Vegan in Autumn

Veggie Grill one of my favorite new vegan restaurants in the Bay Area so far but I'd love to explore more delicious vegan places. They have some amazing places in San Francisco and San Jose as well. I love Fall time. Autumn is probably one of my favorite times of year. I break out my boots and warm leggings, scarves and bundle up. Make vegan sugar cookies, sip coffee and hot cider by the fire and create delicious veggie stews to warm me up. This fall I have enjoyed creating more art, hanging with friends and going for many hikes. I love hiking during fall time more than Summer because you don't get as tired from the sun. I went leaf picking with my husband the other day to find pretty maple leaves to hang by our chimney. I look forward to many more nature walks, hikes and celebrating. Winter will be wonderful and I can't wait for that. Below: some of my favorite things in Autumn. 

Delicious seasonal butternut squash soup at Veggie Grill. 

Warm up with a vegan latte' 

SO good! 

Beautiful fall leaves! 

Vegan sweet potato pie :D 

Simple vegan tacos

When I don't have a lot of time and want to make simple vegan tacos I just heat up a can of vegetarian refried beans, chop up half an avocado, salsa and tomatoes. You can heat up taco shells and add in some vegan cheese if you want but I prefer them just plain. 

Vegan pumpkin spiced latte DIY

Don't get too down about not being able to drink the pumpkin flavored coffees at cafe's if you are vegan. To be honest, most of the ones my friends have tried are far too sweet and full of junk. I personally enjoy to make my own healthier, less sugar, vegan version of a spiced latte.

What you need:

1. Pumpkin flavored coffee or if you want something sweet try regular coffee and pumpkin flavor syrup. (I warn you it does get sweet so use as much or as little as you like. I personally like a bit less sugar so I just sweeten my coffee with organic sugar. )

2. Vanilla flavored almond milk or vanilla flavored soy milk

3. Vegan whip cream to top

4. Dash of cinnamon or nutmeg


Brew espresso use one or two shots or if you don't have espresso maker you can brew medium to strong cup of coffee, warm milk up on stove top and combine with coffee. (Use as much or as little to your liking. To make it more latte' you can use more milk if you wish.) Top with dollop of vegan whip cream, throw a dash of cinnamon or spices on there and voila!

Lists of vegan options at a few shops I love to go to

Sometimes it can be a challenge to find vegan options if they don't have a vegan section. I usually will go to a list of vegan options at stores so I can write down items I'd like to get before I shop besides the obvious fruits and veggies. Here they are:

1. Trader Joes 
2. Whole Foods  (Couldn't find vegan whole foods list yet but did find vegan comfort food recipes! )
3. Starbucks  (There are many other vegan starbucks links but this one was cool and it had pics)

 This next list isn't a store but it is one of my favorites! The accidental vegan food list from PETA
4. Accidentally Vegan food List


And finally for your eyes to feast on...here area  few photos of the food I got with my hubby at Veggie Grill. If you haven't gone there yet, please go. It is amazing and sooo yummy!! Oh and EVERYTHING is vegan there :D

Summer Salad

This was a great idea for a summer spring salad. I have seen it on several blogs but my friend on her blog added kale to it. This seems like a great idea to get nutrients. 

Here is what I did to make mine: 

*bow tie pasta (make sure it doesn't have eggs)

*1 bunch of kale (chopped)

*two tomatoes (chopped) 

*tablespoon of grain mustard

*a few table spoons of olive oil

*tablespoons of vinagarrete 

*a splash of dried herbs

*2 cloves of garlic of half an onion

*chickpeas (My friend used kidney beans but you can use whatever beans you have in the kitchen for extra protein. I also added a small dash of salt. 

Directions:

Boil pasta to however soft you like it. 

Steam kale with some garlic or onion.

Throw in canned beans (drained) 

When pasta is drained add all ingredients together: chopped tomatoes, kale, herbs, kale mustard, vinegar, and olive oil. Top with vegan cheese or some avocado. 

Portland: Vegan Paradise

    I am blogging more when I travel about great places to get vegan food. I prefer San Francisco, L.A. and Portland for amazing vegan options. Recently I traveled to Oregon with my husband and we made so many fun friends there. People are extremely friendly not to mention the amazing cafe's, breweries and food there. At every restaurant I went to there were so many veg friendly options and most of it was organic. I love Portland and I will definitely be back. It was one of the few places where cafe's offer not only almond milk but rice milk as an option. Even some of the corporate places there are experimenting with coconut milk for their latte's. Very cool. I went to mostly indie coffee shops but it is good to know that there are so many great options for people who might have allergies. One of my favorite things about the culture there were the food trucks. A lot of those had vegan options as well.
    Aside from all the delicious vegan food there was so much beautiful nature and places to hike. We also visited the Portland rose garden and Japanese garden. I hope some of you are able to visit this wonderful place if you haven't already and to the people of Portland, you guys and gals were so super friendly! Thanks for making us feel at home. I think it was probably the friendliest city I have ever been to. I can't wait to check out Seattle, Washington next time I am there.

Delicious vegan donut at Blue Star donuts. 

Voodoo Doughnut also had vegan options! 

Breakfast at Stumptown with vegan muffin :> 

This food truck was awesome and had vegan option. 

There is a rad arcade called Ground Kontrol where you can order beer at night and get hummus and pita or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So rad! 

Veggie Grill review

This is seriously my new favorite place to eat! The staff is super friendly and the food is amazing! It is advertised as entirely plant based with no dairy, meat etc so I was pretty excited!!! :D I was like "What??? An entire vegan restaurant right next to Palo Alto!!" It is located in Mountain View right next to the edge of Los Altos and Palo Alto. I was very happy, elated actually. I always get sick of having to sift through all the ingredients in restaurants but to have one that caters to vegans is really rad. It went beyond my expectations. I honestly wan't expecting to have another vegan nacho that could rival the one at Real Food Daily in L.A. I was sad because I couldn't find any vegan nachos here in the Bay Area and always had to make my own so I decided to order the Mondo nachos and also a side of onion rings to share with my husband and a vegan chocolate chip cookie to top it off. Their cookies are pretty big so I will be sharing that too. the portions are very nice. I could feed several friends with the nachos. My dad and mom and I munched off of them and finished them off. My mom kept looking at me wide eyed "These are vegan??" the cheese sauce is sooo good and I loved the protein veggie chkn bits on top mixed in with the taco sauce. The guacamole was to die for and the whole thing was topped with yummy dairy free sour cream type sauce and it was delicious. Usually I don't think much of onion rings but they had some of the best I have ever tasted. They weren't overly saturated with fats and they didn't have a weird after taste like some do. I usually make my own but these will do in a pinch. I can't wait to try their other veggie options. I think I have found my new place to eat. If you try the Veggie Grill please let me know what your favorite dishes are! :D