Vegans don't only dine in veggie restaurants

Kudos to vegetarian FRIENDLY restaurants. I never understood places that refuse to include even one vegan option on the menu. What they simply don't get is that their potential vegetarian/vegan customers are often dining out with meat-eatin' parties. And even if there's only ONE vegan in a party of 8, chances are that the restaurant chosen will cater to that one. So restaurant owners who think it's too hard to slap a frozen veggie burger in the nuker are missing out on a boatload of business.

Anyway, this weekend, we had a houseful of wonderful friends and family to celebrate the 4th. Fortunately, they're all very veggie-friendly (they're like a collective Mikey -- they'll politely eat anything I make, even WITH tofu), so we enjoyed a nice mix of veggie meals and outings at restaurants that had both omni selections as well as veggie ones.

One of DS's favorite moments, as you can see, were the cupcakes. We happened upon this awesome bakery, Sweet Avenue, in Rutherford, NJ. Just look at how gorgeous these cupcakes are! Not a single animal-derived ingredient and all to-die-for yummy. They don't even use the word "vegan" anywhere in the storefront window; honestly no one would ever be able to tell. We're just glad they make such amazing treats. Thanks guys!

On Saturday morning we visited our new veggie-friendly local brunch spot, Toast, in Montclair, NJ. (Read my post about Toast HERE.) A GREAT place for mixed company; the omnis loved the omelets and egg scrambles, and the vegans enjoyed the tofu scrambles, oatmeal, and many vegan sides. And this morning we tried Life Cafe in the East Village in NYC. I had the Eggless Rancheros (pictured here), which were incredible. The dish comes with sauteed tofu, crispy corn tortillas, veggies, organic brown rice, black beans, and soy sour cream. Obviously, the meal was not only delicious but surprisingly nutritious. Even my 2-year-old loved it. For the omnis, there was the standard brunch fare: eggs, pancakes, French Toast, and the like. Everyone was happy!