D.I.Y. Cupcake Does Tucson! {or; a post about the best restaurants in Tucson}

For my birthday weekend, we headed to Tucson.  Husband and I went to school there and every once and a while we like to head down there to enjoy the dessert, and eat at our favorite college restaurants.  So with that said, here's a post about our trip but mostly about the Best {mostly vegetarian} Restaurants in Tucson...

When we first arrived at our hotel, Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, we got comfortable and unpacked.  Sonja loves hotels so we let her explore the new space before venturing out.

Our little patio view.

This bath tub fit the whole family with room!

Sparkling *slightly* fermented cherry juice. 

Sunsets at the Resort

Sonja loved this little pond leading to the HUGE waterfall in the front of the Resort.

Full of Fishies!

Eventually, we did get hungry and headed to El Charro Cafe, we'd never been there before but heard good things and it was close to the hotel.

There was a bit of a wait, but they offered chips and salsa and a kids drink while we waited on their patio.

Our meals were good, and we'd eat there again for sure, I just forgot to take a photo of my enchilada because I was so hungry!

Saturday morning, we took another look at the fish and then went out for breakfast.

We seem to always plan our trips on the Tour de Tucson weekend!

After waiting in a slight bit of traffic, we finally arrived at Frogs Organic Bakery 

These Macarrons are my favorite!  We actually found Frogs at our local farmer's market. They drive up every Saturday morning from Tucson, and this weekend we finally got a chance to check out their brick and mortar bakery!

Adorable patio area in the Casa Adobes shopping center 

Huge omelettes and delicious potatoes!

After breakfast, we headed to my favorite Tucson Coffee Shoppe and towards the University.

On our way, we passed Husband's first apartments.

Here's the snack case at Epic Cafe 

They have the best Vanilla latte in town. 

We got my drink and I enjoyed a few of those macarrons we bought earlier in the morning. 

Salted Caramel. 

Husband spent a lot of time in this building.

It's the sciences building and you can see from the little figures on the entryway all sorts of interesting scientific developments over the course of history.  Kind of cutesy for a seriously stressful academic building... but whatever.  Maybe the architect thought it would keep kids from having panic attacks during finals week.  {just between us, I don't think it helped}

As much as we both hated rigid college schedules and sometimes pointless classes, we both loved the University of Arizona's Campus, it's so green and lush, you almost forget you're in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.

Once Sonja was done running around, we started getting hungry and decided on a lunch favorite of ours...

Egg drop soup and sweet & sour "chicken"

Guilin Chinese Restaurant  has the best mock meat for Vegans and Vegetarians, plus their lunch special is amazing {only $5.95}!  It comes with everything you see above including that soup.  Perfect for a college budget!

After UofA and lunch, we headed to Husband's previous employers to pick up fresh batteries for my watches.

and while we were there, they steamed and polished all our rings {my sister-in-law and brother-I-
L also met up with us while we were there, mine is the pink stone and their hands are the other two}. 

After the mall and a little nap I picked Lovin' Spoonfuls for dinner.  This salad is amazing! but everything else on their {entirely vegan} menu is also great.  I wish I would have snapped a few more photos of everyone else's meals but we were all too busy eating.  They also have "burgers" and "milk" shakes and other diverse items.  If you're vegetarian and in the Tucson area I highly recommend this place. 

And we couldn't do an entire food post and not include our favorite local gelateria; Frost. 

I ordered a limoncello gelato and Hubs got their {no one else can make it this good} stracciatella and mint chip.

Sunday morning was check out time and instead of driving around town to find a great breakfast, we opted for room service {I had $40 in food & beverage credit thanks to living social} 

All this for a little over $40 including tax and gratuity. 

Eggs Benedict, ham on the side. 

KIDS banana pancakes 

waffle with fruit syrup.

I probably should have ordered something else, considering my sugar intake for the weekend, but I splurged and enjoyed every last bite.

Also, I'm a sucker for minis! aren't these adorable?!

After checking out of our hotel, we drove over to Le Caves, a local donut shoppe that has Vegan donuts.  I'm not sure if they're all vegan {I think the ones with cream are real cream}.  Their "secret" is the vegetable oil used for cooking.  It makes everything super fluffy!

Sonja wanted the chocolate one.

We took them to go, and ate them that night at home, even I can't have ALL that sugar!

And our last food stop of the trip; Time Market.  We wanted a quick snack and a place to hang out at until we made the two hour drive home.  And this is another favorite coffee venue of mine.  But they also serve amazing lunch and pizza.  So, it's perfect for hungry college students {and within walking distance of the University}.

We ordered Sonja the Hummus plate and she ate EVERYTHING except the dolmas. 

I got this amazing goat cheese and beet sandwich   I wish I remembered the name, but regardless, whoever thought of goat cheese and beets combo deserves a high five.  It was foodgasmic!

And that was our trip to Tucson or rather our meals of Tucson.  

Hope this helps you find the perfect meal while visiting Tucson, and let me know if you need suggestions for something else to do there!  I promise there is plenty more to the city than just food.

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