Review

Grassroots Granookies

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I recently received two flavors of Grassroot Granookies to review, the Apricot Cinnamon and the chocolate chips. Grassroot Granookies are a tasty blend of cookies and granola bars.

They are a good balance of the two as they are chewy and crispy and pack a lot of flavor!  I ate the Granookies on their own and broke them up and put them in my vegan yogurt.  They are delicious, sweet but not too sweet and the chocolate chip Granookies went great with my vanilla soygurt parfait.

These are great alternatives to mainstream granola bars and cookies as they are fun, healthy and convenient.  They are a great source for fiber, complete proteins, amino acids and more!  To top it all off, they are dairy free, soy free and nut free as well which is great for those with food allergies or sensitivities.

Now it is your chance to win your own sample of Grassroot Granookies!  Entries will be accepted until October 12th at 8pm.  To enter you can do any (or all) of these: Please leave individual comments for each entry.

  1. Tell me what inventive way you will enjoy your sample of Granookies.
  2. Become a fan of Granookies on Facebook
  3. Become a fan of Cook.Vegan.Lover. on Facebook
  4. Follow Cook.Vegan.Lover. on twitter
  5. Subscribe to my newsletter

The Winner is JENNA

Dining Locally: Magnolia Bistro

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This is the first of my “Dining Locally” posts which will be a series of post about Vermont eateries.  Today’s post features Magnolia Bistro which is a certified green restaurant in Burlington Vermont that features a variety of breakfast and lunch options.  The Hubz and I visit here pretty often to enjoy there great food, atmosphere and of course the vegan bloody mary’s.

Magnolia Bistro’s menu is a vegans paradise.  Everything is labeled with a “v” if it is vegan and if you are gluten free you will be delighted to know gluten free dishes are marked with a “g”.  This make the dining experience relaxing, easy and enjoyable.

Sesame Tofu Scramble

Plate O'Sides- black beans, kale, home fries and toast with Earth Balance

The Hubz and I would recommend:

  • Garbanzo Burger
  • The Incredible Mr. Limpett
  • Sesame Scram w/avocado
  • French Toast
  • Bloody Mary

However, we have never had a dish we didn’t love!

Magnolia Bistro, One Lawson Lane, Burlington, VT

Visiting Saratoga Springs

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After our visit to the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary we were feeling great but hungry so we snacked on our leftovers

and a few of these:

and one of these for our drive to Saratoga Springs:

After about an hour of driving we made it to our hotel for night which was a HUGE improvement over our Friday night hotel.  I used Hotwire my go to resource for great inexpensive rooms and we got the Hyatt Place in Malta NY just outside of Saratoga Springs.  Unfortunately my camera battery died during our visit to the animal sanctuary so I didn’t get a good shot of the room, however, the picture on the website is exactly what our room looked like so take a look:

After relaxing for a bit on the couch we finally headed out to see the town and get some dinner.  Our first stop was the Olde Saratoga Brewery which has a tasting room and the best part you can taste what you want and the only cost to you is what you want to tip- great right? Well we stopped in and tried 2 brews each before heading to dinner.

After brews we headed to downtown Saratoga Springs for dinner at Karavalli an Indian restaurant that I read about online and was drawn to their vegan menu options.  We started off with the Bhel Poori which was really interesting; it was like a savory rice crispy treat.  We then shared the CHETTINADU VEGETABLE: A Tamilnadu Specialty:Vegetables in authentic spicy black pepper and roasted coconut sauce and the KUNDAPUR VEGETABLES: A Karnataka Specialty:Vegetables cooked with coconut milk and dry red chilies, tempered with curry leaves and mustard seeds.

The food was amazing and there was so much of it that we had to take some with us for lunch on Sunday.  Although our meal was huge and we were pretty full we had a little room left (after a long walk around downtown) for one of these bad boys:

An Amazing vegan chocolate chip pumpkin seed macaroon.

Loving Fermented Veggies

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I am a huge fan of fermented veggies especially kim chee.  My favorite kim chee is Rejuvinative Foods Spicy Kim Chee which I have used in a number of different ways.  I have made kim chee spring rolls, kim chee fried rice and my favorite way to eat it is on top of a bowl of rice with beans and steamed veggies- or straight out of the jar!

Now you can get Rejuvinative Foods- Spicy Kim Chee in my OpenSky store.  Rejuvinative Foods Spicy Kim Chee is 100% organic, vegan, raw, gluten free,  and made from fresh, shredded and unheated vegetables.  It is also a rich source of lactobacilli and enzymes and of course delicious and  with high fiber content.

Buy Now

Reminder- use the Coupon Code: THIRTYVEGAN today! The coupon is good for the 1st five 3 customers who use it and expires on 9/30, so don’t wait!- I just purchased some myself!

Running Away Part 2

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After a restless night at our less than desirable accommodations we were in need of a wonderful breakfast to start what we knew would be an amazing day. We headed to Woodstock, New York to eat breakfast at the Garden Cafe On The Green.

The completely vegan menu was filled with delicious sounding breakfast dishes that I wanted to order all of them from the Oatmeal “Crème Brule” to the scrambles and of course the French Toast.  However the Hubz and I finally made a decision and picked two amazing dishes, a side and coffee.

I had the Breakfast Burrito which was massive so I only ended up eating half and saved the other half for lunch.

It was really delicious.

Breakfast Burrito: black beans, tofu scramble, vegan cheddar, salsa and guacamole served with roasted potatoes

The Hubz had the Italian Scramble which was delicious as well and also a ton of food.  He took some of his with us as well and we shared our leftovers for lunch later in the day.

Italian Scramble: spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, herbs, served with grilled baguette & roasted potatoes

Oh yeah and we had some vegan sausages- had we known that the meals were going to be so huge we probably wouldn’t have ordered them but they sure were delicious!

After breakfast we wondered around town and visited the local flea market where I found a few pieces of costume jewelry and some beautiful figs.

I am sure that you have figured out our final destination by now however you will still have to wait until the next post to see all the fun.

Art Hopping

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After a crazy week at work it was nice to come home to these yummy treats:

Hail Merry sent me a few of their treats to sample for my OpenSky Shop .  I immediately decided to try the blonde macaroons which are raw, vegan and gluten free and AMAZING! I am a huge fan of raw macaroons and should really make them more often but these are certainly a great treat!

I wasn’t feeling to hot in the morning so I finished my work and headed home to rest for awhile.  When the Hubz got home he convinced me to get out and go to the South End Burlington Art Hop with him.  I was as little reluctant at first since I still wasn’t feeling great but went anyways. We ended up having a great time and the fresh air and walk around town seemed to be just what I needed.  After a while we got hungry and we decided to get some food.

Neil with his I'm hungry face on.

Downtown was crowded so I suggested that we try Miguel’s since it was near the water, away from the crowds, and we had never been there before.  We decided to sit outside since although cool out it was a beautiful night.

We started off with the special margarita of the night: prickly pear

We also snacked on a few chips and salsa but we were good and didn’t have too many and spoil our dinners.

For my entree I got the Tres Tacos with the vegetarian chili which was delicious and filled with bulgar, sweet potatoes and beans- with my tacos came pinto beans, rice, pickled onions, lettuce and tomato.

The Hubz got the portobello fajitas which were amazing! He was kind enough to give me one and in return I gave him one of my tacos.

Overall this place was amazing! We had great food, great service and a wonderful atmosphere to enjoy it all in (and the company wasn’t half bad either).

New Moon and Jivana Spa

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Friday after work I headed downtown to meet the Hubz and grab a bite to eat before we headed to our spa appointment. I decided that I we should try a place we had never been, New Moon Cafe,  at first glance I thought the place was super tiny but when we got in a little further we realized the place was huge!  We have decided that with the free wi-fi we probably will be spending a lot more time here, except strangely they are not open on Saturday’s.

The Hubz and I shared the grilled veggie sandwich (sundried tomato pesto is vegan!), a Gus soda and a bag of Zapp’s Spicy Cajun Crawtators chips. Everything was delicious!

After our bite to eat we went for a walk to kill some time before our spa appointment.

Finally it was time to enjoy our spa treatment! Since there were no cameras or cellphones allowed I didn’t get any shots but let me tell you it was amazing! Here are some photos from the Jivana website:

Entrance

Entry and Massage Room

The Sugar Scrub Table

After the amazing Balinese massage I had a sugar scrub and left the spa feeling refreshed, renewed and so relaxed.  I decided to go with the lemongrass massage oil and body scrub and it really did smell wonderful.

After our spa appointment it was getting pretty late so we decided to go out for some yummy Asian Food.  We got the avocado roll to share and then I got a big bowl of tom kar soup with tofu, veggies and udon noodles. The Hubz got this great dish which was almost like a deconstructed sushi roll both amazing and ridiculously filling.

Q: What are you treating yourself to this year?