Vegan Food & Drink Festival

On Sunday I went to the first annual Vegan Food and Drink Festival on Randall’s Island in New York! It was a perfect fall day to enjoy being outside, eat amazing vegan food, make some friends, and spot the occasional YouTube star.

I ventured solo to the festival, and it was nice to do my own thing. I’m glad I got there early because I didn’t have to wait in too many crazy long lines.  There was a great selection of vendors from across the country. Here’s some of the delicious food I ate:

Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza from Screamer’s Pizzeria

Loaded Kimchi Fries from Bao Shoppe (kinda weird, not my favorite)

Arlo’s (Austin, TX) Cheeseburger – THE BEST BURGER I’VE HAD. Worth the wait.

Can’t go wrong with some delicious Van Leeuwen’s vegan ice cream. These are the chocolate and mint chip flavors!

My Vegan Protein Smoothie

Today I’m sharing the recipe for a vegan green protein smoothie I consistently make. It’s modified from recipes I’ve seen online and I just mix and match ingredients I have in my kitchen.  This smoothie is my go-to if I need to reboot after a not-so-healthy weekend, or if I don’t have much time to cook a meal. It’s filling, tastes great, and has simple ingredients with a balance of fruits, veggies, healthy fats and a scoop of protein powder!

I switch up the fruit I use, depending on what I have on hand, but I always add bananas so it’s creamy and thick. Simply add all the ingredients below to a blender (I use a Magic Bullet), blend, and enjoy!

• 1 scoop plant-based protein powder
• 1 scoop of Snergy Natural 100% Super Greens
  • Contains spirulina, chlorella, barley grass and wheat grass
• 1 banana
• 1-2 handfuls of spinach
• Fruit, either frozen or fresh (sometimes it’s strawberries, blueberries, apples, etc.)
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp ground flax seed

 

September Round Up

A collection of thoughts and things worth sharing from this month. Happy Fall!

1//. Shout out to Maybelline and Makeupshayla in this Coveteur post.

2//.  Incorporate more of these foods into your diet! 15 Best Metabolism-Boosting Foods

3//.  A little career advice from Fast Company.

4//. I love Gal Meets Glam’s Fall Bucket List. I definitely want to take a cooking class and attend an outdoor fall festival. Who’s with me?

5//.  How to properly air dry your hair …

6//. Anyone else obsessed with the TV show Friends? I started watching it from the beginning on Netflix last month and I’m already in Season 6! IT’S SO GOOD.

7//. An easy vegan pesto recipe that I want to try. My roommate has been growing herbs in our apartment and our basil plant is HUGE!

NYC: First, Food

I’m in New York City !!! Wow it’s been a fun and busy first month here. I love my apartment, I have a short walk to work, there’s so much to do here, and so much amazing food around every corner…

There are an abundance of options for vegans in this city, and you know I’ve starred the map like crazy and already been to my fair share of places. Here are some notables:

Browns Bagels & Brooklyn Bagel and Coffee Company

I’d never had tofu cream cheese before moving and it’s SO GOOD! Honestly tastes just like dairy cream cheese, and it’s available in so many places. I even saw that Chef Chloe went to the Brooklyn Bagel location recently!

Bare Burger

I didn’t make it to the Chicago location after it opened, but I made sure to stop here my first weekend in New York! I ordered the Guadalupe which is a black bean patty with guacamole, and their sweet potato fries are BOMB. This place is tailored for meat eaters and vegans, with plenty of options for everyone.

The Little Beet Table

 

Another restaurant with a Chicago location that I didn’t go to. Their menu is light and healthy and their easily able to accommodate any diet. My mom and I shared the cauliflower hummus with gluten free bread, she had a shrimp salad and I had a quinoa and vegetable bowl!

Citizens of Chelsea

My downstairs neighbor (not kidding) is the cutest Australian cafe! Everything is Tiffany blue, the hosts have accents, and the space is adorable. I often wonder how many avocados they go through each day because they serve a lottttt of avocado toast. My roommate and I are currently striving to become regulars here. I’ll let you know how long it takes.

The Grey Dog

Ok ok, last one for now. A friend and I went to the Grey Dog for a casual Sunday dinner. They have a few locations around the city, and the one is Chelsea has a very homey feel. I was excited to try it when I saw they have vegan carbonara, as well as several other great vegan options. This first time (because I will be back) I had the vegan avocado pesto linguini and it was amazing! The only thing I didn’t like was it had a ton of oil, they could probably cut down on the sauce, but my god it was creamy and hot. My friend got the vegan burger and said it was also great!

Many more food adventures to follow, but I’ll keep mixing it up until then.

Last Windy City Weekend

Ok sorry guys I’m finally posting the recap of my last weekend in Chicago. I didn’t capture everywhere we went, but here’s a few tidbits:

My last day in the office there was a little send-off celebration with vegan treats and cupcakes from Swirlz! They were delicious, and I highly recommend ordering some if you’re in Chicago. This variety box had vanilla, chocolate, and apple cinnamon flavors!

To kick off the long holiday weekend (over 4th of July), we had a group go to happy hour at Hampton Social – aka all the half off rose and pizza you can handle.

Then we had a pool day at FFC West Loop (they’re music is bumpin’)

We somehow went to both Happy Camper and Homeslice this weekend lol but only got pizza at Happy Camper. Their drinks are so good…

All in all it was a great long weekend filled with friend, food, sun, and booze.

Windy City, you are missed!