Minestrone

Minestrone is an Italian-based mishmash of all good things. Loaded with vegetables, herbs, beans, and pasta, you really can't go wrong with this soup. This particular version comes from Mayim's Vegan Table by Mayim Bailik and Dr. Jay Gordon. I love how many different ingredients there are and how all of them are good for you. Onions, celery, carrots, and zucchini complement the fusilli pasta and cannellini beans perfectly. This is a crowd pleasing soup.

Minestrone
Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• 6 cups vegan vegetable stock
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes or 2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 14-ounce can crushed plum tomatoes
• 2 14-ounce cans white cannellini beans
• 1/2 lb green beans or zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 bunch kale, leaves only, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 cups slightly undercooked pasta (fusilli or penne)
• Salt and pepper

Instructions
In a large pot, heat olive oil over high heat. Saute the onions, celery, carrots, and garlic until soft, 4-5 minutes.

Add stock, squash or potatoes, herbs, and tomatoes and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add the white beans, green beans or zucchini, kale, and pasta and cook for another 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Bon appetit!

Health-Ade Kombucha

I have to say that I love it when I meet entrepreneurs who are passionate about their business. Daina Trout is no exception. As the creator of Health-Ade out of the Los Angeles area, Daina's mission is to provide the world with a healthy kombucha. And when I say healthy, I mean healthy. Kombucha is a fermented tea that has long been touted for its health benefits, but in the process of its gaining popularity, a number of manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon and started cutting corners. Daina, who possesses Master's Degrees in Nutritional Biochemistry and Public Health as well as other credentials, utilized existing research to create one of the healthiest kombuchas on the market. So what makes her product stand out?

Well, let's first start with what everyone cares about -- flavor. There are currently seven seasonal flavors listed on her website. I was lucky enough to try five of them.  Instead of infusing her kombuchas with juice concentrates, she uses only fresh cold-pressed fruit to ensure maximum nutritional benefits and optimal flavor. Her flavoring is also very subtle so if you like a pure kombucha with just a hint of flavor, you are going to love these.

The Pink Lady Apple was my favorite as you get a perfectly mild kombucha with just a little bit of apple on the finish.

Let's take a step back and talk about kombucha in general. Kombucha is a fermented tea drink that is naturally rich in friendly probiotics, not to mention high in antioxidants and nutrients. It has been used in countless cultures to help improve health, in particular to boost immunity and energy, balance metabolism, and aid in digestion. Real kombucha is made only one way, with 3 simple ingredients: tea, sugar, and water.  Combining these with the kombucha culture, called a “scoby” (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast), in just the right temperature and for just the right amount of time will make kombucha.The bacteria and yeasts in the culture “eat” the sugar, resulting in a slightly effervescent and delicious drink that ends up being very low in sugar and caffeine, and great for your health. 

I also enjoyed the Original flavor as I found it incredibly palatable with its mild taste and just a little fizz. Kombucha becomes naturally carbonated over time from the yeast. Health-Ade does not add any artificial carbonation into its kombucha unlike other manufacturers as that can destroy the probiotics. Health-Ade only ferments its tea in glass to naturally produce healthy probiotics. Daina says that she would never ferment in plastic because it can corrode and erode and ultimately damage the kombucha scoby, which is what allows the tea to ferment and product healthy characteristics.

Another thing they are adamant about is storing the kombucha in amber bottles as UV light can damage kombucha and reduce the probiotics.

Health-Ade's kombucha is 100% raw. They do not pasteurize their kombucha as the kombucha itself acts as a preservative. The symbiosis of cultures does not allow bad bacteria to grow. Other brands pasteurize, which can also reduce the probiotic content.

Other flavors I enjoyed were the Cayenne Cleanse, California Grape and Pomegranate.

Best of all, they are all certified organic, certified vegan, gluten-free, raw, and pending certification from the Non-GMO Project.  They are currently being sold in select stores in California, Utah, New York, West Virginia, Arizona, and Maryland for $4.99 per bottle, but distribution is quickly expanding so keep your eyes open for a store near you. For a complete list of stores, click here.

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

Busboys & Poets, DC #4

I've written about Busboys & Poets three times now, mostly because I live fairly close to one. It's my go-to for when I want a good, quick meal, assuming there is no wait. This place is super popular because the food and drinks are really good and appropriately priced. We only had 45 minutes to eat, early on a Thursday night so we ran over to Busboys to see if we could get seated. And sure enough, we could.

I wasn't all that hungry this time so I decided try one of their salads for once.  This past season they added a new vegan salad to their menu -- the Vegan Cobb Salad. It was so good. It was just a heap of arugula with crispy tofu, blackened tempeh, avocado, tomatoes, and cashews tossed in a hemp vinaigrette. The tempeh and tofu really brought the salad to life!  And it was served with pita triangles. It was really good.

I also ordered a new mixed drink off their cocktails menu. They just changed many of the cocktails so I decided to try something new -- the Proper Kappa. I'm not sure what exactly is in this, but it lists elderflower liqueur, pomegranate, and lime. It was a light drink, slightly fruity drink.

The service was okay, the food was great, and the drink was pretty good. I love this place as a meeting spot for friends.

Previous reviews
July 12, 2013
November 21, 2012
February 28, 2012

Busboys & Poets 
2021 14th Street NW 
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 387-7638

Turlock, the documentary

The new documentary, Turlock, chronicles the largest rescue of chickens from animal neglect in U.S. history. It all began in Turlock, California in 2013 when the animal sanctuary, Animal Place, was informed that the A&L Poultry Farm abandoned 50,000 egg-laying hens in their battery cages without food. In fact, they hadn't eaten in two weeks and many of them were still alive.

Animal Place volunteers and employees rushed to action, organizing one of the largest animal rescue efforts in history. Throughout this documentary, you witness not only the rescue taking place, but you get an insider's view of the emotional toll it takes on those involved through in-depth interviews with the volunteers and employees.  If you always viewed chickens only as food, this documentary will make you see them as individuals for the first time.

They show thousands of sick, emaciated hens piled on top of one another living in the horrific conditions that are your typical factory farm. There, egg-laying hens live in battery cages so small they can not spread their wings. And they never see the light of day. One worker stated that most people see chickens as trash and that they are only as valuable as their productivity. This is sad, but true. Below is a picture of the facility as they found it laden with feces and feathers.

After two weeks of hard work, 4,500 hens were rescued and Animal Place employees and volunteers began around-the-clock care to try to save all of them.  These chickens had never known freedom and didn't know what to do when they had space to move around. The images will bring tears to your eyes. After a few weeks, they began displaying the behaviors that normal chickens display when allowed to live freely -- sunbathing, dustbathing, and digging. It was miraculous. And in the end, they lost about 400 birds and still saved 4,100.

The information about factory farms will make you think twice about continuing to consume eggs. Normal chickens only lay about 30 eggs per year. Factory-raised hens lay about 300 -- their bodies are so spent from all this work that they only live a little over a year. Their male babies are ground up as they are useless to the egg laying industry and female babies are put into production as soon as they are ready.

All of the workers were touched deeply by what they experienced. At the end, they described the efforts they put forth to get all of the chickens adopted and interviewed some of the new caretakers of these birds.  I commend filmmaker, Keegan Kuhn, for producing this touching, eye-opening story as I'm sure it will make people think twice about the eggs they consume. What's the ultimate message? Go vegan. But, even if you aren't going vegan right now, please watch this movie as it is an incredible story that shows how a community can come together to save individual's lives. To host your own screening of the movie, go here; otherwise, the DVD will be out soon!

Modern Oats - Oatmeal

I'm often on-the-go and looking for a quick easy breakfast. This is why I love all of the new oatmeal cups that popping up in grocery stores nationwide.  Just add hot water and you have fresh, healthy oatmeal -- it's that simple.  Modern Oats is one of the newer players in this market offering instant oatmeal in to-go cups. This company is differentiating itself by using certified gluten-free whole grain rolled oats grown by small farms in the upper Midwest. The oats are minimally processed and coupled with fruits, nuts, and seeds for a healthy breakfast. They sent me three of the six flavors to try.

What I liked about these flavors is that they are minimally sweetened so if you are used to a heavily sweetened oatmeal, you may think these aren't sweet enough. The truth is that too much sugar is not good for you. They use just a bit of organic cane sugar to sweeten each oatmeal cup.

My favorite of the three was the Nuts and Seeds flavor.  With whole grain oats loaded with Oregon hazelnuts, pistachios, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, California almonds, walnuts and hemp seeds, you get a lot of crunch in a little package. I especially like the cinnamon spice as it brings just the right amount of spice to this nutty meal.

The Apple Walnut flavor has dried apples and walnuts along with flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, and chia seeds so you get a little Omega-3 action too. I really like that they use freeze-dried apples that ensure the natural fruit retains its shape, color smell, and flavors without any added colors or preservatives.

Lastly, I tried the 5 Berry that was loaded with dried wild blueberries, dried cranberries, dried strawberries, dried raspberries, and dried marion blackberries.

Other flavors include Mango Blackberry, Chocolate Cherry, and Goji Blueberry. Each cup delivers 6-8 grams of fiber and 8-9 grams of protein. The cups I tried had 250-310 calories and 6-7 grams of fat. I really like that they are certified gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, and Kosher. These are a welcome addition to a market that could use more options. You can purchase them for yourself in select stores nationwide for $3.25 per cup or you can buy a pack of 6 for $21 on Amazon here.

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

Thai Tanic, DC

Thai Tanic is one of the few restaurants in Logan Circle that has survived the gentrifying movement on 14th Street. Surrounded by brand new establishments, Thai Tanic has held its ground because of its strong support of the local community and its solid dining fare. Thai Tanic has been in the same location since March of 2001 and has since even opened a second restaurant in Columbia Heights. In all this time, I had overlooked Thai Tanic, but am now proud to say I have finally dined there.

In a generic neon red font, you can see the name of the restaurant from afar. Underneath "Adventures of Thai Cuisine" is also illuminated in neon, making this restaurant look quite divey. Inside, I was surprised to find a bustling scene. Despite the location in the midst of all the nice, new restaurants, this restaurant clearly has a solid following. Me and my friend took a seat at a table very close to the bar.

Thai Tanic has been a long-time supporter of the gay community in DC and always proudly displays the rainbow flag during Gay Pride week as the gay community represents a large portion of its patrons and employees. I started off with a Big Ginger drink made with Domain de Canton liqueur, fresh lime juice and a dash of bitters. Unfortunately, I found out pretty quickly that drinks are not their strong point as this drink was pretty watered down. And for a $10 drink, that was disappointing.

Inside, iridescent tables are complemented with sparkly red dining chairs and red and blue walls. Mirrors, Thai elephants, and Buddhas adorn the dining room while red and white lights shine down. There are 4 vegetarian appetizers in their own section on the menu. My friend recommended we try the Papaya Salad Jae and I'm glad we did. The shredded green papaya was mixed with tomatoes and string beans in a spicy lime dressing. It was so much better tasting than it sounded.

For my entree, I ordered the Gang Pak -- extra spicy. This was a delicious vegetable dish loaded with carrots, cabbage, squash, snow peas, broccoli, and tofu in a red curry with sweet basil leaves. I specified no fish sauce just in case. I also love that they offer brown rice as an option.

My friend ordered the Tao Huw Pad Tua Ngorg, which was stir-fried bean sprouts, fried tofu, mushrooms, spring onions, red peppers, and green peppers in a garlic soy sauce.

I also ordered a Mango Cosmo and asked them to make it stronger -- this was a great improvement over the last drink!

All in all, I was pretty happy with the food. But, the drinks and service were so-so. At one point, I had to flag down our waitress to get more water as she barely checked on us at all. The entrees were $11.50 each so not cheap, but not overly expensive either. And it was a very casual low-key environment, no reservations needed. I think it is a great place for a quick meet-up with a friend on a weeknight.

Thai Tanic
1326-A 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 588-1795

Tomato Soup with Israeli Couscous

With the changing seasons, I tend to crave hearty, healthy soups. One of the best ones I've made lately is the Tomato Soup with Israeli Couscous from Mayim's Vegan Table by Mayim Bialik and Dr. Jay Gordon. This tomato-based soup has the warmness of tomatoes coupled with fresh herbs and hearty grains. I love having fresh mint and fresh cilantro mixed into this vegetable-stock based soup. It is a basic soup that can easily become one of your staples.

Tomato Soup with Israeli Couscous
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, diced or sliced
• 1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes (BPA-free lining)
• 6 garlic cloves, pressed
• 6 cups vegan vegetable stock
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked Israeli couscous
• 3 mint sprigs, chopped
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt and pepper

Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onion and carrots, and cook over medium low for about 10 minutes until softened. Add the tomatoes, half of the garlic, vegetable stock, couscous, mint, cumin, and cilantro.

Bring the soup to boil, add the remaining chopped garlic, then lower the heat slightly and simmer gently for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the couscous is just tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh mint and/or cilantro.