I was feeling a bit tired today, and when Mr. Muy Vegan recommended a treat to help me through the day, I remembered that I haven’t visited Mister Fruitcup for a while.
This deliriously delicious vegan cacao fruitcup made my day:
My husband and I spent a few days on the Oregon coast in August. This was our second time to this part of Oregon, but our first time as vegans. I researched our vegan food options ahead of time.
For our drive out from Portland, Oregon we cheated and picked up lunch from Bui Natural Tofu before leaving Portland and had a tofu spring roll picnic with bright green vegan dessert in the car about halfway.
The next time we are in Portland this place will definitely be on our list.
We stayed at the award winning and eco-friendly Craftsman Bed & Breakfast in Pacific City, Oregon. I requested vegan breakfasts when making our reservations. Sadly I didn’t take any pictures of our food. Each morning we had fresh out of the oven vegan muffins and hot cereal topped with fresh fruit. Mike the host made us as much good strong coffee by the cup that we could handle. The vegan snack in the afternoon was a nice touch. I would highly recommend this B&B to anyone spending time on the Oregon Coast. Check out the link for further details.
We ate at the Pelican Pub & Brewery two of the nights. I emailed the pub before our trip to find out which food could be made vegan and if they had any vegan beer. Their one vegan beer is Winema Wit. I enjoyed one on their patio with the lovely view of the Pacific Ocean.
I ordered the vegan version of the Soy-Lime Grilled Chicken Salad. The tofu had great texture and went well with the noodle salad.
For our second dinner at the Pelican I went with the Spent Grain Vegetable Burger, which was just okay and possibly why I forgot to take a picture of it.
The first full day on the coast we headed south, stopping at the Barking Dog Farm. The people were helpful and friendly, the organic produce was beautiful, and the setting was perfect. It was definitely worth the little detour off of the main highway.
We continued south to Newport, OR for some sightseeing and had lunch at the artsy and unique Cafe Mundo. Read about how it came to be on the history section of the website.
The menu had a good selection of vegan items, which made it difficult to decide what to order. I ended up getting the tempeh burger. It was yummy and you could tell that the tempeh was homemade!
We made a quick stop at the food co-op Oceana (established in 1977) before leaving Newport as I am always curious about new food co-ops.
The next day we headed north from Pacific City. We walked on the beach at Oceanside, OR.
We saw the Cape Mears Lighthouse.
For lunch we managed to find something vegan at the 2nd Street Public Market in Tillamook, OR. Divine Burger Bistro had a portabella sandwich, the only vegan option in the whole market, so we each ordered one. The sandwiches were decent, but I would not go out of my way to visit Tillamook or the market.
We had a relaxing time on the Oregon Coast, but by the morning of day three we were ready to get back to vegan friendly Portland and spend a few days there.
In honor of the cooler weather my husband and I made chili for dinner. It is one of our favorite meals to cook together. There are some staple ingredients, but the types of beans, protein, and veggies change from batch to batch. Most of the amounts are also guesstimates based on previous version of our chili.
Here is the list of the ingredients we used this time:
Toppings:
We made a huge pot. After enjoying our chili dinner, I transferred the remaining chili into containers, putting half in the fridge and half in the freezer. Chili makes wonderful leftovers as the flavor gets even better after a couple of days.
Three vegan ladies (Lazy Smurf, Lone Star Plate, Nanette) and myself put on pretty dresses and met up for a fancy pants dinner at Lenoir. A huge shout out to Lazy Smurf for calling ahead and giving the restaurant notice that four lovely vegan women would be dining at Lenoir and were anticipating a scrumptious vegan meal.
Shortly after being seated by our sweet server, the chef and owner, Todd, arrived at our table to give us the run down for our four course vegan dinner. Todd was pleasant and patient from start to finish. He lovingly talked about the works of art he had created just for us. The descriptions of each course as it arrived added a whole new level to our vegan dining experience.
Thank you Todd and Lenoir for making it a Fancy Feast to remember!
Tacos are a big hit at our house, regardless of what vegan ingredients the tortillas hold. Today’s tacos included leftover vegan cowboy scramble from Mr Natural, avocado, kidney beans, garden cherry tomatoes, and garden green bell peppers. The tortillas I used are my new favorite: El Lago Probiotic Multi Grain Flour Tortillas. I heated up the tortillas in a dry pan on the stove, for about 15-20 seconds on each side. Cook them longer if you want them to be crunchy.
I like my coffee hot in the morning, but I prefer cold coffee in the afternoon. This cold coffee is a Caffeinated Monkey Smoothie.
*I don’t measure ingredients for smoothies. After blending you can add of any of the ingredients that aren’t strong enough.
What is your favorite way to prepare coffee?
Whole Foods offers three topping large pizzas for $9.99 at their South Lamar, Austin location on Thursdays. The best part is no up charge for vegan cheese.
Last night we treated ourselves after yoga to a pizza with BBQ sauce, Daiya cheddar cheese, Field Roast sausage, artichoke hearts, and mixed bell peppers on a whole wheat crust.
We enjoyed our pizza and the gorgeous Austin fall weather on the Whole Foods patio. The pizza box has built in plates and converts into a to go box for leftovers.
I am new to blogging and thought that Vegan MoFo (Month of Food) would be a great motivator to blog a bunch in the month of October. I’m looking forward to connecting with the other Vegan MoFo bloggers and checking out what they are blogging about.
This past weekend I camped at Utopiafest. I had a blast at this amazing music festival situated in the beautiful Hill Country outside of Utopia, TX.
As I vegan I have learned to plan ahead when traveling. I research the vegan options and also pack my own vegan snacks. I filled a whole tote bag with snacks:
I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to find enough vegan food options for my lunch and dinners. I scanned the food vendor list ahead of time. Here is what I ate:
Friday Dinner: Bahn mi’s Tofu Sandwich from Bahn Bahn
Saturday Breakfast: coffee from Cenote
Saturday Lunch: Vegan portobello and pecan hummus wrap from Zedric’s
Saturday Dinner: Pesto Pasta: Zucchini and Summer Squash Noodles with fresh Pesto and Garden Tomatoes from Dr Rawsome
Check out the Utopiafest Facebook Page for more details and pictures of this fun, music filled weekend.
In honor of fall I ate a vegan pumpkin cinnamon roll from Sugar Circus.
I love all things pumpkin flavored, so when Sugar Circus posted their vegan pumpkin cinnamon roll on Facebook I knew I had to go there right away and get one.
Meghan offered and I accepted a complementary mimosa when I picked up the roll- nice touch Sugar Circus!
The to go roll was placed in a pretty pink box for me. This box is too cute to recycle. Maybe I’ll reuse it for office supplies or stationary. Or I could bring it back to fill with more vegan goodies on my next trip to Sugar Circus.
Before taking the first bite. The beautiful pumpkin cinnamon roll had a photo shoot. Java the mostly vegan cat joined in the fun and tried to steal the spotlight and the cinnamon roll.
The vegan pumpkin cinnamon roll was good, but I would prefer it to be more pumpkiny. It would also be delicious with caramel and pecans.
What is your favorite fall food?
I had some okra that I needed to use up while still fresh.
1. Rinse okra
2. Oil pan
3. Sprinkle pepper, sea salt and season salt on okra
4. Spray okra with oil
5. Preheat oven to 450F
6. Roast until okra turns brown, stirring occasionally
7. Enjoy!
*I used olive oil but any oil would do
