Eating Out Vegan: Ruby Tuesdays

Fresh avocado quesadilla

Fresh Garden Bar

It's the end of the day, and you are vegan and famished. Simply Foods is NOT open. What do you do? Well, Ruby Tuesday located at Guam Premium Outlets (GPO) has a well stocked salad bar and a few items on their menu that you can eat. The atmosphere is warm and the staff are very consistent and polite. Since I have eaten there several times and asked them to veganize items on the menu for me and my partner, you should have no problems since the staff are already primed. 

A few options at Ruby Tuesday:

• Fresh Garden Bar "make it your way and as often as you like, with a healthy, colorful variety of fresh garden greens, crisp vegetables, premium cheeses and toppings, and a variety of dressings."... safest dressing is balsamic vinegar and olive oil; lots of choices for fresh veggies, but steer clear of mixed salads that might have mayo, cheese, cream, or meat bits.

• Fresh Avocado Quesadilla
  "Perfectly ripe avocados, grated Swiss cheese, and freshly made pico de gallo in a grilled flour tortilla". ... ask for this without the cheese and side of sour cream, they will happily oblige! This is my new favorite with the fresh avocados and pico de gallo (tomato salsa) inside of warm toasty torilla... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
  

• Veggie Burger
  "Seasoned just right, topped with melted Swiss cheese and served with garlic mayonnaise"... Their burgers are a Ruby Tuesday creation of mixed veggies and be sure to ask for this without the cheese, mayo, and bun even! Instead, ask them for grilled mushrooms and avocado to top. It is very delicious, but feels heavy after eating.
  

Be sure to say hello to the Manager Ms. Linda Giger, and let her know if you've enjoyed your meal.
Happy eating!

Mango Chutney Sauce (Salad Dressing, etc.)

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What's not to like about mango chutney? It is a sweet and spicy Indian side that has the consistency of jam, and it usually accompanies grilled meat. It resembles thai sweet chili sauce that comes with lumpia (fried eggrolls or springrolls for those of us from the mainland).

Mango Chutney Sauce ... use on salads, etc.

• 1 part chutney*
• 1 part balsamic vinegar
• 1 part flax oil**

*any sweet or sweet and spicy sauce can be substituted. For example, thai sweet chili, organic jams, or even sweet juices like mango with pulp or orange with pulp. Go crazy experiment.

**flax is full of omega-3's, good fats important for many cellular functions. You may substitute any oil, like olive or safflower oil. Preferably not corn, soy, or canola, which have less flavor and is not as healthy... so why not kill 2 birds with one stone? and use a good oil so you don't have to take supplements.

A word on salads...

My salads are not made up of mostly iceberg or romaine lettuce. They are filled with fruit, green veggies, beans/tofu/nuts with the lettuce portion making up a small part the whole. For lettuce, I opt for spinach, spring mix, etc. and avoid iceberg altogether as it has a very low nutritional value. When you think salad, think beyond your tradional views which will bring you creative twists that are not only delicious but good for you.

Simply Eating Out Vegan

I don't know about you, but everytime I eat out with my friends on Guam, there is a feeling of dread. In fact, many a time, I eat before I go out to a restaurant and treat the event like a social affair while sipping a sugar-laden 10% fruit drink or tap water with ice.

When restaurants here offer vegetarian options, I find that I spend five minutes with the waiter stressing that there should be NO meat, dairy (ususally listing cheese, milk, etc), or eggs on my $7.00 iceberg lettuce salad. Then the dressing is another story. Usually, vinegar and olive oil is the safest. And usually, the get the order right, so I'm thrilled. Other times, they have to take it back and dust off the feta cheese from my iceberg, hopefully without pissing off the waiter too badly. Needless to say, after all of this effort, I have turned my ordering into an affair and taken the attention away from being with my friends. That is the reason I avoid eating out a lot.

However, there are vegan-friendly places such as Simply Foods in Agana Heights. They serve food for lunch only with friendly staff who can tell you if any of their vegetarian dishes have dairy or egg in them. There is also a small, but well-stocked grocery store in the back for all your vegan needs. They have a small but really fresh salad bar, and the smoothie bar has non-yogurt options and fresh wheatgrass juice squeezed to order. When they do not have a grocery item you want, it helps to talk to the staff to see if they can order it for you.

Although, the feeling of the restaurant has the warmth of a church mess hall, the staff is extremely friendly, the food is delicious and fresh, and they have fresh baked items. They take phone and carry-out orders and have recently switched some of their disposable ware to corn based biodegradable plates and bowls. But of course, the best will be to bring your own reusable tuppaware or plates.

Here are links to Simply info and reviews:
Guamdiner
HappyCow

Simply Foods
290 Chalan Palasyo, Agana Heights, Guam
Tel: 671-472-2382
Lunch: Mon-Fri 11am-2pm
Grocery Store: Mon-Thu 8am-5:30pm; Fri 8am-3pm

Potato Chips, my greatest enemy, oh worthy foe, you are my cryptonite!

I have monster-sized cravings for salty, fried, starchy foods like french fries from Wendy's, fresh made hashbrowns from Denny's, and potato chips.

On my foods to avoid list is: salty, fried, starchy.
How they make me feel: my body feels sluggish for hours later, and this affects my mood too.

Everytime I eat these foods, I spend hours later regretting that I gave in to this craving.

I need to prevent myself from driving to the nearest Payless and then gorging myself on a bag of Salt and Vinegar kettle cooked potato chips. I can then avoid needing to hide the evidence of my own shame to my healthy partner who is also a doctor (we keep each other in check, when he fails, I fail and vice versa) by stuffing the used bag on the bottom of the trash.

As a result, I created this easy easy recipe that is a good substitute for salty, fried, and starchy that is NOT fried or starchy.

In fact it's probably pretty healthy, except for the fact that I douse it in salt. You can adjust the salt or skip it altogther for a yummy afternoon treat to avoid feeling sleepy in the late afternoon. It tastes just as good as those mini cans of flavored diamond brand nuts, you know the ones you can get everywhere on island with flavors like wasabi or maui onion. It's just as delicious and way healthier for you.

Ingredients:

• raw almonds
• flax oil*
• nutritional yeast flakes
• salt

Mix a small amount of oil in a bowl with raw almonds.
Less is more, you just need a little to get the salt and yeast to stick.
Then add yeast and salt to taste.

Notes:

1. *You can use any oil, preferable to use one that is good for you, like flax (keep in the refrigerator and consume within 3 months), sunflower, safflower, olive oil which has omega-3 fatty acids (good fats necessary for cellular functions). I avoid soybean, canola, and corn oil.
2. I use a more flavorful salt such as sea salt, hawaiian salt, or kosher. I avoid using iodized salt.
3. Nutritional yeast has a cheesy flavor and can be used on pop corn or to make mac-n-'cheese', but I like it most because it is loaded with B vitamins, which vegetarians lack in their diets. Great way to suplement the body and tastebuds at the same time!

You can find all of these ingredients at the Payless in Micronesian Mall, which has the biggest health food section, or at Simply Foods.