The OtherSide

Friday was my 26th birthday. To celebrate I had a delicious dinner at Antico Forno in the North End. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures but I got a delicious dish made with fusilli pasta, eggplant, zucchini, tomato sauce and goat cheese. I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area. To continue the celebrations I went to one of my favorite vegetarian friendly restaurants called the The OtherSide.

The OtherSide is located on Newbury Street and has many vegetarian and vegan options as well as meat options. This makes it a perfect place to go if you are a vegetarian and have many meat lovers in your life!

We started with The OtherSide Nachos described as tortilla chips topped with melted cheddar, jalapeños, our vegetarian chili and salsa. The vegetarian chili is my favorite thing on the menu and it’s made with organic beans, tomatoes, corn and bulgur wheat. (Source)

I love these nachos because they aren’t smothered in cheese and sour cream. I do wish that they had more veggies and salsa on them, but the chili makes up for that. For my meal I went with the vegan BLT made with tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato, vegan mayo on multi grain bread. I had the 1/2 and 1/2 combo and decided on 1/2 of a simple salad because I knew I’d be pretty stuffed from the nachos.

Sorry for the poor quality picture, but I dove right in! I have had this sandwich before and I think it is SO good! The tempeh bacon that they use tastes so good and I really need to try and make it some time. The next time I go I need to pick something else though… I always get the BLT or the chili in some form and there are so many other options on the menu that I am dying to try. This did hit the spot for me though!

My friend got the turkey club on french bread and reported that it was delicious. This picture doesn’t also really do it much justice, but the sandwich was huge!

Another successful meal from The OtherSide. I really wish that Boston had more vegetarian friendly restaurant like The OtherSide.

When you go out to eat do you always pick the same thing or do you like to branch out? I always pick the same thing, I need to branch out more!

Lentil Soup

On my last post about lentils, I asked for some recipes. Luckily, Tori gave me a few and I knew one of them would be something that I would love! Of course I just use recipes as inspiration so I came up with something slightly different.

 

Tomato Lentil Soup (Serves 2-4)

3 celery stalks

2 carrots

1 small onion

1 TBS olive oil

1 can of diced tomatoes

1/2 cup lentils

3 cups water

garlic salt + pepper to taste

 

Chop up all of your vegetables and sauté in 1 TBS olive oil until they are translucent. While the veggies are cooking get your lentils ready by rinsing them. Cook lentils for about 10 minutes in some boiling water. Once lentils are done, rinse them again in cold water. Next combine lentils, cooked veggies, diced tomatoes and water. Bring soup to a boil and then let simmer for at least 10 minutes. Season to your liking with garlic salt and pepper.

 

I made two huge servings… one for dinner tonight and one for lunch tomorrow, but this easily could make 4 smaller sized servings. This was so hearty and delicious.

Next up I need to attempt snobby joe’s and lentil tacos.

In other news, I am completely obsessed with the Sopranos! Did anyone out there used to watch it when it was on? I just signed up for netflix so I can start the season from the beginning! What are you obsessed with right now?

Tempeh Tacos

The other night I came home from the gym, it was after 8, I was starving and I really wanted to use up the cabbage I had in my fridge. I make a delicious cabbage and potato chowder, but I didn’t have the ingredients for that. After a quick survey of my fridge I noticed I had some tempeh that needed to be used up and decided to just wing it. I ended up making some so quick, easy and delicious that I had to recreate it tonight!

First chop 1/2 of a block of tempeh up into small pieces and cook in about 1tsp of olive oil. If you cook it on high this should only take 3 minutes or so. The tempeh will crumble easily as it gets heated.

Once your tempeh is browned up, add about 1/2 cup of water and a tablespoon of taco seasoning.

Next add lots of cabbage. I used about 2 cups.

You may need to add a bit more water to help the cabbage cook down, but after a few minutes it will be cooked thoroughly and look like this.

 

The first night I made it, I just ate it with some salsa out of a bowl. Tonight I decided to make it into tacos.

 

I used a Joseph’s Lavash wrap, cut it into two and had two mini tacos.. or technically they may be burritos, but whatever, they were delicious!

With some extra filling in the middle! This was SO filling and literally took me only 10 minutes to make.

Have you ever tried tempeh? I LOVE IT! It’s so versatile. Check out some ohter way to eat it.

Sweet Potato Tempeh Hash

Tempeh Stir-Fry