On May 19-20, I'll be joining one dozen leading nutritional and fitness experts, including Dr. Joel Kahn, Dr. Michael Klaper, Dr. Brooke Goldner, Ocean Robbins, and Robert Cheeke at an incredible event in Costa Mesa, California.

The live (and life-changing) two-day event will help you convene with kindred spirits, get answers to your burning questions, and realize your healthiest dreams. You'll get to meet and hear from world-renowned physicians and others who'll share secrets to preventing and reversing disease, lasting and rapid weight-loss, and non-stop energy.

Click here to find out all about it and use the following discount code to save $40.00 on VIP and General Admission tickets: SAVE40

(Ticket prices increase on May 18, so get yours now!)


P.S. Whether you're interested in losing weight, building muscle with plants, or reclaiming your good health and energy, this conference will give you real solutions, from experts you can trust. Find out more here, and SIGN UP NOW!

Join us Saturday, September 9 for the First Annual Homes for Dogs Project adoption event hosted at Coldwell Banker Property Shoppe in Ojai!

Date: Saturday, September 9
Time: 11:00am to 3:00pm
Location: 727 W. Ojai Avenue in Ojai

There will be food, micro chipping, grooming, merchandise available for purchase and, of course, the chance to adopt a dog.

You just might find your new best friend!

We hope to see you there!  

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!

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!

Okay, it has been one week since I headed south to Costa Mesa and spent two awesome days at the 2016 SoCal VegFest.

I would have posted this sooner but, since I’ve been home, there have been a couple of things to contend with – such as having the fam over for Halloween, and then having our second slab leak this year. Ugh! It was the same pipe, so we had to have plumbers come and reroute the whole line so that it now runs through the attic. Up next are the drywall repair folks, and then determining whether we can replace just part of the flooring where the leak happened or if we have to replace all of the flooring in our house. Blah to all of that.

Anyways, that is what has been keeping me busy this week, so I apologize for waiting a week before posting my wrap-up of SoCal VegFest!

Now on to the good stuff…

First off – thank you so much to all of you who liked and retweeted my live tweets from the event. I hope you found them fun and useful! It was great to meet some Twitter friends at the festival and, as I tweeted during the event – I’m so used to being the only vegan in the room almost everywhere I go that it was truly incredible and amazing to be surrounded by thousands of compassionate vegans, vegetarians and veg-curious folks.

This green juice was so refreshing once the day got hotter.

I had the chance to have a long chat about vegan makeup and our love of tea with vegan singer/songwriter Annette Conlon, ate A LOT of awesome vegan food, and had the opportunity to meet some of the amazing folks who own or run vegan companies and organizations that I love. I also found out about some new brands I had yet to discover and picked up several products that I will be reviewing on Cheap Vegan Chick in the coming weeks.

Like this luxurious body butter from Veg in OC (above)!

This is just one row of vegan food vendors at SoCal VegFest (above) and the one I chose for my first meal at the festival (below).

The vegan Italian sandwich form Cafe MoMa was SO good! They also had this Mama's Sweet Bread (pictured below) that I meant to pick up before I left...and I totally forgot! I'm so bummed about this.

But...the important thing that I wanted to mention is that they do not normally make this sweet bread in a vegan version, but they said that they would if they got a good response. So if you have the chance to try it and you love it, please be sure to let them know!

There were also some awesome speakers -- like Matt Ruscigno, MPH, RD...

And lots of booths giving away vegan coupons!

Here's the Animal Rights Legislation Panel on the main stage (Jane Velez-Mitchell has the mic)...

And here are the purveyors of the best vegan croutons I have ever eaten! (I came home with three bags.)

I tried lots of new things...

...got Samson and Piper some vegan dog treats from Shaded Trails (which they loved!)...

...and met so many great people doing great things!

I <3 Sean and Queenie from Ahimsa Essentials. If you did not have a chance to stop by and try some of their products, you might just have to drive to Arizona to hit up one of the markets where they regularly sell their wares. Or, of course, you could just visit their website and order some of their oils, soaps, scrubs and more.

I came home with their Om body butter, which I will be reviewing soon!

I also came home with some of these awesome bamboo socks by Bambu Dru (for me and my wife!).

Oh! And I can't believe that I have missed Miss Jones vegan, organic baking mixes and frostings right in the baking aisle at Vons! If you are like me and just assume there aren't any products for us on that aisle, keep an eye out for Miss Jones!

All in all, SoCal VegFest was awesome!

I'm so glad I was able to attend both days to enjoy the hundreds of booths, thousands of attendees, tons of vegan food and awesome, compassionate vendors.

I can't wait for SoCal VegFest next year -- hope to see you there!

In the meantime, keep an eye out for several vegan product reviews coming soon as I have a chance to try out all of this vegan awesomeness I got at the festival!

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. 
 
This month we are featuring items from some of our sponsors, including: 

·      Smart Pressed Juice: Have you ever really tried a deep cleanse? Smart Pressed Juice’ delightfully refreshing Pineapple Cleanse is the crown jewel of any juice cleanse. Featuring organic superfoods, this juice is rich in chia, flax, activated sprouts, vegetarian omega-3 fatty acids and planted-based vitamins/minerals. This is your daily dose of deep cleanse to flush out the toxins from the day.

·      Whole Earth Wellness: offers Signature 7-day Fall Detox Cleanses: Jumpstart your journey to a healthier, happier, holiday season this year!

·      The Field Roast Grain Meat Co. offers a sampler of Field Roast Grain Meat Co.’s most popular items: Free coupons (1 of each) for Artisan Vegan Sausages, Field Burgers and Chao Slices along with a Field Roast Grilling Apron!

 
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. 

 It's time for the...

SoCal VegFest AUGUST GIVEAWAY!

LET'S MAKE SOCAL VEGFEST THE BIGGEST VEGFEST EVER! 

Spread the Good News - Win Prizes! We can become the biggest vegfest in the US - but we need your help! 

Sign up and share news about the FREE SoCal VegFest with your friends & family. 

Every month we will select 5 lucky winners to win prize packs worth $100 each!

That's it :) 

No catch. No purchases. 

This month they are featuring items from some of the sponsors, including: 

• (3) boxes of Zellee Organic Fun Fruit Gels 
• Macaccino Products - the world's first and only roasted maca beverage 
• "What the Fork: The Secret Cause of Disease" - by plant-based nutrition expert Gina Bonanno-Lemos 
• SoCal VegFest Organic T-Shirt & Tote Bag...among other fantastic items!
  

Contest Rules:

1. Contest runs through 11:59 PM PDT on Wednesday, August 31, 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 Wednesday, August 31, 2016.

One of the things that makes SoCal VegFest awesome is that admission and parking are free. Everyone loves to save money, but this is particularly cool because it makes the festival accessible to a wider audience of people who can learn about a healthier, greener, more compassionate diet and lifestyle.

However, while the organizers might be letting us in for free, that does not mean there aren't a ton of costs that go along with putting on a two-day festival of this size.

If you are in the Los Angeles area and can make it to Au Lac on August 22, this is your opportunity to help support the festival. In particular, the proceeds from this fundraiser will help cover the costs of the main stage where attendees will enjoy speakers, celebrity guests and music.

The fundraiser is a free event where you can enjoy speakers and live music. If you purchase dinner while you are there, part of your purchase will go towards covering the costs of the festival's main stage -- so enjoy a night out, learn something new and support SoCal VegFest!

Dinner & Discussions with Health Experts...and Live Music! at Au Lac DTLA  - Aug 22

CARLY REEDER
5:00-6:00pm (discussion + Q&A)
Stress Free for Life: Alleviating the 4 Factors of Stress
Environmental, Food, Emotional, Spiritual

GINA BONANNO-LEMOS
6:15-7:15pm (discussion + Q&A)
Avoiding The Unknown Pitfalls Of A Plant-Based Diet: Deficiencies and Hidden Animal Products

LAURA ROBINSON OATMAN
7:30-8:30pm (discussion+ Q&A)
Top 10 Tips to Longevity Through Ayurveda

ELIJAH BUSTOS
8:45-9:30pm
Live Music

Join us for an enlightening, inspiring, and entertaining evening! Presentations and music are FREE - dinner is not included.
Enjoy world-renowned vegan and raw food. 
Call Au Lac DTLA to RSVP: (213) 617-2533 

* A portion of your purchase will help fund SoCal VegFest, a non-profit event, taking place on Oct 29 & 30, 2016. Proceeds will help cover some of the costs in creating a main stage for speakers, celebrities & live music.

My latest gift from Monique (my neighbor who is the specialty produce buyer for Produce Available in Oxnard) were these little mini mangoes. How cute are they?

They taste just like their big brothers and sisters, but are pretty darn cute -- if you are looking for something a little different to serve.

I couldn't find a quarter to use as a size comparison, but I did have a nickel, so here you go:

Produce Available sells mostly to stores and such, but they do sell to walk-in, cash customers if you are ever interested in picking up some locally grown produce right from the distributor.

They have the normal stuff too -- I have been particularly loving the avocados she brings us -- but they also have some of this stuff that is more difficult to find in stores.