Vegan in St. Louis

This weekend I drove to St. Louis to visit my sister Cary and her husband and kids. (She summed up our trip pretty well here.) Only my daughter went with me, giving us some "girl time." (The boys had lots of fun at home with daddy - going hiking, etc.) Traveling with one child is obviously much simpler. I'm going to take just the boys on a trip next.

I think St. Louis (which is a 6-6 1/2 hour drive for me) has really stepped it up vegan-wise over the past few years. "Vegan" seems to be popping up on the menu at more places. My sister lives in a downtown loft; we headed over a few blocks to Rooster, a crepe & sandwich cafe, for Sunday brunch.

There is a gluten-free, vegan crepe option listed on the menu. My daughter and I ordered ours...

filled with black beans, mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, onions, and oven dried tomatoes, etc. It was good; I would order it again for sure. They told me they have dessert crepes, too, for vegans who eat white sugar.

One night, we all went to Pi Pizzeria, located in "The Loop" area of STL. (Name dropping: apparently Obama loved the pizza here so much he had the owners go prepare it at The White House.)

I was looking forward to trying their deep-dish pizza. However, we found out upon arrival that they need a few hours notice to make the deep dish crust vegan (because otherwise it has butter on the bottom). Instead, we ordered the thin crust with roasted garlic, kalamata olives, artichoke, spinach, and Daiya. It's always fun to be able to order at a "pizzeria." (They also have Match meat as an option for those who are interested.)

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Of course, who needs a vegan restaurant when you have a vegetarian sister who likes to make vegan treats for her family?

Breakfast options: blueberry muffins (a veganized version of this recipe), yogurt, fruit salad, milk, and juice.

Supper one night: wraps with cut-up Gardein strips, mustard, spinach, quinoa, Daiya, and spinach.

Lunch one day: guacamole and quesadillas with Daiya, quinoa, spinach, corn, and black beans.

Dessert #1: Clementine Cupcakes

These have a glaze topping, which isn't apparent in this picture. The recipe at The Daily Garnish is gluten-free, but for lack of certain ingredients, Cary used wheat flour. Aren't they cute? They were tasty, too.

Dessert #2 - Chocolate Chip Banana Brownies

These were probably the best homemade brownies I've ever had. They just had a very reliable, moist yet firm consistency. And I really like chocolate chips in brownies.

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Mix all of that in with:

sweet Puddy who seemed quite at home under our covers on the daybed,

a fun morning at Lafayette Park,

my adorable niece and nephew,

a precious The Beauty and the Beast fairytale tea party for the girls (I brought vegan desserts for her, which she was fine with.) at The Magic House,

and even a So Delicious neopolitan icecream sandwich...

and it all equals a great weekend!

My Two Fabulous Holiday Desserts

While my family was getting together for Christmas, my sister Cary stayed up late one night to make these two fabulous holiday desserts. Thank you, Sister!

Pumpkin, Fig, & Pomegranate Upside Down Cake

The recipe for this cake, along with a helpful step-by-step pictorial, can be found at Daily Garnish, one of Cary's favorite blogs. This was a very unique cake. It was good! The texture was almost like a really thick cheesecake. And I love pomegranate, so you can't go wrong there for me. I don't think it was a breeze to make - turning it upside down onto the plate was nerve-wracking, but it had an impressive quality to it.

Life-Changing Vegan Thumbprint Cookies

That's what they're called over at thekitchn.com. I don't know if they changed our lives per se, but they were eaten up pretty quickly. They tasted healthy (but not in that, "Hmm...these taste healthy." non-compliment sort of way). I thought they tasted like a packaged cereal bar but even better. I like the way she ground the almonds into a finer powder than the ones on the website. I thought that made them seem "fancier." These are also fun because you can make a batch and fill them with an assortment of jellies. Cary used 365 brand fruit spread in Apricot and Black Cherry flavors.