GUYS, IT'S FINALLY HERE! After over a year of hard work, edits, re-shoots, tears, taste-tests and successes, my Homestyle Vegan cookbook has finally arrived on my doorstep - and some of yours already, too! I poured everything I have into this book - and somehow I loved it enough that I think I'm crazy enough to want to do another one...ha! I worked hard to make this book a cookbook I would want to make room for on my already-crowded shelf. I wanted this book to have recipe basics that will be you reaching for daily, but some amazing Holiday favorites that will have you consulting it each year before Thanksgiving dinner, too.

I was inspired with this book to re-create favorites from my childhood in Maine, along with dishes I had learned to love as an adult, but as healthfully reimagined as possible - without using any trendy superfoods or hard-to-find ingredients. In fact, every ingredient in the book is one you'll be able to find at your local grocery store - I promise. (Unless you live in like rural Alaska - I can't help you there!)

​Oh and did we mention? NO TOFU or FAUX MEAT in the whole damn book! And most recipes include soy-free and gluten-free substitutions as well.  Below are a few sneak peeks you may have already missed on our IG. You can also find our cookbook posts under #HomestyleVeganCookbook. Ready to get your copy? Buy it here! 

In Homestyle Vegan, you’ll have access to creative vegan remakes of old favorites, such as:

• Chick’un + Dumplings  
• Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza with Ranch Sauce
• Tomato Basil Soup with Cornbread Croutons
• Fluffy Saturday Morning Waffles
• Baked Sea Salted Soft Pretzels with Spicy Mustard Dip  
• Biscuits with Mushroom Gravy
• Double Fudge Mint Brownies
• Apple Cinnamon Dutch Baby with Crumbled Walnuts
• Pile O’ Poutine

The dishes inside are broken up into sections like 'Cook Up Some Comfort Food', 'Meals That'll Stick To Your Ribs', and 'Bake-Sale Worthy Baked Goods' you'll be able to easily find exactly what kind of recipe you're looking for. If you still can't find it you can head all the way to our detailed index in the back. Each recipes is served up with a full-page color photo, detailed instructions, and helpful recipe tips + tricks.

​And now, the recipe...

Apple Cider Donuts

Growing up in Maine we would often visit apple orchards in the Fall with our elementary school classes to pick apples, press cider, and munch as many apple cider donuts as we could get our tiny hands on. Of course, the donuts were always the highlight of the trip for me. Luckily I’m an adult now, so I can pick apples more than once a year, and make these delicious homemade donuts anytime I want. This recipe is almost too easy - you’ll have fresh, sweet donuts in half an hour or less! Makes 6

INGREDIENTS
1 cup (150 g) all purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (136 g) applesauce
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) apple cider
2 tablespoons (30 ml) apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) coconut oil, melted
3/4 cup (113 g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon


DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. 

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the applesauce, sugar, apple cider and apple cider vinegar. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients about a cup at a time, stirring to combine. Pour in the melted coconut oil and whisk to incorporate. Let mixture set while you grease a 6-mold donut pan.

Once the pan is greased and the oven is preheated, pour the mixture equally between the 6 donut molds and bake for 15 minutes. While the donuts bake, whisk together the powdered sugar and cinnamon in a wide dish. 

When the donuts finish cooking, move them to a cooling rack for to cool slightly, then roll them in the powdered sugar mixture until they’re completely coated. Enjoy immediately! 

TIPS
Leftover donuts last 1-2 days in an airtight container on the counter, but are best enjoyed fresh.
​

I grew up in Maine, so anytime I get to head back for a vacation- especially when it's not winter- is a welcome retreat. This summer Alex and I were able to both take off from our real lives for a week to head east and hang with some of my family. Normally around this time of year, my whole family- aunts, uncles, cousins, extended family and friends-  would all go camping at a place (peninsula) called Hermit Island. Its a magical place that I grew to really love and cherish spending summers there every year. I love going back, but these days it seems like we've all grown up and moved away and it can be hard to get everyone together for a whole week of just enjoying each others company. So instead, this year, Alex + I joined my Dad and sister Jade, plus my Dad's partner and her daughter as we planed to hike to the top of Mt. Katahdin, Maine's tallest mountain, and then raft our way through class 5 rapids in the Penobscot River. We hopped on a plane at LAX (Miley style) and spent 5ish hours traversing the country before waking up at about 4 am in the Boston Airport, where my Dad was waiting to pick us up. First stop on the way home? A bright and early check in at LL Bean for some quality hiking boots and then to Mister (Mr?) Bagel to get double toasted onion bagels with veggie tofutti cream cheese (at least that's what I ordered). It was humid AF outside, but it was good to be back! 

We got home and napped, then woke up to do a bit of foraging on Dad's property. We found at least 6 different crab apple trees, plus ripe raspberry bushes and early season blueberries to munch, and we collected some for later. It also just so happens to be peak strawberry season in Maine, so we stopped by our favorite local and SUPER vegan-friendly farm + cafe Sheepscot General to pick as many pints of organic strawberries as we could hold. That night we made dinner for the family, which included a big green salad with lots of goodies from the garden and our foraging adventure, a whole roasted cauliflower like this one, some chickpea salad with rye bread and a strawberry raspberry crisp made from the fruit we'd collected ourselves. It was so good + we were so happy to cook a healthy, protein-packed vegan meal that everyone could enjoy.

The next day we spent driving north and setting up camp and eating bagels at my FAVORITE ever bagel joint in Maine, Bagel Mainea, where I coincidentally worked in high school - so maybe I'm biased?- but almost every bagel is vegan and they offer 5 vegan-friendly spreads as well customizable vegan sandwiches and even house-made granola and bagel chips! I always get the veggie garlic, double toasted, with plenty of veggie tofutti cream cheese and sliced down the middle for my eating enjoyment. If you're in Augusta, it is way worth the visit. 

When we left Chimney Pond, we were about 4 or 5 miles from the top and the weather was getting worse and worse. We had worn shorts and brought light rain jackets, but overall we were seriously underdressed for the ascent. Alex and I ended up getting quite a bit ahead of the rest of our group as we neared the top, and the higher we climbed the steeper it got. We kept hearing about rock scrambles but it felt like the whole top half of the mountain itself was one giant rock climbing expedition. Your arms felt like they were working just as hard as your legs, and it was getting colder and harder to bend your fingers and toes all the time, but we pushed on. We look happy even!

In the picture above right we're about 1/2 mile from the summit peak at the top of the mountain, and pretty much where we ended our hike. We had originally planed to hike Knife's Edge up to the top but the wind conditions were so strong at Chimney Pond they advised against it. When we reached the tablelands, about 1 mile from the tippy-top, the hail began. First it was a light rain, then harder and harder until actual hail was hitting us all over and the temps had dropped to about 30 degrees. Oh, and there were 50 MPH winds, so we were getting sucked around and hiking behind large boulders to stop and catch our breath. It was a really crazy expercience being up there, and even though some people chose to keep going- and I applaud them- I just could.t My fingers were frozen and I had a little mental breakdown cry feeling so guilty about turing back just before we snapped the above right picture. Luckily, Alex was (always is) amazing and coached me through it, reminding me that no one really cared if we summited but us - and that in his opinion we had gone far enough. That was enough for me! We started our descent back down the tablelands and met up with my Dad, sister, and the rest of our group just before we begin our final descent. A few of them decided to keep going, and did summit (you go guys!), but the rest of us took our frozen buns back down the mountain. We stopped and chatted a bit when we got back to the Chimney Pond station, and we continued down the trail a major thunderstorm rolled in. The lightning was close and we were soaked, but at least my feet stayed dry until the last mile or so. At that point there was a veritable river running down the trails and we were just splashing our way down, trying not to lose footing or each other in the dense rain. When we finally got to the bottom we had hiked a total of 14 miles over 9 hours, in some of the worst conditions I have ever voluntarily placed myself in. We were soaked, but we were happy to be heading back to camp, where we made a big pot of black pean pasta with garlicky tomato sauce and toasted bread. It doesn't look like much, but it was the perfect post-hike hot meal.

The next day we spent rafting down the Penobscot River, where Alex, my Dad, his partner, and the raft guide all got tossed out in a Class V rapid and I had to steer the boat to safety. NO JOKE PEOPLE. I have video evidence, if I can figure out how to single out that part and upload here. I'll work on that. Anyway, it was incredible and I wish we had more pictures but the whole losing-your-iphone-in-the-river thing was something none of us was willing to risk, so we have to pictures to prove it. 

We visited our favorite hidden gem farmstore next door, admiring the produce and hanging with the chickens they keep in the back pasture. Th next day we went paddle boarding in the Damariscotta River while my Dad and sister kayaked, and afterwards enjoyed lunch at The Newcastle Publick House, where we got to try their new vegan menu item - inspired by our cauliflower nuggets recipe! They tasted great and it was awesome to see a small restaurant like that offering something for all their customers. Also, their hand-cut french fries were AMAZING. And isn't my boyfriend just the most handsome? I sure think so. 

On our last night, we played trivia at the Liberal Cup in Hallowell, and Alex and I each ordered one of their hand-made, bean + veggie based burgers with grilled onions and a side of hand-cut fries. I also worked here in high school and was always a fan of the fries. In fact, I used to be the one that CUT them all! I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore, but I love coming back for trivia night and its always great to run into old friends while we're there. We didn't win at trivia (but we didn't lose either!), and afterwards we headed home for an early bedtime so we could get our butts up in time for our flight the next day. Lucky for us, our favorite little donut shop, The Holy Donut, in Portland is open early and let us reserve and order of a dozen vegan potato donuts to scoop up on our way by. About 7 made it all the way back to California, and the rest were gone the next day. You can read our full review on The Holy Donut here. We love hanging in Maine and can't wait to go back. I'll be there for a quick visit in September again, and will definitely be getting another dozen donuts to bring back. Have you been to Maine? Where are some of your favorite places?

If you've been following along, you know that Alex, our pup Maddie, and I just made the drive back across country to relocate to Long Beach, California. Along the way we stopped in Philadelphia, Washington DC, Mt. Vernon, Asheville, NC, Nashville, Dallas, El Paso, and Phoenix. And we had a blast! Unfortunately, we seemed to hit most of our major destinations at night, so lots of photos came out far too dark to be enjoyable. We sifted through them and picked out our favorites, most of which are from Mt. Vernon, which was where we stopped the longest.
If you haven't been following along, catch up on the details in past posts here. 
When we left the East Coast there was still plenty of snow, as you can see in this first picture. We woke up in DC to a light dusting- nothing compared to what we left behind in Maine! You also may notice an adorable little pitty head snoozin' in the backseat...thats Maddie, our 4 year old, freakishly adorable pitbull. She was great on the drive, and spent most of the afternoons having puppy dreams in the backseat.

And here's Mt. Vernon! George Washington's home and life project. It took 30 years to expand the house from its modest beginnings to the grand home it is today, and we were lucky enough to catch a tour with a great tour guide. The property is owned, operated, and upkept by the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, who we thank for keeping the house from ruin and allowing tours on the beautiful property. 

The view from the side entrance to the grand gardens, which unfortunately were pretty dead this time of year. All of the buildings were beautiful- and I was constantly surprised at the architectural details around the property.

Posing in the foreground of Alex's shot of the front of Mt. Vernon. On the backside flows the Potomac River (yep, the famous one from the painting on the shore), to the left side is the gardens, and to the right are orchards and livestock.

And views from the whole property, including some sheep that still reside in the barn, and the beautiful brick carriage house.

After Mt. Vernon we drove clear through to Tennessee and visited the Grand Ole Opry the next morning. It was a surprisingly large complex with a hotel, aquarium, and movie theatre on the property. We aren't much for country music, but I love all things historic, so it was great to check out. Plus, giant guitars were EVERYWHERE! After Tennessee we spent a night in Dallas and a night in Tucson before driving home. I wish I had more pictures of the last half of our trip, but by then we were sick of being in the car we made a serious effort to drive as many hours as we could. The one constant on our trip? Our ADORABLE pup. She was so great, and it was fun having her as a traveling companion. Now that we've arrived, we're spending lots of time unpacking, organizing, and making trips to Target. I'll update you with pictures of our place as soon as all the cardboard boxes leave the floor. We're just so happy to be back, and to be welcomed by such warm weather. Alex begins work Monday, and I have an interview with a vegan organization next week. Wish me luck! 

Its road trip time once again! Alex and I are leaving in less than an hour for California. Well, technically we plan on sleeping somewhere between New York City and Washington DC on the first night, but our final destination is Long Beach. Alex has gotten a new, more awesome job coaching hockey again, which makes him happy. I have an interview with a well-known vegan company after we arrive, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that they love me (and I love it)! Our route this trip will be pretty southern, due to all the wonky weather we've been getting over here on the East Coast later. To give you a better idea, here's a map of our route:

We're stopping at The Holy Donut in Portland (my FAVORITE place to get vegan donuts!) on our way out this morning, as a final, delicious farewell to my home state. Then we're headed to a string of semi-major cities to see some sights! Our stopping points are something like: Salem, Mass., Philadelphia, Mt. Vernon, Asheville, Nashville, Little Rock, and Dallas, before arriving in Long Beach. 
Since we're taking our pup, we always stay at hotels that allow pets (or truck stops!).We've had a lot of luck with Red Roof Inns, Marriots, and Best Westerns. It also helps to make sure your animal companion has lots of access to water, plenty of pee breaks, and a couple of toys or chewies to keep them entertained in the back seat. Our dog loves being in the car, but is struggling a little with the move. She can tell we'll be changing something major soon, so to help, we purchased and have been using a 'Thunder Shirt' with great success. Its' basically a very soft cotton shirt with velcro so your pup can have the same experience as a swaddled baby- all the comfort of being hugged and a little extra warmth! She's been really loving it, so I'd recommend checking it out if you've got a nervous nelly, too.

As a vegan, eating on the road can be a challenge, especially in states you're unfamiliar with. For instance, the first time we drove through Texas I thought "ON NO! Land of Steers. How will I EAT?!" But they has some surprisingly veg-friendly restaurants! The trick these days is tp make your smart phone do all the work for you. A couple great apps we use to find vegan fare on the go are:

Happy Cow
(Find places based on distance, veg-friendliness, and reviews!)

Vegan Xpress
(Perfect for finding vegan friendly options at fast food restaurants!)

WTF Vegan Food
(As in: will travel for, and this girl has found the best of the best nearly everywhere.)

VegGuide
(Similar to HC, works to find places nearest your location.)

Roaming Hunger
(Alex and I LOVE food truck fare, and this app helps us find it in any major city!)

If you've been hanging out with us for a while, you might know that about a year ago, we moved to Maine from California. We've had a great time here-but the West Coast beckons! To see our posts from last time, check out these links: 

Packing for a Vegan Roadtrip

Road Trip: Days 1 & 2! (CA-MO)

Road Trip: Days 3 & 4! (MO-ME)

And on that note, we're off!! The car is packed, the room is empty, and now...we're going, going back, back to Cali, Cali! Okay, maybe lame, but I'm EXCITED! For the road trip, for warm weather, and to see all the people I've missed so dearly again. Until next time, with love.

Since you and I didn't get to spend the holiday together, I figured you might enjoy seeing what some of ours entailed.

We ate first with our roommates and their families at our place, then headed to second dinner at my Dad's house.
 There we played a rousing 6-round, 30-ish question trivia game where I was the sassy moderator and everyone was trying to cheat.

There were lots of family members, friends, neighbors, and puppies hanging out and showin' each other some love.
And, you may recognize those two little ladies above from their YouTube debut. They were awesome, as always. 

My lovely Aunts and little (though way taller) sister even indulged me at picture time. But aren't they great looking?

It was my almost step-sisters birthday, and we celebrated with warm cider & rum. 
I made a tripe-layered fudgy chocolate cake with peanut butter ganache frosting and pecans. 
It was a hit! And it was finished by the end of the evening.

And I think Cecily liked it, too...even though we forgot to buy birthday candles.
It was a great holiday, and I'm stuck between the freakish amount of mashed potatoes I ate and the trivia game being my favorite parts. I hope yours was great too! What was the best dish on the table at your place?

We've had a busy week and no time to tell you about all of the fun things we did. Instead, here are some photos to summarize what we've been up to this week. 
A little Cindo de Mayo, a little family, a little Maddie.
You may notice that some of these photos were already on my instagram. Or not. But if you're interested in seeing the more personal, less photoshopped versions of some of these treats and more of my real life here in Maine, follow me: @amberstpeter.
Also, we have a real treat for you on Monday. 
New recipe. And its one of my absolute favorites.
In the meantime, enjoy!

Days 3 & 4 of our trip involved much less traveling than days 1 & 2. We had arrived in Gettysburg late the night before, pre-booking a dog friendly hotel to rest up at. After a full night of rest in a real bed we got up, showered, and headed into beautiful downtown Gettysburg.
We walked down main street and perused gift shops and antique stores, buying a Robert E. Lee slingshot (best purchase of the day!) and an actual bullet left on the field from the war. Very cool.

After that, we did the Gettysburg auto tour, which essentially leads you through the battlefields, major monuments, and major places of action in the war. Plus its dog-friendly, so Maddie got to join us!
[We were able to get out and park the car at every major stop, and I got a lot of pictures. But they're historic places, and I wanted to share them all with you, so I picked a bunch of my favorites to frame up for this post. Sorry if its lengthy!]
The pictures above are of a cannon's mouth and a surviving farmhouse from the war, still showing the hole in the brick where a cannonball flew through.

More artillery reproductions on the left. The right is at the Gettysburg National Cemetery, where unknown soldiers were buried. Sadly, there were dozens of unknowns in the graves we passed by.

Behold: Joshua Chamberlain! Maine's own hero. He was a Maine professor who taught at Bowdoin College and even acted as our 32nd Governor! Outside of Maine, he's also known for having volunteered during the American Civil War to join the Union Army. It was cool seeing a statue of someone familiar! It was also cool seeing that someone left flowers for him.

There were several other monuments dedicated specifically to soldiers from Maine...so naturally I got my picture taken with one!
Below, the massive Pennsylvania Monument honoring any person who gave any services to the war, be it soldiers, woman on the front at home, or families who lost soldiers in the fields.
A spiral staircase leads to the top, which offers a viewing deck looking over all of Gettysburg. The ceiling, at right, is beautiful and striking even from outside the monument.

After a long day of driving through Gettysburg, we headed for Pennsylvania Dutch country. We stopped in Intercourse and Bird in Hand, both relatively accessible Amish communities located in South East Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for us photo-hungry bloggers, the Amish generally don't like having their pictures taken. I respected that, so theres not much to show you from there. But it was beautiful, and totally worth the visit!  Funny how bizarre it was seeing such modestly dressed women and families riding around using a horse and buggy. It was neat though, seeing such a small pocket of diversity in small-town America.

Our last stop before home was in Bryn Mawr. We only stopped because we were getting hungry and knew there wouldn't be much in the way of vegan food between there and our final destination. 
We'd heard of the college before, but didn't realize until later that Bryn Mawr is one of the wealthiest communities in the US. No wonder we liked it so much!
Bryn Mawr is home to Vgë Cafe (pronounced vee-gee), a 100% vegan, kosher restaurant in downtown. They offer plenty of gluten-free options, like that delicious mac and cheese  in the first picture. It was super cheezy and better than any vegan mac and cheese I've ever concocted. The lentil soup was killer, too, and seriously hit the spot after a lot of cold, in-the-car sandwiches. We also ordered a Sea Salad wrap, their version of a tuna, and a falafel wrap. The falafel was alright but the tuna mock-up was really good!
Also note-worthy at Vgë, a soft-serve vegan ice cream bar, and a fountain soda machine that dispensed only healthy sodas made with organic cane sugar. They serve the food using all reusable and compostable materials. It was a vegan paradise!
We left Bryn Mawr after dark and arrived in Maine pretty late on Day 4.

And the next morning when we woke up...we were home!
We're staying in the little cabin below for the summer, while we build a little eco-friendly cabin of our own on some land several miles through the woods.
As you can see, Alex and Maddie are thriving here. She loves having a 30 acre field at her disposal and Alex loves tiring her out in the field.
We have a little woodstove inside and a lofted bed, plus a small dresser, dining table, and futon. Its modest but comfortable, and we're happy to be here.

Follow our trip!
Road Trip: Days 1 & 2!
Packing for a Vegan Roadtrip

This was the last picture I took as we crossed over the California state line into Nevada.
We knew we had to get In 'n' Out just one more time before we left for the East Coast. 
While the fries are vegan friendly, not much else is, so we hadn't been in quite a while. In fact, we had even resorted to making our own vegan version of the Double-Double.
But these fries? Slathered in ketchup, they were worth every damn bite.
I loved them.
And it was a fantastic sending off, really. We drove through Arizona to the Grand Canyon, arriving just before Sunset. We made PB&J sammies, grabbed our water bottles and our puppy and headed out along the South Rim of the canyon.

As you can see, Maddie loved the view. Or maybe was terrified of it. Luckily, there was a fence either way.
Some of our Grand Canyon pictures are just before the sun set, and the brighter, more orange ones were taken right as the sun was setting. 

The view was spectacular. You feel very, very small looking over such an expanse. And frankly, its amazing that ALL of that rock was carved down by the lone Colorado River.
To quote Wikipedia, if we may: 

Nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history has been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. While the specific geologic processes and timing that formed the Grand Canyon are the subject of debate by geologists, recent evidence suggests the Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to its present-day configuration.

I definitely couldn't have explained that any better myself.
The canyon is so massive, and so breathtaking. We were truly luckily to have made it for sunset. When we left California we thought we might arrive just after dark and miss everything; luckily, parts of Arizona, including the Grand Canyon, don't use Daylight Savings Time, so we were an hour ahead and made it just in time to pack a picnic and watch the sun go down.
Thank you for that, Arizona.

Alex and I got plenty of good pictures of each other and Maddie. 
She was being a very well behaved little lady- which made taking tons of pictures way easier on us.
As the sun set, the temperature dropped pretty quickly, so after about an hour of exploring, we piled back into the car. We drove clear 'till 3 am, where we crashed at a truck stop in New Mexico for the night.

The next morning we got an early start, driving through the Texas panhandle to Oklahoma. We slept at another truck stop curled up in the front seats with Maddie at our feet, this time in Missouri.
The picture above is Maddie first thing the next morning. Cutest!

She loved when we stopped in Texas for lunch; there was a huge abandoned lot next to the rest stop that she got to run around in and explore. 
There was also an old saloon-like building with a rusty car and jukebox out front, and a surviving inlaid design in the concrete that told us nothing. But it was a great photo-op!

Waking up on day 3 in Missouri was nice. We were pretty restless, and hadn't slept well the night before. Plus, we were starting to get on each others nerves a bit; a break from the car, walkin' around St. Louis was just what we needed.
[Also, I had a head injury about 10 days before this destination, and Alex had to remove 2 staples from my head this same morning. Without being gruesome, he handled it like a champ. I love him.]

I had never been to St. Louis, or spent any time in the midwest. The accents are fantastic and St. Louis seems very much like a small Boston to me. I liked it a lot!
The most fantastic thing to see if you're visiting is the Gateway to the West, The St. Louis Arch. At 630 feet, it is the tallest man-made monument in the US. You can take a tram to the very top, but we had a 60 pound pitbull with us, and for some reason they frowned upon us all boarding together.

We ate clif bars in the park under the arch, overlooking the Mississippi River, before exploring the city for about an hour. We piled back in the car, and headed east for Illinois.

Related:
Packing for a Vegan Roadtrip!
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Follow Our Trip to Maine!

This week we made the big move to Maine! We've been cleaning the house and packing our things, having yard sales and going away parties, but my favorite part by far: packing food for the trip. As vegans, we know food can be hard to find on the road. Most fast food restaurants are out of the question and sometimes thats all you'll see for hours. And gas stations and truck stops don't usually stock the vegan-friendliest faire. Plus, those little pre-packaged snacks add up pretty quickly both for your wallet and your waistline. 
Its cheap and easy to pack foods at home before the trip- even for vegans!

On our last day in California, we planned ahead by stopping at a Farmer's Market and picking up some fruits and vegetables for the trip. We also had a wonderful farewell dinner with Alex's family in the park. We ate vegan jamaican cuisine and brick-oven pizza while the sun set. It was fantastic.

Its usually best to get any fresh fruit or veggies you can just before the trip (the fresher, the better!) or plan on buying what you can at farmer's markets and farm stands along the way. Our route took us through the southern and midwestern parts of the country, but being that its still early April, we didn't find any farm stands until we hit Pennsylvania.
We pre-packed about 1 pound of fresh strawberries, 2 pounds of sugar snap peas, some celery from our friend's garden, and a couple of citrus fruits and apples.

We packed some fresh beet-apple-celery juice, courtesy of our friends John and Michelle, to drink on driving days 1 &2. It ended up being just the pick me up we needed after sleeping a truck stop after the first night of driving.
The celery they gave us was the best for dipping into almond and peanut butter on the drive. A perfect protein-packed snack that you can eat easily while driving-just make sure your co-pilot does the dipping for you!
We also used up some of the last of our baking ingredients whipping up a batch of hemp butter protein bars and of course, homemade chocolate chip cookies. They were delicious on the road- and better than anything we could've bought at a convenience store!
Remember to bring plastic bags for food and saving any little souvenirs along the road. We used more plastic bags and more wet wipes than I would've imagined, they were so handy!

Almond butter and jelly roll-ups on gluten-free tortillas became my main road meal. I love the classic PB&J flavor, but can't handle as much wheat anymore. The tortillas were a prefect substitution! I tried the Food for Life brand and really enjoyed them. 
Also in the car we had a small cooler and reusable bag full of the food in the first picture up top. We had treats like oreos, cracker jacks, and sweet tarts (all vegan friendly!) left over from our Easter baskets so we threw those in with our protein & granola bars, peanut butter, jelly, coconut bacon, granola, chips, and anything else we could scrounge from the cabinets. Anything pretty healthy, nutritive, and easily accesible is important on a road trip. A car is a limited space, and we found that having too many items that needed preparing filled the car very quickly with trash and were hard to eat while driving.
Also important- bring some tunes or fun articles to read, it makes the trip go by way more quickly. Especially a 3,500 mile trip. A friend burned us the ENTIRE Beatles collection-over 18 hours of music- and it was really fun listening through most of it together!
Most importantly though, make sure you have a good co-pilot to keep you company. Driving that far can be exhausting and stressful, and by day 3 you will want to kill each other, but try and remember how awesome they are.

Ah, our last picture in California. 

Well, we've taught you how to pack food, but what about when you just need to eat out? PB&J can get kind of boring, and we get that. Here are some of our favorite resources for finding vegan food on the road:
Happy Cow
(they even have an app!)
WTF Vegan Food
(as in: will travel for)
VegGuide
(similar to HC)

We definitely found more food closer to the coasts than middle America- but that was fine with us because we planned on mostly eating food we'd brought anyway.
Updates on the road trip itself coming soon!
Follow our trip!

Thats right, folks! Me and my man and our adorable puppy are packin' up and headin' east next month. We've felt the east coast tugging at our heartstrings for far too long and I'm ready to head home.
In fact, you may have noticed sporadic posting over the past few weeks and for that, I apologize. But packing and organizing is time consuming and stressful, and I get distracted easily. I went through all my pictures of home and picked and edited my favorites for this post, as penance.

The move comes as sort of a crossroads for us; after living in Fullerton, CA for almost four years together, we've really grown to love it here. But we're ready for new adventures, our lease is up, and the seasons they are-a-changin'. 
Our plan is to drive back east in our Honda, and build a very small, very eco-friendly house on some of the land bequeathed to me in Maine. By tiny, I mean probably less than 120 square feet. This would (hopefully) allow us to skirt around a lot of the building codes generally associated with a house. We're gonna have to get really creative to make this work, but we plan on using all recycled materials from torn-down barns and buildings and the muscle and generosity of our friends and neighbors.
We're hoping to be able to harness some sort of the solar and/or water energy from the area to help reduce costs and keep the electric to a minimum, if we use any at all. Obviously we'll be living pretty rustically, but thats sort of the point. Living in Orange County is wonderful and warm, don't get me wrong- but its also very, very draining. There is no privacy, no escape from the rest of the population. I can hear my neighbor coughing and flushing his toilet very vividly every morning through my bedroom window- and I've had enough.

Growing up in Maine was idyllic, though I didn't realize it until I moved out state and compared childhood memories with friends. I quickly realized that I had total freedom as a child- I was aloud to ride my bike up and down the unlined roads all day, travel into the fields with a picnic by myself, or just hang out climbing a tree somewhere in the woods. I was always home before it got dark, and my parents didn't have to worry about me- all of our close neighbors were family members, and the ones who weren't technically related treated us like family all the same. 
My favorite activites consisted of hiking into the woods with my Dad, or picking fresh, plump blackberries from behind my house with my Mom. Maine is such a great place for a kid with an appreciation of the outdoors to grow up, and my family nurtured that from early on. 

We're leaving on our cross country drive sometime in the first week of April. We're heading up to Yosemite to camp for our first night and driving through Mammoth Mountain (over the mountain?) on our second morning. Past that, our tentative drive looks like this: California, Nevada, Utah, Colo., Kansas, Missiouri...and then pretty much just North East 7 or 8 more states until we hit home! It should take us 56 hours of drive time..so we're thinking about a week and a half of travel. It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of vegan eats we can find on the road...which is the main reason we chose our route actually: we didn't think states like Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi would have much in the way of vegan options. We're also planing on bringing lots of homemade granola bars, plenty of PB&J rations, and bottled water, just in case.

We're preparing here by getting all of the proper pre-road trip adjustments to our cars, organizing all of our belongings into either a 'keep', 'toss', or 'sell' pile, and eating as many dinners at restaurants we'll miss as possible. 
We're going to try and keep the trip as cheap as possible so we can try and essentially pay cash only for the entire house building process. That means no extra stops and especially no trinkets and keychains from every state. Bummer. Luckily, I'll have my camera and will be constantly updating the blog so you can follow our adventures and mishaps with what will be the best summer ever.
We'll be blogging about building the house, DIY home projects, and of course plenty of vegan recipes. It'll be a fun challenge cooking in a place with such a different palette than where I live now. So stay tuned! 
We'll be adding a logo to the sidebar so you can get straight to house updates, or you can follow along via email when you sign up for our newsletter. 

Want more info on what we're going for? Check out some of our favorite tiny house inspiration websites:
Tumbleweed Tiny Houses
Tiny House Blog
Cabin Porn
Dwell
Simple Solar Homesteading
Pinterest