Post-Thanksgiving, when all the leftover drumsticks, stuffing, yams, and turkey sandos-with-everything have been demolished, it’s nice to give your full belly a little break from big food. This year, we’ve only got a few weeks to breathe before round two.
After a salad or two, maybe a simple spaghetti marinara night, I swing healthy but cozy, offering a last nod to that Thanksgiving bird with a veggie-laden soup made with homemade turkey stock. No shame if you didn’t make any (boxed chicken stock or broth works great), but it’s the easiest, most delicious, economical, and healthy “leftover” bonus of the whole holiday.
For a light but belly-warming soup, I’ll grab a rotisserie chicken and shred the breast meat, sauté a basic mirepoix of carrots, celery, and onion, sliced mushrooms, baby spinach or peas, parsley, add the chicken, then pour in stock to heat through. For a protein boost, rinsed, canned cannellini beans are a nice touch. A few spoonsful of chopped tomatoes add a bit of zing if you’re into it. I usually top mine Italian-style, with a light shower of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano (yes, Virginia, it does matter) and pair the steaming bowl with a hunk of house-made sourdough bread (the belly-friendliest dough ever) from Mother Pizzeria in Newport.
Finding a gut reset on the go is a snap on Aquidneck Island. Start at Sprout and Lentil where, I kid you not, everything you thought you knew about what makes food tasty will be upended. In a tasting for the Newport Burger Bender in 2019, this dedicated carnivore chose Chef Carmen Foy’s V-Rex burger as a favorite.
“Plant-based cooking is really about textures and flavors and understanding how to season,” she says, and her vegan dishes bring all the flavors, textures, and colors of the full experience of savoring good food. You can go hearty or light or a combination of both, but every morsel here is mind-bogglingly plant-based, perfect for this time of year as you prep for the many temptations of the holiday season.
At Root on Broadway in Newport, the mission is to offer “thoughtful, approachable, plant-based foods with an emphasis on quality…” The award-winning vegan and vegetarian take-out spot is all about providing a healthy menu of unprocessed foods, whole grains, leafy greens, and a multitude of fruits and vegetables. There are freshly pressed juices, smoothies, bowls, salads, toasts, and sandwiches, all fresh, filling, and healthy.
Drift Café in Newport, though not strictly plant-based, is designed for health seekers of all stripes with a menu that caters to vegans, vegetarians, and carnivores alike. The key is whole, organic, unprocessed ingredients, low sugar, and no additives, plus the availability of supplements including spirulina, CBD, and collagen peptides as add-ons to smoothies and blended smoothie bowls. All-day free-range egg dishes and breakfast items, lunch bowls, and sandwiches, coffee, and craft drinks all represent in the category. One caveat: the diversity of options here can sometimes mean semi-long waits. Order ahead and you’re golden.
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