Giovanni Powder Power Dry Shampoo

I'm fairly new to the dry shampoo game. But after hearing about how awesome dry shampoos can be from my hairstylist I went looking for a vegan one. I found Giovanni's Powder Power Dry Shampoo from their Eco Chic Hair Care line. And I absolutely love it!

It's wonderful for those days when you can't get your hair washed with traditional shampoos or you need to soak up a little extra oil and increase the volume. I don't always like to wash my hair every day, and I've found this powder is perfect for those days. It definitely delivers in the extra shine and volume department, and I've had many a really good hair day from this product.

Camping season is in full swing, and I can see how this will be an awesome and convenient product when showers are not quite an option but your hair needs a little cleaning and maintenance. It's great for traveling in general.

It's so easy to use! Just apply the powder to your roots, massage it into your scalp and hair, and then brush it through. The powder is bright white, and some people with darker hair feel it leaves their roots a little ashy looking. I've also noticed that since my hair is dark brown, but I just rub it in more and spread it out, and that usually does the trick.

The product says it is for all hair types, but I only know how it works on mine which is brunette, color-treated, fine and straight. So, you'll have to give it a go yourself and let me know how it works.

Giovanni Powder Power Dry Shampoo

Rating: *****

***** awesome! Highly recommended.
**** hey, this is pretty dang good.
*** not bad at all.
** eh.
* bad. Keep looking for alternatives.

[I got my Giovanni Powder Power Dry Shampoo at Whole Foods, but you can supposedly find it at Target, CVS, Wal-Mart, Sprouts, Ulta, and of course, online.]

Bragg's Factory Diner, Phoenix, AZ

Bragg's Factory Diner's Flatiron Front Door

Bragg's Factory Diner is the latest of the all-vegetarian restaurants to hit Phoenix. Located off Grand Avenue in a one story flat-iron building, this cute diner itself is pretty dang small, but there is plenty of parking. So keep in mind, peak diner hours might include a little wait if you hit the rush. That said, I was there on a Sunday during brunch with a couple of friends and we were seated right away.

The diner is full of fun kitschy salt and pepper shakers and mismatched vintage dinnerware, which gives it a cozy and welcoming vibe. The art on the walls is a nod to the history of Phoenix, with lots of old photos from residents and a giant painting near the registers featuring some of our more famous icons and residents.

clockwise from front left: Frank Lloyd Bite, Koo-Koo-Pancakes, The Classic, Side Biscuit & Gravy (part of Frank Lloyd Bite)

Bragg's is a vegetarian diner serving breakfast (all day) and lunch. Breakfast includes entrees like coconut curry waffles, cinnamon ginger French toast, banana pancakes, scrambles, soyrizo breakfast burritos, and hash browns. And lunch includes tasties like the eggplant "bacon', lettuce and tomato; the portabello reuben, the beet burger, and a kale salad. But they all have much more clever names like the Frank Lloyd Bite, which is what I had (two pancakes, hash browns, eggplant "bacon", & a side biscuit & gravy).

Frank Lloyd Bite (minus the Side Biscuit & Gravy)

I really liked the pancakes, they so hit the spot. I dislike eggplant, but I wanted to try it anyway because it sounded so interesting. It was okay, very edible for eggplant. The one person in our party who liked eggplant enjoyed it. The hash browns were hash browns, so nothing fancy there, but delicious as usual. I'm not big on biscuits and gravy, this one had a poblano gravy, but I think if you like those things you would really like these. I'd eat it again, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

Side Biscuit & Gravy (smaller version of Bwiscuits & Gravy entrée)

I sampled the Koo-Koo Bananas Pancakes that my friend order and it was really good. The side of fruit that came with it was fresh and ripe which I really appreciated even though it wasn't even my meal! I begged some forkfuls of another friend's Classic scramble which was pretty good but not my favorite entrée that day.

Koo-Koo Bananas Pancakes with Side of Fruit

The Classic

My friends agreed they would come back and make this place a part of their regular rotation. And I am definitely going back because I want to try those coconut curry waffles that I hear such good things about and the French toast which is one of my favorite foods.

And of course they serve PIE, they are a diner and housed in the old Bragg's Pie Factory building afterall. Plus donuts and other pastries, and they all rotate in a little display case as any proper diner would host.

Diner Seating and Dessert/Pastry Spinner

Alright, so give this place a try and let me know what you think! Check out Bragg's Instagram for a deeper look at their goodies.


Bragg's Factory Diner
Ranking: ****

***** awesome! Highly recommended.
**** hey, this is pretty dang good.
*** not bad at all.
** eh.
* bad. Keep looking for alternatives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bragg's Factory Diner
1301 NW Grand Ave (Grand Ave runs diagonally across the Phoenix grid)
Phoenix, AZ 85007
 602-733-8076
http://braggsdiner.com

Hours
Tuesday - Sunday 7am - 2pm

Bragg's Factory Diner from the Parking Lot

Girl and Foxes Mural (on a nearby building)

Recycle Mural in Bragg's Factory Diner Parking Lot

Earth Day Phoenix 2013

It's Earth Day! One of my favorite days of the year. And today, I'm at Earth Day Phoenix with Cult of Kale and other friends, and we're handing out food samples, vegan information brochures, and smiles to all the attendees that come by our booth between 11am and 1:30pm. Come say hi!

[Maybe you were there? Thanks for stopping by!]

Here are the store-bought products we are sampling at our vegan info booth as well as tips for locating them.

Vegan Meats

Field Roast:

Mexican Chipotle Sausage (chorizo-like)

Italian Sausage

Smoked Apple Sage
Frankfurters
 

Found at Whole Foods, Luci's Healthy Marketplace, Phoenix Public Market, and New Frontiers Marketplace (Sedona & Flagstaff). Ask your local grocer to stock these!



Gardein:

Beefless Tips

Found at Whole Foods, Safeway, Bashas, Fry's Marketplace....and possibly others.

 

***

 

Non-dairy Milks

Blue Diamond Almond Breeze

Sweetened Chocolate Almond Milk

Sweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

Found at Whole Foods, Target, Sprouts, and possibly others.

 

 

Silk

Vanilla Soy Milk
Chocoloate Soy Milk

Found at Sprouts, Whole Foods, Frys Marketplace, Walmart, and many other grocers.

  

 

 

So Delicious

Vanilla Coconut Milk
Chocolate Coconut Milk (shelf stable)

Found at Sprouts, Whole Foods, and others.

 

Rice Dream

Horchata (shelf stable)

Found at Sprouts and Whole Foods.

The stores mentioned are not a comprehensive list of locations where these products are sold, just where I know they are. Check your local grocers, especially Fry's Marketplace, Whole Foods, Sprouts, etc. If you cannot find the products you are looking for at a grocer near you, ask them about ordering some in. The more requests they get, the more likely they carry those items.

If you are open to shopping online, you can also buy many of these products from Pangea, Food Fight Vegan Grocery, and Vegan Essentials.

***

Cookies

The cookies sampled were from the Whole Foods Bakery as supplied to them by Aphrodite Bakery according to the label. Whole Foods sells these cookies regularly, and they are quite delish!

If you'd like to make your own vegan chocolate chip cookies from scratch, here is the best recipe ever, from the Post Punk Kitchen and Isa Chandra Moskowitz. You should be familiar with all of the ingredients, except maybe tapioca flour and the almond milk, but that's not so strange nor hard to find. I get Bob's Red Mill Tapioca Flour from Sprouts and Whole Foods, but I know other grocer's carry it and other brands. Also, make sure you get the semi-sweet chocolate chips without any dairy (check the ingredients list).

Post Punk Kitchen's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe


Thanks for your interest in veganism!  Feel free to browse the yellow-orange tool bar items at the top, they have the most information for new veg*ns. And please do not hesitate to leave your questions in the comments, tweet, post on facebook, or just plain email.

Recipe Round-Up: Une Bûche de Noël Végétalienne / Vegan Yule Log

A couple nights ago my sister emailed this video of the Vegan Black Metal Chef with his recipe for a Vegan Yule Log Cake and asked me to make one for our family dinner. Here's the PC version of the video which was presented by CHOW.com.



As you can see, VBMC's version is super easy to make with a vegan cake box mix, some egg replacer, and a couple jars of store-bought icing and frosting. Simple. But it looks like a glorified German Chocolate Cake to me. And if I'm going to make one of these Yule Logs, I'm going to try something a little more traditional and a little less chocolatey.

I've seen recipes for Yule Logs before but it's been awhile, and to be honest, I was never interested because these things tend to be designed for chocoholics. I like my chocolate in moderation and usually it has to have nuts or crunchies in it.

So I did some google-digging. Bûche de Noël or the Yule Log Cake is a traditional French dessert served around Christmas.

And apparently there are two types of bûche de noël or yule log cakes, a génoise and buttercream version or a frozen yule log. The génoise is like a rolled-up sponge cake layered with icing and topped with a ganache and designed to look like firewood.

The frozen yule log, on the other hand, appears to be a far more complicated French version shaped like a bread pan with layers of biscuit, mousse, ganache, pralines, creme brulee, and icing.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to make a génoise cake, and most of the recipes I found were for that style, but I was able to provide some recipe ideas on the frozen yule log for those of you interested in that one.

Génoise-style
~The Gluttonous Vegan's Christmas Yule Log

~Vegan Good Things' Orange Spice Bûche de Noël with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting & Chocolate Ganache

~Sweet Vegan's Yule Log

~Hasta La Vegan's Chocolate Yule Log

~Végéta-Löu's Bûche Pâtissière/Yule Log (Pear/Chai/Chocolate) (in French and English)

~My Paper Crane's Vegan Peppermint Icebox Yule Log Cake

~The Healthy Voyager's Holiday Yule Log

~Fuck Yeah Vegan Recipes' version of Bryanna Clark Grogan's Basic Holiday Roll

~Inhabitots' Vegan Yule Log Cake

~BORO Magazine's Raw Vegan Yule Log

~Vegan Peace's Yule Log Cookies


Frozen-style
The original non-vegan Yule Log recipe modified by the vegan Daring Bakers.

And here are some of the vegan bloggers that participate in Daring Bakers, their versions, and how the modifications they made.
~Madcap Cupcake
~Vegan Bits
~Musings From the Fishbowl
~Cooking at the Pacific Outpost


If you decide to make a Yule Log, post a comment and link to any photos and tell us about it!

Penzeys Spices & Vegan Eats World

Penzeys Spices, Tempe Marketplace, Arizona

Penzeys Spices is a national chain with three locations in Arizona; Tempe Marketplace, Paradise Valley Marketplace (Phoenix), and Tucson. They also sell their spices online.

I recently wanted to make Terry Hope Romero's Pistachio Date Quinoa Salad from Vegan Eats World. But I didn't have any sumac. I know the Middle Eastern Bakery in downtown Phoenix carries it, Lee Lee Oriental Supermarket most likely does, but I needed a place in the north east valley. Then I remembered I had seen this little spice shop at the Tempe Marketplace. I called ahead and they stocked several container sizes of the ground up Middle Eastern berry.

Vegan Eats World Cookbook by Terry Hope Romero- 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up!

Penzeys Spices is a cute little shop with a good vibe next door to the Men's Wearhouse. I also noticed they had smoked paprika which I had been looking for previously. I had been using regular paprika as a replacement, but I kinda want to go back and get some smoked paprika. They had both Hungarian style AND Spanish style and I wasn't sure which I wanted to sample.

Anyway, I got the sumac and made the Pistachio Date Quinoa Salad, and I have to say I was impressed with the salad. It has chickpeas, spinach, parsley, onions, ground coriander, fennel and cumin seeds, as well as the sumac and title ingredients. My first thought was this is interesting... because I didn't know how to process the flavorings.

But it's a really nice salad, makes a nice, bold statement. I used about 3 tablespoons rather than the called for 4 to 6 tablespoons. Sumac smells like lemon vinegar, and the flavoring is oddly similar though reported to be less acidic and milder. The salad would be great for potlucks and such when you want to blow people's minds, and because it can be eaten at room temperature.

Anyway, for those of you with some BIG plans for holiday dinners or for those of you talking Terry's global cuisine cookbook, you have a good chance of finding what you need at Penzeys Spices, so give them a try.

 The final product: Pistachio Date Quinoa Salad

Recipe Round-up: Vegan Thanksgiving Goodies

Every year more and more vegan holiday recipes are shared. Below is a link to my previous Thanksgiving Recipe Round-up, and after that, the rest are links to goodies being talked about this year.

2010 Thanksliving Menu Round-Up

[And if there is one dish I could personally recommend for Thanksgiving, it's the Sage- and Pumpkin Seed- Encrusted Seitan with Roasted Garlic Pumpkin Sauce, it's a fantastic main dish.]

Moving on to the new stuff...

~Chef Chloe is well-represented over at the New York Times Vegetarian Thanksgiving section with her Chocolate Pumpkin Bread Pudding, Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Hazelnuts, Harvest-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, Coconut Mashed Yams with Currants, Southern Skillet Black-Eyed Peas and Cauliflower, and Quick Biscuits with Maple Butter.

~Oh She Glows blogger, Angela Liddon has some healthy recipes featured at Veg News: Guilt-Free Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sumptuous Shepherd's Stew, and Sinless Sticky Toffee Pecan Pudding.

~Cornmeal Buttermilk Biscuits, Coconut Butternut Squash Soup, Herbed Cream Collards, and Fourless  Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream from several awesome vegan chefs via VegNews.

~Dreena Burton's Plant Powered Kitchen has a whole bunch of Vegan Thanksgiving and Christmas Recipes...too many to give you the details, just check out her post.

~And of course, The Post Punk Kitchen has an entire category of recipes perfect for Thanksgiving.

Let me know what you plan on making!

Passionate Vegan's Pumpkin Chili

from Passionate Vegan via Katherine Lawrence of Plant-Based Health (dot)com and Veg News TV