North Florida VegFest and Health B-4 the Holidays!

 WOW, what a week it has been. I arrived back into Brunswick just in time to exhibit at two really awesome events; The North Florida VegFest  put on by the Girls Gone Green, down in Jacksonville and a smaller, more local event in Brunswick -  Health B-4 the Holidays which was the brainchild of Kel & Erin Quarterman from Gold Coast Nutrition.


Here are some photos to help catch you up with were we are these days. Vegfest was all day on Saturday, November 3 and one week later, Health B-4 the Holidays was Saturday, November 10.

My Booth at North Florida VegFest, notice the new 'burnout' Elephant tees. 

The event planners included a scavenger hunt, run using text messages and we gave some prizes away. One of the winners, Maria Begonia, won a JUST EAT PLANTS t-shirt and a book about making baby. It was really serendipitous for Maria to win that particular book because she and her husband of 10 years have just decided to start a family :-)

Scavenger Hunt Winner; Maria Begonia won a Book & T!

I was accompanied by my great & dedicated friend, Nurse Good-body herself - Karen Ansel. Karen works nights at our local hospital, delivering and looking after babies, especially the sick ones. Karen had to get up at 6 AM (an ungodly hour for a vampire) to drive me and all of my boxes down to Jacksonville. Some other friends including Mark Farver and Carin Berolzheimer made the trek down to Jville to check out the Festival, thanks guys! One of the food vendors was Shakti Life Kitchen. Check them out HERE.

Great Food and great t-shirts!

 The organizers, Girls Gone Green, did a fantastic job. Everything was easy to navigate and there were plenty of cool offerings. Here is a photo of a couple of the many fun mascots which were roaming around the festival grounds all day. There was a very impressive KIDS corner too with more than just face painting!

The Loving Hut is a rep of one of the fastest growing chain of Vegan Restaurants. I had no idea there was such a thing! This is what staying in rural Maine does to a gal. Check out their site here.

Another great Food Vendor

Health B-4 the Holidays! Here I am manning my booth. Kel and Erin Quaterman are a dyn-o-mite husband/wife team who own a cool shop where you can meet all of your supplement and shelf-stable nutritional needs right in downtown Brunswick! They are really concerned about people and so they put together the health fair event. The radio station Magic 105.9 was present doing a remote and I was honored to be on-air with Mark Douglas!

Kel and Erin Quarterman

Booth at Health B-4 the Holidays!

 I could not have pulled it off without the help of another dear friend, Catherine Fleming, Thanks Kitty!! Catherine helped me schlep everything over to the space, get set up, and took these photos. We made Green smoothies and YONANAS along with sharing samples of Trail Mix Bars and Smoky Cheddar (recipes below)! People really like both but the YONANAS was really a hit. I think many were going right over to Target or Bed Bath and Beyond to get one of these great little cuties for themselves. In fact Mark Douglas and his fiancee have registered at Bed Bath & Beyond and they have included the YONANA on their wedding list of "must-haves".

Making Yonanas with one little fella waiting patiently for more!

It was a very busy week and now I must vamp up for the Holiday Entertaining Cooking Class this Wednesday, November 14th! Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Smokey Nut-Cheddar Ball

MiMi McGee – Leafy Café

Ingredients:

½ cup blanched, slivered almonds

½ cup dry roasted, unsalted cashews

4.5 oz, or 1/3 of 14oz. block firm tofu, very dry (pressed with a Tofu Press works Great!)

¼ cup Nooch (Nutritional Yeast)

½ t seasoned salt such as Herbimare

1 t sugar or Succanat

1 t fresh squeezed lemon juice

¼ t liquid smoke

½ t smoked paprika

½ t Hungarian paprika

1 t Vegan Butter such as Earth Balance

1 t EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

1 t mustard

1 t garlic

1 t grated onion

¼ c sliced almonds

Paprika

Method:

1.      Place almonds and cashews into a food processor until ground up for about 2 minutes or until it starts to form a paste.

2.      Using 1/3 of a block of tofu from a 14oz block, (it's important to use firm tofu) drain & press tofu. If you do not own a Tofu Press, use a strainer by smashing and pressing firmly. Using a clean dish towel to soak up some of the water helps too. It's important to get as much water as you can out.

3.      Now add the tofu to the almond and cashew nut paste that's already in the food processor along with the nutritional yeast flakes, seasoned salt, sugar, lemon juice, liquid smoke, paprika, vegan butter, olive oil, mustard, garlic powder, onion and blend about 2 minutes.

4.      Spray a bowl and a square of plastic wrap with no stick spray or rub with EVOO. Pile mixture into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in fridge and chill for at least 5 hours or overnight. It will get firm and can now be shaped into a ball and rolled in sliced almonds and paprika. 

 Shrek Smoothie

MiMi McGee – Leafy Café

Serves 2 for meal replacement or 4 for snack

Ingredients:

2 c. Frozen Spinach

2 T. Apple Juice Concentrate

8 oz. Crushed Pineapple

½ Frozen Banana or ½ avocado for creaminess

2 c. Almond or other Non-dairy milk

Optional (for protein and Omega boosts): Hemp, Chia and/or Flax Seed; Almond butter, cooked Quinoa

Ice

Method:

Blend all together in a high speed blender until smooth. Add more water, ice or non-dairy milk as needed. Feel free to add a couple of pitted dates for extra sweetness or some of the other protein boosting