Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying safe and healthy. I'm trying to get used to the new normal and have some struggles of course but I think I'm holding up ok. I've been trying to psych myself up to go to Aldi but haven't gotten there quite yet. I'm going to try really hard to get there on Thursday but I guess we'll see. This week I tried to photograph as much as I could and have a few pictures to show you of stuff I ate. This week is Passover but I haven't really been following it because let's be real, we are in the middle of a plague so I think all will be forgiven if I can't get my kosher for Passover food.

So here is some stuff I've been eating!

First up I have a little flatbread pizza and some steamed broccoli which I desperately needed.

I made this udon noodle stir fry and it was so delicious! It was udon noodles with zucchini and broccoli and onions and I added some tamari, agave and some garlic.

I found this really cool product and was lucky enough to get my hands on it! I still haven't tried the Just Egg in the bottle because the price was just crazy to me but I decided I couldn't pass these folded "eggs" up. You know I love my breakfast sandwiches so I thought it would be a fun time to try something new!

Another amazing breakfast sandwich, this time with the Just Egg and Beyond sausage patties. The sausage patties were super delicious and I can't decide if I like the Beyond Sausage or the Field Roast better. I would definitely buy them both again. The Just Egg folded things were good and definitely mimicked having eggs in the sandwich but they were kind of bland. I don't know how often I would buy them but it is definitely good and I'm glad I tried it. I definitely still want to try the liquid version. I think Aldi carries it at a much better price so I'm hoping to get my hands on it at some point.

This was a random udon noodle soup with some corn and broccoli and Better than Bouillon No Chick'n Broth. It was very delicious and came together quickly

This last treat was something I found on Pinterest for 3 ingredient cookies! I used this recipe and it was so simple and came together so quickly and they were delicious! The three ingredients are almond flour, banana and baking powder. I wanted to add even more flavor so I included some chocolate chunks, some vanilla extract and a little maple syrup. They were seriously delicious and I will probably experiment with oat flour and different add ins as well.

They aren't the most beautiful but they were tasty and seriously so easy. I highly recommend them.

I've moved my home office out of my brother's house and into my own home because I just didn't feel comfortable leaving my house and being around other people anymore. I did snap one last photo of my lazy coworker sleeping on the job yet again. He is too adorable and I definitely think that is why he gets away with it 😉

I hope that you are all holding up ok and staying healthy 💚

Trader Joe's Haul and Some Meal Prep

Hey everyone. I hope you are well. Today's post is going to be quick. Things aren't great here. I have a family member in the hospital with a serious condition since Saturday so I've been pretty preoccupied and busy. I have a Trader Joe's haul and some meal prep to share but that's about it. I'm sorry I won't have time to catch up on your posts, I just need to focus on this family member when I'm not at work. I'm incredibly stressed out so I'm just going to do the best I can.

For produce I got some bananas, pears, nectarines, a tomato, and avocado, strawberries, butter lettuce, shredded cabbage, the Sesame Crunch chopped salad kit, and broccoli slaw.

For random stuff I got some tots, the chick'n tenders, soy creamer and almond milk.

For randomness I got some sourdough bread, veggie chips, inner peas, sunbutter cups and an espresso chocolate baton. I can't wait to try that.

For meal prep I made The Healthy Maven's Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal. The only changes I made was swapping out the walnuts for sliced almonds because that is what I had and adding chocolate chips.

I can assure you it tastes as good as it looks.

Trader Joe's had these adorable succulent skulls for $10. I didn't get one but I really wish I had. Oh well.

So that's all I have for you today. I'm probably not going to have a post on Friday because I just don't have the space in my head for it right now. I'll be back as soon as I can and hopefully all will be well. It seems like she is improving but they need to keep her there.

Anyway, thanks for stopping in and I'll be back as soon as I can. 💚

Vegan MoFo 2019: Vegan MoFo Wrap Up

Hi my friends! I hope that you are all doing well! I can't believe I made it through Vegan MoFo without missing a single intended post. And honestly, I'm really proud of the posts I did put out there. I did my best to remain creative and keep the content as fresh as possible. My biggest goals were to use this month to revitalize my blog, gain new inspiration and more creativity in the kitchen and to keep up with the schedule. I feel like I've achieved all of these goals and I couldn't be more thrilled. I'm exhausted but really proud of what I accomplished. I just want to thank all of you that stuck with me for the entire month and I truly hope that you enjoyed the content I put out and that you were inspired as well 💚

I figured I would go with the prompt from the MoFo site and just do a general conclusion/wrap up post. I thought it would be fun to share some of the things that I enjoyed most from my MoFo journey. 

First and foremost, I LOVED following all of your amazing blogs!! I loved following Susan's super creative ABC theme, Julie's "Elementary, My Dear Vegan" theme, Food For Dissertating's AMAZING vegan Bento ideas, Jennifer's CSA adventures and all of the other amazing, creative vegans out there! I have gotten so many amazing ideas from them and I can't wait to start trying them out in my own kitchen so thanks for the inspiration everyone!!

As for highlights from my own blog (is that obnoxious? Probably but oh well?) I would have to say that sharing some of the amazing vegan options Long Island has to offer has been really fun for me! I've only barely scratched the surface but it has been great getting out and exploring some of the places that I've been wanting to try!

The sesame chick'n has definitely been a highlight for me and I'm glad I got to share Little Fu's with you!

Finally getting to That Pizza Place was definitely a highlight! I'm so glad I went and tried all of this amazing food and that I was able to share the glory of garlic knot crust with you! 😂

The most special post to me was where I talked about Zen Garden, the amazing restaurant where I shared a meal with Doug before he tragically passed. This restaurant is not only DELICIOUS but it holds a very special place in my heart and being able to share my experience there with you was truly THE highlight for me. I'm glad I was able to introduce you to Doug a little more through that post because he was truly a special person.

Of course the Rocky Road bar from Sweet to Lick was another amazing highlight!

In addition to trying these amazing restaurants (which I will absolutely continue in the future) I also finally tapped into my Pinterest pins and tried out a few of the recipes.

The Ambitious Kitchen's chickpea blondies and this incredible sundae were definitely a must try from me! So so delicious with less guilt for the actual blondie (I mean there is ice cream sooooooo yeah).

FINALLY trying the Viet Vegan's Tteokbokki recipe was another highlight. I have made it again and will continue to enjoy it because it's freaking awesome! Another recipe I would highly recommend trying!

Finally, I really enjoyed taste testing lots of fun products that have been new to me. 

The "thin mint" type of cookie from Aldi was a really great treat! I love thin mints and wouldn't mind having a package of these in the freezer at all times 😂

The Mahalo bar was SO AMAZING! It was also a nice gesture from a new friend that I shared the amazing concert experience with in the beginning of August. I've had a lot of really beautiful moments with new friends this month and it is another reason why this has all been so special.

WHITE CHEDDAR POPCORN IS BACK IN MY LIFE! I was so excited to learn that this was vegan and even more excited when I tried it and it was delicious! Now I just need to get all of the bags the next time I see them 😂

So there you have it, some of the highlights of MoFo for me. If I had to put it into a nutshell, I'd say the thing I enjoyed most about my own journey has been getting out and experiencing more of the vegan scene around me. This blog has been called Long Island Vegan for a long time but I haven't really been showing you what Long Island has to offer. Until now. I'm really excited to spend more of my time on this blog sharing all of the amazing things Long Island and the surrounding areas have to offer. I am also excited to tackle my Pinterest list and share everything with you. And you know I'll continue sharing my meals and hauls with you. It feels so good to be re-invigorated.

So, for now, I will be taking the weekend off and then going back to my twice per week schedule as I adjust to my new job, new schedule and new routine. Once I have it all well managed I will probably try to add on at least one more post per week. I will definitely let you know when the time comes 😃 What have been some of your MoFo highlights? What did you see here that you'd love to see more of in the future? Is there anything you'd like to see less of or not at all. Let me know, I am so curious to know what you think and what you are enjoying!

I hope you all have an amazing weekend and I'll be back here next week 💚 Thank you all so much for taking the time out to come here and read my ramblings. It truly means so much to me!

Vegan MoFo 2019: Stuff My Friend Ate!

Hi friends! I can't believe we are almost there! The first two weeks were quite easy for me. I had a ton of ideas and a lot of energy to get it all done and to get these posts out! This week has been a little more difficult because I'm running through my ideas and also because I've had something going on behind the scenes that I'm ready to share with you. I have been looking for a new job for a while now. Financially, I really needed to move on and I had just outgrown this position. I've been here for 11 years and have been stagnant for most of them. It was time.

So, last week I was offered a position for a new job and I happily accepted! I was waiting to announce it until it was 100% locked in and here we are! I start on September 3 and I'm so thrilled. It will be a significant improvement for me financially and it will be more challenging and busy. I'm really looking forward to it and I'm so excited to share this news with you. It was time for something great to happen and it did. 

So that is a little of the background of this past week. I've been really busy between the interview and clearances and things like that so my ability to get posts out has been more difficult. Luckily, I have an amazing friend that eats amazing vegan food and I thought it would be fun to share her meals with you! She enthusiastically agreed to let me share her pics and meals. I love this idea too because a lot of it is stuff you wouldn't otherwise see here because of my own taste preferences. Her name is Karen and if you agree with me that her food looks freaking incredible you can follow her on IG @vegan_atheist71.

This is penne a la vodka with Victoria Vegan vodka sauce, Violife Mozzarella, Go Veggie Parmesan, MorningStar Popcorn chick'n (which I recently found and purchased and can't wait to try!), and a leftover garlic knot from a dinner she had previously (which you'll see soon). As you know I am not a pasta person but this has me DROOLING. Holy crap!

This beautiful creation is Eat Nice Creamy Ricotta Ravioli, Gardein Meatless Meatballs, and Go Veggie Parmesan. Also a delicious looking pasta dish!

This beautiful plate is the No Evil Chick'n Fajitas with guac, corn salsa, Tofutti Sour Cream and rice and beans. 

You know I'm not into bell peppers so I'd probably never try this product but she loved it and it looks awesome!

This was a gorgeous Buffalo Tofu Pesto Pizza from a restaurant called Pazzo Ristorante in Wading River, NY. I certainly hope to join her and our other friends there someday because their vegan menu looks incredible!! Her garlic knot from the penne a la vodka meal was leftover from this restaurant.

I also told her I'd be at her house for brunch after seeing this plate! How amazing does this look?! That is a beautiful tofu scramble with toast, vegan sausage and a perfect avocado!

This came from a small cafe in NYC (I don't know the name, sorry!) and it is a quinoa with veggies dish that looks awesome.

Look at her sweet pup!! I can't with this picture. This is Maywah ginger chick'n with rice. I love that face so much.

Finally, her lovely daughter made her this sweet breakfast in bed for Mother's Day! It's so cute and it made her so happy 😀💚

So, I hope that you enjoyed seeing stuff my friend Karen ate! I thought it was a fun change of pace to share her meals because they are different from things I normally share here. She makes amazing food and I wanted to show it off! I'll be back tomorrow with ANOTHER LONG ISLAND RESTAURANT WITH VEGAN OPTIONS! Who am I?! 😂💚

Vegan MoFo 2019: Trying Ambitious Kitchen's Chickpea Blondies!

Hi friends! I hope that you are all doing well today! For today's post I'm trying another blogger's recipe again. This time it is Ambitious Kitchen's Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies! I've been wanting to try Chickpea Blondies for a while and figured now was the time (when it's hot AF and the oven shouldn't be on but oh well). 

This recipe came together so quickly and so easily! There was only a few ingredients that most vegans would have on hand already (chickpeas, maple syrup, peanut butter, etc.) and you just toss them into a food processor and make your dough! It seriously couldn't be simpler than that!

I think the finished product looks amazing! It tastes really great too. It's a really great treat when you want a baked dessert with less guilt. It has a really nice texture too! It stays together pretty well, maybe a little more crumbly than a traditional blondie but totally worth it!

I swear, the things I do for this blog 😂😂😂 Totally kidding, obviously but can we talk about this chickpea blondie sundae?! I warmed up a blondie for about 25 seconds and then topped with a scoop of the Haagen-Dazs ice cream that I got. Of course I had to top with sprinkles because sprinkles. It was delicious!

Of course I had to do a glamour shot of my beautiful Vegan Bowl with that delicious scoop of ice cream sticking out of the top 😂 So good you guys!

So, moral of the story is I highly recommend this recipe if you'd like to try chickpea blondes. There are only a few ingredients that are pantry staples, they only require a food processor, they come together quickly and they taste amazing. I'm so glad I finally tried this recipe! 💚

Vegan MoFo 2019: Even More Stuff I Ate!

Hello again my friends! I hope you are all well today! As you can tell by the title of this post, today we are doing the wrap up of stuff I ate this week.

I had another chick'n parmesan sandwich (in my pre vegan days I used to eat the chicken parmesan sandwich from Burger King that would be offered every once in a while and I loved it - gross I know… this has been my ridiculously lazy effort to recreate it so many years later) and tried to balance that (I mean honestly, so ridiculous ha!) with some amazing, crispy grapes and some baby carrots.

I made another batch of The Viet Vegan's Tteokbokki and it was amazing, of course! I added some soft tofu to it this time and a half of a bag of rice cakes made three meals for me. I never realized how filling these rice cakes are!!

Of course I have my obligatory weekly pumpernickel bagel with tofu spread 😍

I didn't eat all of this watermelon in one sitting but oh man did I enjoy it every time! It was a perfectly sweet and juicy watermelon!

Sometimes ladies have chocolate cravings and I just happened to have one over the past few days 😂This Haagen-Dazs ice cream was on sale for less than $3 so how could I resist?! I may or may not have an extra pint in the freezer 😉

So that's some stuff I've been eating pver the past few days! I know, kind of junky but whatever. 

Fun news! I'm going to be house/pet sitting for my brother and his family next week so it'll be nice to have a lot of space and an air fryer to use! I'm planning on doing some major healthy meal prep while I'm there (the new addition of a husky pup will make my time in the morning very limited) and I'm looking forward to sharing that with you next week!

Have a great day!💚

Vegan MoFo 2019: Vegan Sandra's Easy Chickpea Omelette

Hey everyone! Welcome back for another MoFo post! Today's post will be part of the "trying other bloggers'" recipes theme. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it seriously spoke to me. It is very strange to me that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day but I lack some serious breakfast inspiration most of the time. I think it's because I rarely want to make an elaborate meal in the morning and I'm usually in a rush on work days. Anyway, I've been missing some great breakfast options so when I saw and oniony chickpea omelette I knew I had to try it. Typically I don't really follow through on my pins on Pinterest so I'm happy to say that I did follow through on this one!

So, the recipe I wanted to try was for the Easy Vegan Chickpea Omelette by Vegan Sandra. Her recipe that she posts is an onion omelette with lots of onion and herbs. I decided to test out the recipe using just the onions that she included in her recipe the first time around.

How awesome does this omelette look?! I only used a half of a small onion and it still had TONS of onion flavor. I decided to cook mine up a bit before adding it to the batter because I really love cooked onions and wanted to make sure they were thoroughly cooked before making the omelette. I didn't really have herbs on hand so I just added some green onion as well and the only other change I made was to add a little garlic powder for extra seasoning.

This omelette was DELICIOUS. I highly recommend adding the garlic for the extra seasoning because it just added a really nice flavor to it. I was very excited that this tasted as great as it looks because it is such an easy and quick breakfast meal that you can enjoy any time of day!

I have so many ideas for fillings I want to try. I really want to try a spinach and feta omelette with Violife feta, Sun dried tomato and basil as well as a spinach, broccoli and vegan cheese omelette. I will definitely post them when I do get to try them!

Vegan MoFo 2019: Trying The Viet Vegan's Ttoekbokki!

Hey everyone! It's another day of MoFo and I'm super excited for today's post because it is part of my "Trying Other Bloggers' Recipes" theme for this year (as you know I'm following several themes). I've been eyeing The Viet Vegan's Ttoekbokki recipe FOR SO LONG. I've heard amazing things about Ttoekbokki and I love the texture of the Korean Rice Cakes but haven't ever made it in the traditional way. I found this recipe and loved how easy it looked and how short the ingredient list is (and I'm lucky enough to have access to Asian Markets so I was able to locate all of the ingredients easily). I don't know why it took me so long to try it but I finally decided that I was going to make it and try it out!

I decided to try the tube shaped rice cakes because I'd only ever had the sliced version. As I mentioned above, the ingredients list is short and that is important to me. I rarely ever make recipes with long ingredients lists so that was definitely part of the appeal of her version. It didn't take long to put together at all which is also great. I halved the recipe since it is just me eating it and I had leftovers to enjoy at a later time.

So how did it taste? In one word, AMAZING. I had a lighter hand with the spice (which you can tell because my sauce isn't quite as red as hers) and a little more generous with the sweetness and I really love the balance that I found. I liked the balance of the sweet and spice and thought it was a really nice flavor. The texture of the rice cakes is so amazing and I love it with the sauce. When I had the leftovers the sauce had actually thickened and it was even better! I am glad that I halved the recipe because it would have been a lot otherwise but I think it would be a great dish to make for company if they love spice.

The next time I make it I will certainly make sure I have kimchi on hand to pair with it and I think I may add some soft tofu to it. I think it would be a really nice addition and sure, it won't be authentic but it will certainly still be delicious!

I'm sure this won't be a surprise but I highly recommend trying her recipe if you haven't already and if you have access to the ingredients! I will certainly be making it again and I can't believe it took me this long to try! 

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you back here tomorrow! 💚