Veggies Out of this...

Galaxy! At Veggie Galaxy they just keep coming and joyfully so. For so long have I wanted to indulge the vegetarian/vegan getting pushed down by the burden of cafeteria food. But no longer; more specifically my craving is sent into temporary remission and now it will probably only be worse come March vacation.

Anyways, to the crooks of the matter: the food. Veggie Galaxy is owned and operated by the same people who run Veggie Planet at Club passim in Harvard Square. Galaxy is a more sit-down diner style joint whereas the former is a very noisy, less intimate (if a diner can be intimate) place. I love both restaurants' menus but Veggie Galaxy caters to a more comfort food-seeking audience.

Located In Central Square between Harvard and MIT, next to The Middle East and amongst so many good restaurants, it still stands out. It's flashy to look at and really serves food unlike most restaurants in the area. I've never been to the Cambridge location of Life Alive, just a few blocks away, but it's not at all the same in my opinion. The food is fresh and moderately healthy (still good diner style food remember) but creative and entirely enticing. Serving everything from omlettes to pancakes and French Toast, to Veggie Burgers, Open Faced Seitan Sandwiches, Mac and Cheese (ze) and Tempeh Ruebens. The fillings in the omlettes (also available as tofu omlettes) are many, as are the toppings for the burgers.

All That Burger Goodness. I'm a Sucker for a good house-made patty...

My fellow diner and I enjoyed the Salad special to start, an arugula salad tossed with a light balsamic vinaigrette topped with chopped walnuts, roasted squash, and a very light goat cheese, all dotted by tart dried cherries. It was sweet and very generous considering we split it. The waitress even split the salad before bringing it to us - very thoughtful!

I had the Mushroom Chickpea burger topped with sauteed leeks, roast Brussel Sprouts, and a corn-apple salad. It was all the vegetables I love this time of year tossed together. With a delicious homemade Brioche bun and Cabbage slaw, it was fantastic. I'm pretty sure I'm still full from it this morning. My fellow diner had some of the most delicious baked mac and cheese (vegan, if you so like) I've ever tasted, with a creamy herbed ricotta and crisp bread crumbs. It was spicy from cracked black pepper, spiced just right with oregano, maybe dill, some basil perhaps... I can't be sure but it was terrific.

The prices were very good and the desert looked amazing - all vegan and all enormous - but alas we were too full.

I'll go back as soon as I can. The food was great, the bill reasonable, the space clean, bright, and very lively; for a reasonably new restaurant the staff was on top of everything and very attentive. I'll recommend it to carnivores, omnivores, and veggies alike!

Galaxy Site

Enjoi!

Chestnuts Roasting...

In my toaster oven...

It's been that time of year: the time to cook, bake, eat, sleep, stress, laugh, and generally stare out the window to watch cold air blow upon the carefully hung Christmas lights, now is terrible but beautiful disarray. I love Christmas time and the holidays and I can't say I feel any rush to go back to school.

I've been baking and cooking like mad but just too busy or conversely relaxed to bother blogging any of it. Sorry!

But here are some of my less recent creations. Yesterday I did whip up a cornmeal brioche from The Bread Bible - slightly too dense but wonderful toasting bread, as I had intended it to be - and perhaps the best whole wheat sandwich loaf I've ever made. Not to pat my own back - I'm much too busy holding that two-fisted sammy.

I also experimented with making Seitan and a good stand in for mac and cheese from Healthy Happy Vegan Life that actually really hit the spot, tossed with some Green Beans, Chard, and Zucchini.

Cookies and Sourdough galore, below are the few actual pictures I did take - sorry! I'll pick up better blogging later into the new year. Only so much time for so many resolutions at once.

Apple-Pear Gingerbread Upside-down Cake

A great end to a wonderful Hanukkah dinner with friends

I even made un petit gâteau for home use...Pumpkin Sherry Quick Bread

Great for, well any time... The Brandy I subbed does bake off but really brings out the spices. Thank you again Bread Bible!

Batch two and just as good as the original!

There was, by the way, Chestnut stuffing on the Christmas table, but here's my contribution to that meal. I did bake up some Challah from a wonderful recipe I'll have to share once I get it down. Here, however was my personal pride and joy:

Pumpkin-Chocolate Yule

The Snowflakes and green sugar were just right considering I forgot the marzipan Fungi...

The Recipe came from inspiration off of Joy the Baker. The sponge cake itself was a rich pumpkin, the filling a Neufchatel-unsweetened chocolate mixture, sweetened with a bit of Agave Nectar. The frosting is a rich Chocolate-Pumpkin butter-cream of simple softened butter, heaping tablespoons (2) of cocoa powder, a splash of soy milk, powdered sugar, and a few tablespoons of pumpkin butter.

Never has a dessert been so rich. It was enjoyed if not to blame for a worse case of Tryptophan-Coma than is commonly witnessed.

Enjoi! I promise I'll bring some more soon!