If you are considering moving to a plant-based diet or just transitioned from omnivore to vegetarian or from vegetarian to vegan, these guides are a must read. They are packed with information about why to go vegan, how to go vegan, how to stock your pantry, cooking plant-based meals, health benefits of a plant-based diet and so much more.
 
Most of these vegan and vegetarian starter guides can be downloaded from the links below. You can order a hard copy of a couple of them, and a couple of them just have the guides in an online format with no download option.
 
These guides would be super helpful for parents, family members, partners and friends of vegetarians and vegans as well. They can help the people in your life better understand why you have made the choice to move towards a plant-based diet...and they might even convince them to join you on the journey!

1. Vegetarian Starter Kit (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine)
 
2. Vegan Starter Kit (VeganKit)

3. Plant-Based Nutrition: Healthy Vegan Living for Everyone (The Vegan Society)

4. African American Vegan Starter Guide (Tracye McQuirter, MPH & Farm Sanctuary)
 
5. Vegan Starter Guide (Friends of Animals)
 
6. The Vegetarian Starter Guide (Mercy for Animals)
 
7. Vegetarian Starter Guide (Compassion Over Killing)
 
8. Vegetarian 101 (Happy Cow)

9. Your Guide to Going Veggie or Vegan (Animal Aid)
 
10. Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating (Vegan Outreach)

11. Eating Vegan: A Complete Guide to Vegan Cooking for Beginners (Eat Drink Better)
 
Are there other vegetarian starter guides or vegan starter guides that I'm missing?

Please share them in the comments below!

LET'S MAKE SOCAL VEGFEST THE BIGGEST VEGFEST EVER! 

Spread the Good News - Win Prizes! We can become the biggest veg fest in the US - but we need your help! 
 
Sign up and share news about the FREE SoCal VegFest with your friends & family and win prizes!
 
This month we will select 5 lucky winners - to win prize packs worth $200 each!

That's it :) 
 
No catch. No purchases. 
 
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Contest Rules:
1.   Contest runs through 11:59 PM PDT on Friday, September 30, 2016.
2.   Anyone with a delivery address in the U.S. may enter.
3.   5 winners will be chosen at random from the entries.
4.   You must reply to our winning announcement from the same email address you registered with to claim your prize.
5.    Remember, the contest closes 11:59 PM PDT on Friday, September 30th, 2016. 

On our latest road trip, my wife and I drove to Ukiah, California to visit two of our dearest friends who were here from the Netherlands. On our way back to SoCal, we took a couple of days to make some stops at fun spots, including Mendocino, Guerneville, the Rosie the Riveter Museum in Richmond (of course), and the Winchester Mystery House.

As my long-time fellow vegans will know, there was a time when dining out while on road trips often meant settling for a salad or, if you were feeling particularly indulgent, a salad and french fries. We have always had grocery stores as an option for grabbing some fresh produce and making our own meals, but sometimes it is nice to sit down in a restaurant and eat a hot meal when you are on the road.

Fortunately, this has changed quite a bit and vegan travel is much easier these days. Plus, this latest road trip was mostly in Northern California, so I knew we would not have too much trouble finding vegan menu options for me.

The first of my favorite vegan road trip meals was at Veggie Grill in San Jose. My wife has eaten at this vegan chain restaurant in Thousand Oaks, but this was my first time. We were so excited about all of the options that we ordered a bit much -- the cashier even asked if our order was just for the two of us. I'm thinking maybe she has never been on a road trip where salads and french fries are your main sustenance!

My omnivore wife got the Santa Fe Crispy Chickin' (the top photo) and reported that if we were at a non-vegan restaurant and someone told her this was chicken, she would not question it. So that might be a good thing to keep in mind if you have an omnivore partner or are looking for a restaurant that will satisfy a mixed group of vegans and omnivores.

We both love corn more than we should, so got a little too excited about the Chargrilled Street Corn on the seasonal menu. The cashier suggested that we could order just one and break it in half to split it. My wife and I exchanged a look that both of us totally understood -- "I love you, but I'm not sharing my street corn with you."

We ordered two.

We also got the buffalo wings. Okay, I have to say -- I have never had buffalo wings, vegan or otherwise. So I could not tell you how these rate compared to non-vegan buffalo wings you may have eaten before adopting a plant-based diet. However, I can say that my wife eats non-vegan buffalo wings fairly regularly when she goes out to eat with the other Marines, and she reported that the sauce was very similar and that these were a great non-meat option. As a first time partaker, I would definitely order these again.

The Tempura Green Bean Stack wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't our favorite dish, so we saved some calories there and took most of that dish home as leftovers.

I went for the Koreatown Tacos for my entree and was not disappointed. Totally de-lish. 

I can't believe I had to drive all the way to San Jose to try Veggie Grill when there is one so much closer to home in Thousand Oaks. But now that I've tried several things off the menu, I am hooked. I can't wait to start going to the Thousand Oaks Veggie Grill to try other dishes.

For one thing, it is just so nice to be able to walk in a restaurant and order anything I see on the menu. That is something that I took for granted while living in the Pacific Northwest and that I miss very much now that we are back in SoCal.

Next up is Jyunkang Vegetarian Restaurant at City of 10,000 Buddhas in Ukiah. As you can see in the picture below, I ordered vegetables with cashews, which is kind of my go-to meal at Asian restaurants. I also wanted to try something new, so I got the satay sticks, which came with a delish sipping sauce. V got the spring rolls and loved them.

The restaurant is open for lunch most days and offers an all-vegan menu. Visitors are welcome to come to this Buddhist community just for the restaurant, but if you are in the area and decide to stop by, I recommend also checking out the murals, the temple with walls lined with Buddha statues and the bookstore.

They also make their own vegan, non-alcoholic wine (like the zinfandel pictured below). You can pick up one bottle for $8.00 or a box of four bottles for $25.00. You know I love a good deal, so we opted for the four bottles. We haven't tried it yet, but some new friends we made on the trip have had it before and gave it a good review.

Okay, here is my big tip for vegan road trip food...

If you like to have junk food to munch on while you are driving, it is -- of course -- best to stock up before you head out on your journey.

For example, I stocked up on Jerquee from Vitacost to make sure I had some back-up snack options to help me fit in more protein and avoid fast food restaurants.

However, if you find yourself on a vegan road trip in an area that is not so vegan friendly and you run out of snacks, you may have a hard time finding a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's to replenish your stockpile.

While you can find plenty of healthy, plant-based options at a conventional grocery store, they are not likely to have vegan varieties of the good, old-fashioned junk food you want for a road trip. So when you want something a bit more sinful than a banana, head to the nearest HomeGoods, T.J. Maxx, Ross Dress for Less or Marshall's.

I know that it sounds strange to go to one of these stores better known for discount clothing and great bargains on kitchenware, but I have found gluten-free and vegan snacks at these stores that I have never before heard of or seen. Of course, they also often have well-known brands (I've even found Vega there), but I say go for the stuff you have never seen or heard of before to stick with the spirit of adventure on your road trip.

Some examples of vegan junk food I have found at these discount retailers include lentil chips, quinoa chips, macaroons, gluten-free cookies, hard candies, chocolate-coconut bars, and Mrs. May's awesome, nut-based snacks.

What are your favorite tips for vegan road trips? I will be on the road again soon and would love to hear them!

Lately, my morning smoothies have included things like rice milk and bananas, but after our latest road trip, we both felt the need to detox a bit. We actually ate some great vegan food on the road, but we also ate some junk food, so I'm amping up my juicing this week.

I tend to add a lot to my juices and smoothies, such as chia seeds, protein powder, pumpkin seeds, maca powder and such, but I'm going basic for my morning smoothies this week and enjoying some nutrient-packed juices without the extras.

Here is this week's morning juice recipe...

What you need:

1.5 to 2 cups of coconut water (or just water, if you don't have coconut water)
1 big handful of spinach
1 cucumber
3 stalks of celery
1 apple
1 lemon
A few sprigs of parsley

What you do:

You can use an extraction juicer or a blender to make this juice. I have an extraction juicer, and I do use it, but I generally prefer the blender method to get all of that plant-based goodness.

1. Wash and cut your produce into pieces that work for your blender. (For example, you don't have to chop celery when using a Vitamix, but I like to chop it to avoid sucking random celery strings through the straw.)

2. Add the coconut water or water to the blender with the spinach, cucumber, apple, celery and parsley.

3. Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the blender.

4. Blend, pour and enjoy!

This makes enough to have one juice in the morning and save some left over for a mid-afternoon energy boost.