Eton on Chagrin, Miyoko's Vegan Cheese, Vegan Mushroom Melt at Melt Bar & Grilled, Another Vegan Dipping Sauce, & Leucistic Red Tailed Hawk...

I've been telling you bit and pieces of my trip to Trader Joe's and other places in and around Woodmere, OH, which is near Mentor, OH.  We usually go to the Whole Foods Market out there when we do go but I wanted to specifically stop at Trader Joe's this time around!  It's was INSANELY busy!

This Trader Joe's in Woodmere is within a shopping development called Eton on Chagrin Boulevard.  If you have a minute be sure to check out the website...the design of the shopping center is STUNNING!  I wish I had more time to visit the other stores.  Hopefully in the spring.

I've also been chatting about the Whole Foods Co-Op in Erie, PA, the last few days and I forgot to tell you that they now carry Miyoko's Vegan Cheeses.  I was able to grab this one!  It's the first of the Miyoko's I have been able to try and I have to say I'm in LOVE!  It was on sale for $2 off!  It's expensive but a little bit goes a LONG way!  It's creamy and much more of a spread than a hard solid cheese.  The flavor is very rich and flavorful!  I'm so grateful I was finally able to locate it and purchase it!

I couldn't help but try it with pasta!  I added a few table spoons of the vegan cheese and melted it with a little Earth Balance and Almond Milk.  It was tasty!

Also I have been telling you more about our latest trip to MELT Bar & Grilled!  I was telling you about their Mushroom Melt I brought home.  This is one of their graphics - of course I opted for the VEGAN one!  The Caramelized Onions really took it to the next level flavor-wise!

Last night for dinner I had the Anasazi Burrito from Sweet Earth and I made a Peanut Dipping Sauce for it.

Again...not the BEST photo of the sauce...but you get the picture!  Here's the recipe...

About 1 C Peanut Butter

1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 C Water

5 Squirts Bragg's Liquid Aminos

4 T Agave Nectar

1 Garlic Clove, Minced

Lemon Pepper to taste

More Water if needed

On our way home I saw something beautiful!  Something that I don't ever remember seeing before!  It ended up being a Leucistic Red Tailed Hawk.  This photo isn't mine but it's very close to the bird I saw!  You can read more about these birds HERE.

Get In My Belly!

Once again I have a lot to share with you but very little time at the moment to write one long and thought out post so I will have to do mini posts I guess.  Better than no posts at all?  I'll let you be the judge.

I'll start off by saying there is more where this comes from.  This first photo is one of the new-to-me Kombuchas I have tried lately.  I picked it up at The Whole Foods Co-Op in Erie.  This past weekend was the first time in a LONG TIME that I was able to make some great grocery hauls and SILLY ME I put everything away before taking photos so I will be sharing those trips with you individually at some point.

One of the highlights of Sunday was that we were able to travel to Mentor, OH, and visit Melt again!  YAY!  I LOVE Melt because there are MANY Vegan Options!  The first time DH and I went together we both tried the Vegan Tofu Wings!  He LOVED them!  Yes...HE...who is FAR from veg LOVED them!  Come to find out their TOFU WINGS are (one of their) best selling apps!  Even popular among the meat eaters!  This is the photo of the Sweet BBQ ones I tried this time around!  YUM!

In the photo above I chose the Vegan Ranch!  This next photo is are the Spicy BBQ Tofu Wings.  He got one order and I got another order but we ended up sharing both of them!  He ordered regular Bleu Cheese (not vegan) but I was stoked he LOVES these Tofu Wings so much!

We ended up ordering our dinner to go, too!  We learned a trick from the waiter.  If ordering to go and eating the sandwiches at another time you pop them open face in the oven or toaster oven at 350 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes and BAM!  Just like you ordered them at the restaurant!  Of course the sandwich he got - to go - wasn't veg - but mine was!  I went with the Mushroom Melt.  I will have to share that at another time!

At Melt they also have vegan Perogies!  They make their own from what I understand!  They are tasty!  I think they were supposed to be with vegan cheese and vegan sour cream.  I think they may have forgotten those items but they were still YUMMERS!  DH also liked these, too!  They have their own "kraut" which is different from what I think Sauerkraut would be but it's their own so I'm game!  It was cabbage and onions, I believe and they put it on just about anything!  I'm been a while since I have had perogies because most of them have dairy in them - at least the ones I see at the stores!  If I had more time and patience I would try making them myself...but I don't!

MELT Bar & Grill Visit

Last weekend hubby and I took a drive over to Mentor, OH, and then on to Woodmere, OH, to visit Wholefoods Market...more on that trip to the store another time.  Today I'm talking about the experience I had at MELT Bar & Grill!

I'll work a little backwards here and start with the food then move to the atmosphere!

First up...my main meal.  YES...they have a slew of VEGAN options!  Woot!  I opted for the half sandwich which was a good thing because I couldn't have eaten any more!  What you see here is called the PARMAGEDDON.  This 'bad boy' had Potato & onion pierogis, fresh Napa vodka kraut, sautéed onions, vegan cheddar on their bread!

I started things off with these 'puppies'.

These are Buffalo Tofu Wings with Vegan Ranch.  Believe it or not...my far-from-veg-husband actually tried them, too, and he REALLY liked them!

These were VERY memorable for both of us - especially because hubby already said he would have them again the next time we went back.

The vegetarian and vegan options were clearly marked on the menus.  The menu's were on the back of old record sleeves.

This place was AWESOME and eclectic and eccentric and just about anything else you can think of.  A wonderfully FUN place with lots of interesting food options.

Every couple of weeks they come up with some off-the-wall special feature such as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Melt or the Glazed and Very Confused Donut Bacon Melt...not that either of those are vegan but you get the idea...

Either way...it gives me great ideas to try to veganize, eh!?

What do you think!?  Here's their Instagram, too!

Day Trip - Fringe of Cleveland

This past weekend Hubby and I needed to get-out-of-dodge at least for a day...so we decided to take a trip over to 'our side of Ohio'.  We didn't want to get smack-dab in the middle of Cleveland so we stayed on the fringe of it with Lyndhurst, Woodmere, and Mentor on our minds.  We decided to drive to the farthest point and work our way back.  It was just under 3 hours there.  We went to a very LARGE music store in Lyndhurst called Sam Ash Music.  It's the first branch we have been to.  We usually frequent World of Music in Erie, PA, or various Guitar Centers but this shop blew all of them out of the water!  This is a FIRST...Hubby didn't buy anything but I did!  I found a fabric Ukelele Case with a shoulder strap for about $20!  In was in a nice little plaza section with various other stores and we walked by the store fronts but didn't go inside any of the other shops. 
We then moved on to Woodmere.  I found out they had BOTH a Whole Foods Market as well as a Trader Joe's!  I was limited to one stop because there were other places we were interested in going so I decided to choose Whole Foods.  It's only the 2nd Whole Foods Market I have ever been to!  Usually when I speak about Whole Foods I am referring to Erie, PA's Whole Foods Co-Op which is owned by members and not by a chain like the market is.  Anyhow...the only other one I have been to is the one in Las Vegas.  I really liked the store but because we were only there for about a week and staying in a hotel I didn't purchase much, then.  I did notice that the Las Vegas store had a large Juice/Smoothie Bar that the Woodmere location didn't have but I have to say I really enjoyed the Woodmere location.  The staff was AMAZING, the store very clean, the selection was very nice, and I ended up buying about $45 worth of stuff.  Mostly things I couldn't find in my area/region as well as items that were lower in price than I am used to finding.  I also chose Whole Foods over Trader Joe's because they are supposed to be building a new Trader Joe's in Amherst, NY, during 4th Quarter, and that is half the time to get to once it's up!  I'm looking forward to it very much!  I have only been to one other Trader Joe's, as well, and that was the one in Pittsburgh about 2 years ago.  Saturday they were having a Vegan BBQ to raise money for a local Sanctuary and had I known I would have tried to participate but hubby had his heart set on The Winkin' Lizard and we sort of build the trip around that original thought in the first place. 

I think it's been about 5 years since we've been to the Winkin' Lizard last and I remember liking it.  So after Whole Foods Market we drove to Mentor where we ate at Winkin' Lizard there.  They have various locations as well.  I wanted to sit outside so we did.  I had a veggie wrap - without the dairy - and we shared one of their 'Drinks for 2'.  It was very nice.

We were going to try and look for a winery or two on our way back thru but we were driving on a different route and went back thru Erie and stopped to see my brother in law for a few minutes and then drove home.

It was a nice drive!  A nice day!  I'm so happy we stopped at the places we did and now Hubby has a new Music Store and perhaps we can swing by Whole Foods Market a couple a times a year now.  What did you do this weekend?  Anything special!?  Any plans for this week or upcoming weekend?