TRAVELLING? WHAT’S HEALTHY TO EAT?

An inexpensive and delicious vegan substitute for wine. and cheese

Eating vegan while travelling can be a little tricky!

Because I have been a vegetarian for a long time, friends ask me how to eat vegan at restaurants while travelling.

Eating vegan requires a little creativity sometimes but we usually can manage a beautiful meal!

The last trip my husband, LeeLou and I took was to the Tahoe/Reno area. Because we were going through many small towns, we had some trouble finding vegan restaurants but we managed to solve the issue easily and inexpensively!

At breakfast in Truckee, Ca, we walked into  the cutest breakfast place in the historical district and ask if they had anything vegan. The waitress quickly answered, “No, we only have what is on the menu”. David thought we were leaving, but I sat down and ask if the cook could make a vegetable omelet minus the eggs, cheese and butter? The waitress said, “sure” and quickly brought out the most beautiful plate of sautéed mushrooms, broccoli, onions, peppers and yellow squash, topped with hash browns. David covered the potatoes with fresh salsa and ate the sourdough toast.

It was enough for both of us!

Lunch time was in a small town close to Graeagle. The Mexican restaurant was the only choice other than the barbecue grill down the street, so we stopped. The vegetable fajitas were a great choice with a side of guacamole. Again, we asked for no cheese, sour cream or any other animal products.

Be careful to ask if the beans are made with lard (animal fat) or vegetable oils.

If you don’t eat corn, ask for lettuce or cabbage to use as a tortilla. One fajita order was a ton of food and David took some away in a doggy bag for later.

Our last night, we stopped in Mammoth Lakes. We were tired and I had run out of data on my phone to Google a vegan-friendly place, so we stopped at the first place that sounded good, a place called Bleu, hand-crafted foods. Unfortunately, we walked into a place specializing in handmade sausages and European cheeses.

What to do? Do we just leave?

Nope! They offered a beautiful mixed olive and wine flight with house-made, crusty sourdough bread! We also had oil and vinegar. It was a lovely, romantic place with the perfect food.

It was Heavenly!!!

As a last resort, we have ordered baked potatoes with the vegetable of the day, salt and pepper on top. Add this to a salad with lemon juice and salt and it will get you through almost any steakhouse, wedding or meeting and it is a cheap and easy fix to hunger pangs till you can get home.

We don’t always stop at restaurants. If we are going on a long road trip, we always take snacks with us for the road.

Here are some of our favorites:

• A bag of raw mixed vegetables like carrots, cauliflower and broccoli.
• Humus.
• Tahini
• Baked plantain chips.
• Nuts and seeds.
• Pears, apples, figs and bananas.

We love other things too but these things travel well and don’t make a mess.

If you have any other suggestions please leave them in the comment section. We would love to hear from you.

Hugs, health and happiness,

Cia