Veg Fest tips, vegan pressure cooking, and a trip recap.

I love to mix business with pleasure. I travel a great deal for work and making a point to see family and friends while on the road is what gets me through. Lucky me, Central Florida Veg Fest organizers invited me to speak and do a cooking demo at their event over the weekend. First things first, I alerted my friends at Sunshine Burger that I would be at a the veg fest and could coordinate a table for them. And of course I then let mom and dad – Florida snowbirds – know that family time was a possibility.

I arrived on Thursday and had a few hours to get things in order for Sunshine Burger. Mom and Dad arrived and we headed out to Citrus Restaurant. Nothing on the menu screamed vegan-friendly but I called in advance and was assured it wouldn’t be a problem – I selected the place because it was just steps from our hotel and it was voted best downtown restaurant in 2014. They did not disappoint. I had this overflowing plate of grilled vegetables.

Friday morning family time meant going to the Apple Store to help dad pick out a Mac Air computer (hell froze over the day he got an iPhone and this was simply a sign of no imminent thaw). We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory (veggie burger with the vegan whole wheat baguette).

Mom and I went out for Halloween-themed pedicures

and then it was time to focus on my cooking demo. We did some grocery shopping and went back to the hotel so that I could work on my two presentations and to organize all the deliveries (Sunshine Burgers and books).

Then we were off to Ethos Vegan Kitchen where we had dinner with my friend – who I had yet to meet – Tess Challis (who you know from Radiant Health – Inner Wealth).

It was wonderful to meet the truly radiant Tess – and it felt like we’ve known each other forever!

My mother is not veg, at all, so we opted for yummy vegan comfort foods that would appeal to the vegan and omnivore.

Loaded potato skins, lasagna (not pictured), salad, BBQ chickun with mashed potatoes, collard greens and coleslaw, and pumpkin pie.

We both really enjoyed the meal!

Saturday was GO time! Mom and I were up early, loaded up the car, and set up the Sunshine Burger tent (with help from Andy Tabar of Compassion Co.). Shortly after, my “crew” of vegan lifestyle coaches arrived: Carol Schneider and Carol Cox.

While the two Carol’s rocked the Sunshine Burger tent…

…I was off for my noon presentation: Too Old to Change?

I was really nervous because it was my first time talking about this topic in such a large, public forum. I work with a lot of coaching and career consulting clients on the issue but that’s very different. There was a big crowd and audience members were there for a myriad of reasons, which was also challenging! So I just told stories and interjected my suggested strategies to making small and big changes, such as:

• Career: Become a student of your hobbies.
• Veganism: Make it a family affair – challenge one another to make the most awesome vegan version of a family-favorite recipe.
• In anything: Progress, not perfection!

The presentation was well-received! In fact, a college professor who teaches public speaking and communications was in the audience and she wrote some lovely things about the presentation here.

A couple of hours later I was up at the Food Demo tent. I made my signature Creamy Kale Miso Soup while sharing simple ways to add more plants to one’s diet. Well, actually, my friend Sarah of Bentoriffic made the soup, while I talked!

The crowd was fun and asked great questions. Here are a few tips I shared:

• Vegetables: Flash saute leafy greens in a little broth, lots of garlic, a splash of lemon juice and toss with almond slivers before serving.
• Fruit: Freeze it! Add frozen fruit (I love cherries) to your smoothies or puree it for an alternative to ice cream.
• Beans: Wrap hummus (or any pureed bean) in a whole grain wrap with veggies – such a great alternative to a bologna sandwich!
• Grains: Add cooked grains to vegetable broth and add cooked or canned beans, fresh salsa and a handful of leafy greens for a super-quick – yet very hearty – soup.
• Nuts and Seeds: Make your own nut butter (like this Curry Cashew Butter).

Poor mom, she really had to work Saturday! She sold books for me and then she and I broke down the Sunshine Burger tent – no easy feat – before driving south so I could spend a couple of nights with her and dad.

Sunday was major sleeping in day, followed by setting up dad’s computer with all of his accounts and preferences and seamless linking to his iPhone and iPad. Oh, and I sent him out to buy a printer with wireless capability and soon he was printing from all three Apple devices. Mac Daddy!

Then I went to my Aunt Candy’s house (she’s a snowbird, too!), just a mile away, and taught her how to use her new pressure cooker.

This $30-ish Hawkins Pressure Cooker can be found at Walmart and Amazon and though we couldn’t find the manual we figured it out and it worked great!

Aunt Candy is a vegetarian who leans toward vegan. I wanted to show her how easy beans and veggies are so we made taco lentils and quick mashed potatoes.

Taco lentils: 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/4 cup chopped onion, half a jalapeno pepper, diced, 1 cup dry lentils, 2 and 1/4 cups vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon taco seasoning. We sautéed the onion, garlic, and pepper in a little oil, added lentils, broth and taco seasoning. Brought to pressure. Cooked at pressure for 10 minutes and then used a quick release (simply because I was unfamiliar with the Hawkins pc and wanted to avoid over-cooking. We stirred in lime juice and it was so tasty that no salt was required (I had it the next day in a baked potato – YUM!). 

Mashed Sweet Potatoes: Bring 1/2 cup vegetable broth to a boil in an uncovered pressure cooker. Add one large sweet potato, cubed, and cover. Cook at pressure for 6 minutes. Allow for a natural release (10 minutes). Uncover, mash with a hand masher or whisk, then add a splash of almond milk and a pat of vegan butter. Salt to taste.

Success!

Then we hung out by the pool.

Monday morning I had a lovely walk with mom

before heading to the airport. And then I landed in Denver at sunset.

And that’s why you haven’t heard from me for a while!

Tags: veg fest tipsvegan travel

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