When last I left off on Seed weekend recapping, Kathy and I had been reunited over a lovely dinner at Pure. On Saturday, I made my way downtown for day one of The Seed, to participate on a panel with my friend JL Fields, Pas Niratbhand, and the lovely Kristen LaJeunesse of Will Travel for Vegan Food. Our topic? Vegan businesses: getting started, using online marketing to find an audience, and staying true to vegan values while also being inclusive and welcoming everyone, everywhere.

I arrived pretty close to start time, but had a few moments for this ridiculous lovefest with the hens and JL. (Photo courtesy of Ethan!)

 Soon, we were up on stage. This panel was somewhat impromptu–Chloe Coscarelli couldn’t make it to the event, and so we three stepped in.

It was a good chat, very similar to last year’s blogging panel (where JL and I were also working together).

 After, I got to check out some of the cool vendors. I was actually pretty beat come late afternoon–a combination of a seven hour bus ride Friday and some pretty intense seasonal allergies–so I made my way home for a quiet night at my mom’s. It was a good call, because Kathy and I presented bright and early on Sunday!

(These photos are courtesy of Kathy and of Ali Seiter, who was graciously snapping a few in the audience for me.) Kathy and I are no strangers to collaboration, but this was our first time doing something live.

Our presentation was on 10 ways to liven up your smoothie routine. A perfect topic, since Kathy’s upcoming book is a collection of 365 vegan smoothies, and she’s the queen of creative, fun smoothie recipes. It was fun to be in the presence of a master!

Kathy gave the audience 10 tips for making smoothies richer, more nutritious, and more creative. They were all really great. My fave? Using cubes! Kathy mentioned that you can create better texture and flavor by freezing juice, almond milk, or soy milk and blending them in place of ice cubes so that you can keep things frosty without watering them down. Such a cool piece of advice, and one I’d never thought of! She also mentioned that frozen watermelon chunks add a wonderful, frothy texture to smoothies (a trick I learned when I saw her making her watermelon frosty at home). She also recommended varying the type of plant milk you use (oat, almond, soy, rice) for different texture and taste.

My little spiel was on making smoothies more filling and nutritious. I went over different protein powder options, different healthy fats you can use, and how to balance a smoothie so that it doesn’t leave you craving food after an hour or so. 

A little plug for 22 Days Nutrition!

Afterwards, we got to take questions and meet some of the awesome folks who had come out on a very rainy morning to see us present. Thanks, wonderful audience! You made our day 🙂

After that, I took another spin through the conference. I was happy to see friends from Candle Cafe:

And One Lucky Duck:

In addition to other vendors with new products I had never tried. Brooklyn Dark deserves a special shout out for their tasty dark chocolate! I picked up a dark chocolate sesame seed bar, which was truly unique. I was also really impressed with skincare from the Orange Owl–handmade, batch by batch, and it smelled so good!

I snuck around the corner to grab a quick coffee with my friend Brendan, who I hadn’t seen in nearly a year. We made our way back to the conference in time for him to present to a packed room, but first made time for a photo op:

After that, I had a few extra minutes of chilling with JL, whose presentation on expanding a blog into a business had been a tremendous hit, and caught the beginning of Dr. Robert Ostfeld’s presentation. Dr. Ostfeld is a cardiologist at Montefiore who has been putting his patients on a whole foods, plant-based diet and seeing tremendous results. He’s a true inspiration, and his presentation was accessible and informative.

I said goodbye to 82 Mercer and headed out into rainy Soho and towards Brooklyn for some catch up time with my friend Sam. And then it was time to head home, because my Mom and I had a Game of Thrones date to keep.

Thanks to 82 Mercer and the Seed for having me, and most of all to Kathy for making the weekend so fun–and inspiring me to take my own smoothies to a new level. I look forward to playing around with them in the coming weeks!

xo