Partial Aldi Haul and Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well! I'm doing the best I can and I'm trying to remain as positive and optimistic as possible given the circumstances. This week I got to the point where I just really needed to go to the store and get some groceries. I chose to go to Aldi because I knew that they have a lot of vegan options and I knew that they were limiting the amount of people that go into the store at one time (which did NOT happen the last time I went to my local grocery store and it sent me into a massive panic attack). It takes me about 35 minutes to get there and it was worth it. While I still had anxiety about it I felt a lot better there than I did in the local store. I tried to get in and out as quickly as possible and I really tried to load up while I could.

What I'm sharing below is just a small part of my haul. I was really freaked out about contamination and putting things away so I just didn't photograph everything but I'll fill you in as best as I can.

This is clearly the most important part of the haul 😂 If there was ever a time for a rich chocolate cake now would be the time! I'm so excited to get into this!

Last time I went to Aldi I got the chocolate coconut cashew chips and I LOVED them. I saw that they had vanilla and sea salt caramel flavors so I decided to get one of each for when that sweet craving hits.

I love cashews and don't get them often so I got some cashews and I really wanted some dried apricots too. I also got dried cranberries because why not. I think these three would make a nice trail mix too!

I decided that I just really needed fresh veggies (I've only been eating cooked) so I decided to go for bagged salads. I could rationalize it in my head so I grabbed this one knowing I'd have to skip the dressing because it contains orange and orange peel. I grabbed 4 bags of salads because I knew I'd want a lot of them.

And here is my first beautiful salad! It is the salad mix with some cherry tomatoes (which I also grabbed from Aldi) and some vegan ranch dressing. It was exactly what I needed.

Another breakfast sandwich with beyond sausage and Violife Cheddar on a huge piece of amazing bread from Aldi.

Burrito bowl with rice, fat free refried beans, a tiny but of Violife shredded Mozzarella, corn and guac. It was DELICIOUS!!

I loaded up on snacks (veggie chips, snapea crisps, etc.), faux veggie chicken (FOUR BOXES of the cutlets and two of the tenders), and stuff like that. I'm set for breakfast sandwiches and oatmeal, have lots of bananas and apples and I'm just hoping that I'll be good with groceries for a few weeks.

This weekend I really wanted to work on some art so I made a few small pieces with LOTS and LOTS of detail. These two baseball card sized pieces took me an entire day. I'm super proud of them though.

I was feeling major Steampunk vibes creating this one.

And this one has a clearly nautical feel. I'm super proud of them and I love that blue color!

So that is all I have for you today! I hope that you are all safe and healthy and staying home!! 💚

Catching Up

Hey everyone. I hope that you are all doing ok. I can assure you that it was not my intention to take a break. The reality is that things have not been great here and blogging was just the last thing on my mind. I have a lot going on and I just didn't have it in me to keep up with this right now. Things keep piling up and I am just incredibly depressed right now. The odd thing is that I've been keeping up with my social obligations that I've made. I'm trying to get out and not withdraw. It's difficult because all I want to do is be home in my bed but I go out. It's nice to spend time with friends but I just feel empty inside right now. Long story short, I'm struggling.

During my hiatus I've taken some photos of some meals that I've enjoyed with friends and a random Whole Foods haul. I figured I'd pop in and update you on where I've been and share the pics.

A few weeks ago a group of us went to Golden Star in Medford, NY. They have an extensive vegan menu and I started with an unpictured wonton soup (omg so good) and this is the vegan pork with broccoli. This is not something I would normally get but for whatever reason I went for it. It looked so realistic it was kind of crazy but it was actually really good and I'm glad I went outside of what I would normally get and tried something new.

This beauty has been a staple meal for me. It is a Greek style salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, Violife Feta and stuffed grape leaves. I dressed it with some red wine vinegar and pepper and it was delicious. I eat this quite a bit.

This is part one of my Whole Foods haul. I got some Earth Balance Cheddar Squares, Skinny Pop everything bagel mini popcorn cakes, key lime larabars (my fav flavor and so hard to find), a vegan chocolate chip scone and some bagels.

I went to Whole Foods because their Violife cheese was on sale big time. I got the feta and cheddar slices for $3.99 each and decided to try the WFs brand shredded mozzarella. I got two mango kombuchas and hummus as well. I tried to show some restraint and I think I did ok.

Up next was another meal at Little Fu's. My friend and I decided to grab a late lunch (which turned into dinner - we were there for like 3 hours 😳😬) and got a few dishes to share. We got the vegan pepper steak (I just had the onions and "steak"), chick'n with broccoli and veggie lo mein.

I also went back to That Pizza Place with my friends and brought some slices home to keep in the freezer. Here we have a broccoli mac n cheese slice, eggplant parm slice and 2 plain slices.

This is the only slice I've had so far but omg isn't it a beauty? This goes against everything I believe in, ha. I don't typically eat pasta and I really don't like pasta on my pizza but it looked so good I had to try it and OMG is it good. I make an exception for this. They added tons of garlic which was delicious and they make a cashew based cheese sauce which is delicious. It's so so good.

 

This was an Asian Chopped salad that I topped with a chick'n patty from Aldi's. Super delicious and a very quick, easy meal.

A friend of mine was helping out with a fundraiser for rescue pups and I offered to donate a piece of art for the raffle. I made this piece and I'm so thrilled with how it came out. I decided to customize it and add special details to make it more appropriate for the event and it turned out perfectly.

So that is the update I have for you right now. I am sorry I haven't been keeping up with your blogs but I will catch up soon. I'm not sure when my next post will be but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. I hope that you are all doing ok .💚

More Food and More Art

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was pretty good. The event was on Saturday and it was a really nice day! The weather was beautiful, it was a really nice size so there was a crowd but it wasn't super overwhelming, I had friends there and it was just a great, supportive atmosphere. I got some great feedback and made a few sales so I'm really happy. A really nice surprise was that one of the vegan vendors, a vegan baking company, named a cookie after Doug. He had tried it last year and loved it so much they wanted to honor him by naming it after him. It was a bit emotional but such a beautiful gesture. Of course I had to get one and I'll share it when I try it. I wasn't going to eat it but a friend pointed out that Doug would hate that cookie going uneaten which is a fair point.

First up I have some food to share with you.

Up first is this amazing soup I made to bring to work for lunch the week before last actually. It was SO DELICIOUS. I used the Better than Bouillon No Chicken Base (this stuff is seriously the best) to make my broth and added onions, carrots, potato, zucchini, cauliflower, white beans and spinach with garlic and pepper. It was so delicious, this will definitely be a winter staple!!

I love making chicken parm and chicken parm sandwiches with my Aldi chick'n patties and this meal was super yummy with some seasoned fries.

I went back to That Pizza Place on one of my days off to get some stuff for the freezer. I grabbed a few plain slices and an eggplant roll. This place is seriously amazing!

I went to Little Fu's with a friend for lunch on one of my days off and got the veggie chick'n with mixed veggies and it was DELICIOUS.

I know it seems like I ate like trash the entire time but I promise I wasn't! These were just the most fun meals and I wanted to share them with you.

In addition to the yummy eats I have some more of the pieces that I made to share with you.

Susan requested to see the mermaid bookmark with shimmery bubbles so the only way to do it justice was to boomerang it! The whole thing has a blue tone to it so sorry about that but I think you'll get the point!

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

That Pizza Place(!!) And Some Art

Hey you guys! I hope that you are all doing well. I am super excited to share today's post because I went back to That Pizza Place in Levittown, NY. As you know from my MoFo post about my first trip to TPP, they have amazing food there. I met up with a friend there for dinner last weekend and was excited to share my meal with you. It may seem boring but OMG it was so good. I love that I can go to a pizza place and that they have vegan options of legit NY style pizza ready to go. It is a big deal when you grew up on NY style pizza and it has been one of the things I've missed most as a vegan.

I don't know about you guys but I freaking love garlic knots. As you know, I love all things bread so these make me very happy. I actually ended up bringing almost all of these home which I can assure you was not a problem at all 😉

They had vegan greek salad on the menu and I had to get it. They use Violife Feta (as far as I can tell) and it was really delicious. I'm glad I decided to get this! I didn't think I'd get a salad but my friend inspired me and I'm glad that I got one too.

I went with a plain old margarita slice and it was so good you guys. Like I've mentioned, I like the plain jane kind of slices. I was hoping they would have their white pizza but they didn't. This was an excellent choice and was a perfect way to round out the meal.

That Pizza Place does have a pretty expansive vegan menu but I'm mostly interested in the pizza. As you know, I'm not much of a pasta person and I've never been into heros. I'm a happy camper with my classic pizza. But if you are into other pizza place fare you will certainly be happy with their menu! I'm really glad that I got to go back and I had such a nice time catching up with my friend. I was going to get some slices to go but we stayed until closing and what they had left looked a little past their prime so I decided to hold off.

Like I said in my last post, I've been working a lot on getting my art together to sell at a fundraiser. I've been working really hard on it and wanted to share some of it with you! This is just a sampling of one kind of art that I've been working on. It is the aesthetic that I've been gravitating toward lately and the one that I think best represents me and what I like.

These are some of the 2.5x3.5 inch cards I made. I have a lot more but these are just a sampling of them.

These are some of the 5x7 sized pieces that I've made. I really love this quote, I'm obsessed with the moth and you can't tell in the pictures but the lightbulbs have a hint of shimmer that I really enjoy.

These are some more of the larger sized pieces that I made. I love these butterfly stamps.

I made a ton of bookmarks too! Again, these are just some of the first ones that I made but there are a ton of different colors and styles. There may also be a mermaid one with shimmery bubbles 😉

So that's what I have for you today. Having these few days off have really helped me and I'm glad I was able to prepare for this event over the week. I don't have as much done as I would like but it's ok. I'm just proud of what I've accomplished and I'm excited to share it with people.

I hope you've all had a great week and that you enjoy your weekend! 💚

Family Birthday Dinner, Stuff I Ate and Some Art

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. We made it through another week. I'm so exhausted, I'm looking forward to just relaxing a bit this weekend. I'll finally be able to catch up on your posts. I'm so sorry that I've been absent, it's just been so much happening at the same time. On the plus side, I have a lot to share with you, including some new art that I've made.

I chose a Turkish restaurant for our family dinner for my birthday and got these amazing veggie kebabs with some green salad. It was so delicious, I love this meal so much.

For my birthday treats I got a Rocky Road bar and an Cookies n Cream whoopee cookie. I have been enjoying those for the past few days!

I don't know why I forgot about avocado toast but I did. I had some this week on sourdough bread with some strawberries and it was a quick and delicious breakfast!

There was a lot of quick snacky stuff going on because I've just been feeling off. I enjoyed these veggie chips so much!

We are getting into apple season and I loved my first honeycrisps of the season! I had a root canal done on a tooth a few weeks ago so I'm going to hold off on biting into an apple until I get the post and permanent filling so I cut this beauty up and brought it to work with me.

This is how I love my baked oatmeal! I will either heat it up and eat almost like a dessert or I'll add some almond milk and heat it and turn it back into regular oatmeal. Either way it's so damn good.

And now onto some art! I have been playing with inks and stamps lately and I am LOVING the aesthetic. This is very much me and my style and I'm going to be working on a lot of pieces like this to start selling!

I made a few pieces as little gifts as well. They were personalized for each recipient.

This piece is my favorite piece I've ever created. I love the message, the imagery, the colors and composition. I'm so proud of this piece and I think it really captures who I am as a human being.

This is just a close up of the sentiment and the fucking amazing moth. I love it so much,

So that's what I have for you today. I'll make sure to catch up on your blogs this weekend and I'll be back with a new post on Tuesday. Have a great weekend my friends 💚

Vegan MoFo 2019: More Stuff I Ate and some Art!

Hi friends!! Welcome back to another MoFo post! For today, I have another round up of delicious meals that I've eaten over the past week or so. I love these types of posts because I always get ideas for meals that I'd love to try and I hope that this will inspire you as well! 

For this meal I enjoyed a chick'n parmesan individual pita pizza with some roasted cauliflower on the side to make me feel better about myself 😂 This meal was DELICIOUS.

Anyone that has been reading my blog for a while that this is my favorite and staple meal, particularly to bring to work for lunch. I have stuffed grape leaves, grape tomatoes and baby carrots with some roasted garlic hummus. Such a great, quick meal to put together for a work lunch or easy dinner.

For this meal I made a chick'n parmesan sandwich and some curly fries. I was feeling super junky that night and this was perfect.

I had a sweet, snacky dessert type of plate with some graham crackers, strawberries and an individual cup of chocolate hummus. This chocolate hummus was even better than the original one I tried from Aldi! It is so chocolatey and fudge, so delicious! It was awesome paired with the strawberries too, my favorite pairing so far!

As I mentioned back in my Introduction post, I am really passionate about mixed media art. I started creating pieces a few months ago and it has been something that has helped me through difficult mental health periods as well as my grief. I'm incredibly grateful that I found this outlet! I can't believe I haven't shared any pieces with you yet!

When I first made this piece I HATED it. I wanted to try something new and juxtapose the pretty florals with the industrial looking cardboard texture and gears. It's been a few weeks since I created this piece and when I look at it with fresh eyes I actually really love it!! I'm really happy with it and glad that I went out of my comfort zone.

I created this piece as a gift for my friend. I was supposed to go to a concert with Doug in the beginning of August. She messaged me a few days before the show and asked what I was doing that night. I told her that I was supposed to go to the concert with him so I wasn't sure how I would be feeling that night. She told me that he had inspired her to get tickets and she had an extra one and she felt like it was right for her to reach out to me and invite me. I accepted immediately and was able to enjoy a really beautiful and EMOTIONAL (I cried through half of the show thanks to the setlist that I am pretty sure they created to make me cry 😂) experience with a new friend. As a thank you for inviting me I made her this piece on a CD because I felt like that was appropriate fitting the whole concert theme. I'm so grateful to have that experience and I'm 150% sure that he was there with us enjoying that show and the fact that he brought us together.

So that's some stuff I've been eating and creating! I hope you liked this post and stay tuned, tomorrow I have a really special post for you 💚