Catching Up

Why hello there, friends 💚 It's been a while again, I know. Life throws curveballs I suppose and sometimes you just have to take the time to focus on yourself. In the time I was away, the one year anniversary of Doug's passing came and went and I just needed to focus on getting through that. Between that, the pandemic and the increasing social and political unrest was just super overwhelming and I decided that taking the extra stuff off my plate so to speak would be best. Work has been busy and stressful and starting tomorrow I will be back in the office rather than working from home. As you can imagine this is incredibly anxiety inducing. I have seen photos and heard about updated in office protocols and safety measures and it looks like they've taken the steps to keep us safe but it is super anxiety inducing to know I'm going to be exposed to more people all day every day.

All of that was a very long winded way of saying that life got in the way and I needed a break. After looking through all of my photos I decided that I wanted to come back and post. I have no idea how often I will post (once a week is realistic I think) but I have missed posting here and chatting with my friends.

I haven't taken a ton of pictures over the past few months but here is a small example of some of the stuff I've been eating.

This photo was the one that I had teased in my last post back in April. It has obviously been a while since I bought this beauty but I had to share it with you. That Pizza Place opened up back in April after a hiatus due to Covid and I knew that I would not risk going out there often at all so I just ordered a full pizza. I got half mac and cheese and half white pizza with broccoli. OMG it was all amazing you guys. The mac and cheese pizza was delicious but not something I'd order that much of again because pasta on pizza is just a lot. I froze it and reheated it as I wanted it. It reheated beautifully in the oven (I like my pizza crispy, not floppy) and lasted quite a while.

My friend had started a little venture where she prepared vegan meals for clients to just pop in the oven when they wanted to eat it and she is an amazing cook and I wanted to support her so I ordered this beauty. She makes AMAZING baked ziti and I had to have it. I ordered a half tray and she packs in the flavor. Her version has tofu ricotta, onions, spinach, mushrooms, vegan sausage and violife mozzarella. I popped it in the oven and baked it fresh and it was DELICIOUS!

I have been enjoying salads because it's been damn hot and this is just one example of one. I had some baby kale (I think it was baby kale? some sort of baby greens), chickpeas, and Violife feta with red wine vinegar and black pepper. So fresh and delicious.

It's been warm but I'm a soup in all seasons type of girl and what is more comforting than vegan chick'n noodle soup?

I also love making my vegan "egg drop" soup with Korean rice cakes for a quick, comforting meal.

I made this super cute pizza bagel and I'm obsessed with the little heart on the right half. That was a total accident and as soon as I saw it my mood brightened. I know a lot of people don't believe things like this but I think Doug lets me know he's around in subtle ways and I think that was him saying hi.

A few weeks after I had that amazing baked ziti I decided to make my own pasta bake with just some sauce, vegan crumbles and Violife mozzarella. As you know I typically don't eat pasta often but I really enjoyed that meal and it was a really quick, easy lunch for me to have during my work day or an easy dinner when I just didn't have the energy. I haven't had pasta since, ha! I may have some this week though,

There was a little bit of overflow from the pan above so I filled a little ramekin with some and ate it fresh from the over. Who else loves those crispy bits of pasta that get brown from the broiler or the crispy edge along the pan? Those are my fav.

This was a sad meal haha. It was the bottom of a bag of salad (the kind with the mixed cabbage and carrots) with some vegan ranch, croutons and a few stuffed grape leaves.

And here I am trying to live my best summer life. I don't really go out at all and in this photo I had just picked up an order from Sweet to Lick. I think I took it as proof that I left my house 😂

And there is my catch up. I've been enjoying summer fruit as well but have not photographed it. I'm going to do my best to photograph stuff this week and post something next week but it's my first week back in the office (I've been working from home this whole time) so it'll be an adjustment but I'll try. 

I hope that you are all doing well and staying safe and healthy. I've missed you all so much and look forward to catching up with all of your blogs as well 💚