What's YOUR favorite juice? Today we are celebrating the most refreshing thing you can put in your body. I am a juice girl through and through. There is something about a cold fresh pressed juice that just makes everything feel better. And today we are talking about four of my absolute favorites and why each one deserves a permanent spot in your life. 🌿 🍎 🅰🅿🅿🅻🅴 🅹🆄🅸🅲🅴 First things first — fresh pressed apple juice and store bought apple juice are two completely different things. Store bought is essentially sugar water with the good stuff stripped out. Fresh pressed? That's where the magic is. 🌿 Fresh apple juice is loaded with quercetin — a powerful antioxidant that has been shown to reduce inflammation, support brain health, and even protect against certain cancers. It also contains vitamin C, potassium, and malic acid which supports liver function and gives you that gorgeous tart flavor. Green apples give you a sharper more tart juice. Red apples give you something sweeter and more mellow. Mix them together and you've got something really special. 🍎 🥤 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗝𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗲: 🍎 4-6 apples of your choice 🫚 Optional — thumb of ginger for a kick 🍋 Optional — squeeze of lemon to brighten it up Run through your juicer. Drink immediately. Feel fancy. 😄🌿 🍊 🅾🆁🅰🅽🅶🅴 🅹🆄🅸🅲🅴 Again — fresh pressed only. The stuff in the carton has been sitting in oxygen depleted storage tanks for up to a year before it hits shelves. A YEAR. 😳 And then they add synthetic flavor packs to make it taste like oranges again. Fresh pressed orange juice tastes like an entirely different drink and once you go fresh you SIMPLY cannot go back. PERIOD. Fresh OJ is one of the richest sources of vitamin C on the planet — one glass can give you over 100% of your daily needs. It's also packed with folate for cell health, potassium for heart health, and flavonoids that reduce inflammation and support immunity. 🌿 🥤𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗢𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗝𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗲: 🍊 6-8 navel oranges 🍋 Optional — half a lemon for brightness 🫚 Optional — pinch of turmeric for an anti-inflammatory boost.

My hubby spoiled me today. He asked what I wanted and I was like I really want nachos 🤣🤣🤣🤣 HE FOUND ME VEGAN NACHOS!!! These were the best damn nachos I have eaten! Chips, pintos, black beans, roasted red potatoes, baked tofu, THAI PEANUT SAUCE (instead of plant-based queso), corn salsa, cabbage, cilantro, and house made pickled onions! ( I'm totally re-creating this as a nacho rice bowl!!!!!!!!!!) She let me add pickled onions after she asked my hubby if he wanted any. And I was like did someone say pickled onions 🤣🤣🤣🤣 The gal who built these was incredible! I knew I was going to get a good plate as I watched her place each chip individually by hand. No joke. She wasn't building me a plate of nachos she was building me a masterpiece! Straight up. Turns out she works Monday-Wednesday. Now I know where to go for the best vegan nachos on the planet! It was a hole in the wall burrito shack! Been open for 50 years! And I can say I have NEVER stepped foot into a bathroom quite like this one. Of course I took photos 😆😆😆😆😆😆

Okay so this one isn't really plant-based foodie related but it's important and honestly too good not to share. 😂 Grab something to sit on because these numbers might ruin your week a little bit. We spend so much time worrying about clean eating that we forget to think about clean KITCHENS. So today let's talk about the three things in your kitchen that are statistically dirtier than your garbage can. 🗑️ 🧽 #𝟭 — 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲 This one is the worst offender by far and the science backs it up completely. A team of German researchers led by microbiologist Markus Egert found 362 different species of bacteria living in kitchen sponges, with bacterial density reaching up to 45 billion per square centimeter. To put that in perspective — there's hardly any habitat on Earth where you'll find similar densities of bacteria, except for the human intestinal tract. Like WTF 😆😆 And here's the part that's going to ruin your day — Egert found that sponges collected from people who regularly microwaved or hot-soaped them did not contain fewer bacteria than uncleaned ones. In fact, cleaned sponges sometimes showed an INCREASE in two specific bacterial species — including one related to bacteria that can cause infections in people with weakened immune systems. The fix? Replace your sponge every week. No deep cleaning hack is going to save it. Just toss it and start fresh. 🌿 🚰 #𝟮 — 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗸 You wash your dishes here. You wash your produce here. You probably wash your HANDS here. And it's quietly one of the dirtiest spots in your entire kitchen. Research has shown that kitchen sinks and drains contain particularly high amounts of E. coli. Think about everything that goes down that drain — raw vegetable scraps, food residue, whatever was on your hands or your sponge gets rinsed right back into that basin. It becomes its own little ecosystem. 🌿😬 A quick fix — disinfect your sink basin and drain regularly, not just the dishes sitting in it. 🧺 #𝟯 — 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗹 The one hanging by your sink that you use to dry your hands, wipe a counter, and mop up the occasional spill. Yeah. That one.

One of my favorite classrooms is officially open: –> Your 2nd Pantry: Why the Freezer is My BFF Most people think of the freezer as the place where forgotten peas go to die. Mine? It's my secret weapon, my 2nd pantry, and my BFF ❄️🧊 Inside you'll find — 🥣 Why freezer cooking is a total game-changer 📦 Freezer Basics 101 ✅ My stocked freezer checklist 👩‍🍳 Freezer-friendly batch cooking 🌾 Grains & legumes 🍲 Sauces, soups & stews 🍓 Smoothie packs 🥨 Baked goods & doughs 🥕 Fruits & vegetables The best part? Just show up. Comment. Share your meals. Celebrate other members. Ask questions. Every bit of engagement helps you level up and unlock even more classrooms. 🌱 And we're just getting started! 👀 Next up is a classroom I've been ridiculously excited to build — 🧈 Tofu Techniques Everything from tofu basics to pressing, freezing, shredding, crumbling, marinating, baking, air frying, scrambling, turning it into "chicken," "tuna," ricotta, creamy sauces, and so much more. My goal is to build a library that makes eating whole-food, plant-based easier, cheaper, quicker, and way more delicious! Every level unlocks another little treasure chest. 🎁 What classroom are you hoping to see after Tofu Techniques? 🌿💚

One of the biggest challenges of being vegan isn't always the food — sometimes it's finding restaurants that make everyone at the table happy. My hubby isn't vegan, so we end up looking for places with options for both of us. We definitely have our 4 or 5 "safe" restaurants, but every once in a while we stumble across a hidden gem. Last night we found a NEW one. What I loved most wasn't just that they had vegan options, it was that they had an entire vegan menu. I LOVE LOVE LOVEmexican food and sadly not one single restaurant in my area has vegan options — until NOW 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮 I didn't have to ask them to leave the cheese off. I didn't have to swap ingredients or piece together a meal from side dishes. I got to order straight from a menu that was created with vegans in mind, and honestly...that felt pretty special. No impossible meat, no fake cheeses. Just whole food YUMMINESS 💚 Rice. Beans. Veggies. Fresh salsa. Pickled onions. Roasted veggies. Vegan slaw. Vegan house made sauces. Even vegan cookies for dessert! 🍪 I had my first vegan chocolate chip cookie in a year and a half!!! It was mouthwatering delicous!!!!! The crumb was spot-on PERFECTION! And I discovered something new!!! Date butter. 👀 Housemade date butter made from housemade vegan butter! (The co-owner is vegan — huge score!) Where has this been all my life?! Now I'm curious?!?!?! 👇 When you're looking for somewhere new to eat, what do you look for? Do you search for a separate vegan menu? Check HappyCow first? Read Google reviews? Or just take your chances? If you've found an amazing vegan-friendly restaurant, drop the name below! Whether it's a fully vegan spot or just a restaurant that genuinely welcomes plant-based eaters, I'd love to hear about it. Let's help each other discover some new favorites! 🌱💚 Pictured below — I enjoyed The Jules Taco on housemade corn tortillas (like WHAT???) and The Ojai Bowl. I also grabbed a vegan chocolate chip cookie and a vegan date cookie for a later snack 😆