A vegan 4^th by Mike Shaffer- Store Manager of Buffalo Exchange Philadelphia

Since the 4^th of July is upon us, I’d thought I’d share some photos of a vegan barbecue I had this past weekend to pre-celebrate the 4^th of July and the beginning of the fabulous summer season.

My partner Eric and I started out by creating an area for drink and food garnishes for our friends to enjoy.

We got some festive plates to celebrate in style:

Being vegan, we obviously eat lots of veggies. We made skewers with mushrooms, pears, red onions, peppers, potatoes marinated in olive oil, pineapple, tofu, and Tofurkey vegan Italian sausage. We were excited to start grilling!

The skewers take about 10-15 minutes on the grill to cook well, so we relaxed and enjoyed a cold beverage.

After the skewers were complete, we put on some Boca vegan burgers topped with pepper jack flavored vegan rice cheese, and I had mine with a salad consisting of lettuce, cucumber, avocado, red onion, bell pepper and radishes topped off with blueberry pomegranate dressing, I also made my famous-with-my-friends vegan macaroni salad! This salad is delicious and so easy to make with Vegenaise, black and green olives, shredded carrots, coarse black pepper, salt, red and yellow onions and celery.

My friend Andrew made some awesome marinated eggplant (not pictured) and last but not least we had a summertime favorite, corn on the cob. It was grilled in the husk with a little Earth Balance vegan buttery spread and some pepper. Delish!

Even though many of my friends are not vegan like me, they still enjoy the food we eat since it can be healthier and delicious. We all had a fun time. 

I hope you all have a great 4^th of July and barbecue all summer like I will be! Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for tips on vegan and eco-friendly fashion, food and grooming!