Artisan Mochas and Vegan Mexican Food

April 10, 2015

As someone getting their master’s degree (and graduating in May, YAY), I won’t lie; my social life has taken a huge beating. My workload has considerably lessened with the end of my final exam last week and I am making an effort to see more of my friends and to explore more of San Francisco. I can’t believe I have just over a month before I graduate and move to Salt Lake City. Where has the time gone?!

I met up with my friend Sheri to explore the Mission district. Our first stop was this cute chocolate factory, called Dandelion Chocolate, which serves artisan chocolate products. As you can see, they offer a variety of drinks which left my friend and I ‘umm-ing’ and ‘aah-ing’ for a good 5 minutes haha.

I finally decided on the house mocha, which came with a yummy little biscuit. Although mochas do contain chocolate and thus added sugar, this was a rather bitter and rich chocolate so I didn’t feel quite so bad in ordering it. And hey, when in San Francisco right (let’s ignore the fact that I live here haha)?! The atmosphere was really cool, and they have a bar area where you can sit and watch the people working there make chocolate!

After our coffee stop, we walked over to Dolores Park and spent a couple of hours just hanging out and catching up there. It was such a gorgeous and sunny day in San Francisco; San Francisco is notorious for being chilly and foggy. Which most of the time is true lol! I was ecstatic to finally be able to wear a dress, get some sun on my legs (gasp!) and break out this gorgeous necklace I got from my latest Rocksbox set. If any of you are interested in learning more about Rocksbox, feel free to read my review about it and click here to get your first box (the code alicexoxo will get you your first month free). Also, I don’t know why this photo came out so purple haha!

A few hours later, our tummies started rumbling and we headed back towards the Mission District to try out Gracias Madre, a vegan Mexican food restaurant. I had heard about it but had yet to try it so I was pretty happy my friend wanted to check it out as well. My husband absolutely will not try out vegan or raw food places so I always have to find a willing friend to go with me!

We got the ‘totopos’ to share as our starter, which are house made tortilla chips tossed in creamy chipotle salsa roja topped with cashew crema and cilantro. I thought the tortillas were a littleeee too thick, but the sauce was delicious.

For our main course, I ordered the tacos filled with mushrooms, asparagus and broccoli topped with cashew cheese and served with black beans. My friend got spicy mole enchiladas topped with mushrooms and cashew cheese, served with sauteed greens and beans. I was really impressed with how flavorful my tacos were and the bite that I stole off my friend’s plate was also delicious! Although I admit that I like the heartiness of a beefy enchilada, I think that Gracias Madre have made a flavorful and pleasing vegan alternative. NOT an easy feat in my opinion, especially because I have had some pretty bad vegan food a few months ago and was still a little bitter from that.

Where have you had great vegan food?

Great weekend, and so excited for the rest of this month. I have some exciting posts in store for the rest of April that I cannot wait to share with you all 🙂

Honestly yours,
Alice

Thank you for always supporting me! For more Honestly Fitness, check out my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest and don’t forget to subscribe!

Health, Products I love

The Best Foods And Drinks If You Are Sick

April 6, 2015

Before I launch into this post, I just want to put out a little disclaimer: the following foods and drinks are what I have personally found to work best in helping me bounce back to my healthy self again. I am not a medical doctor and these are just recommendations based on my opinion and experience 🙂

The Best Foods And Drinks If You Are Sick

Therefore, let’s dive into what I think are the best foods and drinks if you are sick!

Best Foods

1. Chicken noodle soup is an oldie but a goodie. The broth is said to contain anti-inflammatory properties that can help prevent the side effects of a cold.

2. Bananas are really calming for your stomach if you have a stomach virus or are feeling sick and nauseous.

3. Oatmeal; I find oatmeal to be really soothing and comforting if I am confined to my bed and feeling horrid. Plus, oatmeal has plenty of complex carbohydrates which will keep your energy levels high.

4. Avocado is said to be really good if you are experiencing lots of aches and pains because it contains magnesium. It is also an easy to eat food if you are having trouble getting down any solid foods.

5. High fiber crackers are great for if you are constipated (come on, it happens to the best of us), but avoid them if you have an illness which makes it hard for you to digest foods.

6. Dates; when I am sick, I struggle to eat enough foods for fear of throwing up or making my stomach feel worse. I love having dates because they are really sweet and provide a lot of energy.

Best Drinks

1. Green tea with honey and lemon. Green tea has so many health benefits (click here and here to learn more), as do honey and lemon. Honey is anti-bacterial and calming if you have a sore throat, and lemon helps to calm down an upset stomach and also contains vitamin C.

2. Freshly squeezed orange juice with ginger. I don’t know why (could be placebo effect), but this combination always makes me feel better. Could be because of the strong taste of ginger … I really don’t know but it works for me!

3. Green juice, because it is easy to digest (great for a body desperately using all it’s energy to fight off a sickness) and is full of vitamins and minerals.

4. Any herbal tea with honey and lemon (same as #1).

5. Kombucha; kombucha can be great for helping an upset tummy. When I was younger, I would drink coke or sprite when my tummy felt unsettled because the carbonation helped a lot. Kombucha is a much better and lower in sugar alternative which also contains probiotics.

6. WATER! This will always be the king of liquids and nothing beats it. Drink tons of water to flush out anything nasty that is in your system and to keep you hydrated.

… And A Tip

If you feel the start of a cold coming on, you might want to invest in zinc lozenges. This systematic review states that there is strong evidence that zinc can shorten how long you have a cold for. Worth a try, right?! Also, I always tend to reach for chocolate when I am sick hehe (not recommended, but oh so good).

What foods or drinks do you gravitate towards when you are feeling sick?

Honestly yours,
Alice

Thank you for always supporting me! For more Honestly Fitness, check out my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest and don’t forget to subscribe!

Health, Healthy on the cheap, Products I love, San Francisco

Superfood Cereal and Vegan Soup

April 4, 2015

Unfortunately, this wasn’t my best week. I came back to San Francisco on Tuesday morning and started feeling ill on Thursday, which was a nightmare because I had to do a presentation that night and submit a very important assignment on Saturday. I somehow managed to get all that done and try out some good food in the process (although my stomach was killing me Friday and Saturday :()

Superfood Cereal and Vegan Soup

Superfood Cereal

So, on Tuesday, I arrived back home to find a gem of a package from Abe’s Market. I have been using Abe’s Market ‘Try for 2’ program for the past few months because it is a fantastic way to try out new healthy foods and products; for only $2! I’ve tried a few different superfood cereal flavors from Vigilant Eats before (Maca espresso is bae), so I was really looking forward to trying these. NOT gonna lie; I was SO intimidated by the sweet potato and rosemary thyme superfood cereal. However, I am glad I just got on with it and ate it because it was absolutely delicious. Better than the banana chia (although that was delicious too). How sad is it that I was intimidated by a cereal flavor haha?!

Vegan Soup

After feeling like I was on the path to recovery on Friday (and indulging with a rose-geranium macaron and honey lavender ice-cream … whaaaat, I like food!), I felt like crap Saturday morning. Which was really quite annoying because I had plans to meet up with a good friend that morning! Met up with her anyway and tried out a powerball and the vegan split pea soup with eggplant ‘bacon’ from Seed + Salt in the Marina, before having to call it a day and going home to nap. Such a princess 😛