Okay, folks...we don't have much time to take advantage of this freebie, so get to clickin' right away to claim your free bottle!

Click on the banner above or the link below to be taken directly to the page to order your free fruit and veggie wash.

Here is what you get: ONE BOTTLE of Eat Cleaner 6 oz. Fruit + Veggie Wash Concentrate

I have already ordered mine and am excited to get it and give it a try!

This is a natural, patented produce cleaning product used to remove bacteria, pesticide residue and wax from your fruits and vegetables. This is important for everyone, but it is particularly important for folks who cannot always purchase organic produce or those who use their produce for juicing.

This giveaway ends on May 30th, so head over to the Eat Cleaner website now to claim yours!

When my wife and I were planning our six-day Puerto Rico trip in January, we were determined to travel with just carry-on luggage. Now, for those of you who haven’t met us, this is no problem at all for her and a bit of a challenge for me. V doesn’t wear makeup, throws her hair up in a quick bun every day, can do pretty much anything in a single pair of shoes, and has definitely learned to pack well after years in the military. I, on the other hand, need space for my flatiron, makeup bag, hair accessories, a couple of extra outfit options, and vegan snacks for the plane and layover.
 
Since moving back to Southern California, we have mostly been doing road trips, which means that we have been able to pretty much load up anything we think we might need and haul it along with us. So I have gotten a bit spoiled when it comes to how many pairs of shoes I can bring or toting along our blender to make breakfast smoothies.
 
After a couple of years of this, going back to plane travel and deciding to just bring carry-on luggage was a bit of a switch for us. But I was totally up for the challenge, since I love to organize, downsize and find space-saving solutions.

One thing I knew for sure was that I had to find makeup brushes with shorter handles. This was an easy way to save space without losing the product’s function and to be able to take along a smaller makeup bag. I first started my search by specifically looking for travel makeup brushes. There are plenty of options out there, but most of them are not vegan or cruelty free, and many of them are not quality brushes.
 
At first, I thought maybe I didn’t need great brushes, since this was just for short-term use while traveling. But then I started thinking about how we take way more pictures while traveling and that I would be seeing old friends and meeting new people. For some folks, this is not an issue, but for those of us who do wear makeup regularly, it would be nice for it to be just as easy to apply and to look just as flattering when on the road.
 
So my quest for the perfect, vegan, cruelty-free travel makeup brushes continued and, after a bit of trial and error, I totally scored. In fact, I got so lucky in finding the perfect brushes at a great price that I’m not using them just for travel; these have become part of my everyday makeup brushes…because that is how much I love them.
 
That, of course, is why I simply had to share them with you!

Okay, so this vegan product review is for the seven-piece I Love Bamboo Petite Pro Bamboo Brush Set by SHANY Cosmetics. These are not billed as travel makeup brushes, but the longest brush is 5 ½ inches in length and they come with a handy carrying case, so they were the perfect size to fit in my carry-on luggage without taking up any unnecessary room.
 
The handles are bamboo and the brushes are synthetic, which makes them a good choice for folks looking for cruelty-free makeup brushes. Unlike some synthetic brushes that have a plastic or nylon feel, these mini bamboo makeup brushes are incredibly soft and feel and look like high-quality brushes that are far more expensive.
 
Something else I really liked about this set is that is comes with exactly the brushes I need and use every day without any extras or lacking anything.

Here is what you get:
 
1. Powder Brush
2. Buffer Bronzer Brush
3. Rounded Foundation Brush
4. Eyeshadow Brush
5. Contouring Eyeshadow Brush
6. Rounded Concealer Brush
7. Brow Brush
 
Now…those are the official names given in the little information sheet that comes with the set, but I use them just a little differently, which shows their versatility and how this is just an all-around awesome set of brushes. For example, I use the rounded concealer brush for applying gel eyeliner and I use the rounded foundation brush for contouring.
 
I tested the brushes out a few times before our trip so that I could make sure I liked them and that I would be able to do my makeup just with this set (without needing to supplement with other brushes). This is when I realized that I actually liked them better than my everyday brushes – which I love and were more expensive.
 
They fit easily in my carry-on and performed perfectly on our trip. I have now been using them for about four months, and they are holding up great and are easy to clean. Since I travel often, I’m actually considering getting a second set so that I can keep one at home and one in my travel bag.

I seriously love these brushes, and I think that you will too.

I have not seen these in any brick-and-mortar stores, but you can purchase them on the SHANY Cosmetics website or on Amazon, which is where I purchased mine.
 
On amazon, it says that the set comes with a bag for brush storage, but I received the carrying case you see in the pictures that is made from a vegan leather material with a magnetic closure.
 
If you order them on Amazon, there may be more than one product option on the purchase page. Make sure you choose the one that says “SHANY 7 Piece Petite Pro Bamboo Brush Set with Carrying Case, I Love Bamboo” to get the cruelty-free, travel-size brushes that are reviewed here.
 
When I purchased them, they were listed at $12.99 and, since I have an Amazon Prime membership, shipping was free. If you do not have an Amazon Prime membership, you can get a 30-Day Free Trial that includes free, two-day shipping with no minimum order, as well as other perks, like the ability to borrow Kindle books and watch thousands of TV shows and movies. Get your free trial by clicking this link:

If you buy these, please let us know what you think of them in the comments below!
 
If you know of other vegan makeup brushes we should try, please let us know about those too!
 
Side note: Folks who might be on the fence about whether they want synthetic brushes or brushes made from animal hair should consider that synthetic brushes are easier to clean and are less likely to harbor bacteria when compared to animal hair brushes. And, of course, animal hair brushes are not vegan.

This post contains affiliate links for this bamboo travel makeup brush set on Amazon. The price is the same whether you purchase them through the link or go directly to Amazon. If you choose to purchase them through the link, a very small commission helps pay to keep the Cheap Vegan Chick site up and running. 

Take this fun, quick quiz to test your Vegan IQ!

After you take it, I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know how you did.

I missed two the first time I took it, but I'm fixin' to have a rematch!

Hello all!

I hope local folks will be able to attend this march to stand with the people who feed us! If you are not local to the Ventura County or 805 area, there are 14 other marches going on the same day. You can visit UFW.org to see if there is an event near you.

If there are no events near you, you can still help out by signing the online petition, donating to UFW and supporting the UFW by purchasing merchandise in their online shop.

Here is the flyer info in English:

Trump: Who Will Feed America?

Sunday, April 2

10:00am

The march starts at Cesar Chavez School in La Colonia in Oxnard, which is at the corner of Copper and Juanita.

The march ends at Plaza Park, which is located at 500 South C Street in Oxnard.

For more information: 805-486-9674

I hope to see you there!

Pressure cookers have become increasingly popular in the recent past. This is mainly because they are convenient to use and they also prepare delicious foods. There are different kinds of foods that can be cooked using a pressure cooker. Some of the foods that are ideal to be cooked using this kind of cooker include the vegan-friendly foods. Here are the top 5 vegan-friendly pressure cooker recipes.

Sweet Potato and Black Eyed Peas

This particular recipe is ideal mainly because it makes delicious and healthy food. The combination of the sweet potato and black eyed peas ensures that almost all the necessary nutrients are included in the meal. Only one pot is needed to cook this combination since the ingredients can be combined and cooked together. The first step should be to add water and the blacked eyed peas for the peas take longer to cook. The sweet potato should then be added on top of the peas so that the steam from the peas can play a role in cooking the sweet potatoes. If everything is prepared properly the entire process should take about thirty minutes for the meal to be properly cooked. You can read power pressure cooker reviews for more instructions.

Black Bean and Lentil Chili

This is another popular recipe which is ideal mainly because it also requires a single pot to cook. The beans provide the meal with the necessary proteins while the chili helps in adding vitamins and also making the entire meal taste better. The black beans need to be put in the pot first because they generally take longer to cook than the lentil chili. The beans should be left to cook until they are tender and soft. One should then add the lentil chili on top so that they can be cooked by the steam produced by the beans. It takes just a few minutes for the chili to become tender and edible.

Corn on the Cob

One of the most ideal for enjoying corn is to cook it using a pressure cooker when still on the cob. This is because the pressure makes the corn tender uniformly and therefore every part is delicious. The first step of preparing the corn on the cob is cleaning the corn and ensuring there are no impurities. A small quantity of water should then be added in the pot that is to cook the corn. The small quantity of water is the one that will produce steam to cook the corn. One should know the corn is properly cooked when it turns from white to yellowish.

Eggplant and Olive Spread

The eggplant might take more time to cook properly and as a result, it is advisable to start by cooking it. To ensure it cooks within a short time it is advisable to use high temperatures. After the eggplant has been properly cooked one should then proceed to add the olive spread. By adding the olive spread one will be not only adding flavor to the meal, but it is also an ideal way of adding nutrients.

Millet, Veggie and Lentil

This is another recipe that is rated amongst the top 5 vegan-friendly pressure cooker recipes because it is easy to prepare. Only one pot is needed with the millet going first for it takes time to cook. After the millet has been cooked one can turn off the stove and let the steam from the pot to make the veggie and lentil tender until they are ready to be served.

Hi, all!

Here are links to two $1.00 off vegan coupons you can find online and print.

$1.00 off any one Back to Nature product (excluding macaroni and cheese)

$1.00 off any Follow Your Heart product

(If you have not yet had the opportunity to try the Follow Your Heart Chipotle Vegenaise, you might want to use this coupon to try it. I love it!)

This is just a quick note to make sure all of you know about this recently published list of the Top 60 Vegan Blogs to Follow for Inspiration in 2017.

I am so honored to be included in this list with so many awesome vegan bloggers. I encourage all of you to check it out to see if there might be some vegan blogs on there of which you are not yet aware.

Get inspired to go vegan or get tips to help you on your vegan journey!

Here you go:

Top 60 Vegan Blogs to Follow for Inspiration in 2017

I met Roxanne of Veg in OC at SoCal VegFest, which is where I picked up her Spiced Pumpkin Body Butter.
 
Now…as you probably already know…I am a huge fan of vegan skin care products, organic ingredients and anything served up in a mason jar, so it was kind of a no-brainer that this one needed to come home with me.
 
Of course, I didn’t make it all the way home before testing it out. After all, I stayed in Orange County for the weekend so that I could go to the festival both days, so I immediately opened it when I got back to the hotel. I mean, come on, it’s pumpkin spice – the scent alone was too enticing to not enjoy right away.
 
Before we get into the body butter itself, here are some of the reasons you might be interested in buying this product:
 

• Reusable packaging
  
• If you live in SoCal, this is an opportunity to buy local
  
• Support a small business
• Support a woman-owned business
• Organic ingredients

 
I particularly love the packaging. I use mason jars for everything from drinking glasses to food storage to holding craft supplies and make up brushes, so I immediately noticed that the packaging is completely reusable once I have used all of the product. That, alone, gets a lot of points in my book, since that means nothing has to go to the landfill or use energy, water and transportation to be recycled.
 
Next up is the ingredient list. I love a short ingredient list – particularly when it includes words like organic and non-GMO.
 
Veg in OC Vegan Body Butter Ingredients:
 
Organic Coconut Oil
Organic Shea Butter
Organic Vitamin E Oil
Non-GMO Arrowroot Powder
Candelilla Wax
Organic Pumpkin Seed Oil
Pumpkin Pie Spice

And now for the vegan skin care product review of this lovely body butter.
 
First off, the consistency is a bit thicker than I expect from a body butter. I would imagine this is from the inclusion of arrowroot powder and, of course, the coconut oil. This is not a negative thing, particularly because it makes it feel more like an all-natural, handmade product – qualities that I appreciate. Basically, it goes on much like coconut oil does, meaning that it is solid when you scoop it out of the jar, but it softens to a liquid quickly as it warms in your hand.
 
Also like coconut oil, it’s a little shiny when you first put it on but absorbs quickly. If you are accustomed to using coconut oil or handmade products, this will not be any different and you know what I’m talking about. If you are just switching to natural, homemade products, you might find this a little oily at first, but don’t let it dissuade you. This is totally common with natural products that don’t have any unnecessary, harsh ingredients.
 
I have now been using the body butter for about two months and am very happy to note that there has been no separation in the jar and that the fragrance is just as strong as it was when I first opened it. By the way, I am loving the pumpkin spice scent! It is such a warm and cozy fragrance; it is the perfect choice as a seasonal scent for fall and winter.
 
My favorite ways to use this vegan body butter are to put it on right after I get out of the shower (after drying off, instead of bath oil) and to put it on my heels with a pair of socks before I go to bed.

I'm also thinking this would make a great addition to a gift basket, so keep it in mind if you have any birthdays or anniversaries coming up!

You will soon be able to purchase this and other vegan skin care products from Roxanne on VegInOC.com. Until then, you can look for her at local festivals or email your order to info@veginoc.com. The price of these body butters is currently $15.00 plus shipping and handling. If you send Roxanne an email, she can send you more information on other products, prices and shipping costs.
 
You should also definitely check out her blog for lots of fun vegan recipes to try!

 
For our friends at the FTC: I received a product sample at no cost so that I could use the product and write this review.

Okay, so most of you know that I got to spend two days at the SoCal VegFest at the end of October. There were so many awesome things about that weekend, but one of the best is that I brought home several vegan products to review.
 
I wanted to be sure to use each of the products for a while before reviewing them, so this is the first of several to come over the next few weeks.

First up is Kelly’s Croutons, which I had not heard of before the festival but that are clearly a well-known item among Orange County and San Diego vegans. So much so, that I had a few people ask me where their booth was when they saw me carrying my bag of crouton goodness around the festival. The folks who asked were clearly excited that Kelly and Eric were there and were seeking them out to stock up.
 
I also saw some people eating the croutons as a snack while browsing booths and met one vendor who had managed to consume an entire bag of these vegan croutons while working his booth that day.

Locals definitely know this brand and, now that we have managed to go through two bags in about three weeks, I can see why. They are absolutely addictive! They have a cheesy, garlicy awesomeness that makes it very difficult to eat a respectable amount, and then put the bag away.
 
I have to say, I am not really a crouton person – or at least I wasn’t. I rarely put croutons on salads, have never eaten them alone as a quick snack and hadn’t even considered the idea of adding croutons to soups. The biggest reason that I have never been a big crouton person is that I never buy them to have at home and the croutons at salad bars are usually not vegan. My wife is a crouton lover and usually has some around, but hers are never vegan, so I have never tried them.
 
But everything changed when I stopped by the Kelly’s Croutons booth and met the proprietors, Kelly and Eric Glover from Capistrano Beach. I tried their Gourmet Cheezy Garlic Croutons and their Gourmet Cheezy Parms (which will have a separate review) and instantly fell in love.

I have since eaten them on salads, in soups and alone (too many times to admit). I eat lots of salads, so it was a bit of a no-brainer to throw some on there and give them a try. They added such a crunchy, savory goodness that I feel like I have been totally missing out all these years!
 
I then remembered that she had mentioned putting them in soup, so – since I make homemade soups all the time – I tried them in one of my vegetable and bean soups. Honestly, I was not expecting to like them in soup, but now I totally want them every time and can’t believe that I had never tried croutons in soup before. These croutons are not shy on flavor, so I would recommend adding them to simple soups (bean, vegetable, etc.) for some super-tasty results.
 
As most of you know, I limit my gluten intake and usually avoid it completely. I do make exceptions on occasion to enjoy small amounts and immediately know when I’ve eaten too much. Since my lovely readers know that I don’t eat much gluten, I just want to point out that these do have gluten. They also have cashews, which is important to know if you have nut allergies. 

Because I limit my gluten intake, foods that have gluten have to be pretty awesome for me to indulge in them. I can tell you that the cheesy-garlicy goodness of these croutons instantly put them at the top of my list of foods that fit that criterion.
 
If you love garlic, sourdough bread and that unique, cheesy deliciousness of nutritional yeast, you are going to love these croutons. Plus, you know how omnivores sometimes are not interested in eating vegan foods? No one is going to notice that these are vegan and, once they have them, they are not going to care. That makes this one of those crossover products that are great for mixed couples or families, since both your omnivores and your herbivores will enjoy them.

Folks who live in or often visit San Diego County or Orange County will have the easiest time keeping these vegan croutons in their pantry. This is because you can find a Kelly’s Croutons booth at local farmers markets every week.
 
As of this writing, you can find them at the Hillcrest Farmers Market in San Diego on Sundays, the Leucadia Farmers Market in Encinitas on Sundays, the Carlsbad Farmers Market in Carlsbad on Wednesdays, the Oceanside Farmers Market in Oceanside on Thursdays, the Dana Point Farmers Market in Dana Point on Saturdays and the Little Italy Mercato Farmers Market in San Diego on Saturdays.
 
You can also find them at special events, street fairs and festivals across Southern California and in Arizona and – thankfully – you can buy them online!
 
Currently, the online prices are $8.00 for a seven-ounce bag of the Gourmet Cheezy Garlic Croutons and $7.00 for the Gourmet Cheezy Parm.
 
If you are in the market for some amazing, vegan croutons, this is also a great chance to support a small, family business and to buy local (if you are in SoCal).

If you are planning on purchasing these vegan croutons online – which I definitely recommend if you don’t live near one of the farmers markets they frequent – be sure to use this promo code to save 10% off your order!
 
Kelly’s Croutons Online Promo code: VEGLIFE
 
Have you tried Kelly’s Croutons? If you are already familiar with this brand or when you try them for the first time, I would love to know what you think! Be sure to leave a comment to add to this vegan product review to help other vegans, vegetarians and plant-based folks find awesome products that make a plant-strong life easier and more enjoyable!