The Cannery Restaurant is a landmark on the Newport Beach Peninsula. The upscale establishment with bay views is housed in a building that was once home to a fish cannery in the early 1900s, which is where the restaurant got its name. It's not surprising then, albeit still unfortunate, that the menu here is chalk full of dead fishies.

When my Mom recently chose The Cannery as the place to have her vegetarian/vegan children take her for her birthday lunch, I figured I'd be eating another expensive salad or just having bread and drinks. (I will, however, mention that when we came here for Thanksgiving many years ago I mentioned to the server that I was vegan and the head chef came out of the kitchen, talked to me about my taste preferences, and then proceeded to make me a giant and super delicious plate of vegan items.) Luckily, my sister called ahead and found out that they had recently launched a full vegetarian menu. While many of the veggie dishes contain dairy, most of them can be made vegan, and the curry vegetable entree and stir fry tofu dish are already vegan.

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If you saw my post about the easiest Super Bowl dip recipe ever, you know I enjoyed the spicy version of Nacheez vegan nacho cheese sauce. Nacheez had also sent me the mild version of their dairy-free cheese, and while perusing the recipes section of their site for ideas of how to put it to use, I noticed a vegan mac 'n cheese recipe. I don't use recipes, and I didn't in this case either, but it gave me the idea to create what might be the easiest vegan mac 'n cheese ever.

I think everyone starting out on the vegan journey comes to learn about and appreciate Tofutti's "Better Than Cream Cheese". While the non-dairy version of a bagel's best friend is a great substitute for its dairy counterpart, reading the ingredient list can be disappointing. Even the non-hyrdogenated version has some wacky ingredients. I was pleased then, when the newest Fearless Flyer circular from Trader Joe's came in the mail and one of the featured products was their new private label cream cheese.

If you read this blog at all, it should be clear by now that I have a serious sweet tooth. I do, however, always try to find a healthy aspect or benefit to any dessert I eat. Sometimes it's raw ice cream, sometimes it's protein/nutrition bars covered in chocolate, or in the case of Lenny & Larry's Complete Cookie, it's 15 grams of protein hidden in a giant, chewy, vegan cookie.

When the fine people at Lenny & Larry's asked me if I'd be interested in trying and reviewing their product, I checked it out and was happy to read about the protein aspect. The generous package of cookies arrived at my door with two of each of their flavors: Double Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin, Lemon Poppyseed, Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin.

Photo courtesy of The Irvine Company

(Note: This post is about food and food only. Please save the comments saying veganism is a lifestyle and Neiman's sells furs, etc. I agree but that's not the aim of this entry or this blog in general.)

While we're not lucky enough in SoCal to have an all vegan mini-mall like they do in Portland, we do have some pretty quality vegan food choices at our local malls. I mean, even Brea has a Loving Hut in the food court now.

While I was sampling all sorts of vegan deliciousness at the Native Foods Fashion Island preview day last month, I realized that this upscale outdoor mall with an ocean view might be the nation's most vegan-friendly mall. While it doesn't have any vegan-specific clothing retailers, it does have giant versions of your standards like Urban and Forever 21, so you can still get your plaid and faux leather on. What I'm talking about here, however, is the FOOD.

You've seen me review all sorts of nutrition bars on this site, but I may have found my favorite. I stay pretty active, so a bar with protein, superfoods and a great taste is always something that appeals to me. If it happens to not be horrendous in calories also, that never hurts. Of course it's always more ideal to eat foods in their whole, natural state, but sometimes time and/or location constraints won't allow that. Enter Good Greens nutrition bars.

Here are some of the exciting facts about Good Greens nurtrition bars:

• Vegan
• Gluten-Free
• 195 calories
• 12 grams of protein
• 72% organic
• Contain enzymes, vegan DHA and superfoods like spirulina, goji berries, wheat grass, acai and more
• Increase energy, improve digestion and are low glycemic
• Come in four delicious flavors, three of which are chocolate coated! (Read more to see them all.)

When Le Pain Quotidien first opened at Fashion Island in late 2011, I knew I had to try it. Fresh baked organic bread is enough of a draw, but when I found out about the large variety of vegan options available, I made visiting a priority. The bread and bakery chain, with a bunch of locations in New York, Los Angeles and all around the US, has clearly labeled the vegan choices with a (v) right on the menu, making it super easy to order.

It was almost a year ago when I mentioned trying the extraordinary new frozen vegan pizza from Amy's at Expo West (which happens to be coming up again in a few weeks, look for full coverage). I waited and waited and waited for it to show up in stores, and it took until about a month ago to get them into local Whole Foods and Mother's Markets. Let me just say it was worth the wait, because Amy's Vegan Margherita Pizza with Daiya Cheeze is the BEST FROZEN VEGAN PIZZA ON THE MARKET.

I've been getting a bunch of great products in the mail lately, so look for TONS more product reviews in the coming weeks. A couple excellent new products I received lately were Nacheez vegan nacho sauce and Sol Cuisine Spicy Black Bean Burgers. I decided to review them both at the same time because I used them both in a dip that would be PERFECT for a Super Bowl snack tomorrow.