That Was Vegan?

My pal Hannah Kaminsky has done it again! Her latest masterpiece Sweet Vegan Treats: 90 Recipes for Cookies, Brownies, Cakes, and Tarts is absolute perfection.

Now, I will fully admit that I struggle with baking. Whether you want to blame my attitude or my altitude, the fact is that when I start mixing flour and sugar and vegan egg together, hilarious disaster generally ensues. But I’ve had So. Much. Success. with Hannah’s recipes.

I’d like to believe it’s because she gets me, but more likely it’s just because she is such a skilled baker and recipe creator that *even I* can recreate her treats.

SO! Sweet Vegan Treats goes on sale tomorrow (10/15) but you can still preorder it today on Amazon… and just to give you a sneak peak of what you’ll be getting, Hannah has graciously allowed me to share her recipe for Peanut-Plus Cookies (my personal favorite because I can’t get enough peanuts in my life)

It is autumn, and dessert is yummy. These are two indisputable facts, which, when combined, mean its time for me to share the recipe for Pumpkin-Spiced Apple Parfait from The Vegan Spiralizer Cookbook!

Speaking of which… did you know the Kindle edition is available NOW? It is! The printed cookbook will also be available very soon, and you can preorder that now if printed is your preference.

Also, I feel pretty strongly that you should make this parfait this weekend. Why am I so jazzed up about it? BECAUSE PUMPKIN SPICE. AND AUTUMN. But also because I’m excited to share with everyone how awesome spiralizing your fruits and veggies can be- it’s a great way to experience your favorite dishes in a slightly different way!

So give this dessert a shot, and don’t forget to order your very own copy of The Vegan Spiralizer Cookbook!

What are your favorite cold-weather desserts?

Panama is one of those countries where you might not expect to find a lot of vegan food options… but trust me when I tell you there is plenty of vegan food to be enjoyed in Panama! You might face more of a challenge in the rural parts of the country, but in Panama City, Panama the vegan options are plentiful! Traveling to Costa Rica as well? Be sure to check out all the amazing vegan eats I enjoyed there too!

We spent 3 days staying right in Panama City, and then 4 days at a super luxe beach resort about 30 minutes outside of the city. I ate very well, and want to share some of my favorite meals with you guys!

Panama City

My very favorite (all vegan!) restaurant in Panama City is called Karma Cafe. Karma was bright and fun, and the food was delicious!

On our first visit, I had the Karma Burger which comes on a hot pink bun with bacon, lettuce, tomato and tons of gooey cheese. It was decadent and delicious! And 100% vegan!

Mom went with the Karma Klub which had seitan-like slices, bacon, lettuce, and lots of mayo and sweet mustard. And fries!

Our second trip featured the Nachos Taquilleros for me, with lentils, cheese, pickled onions and jalapenos, and of course, guacamole. I had been craving nachos and while these were good, they’re nothing like Mexican or American nachos.

Mom had the Karnivora, which was a veganized pastrami sandwich. She let me have a bite and it was really good!

10/10 would eat here again in a heartbeat! The prices were very reasonable coming from the US (~$12 per sandwich), but a bit more than you might pay at other restaurants. Still not bad though.

On our very first afternoon in Panama we took an Uber to Casco Viejo, a beautiful part of the city that is unlike any other part. Ancient buildings, some refurbished and some decaying… but all breathtaking. The history in this city is amazing!

But okay, this is a food blog, so here you go. We were a little bit over the humidity (Tropical + sea level = HOT) so we started looking at menus, and as always the word “vegan” just pops out at me, haha! We ended up at Aki Sake Bar & Japanese Kitchen where I had some really great sushi!

This was the Vegan Roll, made with tofu tempura, avocado and cucumber:

And a glass of chilled red wine because, for some reason, that is how its served at most Panamanian restaurants. TBH I didn’t mind because I was so hot all the time, but it did take some getting used to. My mother hated it.

I also finally got to try Loving Hut! I’ve heard so much about this chain and have been in cities where they are, but hadn’t ever eaten there. Now I have.

Now, I can’t tell you exactly what I ate because the nice ladies behind the counter didn’t speak English, but that was okay since we knew everything was vegan! Fried plantain, fried rice, and fried “beef and peppers” It was all quite delicious, albeit a little oily. And cheap! I think it was around $4 for all of this food:

There was really only one meal that was… questionable. I mean, it was definitely vegan, and it felt adventurous, but I wouldn’t eat there again. The spot was called El Jardin Vegetariano and it made Loving Hut look expensive, if you can imagine that. We got two plates for food for less than $3, and although the employees didn’t speak English, there was a student there (Panamanian, I believe) who did, and she helped us (some of the items were vegetarian, not vegan). A spring roll, carrots, and seitan (?) in barbecue sauce.

I was really proud of my mom for eating her plate because the restaurant was in a slightly scary mall, and honestly, it wasn’t very clean in there. But that’s part of the fun of travel- being adventurous and open to trying new things!

The rest of these plates are from the buffet at our beach hotel, the Westin Playa Bonita. VERY vegan-friendly resort as it turns out. If you’re looking for a schmancy beach resort in Central America with lots of vegan food, I definitely recommend it.

We had the all-inclusive package, which for me meant mimosas with breakfast and rum punch all day by the pool, and red wine with dinner!

Most of my breakfasts were similar to this (although I did have cereal once or twice, because they had soy milk!). Toasted bread with peanut butter and pineapple jam, and roasted veggies.

A typical lunch looked like this (although I definitely changed it up a bit each day)- Bread with ahhhmazing hummus and a huge salad:

And something a little warmer and heartier for dinner. Each night had a different theme, and while I don’t remember the theme on the night this picture was taken, I enjoyed spicy lentils over rice, flavorful roasted veggies, and crispy potato wedges!

Okay, that’s (most of) what I ate in Panama City, Panama!

Flavored seltzer waters are all the rage right now, and I will admit that my recycling bin is often overflowing with empty cans. (Sidenote: should I buy a sodastream?) Of all the flavors I’ve seen in stores though, from Cucumber Melon to Blood Orange to Pamplemousse (whatever that is), none of them have been spicy…

Are you a fan of spicy heat? If so, you’ll probably love my Mango-Habanero Seltzer Water which is quick n’ easy to make, and you can easily dial up the heat as much as you’d like! The best part is… no sodastream needed! All you need is your spiralizer and you’re ready to start quenching alll the thirst.

Or, you know, add a shot of tequila…

In case you hadn’t guessed, this is another recipe sneak peek from my newest cookbook The Vegan Spiralizer! While it doesn’t hit shelves until later this month, you can (and should!) preorder your own copy now on Amazon.

As you can tell from the cover, from this seltzer recipe, and from the Sweet n’ Spicy Beet Wrap recipe I shared last week, this book is *not* full of raw zoodle recipes (although there are some zoodle dishes, including one smothered in creamy buffalo sauce…).

Nope. These recipes take spiralizing to the next level, using that handy little tool to change the way you look at fruits and veggies, and how you incorporate them into your meals!

So please lend your support and preorder your copy now, and then go make your own seltzer water. Okay, here’s the beautiful recipe!

*Contains affiliate links. I may receive earnings based on your purchases at no additional cost to you.

I’m SO EXCITED to share this recipe from my new cookbook The Vegan Spiralizer! These Sweet ‘n Spicy Beet Wraps are super flavorful with the earthy sweetness of the beets, the bite of chili powder and baby arugula, and the creamy goodness of avocado.

They’re also quick, taking less than 30 minutes to put together, including baking time for the beets! One of the great things about spiralized veggies is that they cook so much more quickly than in their native form.

They make a great lunch, or pair them with a salad, or maybe some sweet tater tots for dinner.

You better believe me when I say spiralizing is about more than raw zoodles! It’s about fitting more fruits and veggies into your meals, in fun new ways… like these delicious wraps.

Head over to Amazon to preorder your copy of The Vegan Spiralizer Cookbook, which hits shelves on 10/22!

*Contains affiliate links. I may receive earnings based on your purchases at no additional cost to you.

Costa Rica is beyond beautiful, no one will argue that. Plus there are monkeys and sloths!

Thankfully, there are also plenty of vegan food options for us hungry travelers. Traveling as a plant-based eater can sometimes feel challenging, particularly if there’s a language barrier. And while Costa Rica isn’t known for being especially vegan-friendly, I was able to find more than enough to eat! This is a long post, but there was just so much vegan food in Costa Rica, and I didn’t want to leave any of it out!

Here are some of my favorite vegan meals in and around San Jose, Costa Rica:

Let’s start with Falafel House, the only restaurant we ate at more than once. It’s a small, modern spot located right off Avenue Central, steps from Mercado Central, San Jose’s Central Market. This is prime tourist location, and if you’re in San Jose you’ll almost certainly find yourself nearby. This restaurant is small but friendly AND the menu has vegan items clearly marked. And they serve wine, which might be even more important, ha!

The first time we visited was for lunch, and we both had the Falafel Bowl, with jasmine rice, lentils, hummus, salad, pickles, beets, eggplant, and roasted onion, with tahini. It was enormous and honestly, the two of us could’ve split one.

Just look at the tahini-smothered falafel!

As we were preparing to leave, one of the gals who worked there came in carrying three cakes. And they were all vegan! Unfortunately, we were too full to partake, but we kept thinking about them, and a couple of days later we were back.

This time I went for the eponymous Falafel House Pita Wrap which, as you can see, came with a top of pita chips and hummus. It was delicious, but again, filling.

And this time we went for the cake. We meant to order one slice to share but somehow ended up with two slices of the Green Tea Cake. This was, of course, after me repeatedly confirming that it was vegan. “El pastel es vegano, si?”

Not the best picture because it was late at night… but it was actually green. And it was delicious! A little dry (I’m assuming it was the same cake from two days prior?) but still yummy.

We stayed at the absolutely adorable Hotel Aranjuez in the Aranjuez barrio of San Jose, and I absolutely recommend it. It’s SO Costa Rica, and perfectly situated in the city for walking to museums, shopping, and food. And even though this is a food blog, let me show just a couple pics of the hotel, which was actually 4 or 5 historic houses that had been connected. There were so many hallways and walkways and courtyards, and it was actually a little fun to get lost in. This was the courtyard near our room:

And this was the beautiful, serene restaurant where they served an amazing breakfast every morning, included in the price of our room, that had tons of vegan options (more on that in a second)…

But first…
This guy visited us every morning at breakfast!

Costa Rican squirrels are just about the cutest thing!! Okay, back to the food. Here’s a look at a typical breakfast we enjoyed at the Hotel Aranjuez:

Fresh fruit, pickled veggies, fragrant beans, and rice, and many many bread options with fun jams. Passionfruit, mango, and other jams you don’t often see in the US. Oh and the coffee is ALWAYS good in Costa Rica.

The hotel also has a fancy-schmancy restaurant called 11-47 that is only open for a couple of hours each night and requires reservations (made at the front desk). It’s a tiny spot but beautifully done. That’s the actual, entire kitchen right there behind that counter!

Their menu has a few things that are marked at vegan, and a couple otheres that can easily be made so. For my appetizer I had the Vegan Ceviche, with avocado, mango, radish, and a crisp delicious sauce, with fried plantains for dipping.

Dinner was a Strawberry Avocado Salad (which I think may have also been listed as a starter on the menu, but I wasn’t hungry enough for an entree) topped with homemade granola. The menu also included some really fun cocktails.

We only ate there once because of our schedule, but I would’ve gladly gone back in time had allowed. I’m not showing Mom’s meal because it was vegetarian (not vegan) but it looked like something from Top Chef the way it was plated. SO FANCY! You can actually see a shot of it in the background of the Ceviche pic.

About a block from our hotel was the cutest little coffee shop called Kaps Cafe (there’s also a hostel nearby with the same name, but the cafe is separate). Look how cute!!

We were there in between mealtimes and just had coffee (with a splash of whiskey of course) but according to Happy Cow they do offer vegan food and baked goods.

Also right near our hotel was a wine bar and restaurant where we had a nightcap at least twice three times. Restaurante bar Castanuelas didn’t offer any vegan food options from what I could tell but it was a fantastic place to stop for a glass of wine. Look how pretty and quaint it is!

Arbol de Seda was on our list but it closes early (5:00) so we were only able to make it there once. It’s all-vegetarian and all delicious! And even though many of their dishes come with cheese, they do have queso vegano to substitute for you!

I forget what these were called, but they have basically Loaded Potato Wedges… like nachos. But with potatoes, which is like heaven for me. Tons of vegan cheese, guacamole, tomatoes, scallions… what you’d expect. The serving size was enormous, this could’ve fed two.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t save room for dessert… Passionfruit Cream Pie to be exact!

Located across the street from the National Museum of Costa Rica (which, incidentally, I don’t really recommend. If you’re only going to visit one museum, do the Gold Museum) is Nuestra Tierra, a fun, vibrant restaurant featuring traditional Costa Rican food and live music. Not a lot of vegan options but it was our first day, we were exhausted (we had taken the red-eye from Denver to CR and so hadn’t slept really in 36 hours), it was cold and rainy, and we just wanted something to eat to help us stay awake until a reasonable hour, so we had the Patacones Platter (fried plantains) which came with guacamole, bean dip, and salsa. And wine. Lots of wine.

Annnnd finally, our last night in Costa Rica was spent in Alajuela, a neighborhood on the other side of the city, very close to the airport (we had an early flight). Another great neighborhood, although not as many restaurants/bars/museums as Aranjuez IMO. But what Alajuela DOES have is a restaurant called El Chante Vegano, which is 100% vegan!

We started with the Patacones (have I mentioned I am addicted to plantains?) which again came with the black bean dip and salsa:

For her entree, Mom had the Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos, which were breaded and SO GOOD (I got to try one):

I had the Super Nachos (as with the loaded potatoes I ordered earlier in the trip, I was craving nachos for these entire two weeks) which had soy meat and the usual toppings, but they were just meh. Maybe it was the 14 lbs of lettuce? Or the lack of seasoning. Or maybe it was just me and my craving was for some specific nachos. IDK. Regardless, I wouldn’t recommend these.

It could also just be that I was grumpy because this restaurant didn’t serve alcohol??

Okay, that’s it for Costa Rica! Next up, I’ll share my food adventures from Panama!!

…

Because The Vegan Spiralizer (which is available for preorder!) is my second cookbook, I knew a bit more what to expect… so this time around, I saved some fun pictures of “the process” to share with you all!

Groceries

Just to give you an idea of the amount of ingredients that go into creating a cookbook, here is my grocery haul for about 1.5 days worth of cooking…

That’s two full-sized reusable bags, two medium-sized reusable bags, and 2 plastic bags (because I just didn’t bring in enough bags!) – that’s a lot of ingredients for less than 2 days of cooking, eh?

I spent a lot of time shopping, and that doesn’t even take into account the time I spent thinking about new recipes, outlining them, making lists… Come to think of it, I wish I had kept a time log so we’d know exactly how long it took! It also would’ve been fun to take a picture of EVERY grocery haul!

Recipe Sneak Peeks

Here are a few of my favorite dishes from the new book!

Mmmmmm this gooey cheesy goodness is Potatoes au Gratin, made with both sweet and Yukon gold potatoes, TONS of cheese, and covered in a crispy panko crust! Looking at this now… let’s just say I might make it this weekend haha!

These Apple Walnut Muffins proved to be a real challenge. If all 101 recipes in this book were my actual human children, these muffins are the one child that would’ve been sent away to boarding school.

Granted, the challenges were mostly my fault. You see, while writing my first book, I kept my laptop open on the island counter, typing any last-minute changes or substitutes into the recipe outline that I had started with. This time around, I switched to keeping the outline on my laptop, while handwriting notes in a dedicated notebook. I thought it would be easier, and in many ways it was.

Except for the first time I made these muffins. They came out PERFECTLY! Moist, not too dense, and with a ton of apple flavor. But when I went back to look at the recipe again so I could share it with my recipe testers, I realized I had neglected to include the amount of flour I had used. SMH. WTF. FML. I had to make them FIVE MORE TIMES just to get the flour amount back to correct. But then I also made an error when I typed up the recipe for my testers and included some wonky baking temperature that couldn’t possibly have been correct… like 463 degrees, or something silly like that. So I made them again to figure out the right temperature. Then I made them two more times because by this point I was just so nervous about them!

TL;DR, these muffins are delicious and I’ve baked them approximately 47 times.

Finally, the potato salad I just cannot get enough of. First, because it is Wasabi Potato Salad and I love the flavor of wasabi. Second, because it uses white sweet potatoes for a surprising first bite. And finally, because it’s all SPIRALIZED!

And that was the most fun part of writing this book… taking recipes we all love (like potato salad) and presenting it in an entirely different way.

If that sounds like fun to you, too, you should definitely head over to Amazon and preorder your copy of The Vegan Spiralizer Cookbook – there are 101 recipes in there that I think you’ll love!

*As an Amazon affiliate I may receive earnings on qualified purchases at no additional cost to you.

It’s official: my second cookbook is almost here! While The Vegan Spiralizer Cookbook: Creative, Delicious, Easy Recipes for Every Meal doesn’t go on sale until 10/22, Amazon is accepting pre-orders (so go order yours now!)

I’ll be sharing more pictures and recipes and behind-the-scenes stories as the release date gets closer, but to give you an idea what this book is all about… The recipes are simple, the ingredients fresh and easy to find. There are breakfasts, appetizers, soups, casseroles, tacos, even desserts that all feature spiralized fruits and veggies. These are recipes for foods you know and love, but with the added benefit of healthy, delicious, spiralized veggies adding extra nutrition. The flatbread featured on the cover is one of my favorites- toasted naan, fresh avocado and sweet basil, spiralized butternut squash, and roasted sweet corn!

A few others I’m particularly excited about are:

• Cranberry-Maple Sweet Potato Hash
• Maple-Sriracha Tempeh Bowl
• Wasabi Potato Salad
• Fried Teriyaki Tempeh Sandwiches
• Creamy Garlic Zucchini Soup
• Cherry-Pear Parfaits

Well, all of them really. I LOVE EVERY SINGLE RECIPE IN THIS BOOK! I’m a big fan of spiralized veggies and it’s been fun and challenging learning which are my favorites (sweet potatoes and butternut squash. Oh and apples.)

More to come soon, go pre-order your copy now!

*As an Amazon affiliate I may receive earnings from qualified purchases.

Two of these posts in a row, and I’m STILL not caught up! Also? This one should be called “the mock meat edition” because these meals all feature them. I don’t eat mock meats all that often, but they are (mostly) delicious and I do like ’em!

Let’s start with the Impossible Burger. First up, the Impossible Burrito from Qdoba. For those of you who don’t have them in your area, they’re very similar to Chipotle except they don’t charge extra for guac. And they have Impossible!

This was an Impossible Burger enjoyed at Stout St. Social, a local Denver spot in Lodo. My friend Cindy and I were on our way to see Wicked and stopped in for dinner and a drink (or two). The picture is kinda blurry, but it was delicious. Perhaps a little overcooked, but I really enjoyed all the veggies they added on.

Annnnd another Impossible Burger. This one was a little funny. It was the first date with a guy from Bumble. He’s new to Denver and chose a restaurant for us to meet at for dinner… we show up and it’s in a kinda low-end hotel (at least by his standards). He was so embarrassed, I felt really bad for him. He was sweet though and it ended up being a good date. This was literally the only vegan thing on the menu though, and while a burger and fries wouldn’t be my first choice for a first date, oh well!

I swear I’m not just hanging out eating burgers all the time, but I will admit that I’ve been through the Carl’s Jr. drive through THREE TIMES since they add the Beyond Burger! It’s kind of fun going through a drive through again. It feels retro.

If you’ve scrolled through these ‘What I Eat’ posts before, then you’re familiar with Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs. My bestie Eric and I eat there monthly. At least. And we always get sweet potato tots to go with our veggie dogs! This time I went with the Chicago Veggie Dog because I love that ridiculous green relish. I will pause (paws?) briefly to complain that Steve has switched bun brands and I am not loving these new ones. The ratio of bread to filling is just too damn high now.

Now for some homemade deliciousness!

I made a super easy BBQ Chick’n Pizza using Morning Star Chick’n Strips (yup, they’re vegan not vegetarian) and one of those probably-very-unhealthy pizza doughs that come in a tube. Don’t @ me. It was yummy and I do not care.

Spicy BBQ sauce, red onion, cilantro and Follow Your Heart mozzarella!

I had leftover toppings, so a few days later I used them up on some bagel pizzas…

More pizza? Yes, more pizza. This one had Tofurky Italian sausage, peppers and onions on a pre-made crust I bought at Sprouts. Really good!

And finally, a Tofu Breakfast Burrito from City O’ City. I’m not even actually sure there’s mock meat in there, but it was yummy. I was a little irked to pay $14 for it, but whatever. I was hungover and really needed it. Eaten at my desk like a true champ!