All The Vegan Food

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I hope that you are all well. This is going to be a Stuff I Ate post but figured I should try and change up the title a little bit. These are just a few of the things that I've been eating and enjoying and as I always mention I am trying to be better about photographing everything. Anyway, here is what I've been eating.

Up first I dug into those mini corn dogs. I tried to balance those out with some veggies so I enjoyed my last ginormous carrot (honestly Whole Foods is the best place to get carrots… they are huge and so sweet) with some broccoli. It was a very yummy and filling meal.

One day for dinner I just felt like having toast. One slice has peanut butter and banana and one has some Earth Balance.

I randomly found these BBQ Quinoa Curls at a local bagel store. I saw the V in the lower left corner and decided to pick them up.

Obviously I had to put them on the side of a yummy ass grilled cheese. The curls are great. Super light and crispy with a nice BBQ flavor. I really liked them. I added some carrots because balance, right?

So I come home from an appointment earlier this week and find a package from the lovely Beverlee on my doorstep! I had no idea this was coming and to be honest it came at the perfect time. I've been feeling pretty depressed lately and this surprise truly lifted my spirits.

I was so excited by what I found inside! That mug is so gorgeous! Beverlee knows I am fond of tattoos and mermaids so when she saw this mug she thought of me! I LOVE it and I can't wait to drink countless cups of decaf coffee and tea out of it. She also sent me a huge box of Fresh California Dates! I was so excited about these because I've been loving dates lately and I've always wanted to try the dates from California and Arizona! Now I can check California off my list! Finally, she included a jar of the Trader Joe's Cookie Butter. It's so funny because I go to Trader Joe's all the time and always think about grabbing it but never do. Now I was able to try it.

So if you are anything like me, obviously you see the dates and the cookie butter and your first thought is to dip the dates into the cookie butter. So that is exactly what I did and you guys, it is so freaking decadent and delicious! The dates are sweet and so soft and juicy. The cookie butter has a lovely spiced flavor and is amazing on its own. Together it is kind of magical. I really really suggest trying this combination because it is so amazing. I see a banana, date, cookie butter smoothie happening in my future for sure.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful gift Beverlee!! I love it all so so much!

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You guys. How adorable is this Washi tape?! It made me very excited for cherry/berry/watermelon/stone fruit season! I've been really missing my fresh fruit lately and now that Spring seems to finally be here I can practically taste all of the beautiful fresh summer fruit!

So that's all I have for you today! I'll be back on Tuesday with another post. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 💜

Vegan Market Haul & Taste Tests!

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and that you had a great weekend. Things are ok here.  I decided to visit the Sweet To Lick Market (the all vegan market near me!) on Friday to see what I could find. I went in there for one or two things but of course you can't just walk out of an all vegan market with one or two things. I figured I'd share my haul with you and also let you know what I think about some of the new products I've tried from the haul!

So here is my haul. I went in because I heard that they had a bunch of WayFare products and they did not disappoint! I had a hard time choosing but I walked out with the chocolate pudding (this was a given, it was the reason I went in) and the Creamy French Onion Dip! I am also a big liar because I said I would not repurchase the corn dogs but they are so good and last me a while so I decided to pick up another bag while I had access to them. I also grabbed some Follow Your Heart American style slices for grilled cheese, two of the McDougall's Spring Onion noodle soup cups and these Cassava Strips which a yuca chips. I love yuca and I love chips so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

I couldn't wait to get into my haul so I made myself an amazing grilled cheese on sourdough bread with some of the cassava chips and onion dip on the side. 

As you can see the onion dip is super creamy and it's really good you guys. I was so pleasantly surprised by how authentic it tasted and even smelled! It was great with the cassava chips which are light and super crunchy. It was a great combination and a really filling, satisfying comfort type meal.

There is an Asian restaurant in between the vegan market and vegan bakery and they recently added a vegan menu! I am so excited to give it a try and saw this menu outside while I was heading over to the market. I snapped a picture to have it for my reference since the menu isn't online yet so I figured I'd share it with you. Vegan sesame chicken? Yes please!

The reason I went to the market was to grab some of the Wayfare Chocolate Pudding because I had seen they started carrying it in an Instagram post. I was so glad I wasn't too late and I was able to grab it! It was the think I was most excited to try and you guys, I was not disappointed! Unlike vegan yogurt which tends to be disappointment after disappointment this stuff was absolutely incredible. It is thick and creamy and has a nice chocolate flavor. The only thing is that, to me, it almost has a little bit of a saltiness to it. I don't know if that is just my weird taste buds but it didn't hurt the flavor for me, just something I noticed. I'm so happy that it lived up to expectations and I definitely see some fun summer desserts happening with this stuff!

I went to Target on Sunday and found this blueberry grape kombucha and thought the flavor sounded so interesting! And it was only $2.79! I am pretty sure that is a great price for kombucha. It is a bit tart and has a great berry flavor and I really like it. I would definitely pick this up again, especially for the price!

So that's what I have for today! I thought it would be fun to review some of the products for you and I hope it was helpful! I'll be back on Friday with some stuff I'm eating this week :)

Hope you all have a great week!

Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well and that you had a great week! It looks like it is going to be a nice weekend here in New York and I hope you will all be experiencing the same Spring-like weather (finally). Today I am going to show some really great meals I ate this week! I've been trying to be more diligent about eating more fresh foods and also about taking pictures of my meals for you to see. I think I've been doing a better job with both this week!

Anyway, let's check out the eats!

This deliciousness is a big ass bowl of zoodles cooked with sauce, broccoli and some beef less crumbles. I topped with a little bit of shredded vegan cheese and it was so freaking delicious.

I had some of the zoodles left over so I had them for lunch the following day with a salad. Really delicious, filling meal!

This was such a delicious dinner. I had the last of my mini corn dogs with two of my potato cakes and a ginormous carrot. It was really satisfying!

I've been snacking on Larabars a bit this week as well. They were on sale for $1 each so I grabbed a few. I love that they have so few ingredients and their flavor selection is amazing. I highly recommend the mint chip brownie if you have a chocolate craving! It's so good! It would be amazing crumbled into some nice cream as well!

This was clearly not a meal made of fresh foods but I needed a quick lunch to bring to work and I love this tofu scramble every once in a while. I paired it with an apple which I've been loving so much lately. I pretty much eat an apple a day so we'll see if it keeps the Dr. away in the future 😉

This is a pretty good representation of the meals I've been eating this week. I had a lot of repeats so I didn't feel the need to photograph those meals. I hope that you all had a great week and that you have an awesome weekend! I'll see you on Tuesday!

Grocery Haul & A Hint Of Spring

Hey you guys! I hope that you are all doing well! Everything is status quo here :) I've been focusing a lot on self care and getting my shit together as well as making some pretty awesome meals for myself (which I will share on Friday). We had a little hint of spring last weekend with temperatures in the 60s and 70s on Friday and Saturday. I couldn't be happier. Well I would be happier if I wasn't stuck inside at work all day but otherwise I was pretty stoked. I made sure to spend a little time to soak in the warmer temperatures after work by just going for a drive and enjoying some of my favorite spots on Long Island. Unfortunately I didn't make it where I wanted to go on Sunday (it was cold and gross and I just didn't want to go out) but I'm hoping to get there this weekend!

I did get to Trader Joe's this weekend to pick up a few things for the week. I'll show you the haul along with a few other random things that I have to share!

For produce I grabbed some butter lettuce, medjool dates, honey crisp apples, strawberries, zucchini noodles, basil, some tomatoes and these adorable cucumber bites!

For groceries I grabbed 2 bags of shredded hash browns, pico de gallo and this awesome cereal because I've decided that cereal is my new thing 😂

After seeing Bianca's goddess provisions unboxing post that included this turmeric latte mix I immediately went to see how I can get my hands on it. On the Copper Cup website they offer samples (two packets) for $1.99. I immediately ordered it and they finally arrived (just as a head's up, they do not offer tracking on samples and they take FOREVER to get to you) and I'm so excited to try it!

I used one bag of hash browns to make these vegan potato cakes to have as quick meals during the week with veggies/salads. These have no binder and were baked on parchment with no oil. Imagine my surprise when they actually stuck together as a potato pancake despite the lack of binder and oil! This is just shredded potato and spices! I'm excited to dig into these!

When I went out on Saturday to try and enjoy the warm weather I decided to go grab a bubble tea. It's been a few weeks since I've had one and it was just as delicious as always. I am so glad that spring is coming so I can go back to my weekly bubble tea tradition.

So that's what I have for you today! I hope you are all having a good start to your week and that it goes quickly for you! I will see you on Friday with some yummy meals I've been eating!

What I Ate In A Day

Hey everyone! I hope you are all well and that you had a great week! Things have been better this week thankfully so I feel like it's all turning around a bit. I have something fun and totally nerdy planned for Sunday so I'll be able to tell you all about it next week as long as it doesn't fall through!

For today's post I have a what I ate in a day post. It was kind of a meh day of eating. My digestion is still off so what has been working for me lately is a filling lunch and dinner and snacky type stuff during the day while I work to fix my digestion. That is what you'll see in this day of eating and I know it probably wasn't enough calorie-wise (although breakfast was pretty calorie dense and so was that Larabar) but it was close enough without me feeling sick.

So anyway, here is what I ate in a day:

For breakfast I had two pieces of Dave's Killer Bread toasted with peanut butter and banana. It was so good, I've been craving it for so long!

During the day I snacked on a huge apple, a huge carrot and a Lemon Larabar. All of it was delicious.

For dinner I had a pretty hefty burrito bowl. It has rice and corn and lettuce and tomato and some avocado. I didn't have any salsa but it definitely would have made it even tastier. It was really delicious though!

So that's all I ate that day. I also had an unpictured decaf coffee which was a delicious treat. I still love the taste of coffee but don't want to get back on the caffeine so I have a decaf every once in a while (I know it still has some caffeine in it which is why I drink it occasionally).

I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll see you next week!

Small Haul and Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope you are all well and had a good weekend! It was a tough week for me (sorry for no post on Friday 😞😳) but I'm back and feeling ok. I have a very small haul for you today along with a few meals I ate. I have decided to try and save some money and eat the staples in my pantry and freezer and just supplement with a few things. Meals will probably be a bit repetitive this week but I'm ok with it. It helps establish a routine I think and it takes the effort of figuring out what the hell I want for dinner out of the equation for me. Anyway, here's what I got and what I've eaten!

Here is my tiny haul! I grabbed some romaine for salads and burrito bowls, grape tomatoes, an avocado, frozen broccoli, Health-Ade Pink Lady Apple kombucha (I've heard amazing things about this flavor!), a few Larabars and of course some stuffed grape leaves.

This looks really sad but it was really good. These were leftovers from our Passover dinner (I took the picture a while ago) and it was my favorite potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts and some asparagus.

This plate of randomness is some mini corn dogs, carrots and some frozen broccoli.

This treat meal was so freaking good. It is a PUMPERNICKEL FREAKING ONION bagel with a ton of tofu spread from the bagel store. Naturally I took off about 2/3 of the cream cheese and saved it for later meals because that is a ridiculous amount on there.

Finally, I decided to resurrect my favorite meal which is the mediterranean platter. I had some carrots, grape tomatoes, stuffed grape leaves and a half of a flatbread with some garlic hummus. It was delicious, as always.

So that is what I have for you! Hopefully Friday I'll have some more fun meals to share with you! Things have been crazy here lately but I'm getting back on track. I hope you are all doing well! 💜

March Favorites

Hey everyone! I hope that all is well! I decided that I really love reading monthly wrap up/favorites posts like the ones that Jennifer writes on One Raw Bite so I thought it would be fun to write a post with some of the things that I have been loving over the past month. This is by no means a comprehensive list but hopefully by next month I can fine tune it and organize it a little better. For now, here are some things I've been loving over the past month!

Podcasts

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If you are into True Crime podcasts True Crime Garage is a really great podcast to get into. The hosts do a really great job of telling a story without being unnecessarily gory or disrespectful to victims. I am really into true crime but have to be careful about what content I consume because I am so affected by it but this podcast is a really great way to indulge that interest without triggering me. Another True Crime podcast that I have mentioned here before is The Generation Why which remains my favorite but I'm all caught up on those so I've been binge listening to True Crime Garage lately.

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Another podcast that I've been listening to is called the Goal Digger Podcast with Jenna Kutcher. I haven't mentioned it here but I'm working on starting up my own business and this podcast has been incredibly helpful and inspiring to me as I am working on my product and setting up my brand, finding my voice as a business and business owner and working out what I want my social media presence to be. Even if you are not an entrepreneur I think you'll find a lot of the episodes really interesting and motivating. Oh, and I'll give you more info about my business as I get closer to opening ;) 

Netflix

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So I don't know if any of you were into the Gilmore Girls when it was on but that was my show. I loved it and wouldn't miss and episode. I'll get this out of the way, the Revival was horrible and I hated it and I was just so disappointed with where the story went. I decided to take up the lofty task of rewatching the entire series on Netflix (because I have no life haha) and I've gotten through almost two seasons and watching it now it's become how glaringly obvious to me that Lorelai and Rory have kind of always been assholes. I'm still watching though. Coincidentally my favorite characters were always Paris, Emily, Jess and Luke and it was probably because they owned their assholeness/crankiness (Luke was more cranky than an asshole). Have you guys watched this show? Did you find Lorelai and Rory to be completely entitled, spoiled and self absorbed even though they claim to be anything but that? It's kind of disappointing but I still love the show and will continue to see this through to the end (these are long ass 22 episode seasons and there are 7 of them).

Vegan Food Finds

My first favorite vegan food find was the Follow Your Heart Provolone Slices that played a major role in making the best grilled cheese ever! I found that it melted even better than Chao and I really loved the flavor of it. If you are feeling a little splurge-y and want to try some awesome vegan cheese to make the best vegan grilled cheese ever, try the Follow Your Heart slices. They have tons a flavors, even an American style (which I've tried before and it's also good).

I also found the Spring Onion flavor of the Dr. McDougall's soups and it was by far my favorite packaged soup I've ever tried. It is perfect for a grab and go meal and the flavor is awesome. My plan is to actually try to recreate this at home since this flavor is harder for me to find. If I can get it to work I'll definitely post the recipe here for you!

Self Care

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As I've mentioned my anxiety and panic definitely got the best of me last month so I purchased this Natural Calm drink to try and calm my nerves at night before bed. I really really like it and will definitely continue to drink it. I don't drink it every day but I'll usually drink it a few days per week. I highly recommend it if you have trouble sleeping or have muscle tension. It definitely helps calm the nerves in a very natural way.

I also did something for myself and chopped off my hair this month! It was a big change for me but I'm still so happy with it. It's also forcing me to not be so lazy about doing my hair and learning how to style it more which has been… interesting and marginally successful 😂 I've also been able to embrace the gray more and more as time goes on because there is nothing I can do about it so I may as well embrace it.

Goals For April

I thought it would be fun to include a section on some goals that I am going to set for April. My first goal is to make progress with starting up the business. I've done a lot so far but there is still a long way to go and not all that much time before my goal opening date. Therefore I need to take some pretty big steps and keep the train moving. I'm so excited about it and I can't wait to share it with you!

My second goal for April is to really focus on getting a handle on my anxiety and to let go. It is so hard for me to deal with it every single day and it has affected my life so drastically and I just can't let it do that anymore. My journey with mental illness has been long and incredibly difficult but I really need to utilize the tools that my therapist has given me and get it under control. I'm really tired of allowing anxiety to dictate my life and how I feel. So I really need to be conscious about taking the steps to try to minimize its effect on me as much as I can.

Another goal is to get back into the kitchen and cook more! It would be fun to try a bunch of new recipes and I can choose my favorite for this post as well. I just need for variety and I definitely feel like I need to get in a lot more fresh fruits and veggies so I'm looking forward to getting into more of those. Hopefully the snow will go away soon (can you believe it snowed here one APRIL FREAKING 2ND?!) and I will be more inclined to eat cold food again. I miss smoothies but I can't bring myself to drink them when it's so cold.

What were some of your favorite things this month? And do you have any goals to tackle for April? Let me know!

Hope you have a great week and I'll see you on Friday!