Urban Food Crawl's First Vegan Cupcake Competition!

Sunday, I had the privilege of attending Urban Food Crawl's first ever Vegan Cupcake Competition. When I first heard about the event I was so psyched! I mean, who doesn't want to load up on cupcakes and vote for their favorite??? The art was amazing, the people were enthusiastic, and the cupcakes were fantastic! There were so many different sweet and delectable flavors to choose from, I could barely keep up. I tried to pace myself but that was impossible because my eyes kept darting to the next tasty treat awaiting me. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures because I was so busy stuffing my face but I did manage to get some cool video footage. Please check out the event below:



Here are the list of the Cupcake Companies from the event:
Amanda's Bakery & Cafe
Babycakes NYC
Bake You Happy
Clara's Cakes
Courtesan Cupcakes
Crushcakes & Cafe
Jamaica's Cakes
No Udder Desserts
Raw Bites
Sweet Alexis

Raw Bar!

Hey guys! Yay! I finally got my videos working again, so here is one I did a few weeks ago about this raw bar from Two Mom's in the Raw. I got this raw bar in my goodie bag from my fantastic urban food crawl adventure. It was delightfully sweet and crunchy. I look forward to trying more of their tasty products.

Our Mama Chef’s Recipe: Organic Oat Groats*, Organic Agave, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Organic Buckwheat, Organic Pumpkin Seeds, Organic Blueberries, Organic Millet, Organic Apples, Organic Sesame Seeds, Organic Flax Seeds, Organic Pecans, Organic Almonds, Organic Cinnamon and Sea Salt. *Certified Gluten Free Oat Groats

Quinoa for dinner!

I've been trying to re-create this quinoa dish that I had when I ventured out to the Urban Food Crawl. Although I haven't been able to get the dish down perfectly it's been great getting to eat quinoa in a fun and yummy new dish.

Quinoa with pinto beans, corn, yellow bell peppers, and a mango salsa with tomatoes and  onions.

Vegan Urban Food Crawl!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of joining a group of very hungry people for my very first food crawl. I didn't have much of an idea of what to expect on a food crawl other than eating a lot of food...and I was not disappointed in the food department. I first found out about this event on quarry girl's blog and after checking out urban food crawl's website, I knew that this was something I definitely needed in my life.lol

Okay, so basically Urban Food Crawl is a walking tour of some of downtown LA's vegan restaurants. We visited six different locations in the area, grubbed until our bellies were full beyond capacity, and burned off some calories with a good walk. We even got a little history about the downtown area and a few of the buildings. The tour lasted a little over three hours and at the end of it we got a huge goodie bag. :-) Jen and Shari were our amazing tour guides and they did such a great job at making everyone feel comfortable, explaining the food and giving us some history info., and answering questions to the best of their ability. There were some non-vegans on the tour and they really seemed to enjoy themselves...there were a lot of "yums" and "mmm" going on in each place...they asked questions and took a real interest in the food we were eating.



Our first stop was Two Bits Market. They serve fresh, local, and organic produce...along with deli sandwiches, and snacks. The owner was really cool and very enthusiastic about food...which I love.

Rupee Sandwich
Bean Puree with artichoke, black olives, squash, and arugula puree on a baguette. 

Next up was Nickel Diner...this place is far from vegan but their stuffed avocado is AMAZING! If I had room I would have had two servings of this.

Stuffed Avocado
With Quinoa Salad - black beans, red peppers, squash, corn, and cilantro.

Pitfire Pizza has amazing pizza packed full of flavor and cheesy goodness. We started with a roasted peach salad and some bread. They served us three different pizzas and one of them had gluten free crust...Yum! I guess for some reason I was too hungry to take a picture of the third pizza but I assure you it was delicious.

Roasted peach salad.

hungry peeps!

Heirloom Tomato Pizza
Fresh local heirloom tomatoes and basil with Daiya Cheese. This was everyone's favorite.

Field Mushrooms Pizza
Crimini, Oyster, and roasted shitakes with daiya cheese. This was one good but not my favorite.

We had a pit stop at the Bradbury before our next meal.

Mas Malo a vegan menudo restaurant with a range of classic and unique dishes.  

Traditional style Mexican Menudo made with tempeh, tofu, chiles, and hominy. Veg. ground beef and pickle taco. This taco was the bomb...crunchy, a little greasy, and messy...I loved it!

Casa Cocina y Cantina is a very modern Mexican restaurant with a cool vibe and fabulous outdoor seating. 

Enchiladas de Espinaas y Papas
Sauteed spinach, pan-crisped potatoes, and soy chorizo wrapped in flour tortillas with red tomatilla enchilada sauce. Served on a bed of cilantro rice.

And last but certainly not least we have Babycakes! I posted about my last trip there a little while ago and I was so glad to be back with some sweets!

Blondie Sandwich
Two chocolate chip blondies with frozen vanilla frosting. 

Oh my gosh! I was so stuffed and happy by the end of this tour! If you ever want to hit up some vegan restaurants, meet some new people, or are curious about trying something different please check out Urban Food Crawl, it was such a blast!

Look at all the goodies I got!

Vegan Beef Jerkey.