Tasty Meals and Some Whole Foods Treats

 Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. I'm thinking that I may try to stick to posting once a week. It feels manageable and I definitely think I'll have some better content after the craziness of the holidays passes. I had taken off this past Friday and tomorrow (Monday) to give myself a little break and a long weekend to set me up to some short weeks and long weekends to close out the year. This year has been very stressful, I've taken minimal time off (two days the entire year I've been working there so far) and the new year is the busiest time of year for me. It has been really nice to have some time to breathe before it gets really busy. 

On Friday I decided to head over to That Pizza Place in Levittown, NY to grab some vegan pizza slices. I have been there a few times since the plague started and would typically get there at night when options were limited. This time I got there for lunch and had lots of options to choose from! Above you'll see a fresh tomato and garlic slice and a broccoli rabe and sausage (!!!) slice. OMG they were both DELICIOUS. I was so stuffed after I ate them I couldn't eat for the rest of the day but it was so worth it. I also got a mac n cheese slice and a grandma slice tucked away in the freezer for a lazy night when I need a quick meal. In the few instances I have ordered food I always do takeout, always change packaging from the original and always reheat. I know that places are being careful but it gives me some peace of mind.

This is just some random sushi I had at some point last week. The rolls were super fresh and delicious. 

Today I decided to have a treat yo self moment on my self care weekend and headed over to Whole Foods. I decided not to photograph my whole haul but wanted to share some of the more exciting stuff that you haven't seen a million times on this blog. I did get some veggies for stir fry, some Just Egg (on sale for $3.99 so I decided it's finally time to try it!) and some Chao slices and Violife Mozzarella shreds.

OMG you guys. I have not had a chocolate chip muffin in YEARS and I loved chocolate chip muffins in my pre-vegan days. Obviously I had to try these when I saw them. Clearly I couldn't wait and ate one before I remembered I wanted to take a photo 😂 They are DELICIOUS. They are not super sweet but they are very yummy and were definitely worth every penny.

YOU. GUYS. This right here is the biggest win of my shopping trip. Inari rolls are my favorite sushi ever and for whatever reason I can not find them anywhere! I have looked at every sushi menu in my area and they just aren't offered. The one place I found there I ordered it and I got one piece and it was literally a tablespoon of rice in a tofu skin for $3. It was so disappointing. As you can see these are properly stuffed Inari rolls and I can't wait to eat them!

I haven't had vegan chick'n nuggets in a little while and decided to try the 365 brand since it is less expensive than the Gardein ones. Hopefully they are good! I will definitely let you know.

You guys. Ice cream! I LOVE mochi and I have not really found vegan mochi outside of Trader Joe's (and I haven't been to TJ's since the plague started because it's just too crowded and I'm not waiting 2 hours to get in). I had tried these mochi the last time I went to WFs and loved them. The chocolate flavor is delicious and the mochi texture is so nice. I highly recommend them. They are very pricey but for a treat they are worth it. I also found these vegan cookie ice cream sandwiches! I definitely had to try one too. I'll let you know how that is as well!

I love popcorn and this looked so good on the shelf. It is just popcorn, some oil, salt and nooch if I remember correctly. I'm sure it'll be delicious for a snack!

Finally, some chocolate! This was on sale 2/$5 so I grabbed 2. I love dark chocolate with espresso beans and I thought the crispy rice bar would  be nostalgic and fun to try. Definitely looking forward to these as well.

All in all, this was definitely a splurge and will be a rare treat. It's nice to treat yourself to some fun stuff and try new things sometimes though. 

I hope that you are all well! I can't believe Christmas is this week again. I hope that you are all staying warm and safe. We had our first snow storm and I'm already over it, ha! What are some fun new things you've tried lately?

Vegan MoFo 2019: Stuff I Ate

Hi friends! We are getting close to the end here! It's so crazy how this month has gone so quickly. I'm so damn proud of myself for keeping to my schedule and that I haven't missed an intended post. Yay!

Today I have another stuff I ate post. These wrap ups have been fun and hopefully it will motivate me to start being a little more creative and to get some more fresh food on my plate. Anyway, for the last time this MoFo, let's check out some delicious food I've been eating! Sorry that the lighting gets crappy, it's not ideal at my brother's house.

Chick'n patty sandwich with ketchup because I'm a basic bitch. Seasoned fries because I'm a spicy queen. 😂

My obligatory pumpernickel bagel with entirely too much tofu spread.

I decided to partake in Sushi Wednesday for the first time in a while! Really fresh, delicious sushi for $5.00! Can't beat it!

You know that I will eat watermelon until the last possible second. So delicious.

I had time to properly toast my breakfast sandwich and figured I would take a picture of it all prepared and pretty looking. I had it with some watermelon. This was a delicious breakfast!

As you saw in my meal prep post, I've been eating this at work and will continue to through the end of the week (my last day is Friday! Ah!). It's a really tasty meal and I'm glad that I took the time to prep it!

So that's some stuff I've eaten since my last Stuff I Ate post. As you can tell I've been eating lots of yummy stuff! I am really loving the air fried broccoli, cauliflower and tofu! So good!

💚

Popping In

Hey you guys! I hope all is well. This week has been chock full of more craziness with more testing and stuff. I am going in for my follow up and full results on Monday but from what it seems so far I have no nerve damage (yay!) but two herniated discs in my neck. I also saw the word myelopathy on the screen with the MRI report but I guess we'll see on Monday. I've been completely drained all week and I'm hoping to be able to catch up a bit on rest this weekend. 

I don't have much to share today but I guess some is better than nothing, right?

On Wednesday I had the testing from 7:00am - 8:30 am so there definitely wasn't much time to do anything in the morning. I decided to take part in Sushi Wednesday and grabbed this beautiful, fresh sushi for $5. Can't go wrong with that.

My dad surprised me with some AMAZING watermelon. I'm shocked by how good it is, especially for this time of year.

I've been trying to be consistent with my art because it has been very therapeutic for me. It is a great distraction from my anxiety and other stuff that I deal with so I've been trying to spend some time every day working on it. This is a teeny tiny mixed media canvas that I made and I really love how it came out. I like working with these little canvases and I think I'm going to grab a bunch more because it is a great, manageable size for me to work with as I'm getting started and learning more about this particular type of art. 

That's all I have for you today! I hope you all have a great weekend! Let me know all of the fun things you have planned in the comments 😃

Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well and had a good week. I'm glad that I am close to the weekend, it has been a long and busy week. I don't know if I ever mentioned this but my aunt injured herself again about 2 months ago so this week I took her to another early morning appointment as well as my dad to an early morning pre-op appointment. His procedure was yesterday and he comes home today. Everything is ok it's just been a stressful week. I'm still not feeling great so with all of this going on I don't have a ton to share but I do have some yummy stuff to show you.

A weird but delicious combination of roasted potatoes with ketchup and a sliced Opal apple. I really enjoyed the opal apples! I don't know if I prefer them to honeycrisps but they are delicious and definitely a great option.

A sad picture of a delicious pear.

Coffee has been a saving grace this week. It is cold and I'm tired and I have tried to kick caffeine in the past but sometimes you just need some delicious fully caffeinated coffee. I am now fiercely loyal to Silk Almond creamer (this cup is the Vanilla flavor). It is delicious, gets my coffee light and creamy and easy to find. You can't go wrong with that.

I had this bagel in the freezer so I toasted it (bagels out of the freezer do get toasted, fresh bagels stay fresh) and added some tofutti. Also delicious and by far my favorite comfort meal.

I didn't have the energy or creativity to figure out any sort of lunch for today so I stopped at the store and grabbed a super fresh (made on the spot for me since they didn't have any yet) veggie roll. It looks great and I can't wait to eat it.

*Trigger Warning - I'm going to be discussing Eating Disorders below*

I debated whether or not I was going to talk about this today but I felt at the very least I did need to mention it. This week is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. The theme for 2019 is "Come As You Are" and stresses the importance of inclusivity when it comes to the discussion of eating disorders. I wanted to bring this up because as I've mentioned before I am in recovery for an eating disorder and also because I believe that eating disorders are incredibly prevalent in the vegan community (particularly in the vegan YouTube community) and it isn't widely acknowledged or recognized. I'm not going to get into details but I did want to share some resources for people that may be struggling and want to get help. I'll talk a lot more in detail about my own eating disorder this Sunday on my other blog. I don't mean to be an alarmist or dramatic but I really do want to stress the importance of getting help if you are struggling with an eating disorder. There will be physical consequences. It's not a matter of if you have physical complications, it is a matter of when the longer your battle goes on. I have physical issues that I will likely deal with for the rest of my life.

Resources (source):

Eating Disorder Screening Tool

Helpline

Find Help

Frequently Asked Questions

OK sorry about the brief departure but I did find that important to share. That's all I have for today and I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. I'm looking forward to this weekend as it'll hopefully be another self care weekend. I'm also hoping to check out a Vegetarian/Vegan restaurant that opened recently and head over to H-Mart to get some ingredients for a warm, comforting meal. I'm very excited to share all of this with you next week! Stay warm and I'll see you on Tuesday!

What I Ate In A Day

Hey everyone! I hope all is well, Happy Friday! This week was definitely better than last and I'm eating more normally. I decided to photograph the meals I ate in one day to share with you. I don't know how many calories it is and I don't care because it's three meals which I haven't done in at least a week.

Anyway, you'll see for the most part this is a lazy day for meals. Breakfast and lunch were especially lazy because I didn't particularly care or feel like making anything so I just kind of figured out easy meals. This was what I ate on Wednesday so you'll see that helped me make my decision for lunch 😂

Anyway, here is what I ate in a day!

For breakfast I had more of the Trader Joe's Maple Ladders cereal with some sliced banana and unsweetened almond milk.

For lunch I stopped by the store to take part in Sushi Wednesday. These yummy rolls cost me a total of $5 so it was worth the splurge for minimal effort. Once I get back from Florida one of the meals that I have in mind is a sushi bowl so I'm looking forward to making that in the future! In the meantime, this was delicious and was a perfect lazy meal for me.

For dinner I had a mushroom risotto burger from Aldi's and some roasted potatoes. Super lazy but also good so I'm fine with it. 

I'm super tired and have a lot to accomplish this weekend but I'm just going to try to push through it because I get to relax next week! I'm hoping it'll be warm in Florida because I just need some sun and some time off. I'm really excited to be able to share my trip with you as I always do! 

I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll see you back here on Tuesday 💜

This & That

Hey everyone! I hope that all is well! I don't have a ton of pictures to share with you today because I haven't been able to photograph much since Wednesday. As I mentioned I'm at my brother's house watching the pets so yesterday was a transition day for me and therefore hard to get anything photographed. I will share the meal that I do have and I also thought I would take some time to talk a little more about what I hope to achieve in 2019.

As I mentioned the other day, I woke up Wednesday feeling really exhausted. The holiday weekend really drained me of my energy (even though I thoroughly enjoyed it!) and I just wanted to stay in bed as long as I possibly could. I decided I would grab my sushi rolls because on Wednesday it is $5. I just expected the rolls to be a little smaller as that is what they normally do to compensate for the price reduction. Luckily they didn't do that! I got these regular sized fresh veggie rolls for $5! That was a great deal. I paired it with my favorite Blueberry Grape Kombucha from Target and it was a great meal.

So now I thought I'd talk a little bit about what I hope to achieve next year in regards to my health journey as well as my blogging journey. The two paths cross a lot so the goals are fairly similar. I am hoping to bring you guys along for the ride! The content should remain fairly close to what I post now (I'll continue to post meals and grocery hauls and things like that) but there will be minimal processed foods and more homemade meals. My homemade meals will be simple and fuss free as I don't typically have the energy to spend hours in the kitchen anymore.

For anyone joining us here for the first time or just recently I'll just give a little context. This year I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which is a chronic illness characterized by widespread pain and chronic extreme fatigue. I've decided to minimize my processed foods intake and increase my activity to see if I can naturally manage my symptoms. This will cross over with my blogging as I will share my journey with you here along with the food I'm eating. 

I wasn't sure if I was going to share this because I tend to shy away from talking about projects that I am working on or plan to work on because my follow through isn't great. There are a whole lot of psychological reasons for that (fear of success and failure, fear of people HATING what I put out, etc.) but I decided that I need to change that in 2019. So I wanted to talk about how writing an E-Book has been a goal of mine for years. I never knew what to write and I always talked myself out of any ideas that I have had in the past. I had the idea of putting together everything I learn through this process and if it works and I can get my symptoms under control I would put together an E-Book about managing chronic illness and what I did. I will never mislead anyone by promising a "cure" (it makes me absolutely nuts when people promise cures for incurable diseases) but I can share my journey and what I did. It would be less of a recipe book (even though I would include recipes - but they will likely be so simple I'd hesitate to call it a recipe book) and more of a "What I Ate" guide. As I just mentioned, my recipes will be incredibly simple as people that suffer from chronic illness can lack energy and the idea of spending an hour in the kitchen can be daunting and quite frankly it can be a complete turn off. I know that most people will likely see my recipes as ridiculous and not see the point in having "recipes" for such simple meals but I look at complicated recipes and can't fathom spending my time using 20 ingredients to make a dressing to put on the main course that already took an hour to make. 

So I guess my question is are you interested in this kind of book? Do you think it would be a waste of money to buy an e-book of such simple recipes even though the concept is more about the process of healing rather than the specific recipes? Do you see value in simple recipes that take minimal effort or do you feel like you only get your money's worth from books with elaborate dishes in them? I'm having such a hard time gauging and I have a huge fear of people buying a book that I poured my heart into just to feel like they didn't get their money's worth. Any insight and opinions that you have would be so helpful and I'd love it if you shared them in the comments!

Anyway, if you read through this whole post I appreciate you sticking with me, it was definitely a long one! I'm going to do my best to get another post up on Tuesday and I should definitely be able to as I'll be settled in by then and I'll be on the tail end of a 4 day weekend that I gifted myself as a way to recharge after holiday madness! I'll see you then and I hope you have a great weekend!

Trader Joe's Haul and Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! Sorry for all of the lackluster content lately… it's been a rough end of the year healthwise so it always kind of messes with your meals and eating. I am back on different antibiotics for a tooth issue to while I have to make sure to eat I never actually want to. Anyway, I do have a Trader Joe's Haul to share with you today as well as a few meals.

Also, why doesn't anyone sell Earth Balance butter sticks? I can always get the tubs but I need the sticks for baking and I can only get those at Whole Foods (which is not super close to me). Has anyone else had that problem? Have you found an easier to find substitute? One of my cookie recipes calls for coconut oil which is great but I need butter for the other two. Any tips would be awesome!

Ok so let's get into it!

First up is the produce! Carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, pears, potatoes and an attempt at a bag of butter lettuce. Looking at the picture I'm annoyed at all of the packaging. It's so unnecessary. This has always been an issue for Trader Joe's, maybe one day they will actually fix it.

I decided it was time for my annual treat to the Candy Cane Joe Joe's which are my FAVORITE, some Jasmine rice (when you feel like shit all the time sometimes you just need some frozen rice to get a meal on the table), the Veggie Spring Rolls which I've heard are awesome, the Cranberry Spiced Apple Kombucha, dolmas and chocolate chips.

I had an everything bagel lightly toasted with avocado, salt and pepper. It was really good and exactly what I wanted.

I decided to get some more veggie rolls as well. This time I used my favorite chopsticks that my friend got me from Japan. I love these and they are perfect. I love the rainbow steel ones I got online but they are heavy and big and harder to use so these continue to be my go to!

Sorry this is such a short post but that's what I have for you today! What is on your holiday shopping list? Are you into the holidays or is it just another day for you?

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

Stuff I Ate

Hey guys! I hope that you are all doing well! Happy Friday! I hope you have all had a great week and I'm sure you are all ready for your weekend. I am as well and I feel like I'm counting the minutes. I still feel like my body is dragging and I'm just completely drained from being sick but I'm working on getting better.

I have a few meals to share with you today but it has definitely been a weird week as there isn't much that I've actually wanted to eat. With that said, I'll show you the few meals I did photograph.

I decided to treat myself to some sushi and it was so delicious. It was by far my favorite meal of the week and oddly enough the price went back down to $6.49. I'm not going to argue with it, it's just weird 😂 In any case, it was absolutely delicious and I'm glad I decided to treat myself.

I was really craving pizza but didn't have a pizza crust (I keep meaning to get one from Trader Joe's but I keep forgetting!) so I decided to make a pizza bagel! I used the Violife Mozzarella Shreds (really good!!) and it was exactly what I wanted.

When I went to pick up the sushi I noticed that they had Panera Garden Veggie soup in a container! This used to be my favorite soup at Panera but I haven't seen it there in the longest time (it is vegan without the Pesto). I decided to grab it for lunch the next day and you guys… it was so DISAPPOINTING!!! This is not the garden veggie soup I remember. This was like a few sad veggies and barley in tomato sauce. I hated it and it made me nauseous. Definitely disappointing and a waste of money.

I brought some fruit and peanut to work with me to have as snacks. This is always a good idea!

source

I saw this meme on Instagram and I was like OMG ME!!! 😂 

So those are all of the sad meals I have to share today. Sorry things have been lackluster here lately but as I start to feel better it'll get more exciting! I hope that you enjoy your weekend and I'll see you back here on Tuesday!

Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone!! I hope that you are all doing well. Today's post will be short but I managed to take a few pictures of things I've been eating through the week.

Up first is this incredibly weird ass meal. I wanted some tots and was going to have some baby carrots with them. They were still within the use by date but they were so slimy. Like disgustingly slimy and just touching one grossed me out. I was tired and annoyed so I just cut up an apple to have with them. It was good but just a weird combination.

I had one of these quick McDougall's soup cups for lunch at work one day. I like these for a quick grab and go meal. It's made with rice noodles and is gluten free.

This was such a good breakfast! One day I decided I just wanted some fruit with peanut butter for breakfast and it was delicious. As you can see I opted for crunchy peanut butter and it was definitely a good decision.

Finally I have some brown rice sushi rolls. They are still really good but now that the price is $7.49 it will definitely be a once in a while treat rather than a weekly or biweekly meal.

That's all I have for you today! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you on Tuesday!!

Mini Haul and Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope all is well! I hope you liked Friday's post about the RISE of the Jack O'Lanterns event. I had such a great time at the event and was very excited to share it with you. I'm hoping to be able to venture out more and experience more on Long Island to share with you in the future. For today, I have all of the food to share!!

First up I have a mini haul from Trader Joe's. I decided to take a picture of my cart before I headed over to checkout.

So here's the haul: A bag of the Crunchy Curls (so addictive you guys), some Tater Tots (when you add nightshades back in obviously you go for the tater tots!), hummus, avocados, baby carrots, an onion, mirepoix, grape tomatoes, zucchini and butter lettuce.

So I know the mirepoix is kind of lazy but my plan for that is to dump it into a bowl, mix it up and dump it back into the container to hold in the freezer. I thought it would be perfect for when I just want to make a single serving bowl of chick'n noodle soup - I can just grab a few tablespoons and not have to worry about waste and chopping veggies forever when I just want a quick bowl of soup.

This is the apple pecan baked oatmeal all served up. I added a little almond milk to it and it was so delicious.

I made a bento lunch of a wrap (gluten free wrap with lettuce, hummus and the fajita veggies I made last week (I had this meal earlier in the week) and an apple on the side. The wrap combination was great but the actual wrap was a little brittle for my liking. I was hoping that it would soften up as it sat in the fridge all morning but it didn't really.

Some sushi rolls which I ate with my gorgeous new chopsticks! I really wanted to get a set of reusable chopsticks (I also got a set of steel straws because I am a straw girl) and these rainbow steel ones are beautiful. I have to get used to using them but I am so happy with them. They were $.99 (I got them here) and I plan on getting a few more pairs to have on hand. I'm not affiliated with them… I just think they are pretty.

This was a burrito bowl that I made. It had brown rice, fat free refried beans (from Trader Joe's), fajita veggies and mashed avocado. I was kind of wishing I made this into a quesadilla because I just ended up leaving most of the rice but it was still good.

This was by far my favorite meal of the week, ha! I made a vegan chick'n caesar salad with the butter lettuce and some morningstar grilled chick'n strips that I had and paired it with some tots! I don't think the chick'n is gluten free but I had it in my freezer and I didn't really want to waste it because it's kind of expensive. This meal was so freaking delicious.

Finally, I made the quesadilla I was talking about above. This just has refried beans and fajita veggies because my avocados were not ripe yet. The gluten free wraps are much better when toasted up like this. It was really delicious.

So that's what I have for you today! I'll be back on Friday and I hope you have a great week!

Taste Tests and Stuff I Ate

Hey you guys! I hope you are well. Happy Friday! I'm back with a proper post that actually has vegan food and all kinds of fun things in it. I'm feeling a bit better and my appetite has been coming back so I made sure to photograph the yummy things I've been enjoying throughout the week. I also have a mini haul of stuff to fill in for the rest of the week and you guys… wait until you see the most amazing comfort meal I made. It's so simple but it was one of the best things I've eaten in a really long time! I'm also going to share my thoughts on some of the things I've tasted from my Aldi's haul.

Up first is a mini haul from Stop & Shop, my local grocery store. I grabbed a bag of baby spinach, a bag of spring mix, some baby carrots and two of the Dark Chocolate Coconut Silk yogurts that I saw on My Cat Loves Daiya's recent post! It sounded so good and they had it so I had to give it a try. I refuse to give up on finding a vegan yogurt that I like.

First up I tried the Cucumber Dill Hummus and the Gluten Free Black Sesame Crackers, both from Aldi. I love them both you guys. The hummus has a subtle flavor but it's really good and it pairs PERFECTLY with the crackers! The crackers are delicious and taste just like a regular multigrain cracker. It almost tastes like a tortilla chip to me. I bet these would be delicious with salsa, queso or guac. I love them both and will definitely be stocking up on them the next time I go.

Next up I tried the little gluten free brownie cookie things that I also got from Aldi. First, I know that I had questioned whether or not they were vegan after the whole honey in the bread debacle but after double checking they are definitely vegan. I included the ingredients and side of the box below for you to check out if you are curious. Anyway, I was shocked by how delicious they were. They have a light, soft texture with a really nice chocolate flavor and the chocolate chips are definitely an added bonus. I really enjoy these. I bet they would be great warmed up with a little ice cream on them too 😉 The only thing is that the cookies are tiny and there are 16 per box. The box was only $2.49 so it's not terrible but I didn't feel like it's as great of a value as some of the other things. However, during a chocolate craving these things will be priceless.

I have been craving sushi like crazy lately. I grabbed these rolls from Stop & Shop when I was there and it was really good! They were fresh and they cost $5.49 which isn't terrible. This one had 10 pieces which is a little less than the other store I get them from but they were also $2 cheaper (the other store raised the price to $7.49 😩). They were delicious and exactly what I wanted.

You guys. This picture sucks thanks to crappy lighting but Oh. My. Goodness. I made gluten free, vegan chicken noodle soup and I AM LIVING FOR IT. It was so simple, it was quick (it took maybe 20 minutes start to finish) and most importantly, it was delicious. The core ingredients were Better than Bouillon No Chicken Base, gluten free noodles and soy curls!! It was really delicious. I do just need to work on the proportions a bit (you'll see I lost a lot of my broth, oops) and when I perfect it I'll make sure to share the recipe with you guys!!

That's all I have for today! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you back here on Tuesday!