Cass B Chickpea

On my trip to California last week, I tried a new restaurant. It was not a fully vegan place, but it had a couple of options that could be made vegan. I ordered their Spaghetti Squash and Beetballs without the cheese and a side of cajun fries. I want to start with the fries because they may be some of the best fries I have ever had. The seasoning was great and they were super fluffy on the inside and the right crisp on the outside.  The Spaghetti Squash and Beetballs was also great. It was actually my first time trying spaghetti squash, and I liked it. I didn't particularly enjoy the beetballs, but it think they fit perfectly with the dish.  I also googled Lazy Dog, and there is one near Atlanta. I might have to go there to get more cajun fries. 

If you have been watching my stories, you know I started on a road trip to Minnesota with my mom and dog last week. We are here to visit my Grandma, my sister, and my new niece.  Before we left for our road trip, I walked to the Publix a few blocks from my place and decided to try some new vegan snacks. I love eating grapes and Clif bars on road trips, but I wanted something else as well. I found these From the Ground Up Cauliflower Crackers. I think there were 2 different flavors, but I only bought the nacho flavor.  These crackers were fantastic. They look like Cheeze-Its but are crunchier. They are thinner as well which adds to the crunch. The flavor was really good too. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it tasted like my expectation of nacho flavor. The box says 4 servings, but they were so good that I ate it in 2 sittings.  I generally don't buy or keep crackers around, but I may be going back to buy the other flavor before my trip to California on Saturday. ...

On the way home from my backpacking trip last week, I decided to stop at a new restaurant. Duluth, GA was on the way home, and I've seen Nacho Daddy mentioned in the Vegan Atlanta Facebook group. They are obviously known for their nachos, and they have a full vegan menu which includes nachos, enchiladas, queso, etc. They are on the pricier end of the spectrum so instead of ordering the vegan trio chips with their vegan queso, salsa, and guac, I ordered their Vegan Loaded Nachos. The nachos have vegan sour cream, queso, salsa, jalepeños, black beans, and so much more loaded onto a hot skillet for serving. The flavor was amazing and being so hungry after my trip, this plate of nachos only lasted a few minutes. The chips did start to get soggy, but I'm not sure if there is a way to prevent that. I would definitely recommend trying Nacho Daddy if you are in the Duluth area. It is a bit of a drive from Atlanta if there is traffic, but it is worth it. I plan to go back to try more th...

This weekend, I did a new stretch of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina. I slept on the top of a mountain above the clouds and was able to see the stars. It was a great break from reality, and I'm happy I was able to spend some time away.  Now you might be asking what a vegan eats when they go backpacking. And the answer is lots of Clif bars. I usually pack a frozen Uncrustable for the first day to eat with a Clif Bar for lunch. I also pack Clif Energy Blocks for refueling throughout the day. For dinner, I usually bring Backpackers Pantry meals. There are a few of that brand that are vegan, and they are relatively flat which is great for packing. They also have a resealing zip spot that closes the package once you add the hot water.  For this trip, I found a new meal option from Patagonia called Spicy Red Bean Chili that specifically says it is vegan. I found it in the same section as Backpackers Pantry at REI. It is a smaller than the Backpacker's Pantry items and that d...

I was fortunate to grow up with 3 great-grandmas in my life. Unfortunately they began to pass away when I turned 20, and last week my last great-grandma passed away. I'm honestly still a little shaken by last week's death. Even though she was 101, there was no warning or time to prepare - she was just gone.  I flew home to Minnesota on Thursday and was able to attend the funeral. I had extra time to visit some family as well, and I wanted to share a few highlights from my trip.  I sat by one of the 10,000 lakes and tried a new vegan ice cream that I found at Target.  Some of my family has farm land, so I was able to visit and pet some of the baby cows.  And I made a casserole which is a traditional dish of the Midwest. This one is a Taco Casserole with half Daiya cheddar and half non-vegan cheese for other family members.   While my trip to Minnesota was sad, I'm thankful I was able to make a few memories. I'm also thankful th...

I had a few hotdog buns leftover last week, so when I went to the store, I decided to find something that could go in them. I found this Simple Truth Plant Based Sausage and decided to try it. Based on the packaging, it may be better suited in a pasta or breakfast scramble, but I only had a few buns left and this pack came in 4. To cook it, I cut it in half and placed it in a pan over medium heat and cooked until it started to sizzle and brown. I put it in a toasted bun to try it. The texture was nice. It had the right amount of crunch to chewy. The flavor was reminiscent of a sausage though it's been many years since I've had one. I could taste the paprika and spices which I liked.  Overall, I thought this product was good for the price and the flavor that came from it. I would definitely try putting it in a pasta or cooking it into other recipes.

Last weekend I visited Southern Belle Farms to go strawberry picking. It's about a 1 hour drive south from my place in Atlanta. You pay by the gallon before entering the farm. It is a little pricey, but once you get the bucket, you can put as many strawberries that you find in it. In terms of dollars for strawberries, a store bought package is probably cheaper, but this was definitely a fun experience. I went up and down a few aisles looking for the best strawberries.  After I had my bucket filled, I visited the store which had some ciders, strawberry goods, and some strawberry themed gifts. I decided against buying anything, but I think the strawberry cider would have been a good purchase.  Now that I have all of these strawberries, you might ask what I'm going to do with them? Well I spent the whole afternoon turning this gallon of strawberries into popcicle, sorbets, puree, and froze some for smoothies. Now that the weather is getting warmer, be on t...

Giving myself flowers today because I made my 100th Instagram post! In honor of my 100th post, here are 10 things about me: 1. My favorite food to cook is pasta (any kind).  2. I highly dislike onions, so you'll never see them in any of my recipes/posts. 3. I love to go hiking and backpacking. 4. Top 3 restaurants are: Aviva's by Kameel, Sunflower Café, and Atwood's Pizza. 5. I like routines - I eat Atwood's Pizza almost every Friday while I catch up on shows. 6. I am a dog person, but don't own any (except the family dog). 7. I'm looking forward to doing a series on creating recipes with fruits/veggies that I've never tried. 8. Pink lady apples are my favorite fruit. 9. I am trying to visit all 50 states between 1/1/2020 to 12/31/2025. So far I've been to 11. 10. Bring a vegan food blogger is hard. My dream is to share content that others try and love and to grow this into a community. I have not seen a lot of growth over the last 7 months of posting, b...

Going to a restaurant can be enjoyable especially now that the weather is warming up and patios are fully opened. I decided to try a new restaurant called Recess which has a lot of vegan options listed. Recess is located as part of Krog Strong Market and has lots of outside seating which is nice since we are still in a pandemic.   This restaurant is essentially two in one. Their menu has Recess on one side and Bar Mercado on one side. Bar Mercado doesn't have a lot of vegan options but it does have some. I tried one item from Bar Mercado and one item from Recess. From Bar Mercado, I ordered the below tapas called Roasted Cauliflower. It came in a spicy garlic sauce, and it was extremely yummy. It wasn't as crispy as I would expect roasted cauliflower, but I wouldn't have changed anything of it.  After the tapas, I ordered the My Farro Lady bowl which included Farro, roasted broccoli, spaghetti squash, pesto, and more. It was super tasty and a much larger porti...

Living in Atlanta, I have access to a lot of restaurants within walking distance of my condo. There are not a ton of fully vegan restaurants that I love near me, but there are a few places that have good vegan options. One of the new ones that I tried recently was Olive Bistro. They have quite a few vegan options or items that can be the made vegan. Their menu is very large which definitely gives me some choice paralysis. My first time going, I tried a few different sides to try things out. I got a side of falafel, hummus, and Greek potatoes. The falafel was fantastic. It was crisp and flavorful and the tahini was great. I think this is good competition for my favorite falafel place Aviva's. Aviva's still has the best falafel in Atlanta, but Olive Bistro may be a runner up. The hummus was served with pita that seemed to be grilled or something that made it crispy and almost like a chip. The pita was definitely good and maybe my favorite pita. The Greek potatoes were also great....

My mom has been on a fitness journey for the past few years, and has recently stalled out. I suggested she try going vegan because it would be more fresh and whole ingredients which might help her reach her goals. She had never considered going vegan, but she decided to try it. She didn't know what to cook, so she thought a subscription box would be good for her. She looked around and chose Hungryroot. She absolutely loved it. She said the recipes were easy, tasty, and she could barely tell she was eating vegan. She has been using Hungryroot for about a month now and plans to keep using it. While I love cooking and enjoy making new recipes, sometimes I don't have the energy to make a new recipe or go to the store. My mom got a coupon to share with me for $40 off my first box. I decided to give it a try for a week. I took the Hungryroot quiz which allowed me to select I'm vegan. It also asked which meals I want want and some recipes I might like. Then after I paid, it showed...

For the last two weeks, I traveled to a few southwest national parks. I drove over 5,000 miles, visited 4 national parks, saw the Texas Historic Winter Storm, and ate loads of vegan food.  I started my journey with the goal of driving from Atlanta, GA to Dallas, TX before continuing from Dallas to Big Bend National Park. However, the forecasts talked about a historic weather event coming with the worst night being Sunday night. I adjusted my plans to try to go under the storm by going through Houston and staying in San Antonio for Saturday night hoping to make it to my destination on Sunday before the storm. The idea was great, but the storm was bigger than expected. The temperatures dropped and ice patches began to form about 90 miles from San Antonio. After I slid on some ice, I decided to find the nearest hotel and call it a night. The next day, I found a Texas resource of road conditions that showed half of the roads to get to Big Bend were fine, so I left that hotel and starte...

I am safely visiting a town a little bit north of Los Angeles for the Thanksgiving holiday. I have been cooking a lot of homemade food and perfecting new recipes for the blog to minimize the risk of getting covid. In addition, eating out during covid seems to produce a lot more waste and involves more single use plastics. While I try to minimize how much waste I produce, I do not want to miss out on any great food opportunities, so one day, I ventured into Los Angeles to get falafel and see the Hollywood sign from a distance which was a success. I looked up falafel places in LA and stumbled on a place called Fala Bar that's somewhat near the Walk of Fame in West Hollywood on Melrose Ave. It is a 100% vegan restaurant that had a takeout option and some outdoor seating. A special thing about this place is they have multiple flavors of falafel including sweet potato falafel, kale falafel, and spicy falafel. I parked nearby and ordered a falafel sandwich with the spicy fala...

October is my favorite month for many reasons - the weather gets cooler, my birthday happens, it's apple picking season, and it ends with Halloween - the start of the holiday season. Unfortunately during the holiday season, Americans are producing 25% more trash and are adding an extra 1 million tons of wrapping paper alone to the landfill according to the EPA(1).  It's very easy to walk into a store in the second half of the year and see decorations that are a must have. It's easy to buy a Halloween costume from a big store that isn't the best quality but is cheap. It's easy to buy the perfect wrapping paper for every single gift. However, the climate crisis is still present, and ur purchasing choices make an impact on the environment.  Creating sustainable holidays can have a positive impact on the environment and that requires individual changes that force big corporations to update their strategy away from making the fast fashion of holidays. Below are some tips...

In honor of today being my 24th birthday, I wanted to share my favorite local restaurant for brunch, lunch, and celebrations: Café Sunflower. It is a 100% vegan restaurant with a super cute ambiance located in Atlanta, GA. It had 2 locations (Sandy Springs and Buckhead), but unfortunately the Sandy Springs location closed due to the impact of coronavirus.  I prefer to eat foods that are cashew based as opposed to soy based, and this restaurant has a combination of both to make everyone happy. Their dishes can be a little pricey, but it is definitely worth the cost for the quality and portion size, especially for a special occassion.  My favorite dishes on their lunch and dinner menus include their Nachos Supreme, Fettuccine Alfredo, and their Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake. They also have items like spring rolls, salads, hummus, pad thai, etc. They have a special menu for weekend brunch which includes pancakes, homestyle fries, and chick'n and waffles.  I convinced my cowor...

One of my favorite ingredients to cook with right now is chickpeas. I have enjoyed making hummus, nuggets, pastas, etc., but one recipe that I have not perfected is falafel. After 3 failed attempts at making homemade falafel, I embarked on a journey to find the best falafel in Atlanta. Basically this means I have eaten A LOT of falafel recently.  To start, I googled falafel places near my condo in Atlanta and looked for a variety of chain restaurants and local shops. I selected 5 similarly priced restaurants to try and over a few weeks ordered either a side of falafel with tahini or tried the falafel gyro. I also got hummus with most of my orders, but I'll leave finding the best hummus in Atlanta to another compeition that includes homemade and store bought. I graded (1- 5 best) the falafel based on 4 criteria - shape, color, crunch, taste.  The first falafel place I tried during my competition was Gyro Bros. It is very close to my place, and I ordered a gyro with a side of fr...

Time flies when you are passionate, and I have been passionately living a busy life for the last two years. I graduated from college, started writing poetry, got my CPA license, and now work at one of the Big 4 accounting firms.  This blog was originally dedicated to my zero waste journey, but unfortunately, I did not stick with it and it led to me falling out of writing for fear of shame and embarrassment. The goal was to maintain a zero waste lifestyle, and even though I keep my mason jar of trash from that time on my counter as a reminder, it was not a realistic lifestyle for me.  Accepting that was hard.  I reevaluated what is important to me, and here are my top 3 priorities in life:  Live happily Do one thing a day that bring happiness. For me, that can be working out, eating right, writing, bingeing a tv show, seeing friends (though socially distanced right now), and many more.  Create balance When taking something from the earth, give something back. For...

  plazamoyua .com It has been a few weeks since the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its 2018 Climate Report. The report describes what the world will look like in 2040 if the global temperature rose by only 1.5 degrees Celsius - more humans dying from severe heat waves, 99% of reefs gone, increased extreme weather phenomena, half of the fishing populations dead, and ice caps on track to completely melt within the century. That means you can say goodbye to most polar bears, sea lions, and Miami or other low-level cities that would be flooded by an increase in water level. The scariest part is the fact that it says ONLY 1.5 degrees Celius. Effects of climate change are already present at 1 degree Celius and temperatures are set to increase by .2 degrees Celius every decade. Hurricane season in the Atlantic is longer and producing more severe storms. There have been cases on individuals in Canada dying from heat stroke due to increased temperat...

I just arrived back in Atlanta from DC yesterday. I had such a great trip. I got to visit a lot of monuments and museums, like the Botanic Garden (picture), the Holocaust Museum, the Lincoln Memorial, etc. I also really enjoyed movie nights with my friends while we were there and just walking around a new city. Unfortunately, I produced a lot more trash than I expected. Continuing from my Traveling Part 1 post, I added the hummus container, another package of instant rotini noodles, some things from eating out, and more that I'm probably not remembering. It may have been less trash than my trip mates, but it was way more than I usually produce. That makes me really disappointed. Since this was my first vacation since I became zero waste, this blog post is going to list a few things that can be done to make sure that you are living the most sustainable life while traveling. Research stores and markets: I was planning to cook most of my meals at our Airbnb, but I had not resea...

I am spending my spring break in the capital of the United States - Washington DC. This is my first trip since I began to live zero waste, and in this blog post, I am going to write about the struggles I am experiencing during my trip thus far. We left Atlanta, GA, yesterday prepared for the 10 hour car ride. The car was packed with our clothes, homework, and ourselves. We rented an airbnb with a kitchen so that we could cook our own meals instead of eating out every day. We brought a few food staples, like peanut butter and the vegan cookies I buy from Sprouts Farmer's Market. The plan was to arrive at our airbnb in the afternoon and have enough time to go shopping for food at a nearby grocery store. I even brought my own produce and grocery bags hoping to find a grocery store like home... I was very wrong. Once we arrived, we googled grocery stores and found that there are a lot of Trader Joe's in the area. None of us had been to a Trader Joe's, but we had heard that ...