Thanksgiving Feast

Hey everyone! Happy belated Thanksgiving! Whether or not you celebrate the holiday I hope you had a great day yesterday. I spent my day with family and it was really nice but OMG so cold. You guys. It's so fucking cold. It dipped into the 20s and I hate it 😂 Anyway, I enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast yesterday and I remembered to take pictures for you!

Before I get into the Thanksgiving goodies I have an AMAZING udon noodle soup to share. I had a sad packet of mushroom udon noodle soup that I needed to use (it was the refrigerated kind) and decided to doctor it up and make is special. You guys. This soup turned out AMAZING. I started with the noodles and the broth flavoring and added some broccoli, soy curls, green onion and seaweed. OMG. So damn good you guys. I had this Wednesday night and it was perfect and so filling.

Ok onto Thanksgiving! I managed to take some pictures of most of the vegan stuff as well as my plate.

This is my FAVORITE broccoli corn casserole. It has broccoli, creamed corn, stuffing mix and onion. My mom leaves out the egg and uses Earth Balance so I can eat it and it's so damn delicious. It has been my favorite Thanksgiving dish for as long as I can remember.

Some delicious roasted potatoes (we had mashed potatoes too but I don't like mashed potatoes so I told them not to worry about the butter - they did ask though which was so nice!).

This was my plate! I had some Gardein tenders, roasted potatoes, broccoli corn casserole and brussels sprouts (I didn't get a pic of those in their dish).

I made this apple crisp for dessert and I was so proud of it because I turned a dessert disaster into a dessert win. I found a recipe on Pinterest for apple crumb bars and I could tell as soon as I mixed up the "shortbread" base that it wouldn't work and that the picture was a lie and not what the bars would actually look like (which made me so angry because these ingredients were not cheap and I hate when people misrepresent their recipes with fake images). I refused to waste the ingredients to I made the shortbread base into a crumble topping and added some oats and cinnamon to it. I made a different apple filling from the recipe as well and combined the two and it worked out way better than the bars would have. Everyone loved it and it was delicious. I have some leftovers so I'll photograph it the next time I eat it (and you better believe I'm adding ice cream next time 😂).

That's what I have for you today! I have work today and tomorrow so no long weekend for me but I hope that all of you have a great weekend and I'll see you back here on Tuesday!

Stuff I Ate

You guuuuuuyyyysssss!!!! 2 and a half weeks after this car fiasco started it is OVER. After an incredibly disastrous visit to a shady dealership exactly one week ago I decided I just couldn't deal with the search for a pre-owned vehicle and made the decision to lease and I couldn't be happier with that decision. I picked up my car last night and I FREAKING LOVE IT. I've never driven a brand new car before and it is a little intimidating but I am so happy I went in this direction and that this is over. I could never have anticipated how stressful and anxiety inducing this was going to be and I'm so glad I'm past it.

With that said, this week has been pretty underwhelming meal-wise but I'm going to share the stuff I was able to photograph anyway.

This was probably my favorite meal of the week. It was simple but so delicious and I was happy to have avocado toast back in my life. The grapes were refreshing and so good.

We celebrated my niece's 8th (OMG!!!!!) birthday last week and I ended up with this giant plate of pasta with garlic and olive oil and broccoli. It was delicious but as you all know I'm not a big pasta person generally and this portion was HUGE so it lasted for 3 meals for me. 

For a quick breakfast at work I brought a piece of the Trader Joe's vegan banana bread and a pear. It was really good and a great quick meal on the go.

My super random meal of the week was some of the Trader Joe's gyoza (OMG I'M ADDICTED TO THESE!!!!) and a pear. Random combo but still a great meal.

I picked up one of these instant miso ramen cups from Trader Joe's as a quick work lunch when I don't have time to make it and today is that day. I'm going to give it a try for lunch today and I'll definitely let you know how it is.

So that's what I have for you today! I hope that you all have a great week and a very happy and safe Thanksgiving!!!

Recipe! Vegan No Chicken Noodle Soup

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and that you had a great week. It snowed here yesterday and it was a mess but I guess the one benefit of still not having a car is that I didn't have to clean it off or drive in the disgusting weather. I'm hoping to have the car situation taken care of this weekend because it has been an absolute nightmare and my anxiety levels have been through the roof. That's why I thought today would be the perfect day to share my recipe for No Chicken Noodle Soup.

There is no better comfort food than chicken noodle soup. I have missed it so much as it was a staple in my diet when I was a kid. I decided to make it a mission to veganize it and luckily it was incredibly easy to do… so easy in fact that it feels ridiculous to share such a simple recipe. It's so good and authentic tasting (to me at least) that I feel like I have to share it. I know that there are a lot of recipes for chickpea noodle soup, tofu noodle soup, etc., but I felt like I wanted to find the perfect chicken substitute and I finally found it: Soy Curls!!! They are PERFECT for this soup and when I eat this soup it tastes really authentic and delicious.

Just as a note, if you see a link in the ingredients list it is just to share what I used to make the recipe, I have no affiliation with any company or product.

No Chicken Noodle Soup

Servings: I usually get two out of this but I guess it could feed one super hungry person?

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup mirepoix (mixture of chopped carrot, onion and celery)*

1 small clove of garlic, chopped

3 1/2 cups water

1 heaping tsp Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base

Black pepper to taste

1/3 cup uncooked noodles of choice (I used gluten free)

1/3 cup soy curls, dry

Directions:

1. In a soup pot (small to medium size), soften mirepoix for 2 minutes using a little cooking spray or water if you would prefer to be oil free. Add garlic and cook additional 1 minute.

2. Add water and No Chicken base to pot and season with black pepper to your taste (I like a lot of pepper!). Bring to a boil.

3. Add noodles and soy curls to pot and let them cook in the broth for 10-12 minutes until softened.

4. Serve and enjoy!

Notes: I don't like a ton of broth in my soup so this may end up being too little for some. If you prefer more broth add another 1/2 cup of water. Taste broth and if you feel like it was diluted too much add another 1/4 tsp of bouillon.

*I usually buy already chopped mirepoix from the store because I am lazy and I keep it in the freezer for quick bowls of soup. If you prefer to chop your own I would recommend doing a big batch (1-2 carrots, 1-2 celery stalks and 1 large onion) and storing it in the freezer to have when needed.

If you end up trying this recipe please let me know if you like it! You can make it gluten free by using gluten free noodles like I did. This soup will surely be a winter staple for me and I love how comforting it is. What are some of your favorite comfort foods? Have you been able to find vegan versions of it? 

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend! I will see you back here on Tuesday! 💜

New (To Me) Trader Joe's Stuff and Some Yummy Meals!

Hey everyone! I hope that you are well! I'll be honest, last week was a total shit show and this week has not been starting off great either so things have been kind of a mess for me. I did still make sure to capture some of the things I was eating as well as a partial Trader Joe's haul. I tend to get the same things week to week so this week I only photographed the things that were new to me. I know a lot of these products are not new in Trader Joe's but I had never tried them before so I figured I would share them.

So before I get into the photos I have 2 side notes:

1. Part of the reason this week has sucked was because my car finally died (it was a 1998 Nissan Altima) and not only did I have to part ways with it but car hunting has been a nightmare and I have to depend on others to get around. It has been incredibly stressful and I just can't wait until this is done.

2. After eliminating gluten for however long it has been I decided that it just isn't doing anything so I'm adding it back in (in moderation) so some of these meals do have gluten in them.

Ok, let's get into all the things!

So up first are the things that I got from Trader Joe's that I've never tried before. I have heard great things about the Miso Ginger Broth and thought it would be perfect for a quick dinner during the cold months. I also got the Maple Leaf Cookies (which I'm sure will be awesome with tea), THE VEGAN BANANA BREAD (!!!! It took so long for us to get it at my store!) and some of the Thai vegetable gyoza.

My first meal was an Asian Chopped Salad that came straight from the bag 😂 It was really delicious and it was a nice departure from my usual Caesar style salad.

I tried the gluten free Daiya Pepperoni Pizza and it was pretty good! I would probably just get the plain cheese next time because I'm just not a pepperoni fan but I was pretty happy with how it tasted. I wouldn't never pay the regular price of $10.49 for it but I would definitely get one the next time it is on sale to keep in the freezer.

This, my friends, is the piece de resistance this week. I made this amazing soup in less than 15 minutes with 4 ingredients. I used 1 cup of the Ginger Miso broth pictured above, some baby bok choy, the Thai veggie gyoza (also pictured above) and some green onion. It was so incredible and will DEFINITELY be a winter staple meal.

I made some zucchini noodle pasta with sauce and beef less crumbles to bring to work for lunch.

And here is a piece of toast with crunchy peanut butter and banana which I have been craving FOR SO LONG. 

So that's what I have for you today! I hope you all have a wonderful week and hopefully I'll have a happy car update for you on Friday! 💜

Fun Friday: Stuff I'm Into!

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well and ready for the weekend. I have something a little different today and I'm going to be doing a "Stuff I'm Into" post with some things I've been enjoying lately and some things that I'm really excited to try as well. I hope you all like it and let me know what kinds of things you are enjoying!

Books

So up first I have a few books that I'm really excited to get into. The first book is called The Great Big Book of Amazing Creative Lettering and I got it because I'm obsessed with watching YouTube videos of people working on their bullet journals and I get so jealous of their amazing lettering skills. I really want to practice lettering and while I definitely want to learn calligraphy and brush lettering I also thought it would be fun to learn some different and unique types of letting. I picked up this book from 5 Below and I'm really excited to try it out.

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The second book I'm really excited to get into is this new cookbook I got! It's The Simply Vegan Cookbook by Dustin Harder. I have been getting really bored with my meals and wanted a new cookbook to shake things up. I wanted something fuss free and healthy and this book kept coming up in recommendations. I checked out what kinds of recipes were included and I was really pleased to see that the book was arranged by main ingredient and I really love that. I just received it so I haven't really had a chance to try anything but I plan on doing a few review once I get to go through it more and try some of the recipes.

Netflix

So I'll give the head's up now that I have decided to take a break from True Crime content for a little while basically for my mental health BUT I will be sharing some recommendations in this post based on what I've watched and listened to in the past few months. First, I binge watched the second season of Making A Murderer within a 24 hour period of time. I couldn't stop watching but I was forced to because of work and adulting. If you watched the first season and found it interesting I would definitely recommend watching the second season. It was absolutely riveting.

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I have been re-watching the first two seasons of Queer Eye because I love them and I love this show. I remember the original one and loved it as well. They are so adorable and fun and this show always freaking makes me cry. It's so good.

Podcast

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Yes, I know that this is another true crime recommendation but I found this podcast and binge listened until I caught up. I really like the hosts and their friendship and I like how they present the information as well as their commentary. The inject a little humor but it isn't forced like other podcasts and it isn't really graphic at all. I really like it and while I'm going to be staying away from True Crime content for a little while I do highly recommend this podcast.

Food

As you may have guessed from my last few posts I've been really enjoying soup as the weather cools down. My favorite has been my No Chick'n Noodle Soup which is gluten free and obviously vegan. It's so delicious and perfect comfort food for a cool autumn day.

You'll also notice that I've been loving my tots and salads. I've been trying to eat a salad a day and the tots are fun to have on the side. Super yummy meal.

Finally, I've been loving my fruit with peanut butter! I really want to find some good gluten free bread so I can have some toast with peanut butter and banana. I've been craving that so much!

So those are some things that I've been enjoying lately and some things I'm looking forward to getting into as well. Hopefully I'll be able to update you on my fun lettering and I would like to give a proper review of the cookbook once I get to try some recipes from it.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! ❤

New Products and Stuff I Ate!

Hi everyone! I hope that all is well and that you had a great weekend! I feel like the weekend was really long for some reason (well probably because we gained an hour) and I am definitely not mad at that. I'm excited for this post because I have a few new (at least to me) products to share and a few meals that I enjoyed this week.

I saw a post on Instagram from the Sweet To Lick Market that showed some new vegan seafood items that they had just gotten in. I was never a huge fan of seafood before my veg days but for some reason shrimp was the exception. I saw the breaded vegan shrimp and had to get my butt over to the market and pick it up. You know I can't just walk out from the market with one item but I did show some self control and only grabbed a few items. I got a package of the vegan breaded shrimp, these yummy looking organic cocoa rice sticks filled with coconut cream and some pudding.

I have been craving pizza lately so I decided to splurge on a Daiya pizza (it was on sale and still a splurge at the sale price, I would never buy it full price). I don't know what possessed me to get the pepperoni style version because I was never a pepperoni fan but I think I was just super curious. I can't wait to try this, I think Friday night may be a pizza night!

I obviously couldn't wait to try the breaded vegan shrimp so I cooked some up along with some tots and gave them a try. I'm going to be honest… they were so disappointing. They had exactly zero flavor at all. They were so bland and I don't like tartar sauce or cocktail sauce or anything so it was just plain bland boringness. If you have a sauce or something to add some flavor then maybe but for the price I just don't think they were worth it.

I have been eating tons of salads lately. I've been trying to eat one a day. I am going to be eating different salads too so I'll make sure to photograph those.

My vegan chick'n noodle soup has been a staple meal now that it had gotten chilly out. I love it with a piece of fruit and on this day I brought the leftover soup to work with a pear. So delicious.

So that's what I have for you today! I'll review the rice cocoa stick things when I try them as well as the pizza! I hope that you all have a wonderful week and I'll see you back here on Friday!

What I Ate in a Day #Whatever

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I hope you are all doing well and had a great Halloween! I met up with my family to go trick or treating with my niece for a little bit and it was fun to see her in her cute Zombie Cheerleader costume. Otherwise it was fairly uneventful. Did you guys do anything fun?

For today I have a what I ate in a day post! I didn't feel like going back and seeing how many I've done so far to properly number it, hence #Whatever 😂 For this day I just ate three regular meals. I keep going back and forth between three normal meals and 5 small meals. I'm still working on my digestion (which I actually found out is likely fibromyalgia related) and no matter what I do I seem to feel sick by the end of the day. Maybe I should try doing a larger breakfast and lunch and have a light dinner? That might help anyway so my body doesn't have to work so hard to digest at night. I'll figure it out… I'm just thinking "out loud" for now 😂

Anyway, this is what I ate in a day!

For breakfast I had 2 bananas with some crunchy peanut butter. Super delicious and also really filling.

For lunch I grabbed some broccoli and rice from the deli next door. Also delicious.

For dinner I ended up making a vegan chick'n caesar salad and tots again. I ran out of the Morningstar Chick'n so I decided to soak some soy curls in some Not Chicken broth to see if that would work out. It was ok but the Morningstar is definitely better for salads. The soy curls are great for soup and I'm sure they are awesome for stir fries when topped with a delicious sauce. Anyway, the meal was still super delicious.

I saw this meme and had to share it with you. I laughed so hard, I love it so much 😂 

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