Garlic Tofu @ Angel's Cafe - Ferndale, Mich.

Saturday afternoon, a friend and I lunched at a quaint cafe in a local trendy suburb--Angel's Cafe in Ferndale, Mich. I attempted to eat at this cafe once before; a vegetarian friend and I stopped by this cafe in the fall, only to find they were closed to the public due to a baby shower event. That day, we ended up walking two doors down to a music cafe which served vegan food, so all was good. Still, my interest in the Angel's Cafe was piqued and I mentioned it to my maid-of-honor as a possible bridal shower location (since I knew they did showers now) where my guests could dine on animal-friendly food! We haven't settled on a shower location yet, but when my friend, an omnivore, mentioned lunch and a movie for Saturday, it was SHE who recommended that we try the cafe. :)

At first I thought I was a jinx because I walked up to the cafe, smiled at their "open" sign hanging from the glass door and gave it a tug... nothing. The door was locked! Ugh, could I really miss two dining experiences at this little cafe?!? My friend peered into the restaurant's windows, noticed a woman in the back and gave a wave. A very nice woman greeted us, apologized for the locked door and informed us that the chef wasn't there yet. She said we were welcome to come in and wait, and said she could serve us salad or something in the meantime. We obliged. I was just happy to finally set foot in this cute, veg*n-friendly cafe! LOL

As the woman returned to our table with glasses of water, she informed us that the chef had just called in and he'd be there shortly. Looked to be our lucky day after all! And it was. The food at Angels Cafe was superb; my friend and I couldn't stop talking about it.

Though the cafe's online menu didn't match the one presented to us, it still had a nice selection of animal-free options, including a "Tofu the Way You Want It" choice in which you could order any of the chicken entrees with tofu as a substitute and sans cheese... essentially doubling the selection of vegan food at the cafe. Awesome. :)

My friend and I both decided to try the "Garlic Chicken" entree, which came with artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes served over a bed of couscous... she actually ordered it with chicken while I chose to exercise the vegan tofu option. I thought it'd be interesting to compare the two dishes side-by-side. We also ordered side salads topped with the cafe's homemade vegetable dressing, which turned out to be more like a pureed veggie mix instead of runny and fattening dressing... it was extremely tasty and it's inspired me to try something similar at home with my own salads.

When our entrees arrived, my friend and I both looked from our plates to each other and smiled... our food smelled divine and looked amazing. Would it taste just as good? Ooooooh, yeah! Our food was delicious. Simple as that. We both sat there for a moment in silence, neither talking because we were too busy stuffing our face with the awesome food! My friend said it was some of the best chicken she's ever tasted, and I second that with the tofu. I love when I eat out somewhere and tofu is actually on the menu... but I love it even more when the chef actually KNOWS how to cook it! I didn't want my plate to end... I could've sat there all day eating my entree. It was that good.

Our lunch at Angel's Cafe was one of the best dining experiences I've had in awhile... the decor of the cafe was bright and welcoming. The staff was uber friendly. The food was absolutely awesome... and a steal at only $5.95 for lunch (additional $2 for a side salad). Still, $7.95 for veg*n food that good is hard to find these days. If any of my readers are ever in the Ferndale, Mich. area, Angel's Cafe on Nine Mile Road is a definite MUST-DINE location.

My fiance lives in a neighboring city of Ferndale... I'll be moving in with him come wedding time later this year, and it's comforting to know that I may have more veg*n dining options available in that area of town compared to where I am now. I know for sure I'll be dragging my omni fiance to Angel's Cafe for dinner! :)

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On another note, I know it's been awhile since I've blogged... I took an unannounced hiatus as the holidays approached and I found myself with less and less time to blog. I had every intention of coming back in early January, but life happens.

It's safe to say that with all the wedding planning this coming year, I likely won't be blogging as often, but I promise to blog when I have time. My goal is going to be at least a weekly post, but I'll squeeze in more as time allows. Right now, I'm trying to lose a few pounds before I shop for a wedding dress. Subsequent posts likely will reflect that as I search for low-fat veggie recipes to try. I've been a fan of Susan's Fat Free Vegan Kitchen for awhile now, so my weight-loss effort will be a GREAT excuse to finally make all her recipes I've been drooling over for months, LOL

BBQ Pomegranate Tofu with Coconut Rice.

Apologies for not posting this yesterday, as promised. My cat got sick and I spent two hours at the vet after work and then still had some grocery shopping to do for my upcoming camping trip... so I was tired and not in a blogging mood when I got home last night. But I don't want to miss out on the chance to blog about this tasty dish from Vegan with a Vengeance...

Monday night's dinner was BBQ Pomegranate Tofu with Coconut Rice. The BBQ sauce is absolutely AWESOME. I plan to use this sauce recipe if anything else I make in the future requires BBQ sauce... that's how tasty it is!

But, I came to the realization that I need a bigger kitchen, LOL. Mine is an older-style modest-sized kitchen... definitely not one of the grand "cooking" kitchens I drool over in magazines. Which is usually fine for the often simple recipes I make myself as a bachelorette. Sometimes, though, I feel I need more counter space, which was oh-so-obvious as I tried to make both the tofu and the rice recipe at the same time. Or, maybe I just need to plan better... or make this recipe more often so that I become familiar with it and can jungle all its tasks with ease.

I may mod this recipe in the future... next time I might try frying the tofu in the oil mixture before smothering it in the BBQ sauce and baking it. And, I used half white rice, half brown rice for the Coconut Rice recipe... but next time, I think I'll make it exactly as stated with the Jasmine rice. I bet it tastes better that way.

I can't forget to mention that the Pomegranate Molasses--which I found at Whole Foods Market--used in this recipe is delicious! I don't really taste it in the finished sauce, but I tried it in its own. (Yes, I licked the drip that decided to escape down the bottle!) I would love to make some pancakes or waffles and drizzle the stuff on top. Mmm, mmm.

And, sorry for the crappy photo... I need to work on my food art photography skills!

General Tao's Tofu

This recipe appears to be famous on vegweb.com. It sits at the top of the list of the site's most-viewed recipes--and--it also has the most reviews with a whopping 157... all raving about how awesome and delicious this dish was. Therefore, I couldn't wait to try it!

Before I go any further, this recipe did not disappoint. It is indeed awesome!

I must say, it took me way longer than the stated 30 min. prep time. It could be cuz this was my first time manuvering through the recipe, but it still takes more time than I usually put into a weeknight meal. LOL But I made it special cuz Monday nights are dinner with my BF, so I always try to impress him with my veggie cooking skills! ;)

When I make this again, I plan to pre-mix the sauce ingredients (sans water and cornstarch) prior to beginning the tofu. Thankfully, my BF didn't mind watching the tofu cook while I chopped and readied the sauce ingredients. Next time, the sauce ingredients are being made first, which will make it easier to just add the water/cornstarch in and heat it all up as the tofu is looking ready. This sauce WILL thicken, so be sure to cook it long enough so that it does thicken. And, definitely double-up on the sauce as recommended by the reviews on vegweb. You'll want plenty of this yummy sauce for this dish! So double the sauce recipe!

I also followed the recipe's advice and froze my chopped tofu the night before and let it defrost in the fridge while I was at work today. Coating the tofu in the egg-replacer/cornstarch took some time, but I was trying to make it look all pretty. Next time I'll probably speed this up by rolling several pieces of tofu in the cornstarch at the same time. I also plan to cook the tofu longer... we fried it till golden, but just golden. I think we could've fried it more till it browned a bit. We also made the mistake of adding the tofu into the sauce too soon--before the sauce thickened. While it all still tasted yummy, the tofu 'crust' did seem to soften up in the sauce, so next time the tofu won't be added to the sauce until just before serving.

I served it over jasmine rice with broccoli and red peppers.

Other than that, this recipe is AWESOME. I don't know if I've ever had Chinese food that has tasted this good. Seriously. I really haven't eaten much Chinese food since going veg. Prior to becoming veg*n, I mainly ate almond chicken when we ordered Chinese. Once I went veg, I think we dined out at a Chinese restaurant one time and I ordered some kind of noodle thing which I didn't care for. Oh, and my veg*n friend and I tried this one Chinese place that served meatless chinese dishes (think meatless sweet and sour "chicken") but I believe that restaurant may have closed. This recipe is definitely a keeper, tho. Well worth the effort!

Oh.... and did I mention this recipe was vegan? Absolutely no animal ingredients whatsoever! :-D