Review- Lyfe Kitchen

I pass by Lyfe Kitchen often, but I'm always on the way somewhere and never had time to stop in, until last week. It's located on 55th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue.

 Always like seeing this on the outside.

 How cute! A fork to open the door with

 They have their menu up on this wall, on a sign in the window, on the wall when you come in AND paper menus! haha  I always like reading paper menus because I find it easier for some reason, than reading a board.

This place is not all vegan, but it clearly marks what's vegan, what's gluten free and what contains nuts.  It also lists the calories and the amount of sodium.  Definitely have never seen the amount of sodium listed. I was thinking of getting the Thai Red Curry Bowl, but that has 950mg of sodium!! Yikes! I decided I'd get several things, and went with the Sweet Corn Chowder (though now I see it's 953mg of sodium haha I must have looked that over at the time! Yipes.) , Roasted Brussels Sprouts, a side of their Garlic Lime Tofu and a Chocolate Chip Cookie, which is listed as "still warm, fresh out of the oven", that was definitely not a hard sell! Drool.

I paid and the woman gave me a buzzer and said my food would be brought to me.

 Seating area.  There's also some counters in the front and more seating upstairs.  I was going to go upstairs to see what it looked like, but was lazy haha

Love these quotes at some of the tables

After waiting about 15 minutes, a woman brought my food to the table.  The buzzer didn't go off or anything so not sure exactly how that works..maybe it's used more when it's crowded..not sure

Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Squash and Cranberries.  Of course, typical vegan worry.. "what's that sauce? it looks creamy" I was pretty sure it said vegan on the menu, but now wasn't sure.  I went up to the counter and she told me it was dijon vinaigrette, and sure enough, my initial thought that it said vegan on the menu was accurate.

side of the garlic lime tofu.  Tasted it on it's own and it was super flavorful! The woman at the counter told me she add it into the brussels, & so I decided to copy her idea

SO tasty!! Really loved this.  Although, it was cold, and I expected it to be warm and think it would have been better if it was warm.  I mentioned it when I was leaving and the woman thought it was odd and said it should have been warm. hmm.  Nonetheless, it was really yummy.

 Sweet Corn Chowder soup, which is made with cashew cream.  This was also delicious

& last, but certainly not least:

This was also really good!  It was crunchy.
Everything was so good here!! Really enjoyed my meal! Was a bit full, as everything was really filling.

Total calories: 772
Total sodium:1,678

A bit excessive for one meal.  I think I'll definitely ask them next time, why some things have SO much sodium in them..

I'm definitely going to come back here though.

They even have their own little garden! How cute

Chocolate that I'm in Love with

I've never been a huge chocolate bar person, until now.

A few weeks ago while I was at Whole Foods, a woman was sampling Vita Chocolate , she had a few flavors, but she wasn't the friendliest, so I only sampled two.  The goji berry and the orange almond chocolate.  I really liked both, but at $4.99 a bar, I wasn't sure if I should buy one, two, or both.  I wandered around the store and kept thinking about it & after a short while, decided I'd buy both!  

 (yes I took the photo after opening it and after finishing the goji one)

This is what they look like. Yum Yum Yum.

I really love both of them. They're so tasty!!! I only eat a few pieces at a time, so they last me a few days.  I usually don't love super dark chocolate because I find it bitter, but these aren't bitter at all despite being 72% cacao. Since these bars use raw cacao, they're super high in antioxidant. Many people know that antioxidants are good for them, but they don't really know what antioxidants are. Antioxidants are nutrients in food which help prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. When our body cells use oxygen, they produce "free radicals" which can cause damage. Antioxidants help prevent and repair the damage.  Some people say they help prevent cancer and other diseases.   

I've been alternating with which bars to buy each week.  In the orange one, I love the flavor combination of the chocolate with the orange.  In the goji bar, I like the combination of the chocolate and the chewy goji berries. Goji berries are one of the highest foods in antioxidants, the combo of the cacao and goji berries, make this one super filled with antioxidants!  Both bars have only 5 ingredients. The orange almond has 7.5g of sugar in 1/2 a bar and the goji berry has 9g in 1/2 a bar, not bad at all!  I don't feel guilty at all about eating these, especially because there are some health benefits too! I do want to try some of their other flavors at some point, especially the peanut butter since I love mostly everything that's peanut butter and chocolate. I also noticed they come in a package of mini sized pieces[instead of a bar], but it's the same price.  I guess it just depends on the shape you like of your chocolate! 

Here's their store locator, and if they don't have them in a place nearby, you can order them online!

Vegan in New Jersey

I recently traveled to New Jersey to check out 2 new all vegan restaurants with my friend.  The first was Positivitea, which is in Verona, NJ. Turned out it has been opened for about a year.  I had only heard of it in the past few weeks.

Here's the menu.  There were several booths, counters by the window and a bunch of tables.  Several things sounded good, but since I knew I wanted dessert, I decided to go healthy & went with the Garden of Vegan:  Spinach wrap, chickpea patty, kale, romaine, onion, cucumber, pickles and vegan mayo (I said no tomato).  The burgers said they come with chips or kale slaw, the wraps didn't mention it.  I asked for a side of kale slaw and I wasn't charged, so I guess it's included with the wraps too.

The kale slaw was really watery and not super flavorful.  The wrap was good, though I tried the chickpea patty on its own and it was flavorless.  I think without the vegan mayo, this wrap would have been super bland, but the mayo helped it.  It was very light and healthy.

My friend got the Bean Jr. Burger on a pretzel bun!

This was really flavorful! (It comes with special ahi sauce, whatever that is, vegan mayo, miso spread and vegan cheese, as well as the black bean patty and veggies)  I think the sauces etc made it very tasty!  If I come back here, I will definitely get this! and the pretzel bun was very tasty too. I was a fan!

Cute signs and art.

Next up was dessert!  They offer vanilla soft serve (which after asking, found out they use Temptation from Chicago Vegan Foods).  They offer milkshakes as well as sundaes.  They have a bunch of options with all sorts of toppings.

My friend went with the Cookie Munster (yes spelled that way)

Vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce and cookies, & YES you see that currently! There are toppings in the middle! They put the ice cream in, add the toppings, then add more ice cream! Love this idea!

Here's mine:

Peanut Butter & Jelly!  Vanilla ice cream, peanut butter, jam, & graham crackers.  Neither of us were sure of what she put on top..but I think it was either maple syrup or agave.  Think agave.

Super yum!!

and here's a photo of the pretty bathroom wall art & the neat mirror

I would definitely come back here and recommend checking it out!

A few hours later we went to Killer Vegan, which is in Union, NJ. They have only been open since September.  I had been excited about trying when I first heard about it, although less excited when I saw a photo of their limited menu.  Nevertheless, we decided to give it a try with an open mind

The space inside is HUGE! & my friend and I both wondered what was there before.  The first thing my friend noticed was that they had a sign that they were out of milkshakes.  I wasn't too upset as they use Kleins ice cream.  Ick.

Once inside we chatted with the woman working about the menu and a customer who was taking a bunch of food to go and he recommended what we should get (which was basically everything.  He was head over heels with the place).  The woman working was very nice and friendly.  Their menu is very limited (a few sandwiches, salads..)  They were having tacos for dinner, but they weren't going to be ready for 30+ minutes, those sounded like they would have been really good.  My friend and I both decided to get the Sausage and Peppers.  I got mine with a side of kale salad and she got hers with roasted brussels sprouts.

 

The kale salad was very tasty, much better than the kale slaw at Positivitea and the roasted brussels sprouts were also very good.  I really liked the sandwich as well.  I'm not a huge fan of sandwiches, but I enjoyed it.  The woman working told me they make their own sausage..which is a mix of wheat, beans..and now I can't remember what else (I should start writing things down so I remember these things!) I especially liked the ends which were crunchy (oddly my friend wasn't a fan of the ends and gave me hers)

We also got mac and cheese to share, after both the man and worker said the mac and cheese is a must

 

The texture was great.  The taste was not.  It was smokey, and there was no mention of it being smokey anywhere.  If you're a fan of smoked food, maybe this mac and cheese is for you, however I very much dislike smokey so I didn't enjoy it & my friend got to eat most of it.  She also felt there was another weird taste that she couldn't pinpoint.

We each got a chocolate chip cookie to go 

 

Lots of chocolate chips! but didn't think it was anything special..

Due to its very limited menu, I wouldn't go back to Killer Vegan.  Both my friend and I agreed after we left, that we wouldn't know what to get if we were to come back.  However, they do have all you can eat brunch I think twice a month and I might come back for that.  The owner told me they have pancakes, french toast, biscuits and gravy, tofu scramble, steamed kale, rice and beans..(odd, though I know when I was in Costa Rica people ate rice and beans for breakfast lunch and dinner), and coffee/tea. She did say to get there early because people like to go and not leave.  I recommend giving this place a try though, especially if you're in the area.

 

Vegan in Disneyworld

When I recently went to Disneyworld, I took my sample packs of Barney Butters that I got at Natural Products Expo East, and bought some bananas to have for breakfast.  [I did have some granola as well]

Each day I tried a different Almond Butter.   [note: they also have an espresso and vanilla bean one which I gave to my mom since I'm not a fan of espresso & a honey and chia one that I also gave to her]

I really liked all of them! I  think my favorite was the Raw + Chia one. I liked the crunchyness of the chia seeds.  The Cocoa and Coconut one was such a nice flavor.

Update: I found 1 more at my house: crunchy.  It was so good!

However, I probably wouldn't buy them since they add sugar, oil and salt to them and I prefer to have just plain almond butter with nothing added, but these were definitely yummy tasting.

& now for everyone's question: "What did you eat at disneyworld?"

Day 1: We went to Epcot

 We had lunch at the Land.  There's a bunch of different quick service places there.  We went to the Asian one, where they had vegan Mongolian beef. I was pretty surprised to see this as as an option!

I was pleasantly surprised by how good and flavorful this was! Really enjoyed it, as did my friend. Of course, I wish they had brown rice but can't be too picky in Disneyworld.   They also had Enjoy Life cookies which I wasn't a fan of and gave my second cookie to my friend (who loved them).

Also in the food court I saw these:

 Unsweetened apple sauce! so cute.  I didn't have any.  They also had little bags of carrots, as well as grapes and apples too.

It turned out the International Food & Wine festival was also taking place, which I wasn't aware of prior to coming.  After some quick googling [free wifi throughout all of Disneyworld btw] I found out there was an all vegan stand!

. 

We were still full from lunch but we got a crab cake and cupcake to share.

THIS WAS SO GOOD!! I wish I was hungrier because I would have gotten 5 more. We did try to go back later on, but were too late.  I've never had a crab cake in my life, but my friend had and he said it takes just like a real crab cake.  I also loved whatever the sauce was. tarter?

I wasn't sure if I'd like this but it was pretty tasty! A bit too much frosting but it wasn't overly sweet. Nothing amazing either but was tasty.

For dinner we ate in Morocco at Tangine.

I got the vegetable platter minus olives (not a fan), and minus falafael because the woman working told me it's cooked with the chicken tenders. yeck.  She said I could have 2 extras of something else which I thought was really nice! I got extra hummus and extra couscous.  The couscous was my favorite, so flavorful!  Everything tasted good.

next day we went to Hollywood Studios [previously known as MGM which I still prefer calling it!]

We had lunch at Pizza Planet.  They offer vegan pizza with Follow Your Heart cheese, they told me it would take a bit longer, but I was fine with that and said they'd put some veggies on top.

probably one of the most unattractive pizzas! haha I also was expecting cooked vegetables, not raw.  It wasn't too flavorful but they did have packets of red pepper flakes and black pepper so that helped, but yeah was a bit bland, but I'm happy they offer it & it definitely wasn't terrible at all! Side salad of veggies with shreds of the cheese and they had italian dressing.

For dinner, we went to the Sci-Fi Diner, which was a really cool atmosphere!  The tables are cars and they show movies.  I wish there was a place like this is New York! It was really neat.

They offer vanilla or chocolate milkshakes.  They use tofutti.  I was *not* a fan.  Thought it tasted..not good, but my friend really liked his!  I guess we all have different taste buds :)

For my meal I had their veggie burger.  It was so dark inside so the photo didn't come out well.  It was pretty tasty and came with a side of sweet potato fries.

Next, (best) and last day. was Magic Kingdom!

I had really wanted to go to Liberty Square, because I heard they make a quinoa burger, but they were booked for the entire day! sheesh!  I had met up with some friends and they suggested we eat at Tortuga Tavern in Adventureland.  I got a burrito which comes with cilantro rice which has dairy in it,  I asked for regular white rice instead.  In my burrito, was just rice and beans..maybe there was lettuce but now I can't remember if it was in it already or if I got it from the toppings bar.  They have a toppings bar where they have various salsas to add.  They had also given me a cup of white rice on the side too(I didn't ask for it). My friend had also asked for white rice and they wouldn't give it to him.  When they gave me my rice, the woman working said they only give it to people with allergies.  (I didn't say I had an allergy, think I just said I don't eat dairy, but just an FYI for anyone who wants the plain white rice, just say you're allergic to cilantro or dairy from the regular rice)  I was actually surprised, but the burrito was pretty good! I liked it.

We also got the famous Dole Whip, that I've heard so much about.  They offer pineapple, orange and vanilla.  The vanilla isn't vegan, but the other two are.  I got a twist of pineapple and orange and liked it. Very sweet but tasty. My friends told me to just get pineapple on its own since it's classic.  Was going to go back to do that, but never made it back there. Next time!

For dinner we went here:

The people working were so helpful.  [note: ALL locations in Disneyworld have books with all the ingredients.  Some of the workers are nicer than others when you ask to look at it]  The woman working told me I could either get the vegetable burger, but the bun wasn't vegan, but said I could get the gluten free bun that was vegan or a vegetable wrap but the dressing wasn't vegan so it'd just be the wrap with veggies.  I went with the vegetable burger on the gluten free bun.  They also said they'd cook it separately but that it'd take a bit longer, again, I didn't mind.  The vegetable burger comes with just the burger and the bun but they also have a toppings bar.  At the toppings bars they had regular onions, caramelized onions, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes.. I added a bunch of lettuce and both types of onions.   I must say...wow!  I couldn't believe how amazing this burger was.  One of the best, if not the best, veggie burger I've had.  It was SO tasty.  You could see some corn and red pepper in the burger.  I really couldn't believe how good it was.  My non vegan friend also got the vegetable burger and also agreed about how good it was. 

& that's my recap of vegan food at Disneyland. 'til next time!