I like to eat out – not a lot as I try to save money – but there are just too many good new taste adventures around here and VeganMOFO is a great way to sample vegan options served. We stopped by The Counter this weekend after seeing Zombieland (highly recommend!) because I wanted to try their vegan burger bowl. Their custom burger ordering process felt much like taking a scan tron test in junior high, only I was less tempted to Christmas Tree this one.
According to the menu, the veggie burgers are vegan and I was looking forward to trying with the goat cheese spread and apricot sauce. Our waitress really worked hard to push their sweet potato fries by offering them each time she stopped by and it seemed such pressure was working on other patrons because plates and plates of them were being dished all over the place. But, I wanted to save the calories for wine and fries usually make me feel sleepy … which I’d rather the wine did :-) Anyway, when my order finally arrived, it was beautiful.
The veggie burger had many visible fresh veggies in it, corn, carrots, spinach, onions, red pepper, potato, etc. The mixed greens, sprouts, onions and tomatoes was very fresh and crisp. While the grilled pineapple and goat cheese were splurge additions, they were tasty. The apricot sauce was surprisingly spicy. Looking around, I think I was the only person who got the veggie burger at the time and while many also selected the burger bowl option over the bun, many were topped with fried onions, fries, etc. Overall, The Counter is a pleasant experience for vegans offering a couple of vegan burger options and veggie options to go with it.
For dinner tonight, I’m trying Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl and have high hopes for it because pumpkin pie is my husband’s favorite. But, looking at the huge, butternut squash I picked up last weekend, I’m kind of regretting not buying the pre-chopped squash I saw at Costco earlier and hoping the chopping process does not lead to an ER trip.
Thankfully, our cheap Ikea cleaver was able to handle the job, no band aids needed :-)
Prepping the ingredients was super easy, chop and toss into the blender.
The finished product was a beautiful color and blended pretty quick using the chop and mix settings on my cheap KitchenAid.
The color and serving presentation was appropriate for fall, such a bright orange.
The flavor was great at first, but the sweetness started to build up about halfway through the bowl. Also it was a bit runny towards the bottom because the pureed squash floated to the top leaving a thinner liquid on the bottom, it seemed to separate quickly. Part of that could have been my blender. I doubled the recipe which ended up being too much and I hve about 2 servings leftover which I’ll give to my mom to toss into her Vita-Mix tomorrow and maybe add more carrots and warm it up. I think this would be something kids will enjoy, a great idea for a “fall pumpkin shake”.