My meals in Maui (eating out + homemade)

I've been home for a month (WOW!!) and wanted to write a post about the food I made and didn't make while I was in Maui. I figured people would want to know what I cook for myself while traveling AND what restaurants I found that catered to my eating habits ;) I'm writing this post to show you how simple it can be to eat healthy foods even when you aren't anywhere near your own kitchen!

Whether you have food allergies, any sort of chronic illness that requires a strict lifestyle or you just want to eat healthy because you know it's good for you, you CAN stay on track when you travel. For me, eating a plant-based diet is an absolute no-brainer because I have energy, my immune system is stronger and I don't get nasty migraines, fatigue or bloating after I eat! I don't ever want to stray from eating this way because I feel so much better in my body when I eat fruits and veggies :) and might I add: being allergic to gluten, dairy, soy and corn definitely helped when I was starting to eat healthier, but now, I wouldn't even think of "indulging" because I know how destructive it is for my body and my mental and emotional well-being. What I'm trying to say is IT'S JUST NOT WORTH IT to eat a pizza slice or have a bowl of ice cream when I know that I'll end up feeling AWFUL and be bed-ridden for days!

Enough of my rant :P let's get to the food!!

OH MAN!!! The Triple Seaweed Salad at Maka in Paia–this picture is making my mouth water just thinking about how good it was! And the chef takes such pride in every plate! Everything is vegan, gluten free and mostly raw with some cooked foods available. They have smoothies, juices, salads, sandwiches, wraps, acai bowls, pitaya bowls, even bruschetta and...WAFFLE BREAD!! I didn't try it, but heard how amazing it is! It's truly a wonderful spot :)

I ate LOTS AND LOTS of fresh fruit because...MAUI, hello!?! AND WOW! The mango, pineapple, papaya, even the strawberries, all AMAZING!! Fruit is one of the easiest choices when traveling because every store has fruit! And I stick to buying organic as often as possible, but sometimes organic isn't available, so I make sure to buy fruits where I don't eat the skin (pineapple, mango, bananas, papaya) if they aren't organic. It's interesting though...I had a reaction to the non-organic pineapple and mangoes that I bought, so after that, I bought only organic.

Here's one of my epic salad dinners! Not pictured: three baked Yukon Gold potatoes ;)

If I remember correctly, this salad was romaine and read leaf lettuce, parsley, celery, dulse (torn into bits), avocado, hummus and a squeeze of lemon for dressing.

PAPAYA BOATS!!! I don't usually eat papaya here in CA, so I made sure to eat at much papaya as possible while I was in Maui! I was so thankful to have access to fresh, ripe and incredibly sweet papayas because I was having terrible luck finding good papayas before I left.

This papaya boat is filled with apple banana slices, organic blueberries, dried mulberries and sprinkled with barley grass juice extract powder.

When I was in Makawao, I found this cute smoothie place called Sip Me and I cannot tell you how excited I was to have a smoothie again!! I didn't think being away from my Vitamix would've been that hard (it had been about a week at this point), but now that I'm home, I'm extremely grateful for my morning smoothies every day ;) I also got coconut water, which they had in a glass mason jar! I ended up using that jar for the rest of my trip #winning

I made this Avocado Pesto Pasta from Oh She Glows and used a package of brown rice pasta I found at the local health foods store (I omitted the olive oil in the sauce) I topped it with chopped fresh basil, dulse flakes and carrot sticks to dip in the extra sauce! YUM!!

Another fruit bowl!! Mango, grapes, blueberries and strawberries...and I'm pretty sure there's sliced apple bananas under there somewhere! I think this was breakfast, but I made this for lunch a lot of the time too ;) easy peasy

My very own Pasta Primavera recipe! (you can get it in my ebook) I served this over quinoa instead of with pasta and it really hit the spot.

Epic salad: red leaf lettuce (did you know that lettuce with red tips have more nutrients in them?! Cool huh?), bell peppers, cucumber and red grapes.

Papaya boats AND a fruit plate! There's no better fuel for my body ;)

Epic salad: red leaf lettuce, avocado, celery, dulse and papaya! With lemon to squeeze on top

My mom said this looked like a wreath...I guess it kind of does, but it tastes much better! Apple bananas, mango, red grapes, blueberries and strawberries

And.....

this was my second and last meal (for now) at Maka! I got this pitaya bowl, topped with strawberries, papaya, shredded coconut, apple bananas and their homemade raw gluten-free granola that was DELICIOUS!! **these two pictures are not mine. They are from Maka's website**

As I was contemplating getting more food, our server asked us if we wanted a free slice of their raw cheesecake. FREE SLICE?! Sign me up! And yes, it was nothing short of lip-smackingly delicious!

That's all folks!

I have a lot more pictures of the food I had while I was in Maui, but most of them are of more fruit plates and bowls ;) what can I say, I love me some fruit!! I hope this gives you some inspiration for your own travels, wherever they may take you, and if they take you to Maui, definitely check out Maka and Sip Me! What are some tips that help you eat healthy while traveling? I'd love to hear them!