Great Sage Vegan Restaurant

Cupcake Class Success!

sageblog — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:48:03 +0000

This past Monday, Great Sage held its first baking class at the restaurant and the sweet treat focus was on cupcakes! The class was taught by our head baker, Sarah Davenport, along with her baking assistant Amanda. One of the perks of the class was being able to see all the ingredients laid out before you and have them explained thoroughly by Sarah.

Sarah made sure to go over the specific rules that apply to vegan baking as well as baking tips that anyone can use, don’t over mix your batter if you want it to come out fluffy instead of dense!

Sarah explained how to whip up the best icing and what to do to keep it from separating, even if your icing starts to separate, it can be salvaged with just a little added hot water mixed right in.

The fun part was getting everyone involved in icing their own cupcakes, it can be trickier than it appears, those icing bags can be hard to maneuver.

We even put ganache on top of our chocolate hazelnut cupcakes! There are so many different types of toppings that can go on a cupcake, sprinkles, nuts, ganache and even fresh fruit. Let us know if you have a favorite decorating garnish.

Everyone got to leave with two cupcakes, a helpful print out with tips and suggestions for vegan baking and some new friends. Thanks to everyone who participated, we had a really great time!

Our next baking class is on Monday, March 18th from 11am-12:30pm and will focus on gluten free cookies. The third class in our series is on Monday, March 25th and Raw desserts will be discussed and taste tested! Give us a call to make your reservation 443.535.9400

Delicious & Creative Meals

admin — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:44:44 +0000

MEDITERRANEAN FLAT BREAD Grilled house-made flatbread topped with sundried tomato and olive spread, artichokes, red peppers, onions and fresh arugula.

Seasonal Menu

admin — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:36:44 +0000

SPINACH, GRILLED ZUCCHINI AND QUINOA Baby spinach, tomato, toasted peanuts and carrot-herbed quinoa tossed together in a whole grain mustard vinaigrette. Topped with grilled zucchini. (Gluten free, Soy free)

Animal Advocates Benefit Day!

sageblog — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:36:14 +0000

Join Great Sage as we host a benefit day for Animal Advocates of Howard County on Sunday, May 26th! We will be donating 10% of our daily sales to Animal Advocates and volunteers will be available throughout the day to answer questions, sell merchandise and hand out free information.

“Animal Advocates of Howard County is an all-volunteer, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to preventing the suffering of animals in our area. Although we focus primarily on the plight of homeless pets, we are also interested in animal health, safety, and environmental issues, and promote activities which strengthen the human-animal bond. We are actively involved in legislative issues regarding animal cruelty, and also those which affect wildlife. We believe that the way animals are treated is a reflection of the quality of our society. Hundreds of members, volunteers, and supporters share in this belief and have helped us become the strongest and most respected animal welfare group in the area.” http://www.animal-advocates.org/

We will be serving a wonderful vegan brunch from 10 am-3 pm, lite fare from 3-5 pm and dinner from 5-9 pm. Volunteers from Animal Advocates will be joining us, welcoming questions and providing information about this organization.

(photo taken from The Examiner)

Eating and Running

sageblog — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:03:37 +0000

How we eat is extremely important, not only for our health but also for our running performance. In the book Thrive by Brendan Brazier, Brazier outlines a series of recommendations of what people should eat before and after exercise. Brazier is a professional athlete and realized the effect that his eating habits had on his athletic performance.

I know that some people will eat unhealthily after exercise, feeling like they earned it or that they burned off the calories so they can afford it. However, you are hurting your health, your running performance, and limiting your weight loss. Research has shown that a person’s eating habits is more a predictor of disease than any other factor, including genes.

For a pre-exercise snack, Brazier has different suggestions for different levels of activity. He calls exercising 1 hour or less as level 1 activity. For Clarksville boot camp or Columbia boot camp, this is how long we’ll be doing our runs during boot camp. Brazier says that fruit or dates are best since the glucose from the simple carbohydrates goes to the liver for immediate energy. When you go for longer runs, bring these types of snacks with you for fuel during exercise. Many runners do this during long runs, carrying it in a pack around their waist.

Brazier refers to the 45 minute time period after exercise as the “fuel window.” At this time the body is better able to absorb carbohydrates (in a good way, don’t think that carbohydrates are “bad” because we need them), which speeds recovery. If you are able to recover more quickly from exercise, then your body has more energy to do other things.

For faster recovery, you need a simple carbohydrate (fruit is a simple carbohydrate) with little fat or fiber and a low percentage of protein for your post-run. The sooner you consume this the better, and make sure it’s within the 45 minute window. Brazier recommends a liquid or near liquid consistency since it’s easier for the body to digest, especially since your body is fatigued from the exercise. In Brazier’s book, he has 2 post-workout recovery drinks which include fruit, dates and hemp protein. If you are planning on doing my Howard County boot camps make sure to plan ahead and have a recovery drink ready to go. I love a healthy smoothie or fresh green juice after a good workout.

After an hour has passed since the snack, it’s time for the post-workout meal. Brazier says ideally this will consist of “high-quality, easily digestible raw protein such as hemp omega-3 fatty acids (also from hemp and flaxseed), and vitamins and minerals from natural whole food sources” (p.119-120). He says that a conventional meal is not ideal at this time. Blood is in the extremities doing its job to help recovery, and not as much in the stomach for digestion, so it’s better not to tax the system with a meal that’s more difficult to digest. Connie (below) is enjoying the Spring rolls at Great Sage with both a sweet and spicy and a peanut dipping sauce.

The more that we can do to increase recovery, the more we will see improvement and the more prepared we will be for our next workout.

Stephanie Dignan is the creator of The Bootcamp Girl and several Great Sage staff (Katie Smallwood and Aimee Gogan) have seen great results working with her program, you may even see before and after pictures of them if you check out the website!

“If you would like to try my Howard County boot camps, classes or personal training, please email me at info@thebootcampgirl.com, or go to our website, www.thebootcampgirl.com. I look forward to helping you with your running goals!”

Vegan Thanksgiving Basics (and laughs)

sageblog — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:11:56 +0000

In past years, I’ve always gone to my mother’s house in New Jersey for Thanksgiving. This year is no different, even if it is my first vegan Thanksgiving. With so much happening in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I know my mother lost a bunch of food when she had no power for 9 days, and the Blonde and I, like a lot of Central Maryland, never lost power, so we decided to bring more than the original two things that my mother assigned us (chocolate dessert and bread). We decided to bring a few things extra, and show off for the omnivores how awesome we are.

One of the first things we’re bringing is a Field Roast hazelnut cranberry stuffed roast en croute. We just figured that if everyone else is eating turkey, and they will be, that we’d bring up something non-threatening to show them our food.

We’re also bringing up butternut-sausage stuffed phyllo cups, courtesy of That Was Vegan? and the Virtual Vegan Potluck on world vegan day. We haven’t practiced with them enough to decide whether they are indeed better as phyllo cups than stuffed mushrooms, as is claimed, but I don’t love mushrooms, so phyllo cups it is!

(image courtesy thatwasvegan.com)

Thirdly, we are still bringing up dessert and bread. The Blonde is making Hannah Kamensky’s Samoa tart, from her cook book Vegan Desserts, and I am making dinner rolls two ways: rosemary garlic, and sea salt and cracked black pepper. The rolls are there to give some options for people, and they just need to be finished before being served at mom’s house.

The dessert is pretty darn good too, especially if you like Girl Scout cookies. We’re bringing extra things because we want to wow people with what we eat in the hopes that they (and by “they” I mean my mom’s boyfriend and my two uncles, who would all be carnivores if they could) that eating animals is not nearly as important as I used to think. We expect to get some of the “stock” questions from non-vegans, so I’ve put together a little set of options for stock-questions. Enjoy!

The Vegans Husband is a local blogger and semi-regular here at Great Sage. Vegan for less than one year, he is currently looking forward to his first vegan holiday season with his beautiful wife, stuffing himself with cruelty-free food. Check out his fun and informative blog.

Tara’s House Benefit Day

admin — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:19:11 +0000

Join Great Sage as we host a benefit day for Tara’s House on Sunday, April 28th! We will be donating 10% of our daily sales to Tara’s House and volunteers will be available throughout the day to answer questions, and hand out free information.

“Tara’s House is a private, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Our mission is to rescue and provide care and compassion for our pets while working to place them in permanent, loving homes. The pets we rescue arrive at Tara’s House from rural, high kill shelters with little to no funding for their own adoption programs. These shelters rely on Tara’s House to save these adoptable pets from certain euthanasia.”

tarashouse.net

The photo of the dog was found on the Tara’s House website.

Brunch 10am-3pm

Lite Fare 3-5pm

Dinner 5-9pm

We look forward to seeing you and always have delicious pancake and tofu quiche specials!

Traveling Vegan

admin — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 23:39:49 +0000

One of the most important things I have realized since becoming vegan is “Always Be Prepared”. Especially when traveling. I don’t travel by car often but when I do I make sure that I have enough vegan food and snacks packed so that I don’t get frustrated and too hungry. Unfortunately we live in a society that hasn’t 100% embraced the vegan lifestyle and most restaurants do not have vegan options. Whenever traveling to other cities I do research to find what restaurants have vegan options on their menu. Two of my favorite Iphone apps for that is “VeganSteven” and “AroundMe”.

When traveling by car I make sure that my cooler is packed with enough food and goodies to get me through the trip.

Now, what do I put in this cooler you ask??? Well, let me tell you…or should I say show you.

34 oz thermos filled with green smoothie or green juices. Raw Food Rehab Thermos

Kale salad with Tahini dressing. The lid on this jar is perfect for pouring salad dressings. Here’s a closer look.

More goodies in the cooler…

These assorted nut butters can be found at Whole Foods, Roots Market and Moms Organic Market locally.

Cheese-y Quackers from One Lucky Duck Store

I’ve tried to duplicate these delicious crackers unsuccessfully. They are my absolute favorite raw snack cracker.

If you haven’t tried these Larabars yet, please do. They are the perfect blend of salty and sweet.

Coconut water always makes the trip;)

Another great idea that I wish I had come up with. Travel top for your mason jars.

Assorted fruits…to spread the nut butters on of course.

This is not my photo but I think the idea is genius. Salads in a jar!

I hope the few ideas that I’ve shared come in handy during your Summer travels…and remember to…

Make It With Love

Veronica is one of Great Sage’s favorite guests, always happy to talk vegan food and often brings both her husband and friends in for a good meal! Not only does she run her own blog, VeRAWnica, she recently did a RAW cooking demo and looks forward to helping others on the path to both vegan and RAW cooking. We hope to have her demo at Roots Market in the near future and look forward to more helpful blogs! Check out her blog for upcoming classes and updates.

Loving the Sweets of Summer

admin — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 23:34:04 +0000

I’m getting my bake on this summer!

So far I’ve made: whoopie pies, Pot-o-gold Cupcakes and Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes.

For the whoopie pies I tried out my new whoopie pie pan. Since it was my first time making whoopie pies, I tried to keep it simple, and made a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.

The pot-o-gold cupcakes were pretty easy too. I just made a chocolate cake and vanilla icing with gold flecks on top.

The Mint Chip Cupcakes were a bit harder. I modified a vanilla recipe by puting mint extract instead of vanilla, adding chocolate chips and a teeny bit of green food coloring. I tried out this really fun idea of putting the batter in ice cream cones instead of cupcake liners! It was a Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcake in an ice cream cone, with vanilla chocolate swirl frosting!

The last time I went to Great Sage I had the Mahalo cake, which was great! Great Sage’s Spring menu was really cool! They’ve added, a RAW blueberry cheesecake, the mahalo cake(wink wink) and the tart cherry pie! I can’t wait to see what is on the summer menu.

Because coconut and chocolate and almonds are all so good together! the Mahalo cake was layers of scrumptious coconut cake with yummy coconut frosting and chocolate ganache, topped with toasted almonds. I highly suggest it if you are craving something decadent and tasteful. Here is a picture, enjoy!

Gracie, 12 years old, is one of our guest bloggers. Check out her very own blog, Vegan Sweetness!

Great Sage Intro

admin — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:41:12 +0000

At Great Sage, we cook with fresh organically grown produce & believe a gourmet dining experience can be created out of plant-based foods. Our menu is influenced by the flavors and styles of many cultures. We are committed to plant-based foods and organics because we know that what we eat matters. We offer many gluten-free and raw selections on our regular menu as well as supporting any other special dietary requests. No animals are harmed and the environment rejoices in our choices. Great Sage is part of the Conscious Corner family of local, independently owned businesses. Click on the link below for more information about Roots Market, Bark, or Nest.