Native Foods' Fall Menu 2015

Native Foods unveiled their new fall menu for 2015 recently, which, as shown above, includes a new Harvest Apple Chicken Wrap, a Kelp Me Noodle Bowl, Sri Lankan Curried Tater Bites, a Ruby Red Raspberry Bar, and Apple Cinnamon Chai'der. To me, these dishes don't scream "autumn" at all, but I decided to give some of them a try anyway.

What I Ate: June Junk Food Edition

I meant to post this at the beginning of July, but this month has just flown by! Is it just me or is this summer going by super-fast?! Not that I'm complaining, mind you; summer can suck it and autumn can't come soon enough! Anyways, I can't let these vegan junk food pics go to waste (though you will recognize some if you follow me on Instagram), so I'm sharing the yummy noms I ate in June below:

 This is Amy's Vegan Margherita Pizza topped with avocado slices and sriracha.

I already love the pizza on its own, but the addition of the avocado and sriracha 

just sky-rocketed its flavor!

Halloween Leftovers: A Photo Post

Hello boils and ghouls!

I just wanted to share some leftover Halloween photos with you that I never got around to posting. The following were all taken on or in the days leading up to Halloween and include my photos of Disneyland, my costume and pumpkin carving on Halloween night! Please enjoy:

Me and my Halloween night pumpkin...I didn't blow the candle out 'til

Halloween was over!

 Me as Wednesday Addams and Mister

Spooky as a backwoods killer at a

Halloween party

 LOL...my Halloween night dinner...a Vampire Burger

from the always amazing Native Foods! 

It even came with garlic fries!

 One of my vintage-looking Halloween lamps.

It stays up year-round. 

 Our Spooky entryway! 

This also stays the same year-round too! 

Halloween specials (above and below) at 

Mother's Market and Kitchen!

 YUM!

 A cute pumpkin I spotted at my favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's

Halloweentime at Disneyland! 

My favorite time of year to go!

I loved all the pumpkins throughout the whole park

 Dia de los Muertos at Disneyland!

 Ghost Mickey Mouse containers at Disneyland 

 Too cute Vinylmation figure! I have far too many

toys already so I resisted buying it

 Ghostly cupcakes

 Grim grinning jack-o-lanterns at the Haunted Mansion

 Jack Skellington taking over the Haunted Mansion 

for the holidays

 Wow! Disneyland actually had a pumpkin tree!! 

It was hidden in Frontierland, but I found it

 Haunted Mansion...my favorite :)

Luckily it was the first thing we rode when we arrived

cuz it kept breaking down the rest of the day!

Haunted Mansion entrance

In all its early morning gory, errr, I mean glory!

Inside the Mansion - Toys from Sandy Claws, Jack Skellington style!

One of my fave parts of the ride that has been "Nightmared"!

I love the snow and pumpkins!

 Dearly departed

 I won this cute lil' guy at a Halloween party!

Ok, actually Mister Spooky won him for me...

I'm ashamed to say he totally schooled me

in horror trivia!

 Our friend's amazing digs all decorated for the 

Halloween party!

My Wednesday Addams makeup

Last Night's Dinner at Native Foods

I had a pretty crummy day yesterday, so to cheer me up my wonderful boyfriend took me out to dinner at one of my favorite vegan restaurants, Native Foods. I've been going there for years and still haven't sampled everything on the menu! Plus, in all these years I've only been disappointed once by one of their meals (I'm not a big fan of the Rockin' Moroccan bowl).

When we arrived, I noticed they had a few new menu items under their seasonal section that I was excited to try! I decided to try the Saigon Wrap. From their description: "Braised lemongrass tofu, lightly pickled daikon and carrot twirls, brown and jasmine rice, cucumber strips, fresh cilantro and basil, tangy peanut sauce in an organic whole wheat wrap." Yum, yum, yum! It sounded like the perfect, light meal for a sunny summer day!

Saigon Wrap at Native Foods

Gratuitous close-up!

We also saw that they finally added the Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger to the regular menu (it used to only be seasonal). Can I get a whoop-whoop? The OBC is one of the yummiest things on the menu, and while it might not be as healthy as some other items, it is definitely a must-try for those looking for a decadent treat! Even my non-veg boyfriend loves it! And, that's what he ordered! The OBC is huge, but it's so good that even little ol' me has been known to polish off the whole burger in one sitting!

Massive!

For those interested, the OBC is made with "...thinly sliced original Seitan, melted cheddar, caramelized onions, crispy tempeh bacon on a bun slathered with BBQ sauce and ranch dressing, lettuce, carrots, onions, and tomato and topped with crunchy battered dill pickles chips." Seriously, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. My favorite part of this amazing burger? The crispy fried pickles on top!!! 

To complete the meal, the BF and I got a plate of chili cheese fries to split (he ended up eating most of them since my Saigon Wrap really filled me up). From the menu: "Native Seasoned Fries smothered in our homemade chili. Topped with Native cheese and diced red onions."

 Chili Cheese Fries, vegan style!

My Saigon Wrap was absolutely delicious. I loved the fresh tasting lemongrass marinated tofu and the peanut sauce was to die for!! This is a great seasonal item that I hope Native Foods will keep around for a while, because I would definitely order it again. 

I topped off my meal with some lavender lemonade, and by the end my troubles had melted away as I sunk into a delicious food coma! 

Cheers to Native Foods for filling my belly with very good things and also making me feel like a billion bucks again! 

Native Foods has multiple locations in SoCal, so if you want to find out more visit their website HERE!

Native Foods' Cinco De Mayo Cooking Demo Report

It promised to be a bright, sunny day this past Saturday. Not only were the birds chirping and the sun was shining, but my mom happened to be visiting from NorCal! Yippee!! And what does a vegan do to impress her non-veg mom on a beautiful day? Why, take her to an outdoors Native Foods cooking demo, of course!

If you are a vegan living in SoCal then you are no doubt familiar with the delish Native Foods restaurants. With locations in Costa Mesa (the locale I like to haunt on a weekly basis), L.A., Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Tustin and Aliso Viejo (with new locations popping up all the time!), almost everyone in SoCal can enjoy the mouthwatering (and completely vegan) food Native Foods offers. The friendly founder of the phenomenal vegan chain, Chef Tanya, is a hoot in person and does each and every cooking demo herself. She isn’t shy about answering questions and it goes without saying that she is a great chef!

Chef Tanya answering questions while preparing fresh cactus salad

Native Foods Serves Up Vegan Easter Feast

This Easter Sunday only, one of my favorite vegan eateries is serving up a delicious vegan feast!! They will be serving a generous helping of their Spring Wellington with Tarragon Hollandaise and Alice’s Dinner Salad, which is a medley of field greens, sugar snap peas, strawberries, toasted almonds and currants with a fresh citrus dressing for under $10 a person!