A Taste of Life

What's my favorite place to eat at the Hollywood Farmer's Market on Selma and Cahuenga every Sunday? Thanks for asking. It's A Taste of Life's booth, featuring Vegan Soul Food! That's right. Vegan soul food. Gotta love it.

My 2 favorite things are the breakfast sandwich and the mac and cheese. The sauteed kale looks good, although I haven't tried it. The BBQ Tofu is spicy and crispy and mega-yummy. But, The mac and cheese is a-ma-zing. It's thick and non-traditional, and I love it.

Apparently this place used to have a restaurant that closed down. I'm bummed I never knew about it or checked it out. But, the good news is the booth is here to stay and they are still distributing their foods via grocery stores and other venues.

So, if you're ever in the Hollywood area, check it out! But be sure to get there early. The mac and cheese goes fast!

Spread the Evol™

I just had a tasty vegan burrito for a snack—a frozen burrito. An Evol burrito. If you're in a pinch, it's a good, pretty healthy option. Here's why I find them superior to other frozen burritos.

1. They're vegan, and there are 2 flavor options
2. You can put them in the fridge for up to 7 days, which makes it much easier to cook without using a microwave (pan fry), or easier to microwave so the tortilla doesn't turn into a rock hard crispy shell
3. The packaging looks good
4. The copy is clever
5. They're pretty green

I like the Veggie Fajita flavor:

There's also a Tofu and Spinach flavor that I haven't tried:

The ingredients are pretty natural and healthy, considering it's a frozen burrito.

Enjoy! And keep it full of Evol.

All About Vegan Mac & Cheese

Guilty. I've always loved Mac and cheese. And this is probably my 5th post about it. But, I do have 2 great finds to report for my fellow mac-and-cheese-heads. So, without further ado:

Number 1: Leahey's Vegan Cheese Sauce Mix

I read about this stuff on another blog, Vegan Incognito, and decided to give it a try. There's no limit to the ends I'll go to to find a good mac and cheese. So, I bought it mail order, it was back ordered, but I finally got it. And let me tell you, this stuff rocks! Is it the yumminess that Kraft has? No. But that's impossible.

This stuff was super easy to make. I just put the powder in a pan and mixed it with Rice Milk once my noodles were almost done cooking. It takes like 3 minutes. There's no powder poppin' either. The stuff just melts right away, and gets creamy fast. I tried a finger dip and I got excited. I poured it on my noodles and was delighted. It was creamy, yummy and easy. Two thumbs up.

Ok, next up.

2: Mac & Cheeza

I heard about this place on NPR. I think it was a show called "Good Food." The guy was going off on how good the stuff was, and all the toppings they had to go along with it. It drove me nuts. Then, he mentioned at the very end of the story that they had a vegan and gluten-free option. Wha-wha-what? I walked in that place's door within 3 days of hearing this. It's in downtown L.A. (and they have a Bakersfield location)

First things first. This place is a bit pricey. It's 10 bucks for the medium sized portion, which is big but it's also 10 bucks. There is a 5 dollar option. But the medium (Momma Mac as they call it) is worth every penny. I got the vegan cheese (regular noodle) with sauteed collard greens, and crushed toasted walnuts on top for crunch (included). I almost got the veggie sausage. Anyway, this place crushes any vegan mac and cheese there is. That's it. It's the best. Next time, I think I'm just gonna go straight up cheese. No nothing. Pure.

Review: Chipotle Vegan Meat

When I walked into Chipotle last week, I was surprised to see this sign:

I knew that they were testing it, but didn't expect to see it at the Woodland Hills location (near my office) this soon. Usually, I just get the veggie burrito which consists of black beans, rice, peppers and onions, guacamole and salsa. But, I wanted to support Chipotle's decision to have a vegan meat option. I figure at  this point it's still in the testing phase, and will get killed if not enough people buy it.

Well, for all I care they can get rid of it. I'm sticking with my veggie version. Overall, I'm not a huge fan of fake meats. But this stuff was just weird. It's small little rectangles, pretty chewy and almost flavorless. It must be highly processed so nutritionally it's not doing much for me either.

I say, try it if you want. I've read some people love it. It's just not for me.