Day Trip to Socal and the Hunt for Vegan Fried Chicken

This past weekend, hubby and I took a trip down to southern Cal so I could try out some vegan chicken from Original Herbivore which is a restaurant I discovered on Instagram. While waiting for the Original Herbivore to open, we went one of our favorite vegan restaurants Veggie Grill. While at Veggie Grill, I tried their new deli sandwich while hubby had their new rueben sandwich. Both sandwiches were delicious! 

Veggie Grill Encino and sandwiches

After eating lunch at Veggie Grill, we drove to Sherman Oaks so I could try the vegan chicken at Original Herbivore. While there, we ordered a bucket of vegan chicken which came with tater tots, biscuits, coleslaw and bbq vegan wings. The vegan chicken was crunchy and wingz were moist and chewy.

Food from Original Herbivore Sherman Oaks

Yesterday there was a chicken celebration food truck event in Fresno which is not took far from where live so we decided to go since one of my favorite Fresno food truck's (Plant Slayer) was going to be there and they were going to have a special vegan fried chicken bucket with 8 piece of vegan legs and thighs. The vegan chicken was good and even better since it came with four dipping sauces" buffalo, ranch, bbq and honey mustard.

Vegan 8 piece bucket from Plant Slayer food truck

The vegan chicken I had this week was different yet enjoyable and I'm so happy that there are creative people working to find new ways to replicate food they used to enjoy before becoming vegan.

Trip to West Coast Youth Conference 2018, new library card and vegan food

     This past weekend, me and hubby went to Ontario, California to attended to West Coast Youth Conference as well as Engage Pastor's Retreat which was for Seventh Day Adventist pastors as well as bible workers.

West Coast Youth Conference 2018 program

The conference was good and we were able to see lots of young people on fire for God. Hubby and I also assisted the kids with a community outreach project through Harvest Pack company of  assembling packets of oatmeal for poor community members.

Assembling oatmeal packets for community impact

Me and hubby ready to supervise kids 

 The final night of the event was a concert help with performances from Nick Miller and Dale Brown and Truth which was fun and high energy. I hope all the kids left the conference with a renewed sense of purpose and love for God and sharing his word with others. I was also happy to run into an friend from Southside S.D.A. who attended the conference as well.

Last night at West Coast You Conference 

Me and friend Kristen

 Of course no trip to a new town is complete with a stop by the local library. On the day I went to pick up my race packet for the Carlsbad 5000, I decided to stop by the library to get a library card. The library staff was nice, it was easy to get a library card and the I got to pose by their book bike.

Me by Carlsbad book bike and new library card

     While in Southern California, we also stopped by our favorite restaurant Veggie Grill and was able to try food from their new Spring Celebration menu. My mom-in-law had their taco salad, I had a steakhouse burger and hubby has a Nashville Hot Chickn sandwich. I also tried out their new meatballs and polenta after I finished my Carlsbad 5000 5K on Sunday. All of the food was delicious and we'll definitely try it again.

Super Taco Salad

Steakhouse Burger

Nashville Hot Chikun Sandwich

Meatballs and Polenta Bowl

 Since I love vegan baked goods, I used the Happy Cow app on my phone to finish a place to scratch my sweets itch. I was super excited to discover a donut shot with vegan options not too far from out hotel in Ontario called Donuts Xpress. Walking into the donut shop reminded me of being at Ronalds in Vegas and they also had a similar donut set up (first two rows were vegan.) There were so many delicious looking choices and in the end I chose an apple fritter, and donut with sprinkles and a cinnamon roll. All were pretty big and they were good and hit the spot. 

Donuts Xpress entrance

Vegan apple fritter

Vegan donut with sprinkles

Vegan cinnamon roll

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.