Half Marathon #4 is done and vegan Thanksgiving feast!

This past weekend I went to Walt Disney World for the first time and also completed my fourth half marathon. Disney World was really fun, surprisingly accommodating to me with my vegan diet and also a bit overwhelming at times. Here are some photos from our trip as well as the two medals I received for completing the race and completing a race in Disneyland and Disney World.

Here's us at Hollywood Studios

Here's us at the Wine & Dine 1/2 Marathon Expo

Here's me before the Wine & Dine 1/2 Marathon

Here's the two medals I received after the race - 1 for completing the half marathon and a second medal for completing two races at both Walt Disney World & Disneyland in the same year

  Here's a yummy falafel veggie burger I ate at Downtown Disney World

 
 Here are some delish vegan carrot cake cupcakes from Babycakes NYC in Downtown Disney World

 

Below is the vegan Thanksgiving feast me and Den had made by Chef Joy at Viva La Vegan grocery in Rancho Cucamonga. We ended up flying to see my family in Alabama for Thanksgiving and it was fun seeing them after a year and after having lost so much weight.

If you'd like to see more photos, you can visit my flickr page by going to flickr and typing the name bamalibrarylady and go to the Destination Disney World set.

Half marathon #3 done and getting some love at LBVE

This past Saturday, I completed my third half marathon at Marathon Mania in Long Beach. I was really stoked to participate because it was a smaller race (less than 30 people participating), the race had no time limit and it was my first time doing a running event on the beach. Not only was it a blast to do but I also achieved a personal record of 2:45! Here's photos of me after the race and my medal that was specially made in honor of Mother's Day.

After I finished doing the half marathon in Long Beach, me and Den decided to go try the food at Long Beach Vegan Eatery. Although it's gotten mixed reviews online, I felt I owed it to them to give the place a try. I think my biggest issues with the online reviews is that they complain the you have to bus your own table and that it's not the healthiest vegan food. The irony with this is that the restaurant plainly states on its menu that their goal is to make vegan comfort food that is tasty yet cruelty free.

Long Beach Vegan Eatery-Long Beach, CA

The restaurant was nice and big and the owners were very friendly. After reading the menu, I decided to try their LBV Beefless and Cheese sandwich, Den ordered the Mock Meatball Sub and we got a vegan grilled cheeze with fries to go along with a vegan rice crispy treat for Den's dessert and a whoopie pie for me.

LBV Beefless and Cheese Sandwich

This sandwich was pretty good but I asked for a side of veganaise because it was a little dry to me. I loved that the sandwich was pile high with vegan beef strips, onions, green peppers and mushrooms. Although you can't tell from this photo, there's cheese under the beef  as well. I enjoyed the sandwich and would definitely order it again.

Mock Meatball Sub with Sweet Potato Tots

Den ordered the mock meatball sub (made with TVP) with a side of sweet potato tots. The meatballs were smothered in marinara sauce and although the sauce wasn't bland, it also wan't earth shattering taste wise either. The meatballs were dense and tasty and the sweet potato tots were the perfect accompaniment to the massive sub.  



Vegan grilled cheeze with french fries

 Since we were full after eating the sandwiches yet wanted to try something else on the menu, we decided to order the vegan grilled cheeze off the kids menu. I'm not sure what cheeze they use for this sandwich but it's interesting.....not good or bad but different. The slices don't melt completely like but it does have a good amount of chewiness. I also like the wheat bread that they use for this sandwich-quite delish!

 



Vegan Rice Crispy Treat

For dessert, Den got a gluten free vegan rice crispy treat. It was simple but really good. Here's a photo of Den enjoying his dessert.



Den enjoying vegan rice crispy treat

Vegan whopie pie

Last but certainly not least was the vegan whoopie pie. It was so tasty I may go back there and just order this. It was two slices of chocolaty vegan cakes hugging a mount of thick sweet vanilla creme. When I took my first bite, I thought I died and went to vegan dessert heaven;yes, it's that good. Our trip to the Long Beach Vegan Eatery was tasty, fun, and filling; we're definitely gonna go back whenever we're in town.  



New menu items at Veggie Grill!

Me and Den went to Veggie Grille in El Segundo for my birthday and was pleasantly surprised by some of their new menu items. The first new menu item we tried was the cauli-mashed potatoes; although I liked them just fine, Den wasn't a fan and said they tasted too much like cauliflower and not enough like potatoes.

Den decided to try the new buffalo bomber sandwich which consisted of  a crispy chickin' breast tossed in buffalo sauce, tomato, red onion, lettuce, ranch dressing and after talking to a Veggie Grill employee, he decided to add avocado to his bomber. He said the said was pretty good but not nearly as good as his favorite sandwich, the Santa Fe Crispy Chickin'.

For my new menu item choice, I picked the urban plate which contained a blackened tempeh-carmelized onion-portobello mushroom stack, steamin' kale, a sliced tomato salad and chipotle ranch. I liked that it was gluten free so my sister in law could eat it if she wanted to and I was also really impressed by the way the food was presented on the plate. It looked upscale and tasted good as well.

We love veggie grill and you can best believe that we'll be back to try some more of their new menu items soon.

Vegan Eats in Asheville, North Carolina

It's been a while since I've written but I'm back with pictures of the fantastic food I had while on a girl's trip to Asheville, North Carolina with my best friend Keesha. We had a wonderful time touring the Biltmore Estate and we also enjoyed eating great food. Although Keesha isn't vegan or even vegetarian, she was a good sport by eating at a vegan restaurant with me. This first pic shows what I ate when we went to Barley's Taproom and Pizzeria which was a spinach salad and a sub with teriyaki marinated tofu, olives, mushrooms, and atichoke hearts. It was healthy as well as really tasty.
This next picture shows what I ate when we went to Rosetta's Kitchen, a great vegan restaurant in Asheville. I ordered a portobello swiss melt without the swiss, added avocado slices had some sweet potato fries and a side of vegan mac and cheese which was made with nutritional yeast. It was really yummy!

After my sandwich, I was still hungry and craving something sweet so I decided to have a slice of their chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. After my first bite of the cake I felt like I died and went to vegan cake heaven!

The next day, we went to tour the Biltmore Estate and afterwards, we went shopping in downtown Asheville.I had read online about this great chocolate shop called French Broad Chocolate Lounge that had vegan truffles. We stopped by there and I bought this chocolate balsamic truffle.

Mmmmmmm.....this was one tasty truffle! Here's a shot right after I bit into the chocolatey goodness. I would normally pair chocolate and balsamic vingear together but it was surprisingly good. Great trip and great food-you can't beat that!

Vegan Gumbo or there's a first time for everything

Tonight Den decided to try his hand at making vegan gumbo. In order to make the gumbo, he used Bayouland Magic gumbo mix and then he added okra, carrots, corn, green beans and cut up pieces of tofukey tomato and basil vegan bratwurst. Although I've never eaten gumbo before, since Den usually makes great meals, I decided to give the gumbo a try. Here's a picture of the gumbo right after Den combined all of theigredients.

Below is a picture of the gumbo served on a bed of white rice. Overall, I liked the gumbo because it was spicy but not too hot. While the gumbo was good, I didn't really like the okra in the gumbo at all, the taste and texture didn't really feel quite right in my mouth.Other than the okra, the gumbo was great.

Assorted vegan goodies

Just wanted to write about some of the yummy food that I've had lately, both homemade and store bought. First up is a wonderful vegan pizza that Den made for dinner a couple of weeks ago. This pizza was made on a wheat crust using Ragu spaghetti sauce and topped with mushrooms, olives, artichoke hearts and onions. Not only was it simple to make, it tasted fantastic!

Next is a loaf of vegan banana bread that I bought at Garden Cove ( a local natural foods store). It's always comforting to go to a store that as vegan options as well as nut-free options (since Den is allergic). The loaf was small in appearance but big on taste.

Tonight for dinner we had baked potatoes with Lightlife Smart BBQ and Tofutti Sour Cream-healthy and tasty. So there it is-three tasty vegan goodies I've have lately.

Thanksgiving in September

Lately, I've been thinking about what to eat for Thanksgiving and other holidays since I've recently became a vegan. While shopping at Foods for Life, a local natural foods store, we saw Tofurkey with stuffing and I decide to test it out. Den cooked the Tofurkey,yams and wild rice. Overall, Tofurky gets my seal of approval. It tasted good and I can definitely see myself having it for holiday dinners.

Some of the best chinese food in southern California

Recently, me and Den had to take a short trip to California to take care of some business. While we were tere, we had the opportunity to visit our favorite Chinese restuarant, Dragon House. What I love about Dragon House is that the restuarant has a separate vegetarian menu. Here's some pictures of the yummy food that we had when we went there. Just so you don't think me and Den were pigging, it was actually Me, Den, Den's Dad and Den's stepmom eating all this food at Dragon House.




This is a picture of Dragon House's Vegetarian Beef and Broccoli







The bowl up top contains vegetarian orange chicken while the bowl on the bottom contains vegetarian sweet and sour chicken.Although it was vegetarian, I asked the server whether or not it was vegan friendly and he said it was. Their food is always something I look forward to when we visit California.

Chocolate temptation then Chinese chicken & broccoli

Athough I've beeen doing pretty good with my new vegan lifestyle, there are some areas I'm still weak in such as when co-workers bring in chocolate candy from a trip overseas. I've had my moment of weakness and almost gave in but in the end, I stood my ground. Yay me! I'm doing my best to take it one day at a time and reassure myself that by not eating eggs or dairy, I am helping animals and not hurting them.

Last night Den made a tasty dinner of Chinese chicken and broccoli however since money's kinda tight right now, he cut up some veggie chicken nuggets rather than using Morningstar chike strips and instead of using regular white rice, he used a bag of pre-mixed rice and vegatables. Surprisingly, it was very filling and I told him he'll definitely have to make this again.

Labor Day weekend road trip

Today Den,my mom and I decided to take a road trip to Scottsboro and visit the Unclaimed Baggage Center. Unclaimed Baggage is a cool store in Scottsboro, Alabama where you can buy items that were found in luggage people have lost at airports. Every once in a while, you can find something good. Although I didn't find anything over there today, we did find some tasty food at an outdoor market a block away from the store so we went there after visiting Unclaimed Baggage.

Mom+ Funnel Cake=Love
The first booth we stopped at was selling funnel cakes and both me and Den were shocked when my mom told us she'd never had one before. While she was initially cautious about eating it (she thought the powdered sugar was a bit too much), she couldn't get enough of it.
The Pita of Yumminess
After we finished up the funnel cake, we decided that we need to find some lunch with a little more substance. Fortunately for us not too far from the funnel cake booth was a booth selling Greek food like gyros, homemade potato chips and kebabs. At that booth, I was able to pick up a veggie gyro or what I've nicknamed "the pita of yumminess" which you can see below. The veggie gyro has peppers, whole olives, cabbage, lettuce, and tomatoes which have been simmering in their own juices all day. It was extremely tasty!



Vegan Nachos for Dinner is a fiesta on my plate
After ending our road trip and taking mom home, it was dinner time for us and Den decided to make nachos. While he did miss cheese and sour cream at first, since he had other toppings like tomatoes,onions, olives, salsa and guacamole, he got over it and we had a great dinner. After all this eating today,I'm stuffed-happy but stuffed.

Great food all day

Lunch
Today I went out to lunch at Rosie's Mexican Cantina with my co-workers in honor of his birthday. Considering I hadn't been there before, I wanted to make sure I had a dairy free lunch and I'm happy I was able to eat out with friends and not feel out of place. The veggie fajitas were very filling since it was made up of carrots,mushrooms, onions, peppers, rice, beans and tortillas.

Dinner

Tonight for Dinner, Den decided to make me a childhood favorite of his as which was a reuben. Den had some convincing to do since the only thing I knew about a reuben was that the sandwich usually had sauerkraut on it and I can't stand the smell of sauerkraut. Den made the rubens by using Lightlife turkey,red wine vinegar and fajita onions and peppers. This was really good, especially once I put it on a hoagie roll and spread on some veganaise which is my new favorite sandwich spread.

My new Red Robin favorite-the Natural Burger

Me and Den were debating where to go out for dinner tonight and finally decided on Red Robin. Since I'm still new to veganism, I was kind stuck in reference to what choices were available for me to eat there. It's weird how I'm noticing the small things on menus now that I used to ignore before;it's like every Red Robin burger had either cheese, mayo, or both.

Initially I was going to order what I usually get which is the California Chicken Burger (subbed with Boca Burger) and request it without the cheese, mayo or bacon. After thinking it over for a few minutes, both Den ad I agreed that this would making the order process harder than it needed to be and suggested that I order the Natural Burger and add a side of guacamole since I love guacamole so much. Reading the contents of the Natural Burger on the menu, it seemed like a safe bet considering it contained neither cheese or mayo so I ordered it (subbed with Boca Burger) and hoped for the best.

Once my natural burger arrived,I immediately put all of fixings on the burger and took a big bite. Oh My God,it was fantastic! This was the perfect cure for my burger & fries craving and I'm definitely gonna order this the next time we eat at Red Robin. I was happy that had the option of either french fries or melon and that I was able to go out to eat with my husband and still leave the restaurant feeling full but not overly stuffed.

My new Sunday Breakfast Favorite

Usually, me and Den head over to Steak'n Shake for breakfast on Sunday
but yesterday, he decided to make a vegan verison of our favorite scrambled eggs with veggies that we always eat when we go over there. He went to Kroger and but the MorningStar Farms Sausage crumbles, some tofu, and olives then scrambled it all together. This was really tasty, especially with bagels.

Vegan Veggie Pizzas

Last night my husband made some delish vegan veggie pizzas. For pizza crust, we went to Walmart & found some wheat olive and rosemary foccaica rolls and used Newman's Marinara spaghetti sauce as a base. After that, Den piled it high with olives, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts. Yummy!