Archive for August, 2010

RT @SeabirdsTruck Tuesday in Irvine: 11@5161 California, 11:45@120 Theory, 12:45@121 Innovation. Sides of Rock’n Guac n home made chips tmw

RT @SeabirdsTruck Down town Santa Ana tmw for dinner 5-9 3rd & Sycamore

8/29 a variety of cupcakes and brownies delivered to Costa Mesa Mothers Market

If u could go to any vegan restaurant in LA tonight where would u go? We hit up RFD last night

We’re starting day 2 at Debbie Durkins Eco Emmys Celebrity Chateau 2010, yesterday was fun, today looks even busier

We’re at Debbie Durkins Eco Emmys Celebrity Chateau 2010, cupcakes are setup, celebs starting to roll in

8/25 Oreo cupcakes Gluten Free Lavender Chocolate cupcakes dropped off at Lavender Lounge @PangeaTeaCo

Just put up pics from @theJohnSalley cooking demo last week @WFMTarzana http://bit.ly/MqyXV

John Salley and Ioana

Last week John Salley did his first in a series of cooking demos at Whole Foods Tarzana. Not only is he a 4 time NBA champion, John is also vegan and is doing cooking demos to show everyone how easy and tasty it is to prepare plant based meals. We were lucky enough to be invited along by John to talk about our desserts.

John started his demo by showing everyone all of the ingredients that he would be using for his food, and the health benefits behind them. There were a lot of items that are staples in a vegan/vegetarian pantry, but a lot of the crowd wasn’t vegetarian so there were a lot of questions. For his dishes John prepared stir fried cabbage, kale salad, portobella “steaks”, and a gourmet pizza.

The first dish stir fired cabbage may not sound that exciting, but it was really tasty, and really easy to prepare too. It had a mix of spices and sauces stir fried in a wok and everyone was amazed at how tasty such a simple dish can be. He then prepared portobella mushroom “steaks” that were even tastier. They defintely had steaky flavor to them, it was really tasty. He poured a bunch of sauces (vegan Worcestershire, apple cider vinegar, spices, etc..) into the mushrooms and let them marinate while he prepared the kale salad. Then he grilled them in the wok. It had so much flavor and again it was very easy to prepare, i think i may make some at my house. The kale salad was a raw salad, he massaged the leaves with a marinade and chopped up some bell peppers and a couple other veggies. It was very refreshing. The last dish he made was a vegan pizza. He started by buttering (earth balance) a pizza crust, then prepared a meaty sauce consisting of soy ground beef, and a ton of fresh bell peppers, veggies, and spices. Topped it with onion and for cheese he went with Follow your Heart Mozzarella ( a vegan alternative.) Even with all of the press Daiya vegan cheese has been getting, John said he prefers the flavor of Follow Your Heart. Everyone loved the pizza and all the other dishes too, and many were asking for 2nd or 3rds on the samples.

After John finished his cooking demo, he brought us up to talk about our desserts. We brought samples for everyone, mini cupcakes, mini brownies, and some cookie dough too. Ioana gave a brief history of Luscious and talked about vegan baking, and how you can eat a healthier dessert with no cholesterol, no refined sugars, and no eggs or dairy, without sacrificing any of the flavor. The samples were a big hit. As Ioana handed the floor back over to John he had some great things to say about our desserts, and how easy it is to bake your own cookies at home with our cookie dough without having to use dairy or eggs. And because there isn’t any eggs in our cookie dough, you can eat it raw without any concerns.

Overall it was a great demo from John, and it was fun to be a part of it.

Be on the lookout for John Salleys new natural food line coming out soon. It will be an all natural vegan line of foods and sauces. Go to www.johnsalley.com to find out more details. You can also follow John on twitter @theJohnSalley

Be sure to stop by Whole Foods Tarzana too to pick up any of the food John was using in his demo.

You can follow Whole Foods Tarzana on twitter to keep up with future demos @WFMTarzana

John Salley cooking demo

John Salley preparing a Kale Salad

RT @SeabirdsTruck Food Truck Brigade tmw 11:30-2 @18678 Teller Ave, Irvine. lines die down around 1:15 so come later if you can.