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I made a trip to Maui in December for my Vegetarian Society of Hawaii lecture “Plant Strong: How to Avoid Infections on a Plant-based Diet”.

We visited a newly vegan restaurant that is also gluten free (Harvest Cafe). We loved it! Here are some pictures:

The menu is above…

Harvest Cafe is located at 1367 South Kihei Road in Maui. Check it out! It is a dream for those of us who are vegan and gluten-free. The food is fresh and delicious!

We also visited the Leilani Farm Sanctuary which was an idyllic place for all these rescued farm animals…We love Lauralee and her passion for animals!

Please visit Leilani Farm Sanctuary if you go to Maui. it is a wonderful experience. Suggest it to your friends with kids, though people of all ages will love it. Check out leilanifarmsactuary.org!

Hi Everyone,

I just got back from France!  It was my first time, and I wanted to try out all these vegan places, but I did not have enough time!  There are a lot of new plant-based places popping up!  Here is a video about some of them:

I recently went to a chocolate making class at Madre.  I would highly recommend it to vegans!  All the chocolates right now are vegan at Madre except the one that says “con leche”.  It is very lactose intolerant friendly!  Their chocolate is delicious.  I highly recommend the course to anyone who is interested in learning more about the process of chocolate making.  Here are some pictures from the class:

 

Hi Everyone,

Recently I was in Kauai to go diving with the monk seals (video coming…).  I needed to get some nourishment so got to check out a new vegan restaurant (recently turned vegan) called Eat Healthy Kauai at 4-369 Kuhio Hwy, Kapaa, HI 96746.  I loved it so much I went there twice!  If you are in the area, definitely check it out.  Here are some pictures of the food I enjoyed there!

 

The next day I had the hummus sandwich with a beautiful salad.  Look at that flower, so lovely!

Here is a gluten free chocolate chip cookie.

Have you ever heard of Goat Yoga?  It’s the newest trend, and it is wonderful!  We decided to try it out and drove to San Marcos in San Diego County just to check it out!  The goats stand on you and give you an increased stretch.  It’s sort of similar to having a child walk on your back!

Now if you don’t practice yoga, there does not too much yoga involved, you can practice as much as you want.  It’s more of an opportunity to bond with the goats!  Tom was at first hesitant to commit, but he thoroughly enjoyed himself.  The goat even urinated on his mat, and he didn’t mind!  (He just turned his mat over).  When we left, they actually even cried out to us…what lovely creatures.  I had a phenomenal experience.  I wonder if I can get a pet goat in Hawaii?  I would highly recommend going to the place we went if you are in southern california:  https://www.theblissfulgoat.life

The best thing about stopping in San Diego last weekend is that we went to eat at a new place we had never been to before. We found it on happy cow, and it was convenient to our location, so we decided to check it out!  I am so happy that we did!  I had been seeing these evolution juice bottles all over and did not know where this “evolution” place was.  Now I know!  

I love that they try to keep their food organic and preservative-free (in addition to being vegan)!  This place surpassed my expectations.  I did not think that vegan fast food could amount to much to be honest, but the food was truly delicious!  I had the carne asada, and Tom had the mushroom swiss burger and fries.  Tom said his fries were the best he had ever tasted.  They were fried to the right consistency and spiced appropriately.  My carne asada exceeded my expectations by all means.  I do not usually order things like that with fake meat, but the lady at the register told me it was the most popular, so I decided to give it a try.  I loved it and would get the same thing again.  We also had a mixed soft serve (chocolate and vanilla) vegan ice cream which was delicious as well.  The proof that this place was good is that we saw multiple families there, which means the kids approved of the place!

I saw this sign posted there:

This is so exciting to me as now plant-based diets are popular in Mexico now too!

If you are ever in San Diego, you have to go to Evolution Fast Food:  2965 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103.  If you are in a rush, they even have a drive-through!

 

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Have you ever heard that California is heaven for vegans on earth?  Well, believe it!  I made a whole bunch of really good discoveries on this trip!  The first must-eat place we stopped at is Pomegranate!  I can’t believe that this place has been around for 3 years without my knowledge?!  It was truly heavenly. The menu is below:

 

I ordered the ramen.  I loved the miso soup, which was thick and creamy.  I finished all the broth, and I usually don’t.  For those of you who are gluten-free, this ramen had gluten-free noodles!  It was amazing.

Tom had the a burger.  He thought the ingredients tasted very fresh, and it was evident that they made it in the restaurant!  I like it when a restaurant makes all their food from fresh ingredients.

After our meal, it was too good to be true!  They had a $10 tasting menu with all the items below!  It was unbelievable…

First on the menu was the chrystanthemum tea.  I don’t drink caffeine, and it was perfect because this tea actually had no caffeine.  It was very fragrant:

Next they had a very tasty waffle with edible flowers, blueberries and vegan ice cream!

Then came the tiramisu and the cranberry white chocolate cake!  Tom had the tiramisu which he loved.  I loved my little cake.  It was so cute and very delicious!

The final treat was a lemon gelato pie, which they torched at our table!  (You can see the waitress torching the cake in this picture).  I don’t normally like lemon, but I loved this pie.  It left a wonderful taste in my mouth for the whole afternoon!

Our trip to this restaurant was a great experience!  I will definitely put it on my list as a must-eat at restaurant every time I visit L.A!  The price was very affordable, and the presentation was magnificent.  They even have parking in the back.  I give it 5 stars!

Check out Pomegranate next time you go to L.A.:  8556 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048

The next place I have to mention is not vegan.  It is definitely worth the mention though because their pizza and non-dairy ice cream was fabulous!  My husband had told me about Gina’s Pizza and how he thought it was the best vegan pizza that he had before, but I did not believe it because it was not a vegan restaurant.  I was however, pleasantly surprised!  Their vegan cheese was amazing! They make it themselves and they don’t skimp on the veggies!  The crust is nice and thick as well.  It reminds me of the old days of Pizza Hut (before I became vegan).

Above you can see the best thing of all!  That is their delicious dairy-free ice-cream!  It was creamy and amazing.  We loved it.  Thank you Gina’s for making vegan items!  One of the workers there said that they have some vegans that work there, thank goodness for those vegans!  Yes, Southern California is heaven for vegans on earth….

Check out Gina’s Pizza if you are in orange county:  3142 West Balboa Boulevard, Newport Beach, CA 92663.

 

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One of my favorite things to do is to go diving/snorkeling with the manta rays on the big island.  I was inspired to make a video about their plight !

I do a review of Impossible Burger!

Hi Everyone,

I just returned from my trip to Maui for my Vegetarian Society of Hawaii Lecture…  Someone in the audience asked that I post a list of the foods that I mentioned that are prebiotics and probiotics.  Someone asked about mushrooms at the lecture, and I am including them in my prebiotic list!  I am posting the foods and mentioned and more!

Prebiotic Sources

raw bananas

raw onions

raw garlic

oats

wheat bran

seaweed

jerusalem artichoke

konjac root

chicory root

honey (which vegans do not consume)

raw asparagus

raw jicama

leeks

acacia gum

legumes

artichokes

unpasteurized apple cider vinegar

dandelion greens/root

shitake, miyake, reishi musrooms

brewer’s yeast

rice

white beans, black beans, garbanzo beans

chocolate

spinach

blueberries

apples

chia seeds

flax seeds

Probiotic Sources

kombucha

kefir

yogurt

kimchi

sauerkraut

pickes

olives

miso

natto

tempeh

Injera

Idlis

green peas

sourdough bread

beet kvass

vegan fermented nut cheese

This is by no means a complete list ! There are many probiotics and probiotics, but this should give you a start!  Speaking of which…we went to a new completely vegan restaurant in Maui (the only completely vegan restaurant, or shall we say the first?).  It is called a’a Roots.  We loved it!  They offer a lot of probiotics in their fridges:

You have to check this place out!

 

 

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I made a short trip to California this weekend, and checked out the Beyond Burger at Veggie Grill….Here is a review: