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Another restaurant in Dallas that we visited twice was Spiral Diner. We loooove Spiral Diner. It's one of the best vegan restaurants in the middle of the United States. We've eaten here several times over the years (vegan Texas posts).

Night 1

We shared the nachos, which includes a cashew-based cheeze sauce and quinoa, as an appetizer.

Ryan ordered the Chopped BBQ San'ich with potato salad on the side. This is Ryan's kind of meal. My sister and I play a game of looking at menus online and guessing what everyone would order; we know each other well enough so we're usually right. I'm sure she has guessed this sandwich for him before.

As typical, he had slid his plate over to me before he ate so I could get a picture. He was making happy noises and tearing up as he ate, thoroughly enjoying himself. Then when he got to sandwich side #2, he said, "Oh, here's this side; did you want to get a picture?" He forgot that I'd already taken one. I asked, "Were you eating so fast, you thought you'd wolfed it down before I took a pic?" He said, "I don't remember the last five minutes, to be honest."

My sister made a comment on my Texas post last week about The Mitch. Oh, The Mitch. She remembered that I had once listed The Mitch as one of my 5 food choices if I was stranded somewhere indefinitely. (My family and I like to play fun games, don't we?!) Well, I haven't changed my mind yet. The Mitch remains.

Let's get another look at him. Chipotle mayo, bac'n bits, grilled tofu, lettuce, tomato, what appears to be plain mayo, and that "special extra piece of bread in the middle, big and delicious."

The kids each ordered a Grilled Cheese Sandwich off the kids' menu. Can't go wrong with that.

For dessert, I ate (and split with others - I know you guys think that since I'm pregnant, I'm eating everything in sight, but honestly, I'm taking it pretty easy on the dessert front) this cheesecake. It was really good. There's so much going on here: there is the plain cheesecake layer, a chocolate cheesecake layer, the bottom crust, and the back & side BROWNIE crust. Would like to know how they did this one.

The kids got a milkshake to go. My oldest son obviously picked cookies 'n cream because anytime cookies 'n cream is an option, that's what he'll choose. The other two got peanut butter.

Night 2

The next day, the kids ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe because we were at the Grapevine Mills Mall, and it looked sooo exciting to them (and it was pretty cool inside). They told me the kids' pasta was fine for someone with "allergies" to dairy and eggs (but not the toast, which has cheese melted on top, that comes with it - not sure if it's vegan without the cheese). I waited to get a big salad at Whole Foods after the mall because I wanted to fill myself with plenty of veggie nutrition before we hit Spiral again that night.

The kids got strawberry slushies, to start things off.

We got the Chipotle Tofu Quesadillas for an appetizer. That's an inside look at it. Really good. Ryan says it is unbelievable, and he's disappointed he didn't get this as his entree...every night.

Ryan ordered The Meatball Sub. Not as mind-blowing for him as the BBQ - but good, nonetheless.

I ordered...The Mitch. I won't bore you with another photo. But I did add avocado this time for Baby Junior's sake.

My daughter picked the Baby Aven Plate. I'm sure she did because of the name. But it was also really cute watching her pick up each little bite with her fingers as she giggled. The plate comes chilled, which might seem a little strange. Cold sweet potato?...not bad!

My oldest son picked the nachos like we got the night before as his meal, and my other son got plain cheeze quesadillas.

This time, Ryan and I got milkshakes to go. I like that their shakes don't fill up an entire cup, which makes it much lighter. I asked for my chocolate shake "really, really thick," and I can't say it was really, really thick, but that's okay. Ryan picked strawberry.

Here are a few desserts we had gotten to go and ate during the rest of the week at the hotel. The cupcake: good and small (for the perfect cake to frosting ratio), just the way I prefer them. Brownie: they make very good brownies. Cookie: eh, it's okay. I can make better, but the kids loved it. Peanut butter cup: it looks dry because I put it in the fridge. I've also had better of these, but it's not like you can go too wrong with a peanut butter cup.

I appreciate Spiral Diner not only for their tasty food in the middle of cow country - but they are also seemingly committed to being as environmentally friendly as they can be. And they use organic ingredients as much as possible, too.