Vegans Love Chocolate: Valentine’s Day Tips

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In high school, for Valentine’s Day, one of my sister’s admirers got her a box of milk chocolates. While she appreciated the gesture, as a vegan, she had no idea what to do with the chocolates since they had animal products in them. It was definitely a let-down.

Don’t be that guy (or girl). Check out my recommendations below to avoid an awkward situation with your vegan (or lactose-intolerant) valentine. Show them your thoughtful side and let them know that you acknowledge their values.

There are plenty of vegan chocolate options on the market to choose from. I always browse the chocolate section at Whole Foods, even if I don’t need any chocolate, just because it makes me happy to see so much vegan chocolate in one place.

  • Go Max Go Candy Bars: These vegan bars mimic classic candy bars–my favorite is probably the Jokerz bar, which features caramel, peanuts, nougat, and a rice-milk chocolate coating. Other flavors include Cleo’s peanut butter cups and Buccaneers (like Three Musketeers). Available at Whole Foods.
  • Allison’s Gourmet Chocolates: This company specializes in artisan vegan truffles, peppermint patties and chocolate bark. The raspberry blush hearts and artisan vegan caramels look the best to me! Available online.
  • Sjaak’s Organic Chocolates: Sjaak’s isn’t all vegan, but they have some pretty sweet vegan options. Surprise your valentine with the unconventional: chocolate lavender hearts and salted caramels, among other things! Available online.
  • Chocolove: These chocolate bars have adorable wrappers with love poems inside. Not all the flavors are vegan, but many of them are! Just check the ingredients. My favorites from this brand are Almonds & Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate and Raspberries in Dark Chocolate. Available at Whole Foods.

Vegan NutellaI personally appreciate and gravitate towards homemade gifts, so this post would not be complete without a list of homemade chocolate treats any vegan will appreciate.

If you need more ideas, please feel free to check out my other tips from last year.

I know this post was a little chocolate-heavy, and I’m not apologizing for that, but if you are looking for other kinds of treats for your valentine, consider browsing FindingVegan or The Post Punk Kitchen for recipes. There’s also a discussion about vegan baking on the Vegan Club’s Valentine’s Day Bake Sale Facebook event that could be useful.

PSA: This year, Vegan Club and The Environmental Society are teaming up to help you out for Valentine’s Day with our bake/card sale! Come out this Thursday and buy some homemade treats and eco-valentines for your crush.

ECO VALENTINES

Happy planning!

Vegan Lunar New Year Traditions

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lucky fruit platterYesterday marked the beginning of the Lunar New Year, the year of the snake. This holiday is celebrated by the Aulacese (Vietnamese), Korean and Chinese.

My family celebrated with essential dishes such as longevity noodles  and a lucky fruit platter.

Our fruit platter had dried coconut pieces, papaya, and mangoes. All that was missing was custard apples (mãng cầu). In Aulacese, the names of these fruits create a pun, “Cầu Dừa Đủ Xoài (Cầu Vừa Đủ Xài).” This phrase means “[Let’s] pray for just enough [resources/money/food, etc.] to use”–a wise wish for the new year. Continue reading →

Vegan options at PhoXpress are available and expanding

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6/10/13: Dear readers, the vegan options at PhoXpress are somewhat limited now, as of late Spring 2013–please scroll all the way down for the detailed update!

I must say that I am extremely picky about my phở, and most Vietnamese dishes in general. I blame the fact that I grew up in a Aulacese (Vietnamese) household full of food enthusiasts. 

I have heard horror stories about vegan phở at non-vegan establishments. The worst case scenarios recounted to me often resembled the following description, more or less: a bowl of rice noodles in salty broth, laden with MSG and some lettuce. To call that sad scene “phở” is a culinary crime and an insult to the taste-buds. I can’t even process the lack of effort–a complex, aromatic broth is the key to any phở, vegan or not.

PhoXpress set up

Phở condiments!

Based on such descriptions alone, let alone my Viet foodie background, I decided long ago that I would avoid eating phở outside my own home altogether. However, in the past month, I have tiptoed, quite warily, might I add, into giving a couple of places a chance.

Continue reading →

Pie Five Pizza Crust Controversy Resolved!

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When Pie Five Pizza opened at College Park last semester, all the crust varieties were vegan–meaning vegan students (and lactose-intolerant students) could order the specialty Treehugger pie, or any custom veggie pizza sans cheese. However, this semester, there has been some discussion that the company has changed their crust recipes to include dairy.

Saddened by the sudden cutoff from my only source of vegan pizza on campus, I immediately contacted the company in hopes of hearing otherwise. They were quite helpful in their response and I was reassured to learn that vegan students can still go to Pie Five for all their pizza needs on campus. Continue reading →

The Hacienda’s new vegan menu features sopapillas and more

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I recently sampled the new vegan menu at The Hacienda on Henderson and I would like to report that the sopapillas changed my life. Typically served with honey, sopapillas are fried pastries topped with cinnamon and sugar. Naturally, the vegan version is served with agave nectar instead.

I am quite tempted to dedicate this post solely to the glory of those heavenly pastries. However, I will try my best to contain myself and at least briefly describe the other dishes I tried at the menu’s launch party this past weekend.

Continue reading →

UT Arlington’s Connection Cafe makes strides with vegan line

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The Connection Cafe at UT Arlington now has a 100% vegan line that serves lunch and dinner.

Before the new vegan line came into effect, I never gave the Connection Cafe a second glance. From my lackluster experience at my freshman orientation, I knew the options would be too limited to be worth my time or money. Luckily, things have changed immensely since I first came to UT Arlington. Continue reading →

Don’t miss these Vegan Club Events at UT Arlington

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What are you up to this week?

Halloween is tomorrow and World Vegan Day is coming up, so naturally there are several Vegan Club events happening at UT Arlington this week. Check them out below and mark your calendars!

Chocolate-covered wands! Here’s the recipe!

Bake Sale | October 31st
11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Central Library Mall
RSVP here

Halloween calls for tasty treats! Vegan Club is hosting a bake sale to raise funds for our upcoming Food Not Bombs speaker event.

Treats will include chocolate-covered wands (attention, Harry Potter fans!), pumpkin cupcakes, peanut butter cookies and more! All goodies are homemade with love by our members and of course, everything is totally vegan.

Ask a Vegan | November 1st
10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Central Library Mall
RSVP here

November 1st is World Vegan Day (and November is World Vegan Month)! Once again, Vegan Club is teaming up with Animal Rights and Rescue of North TX (ARRNT) and Mercy for Animals to do some interactive vegan outreach at UTA! We have hosted several successful “Ask a Vegan” events before–they usually feature free vegan food samples (including my mini cupcakes) and Q&A.

This year’s Ask a Vegan will also include a Pay Per View, in which participants are offered a dollar to watch a 4 minute video about factory farming. I will provide comforting hugs upon request. Additionally, we’ll be handing out local vegan business cards and free vegan starter kits, featuring tons of recipes and useful information.

This pumpkin spice cake was from last year’s Thanksgiving potluck! The recipe can be found here. I plan on making it again, this time with better pictures!

Potluck Celebration | November 2nd
5:00 p.m. to whenever at Upper UC–San Jacinto/Neches 
RSVP here

We’re having a belated potluck to celebrate World Vegan Day! We decided to host this on Friday instead because more people can make it that way. Our potlucks are the best, and we will be sharing recipes!

I’m particularly excited about this event because we’ll get a chance to catch up with Vegan Club members we usually don’t get to see, since everyone is so busy.

Please write what you are bringing on the event wall. If you have trouble deciding what to bring, just comment below and I will try to help you think of something!

Please bring some canned veggies to the Central Library or the UC Starbuck’s!

FNB Food Drive | Through November 15th
Bulletin boards at the UC and the Central Library
RSVP here

We’re collecting cans for Food Not Bombs, a wonderful activist organization that makes vegan food for the homeless and anyone who needs it. We have invited the founder, Keith McHenry to come speak at UT Arlington in November, so keep your eyes open for that.

Check out the local Food Not Bombs group, and please bring some canned veggies for the cause! We have set up stations at the bulletin boards near the Starbuck’s in the UC and the Central Library (check near the elevators). We’ve been working on getting a station set up near Einstein Bagels in the Fine Arts Building–I will let you know when that goes through.

What events sound interesting to you? Please let me know in the comments below!
There are a couple of other great events I will be attending this week–please check out my events page for more details.

Tasty Highlights of the Texas Veggie Fair 2012

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The line for the vegan corn dogs was the longest food line.

I have never had a funnel cake in my life. On Sunday afternoon, I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours with some friends at the third annual Texas Veggie State Fair. I was determined to find a vendor with vegan funnel cakes so I could sample some (they ran out quickly last year).

I ran into my friend Camille Suttles, an entertainment reporter from The Shorthorn, and together we sampled some (alas, not all) of the delicious vegan fare. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any funnel cakes, but we found plenty of other things to try. Continue reading →

Vegan Froyo at College Park (With Special Discount Offer)

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The cold front is on its way out–just in time for the debut of Cool Berry at College Park, which includes vegan flavors!

I found the staff to be both enthusiastic and accommodating.  “There are many lactose-intolerant customers, so we always feature at least one or two dairy-free flavors.” said Vanessa Solis, one of the owners. The establishment offers over 90 flavors of frozen yogurt (41 cents per ounce) that will rotate weekly.

The fruit toppings included fresh blueberries, raspberries, maraschino cherries, grapes, kiwi, blackberries, pineapple chunks and strawberries.

This week, the vegan options were mango and pomegranate raspberry.

I tried both flavors and found the pomegranate raspberry to be a bit on the sour side, while the mango was a bit on the sweet side. The two flavors complimented each other well.

The frozen yogurt also came with a wide array of customize-able toppings, including many fruits and nuts.

I loaded up on all the berries, because berries are my favorite! I also got sliced almonds, kiwi and pineapple chunks. I’m a bit of a fruit fanatic.

Mango and pomegranate raspberry frozen yogurt, topped with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, kiwi, almond slices and pineapple chunks.

In addition to froyo, Cool Berry also plans to sell bagels, coffee, smoothies and boba tea. Solis informed me that a veggie bagel sandwich will be on the future menu. I look forward to checking out these options once they are available, and I’ll keep you all posted.

If you’re interested in trying this place out, here’s a 20% off coupon for your froyo fix. The cash register was broken when I went, so it was cash-only, but the staff says they are trying to fix it as soon as possible. Bring cash, just in case.

In a previous post, I assessed the vegan potential of a few of the upcoming College Park businesses. Please check back for my vegan reviews of the businesses as they open!

Not so vegan line at UTA’s Connection Cafe?

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The Vegan Line is here! Or is it…?

The new vegan line at Connections Cafe has been vastly appreciated by students on campus.

Education junior Andrea Fleeman has been eating at the vegan line every day, and she has been very satisfied with the changes. She has even been taking pictures of her vegan meals at the cafe to show how great the options have been lately. However, today there were some complications with the food offered.

Read Fleeman’s guest post below to find out the recent problems with the line: Continue reading →