Ringing in the New Year with Whole Foods: Part 2....

Well, I haven’t been very good at keeping y’all updated on what I’ve been eating this January, and I haven’t even been very good at making sure to take pictures of everything. I’ve had a lot of projects lately keeping me busy and in less then a month my husband and I will be in Europe so blogging hasn’t exactly been my top priority of late.

I have however eaten some really awesome stuff lately, and I’ve even taken pictures of some of it to share with you. So I’ll keep the words to a minimum and let the pictures do the talking!

Onion and Herb Socca 

Roasted Sweet Potato Salsa 

A couple of times for lunch I made this delicious Onion and Herb Socca from Tess Masters book “The Blender Girl” I haven’t made much out of this book so far, but what I have has been delicious and this socca is no exception. I love Socca, and it paired absolutely beautifully with the Roasted Sweet Potato Salsa from Martha Stewart’s book “Meatless” this is really delicious, and hearty yet light salsa made with roasted sweet potatoes, avocado, tomato, lime, onion, olive oil, cilantro and salt. So good!

Salsa and Socca 

Other delicious lunches have included the Maple Dijon Brussels Sprouts from Judith Wignall’s book “Raw and Simple” this is a really simple dish of shredded sprouts, cranberries, pecans and a tasty maple Dijon dressing. My husband and I also really enjoyed Judith’s Cauliflower Couscous also from “Raw and Simple” This is Cauliflower diced up to look like grains of couscous, then chopped tomatoes, olives, parsley, mint, olive oil, red onion, lemon juice, garlic, salt, cumin and paprika are folded into it. This tasted amazingly like a cooked tabbouleh. So fantastic!

Maple Dijon Brussels Sprouts 

Cauliflower Couscous 

A few nights for dinner we had the delicious Creole White Beans from Kathy Hester’s book “The Great Vegan Bean Book” This is really simple dish of white beans, simmered with onion, bell pepper and creole spices. This dish was so creamy, and so flavorful despite the short ingredient list. I just loved it served over a bed of brown rice.  Yum!

Creole White Beans 

Other dinners have included the Dinosaur Kale and White Bean Caesar Salad from Gena Hamshaw’s book “Going Raw” though I neglected to take a picture of this fantastic, flavorful salad. We also really enjoyed her Raw Carrot Falafel which was mind-blowingly awesome! Seriously! I had my eye on this recipe for a while but always felt intimidated by it. I thought it was going to be complicated, but really it’s not, it just takes a bit of advanced planning. You have to be take the dehydration time into consideration and you need carrot pulp left over from juicing. So the day before I made this I made carrot juice and saved the pulp and then this came together super easy in the early afternoon and was ready in time for dinner. There’s a Tangy Tahini sauce that goes with it and Gena suggests serving it on a salad though we decided to roll the falafel’s into lettuce leaves and eat them burrito style. I can not stress enough just how incredible this dish was! If you own “Going Raw” you need to make it!

Raw Carrot Falafel

Also to accompany the falafel I made Gena’s Curried Sweet Potato Hummus which was just as mind-blowing! Such a great subtle curry flavor, and a smooth creamy finish from the blended sweet potato.

Curried Sweet Potato Hummus 

We also had Gena’s Raw Pad Thai which was also amazing. I’m a big fan of Pad Thai and I was really craving noodles. However since I was doing mostly raw during January I didn’t want to cave and eat wheat noodles - kelp noodles to the rescue! This recipe is really simple and comes together quick, it’s just kelp noodles, carrot, red cabbage, zucchini, cilantro and I added some green onion. The sauce is almond butter, tamarind, sesame oil, tamari, maple syrup, ginger, and water. So easy, and you feel so clean afterwards!

Raw Pad Thai 

Lastly from Gena’s book we had the Heat-Free Lentil Walnut tacos. This was another really easy dish. I cooked the lentils a day ahead of time and then it came together so fast. All you do is throw lentils, walnuts, salt, sun-dried tomatoes, and spices into your food processor and make a ‘meat’ then you fill up some lettuce leaves and serve with corn, avocado, and your favorite salsa. Now, I’ll be honest, these are not my favorite raw ‘nut-meat’ taco, but they were damn good and they seriously won over my husband who I’m sure you know by now is an avid nut hater. So that’s saying something.

Heat-Free Lentil Walnut Tacos 

Now, breakfast. I didn’t take too many breakfast pictures for one simple reason. I’ve mostly been eating the same kind of raw cereal I mentioned last time. Or smoothies. Sometimes I make that avocado scramble I talked about last time, or I just eat an avocado on it’s own, or with some fruit.

But I did try a few new things, such as this Strawberry Mylkshake from Emily Von Euw’s book “100 Best Juices, Smoothies, and Healthy Snacks.” this was really creamy and flavorful and the perfect sweet, decadent but healthy wake-up.

Strawberry Mylkshake

My favorite breakfast smoothie though is the flavor-packed Happy Monkey smoothie from “Raw and Simple” it’s got Cacao powder, Cacao Nibs, Coconut, Coconut Milk, Banana and Almond Butter. OMG heaven in a glass!

Happy Monkey

One morning I was especially famished and so I decided to try something really ‘out-there.’ I made the Buckwheat Oat Biscuits from Amber Shea Crawley’s book “Practically Raw” unfortunately I forgot to plan this ahead of time and so I didn’t have the time to make it in the dehydrator. Instead I used the bake option in the directions and baked these little biscuits in the oven. I did however top them with the mind-blowing delicious Maple Miso Butter that she suggests. Man, that maple miso butter is worth the price of the book alone, trust me! I also served these with a bit of Tarragon Plum Jam and an extra drizzle of maple syrup.

Buckwheat Oat Biscuits &
Maple Miso Butter 

Oh, and I nearly forgot, we also had some tasty desserts, mostly from “Going Raw” the only one I had the foresight to photograph though was this tasty Raw Blueberry Ginger Ice Cream. I served it up with an extra drizzle of maple syrup and a few cacao nips and sesame seeds. Damn, raw ice cream I so good!

Raw Blueberry Ginger Ice Cream 

So that’s about it. Now that we’re in February I’m still going with the whole foods thing. Limiting - but not completely excluding gluten and sugar - I’ve added a bit of coffee back in, maybe a couple of cups per week, but I’ve been using coconut milk and coconut sugar to sweeten it, and when I have coffee out I try to take it as plain as possible. I feel pretty good, and I’ve really been enjoying trying all these new dishes. It’s a lot of fun to utilize cook books I don’t always get around to!

Ringing In The New Year With Whole Foods....

Republic Of Tea
Double Green Matcha Tea

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been MIA for so long! I didn’t mean to be, but I guess the holiday’s really wiped me out. I’m so glad they’re over and that a new year has begun. We gorged and gorged over the holidays and by the time January 1st came around I was feeling sick and gross and craving nothing but whole foods. The past couple of years I’ve used January as a sort of cleanse month, and I’m doing the same thing again this year. I had planned to post each day about what I was eating, and how I was feeling, or at least every other day like the past couple years but I haven’t done a very good job of that obviously. Sometimes I just forget to take photos, and often I just can’t be bothered to write about what I’m eating but hopefully now after my little break I’ll get back into the swing of things.

So what have I been eating/doing exactly? Well, I’m not following a particular diet or cleanse - even though there are plenty of them out there - I’m just doing my own thing. I’ve gotten back into juicing and I’m following a mostly raw diet, that incorporates some cooked food. Usually the ‘cooked’ food is store-bought coconut milk, or a legume, or some steamed vegetables at dinner. Stuff like that. Over the past month I’ve been avoiding alcohol, coffee - though I’m allowing caffeinated tea - refined sugar - I use a little bit of maple syrup or agave but keep it limited - gluten - except for last night - processed foods, and limited grains. I’ve been sticking with whole foods, mostly fruits and vegetables, lots of vegetables, lots of salads, and I have to say I feel pretty darn good. Light, and clean, my insides feel very clean indeed, and I feel very positive about it.

Like I said I haven’t been a very dutiful blogger, I haven’t taken photos of everything I’ve eaten over the past couple of weeks but I’ve taken a few. So here is an example of the kind of stuff I’ve been consuming.

Most days I start with a fresh juice, usually grapefruit/orange which as many of you probably know from last year is my favorite combination. Other days it’s a green juice, or a mixed veggie/fruit juice. The other day it was Apple, Lime, Cucumber and that was pretty good though a bit tart.

For a solid meal at breakfast time I’ve really only been eating 1 of 2 things. I either have this delicious raw Morning Scramble from Judita Wignall’s awesome book “Raw & Simple” Or I have a bowl of Cherry Hemp Muesli also from “Raw & Simple.” both are amazing, and like my new favorite breakfast options!

Morning Scramble 

The Scramble is so flavorful and actually tastes like eggs which amazes me because the ingredients are so simple. It’s just a mashed avocado with turmeric, and black salt, topped with diced tomato, and marinated veggies. The marinated veg is spinach, onion, and shiitake mushrooms and they’re simply marinated for 10 minutes in Tamari and Olive Oil. SO GOOD! And surprisingly filling.

The Muesli is also very simple, containing dried cherries, dates, almonds, vanilla, oats, and hemp seeds. Sometimes I also throw in some sesame seeds, flaxseed, and then top it off with blueberries and coconut milk. Today I also threw in a bit of cacao nibs. This stuff is delicious and really hits the spot.

Cherry Hemp Muesli 

Before I got hooked on this muesli I was eating the Power Muesli from the book “Chia” by Lauri Boone. This is also a seriously delicious muesli containing oats, cranberries, goldenberries, hemp seeds, chia seeds, and sunflower seeds. I topped this one with coconut milk and blueberries as well though always neglected to take a picture of it.

Of course, there have been a few days where I wasn’t in the mood for a solid breakfast and on those days I mostly relied on smoothies. Particularly smoothies from “Raw & Simple” My favorites were the Happy Monkey - which is homemade cashew milk, frozen banana, coconut, cacao nibs, cacao powder, and almond butter. I’d sweeten it up with a bit of vanilla stevia. I also loved the Cherry Cacao Smoothie - which was frozen cherries, coconut mana, cashew milk, cacao nibs, vanilla and sea salt, I also sweetened this with a bit of vanilla stevia.

A few days called for something lighter still and so I made the Indian Spiced Orange drink from “Raw and Simple” which is an easy mix of fresh squeezed OJ, Homemade Cashew Milk, and Garam Masala. Strange, but tasty! Or I’d make the Milk and Honey Refresher - which is a whole grapefruit, homemade almond milk, and honey, or in my case I used Vegan Bee-Free Honey. YUM!

Milk and Honey Refresher 

Unfortunately I neglected to take pictures of most of this stuff.

Often I’m not hungry enough for a real lunch and so I just have juice, some raw veggies, a simple garden salad with vinaigrette, seasoned chickpeas, or leftovers from the night previous. A few days I was hungrier then others and so I enjoyed the Pizza Style Chickpea Flatbread from Heather Crosby’s awesome book “Yum Universe” it’s your typical Chickpea Socca, topped with tomato sauce - I had some leftover from when I made Pizza on New Years, and then I added steamed kale and sauteed onions, along with a little leftover cheese cause also from New Years. So tasty. A couple of times I enjoyed another delicious lunch from “Yum Universe’ the wonderful Chickpea, Tarragon and Cranberry Salad Sandwich. Although instead of having it on bread I either ate a coop on it’s own, or I ate it on lettuce leaves, with a side of Radish and Fennel Chips also from “Yum Universe” Unfortunately I didn’t take pictures of any of that either. Yesterday’s lunch was lettuce leaves filled with Cumin Spiked Pinto Bean Dip from the “Thug Kitchen” cookbook and topped with diced raw tomato, corn and Sriracha - so good!

Rainbow Ribbon Veggie Alfredo 

Dinners have also been relatively simple, I’ve really been enjoying the “Yum Universe” cook book and so most of our dinners have come from there. For example we enjoyed the Traditional Coleslaw One evening which might just rank as one of my favorite coleslaws ever. One night we had the Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Kale and Miso Dijon Dressing, along with Simple Sauteed Snap Peas both of which were out of this world in terms of flavor!  One night it was the Snap Pea and Radish Salad with Ginger Miso Dressing which I absolutely loved. Another night ti was Baby Kale Salad with Blueberries and Chinese Spiced Pecans which was also incredible!  Several nights we had the Rainbow Ribbon Veggie Alfredo which is a vegetable noodle dish that can be made either raw or cooked. I did half and half on it, leaving the zucchini and carrots raw, but steaming the bell pepper, kale and broccoli. This was so freaking good!!!

Carrot-Ginger-Coconut Soup

A couple of nights we had the Carrot-Ginger-Coconut Soup from “Raw & Simple” which was very tasty. I normally don’t like raw soups because I hate the texture and I don’t like cold soup but I let this run a little long in the Vitamix so it was warm then added diced avocado and cilantro for texture and it was fantastic. Last night we had the Yellow Split Pea Lettuce Wraps from “Thug Kitchen” which were fantastic. Kind of an Asian style dish of cooked yellow split peas, mixed with shredded carrot and green onion, seasoned with rice vinegar and tamari. The dipping sauce is more tamari, rice vinegar, a little agave and garlic. So good!

Yellow Split Pea Lettuce Wraps 

I’ve mostly been avoiding dessert but sometimes I need a little something before I head off to work at Midnight and so I’ve been enjoying various types of Chia Pudding. I’ve made vanilla chia pudding, acai berry chia pudding, banana chia pudding, chocolate chia pudding, cardamom raisin chia pudding the list goes on. All of them are sweetened with either dates, or stevia, occasionally a little maple syrup or Bee-Free Honey.

I’ll try to be more diligent about capturing my food from now on. But I think this gives a nice overview.

Restaurant Review: Healthy Sins Vegan Cafe in Lockport...

A few days after we broke our fast my husband and I decided a nice way to welcome ourselves back to the world of food would be to indulge in a little raw food. There are not a ton of Raw Vegan restaurants in Illinois, and since we’ve already been to several I wanted to try something new, explore new ground, go somewhere we hadn’t been before. I chose Healthy Sins Vegan Café, which is in Lockport, Il, kind of a hike from our place but I’d heard such good things about it that I thought the 40 minute drive would be worth it. Plus, we’d never been to Lockport, and since it was a lovely, sunny Saturday afternoon we could spend some time exploring. A win, win.

All the tables are shaped like leaves, isn't that cute?

We arrived, and parking was easy enough. The restaurant was not overly busy and so we had our choice of tables and were seated immediately. Right away I liked the cozy atmosphere of the café, it felt very warm, very welcoming, and very European. I personally am a big fan of the whole ‘take as long as you want’ mentality, vs the ‘eat and get out’ mode that most American restaurants seem to operate by.

Bagel Bites

So we asked for water, got some menus and began to peruse. I’ll admit, I had a really hard time deciding what to get because everything sounded fantastic, and since I’d just been fasting for 5 days and had only been eating very lightly since breaking said fast, I was overwhelmed at my choices.

Eventually we settled upon two appetizers. The Bagel Bites (bite sized bagel pieces topped with pesto, pumpkin seed cheese, taco meat, tuna salad, and egg salad) which just sounded way to cool to pass up, and The Nachos (Taco meat, guacamole, salsa and onions with nacho cheese and sour cream served with corn-flax tortilla chips) because how can you say no to a huge plate of nachos?

Nachos

Seriously, both of these appetizers were amazing. I loved how soft the bagel pieces were, and I loved the toppings though my favorite were the taco meat, nut cheese, and tuna salad. The Nacho’s were to die for, the tortilla chips were amazing, a bit of crunch, and they paired perfectly with the delicious taco meat, nacho cheese, and guacamole. I could have eaten like 4 orders of this!

For our main meal my husband got the Sloppy Joe’s which is a favorite of his. The opportunity to try it raw was too good to pass up. I took a few bites of this and it was very good indeed.

Sloppy Joe's 

For my main meal I agonized over whether or not I should get lasagna or the pizza. In the end I chose pizza because raw pizza? How cool is that? I think I chose right. The pizza crust was great, but the real winner was the delicious Italian Cashew Cheese, and the Marinara. I could have eaten the marinara with a spoon it was that amazing!

Pizza

Both Entree’s came with two side salads. One a mixed green salad with a spicy vinaigrette, the other a fruit salad with a sweet dressing. Both were great.

Of course we could not pass up the chance to try dessert. My husband went with the apple pie which tasted like a real baked apple pie! It was super tasty, and the perfect amount of spice. I went with the Almond Butter Pie which was really rich, and heavenly. I could have eaten an entire pie it was that good! Definitely one of my favorite restaurant desserts of all time.

Apple Pie 

I have to say, having been to several raw restaurants - with varying results - this is some of the hands-down best raw vegan food I’ve ever eaten anywhere. The only place that even comes close to comparing is In The Raw in Highland Park, but from what I understand they’ve closed now, and so Healthy Sins Vegan Café is the King - or Queen - of Raw. Trust me, even if this is a little out of the way for you, you’ll want to make the trip. The food is really that good, and the staff is super friendly, and very helpful. Great place, all around.

Almond Butter Pie 

After we finished eating we decided to explore Lockport, so we walked around for a few hours taking in the scenery. There was some kind of festival happening with live music and so we hung out by the canal and listened to a few tunes. Before we headed back home we decided to stop over at the Naked Sprout Organic Market which is right next to Healthy Sins. They’re a cute little store selling all kinds of raw, vegan, and gluten-free goods. They also have a juice and smoothie bar, in fact all the juices and smoothies served at Healthy Sins are made at The Naked Sprout, so we wanted to give some smoothies a whirl, you know, just a little something for the drive home.

I decided to go with the strawberry lemon cheesecake smoothie which was so good, and so creamy. It did indeed taste just like a cheesecake. My husband got the oatmeal raisin smoothie which he really liked although I thought it was a bit heavy on the nutmeg. Overall a very cool experience and very friendly staff. If you go to Lockport don’t forget to check out the Naked Sprout after your delicious meal at Healthy Sins!

Left: Oatmeal Raisin Smoothie
Right: Strawberry Lemon Cheesecake Smoothie 

Healthy Sins Vegan Cafe
928 S State Street
Lockport, IL
Phone:  815.838.4626
Hours: Monday—Thursday: 11-7
Friday & Satruday: 11-8
Sunday: Closed; available for Private Parties

Breaking The Fast...

Strawberries & Cherries
Man how I love Cherry Season!

Wow, I had no idea that I’ve been away for so long. I guess I’ve been busier then I thought, and when I haven’t been busy I’ve been really enjoying the freedom of being able to do whatever I want vs. writing essays, and studying. I forgot what free-time felt like.

I guess the truth is that you haven’t missed very much anyway. Since my Juice cleanse ended I haven’t been eating anything all that exciting. To break my fast I started off simple and small. Fruit and raw veggies, that was it. Then I moved onto more involved raw foods like big salads, raw hummus, raw pasta, raw sushi, that kind of thing. I did that for a couple of weeks and then I started introducing more and more cooked foods, lately we’ve been eating a lot of Italian theme food - a lot of pasta because it’s cheap and easy, and since we’re going on Holiday again in September cheap is good.

Zucchini Hummus Decorated with Salt Cured Olives 

I didn’t photograph everything I ate just after my fast ended but I did take a few photos. Mostly my breakfast was a bowl of Strawberries, blueberries or cherries - in fact this is till my go-to breakfast. Sometimes I would make a raw fruit smoothie using homemade raw almond milk, fresh or frozen fruit and dates. Lunch was usually raw hummus and raw vegetables - my favorite hummus was a delicious zucchini hummus but I also made a Macadamia nut hummus that was pretty good. Dinners were simple, a bowl of raw veggies over raw ‘rice’ such as in the ‘sushi bowl’ below, or I would make zucchini pasta and toss it in a delicious raw tomato or raw creamy pecan sauce. I didn't do dessert for the most part, although I did make the occasional fruit smoothie as a ‘dessert’ like snack.

I was feeling really good eating this way, now that I’ve been eating a ton of pasta, and less raw vegetables I really feel that weighed down sensation I was feeling before. I’m considering doing another short juice fast 3-4 days at the end of the month and then getting back to a mostly raw diet for a while, but we’ll see.

Raw Sushi Bowl
Cauliflower Rice, Mushrooms, Avocado, Onion, Carrot, Seaweed
Cucumber, Tamari, 

To make up for my prolonged absence and the shortness of this post I’ll post a restaurant review later this evening. It’s a place I tried recently and have been dying to tell you all about.

Restaurant Review: Loving Heart in Chicago...

Yesterday my husband and I went to a ‘newish’ vegan restaurant in the city, to celebrate my graduation from school. Yes, did you catch that? After the years of hard and grueling work, the tests, the papers, the projects I’m done!  I just found out a few days ago that I received an -A on my final project, and I’ll officially have my degree in six weeks time. Once I have that, I need to get certified by the state and then I’ll officially be a Holistic Health Practitioner, how exciting! And definitely worth celebrating if you ask me.

Originally I wanted to go somewhere fancy, somewhere that you can dress up, somewhere that has little plates of food and a variety of cocktails. Somewhere like Kayrn’s on Green, but my husband has already expressed a desire to take me there on my birthday and so I thought I’d best pick somewhere else. As it happens I was a bit tired yesterday from work, and so a relaxed and casual atmosphere suited my mood quite well.

I stumbled upon Loving Heart - not to be confused with Loving Hut - while I was scrolling through Happy Cow. I’d never heard of it before, - they’ve only been open since November of 2013 - but the description sounded fantastic. I immediately went to their website and fell in love! Anyone who knows me - or my husband for that matter - knows that we absolutely adore Asian food, and Asian fusion - it’s one of our all time favorites and there are literally days where I can not get enough rice noodles!  It’s very hard for us to pass up a good Asian inspired meal and so looking through the menu I knew - just knew - that this would be the place for us, and my husband completely agreed.

We arrived at about 5pm for an early dinner - we’d been starving ourselves all day so we could literally eat a ton of food! - and found easy street parking right out front. Though if you go to Loving Heart you really need to keep your eyes open. The restaurant is small, and could easily be missed - we drove right by it on the first go-round. Inside the atmosphere is casual, relaxed and friendly. The staff is super nice, and helpful, very eager to please, the whole place exudes love. I’m serious, walking into Loving Heart is like walking into a big hug, or maybe a fluffy cloud. You feel at home, you feel welcome, and what more can you ask for in a restaurant? The space is medium, with quite a few tables, they also have a whole section of leaflets, books, and other resource materials to help the veg-curious transition which is really cool. The service is mostly self-service. You grab a to-go menu, pick out what you want, order at the counter and then sit down and wait. They call your name, you go pick it up and bring it back to your table. Most of the materials used from the forks to the containers to the paper sheaths the forks come in are biodegradable or made from recycled materials which is so, so cool! I mean, what’s not to love about that?

But now you want to know about the food right? Well, like I said we were hungry, and so we ordered a feast!

First we got drinks. I ordered the hot Cinnamon and Ginger Tea Latte which was excellent. Great flavor, subtlety sweet, and not overpowering. Perfect for a slightly chilly Chicago evening.

Hot Cinnamon Ginger Tea Latte

My husband ordered the banana, mango smoothie which was banana, mango, organic soymilk, ans stevia. I took a couple of sips off of this and it was really tasty. He loved it! - Sorry, no photo.

For food we started with the pot stickers which were full of steamed cabbage, carrot, tofu, sweet potato noodles, onion and mushrooms. It came with a soy dipping sauce and they were excellent!

Pot Stickers on the left, Rice Roll on the right

Of course one appetizer wasn’t good enough for us and so we also ordered the Rice Roll which was stuffed with cilantro, red bell pepper, avocado, spinach, house special soy beef slices - non-gmo - onion, roasted peanuts, seaweed and came with the house special green ginger pesto - almond butter, agave, dates, garlic, ginger, parsley, and cilantro) Everything about these was phenomenal, seriously! The beef slices were incredible, maybe even some of the best vegan beef I’ve ever eaten! And I loved the pesto, so much flavor!

Close up of the Rice Roll 

For my main meal I ordered the Ever Young Noodle which basically contained everything that was in the Rice Roll, plus wheat noodles - though there is a gluten-free option too. Of course this was fantastic, I literally couldn’t get enough of it. I liked the combination of textures. The soft noodles with the beef slices, and the raw veggies plus raw sauce. I loved how most of the food at this restaurant was raw, with only light accents of cooked food, and those beef slices! Seriously, they tasted like what I remember beef jerky tasting like, that sweet, salty, savory taste. Amazing!

Ever Young Noodles 

For his meal my husband got the BiBim Noodles which included avocado, carrot, zucchini, lettuce, wheat noodles, beef slices, and house special BiBim Sauce which was a sweet, tangy, spicy red sauce.  My husband was kind enough to give me a bit of his dish and I’m telling you, this was off the hook guys! I don’t know if I liked it better then my own dish but it was easily as good. So much flavor and great texture!

BiBim Noodles 

Because two appetizers and two main dishes just weren’t enough for our hungry bellies we also ordered a Heaven Wrap to split. Man oh man was this good. It was raw red pepper hummus, red bell pepper, beef slices, spinach, tomato, onion, cilantro and parsley all rolled up in an organic tortilla. Again this wrap had so much flavor and was so delicious!

Heaven Wrap 

As you can see most of what we ordered contained the house special beef slices, but have no fear, if you are indeed soy-free there are options here for you that don’t include a soy meat. Some dishes are just veggies, and some use nuts or beans or lentils as their protein. Most dishes can also be made gluten-free upon request, and some can be nut-free as well. Though the menu is relatively small, there is a little something here for everyone I think, and you really can’t beat the prices. Nothing on the menu costs more then $7.85, and most of the sandwiches and salads are under $7. For everything we got our bill was only $40, which is super reasonable not only for a vegan restaurant but also for one that includes a lot of raw food.

Inside the Heaven Wrap 

They also have dessert, and I was really looking forward to trying either the raw strawberry cake or the raw orange cake but both were sold out! They had some chocolate desserts as well, but I was all chocolated out, so hopefully next time I’ll score me a raw strawberry cake. Most of their desserts by the way - as well as their smoothies and drinks - are sugar-free, which is awesome. This food is simply good, healthy food that you can feel good about eating.

So please do yourself a favor, if you find yourself in the area drop by Loving Heart for a bite. You won’t be disappointed! The food’s amazing, the people are great, you’ll love it! You can even do take-away if you want.

Loving Heart
838 W. Montrose Ave. Chicago, IL
Phone # 773.561.5399
Mon-Fri : 11 am - 2 pm & 4 pm - 9pm

Sat : 11 am - 9 pm.
Closed Sunday