Texas VegFest

On Saturday I took Jackson and Olivia to Texas VegFest.

It was held at one of my favorite parks in Austin that offers beautiful views of the water.

There were tons of vendors! This was just one row.

There was also a kids' area with a bouncy house.

Most importantly, there was so much amazing vegan food to sample! We started with salted caramel soft serve cones from Sweet Ritual.  Oh my goodness, was this good.  It was a hot, sunny day and this ice cream was just what we needed to cool off.

Pure happiness, right here.

For lunch, we sat in the shade and listened to a band play while we shared a combo plate of Ethiopian food from Aster's. I love their lentils. Their greens are perfect, too...and the cabbage...you know what, it's all awesome! We also got a couple of potato samosas from Bombay Express that were spicy and perfectly cooked. Olivia kind of squished them, so I didn't get a pic. Still totally edible, though!

Venturing back out into the sun, we needed to cool off again, so we bought a frozen chocolate-covered banana from Bananarchy. I long for them to some day open a trailer in my area of Austin because I would chomp on these all summer if I didn't have to drive across town to get one.  Reminds me of childhood trips to the amusement park.

I wish we could have stayed longer, but the sun was turning Olivia's cheeks pink in spite of her sunscreen. She has her daddy's easily-burned skin so we have to be careful with her. Plus it was close to naptime, so we headed out.  I thought I might be able to catch the cooking demo from Isa Moskowitz, but when my kids are ready to catch some z's, I can't argue with them!

Here are just a few goodies we came home with. I believe we also had pretzel sticks from Mary's Gone Crackers and some Beanitos chips, but my kids ate them in the car. I guess they were good!  I like chocolate-flavored Zico coconut water, but the kids said this mango flavor was too sour. We all loved Lucy's cookies. They are gluten-free as well as vegan. We tried the gingersnap and oatmeal flavors. Light, crispy, and so tasty.

So glad Austin hosted this cool festival. Might have to travel for it next year, but I think it will be worth it!