vegetarian/vegan Archives - Page 7 of 8

Candle 79, New York City

May 18, 2016

While looking up places to eat in New York, I came across Candle 79. Even though I am not vegan, I wanted to try a vegan place because it’s really nice and relaxing to walk in to a restaurant and not have to stress over whether something contains dairy in it or not. As well, Candle 79 had really great reviews, so how could I pass it up?
So, after an afternoon of exploring Central Park and The Met museum, we explored the Upper East Side and went to Candle 79!

As mentioned above, Candle 79 is a completely vegan restaurant. None of their menus or signage advertise this, but I had found it under the vegan section on Yelp and the server confirmed that everything here is vegan. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge meat lover, so vegan or vegetarian food takes a lot to impress me. Let’s see how they did!
We were still pretty full from our lunch at Blue Dog, but didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to try this place. Since we already had plans for the rest of the trip and wouldn’t be in this area of NYC again, we decided on just having a small snack to at least try something!

Angel’s nachos, $16: Made with corn chips, ‘mozarella’, chili beans, tofu sour cream, and guacamole. The mozarella is the dairy & soy alternative from Daiya, which you may have seen in grocery stores. For nachos that don’t have real cheese, this was delicious. The tofu sour cream tasted like real sour cream, while there was a very generous portion of guacamole. The corn chips were really crunchy and thick as well.

The one thing I didn’t really like was the chipotle seitan. Seitan is a vegetarian meat alternative, made from wheat. I found it have the texture of tofu puffs, and didn’t really match the taste or texture of meat to me. So, I ate everything else which was delicious!
Housemade ice cream sampler, $9: The nachos were already really filling considering we weren’t hungry to begin with, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to have ICE CREAM. I was already sold when our server told us it was made with rich coconut milk. I’ve been deprived of ice cream for soooo long.

The chef’s selection that day was the strawberry coconut soy, mango, and vanilla chocolate. THEY WERE SO GOOD. Seriously guys, it was soo creamy from the coconut milk that you can’t even tell it’s dairy free. To this day, I am still thinking and wishing that I had Candle 79’s ice cream again.

My favourite was the strawberry, and I found myself savouring every creamy bite. The mango, although it was called a ‘sorbet’, was really creamy and tasted deliciously creamy as well. I found the vanilla chocolate to be too sweet, and that one melted quite fast, while the other two didn’t melt.

Whether you are vegan or not, Candle 79 is a delicious restaurant and worth trying out. I will continue to think about their vegan ice cream over and over again, especially since the weather is getting hotter now.

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

The Green Moustache (Mini Rant)

March 19, 2016

The Green Moustache offers healthy, alternative eats but the thing that sold me to visit was their dairy free cheesecake, since I can’t eat dairy anymore but want my cheesecake!

For starters, after driving to their West side location (they also have one in Whistler) and meeting up with Avocado and another friend, I was so disappointed when I was told they didn’t have any cheesecake that day. Since we made the trip here already, we figured we might as well share some other items.

‘Hook’ smoothie, 12 oz $6.50: Cocoa, mint, goji berries, honey, banana and almond milk. They were out of the honey so they told us they substituted maple syrup instead. Not a big deal, but how do you run out of honey when that is one of the main ingredients in all your drinks, and you pride your smoothies on not using sugar?

This basically tasted like a dark chocolate banana smoothie, with hints of mint to it. I liked that it wasn’t too sweet.
Buddha bowl, $9.50: An assortment of healthy greens, quinoa, and rice. AGAIN, they didn’t have ripe avocado on hand so they gave us hummus instead. That was another disappointment since we both love avocado.

This bowl was filled with an abundance of fresh ingredients, and was really filling due to the brown rice. It had a combination of both sweet and savoury, and soft/crunchy textures.

Just to re-cap, each item we ordered so far has had an ingredient unavailable, or just the dish was entirely unavailable itself. Not impressed….
Raw chili, $9.95: The chili is served a bit chilled/room temperature, something that I found a bit odd. Unfortunately, we found a rubber band piece in our dish. When we asked about it, the staff apologized and said that this was their last bowl of chili so they wouldn’t be able to make us a new one. We came at 12:30 pm and it wasn’t even busy, yet this was your last bowl?

To add to the disappointment, the chili was incredibly salty. It was hard to eat more than 2-3 spoonfuls at once because it was just too salty, even with the brown rice. We were glad that had the refreshing buddha bowl, and would alternate.

Eventually, we just gave up on eating this and packed it up – my friend came up with the idea to eat this with tortilla chips instead, which would probably taste better.
Chocolate walnut fudge brownie, $3.50: To make up for the rubber band and having so many items unavailable, we were offered a complementary brownie as an apology. We enjoyed the brownie, and I liked how it wasn’t that sweet and probably made with dark chocolate. It was sweetened with dates as well.

Although service was very friendly and knowledgeable, I’m not sure if I’ll return or recommend this place as I left disappointed at how many items were missing from our dish. It’s definitely not worth driving out to this area if you aren’t already here.

I understand that occasionally, restaurants will run out of certain items, which is totally understandable and fair. But judging from how many items were unavailable just shows disorganization from the establishment.

Thanks for reading,

Carmen

Commodity Juicery

February 5, 2016

I don’t know about you, but I loooveee green juice! That might be hard for you to believe as I’m not completely into the whole healthy living lifestyle. I love my burgers, fries, and root beer, but sometimes I like to trade that in for some feel-good green goodness.

Commodity Juicery is a new juicery that opened up on Fraser Street in Vancouver, right across from Earnest Ice Cream. Since this area isn’t that busy or commercial, it is pretty easy to find parking. It is also easily accessible by bus (#8 Fraser or #25 UBC).

I was invited to a taste-testing and sampled a few of their juices and food offered on their menu. Here is what I thought!
Upon walking in, Commodity Juicery is pretty small but seating is comfortable. They have a service counter that doubles up as a table, which seats four people comfortable. There are also two lounge chairs by the window.

I loved how white, clean, and new everything was! They also have an open kitchen, which you can completely see the staff juicing on their ginormous industrial juicer or make the food. Half way through our taste testing, we got to see and talk to one of the staff members, who was creating more nut mylk and juices!
Top left, going clockwise

All greens #2: We started off with the least sweetest juice. This was made with kale, cucumber, romaine, celery, parsley, lime, and ginger. It was very light, and tasted like cucumber water with a hint of lime and celery. I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t like this, but it wasn’t that bad! You would like this if you’re a fan of green juice like I am.

Mighty greens #3: Cucumber, green apple, mint, romaine, celery, kale, lime. This one tasted similar to all greens, except that it was sweeter due to the green apple.

Purple puppy #6: Beet, cucumber, cilantro, orange, apple. Compared to the previous two, this one was a LOT sweeter due to the orange and apple. My cousins both said there was a strong beet taste to this.

If you’re not a fan of the green juice taste but want the healthy benefits, I would recommend this one. It tasted like a regular, sweetened juice (even though there was no added sugar!).

Bright greens #4: Romaine, cucumber, kale, parsley, green apple, lemon. This one tasted pretty similar to the other two green juices. I enjoyed all three!

Top to bottom

Morning love #7: Carrot, yam, orange, lemon, cinnamon. This reminded me of the fall due to the cinnamon and carrot. It tasted like you were drinking a pie, if that makes any sense! It was very warming and smoothing.

Matcha mylk#12: Cashews, almonds, matcha, maple syrup, vanilla bean. Moving away from the green juices, we sampled one of their ‘mylks’ – all of their milk is dairy free and made with nuts.

This was really delicious! The cashews and almonds made it creamy, due to the higher fat content that nuts have. The vanilla bean taste at the end was the cherry on top of a delicious mylk.

Zucchini & kale chips: The zucchini chips were seasoned with sour kream (aka. cashew milk with seasoning), and tasted delicious! The kale chips were nice and thick, and flavoured with chili lime. Both chips were delicious and we couldn’t stop munching in between juice samples.

Vegan quinoa salad: I was surprised at how creamy the quinoa was, even without dairy! Again, it was made with cashew milk. There was a nice garlic flavour, with hints of fresh and sweet apple.
Vegan minestrone soup: This recipe was carried on from one of the owners grandma! How sweet. Even though it did not have any meat, I found this to be really delicious and something I could have daily. It was the perfect embodiment of a heart warming soup.

Vegan Caesar salad: Hands down, my favourite dish that day. I couldn’t stop thinking about this salad and telling my friends how amazing this was! This salad was so incredibly fresh, crunch, and creamy.

Did you know that the base of Caesar dressing is anchovies? I didn’t know that! In replacement of anchovies, they used dulce flakes which has a similar taste to anchovies.
Vegan coconut almond date bites: These cute little bites were delicious as well! They were very sweet due to the dates, while the coconut flakes gave it a nice crunch. These are perfect for a healthy dessert alternative and sure to satisfy those who have a sweet tooth.

In conclusion, Commodity Juicery opened my mind up about vegan eating, and how delicious and easy it can be. The juices were delicious as well and there is something for everyone, even if you’re not crazy about green juices.
Juices range from $10-12 a bottle, with food items ranging anywhere from $2-$10. If I could afford a $10 juice, I would come back here pretty often but until then, I’ll be continuously thinking of their delicious juices.

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Complimentary tasting in exchange for a review. Opinions are own.

Veggemo: Plant Based, Non-Dairy Beverage

January 2, 2016

Since I have been confirmed with lactose intolerance (lab test) a few months ago, I’ve been really mindful of the food I eat and which restaurants I go to. Although it sucks, I’ve come to be a lot more conscious of what I can eat. Luckily, I didn’t have much of a sweet tooth to begin with so cutting out desserts and ice cream wasn’t so hard.

It’s the cheese that is hard to give up because I love my cheeseburgers, nachos, and other cheesy goodness. I am able to eat dairy in very small amounts without reacting (eg. a few spoonfuls of Greek yogurt because it has less lactose than regular yogurt, dark chocolate, cookies, etc) or I take Lactaid pills before eating. However, those pills don’t work half the time for me since I guess my case is slightly more ‘severe’ so I find it easier to just avoid dairy in general.
I’ve been trying non-dairy alternatives recently, which was why I was super excited to learn about Veggemo (Bonus points for being Canadian!). Veggemo is a veggie based, non-dairy beverage that was recently introduced on the shelves a couple of months ago.

I’m always very interested in finding out how companies come up with innovative ways to combine different ingredients to resemble dairy products! Veggemo is composed of peas, tapioca, and potatoes.

The peas provide some protein and flavour, while the tapioca gives it a creamy texture. Potatoes make Veggemo smooth and easy to drink, and gives it a milky-white colour.

You can also look at the nutrition facts and ingredients in the photo above. The nutrition facts pictured are from the vanilla flavour, which slightly differs from the original and unsweetened flavours.
Veggemo is a great dairy substitute for those people that require specialized diets, whether it be for health or ethical reasons. At first sip, I noticed that the texture of the original and vanilla was very similar to 2% milk. The unsweetened one had the texture of skim milk.

I found it slightly creamy in texture and the taste of the original and unsweetened to be very mild. The vanilla had a slight hint of sweetness and could use a bit more vanilla taste to it!
I love making smoothies with my Veggemo! I simply blended a banana and the original flavour Veggemo, which tasted delicious. It has the exact texture and taste of a regular smoothie.

In addition to making smoothies, I also use Veggemo for cereal. Since the unsweetened flavour is very plain and mild, my cereal gives it a lot more sweetness and I drink the Veggemo after I’m done eating!

Their super informative and interactive website also has some recipe ideas on how to incorporate Veggemo into your cooking, such as creamy tomato soup, holiday eggless nog, fluffy pancakes, and coffee cakes! I definitely will be trying their suggested recipes with these products!
Tomato soup following the recipe on Veggemo’s website, but added some penne pasta & ham. We also didn’t puree the soup as we didn’t have the proper blender for it. This tasted delicious and was super filling with the pasta & ham!
Banana bread also following their recipe! My friend used original instead of vanilla, and substituted the oil with greek yogurt. She enjoyed the finished product and said it tasted great!

Veggemo is a great dairy substitute in cooking and baking. I would prefer to use Veggemo in a recipe as I found the taste to be very mild, although the texture and consistency was perfect. Veggemo was rated 1 of the 10 most innovative new products (out of 300 products) at the Grocery Innovation Canada show.

You can currently find Veggemo at major grocery stores such as Save On Foods, Pricesmart, London Drugs, Urban Fare, IGA Marketplace, Walmart Supercentres! The price ranges from $2.99-$3.79, depending on which retailer you go buy from.

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

New Product! Prana Coconut Chips

December 7, 2015

Are you the same as me, and prefer savoury snacks over sweets? I would take a bag of chips or french fries over pastries any day. Although everyone I know prefers yam fries, I still like regular fries better because yam fries are sweeter than regular fries.

I love chips, but I try not to eat them often because it’s not healthy and my throat gets sore the next day if I eat anything more than a small handful! Which is why I was excited to try Prana’s new coconut chips and to see if they are a great savoury alternative to traditional chips.
For now, there are four flavours but they only launched last month, so I am predicting that there will be more flavours on the shelves over the next few months or even years.

The coconut chips are 100% organic, gluten-free, and non genetically modified. The only ingredients in the chips are coconut slices and seasoning (except for the classic, which only contains coconut slices). The boyfriend gladly helped with sampling as well, he thought that this was an interesting concept.

Prana Coconut Chips — A mixture of the different flavours!

Also, Flavours are named after popular dances around the world! Can we also take a minute to appreciate the lovely packaging and branding?
The first flavour we sampled was the sea salt & pepper, because I wanted to try the flavour that seemed the most savoury first. It was…very interesting?

I was expecting the chips to be completely dry, but they were slightly moist due to the coconut meat, which I didn’t mind. However, we both thought that the slight sweetness of the coconut chips didn’t go that well with the sea salt and pepper flavour.
After sampling the salt and pepper flavour, we tried the spicy chili next! The spicy chili, or jive, was my personal favourite.This flavour tasted more like your traditional chip since you don’t taste the sweet coconut, yet can feel the slightly moist but crunchy texture of the coconut meat.

Unlike the salt and pepper flavour, the subtle coconut taste went really well with the spicy chili by making it more rich and the spice less intense.
Third on the list was the barbecue flavour, or charleston! Again, the bbq flavour went really well with the coconut taste. This was the boyfriend’s favourite flavour because he loves anything barbecue.
Lastly, we tried the original, or classic flavour. This is just pure coconut slices with no other added ingredients. This one was nice and simple, and really showed the quality of the coconut!

All in all, the Prana coconut chips are a great healthy alternative to chips. I can eat more of these without feeling as guilty or wake up with a sore throat. Although I wouldn’t have the sea salt and pepper flavour again, I enjoyed the other three and will be munching on these in the weeks to come!

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Press samples featured. Opinions are own.