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: 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

EAT MORE KALE! Mesquite-Avocado Kale Salad

Maybe you're still not sure about kale. Maybe you tried it and didn't like it. Maybe this recipe from Heather of HealthyVeganRecipes.net with fix everything for you!

And maybe you just need to try mesquite powder.

No cooking necessary. Light and perfect for summer.





Recipe at: One Green Planet (dot) Org

Trader Joe's Vegetable Pakoras

Trader Joe's Vegetable Pakoras

I recently picked up these Vegetable Pakoras at Trader Joe's. So good! They're lightly fried balls of potatoes, onions, chickpea flour, carrots, cauliflower, with a sweet and tangy tamarind dipping sauce. They tasted nothing like falafel in case you were wondering about the chickpea flour, and the sauce was perfect. My only problem was there was not *enough* sauce. I don't think I overdipped, TJ's definitely skimped on the sauce a bit. I'll be picking these up again. They are great appetizers or sides, and I ate them all as a main course.


Trader Joe's Vegetable PakorasRating: ****

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

[You can find the Vegetable Pakoras at Trader Joe's.]

Sweet Leaf Organic Half & Half Lemonade Tea

I adore Sweet Leaf's Organic Half & Half Lemonade Tea. It takes two things I don't really care for alone and combines them into something great! Lemonade is too tangy, and tea is too bland. But together, this is the perfect pick me up for the afternoon daze.

YUM!

They have lots of other flavors of tea, sweet tea, lemonade, and diet versions as well that you can try. The diet sweet tea isn't bad, but I'll always choose the Half & Half.



Sweet Leaf Organic Half & Half Lemonade Tea
Rating: ****1/2

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

[You can find Sweet Leaf beverages at just about any grocer or convenience store.]

Recipe: Skeptical Salad

I have no idea where my sister found this recipe originally, but it has been a staple in my family for several years now. It's one of my favorites, because it is so dang simple, and yet so delicious. I called it "skeptical" because I couldn't understand why there were green onions in it and how the combination could possibly taste good. But it does, although the green onions are optional if you aren't a fan. Also, I adore the dressing! And you can eat this with strawberries during the spring and summer, and with pomegranate arils during the fall and winter. Both versions are excellent.

Skeptical Salad

Skeptical Salad
Salad Base

INGREDIENTS

Mixed greens
*1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced OR 1/3 cup pomgranate avrils
*11 ounce can of mandarin orange segments in juice
*2/3 cup green onions, sliced
*1 cup glazed walnuts

DIRECTIONS:
Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl.


Dressing

INGREDIENTS
 1/4 cup orange juice
 1/4 cup agave nectar
 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

DIRECTIONS:
Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate until serving. Shake/mix well before pouring on salad.

Kettle Cuisine Frozen Soups

Kettle Cuisine offers a couple of frozen soups that happen to be vegan. They're pretty healthy, with natural ingredients, and a low amount of calories. Sodium isn't perfect, of course, but not too bad. They're also gluten-free.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by these soups. I'm not really a fan of canned soups in general, so I wasn't expecting much from the frozen ones either.

Roasted Vegetable Soup
"Savoy cabbage, sweet carrots, tender potatoes and chopped leeks in a puree of sautéed vegetables with extra virgin olive oil and hints of thyme and clove."

This one was a little on the bland side, maybe just too leeky, but it wasn't too bad. I'd buy it again, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. I think someone who likes leeks might like it a little better than I did, because I think it's just a flavor preference.

Tomato Soup with Garden Vegetables
"We cook red-ripe tomatoes to perfection, then combine them with hand-prepared squash, carrots, celery, green beans, and our own blend of Italian seasonings for a soup that is as full of flavor as it is fresh vegetables."

I've never really liked tomato soups, but I actually liked this one. I've bought this one several times now for lunch at work, and had some french bread with it. If you need something low calorie and pretty filling for a quick convenient lunch, this is  a good option.


Roasted Vegetable Soup
Rating: **1/2

Tomato Soup with Garden Vegetables
Rating: ***

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

[You can find Kettle Cuisine frozen soups at Sprouts and Whole Foods, I know for sure, but you can probably also find them at your local grocery store.]

Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Mac 'n' Cheese

Today is National Macaroni Day. Mac 'n' Cheese is probably the most popular way to use macaroni noodles. Good vegan Mac 'n' Cheese recipes used to be but a dream, but now there are many fantastic and inspired vegan recipes out there. I've gathered quite a bunch including some gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, grain-free, paleo, and raw vegan options. Some are baked, some are more traditional, some use nutritional yeast, or cashews, or Daiya shreds. Do some browsing and see which ones catch your eye.

The Recipes!

Cooking with the Vegan Zombie: Vegan Mac & Cheese


*Green's Chef Damon Brasch Vegan Mac-n-(Cashew-Cheddar)-Cheese

*Fat Free Vegan Kitchen's Easy Macaroni and Cheeze and Baked Macaroni and Cheese

*Happy Herbivore's Soy-Free Mac n' Cheese

*Chef Chloe's Vegan Mac 'N' Cheese

*Vegan Housewives' Southern Baked Mac & Cheese

*That Was Vegan?'s Cauliflower n' Cheese

*The Wannabe Chef's Gluten-Free Vegan Mac n Cheese

*Vegan Dad's Creamy Mac and Cheeze

*Post Punk Kitchen's Mac & Shews and Sunflower Mac

*VegWeb's No-Nooch, No-Tofu, Excellent Mac 'n' Cheese

*Happy Healthy Life's Fake-Out Mac 'n Cheese, Baked Dill Mac n Chreese (with spicy sausage), and Easy Mac n Cheese

*The Gluten Free Vegan's Mac & Cheese

*Manifest Vegan's Vegan Mac & Cheese

*Seitan Beats Your Meat's Jalapeno Mac n Cheese

*Allison Rivers Samson's Vegan Macaroni & Cheese (via VegNews)

*Cheeky Kitchen's Creamy (Vegan) Mac & Cheese

*Glutenfree Goddess' Best Vegan Baked Mac & Cheese

*Vegan Yack Attack's Mexican Macaroni & Cheeze

*The Noochy Noodle's Mac n’ Quiche With Caramelized Onions, Spinach and Smoky Curls

*My Darling Lemon Thyme's Roast Tomato and Thyme Macaroni 'Cheese'

*Vegetarian Times' Mac and Cheese

*Aylin Erman's Whole Wheat Macaroni and Sweet Potato Cheese (via EcoSalon)

*The Paleo Mama's Paleo Mac n Cheese

*Olives for Dinner's Vegan Macaroni and Cheese

*Get Sconed!'s Smokey Baked Mac n Cheese

*The Spunky Coconut's Butternut Mac-n-Cheese

*Vegan Yum Yum's Mac & Cheeze and Mac & Cheeze (Take 2)


*****************

Some Mac-n-Cheese recipes from popular vegan cookbooks that you might have handy (these are from the cookbooks I have handy):

Mac Daddy from Veganomicon
Mac and Trees from Appetite for Reduction
Baked Mac and Cheeze from Vegan Yum Yum
Claire’s Macaroni and “Cheeze” from La Dolce Vegan

The Noochy Noodle has a more thorough blog post on vegan Mac 'n' Cheese recipes in cookbooks, and a whole blog dedicated to vegan Mac 'n' Cheese, as a matter of fact.

*****************

Too hot? Don't feel like cooking? Restaurants!

Pomegranate Cafe has a Southwestern Mac & Cheese.

Green's Mac-n-Cheese isn't on the regular menu, but Chef Damon often offers it up as a special. Join the Green Facebook group or follow Green on Twitter for notices on specials.

Or if you are lucky enough to be in the area, Peta has a list of the top 5 vegan Mac-n-Cheese dishes at restaurants in the U.S.

*****************

Or you can always try one of these frozen meals.

I prefer the Amy's, but the Candle Cafe is pretty good too.

Candle Cafe's Macaroni & Vegan Cheese

Amy's Dairy Free Rice Macaroni & Cheeze

*****************

And, lastly, here are a couple of 'cooking' videos for raw vegan Mac 'n' Cheese.

Corin Stephenson's Raw Vegan Mac 'n' Cheez


Mrs. Leafy Greens' Raw Vegan "Macaroni and Cheese"

Sophie's Kitchen Breaded Vegan Fish Fillets and Vegenaise Tartar Sauce

Sophie's Kitchen Fish Fillets (and onion rings)

Recently Follow Your Heart released several new products, including Vegenaise Tartar Sauce. Never a fan of tartar sauce but definitely a fan of Vegenaise, I was really interested in trying it. I finally found it at Whole Foods, but I needed something to go with it. Luckily, I also found Sophie's Kitchen Breaded Vegan Fish Fillets.

I really liked the combination, so tasty! The tartar sauce is tangy, thick, and creamy. It's strong, so you don't need a lot. And the faux fish, well, I don't know how fishy it is on its own, but I liked the texture and I liked the flavor. Works for me! And the combination is definitely awesome.

The Vegenaise Tartar Sauce is gluten-free and soy free. And while Sophie's Kitchen Breaded Vegan Fish Fillets are not gluten-free, they do offer vegan scallops, prawns, shrimp, and crab cakes that are.

Sophie's Kitchen focuses on vegan seafood options; crab cakes, calamari, scallops, prawns, shrimp, and breaded shrimp, in addition to the breaded fish fillets. If you're interested in trying them, head over to the website because Sophie's Kitchen has a manufacturer's coupon for a buck off, good through December.

The other new items in the Vegenaise line are Horseradish Sauce, Pesto Vegenaise, Barbeque Vegnaise, Roasted Garlic Vegenaise, and Chipotle Vegenaise. Looking forward to trying some of these as well, but Whole Foods only had the Horseradish in stock as of this post.


Follow Your Heart's Vegenaise Tartar Sauce
Rating: ****1/2

Sophie's Kitchen Vegan Fish Fillets
Rating: ****

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

[You can find Vegenaise products and the Sophie's Kitchen line of seafood at Whole Foods. I think they are both relatively new products, so keep an eye out at the grocers who sell vegan items.]

Eating Vegan from Vending Machines

I've been meaning to do a post on how to eat vegan out of vending machines, because sometimes you just don't have a choice. But after a recent discovery, I have to tackle it a little differently than originally planned. Because, first, you have your generic junk foody vending machine, and then you have your healthy food vending machine!

Generic junk food vending machines often have accidentally vegan items.

Some common vegan options:

~plain salted nuts- usually your options are peanuts or cashews, most of the flavored nuts are not vegan
~classic potato chips- almost all big name brand plain potato chips are simply salt, oil, and potatoes

~Oreos- regular oreos, the cakey ones are not vegan
~Nutter Butters
~Snyder's of Hanover Pretzels
~Twizzler's Strawberry Licorice

It's not much, but it's something.

~~~

But then I recently came across the 2bu vending machine. This thing is wicked cool, and vegan, healthy food friendly. Mind blown!

Here's how it works. The 2bu Healthy Vending machine has a digital screen where you can review the ingredients and dietary information of every single item in the machine. In addition to that, you can see complete lists of all the items that are vegan, organic, gluten-free, or kosher. They source local items when they can, and they're Energy-Star rated with motion sensors for all the lighting.

The 2bu website says all of their snacks meet their standards of:
• All-natural ingredients
• More whole-grain selections
• No preservatives or artificial ingredients, flavors or sweeteners
• No trans-fats


You know what this means, right? I don't have to tell you what should be vegan in the 2bu Healthy Vending machine, the machine itself will tell you! That said, here are a couple great vegan snack options:


Sahale Snacks Soledad Nut Blend
(almonds, apples, and flax seeds, with date, balsamic vinegar and cayenne)
This mix is sooooo good! The ingredients sounded like a strange mix, but they work.


Alternative Baking Company Outrageous Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
ABC Baking Company is not my favorite vegan cookie maker, but these are very satisfying.

Some other vegan goodies: Original PopChips, Steaz Peach Iced Teaz, Larabars, Raw Revolution bars, and Coconut Water (can't remember which brand.)


Okay, it remains to be said, the big downside out of eating from vending machines is cost. And while junky food vending machines are pricey enough, the 2bu Healthy Vending is quite a bit more. Perhaps you get what you pay for, but I have to say that Soledad Nut Blend is rather more than I would want to spend from a vending machine. I am sure this is why it has debit/credit capability. It's not a pocket change kind of vendor. Still, it's a great start at a better world of vending!

Vegan Bake Sale- TODAY!

VEGAN BAKE SALE
Saturday, April 14th 11am-6pm

Baked Goods  (Gluten-Free options) ** Raffles ** Handmade Vegan Soaps 

This is going to be pure sweet tooth satisfaction! Local artists, bakers and individuals are donating their time and goodies to make this one amazing bake sale! Help us help the planet, feel free to bring your own take home container.

RAIN OR SHINE
All proceeds go to Autism Speaks

Please Bring Cash!
Location: Strawberry Hedgehog Headquarters
526 W. Mariposa St.
Phoenix, AZ 85013
http://strawberryhedgehog.com

Life Gets In the Way

Nami's Biscuits and Gravy, served on Sundays...DELISH!

This isn't a personal blog, so I have been avoiding talking about why the posting has been so sporadic and missing lately.  But I wanted to let you know that I'm sorry and I know it's been a bit of a bummer. The fact is there has been quite a lot of family trauma and drama over the past few months, on top of constant overtime at the day job and schoolwork. I'm afraid it has just been too much for me, and the blog has suffered a bit as a result.

/Whinefest/ I didn't even get to participate in most of Terry Hope Romero's recipe testing for her global vegan cookbook as I had planned.(Sorry, Terry!) And I also won't be at this year's Earth Day Phoenix 2012 event handing out vegan samples as I had planned. Both are huge disappointments for me. I am, however, hoping to contribute to the vegan bake sale next month! And I'm thinking that I'll be able to get this blog back up and running shortly.

I have a couple local restaurant reviews coming soon, so look for those. And April 1st is my veganiversary. 6 years, baby! If you have ideas on how I should celebrate, let me know!

On the Road: Seabirds Truck, Orange County, CA

Seabirds Truck

Seabirds Truck! Infamous from their run on season 2 of the Food Network's Great American Food Truck Race, the Seabirds have returned to their normal routine of serving food, gourmet truck-style in Orange County. I had been to California a few times recently but was unable to track them down. They move around a lot and if you don't have a certain time frame free, they can be  tricky to get to. The menu changes weekly too, but  a couple of the usual suspects tend to be on it, like the Sweet Potato Fries and the Beer Battered Avocado Tacos. Just follow their menu and schedule online. If you can manage it, the trip is worth it.

Sweet Potato Fries with Dipping Sauce

Before my visit to Seabirds, I had declared The Veggie Grill's Sweetheart Fries the best sweet potato fries I had ever eaten. And then I tried the ones from Seabirds. Oooooh. Even better! Lightly dusted with cinnamon with a delicious cilantro/jalapeno dipping sauce. Hello. Sounds like the flavors would conflict but not so. Really good. And it's your lucky day, because I just found a copy of the super tasty Seabirds Dipping Sauce recipe online. I can't help you with the fries though, unless the recipe is in the Seabirds Truck ecookbook.

Tempeh Biryani

I also ordered the Biryani because I had to try everything. While it was respectable, it was only okay. I am not a huge fan of Indian food to begin with (I wish I was-I keep trying), and I don't really like curry spice. Sadly, I think its biggest downfall for me was there were too many different ingredients mixed in. Eh. I wouldn't order it again.

Jackfruit Asada Taco

Next up I tried the Jackfruit Asada Taco served with salsa verde, chopped onions, and  cilantro. I was super intrigued by the jackfruit tacos and had heard many good reports. This version is the most popular, I believe, but they also use jackfruit in other menu items like the Island Jack Tacos and Jack Shwarma Tacos. Plus, jackfruit...what the hell was jackfruit anyway and why did it resemble pulled pork? The Jackfruit Asada Taco was spicy, sweet, and tangy. Pretty good.

Beer Battered Avocado Taco

But holy insane tastebuds, the Beer Battered Avocado Tacos were a.maz.ing. Served with the Seabirds Dipping Sauce, red onion, and cabbage slaw, these things are little slices of fried HEAVEN. I can't wait to go back for more of these and the fries. Mmmm.

Couple more things, Seabirds usually has about half their menu as Gluten-Free. And they used to do Raw Wednesdays, but I'm not sure if they do that anymore since I think Chef Raya is doing her own thing now, like giving raw food demos at Whole Foods Huntington Beach.

Seabirds Truck with Customers

Seabirds Truck
Ranking: ****1/2

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seabirds Truck
Location/Hours: Varies
Check the schedule on their website or follow their stops on Twitter.
http://seabirdstruck.com

Special bonus interview with Stephanie Morgan, Owner/Creator of Seabirds Truck

Cookies From Home

Cookies From Home, Lemon Pecan

Recently I visited AJ's Fine Foods in search of preserved lemons, and while AJ's focuses on upscale, specialty, and imported foods which makes them minimally vegan-friendly, I did stumble across some vegan Lemon Pecan Cookies from Tempe-based business, Cookies from Home.

I really liked the lemon pecan cookies. They're small cookies, maybe a little bigger than an Oreo, with 4 in a package. I think they were some of the best packaged vegan cookies I have had. So I went to their website to check them out and found they have a whole vegan category and they even offer some great tins of vegan cookies and brownies, perfect for gifts. Looks like they also have gluten-free options. I can't tell if all of their vegan cookies are also gluten-free, but the website kinda implies this.

Cookies From Home Gift Tin

And they've got a retail gift shop in Tempe. How cool is that!? At some point I'd like to visit their retail gift shop and see if I can taste-test some more of the vegan cookie and brownie options. The only thing missing from their website is a list of the vegan flavors, so I'm not sure what else they offer. Just a note, I don't know if Cookies From Home always offers vegan options in their retail gift shops, many times in places like this vegan options are considered special order items, so you might consider calling ahead to check.


Rating: ****

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

[You can find the small packaged cookies at AJ's Fine Foods. I'm not sure what other flavors are available, nor if they are carried at any other local shops. But you can find more options at their retail gift shop and order them online.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Cookies From Home
Retail Gift Shop
1605 W. University Dr. Unit 106
Tempe, AZ 85281
(800) 543-8133
http://www.cookiesfromhome.com/

Hours
Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm
Saturday, 10am to 4pm
Closed Sunday

Guest Post: 24 Carrots, Chandler, AZ

24 Carrots

Kenike: I was kind of hesitant to review 24 Carrots after my visit a few months ago, as I didn't really get a chance to experience the cafe. I was in and out rather quick, on my way to a workshop, and they were about to close.  Luckily, we have a guest poster today to do the review for us. Please welcome, Carla Brown, here to do our very first guest post!

***

24 Carrots is a quaint café nestled between a Subway and a Caribbean restaurant on the northwest corner of Kyrene and Chandler Boulevard in Chandler. I’ve been practically stalking the owner, Sasha, on Facebook – I’m unsure how I even found her page – hungrily going over the pictures of her daily specials. I finally found the time to make the trek to this established café.

24 Carrots, Interior

The restaurant reminds me of a coffee shop with its bookshelf, coffee tables, and coach nestled in the back. This feeling is confirmed by the tattooed young man behind the counter. Today’s burger special is a Black Bean Pumpkin Burger with the choice of salad, tortilla chips, or carrots. I am a true sucker for anything pumpkin. In fact, the sole reason I came to this location rather than my usual haunts was the online promise of pumpkin bars, which I purchased immediately and took a bite while waiting for my meal. It was sweet with a cake-like texture topped with raw pumpkin seeds.

But back to the burger – it came out with tortilla chips on a whole wheat bun. The first bite tasted like a delicious mixture of Thanksgiving stuffing and cranberry sauce. It was, unfortunately, messy, but was easily scooped up with the chips. The chef made an appearance to ask how it was and I could only nod my head and give a thumbs-up since my mouth was still full with her tasty creation. Then she said something that made me want to kiss her, “We have a pumpkin cheesecake.” SOLD! The raw vegan pumpkin slice of heaven came on a fig-nut crust and was very rich. I would suggest splitting it. There were artistic swirls of cranberry sauce as a beautiful final touch.

Raw Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake

The rest of 24 Carrots’ menu consists of a full juice and smoothie bar, noshing plates, soups, salads, sandwiches and wraps, Mediterranean and Asian-inspired meals, and pizza. There is an extensive brunch menu and a few select items for the kiddos.

24 Carrots

Carla's Rating: ****

***** awesome! Highly recommended.

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
24 Carrots
6140 W. Chandler Blvd. Suite #2
Chandler, AZ 85226
(480) 753-4411
http://www.24carrotsjuice.com/

Hours
Monday - Friday  8am - 6pm
Saturday  8am -5pm
Sunday Closed


Bio:

Carla Brown is a part time writer and full time food lover. This meek, hippycore misfit from the Midwest plays is a blocker for Arizona Roller Debry. Her ideal world would include her significant other and skates in a treehouse, but not much else. Oh, and vegan cookies, but not much more than that.

Jerk Tofu with Pineapple Slaw Sammie, Tortilla Chips, Pickle, and Strawberry Coconut Water Smoothie

On the Road: Lovin' Spoonfuls, Tucson, AZ

Lovin' Spoonfuls

Lovin' Spoonfuls is a 100% vegan restaurant located near the University of Arizona campus in Tucson. I'd say that, overall, they serve vegan comfort foods; a wide variety of them at that. You can find tofu scrambles, country fried chicken, lasagna, fries, chocolate cake, stroganoff, and veggie burgers but also thai curry, dolmas, egg rolls, and polenta. They also have a separate gluten-free menu.

Lovin' Spoonfuls, Interior

They have a nice dining room with plenty of tables and booths. Or you can eat on the patio.


Two omnis accompanied me to Lovin' Spoonfuls for this visit. One got the Southwest Breakfast Burrito which wasn't as spicy or "chorizo"ed as he would have liked. I didn't try it, but it was huge.

Southwest Breakfast Burrito

Southwest Breakfast Burrito, Innards

My other companion took on two appetizers for her meal, the nuggets and fries. I stole some fries, which were average (and they needed more salt). And I snared a good few of the nuggets too. We dipped them in an apple-y sweet and sour sauce which I liked. I thought the nuggets were good, but maybe a teeny bit skimpy on the mock meat parts. I wouldn't hesitate to order their fried deliciousness again.

Golden Nuggets and Shoestring French Fries

I ordered the Route 66 Bacon Cheeseburger because I am a sucker for them. I didn't realize the burger came with chips or I would not have picked the potato salad as the side. Oh well. The potato salad was ok. It was better than my own homemade attempts have been, so I was satisfied. I'm just having trouble finding the perfect potato salad these days. Maybe it's like an alchemical delusion- the perfect version doesn't exist. The sandwich itself was good, though I have to admit I have had better vegan bacon cheeseburgers....Native Foods comes to mind.

Route 66 Bacon Cheeseburger with Potato Salad & Poore Brothers Chips

I also made sure to sample the Tempura Shrimp. These battered shrimps were so delish! My only problem was they were served with a spicy cocktail sauce which did not complement them at all. I would love for these to be served with that sweet and sour sauce or some kind of sweet chili sauce. I really want a do over on these faux shrimps, where I can eat them properly sauced.

Tempura Shrimp with Spicy Seafood Sauce

We also shared a piece of Raspberry Orange Cake. The cake was slightly orange flavored with raspberry filling and a light chocolate frosting. I neglected to snap a picture, but we all agreed the cake was really good.

Lovin' Spoonfuls even placed 3rd in PETA's Top 5 Vegan Pies ranking with their Banana Cream Pie. That's a pretty high honor!

Lovin' Spoonfuls is worth the visit. The food is pretty good and the owner is super nice. If you are in Tucson, it would be silly to miss this place.


Lovin' Spoonfuls
Ranking: ***3/4

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

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Lovin’ Spoonfuls

2990 N. Campbell Avenue

Tucson, AZ 85719

(520) 325-7766

http://www.lovinspoonfuls.com/

Hours

Monday - Saturday 9:30am to 9pm

Sunday 10am to 3pm

Majans Bhuja Cracker Mix

Majans Bhuja Craker Mix

Majans Bhuja Cracker Mix is tasty. Mmm. A bit addictive too. I'd always wanted a little snack like this. And most that are similar in design have always had something just a bit off about the taste. But I liked every bit of this snack mix. The Bhuja Cracker Mix has rice crackers, multigrain noodles, green peas, peanuts, chick peas, and sultanas that are flavored with chiles, turmeric, paprika, corriander, and cumin. The sultanas fit in the least, but there are only a few of them so they are come across as just a small oddity, and they're by no means unwelcome.

There were several other mix flavors, and I'm looking forward to giving those a try too. I think I'll be using these to fill up snack bowls when friends come over.

Majans Bhuja Cracker Mix

Rating: ****

***** awesome! Highly recommended.

**** hey, this is pretty dang good.

*** not bad at all.

** eh.

* bad. Keep looking for alternatives.

[These are brand new products at Sprouts, and I found them on a display near the produce section. Not sure who else has them yet or will be getting them.]

Laughing Giraffe Organics Goji Cacao & Maca Snackaroons

Laughing Giraffe Organics Snackaroons

Occasionally, I like to dabble in raw vegan foods. I'd probably eat more premade, storebought raw food snacks, but they're just usually a little more expensive than I prefer. Plus, it's like playing Battleship. Miss, Miss, Hit, Miss.

Well, friends, the Laughing Giraffe Organics Goji Cacao & Maca Snackaroons are serious hits. These delicious nuggets are made from: unsweetened coconut, agave nectar, almonds, extra virgin coconut oil, vanilla extract, cacao, goji berries, maca, and Himalayan pink salt. No more, no less.


Laughing Giraffe Organics Snackaroons



Mmm. What else to say about them? They're little macaroon balls of gluten-free sweetness. But not too sweet, and one little snowball is  quite satisfying. I'm gonna have to try some of the other flavors.




Laughing Giraffe Organics Goji Cacao & Maca Snackaroons
Rating: ****

***** awesome! Highly recommended.
**** This is pretty dang good.

*** not bad at all.

** eh.

* bad. Keep looking for alternatives.

[So far, I've only seen these at Whole Foods.]