During the summer, my husband and I ventured out to the wild wild west; the west coast that is. Our first stop on my grub fest tour was Native Foods Caf. My father and step mother absolutely loves this place and would rub it in our faces every time they made a trip out to L.A. and was able to indulge in all of the many vegetarian and vegan offerings at the many restaurants in the area. My father always told me, that once I went out to the west coast, I would absolutely love it. Once again, my father was right and I cant wait to return to experience more areas of Cali and discover the many meatless temptations that are served by the many talented vegetarian and vegan chefs. Before my trip to Los Angeles, I honestly didnt believe vegetarian or vegan ONLY restaurants existed. I mean sure, I could go to a restaurant that claimed to have vegetarian friendly recipes on the menu, but we all know what those options are right? Your typical side salad, French fries, or pasta that leave you both nutritionally deprived and unsatisfied. I began to wonder; are vegetarian restaurants really hard to find? Do delicious meatless cafs really exist?
After visiting Native Foods Caf, my confident answer is YES! For those of you who have had the joy of dinning and indulging at the acclaimed vegetarian and vegan restaurant, you already know what I am talking about. Native Foods Caf is the food child of vegan chef Tanya Petrovna and has been serving vegetarians and vegans delectable delights for the past 17 years in over 11 locations throughout Chicago, Los Angeles, Orange County, Palm Springs, and Portland. Chef Petrovna has carefully crafted a menu that is entirely meat and dairy freeeven down to their mayo and dipping sauces.
For those of you who have not yet experienced Native Foods Caf or do not have one in a city near you, then it is my pleasure to share with you this video of my pigging out and enjoying every bite of my vegetarian meal at Native Foods Caf, Culver City location. If I couldve ordered one of each of the 35+ meatless and dairy-free chef crafted menu items, I wouldve been in absolute heaven. As I entered the vegan caf the vibe of great food mixed with excellent customer service, and smiling faces reaffirmed that I had indeed selected the right spot to enjoy a meatless meal on a beautiful summer day in L.A. In anticipation of chowing down, I had already done my research by browsing Native Foods Caf Online Menu so I didnt have to waste any time in line trying to figure out what I was going to inhale once I got there. For starters, I had decided on the Nuevo Native Nachos which were absolutely out of this world. The Native Chipotle Crema with the Native Cheese was insane. I was licking my fingers and my plate (thank goodness my husband did not catch that to video). All of the flavors combined were such a treat. I highly recommend them. Next, (of course, I wasnt done), I had one of Native Foods Earth Bowls. I chowed down on the Gandhi Bowl which was loaded with blackened Tempeh, veggies and a very flavorful wild curry sauce, while my husband enjoyed the Greek Gyro Bowl, which had the Native Peppered Seitan with quinoa, steamed veggies and an awesome lemon garlic sauce. Wow! I was happy and stuffed when I left Native Foods Caf.
For those of you that live near a Native Foods Caf and have yet to try an item on their unbelievably delicious menu, I encourage you to nix your current lunch or dinner plans and replace them with a visit to your nearest location. For those of you in the same situation that I am in, where we are hundreds of miles away from a Native Foods, you can settle for living watching my experience or by purchasing Chef Tanya Petrovnas The Native Foods Restaurant Cookbook and bring the Native Foods to your Native Family.
What are some of your favorite vegetarian and vegan spots to chow down at? What is an absolute must visit restaurant?
Thanks for tuning in. Until next time…
Take Care,
EJ
P.S. – Oh, if you are a visitor, make your self at home. Simple fill out the form to your right, with your name and email address and I will send you a e-cookbook that is loaded with over 100 vegetarian recipes! Enjoy.
The sound of family and friend s chattering and laughing as the smell of vegan spiced pumpkin bread tickles your
Serve this warm and drizzled with a glaze
guests noses and Vince Guaraldis A Charlie Brown Christmas plays in the background, are some of my favorite memories of the holidays and being around the people who are important in my life. Food is the centerpiece of family gatherings and holiday parties so of course you want to make sure you put your best dishes forward and have a wide variety of tantalizing treats on display. This vegan spiced pumpkin bread is an easy addition to complement your vegetarian or vegan holiday feast. If your party menu is already maxed out with your traditional favorites, give your guests a piece of the night, to enjoy when they get home, by wrapping (in a cute and decorative cellophane wrap) these egg-free and dairy-free loaves of scrumptiousness and giving them to your guests to take home with them. Who could resist the gift of food? Even better, you can share this vegan recipe with your other vegetarian and vegan friends so that they can bake this bread whenever the mood sets in.
Ingredients:
Bread
1 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
teaspoon ground cloves
teaspoon baking powder
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of brown sugar
cup of softened vegan margarine
1 cup canned puree pumpkin
cup of plain soy yogurt
1 teaspoon rum extract
2 teaspoons chopped ginger
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 cup of raisins (hydrated)
Glaze
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla or plain soy milk
teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9×5 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, cloves, and baking powder.
2. In a mixer or food processor, mix the sugar, pumpkin, soy yogurt, rum extract, ginger, and orange peel. Mix until the batter is well-blended and smooth. Slowly pour in the flour mixture, a little bit at a time, until fully blended. Next, add the raisins and pulse for about 1 minute. Pour batter into loaf pan.
3. Bake the bread batter for 60 minute or until the edges pull away slightly from the sides of the pan and the center of the bread springs back when lightly touched.
4. Cool bread for 15 minutes. Once bread has cooled, remove bread from pan and allow to cool completely (about 30 more minutes)
5. While bread is cooling, in a small bowl, add the powdered sugar, soy milk, and vanilla extract and whisk together until smooth. With a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the bread. Let glaze set before serving (about 10 minutes)
This bread can easily replace a slice of pie or cake as a dessert. The vegan pumpkin spiced bread is also a great appetizer that can be sliced and drizzled, with the glaze, and served on a platter. If you are entertaining for a large group, and you need to save time with cooking and food preparation, you can easily bake the bread ahead of time and freeze the baked bread for up to 2 weeks and just thaw at room temperature for at least 6 hours prior to serving. What are some of your favorite holiday memories? Do you have a specialty vegetarian or vegan dish that all of your guests rave about each year? Enjoy this recipe and more importantly, enjoy the company of your loved ones during this holiday season.
If you need more vegetarian and vegan recipes for anytime of the year, make sure you put your name and email address in the form on the right, and I will send you a free e-cookbook that is loaded with vegetarian and vegan recipes.
This celebration of the meatless lifestyle was just what I needed to be around other “like” minded vegetarians and to generate some new ideas for recipes, videos, and how I can continue to play my small part in helping people become healthier and more informed vegetarians. I had a blast and I encourage each and everyone of you to visit a Vegetarian Food Festival at least once a year. I had the opportunity to connect and mingle with some really cool vegetarians that were on a mission to impact and inspire the world! Kathleen, a visual artist, who just founded “From Me To You,” gave me the low down on her latest projects and what inspired her to make the switch to vegetarianism. Kathleen Crabill was a great sport because I just ambushed her and was like “Hey, can I ask you a couple of questions? Just keep talking as the video camera is all in your face…” And she just rolled with the punches. My husband was like, “You can’t do that to people. You can’t catch people off guard like that.” LOL. Oh dear! She was a cool sport about it though! You can view her artwork at www.kathleencrabill.com. I also got on this awesome “Farm Bus” which was an old school bus that has been converted in to a mobile produce store. It is called Farm to Family. I saw a yellow school bus and just had to hop on to see what was inside. The Farm Bus focuses on “feeding communities, one stop at a time” by distributing locally grown food to families in urban areas and educating people about food security from a converted a 1987 international diesel school bus! Farm to Family is a mobile micro farmers market on wheels and and targets areas that dont have access to fresh food and teaches people what it is and how to cook it. They strive to help people to be proactive about changing bad eating habits. Not bad huh? These are just some examples of people making an effort to make this world a better place through health, education, and sharing. Check out the video below to see the Farm to Family story, Kathleen, and experience the vegetarian festivities.
Have you ever been to a Vegetarian Festival? Which city hosted the Vegetarian Festival you attended? What is your favorite part about going to these annual vegetarian gatherings? Don’t forget to share this experience and video with your other vegetarian friends on Facebook and Twitter!
Until Next Time,
Take Care
EJ
P.S. – Oh, before I completely forget, if you want to stay in the “vegetarian loop,” and receive cool and tasty meatless recipes, fun facts, and be a part of the VLM Family, just enter your name and email address in the form on this page and I will send you a FREE Vegetarian E-Cookbook! Heck Yeah!
Fun and fabulous organic candies, treats, and baking specialties. No Gelatin, Gluten-Free, and Vegan. Now that’s my type of treat! I absolutely love Gummi Bears, of course, the problems is that I couldn’t find gelatin free gummi treats until I stumbled upon Edward and Son’s Let’s Do Organic Gummi Bears. It was love at first bite I tell ya!. These organic candy treats are made with natural fruit juices and dehydrated cane juice. There is even red beet and spinach powder in these delicious treats ( a very sneaky way to get some nutrition in your child’s system – what candy do you know has spinach powder in it and tastes good?) Each box of Let’s Do Organic Gummi Bears contains 4 small packets of gummi bears which are the perfect size for kids to handle and portion control. There is absolutely No Fat, or Cholesterol in these gummi delights. There are 3 different flavors for you to choose from; Super Sour, Classic, and Jelly. I am always on the “hunt” for anything sour enough to make me cry so you know I had to try the “Super Sour’ Gummi Bears. I am sure your fellow vegetarian and vegan friends would love to know about the No Gelatin and Gluten Free Treat. So do them a favor and share this video with them on Facebook and Twitter.
P.S. – Make yourself at home and subscribe to receive vegetarian articles, recipes, advice, and so much more. Just use the form to the right and enter your name and email address. You will even receive a free vegetarian cookbook just for subscribing!
