any cheaper....

And on another note, tune into Go Vegan Texas this coming Monday at 10am CST. I'll be cohosting with Kristen and Stacey for the show themed "Walking the Walk" where we interview Mark Hawthorne, author of Striking at the Roots. You can listen online or download the show from the archives. Should be a good show!