Ethos Vegan Kitchen

One of my favorite restaurants in Orlando is Ethos Vegan Kitchen in Winter Park.  It is a Vegan restaurant that serves 100% vegan food, and it is delicious!  One of my favorite things to get on the menus is their coconut curry wrap.  It is made with tofu, raisins, cooked coconut shavings, lettuce, and this wonderfully delicious curry sauce.  I usually get it with chips and their mango salsa.  They also serve a variety of beverages from bottled sodas like chai cola- my favorite; to mimosas, and pale ales.  It is such a unique place to eat; the atmosphere is very artsy and eclectic.  I like to take my meat eating boyfriend there all the time, he loves it!  Although they don’t serve any meat menu items, all of their meat substitutes do a great job fulfilling the needs of a meat eater with taste and texture, but providing a much healthier meal.  The vegan lifestyle may not be for everyone, I was a vegetarian for about seven years and just recently started eating poultry again, but sometimes I still enjoy vegan and vegetarian meals and Etho’s is my favorite place to go to fulfill those cravings for some delicious vegan food! 

Mango Chicken Curry

One of my favorite meals that I make at home is Mango Chicken Curry.  It is SUPER easy to make!  It takes about 15-20 minutes to prepare, and it is well worth it.  All the ingredients are available at Publix and overall it only costs about $15 to make this meal.  I prefer to make it with fresh chicken, but you can also make it with frozen chicken.  I also use to make this meal vegetarian friendly by making it with tofu; I was a vegetarian for 7 years until about 1 year ago...just a friendly fact.  Anyway, this meal is very easy to make, all you need is white rice, chicken, Mango Curry sauce, and Thai Chili paste.  I prefer to pan cook the chicken, but you can make the chicken any way you like.  Just put a little oil in a baking pan and cook the chicken on low to medium heat until it is all the way cook through, after its cook, cut the chicken into pieces and add the sauce.  I usually start boiling the water for the rice around this time, and cook the rice.  I am pro-box rice, whatever is the fastest and easiest.  Let the chicken and sauce simmer for about 5 minutes to let the chicken absorb the sauce.  Once the rice is down, put it on a plate and put the sauce/chicken combination on top.  Enjoy! Trust me, its delicious.  It also makes great leftovers.  I always take my leftovers to work the next day and they make a great microwaveable meal.  

Super Bowl Sunday

 

Last night was Super Bowl Sunday, and instead of having hot wings, potato skins, and other typical football favorites, chicken stir fry was my cheap college meal of choice; it paired nicely with the game. The meal is super easy, and cheap to make.  All you need is fresh chicken breast, which can be bought at any grocery store, stir fry veggies, stir fry sauce, and white rice. I like to get pre- packaged stir fry veggies just to make things easier, but you can also buy your favorite vegetables to put in the stir fry.  Cook the chicken in a pan with olive oil over low/ medium heat until it's cook all the way through, then in a separate pan, sauté the veggies, once they are cooked add the sauce and the chicken and cook for an addition 5-7mins on low heat.  The rice is easy, just follow the box instructions.  Put the rice down on a plate and the stir fry mix on top, and enjoy.  It is super quick, and super easy. You can also have fun with it, try different types of rice, or vegetarian options; buy using tofu.  Despite it not being a tradition super bowl meal, it went well with the Seahawks beating the Broncos.  I am not the best cook, but I enjoy finding new recipes to make that are easy, delicious, and that don’t cost a lot to make.