The 72-Hour Giveaway: CSN Stores

Hey friends!

I thought I'd give you a TREAT this weekend and host a giveaway for a $35 CSN gift code! Are you familiar with CSN Stores? They have over 200 online stores, offering everything from contemporary coffee tables to kitchen gadgets to office supplies.

How to enter: Just comment and share what you would like to get with the $35 gift code. Click HERE to go to their main site.

I'll select a winner randomly at 12-noon (Central time) on Tuesday, November 2nd!

Please note: This is only open to readers in the USA and Canada.

Bonus entries:
* How are you celebrating Halloween this weekend?
* What treats are you handing out, if any? (This can also include food you're bringing to a party.)
* Your favorite Halloween memory.
(Post a separate comment for each answer.)

Last year I dressed as "multiple personalities," by sticking a package of "Hello My Name Is" stickers with different celebrity names written in all over my clothes.


Have a great weekend! Remember, I'll be announcing the winner at 12pm (Central Time) on Tuesday!

Friday Not-So-Food Day

Friends, it has been a rough week. (And that is putting it lightly.) I honestly don't have much food to share with you today because it's just been that kind of week. I will share what little I have, though. One meal in particular, made last Sunday, was quite good: Broccoli-Chickpea Casserole (recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance).



I served it with some tomato rice (jasmine rice cooked with V-8, an experiment since I was out of vegetable broth). It wasn't too bad.


I also made some Raunchy Red Lentil Soup (recipe from La Dolce Vegan). It's quick and easy and provides leftovers.

I really enjoy cooking once, and eating twice.


And guacamole was whipped up.


Kind of a pitiful Friday Food Day, I know, but everything will change next week. It has to, because it's VEGAN MOFO TIME!

And, to add a little more somethin'-somethin' to this entry, I'd like to give you all a head's up on two different giveaways going on:
Fannetastic Food is hosting a Mighty Leaf Tea & Mug giveaway and
Ginger is the New Pink is giving away a $100 CSN gift code!

Have a great weekend, everyone! What are you doing for Halloween?

Speaking of Halloween, here are some mini pumpkins I decorated with a little girl I babysit.

What's Vegan At... Houlihan's?

Earlier this week, I read that Houlihan's now offers several new "meatless meals." They sounded pretty good, but nothing was specified about whether certain things were vegan or not. I sent an email through their website and received a very friendly reply two days later from a woman named Jenna.

We received your email about vegan menu offerings here at the Houlihan’s home office. We went straight to our VP of Culinary (who developed recipes for all our items and knows the ingredients inside and out) to be sure we’re giving you the correct info – so, without further ado, the vegan menu options at the Hou:

· White Bean & Artichoke Hummus (with grilled pita and marinated olives)
· American Fries
· Spinach Salad (with toasted hazelnuts, fresh berries and poppyseed dressing)
· Veggie Burger (black bean and chick pea patty only – no bun!)
· Tortilla Chips and House Salsa
· Grilled Asparagus

I wanted to pass this info along and get the word out. I know I'm always appreciative of other blogs and sites that post this kind of information. This sounds like a decent location for a mainstream restaurant where you'll be dining with omnivores, as well. Maybe I'll even test out the dishes in the near future and report back on their degree of deliciousness. (You know, for the sake of the blog.)

Have you ever eaten at Houlihan's?

Taking Requests

Well, folks, it's almost Vegan MoFo time! Starting MONDAY, I will be posting ON THE DAILY about the joys of vegan food. (And it truly is joyful.) Heck, I might even post TWICE a day from time to time.

I've been brainstorming Vegan MoFo content for about a week now, trying to write all the ideas down and get somewhat organized. I'm terrible at organizing, though, so I'll still be winging it some days. I have several reviews and giveaways lined up (woo hoo!), but I would also like to take requests from you fine people.

What would you like to read about during Vegan MoFo?
Is there a certain recipe you'd like me to post? (Keep in mind, I'm not a recipe-creator. I'm more of a throw-whatever-looks-good-in-a-pan-and-go kind of gal.)
Is there a certain dish you'd like me to (try to) veganize?
What's your favorite meal, snack, or dessert?

Help me, help you.

Otherwise, you can expect posts about what I ate that day, as well as theme days, where I'll post about specific foods, and maybe a couple fun stories of livin' the vegan life in a meat-eaters world.

Flashback: October 2008 - Autumn in New England

I recently had to dig through hundreds of picture folders, trying to find a specific shot, and was immediately caught up on Memory Lane. I've been focusing a lot on food on the blog lately, and will really be focusing on food in November, so I'm going to post a flashback entry of a big road trip I took two years ago. Specifically, since it's timely, some time we spent in Connecticut and upstate New York.

First up, a visit to Pumpkin Town in East Hampton, CT. We saw a commercial for this place while visiting my grandparents and thought it looked like a cheesy good time. It was.

Arnold Squashenagger, lifting pumpkin weights



A slew of other gourd-geous characters.












From Connecticut, we made our way through upstate New York, hoping to enjoy a lot of peak fall foliage.


Lake George area

Prospect Mountain










And for our final hurrah in New York: Niagara Falls (the US side only because I didn't have a passport yet).



BLACK SQUIRREL!!!


I'm gettin' misty over here!




This concludes the autumny, New Englandy flashback. I may post a couple more of these before Vegan MoFo starts (less than a week to go!).

A Saturday Afternoon in Kansas City

Last week sucked for a lot of reasons, all on a personal level, but Saturday more than made up for it. The weather was perfect - a sunny and crisp fall day. A great day to visit the City Market.


Summer is definitely over. There were only about a third the amount of vendors as there were just a few months ago. Almost everyone had winter squash for sale (some a little funkier than others).



L was very interested in the man roasting the peppers in, what I called, the Bingo Cage. We ended up getting a pound of roasted peppers (sweet and hot) and an eggplant.

(It made the car smell AWESOME.)

Then we met up with a friend and had lunch at FüD, the 100% vegan restaurant that I haven't visited in MONTHS.

L ordered the nachos (the best deal on the menu, I think, at $9).


I ordered a chalupa (I expected it to be a little bigger for $7, but it was still absolutely delicious).


Our two dining companions ordered some tacos (2 for $7).

This is the (raw) rainbow taco:


What's funny is that we all ate the same filling, but in different ways. I can't quite describe the filling. I just know that it involves jack fruit, wild rice, a heavenly blend of spices, cashew-based sauces, and some fan-darn-tastic guacamole. I highly recommend the nachos of all the meals, as it's the best bang for your buck. I haven't tried any of their sammiches yet, but that's next on my list!

After lunch and parting ways with our friends, we romped around World Market, then headed back home, but stopping at Yogurtini on the way.
Passed this little coffee place on the walk from the parking lot. Does the name look familiar to you?


Last time, I reported back on my vegan findings at the Yogurtini by the Plaza. This time, we tried out the Zona Rosa location.


Yogurtini always carries one non-dairy option and the flavors change every few months. This time, they had mango sorbet. I wish they would use some soy- or coconut-milk based frozen desserts, but I won't complain. Besides, for me, it's all about the toppings.

Yogurtini always has oodles of fresh fruit and several kinds of nuts, as well as several kinds of sugary cereals, sprinkles and chocolates, and sauces. (Including Sri Racha hot sauce!) I was impressed to find that this location also offered agave nectar and natural maple syrup among their sauces. I didn't use any (I had enough sweet stuff in my bowl), but it was still nice that it was there.

How was your weekend?

And the winners are...

It is time to reveal the two random winners of the Noodles & Company giveaway! Each winner will receive one coupon for one free bowl of noodles, soup, or salad at Noodles & Company, along with a witty t-shirt. Without further ado, the winners are, according to Random.org, comments # 28 and 13...

Brandon and Amber! Congrats!



Since you're both bloggers, the folks at Noodles & Company would love to read about your free meal on your blogs!

Thank you to Noodles & Company for donating the coupons and t-shirts for the giveaway, and thank you to everyone who entered and promoted and "liked" and for, above all, reading Hungry Vegan Traveler. You are all awesome!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Just a Friendly Reminder!

Just a friendly reminder, folks, that the TWO winners of the Noodles & Co. giveaway with be randomly drawn at 5:00 Central Time, about 3 hours to go! Have you entered? Have you qualified for EXTRA entries? Well, do the hustle on over to THIS ENTRY and follow the instructions. There's still a little bit of time!


Delicious noodles, such as THESE!, could be yours!

Friday Food Day

It's that time again -- a roll call of this week's food highlights. This will change in November, though, as I'll be blogging ON THE DAILY as part of the Vegan MoFo challenge. Brace yourselves!

On to the food!
fried brown rice

brown rice with extra firm tofu chunks and crumbled silken tofu (tofu scramble-style), broccoli, squash, zucchini, peas, carrot, and orange bell pepper. This is a great use for leftover brown rice and using up those veggies that have been sitting in the fridge for a questionable amount of time.


And now, the return of banana soft serve! With peanut butter!


Spaghetti squash spaghetti

Made the sauce with plain jarred tomato sauce and added basil, oregano, garlic, and thyme, and some great northern beans, which have a nice, neutral flavor.

Also sautéed artichoke hearts and broccoli in Earth Balance and minced garlic.

I really liked this meal.


L made cookies - whoa!


This is the best avocado we've had in MONTHS. Once I was done taking this picture, it was promptly turned into guacamole. No pictures of that, though, because it was devoured too quickly. (You know how it is.)


Okay, this next dish only LOOKS like it's covered in cheese sauce. It's actually a peanut sauce.

I clearly need to work on my lighting for dinners now that it's getting darker earlier. Still, this was awesome. Brown rice, lightly fried tofu, broccoli, and peppers.


And then last night, it was TACO TIME!
This was our filling:

L really likes Boca crumbles. I don't mind it as much when it's masked by brown rice, black beans, peppers, and seasonings.

We picked up our taco seasonings from our favorite spice man at City Market.

Choppin' da lettuce


The finished product: taco salad.

Sadly, no guacamole to go with it. L picked up an avocado, but it was waaaay too ripe. (Sad.) This was still a quite delicious taco salad.

Along with the rice-beans-crumbles-pepper mixture and lettuce, I threw on a couple of black olives, red taco sauce, salsa verde, and Tofutti Sour Supreme.

And this concludes this week in food for yours truly. What meals did you enjoy this week? Are you participating in the Vegan MoFo Challenge?