Vegan Beyond Famous Star Burger at Carl's Jr.

Whoa, vegan burger and fries at Carl's Jr.!

This past weekend I finally got around to trying the new Beyond Famous Star burger at Carl's Jr. This plant-based burger featuring a Beyond Meat vegan patty debuted at over 1,000 Carl's Jr. locations at the beginning of January and seems to be a big hit with vegans and carnivores alike! I recently tried the vegan Beyond Avocado Tacos at Del Taco that are being tested in certain markets in SoCal, and I was stoked to try this new option at Carl's Jr., especially since it would be the first time in a long time that I would be able to order a vegan burger at a traditional fast food joint (though the vegetarian fast food restaurant Amy's up in the Bay Area will always have my heart!).

Vegan Beyond Avocado Taco from Del Taco

Beyond Avocado Taco and fries at Del Taco

This past December, Del Taco unveiled Beyond Meat at a select few of their locations in Southern California to test out the plant-based meat alternative before hopefully expanding nationwide. This is a HUGE deal and if it is successful, would give so many people access to try vegan food. It means that people want more vegan options and that companies are listening to them. It also means that more people will be exposed to vegan options, and that vegan food is becoming more and more mainstream! I am so, so stoked on this, and couldn't be more excited about Beyond Meat being available at select Del Taco fast food restaurants. Check out my review of their Beyond Avocado Taco below...

10 Spooktacular Vegan Recipes For Halloween

I haven't had a chance to do that much cooking or baking this Halloween season, so I thought it would be fun to revisit some of my Halloween recipes from the past ten years (wow, I can't believe it's been 10 years since I started this blog!!). I am by no means a pro at baking or cooking, but I always love putting a spooky spin on recipes - it is so much more fun to eat Halloweenized food, am I right?!

Below you'll find some of my fave past recipes, from eerie appetizers to creepy cookies! All recipes are vegan and contain no animal ingredients, because no one wants that trick for Halloween.

10 Spooktacular Halloween Recipes to make this Halloween season:

Spooky Travels: San Diego Mini Get-Away

San Diego's Museum of Man at Balboa Park

Apologies that I have not been updating as much as I would like here, but things have been so busy lately (in a good way) that I haven't had much spare time to do things I enjoy, like write here! I did want to share with you a mini get-away I was able to take last month. I recently got promoted at work, so I decided to treat myself to a quick weekend get-away in San Diego. San Diego isn't very far from me (about an hour and a half to two hours), but I hardly ever get down there. I had been wanting to try some new vegan restaurants down there, so I booked an AirBnB for Mister Spooky and I and we took a Friday off to visit SD.

The New Beyond Burger from Beyond Meat

I have been intrigued with the new Beyond Burger (the vegan burger that the media has dubbed "the burger that bleeds" due to its juiciness and use of beet juice as food coloring) ever since I first heard about it earlier this year. It is an all-vegan burger that is very close in appearance, texture and taste to the "real" thing. To be honest, the concept freaked me out a little and I wondered if I would be able to handle such a "meaty" vegan burger! This vegan burger REALLY blends into the meat section of the grocery store, and without its packaging in a side by side comparison I bet most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Beyond Burger and a beef burger.

Hangar Bar at Whole Foods Market in Tustin, CA

Hangar Bar's vegan Cauliflower Nachos and Beast Burger with fries!

Whole Foods Market at The District in Tustin, California just got a major overhaul that included the additions of a brand new Mendocino Farms and Hangar Bar inside the store! This is the Whole Foods I frequent the most, so I am ecstatic to have two new restaurants inside the store that offer lots of vegan options! Now I can grab a bite before shopping, because we all know shopping hungry at Whole Foods just leads to trouble.

I've already had Mendocino Farms, so I decided to try some of the vegan options at Hangar Bar, which of course also has a full bar serving lots of beer on tap as well as specialty drinks. Since I'm not much of a drinker, I went straight for the food! I was surprised at how many vegan options they did offer, each of which was clearly marked with a green circle with the world "vegan" inside it (just be careful since the vegetarian options are also marked with a green circle - the only difference is that they say "veg").

Boulder Organic Garden Minestrone Soup

Boulder Organic Garden Minestrone Soup

At the beginning of summer, Boulder Organic was kind enough to send me some coupons to try their pre-prepared soups, of which they have a few hearty vegan options. However, since it was summertime and hot I was in no mood for soup (unless it was ice cream soup, had a lot of that over the summer!). Luckily, the weather FINALLY seems to have cooled down here in SoCal and I excitedly busted out these coupons when I felt the chill in the air.

Crossroads Kitchen in Los Angeles, CA

Crossroads Kitchen is an upscale vegan dining establishment on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles that serves up small plates of decadent food from Chef Tal Ronnen. It has a romantic, sexy atmosphere, with twinkling candles on every table and dim lighting throughout the restaurant. Some people find it a bit pretentious, but I have been wanting to try it for a long time and was finally able to go in October!

I was excited to try out their comforting Italian classics (veganized, of course), like all their pastas, which I had been drooling over on their menu for months! I am Italian, and usually I don't trust any restaurants with pastas, but I was willing to give Crossroads a try. I choose to dine there early on a Sunday night, not only for decent lighting to take photos of food but also since we were going to see Delusion, an immersive horror play (I wrote about that HERE if you are interested!), right after dinner.

What I Ate: July Junk Food Edition

Tex Mex Taco Fries - made with Trader Joe's shoestring fries, Trader Joe's Soy

Chorizo, a cilantro pesto sauce and creamy garlic Alfredo crema (recipes in

the June edition of VegNews), tomatoes, jalapenos, onions.

From the pics below, it looks like I have subsisted on a diet of only vegan donuts, pizza, and sweets this July! Well, maybe that isn't too far from the truth, haha, but perhaps in the future I'll take pics of healthier meals (and try to eat healthier more often...maybe?). All the glorious food in this post is, as always, vegan, and I love sharing these posts with readers so they can see that vegans don't only eat salads.

So here is some of the delicious vegan junk food that I enjoyed this July!

Mini Vegan Food Crawl through LA

Despite being stuffed at Eat Drink Vegan fest (read about that HERE!) a few Saturdays ago, I was ready to eat all the vegan food all over again when I awoke from my food coma that Sunday morning. Naturally, my friends and I decided to do a mini food crawl of vegan spots in Los Angeles, which was pretty much the best and most delicious idea ever! Below you'll find pics of our vegan adventure, which included stops at Donut Friend, Mohawk Bend, Little Pine, as well as the vegan shop Moo Shoes!

Restaurant Review: By Chloe in Los Angeles, CA

I finally got to try the brand new By Chloe that opened recently in the new 365 by Whole Foods market up in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. Of course, I have been drooling over the original By Chloe restaurants that opened in New York City, so you can imagine how excited I was that we got our very own version here in SoCal!! Since this version of By Chloe is attached to the Whole Foods store, it is a little small, but I think they did a great job with utilizing the space, and there is a variety of seating, from a larger communal-style table, to bistro-type seating and even a few little booths. The design itself mirrors that of the NYC By Chloe restaurant and is fresh, airy, and adorable.

Food Review: Two Tias' Organic Tortillas

This is going to be a quickie, because I mainly picked up these lovely Two Tias' Organic Tortillas because of their packaging. I cannot resist any foodstuffs with sugar skulls on it, okay?! I mean, who could?! I found these at Sprouts grocery store, and though I was enthralled by the packaging, I was even further thrilled when I found them to be vegan! I flipped over the package to check the ingredients (as vegans do), and right smack-dab on the package it said "vegan". Plus they are organic/non-GMO and use simple ingredients (basically just flour, water, and salt). Swoon!

Food Review: Gardein Pizza Pockets

Gardein Meatless Pepperoni Pizza Pockets

Helloooooo tasty convenience...these new Meatless Pepperoni Pizza Pockets from the lovely folks at Gardein hit stores in the last few months. I tried them at Expo West in March, and had picked up a box in a grocery store soon after that, but somehow these Pizza Pockets got buried in my freezer (behind the wall of other Gardein products, haha). I chanced upon them in the depths of my freezer a few days ago and it was quite a nice surprise, especially since it was one of those days where I was looking for something quick and easy to eat.

These beauties are shaped like buns, about 2 inches in diameter, and are stuffed full of yummy goodness, including pepperoni and mozzarella. Like all other Gardein products, they are vegan and contain non-GMO ingredients. I was curious to try them, since they seem so similar to Tofurky's Pepperoni Pizza Pockets that came out a few years ago (my review) as well as Gardein's own Pocket Meals that I had tried last year (my review). I enjoy most vegan foods that are fast, convenient, delicious, and come encased in a bun, so I hoped to add these Pizza Pockets to my arsenal of go-to on-the-go vegan products!

Restaurant Review: Burgerlords in Los Angeles, CA

A few months back I finally got a chance to check out Burgerlords in Downtown LA. Burgerlords is a no-frills burger joint in Chinatown with a simple menu, including vegan burgers. They only have a walk-up window where you order your food, but they do have a few picnic tables where you can sit. Plus, it's fun to wander around the center it is located in, which features Asian architecture and a Bruce Lee statue!

Burgerlords only serves burgers and fries, plus a few bottled sodas and water. Their simple burger menu and walk-up window are two reasons they've been compared to In-N-Out. The main draw for me, of course, was the promise of a vegan In-N-Out style burger! I used to love In-N-Out back in my college days before I went vegan, so I was stoked to have the same experience again at Burgerlords.

New Vegan Bowls at Flame Broiler

You know it is definitely the year of the vegan when a chain restaurant makes a menu change for the first time in 21 years and it is to add a vegan item to their menu! The Flame Broiler, a fast-casual restaurant chain with locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma, made its first menu change since its founding (!!!) to include a brand new vegan option for its customers. The demand for plant-based entrees has sky-rocketed, and The Flame Broiler has wisely met this need with a healthy, vegan charbroiled tofu bowl that everyone, vegan or not, can enjoy.

Recipe: Vegan BBQ Chick'n Pizza

Pizza is my fave food group and I'll pretty much demolish any vegan pizza put in front of me. Recently I was craving a BBQ chick'n pizza, and realized I hadn't enjoyed one in quite some time! I drool over a zesty BBQ chick'n pizza, and once I whipped up this quick and easy recipe it made me question why I don't make this type of pizza more often!

This pizza is super simple, and with the help of of few pre-prepared ingredients it comes together in less than 20 minutes - that's prep and cooking time combined! This pizza doesn't require too many ingredients and is very tasty! It's so easy to throw together that I kinda feel silly sharing it here, but I thought, what the heck, everyone needs more vegan BBQ chick'n pizza in their life!

What I Ate: Pizza and Donuts Edition

Heartbreaker Pizza for Valentine's Day - hand-shaped vegan crust topped with

tomato sauce, vegan mozzarella, onions, vegan sausage, and kale.

Well, February appeared to be a pretty decadent month for me, at least based on what I ate. Looking at the photographic evidence, my diet seemed to consist of a lot of pizza and donuts. Oops or success, depending on how you look at it!

Though I wish I could subsist on pizza and donuts alone, I cannot, while I do looooove both! I promise I eat healthy on occasion, though I don't usually take pictures of my healthier meals. I'll make a better effort to document my healthier meals in the future! In the meantime, though, you can join me in drooling over the many pizzas and donuts I enjoyed in the last month, as well as a few other decadent meals and a few healthy ones as well!

Restaurant Review: Little Pine Restaurant in Los Angeles, CA

Little Pine is a new vegan restaurant in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles that was recently opened by long-time vegan and animal activist Moby (who also happens to be an award-winning electronic musician and producer). As soon as it opened (way back in November) I've been DYING to go, and decided that my birthday last weekend was the perfect time to dine at Little Pine.

Though I was very excited to eat there, I had heard mixed reviews on the restaurant, (though all the dishes I had seen shared on social media looked delicious!). I prepared myself by gathering recommendations from friends who had eaten there previously, scouring Instagram for other pointers, and then excitedly headed there for dinner there last Saturday night.

A Guide to Vegan Holiday Roasts

It is easier than ever to choose to have a compassionate holiday dinner, so why not try some delectable vegan roasts for your holiday celebrations this year? If you think about it, it really doesn't make sense to give thanks by causing the pain and suffering of sentient beings, nor does it make sense to gather friends and family around a corpse, right? So why not serve compassionate, cruelty-free centerpieces to your friends and family instead?! Ones that truly celebrate the peace, love and community that these holidays represent.

If this is your first vegan holiday season, you have many options to choose from, and you can find an amazing vegan roast to suit any taste! Finding a vegan roast is easy, the hard part is picking just one (my suggestion - try several!)! And if you've been enjoying vegan holiday dinners for years, you'll be pleased to know there are some new options this year that look mouth-watering!

Keep reading below, where you'll find my guide for vegan holiday roasts. I've broken them up by type so you can easily find what you are looking for! Of course, this list isn't all-inclusive, but rather comprised of vegan roasts I highly recommend or ones I am looking forward to trying!

Food Review: Daiya Deluxe Cheezy Mac

Daiya Deluxe Cheddar Style Cheezy Mac

Just a year or so ago, vegans didn't have many options for cruelty-free mac and cheese. We had the delicious frozen mac and cheese from Amy's [review], but the first boxed vegan mac and cheese that was decent was Earth Balance's version [review], released just last year in 2014! After that, many new vegan mac and cheese options have hit the market, including Daiya's three different types. I had tried this kind at Expo West (read about my initial thoughts on it HERE), so I was ecstatic when it finally hit shelves.

Daiya's Cheezy Mac is different from other brands' mac and cheeses as it comes with a packet of cheezy sauce and instead of powdered cheese mix, so you don't need to add any non-dairy milk or vegan butter to make it. Everything you need (macaroni pasta and cheezy sauce) are included in the box it comes in.