Natural Products Expo West 2014

I finally decided to stop being jealous of Quarrygirl's Natural Products Expo West blog posts and go visit the mecca for myself. Safe to say, I was blown away by the size and the quality of the Expo. I got to see some great products, meet tons of awesome people and, of course, get my name printed up on a press pass. The Expo is held in Anaheim, which is nice because it's right next to Disneyland, so you can really make a vacation out of it. Also, you're still close to LA (just don't drive there on a Friday night) so you can check out all the Vegan eats and catch a concert.

So, day one of the Expo, I really lucked out and caught Sarah from The Spooky Vegan in the press line. This was the first time at the Expo for both of us, so it really worked out because we didn't know what the hell we were doing. Sarah is the best Expo buddy you could ask for!

Ever since I've been back everyone is like "what was your favorite product???" I had a few that I loved, but the Gardein Golden Fishless Filet was my top pick. I still haven't seen it in Omaha yet, but I can't wait to get reacquainted.

So what else did I love? Well, Amy's Tofu Breakfast Sandwich was killer. Mr. Dewie's Cashew Milk Ice Cream was off the hook amazing. The Field Roast Hand-Formed Burgers (and Apple Maple Breakfast Sausages) were delish. And Phoney Baloney's new Coconut Bacon flavors (especially Apple Fennel) were mouth-watering good!

My favorite moment from the Expo is when I spotted Amy Berliner serving food at the Amy's Kitchen booth. I told Isa "look it's Amy!" and Isa was like "what are you talking about?" and I was like "look, It's AMY!" Isa finalllly got it and we were able to snag a pic. I'm happy to report that Amy is super nice and down to earth. And I finally got to tell her I put her through college. Life complete! Shout out to Allie Drew for making it happen.

And my second favorite moment from the Expo was getting Vega formulator Brendan Brazier and Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness creator Robert Cheeke together for a pic. Two cool dudes doing good things in the Vegan community.

So many awesome booths with great food! The Chicago Vegan Foods peeps brought the nacho cheese pump, so you know this expo is official. Follow Your Heart had yummy grilled cheese sandwiches right off the grill. Team Phoney Baloney was ready to greet the Vegans and all the people who ask "how can coconut be bacon?" One of the Qrunch team members was from Nebraska, gotta love my home state folk!

Sarah and I LOVED the Beyond Meat "Taco Beyond" booth. Their tacos were AMAZING. Cobra Corn is a product you need to try, headquartered in Chicago. The Bombay Seasoning Cobra Corn is worth getting shipped from Vegan Essentials. Daiya had a MASSIVE booth with tons of "Daiya Girls" walking around, giving samples. Mr. Dewie's had some really great ice cream and they entertained the heck out of us bloggers. Cybele from Cybele's Free to Eat told me she appreciated my putting up a pic of her cookies on Facebook. I thought that was pretty cool! And it took all three days of the expo, but I finally caught up with Jackie from Vegan Yack Attack. She's always the life of the party!

Nature's Path had some cool new things to sample and their rep was cracking us up. Dr. McDougall's had some new soups I hope to see soon. Vegetarian Plus had tons of stuff I've never seen before and I got to sample it. Sweet Earth had a sweet new Hickory and Sage Seitan Bacon that I can't wait to try again. Morinaga had a pamphlet with Terry Hope Romero on it, so we had to chat it up with them. And the Hail Merry ladies were super nice and gave us a heads up that Costco carries them now!

Always a treat to see Dan and Nicole from Upton's Naturals. Their Bacon Seitan is in my fridge 24/7. Happy to see the Liz Lovely booth, but they broke my heart by getting rid of the chocolate dipped cookies and pretzels. Wildwood got harassed by Isa about their creamer, I'm sorry. Vega had this nifty dispenser for Vega One. Oddly I didn't take any because it wasn't 6:20 am and I wasn't driving to work. Tofurky had a new gluten-free pizza I'd like to try again. I had a sample, but I need a whole pizza of that stuff. And Peanut Butter & Co. was in the house as they should be.

Sjaak's was very sweet and gave us bloggers a metric ton of candy to split amongst ourselves. I love their chocolates so much! JJ Sweet's Cocomels out of Boulder, Colorado was representing with their amazing caramels. Bee Free Honee gave a taste of everything. The honee is made out of apples, it's really good stuff! Endangered Species Chocolate had this amazing Raspberry Orange Creme Filled Dark Chocolate Bar that was to die for. I can't wait to find it here in Omaha.

So that was Natural Products Expo West 2014 in a nutshell! I didn't post half of what I actually saw, it really is a lot of stimuli. Lots of food, people and more people. Thank you to everyone who hung out with me and made my trip so special. I look forward to 2015!

London 2013

I've always wanted to go to England. Part of my being owes a debt to a place I've never been. So many of my favorite bands originated here (Pet Shop Boys, Iron Maiden, Carcass, Talk Talk, Pulp....I could go on forever) and my favorite TV show The Prisoner starts and ends in London. Also, the original Star Wars Trilogy was filmed at Elstree Studios. And most obvious, Veganism has its roots in England; the word was coined there in 1944. So in short, I've been waiting a long time to visit. Isa and I didn't get to do half of what we wanted to, but we'll have to come back soon. Here's a tiny recap of what we did get around to. If you've never been to England, hopefully this blog post encourages you to go. We were in London mostly, but I hear there are other Vegan-friendly cities in traveling distance.    

More than likely, you're gonna have to fly to England. Well, if you called ahead (and call again right before the flight) you should be able to get Vegan food on the plane. We took British Airways and got first class treatment. The food was better than expected and the attendants were super helpful. We received 2 square Vegan meals on the 8 hour flight. Off to a good start! 

We ended up staying in Camden, but we were all over London. I think I hit up every major Whole Foods and obviously I saw tons of new stuff. You gotta love it!

One thing that I have seen before is Isa's beloved Vegusto cheese from Paris. Who can forget? It's not my cup of tea, but I seem to be in the minority.

Another reason I was stoked about the trip is that Quarrygirl moved to London and was going to hang with us. To finally put a face to the infamous Vegan Beer & Pizza blogging Queen was exciting. Well, I'm happy to report that she is one of the nicest people I've ever met. The trip wouldn't have been the same without her tips and company. Nevermind that she gave me this bundle of Vegan goodies....that's besides the point! She's rad and I can't wait to hang again.

You know, if you're going to England, you have to eat Fish n' Chips. Well in this case, Vegan Fish n' Chips! There were a couple places that had it, but we ended up at a Loving Hut. Basically, it was breaded fried tofu and fries. It was pretty good! So I got that out of the way. I also had a lot of inSpiral Cafe because our hotel was close. Manna was delicious too. Oh, and I finally got to meet Jojo aka Vegan in Brighton at Mildreds! Both Manna and Mildreds offered Great Britain's signature Bangers & Mash. There's no shortage of Vegan eats in London, but my favorite of the favorites was...

Amico Bio! I don't know if it's because I never get good Italian food (minus Portobella and Isa, of course) but I tore both locations UP! We ate there three times and I loved it. My favorite was the John Lennon Pizza and the onion rings. And putting the onion rings on the John Lennon Pizza. I can't recommend it enough.

One of the most exciting parts of the trip was Isa's book signing at Ms. Cupcake. If you're seen my Laziest Vegans Top Ten blog post with Mellissa or seen Quarrygirl's YouTube video, you can probably tell Mellissa is a kind, genuine person and a riot to hang out with. The Ms. Cupcake staff was super cool and the shop was so cute, plus it's a good reason to visit Brixton. A MUST SEE.

Really close to our hotel in Camden Lock was this little shop, Cookies and Scream. They had some outstanding baked goods including donuts! But their claim to fame is the Wookiee, which is a bar with double choc-chip and thick chocolate. There's even a chalk board to keep track who can eat it the fastest!

So that's the trip in a nut shell! Bottom line is if you're Vegan you have to visit England in your lifetime, especially London. Lots or history, art, culture, music and of course food!

The Laziest Vegans Top Ten Asks Ms. Cupcake

Earlier this year, Isa and I fulfilled our life long dreams of traveling to London, England. We painted the town Vegan and met some really cool people! One of the coolest people we met across the pond was Mellissa Morgan, aka Ms. Cupcake. Mellissa is the creator of the Ms. Cupcake Vegan cupcake shop, which is London's first entirely Vegan bakery!

Ever since I saw Quarrygirl's YouTube video spotlighting Ms. Cupcake, I knew I had to meet her. If you won't be making your way to London anytime soon, check out the recently released Ms. Cupcake: The Naughtiest Cupcakes in Town! Cookbook. It's a gorgeous big hardcover book with tons of scrumptious cupcakes. Mellissa was born in Canada, so she knows what's good on both sides of the Atlantic. Obviously, Ms. Cupcake is gaga over cupcakes, but what is her favorite candy?  

What is your favorite veggie burger?
In the UK we have a brand called ‘Redwood Foods’ and their Quarter Pounder burgers are brilliant!

What is your favorite frozen dinner?
I adore Amy’s Dairy Free Rice Macaroni & Cheeze. It reminds me of childhood when I would beg my Mom for Mac and Cheese. I’m proud to say that I always slather it with ketchup for a proper trip down memory lane!

What is your favorite ice cream? Purely Decadent PEANUT BUTTER ZIG ZAG from the So Delicious brand. We can’t get it in the UK, but it’s the first thing I pick up when I go and visit my family in Toronto!

What is your favorite chip or cracker?
I’m a pretzel girl – LOVE pretzels. And Pringles. In the UK they mark the flavours that are vegan as ‘vegan’ which I love.

What is your favorite cereal?
I love the Dorset Cereal range of mueslis – the nuttier the better!

What is your favorite candy?
Summer Peaches from the Goody Good Stuff range. I could eat bag after bag. I’m also a big Go Max Go bars fan.

What is your favorite cookie?
I’m seriously jealous of the Trader Joe’s range you guys have in the USA – some pretty awesome cookies to be found there! I’m a huge fan of Speculoos cookies – we have a brand called Lotus over here which are awesome (I think they are called Biscoff in the US?)

What three pre-packaged food items would you take to a desert island?
Vegusto Piquant Cheese (best vegan cheese – EVER), Jokerz bars, and Fry’s Family Chicken Style Strips – very versatile.

Name a product you would like Veganized?
Twix bars and Kit Kats.

What are your favorite local and/or online stores for Vegan products?
My shop is a great place to shop :) We have a few Whole Foods markets in London which are great to pick up supper. For online we use VeganStore.co.uk and GoodnessDirect.co.uk.

And that concludes The Laziest Vegans Top Ten. Thanks Ms. Cupcake!

Dr. McDougall's Spring Onion Noodle Soup

For some reason Dr. McDougall's Soups have never been on my radar. Not sure why? They're all Vegan, and widely available. A couple weeks ago I saw them on the shelf at Whole Foods and with Vegan MoFo on my mind, I grabbed a couple to review. The Spring Onion really caught my eye as it is usually one of my favorite soup flavors. Quarrygirl raved about Dr. McDougall's Soups in the past, so I was fairly confident that I would enjoy them. Anytime you can just add water and have a delicious meal, that's my kind of cooking.
  

So, all you do is open the the cup, dump in the flavor packet, fill the cup with water up to the line, microwave for 1 minute & 45 seconds and let sit for 5 minutes. Super easy! I was really impressed by the flavor. This isn't you typical instant meal. In fact, Spring Onion was DELICIOUS. It has a brothy onion flavor that had me wanting more. The noodles were the perfect tenderness. Honestly, it was way better than I ever expected. A perfect emergency meal that you could leave in your lunch bag or at work. I'm happy I finally tried Dr. McDougall's Soup and I can't wait to try all the other flavors!

The Laziest Vegans Top Ten Asks Quarrygirl

Quarrygirl is the creator of the recently retired Quarrygirl.com. QG provided an amazing blog and restaurant guide for the Los Angeles area and beyond. When I started having the idea for Vegan Omaha, Quarrygirl.com was a huge inspiration. While QG is no longer actively blogging, the blog archives can be found here. Also, she's still spreading the good word via Twitter.

So pour a lil' almond milk to the ground for Quarrygirl and check out her favorite Vegan convenience foods!

What is your favorite store-bought veggie burger?
I really don't do veggie burgers at home very often, but when I do, I'm all about the original vegan Boca Burgers in bulk from Costco. They're super cheap, they taste decent, they're easy to make, and they only have like 100 calories in them? How is that even possible?

What is you favorite frozen dinner?
Pretty much anything made by Amy's. My all time favorite is actually a breakfast---does that count? It's the Tofu Scramble with Hash Browns and Vegetables.

What is your favorite ice cream?
Lula's in NYC, no question. But if it must be store bought, better pecan by Tofutti! I'm old school.

What is your favorite chip or cracker?
Jalapeno Heat Dirty Chips. I got introduced to these at Ike's Place in San Francisco, and I haven't tried anything better since.

What is your favorite cereal?
I honestly haven't eaten cereal in years, and I don't have a favorite. I prefer my breakfasts heated!

What is your favorite candy?
For chocolate based candy, Justin's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. For non chocolate, Gummy Summer Peaches by Goody Good Stuff!

What is your favorite cookie?
Alternative Baking Company. Any flavor, any day of the week.

What three pre-packaged food items would you take to a desert island?
Can we pretend I have hot water or a microwave on the island? McDougall Chicken Flavor Ramen---I could eat that forever and never get sick of it. I'd also take some Secret Aardvark habanero sauce because I'm a capsicum addict. And of course, my favorite vegan product, Food For Lovers queso to drink by the jar…and pour into my ramen.

Name a product you would like Veganized?
You know that pancake stuff at the supermarket that comes in a spray can? I want them to veganize THAT. When that gets veganized, I know we've arrived.

What are your favorite local and/or online stores for Vegan products?
In LA, I love Locali and Figueroa Produce. Online, I'm all about Food Fight and Vegan Essentials.

And that concludes The Laziest Vegans Top Ten. Thanks Quarrygirl!