OMG I'm Back!!

Heyyyyyy everyone!! I has been entirely too long and I'm so sorry for that. Please know that I have missed all of you and I have missed this blog. Life got really hard for a while forcing me to make some big changes but I finally feel like I'm in a much better place. A place where I feel confident making the commitment to come back and start doing what I love again. This blog has been such a special place for me over the years. I've made some great friends and you have all given me love and support during some of the most difficult times in my life. I'm so grateful to all of you.

With that said, my time on THIS blog is going to end here. This is not my life anymore. I've worked too hard and have come too far. I've taken risks, made moves and have created the life I've always wanted. And that deserves a fresh start, a new space and a clean slate. If you care to join me, I'll now be blogging over at Vegan Desert Butterfly. The first few posts will fill you in on what has been going on and how I got back to the desert. I really hope you'll join me, I'm so excited to be back and would love to see you all over there 💜

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?

Saying Hi and What I've Been Up To!

Hey everyone! Long time no see (again). Has this pandemic been hitting everyone especially hard? It's been so hard for me to climb out of this stress filled hole I've been in, hence the disappearance for months at a time. I've been missing everyone so much though and I really wanted to touch base and see how you are all doing. It's hard for me to commit to making regular posts or even reading blogs regularly (when I get home from work I just can't bring myself to be on the computer) but it's just been way too long.

Before I share some of the stuff that I've eaten and done in the last few months I figured I'd post a brief update. I've been back in the office since my last post and it's just as stressful as you would imagine it would be. It's not necessary for me to be in the office when I worked from home successfully for months but it's not my call to make unfortunately. It's exhausting and it just makes it very difficult for me to want to do anything outside of work. I was also potentially exposed so I've had to deal with that stress (which is infuriating when you spend 9 months doing the right thing - I don't even eat lunch because I'm so afraid to take off my mask) and getting tested. On top of that I've been in a pretty deep depression for at least two months so it's just been a lot. I'm finally starting to climb out and working really hard to make some life changes that I'm excited about and I would love to bring you on that journey with me when it happens! 

Now that we have all of that out of the way, I'll show you a bit of what I've been up to the last few months.

This meal was super delicious and created from leftovers. I had some roasted veggies that I needed to use up so I just boiled up the last bits of some pasta (you'll notice different shapes haha) and added it all together and enjoyed a really tasty meal. It's amazing how some of the best meals come from scraps in your fridge.

I really love making breakfast sandwiches and this one is a pretty typical one. It is a toasted bagel with some vegan cheese, beyond breakfast sausage and ketchup. Super delicious and a really filling weekend brunch.

This salad was incredible. It was some lettuce, cranberries, almonds, violife feta, apple, balsamic vinaigrette and one of the chicken substitutes (I think this may have been Alpha brand, I was loving that over the summer), This was so refreshing.

A really easy and amazing summer breakfast - juicy peach, strawberries and cherries.

Another salad, this time caesar. I'm almost positive that was Alpha brand grilled chick'n.

At one point during the summer I decided to get up super early on the weekend and get outside. I had been stuck inside for so long I really needed to be by the water. I drove out to the marina in Northport, NY and took a walk around (masked, of course). It was really nice to be outside.

A few weeks later a friend and I went walking in a preserve in Freeport (also masked) and it was such a beautiful day and a much needed day out for both of us. It was a really great day and I'm glad that we were able to do that.

Clearly I'm into panoramic photos.

I haven't really created much art at all but I had ordered some new stamps and wanted to try them out so I made these two little cards. I'm really happy with how they came out!

My birthday also passed while I was on hiatus and one of my friends from work was so incredibly kind and thoughtful and grabbed some vegan donuts at Dunwell Donuts in Brooklyn (she lives in Brooklyn). I thought it was so thoughtful because its' very rare that I can enjoy anything that is brought in for us or for anyone else's birthday and she made sure I had something I could eat.

My mom and I ventured out to the Copiague Bakery where there are some vegan options and I grabbed my birthday treats. This was half of an enormous slice of chocolate cream cake and I also grabbed some chocolate crumb cake and both were INCREDIBLE. It's always nice to find some more vegan options.

This is a much more recent meal and the photo is terrible and doesn't do it justice. I love a chick'n caesar wrap and haven't had one in forever so I decided to make one. My go to caesar dressing is the Follow Your Heart Caesar. I love it and this wrap was delicious.

Finally, a terrible photo of a delicious meal I had yesterday. This is a Caesar salad with sun dried tomatoes and tofu "croutons." I've been obsessed with making tofu croutons in the air fryer and will never go back to regular croutons. Seriously so delicious.

So that's been a peek into some of what's been going on. I haven't photographed much at all (I've enjoyed food that isn't salad, a lot of it haha) but I'm trying to get back into the groove of life. It's overwhelming but I really did miss you all so much. Please please update me in the comments, I want to know how you are! I'm sorry for always disappearing, just trying to get through all of this.

Love and hugs to you all 💜

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 💚

All the Hauls

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well and continuing to remain safe and healthy. Things continue to be crazy here but I'm managing the best that I can. This week was a big haul week. I really needed to get back to the store to get some fresh food and I wanted to plan another order from Sweet To Lick to get some vegan specialty items that are more difficult to find. Finally, I placed my first order from Nuts.com to get some random snacks and other items.

I was really missing my Korean rice cakes and Udon noodles and I have been wanting some tofu as well so I decided to go to H-Mart for this trip. I didn't get a ton of stuff because I still have pantry items so I just got some fresh food and the specialty items that I was looking for.

For my fresh items I got some spring mix salad, seasoned seaweed (not fresh but it's in this pic for whatever reason), avocados, green onion, grape tomatoes and some sweet potatoes. I have been craving sweet potato fries so much!

I also got every type of tofu possible 😂 I have recipes for all of them, ha! I also got my favorite frozen udon noodles and the sliced rice cakes (they didn't have the tubes).

Up next is my Sweet To Lick haul. As you know from my last haul, they've created a stress free shopping experience. I called in my order that she packed up as I placed it. I ran over and grabbed my bag off of a shelf and headed back to my car. I am happy to be able to support an amazing local vegan business while also stocking up on some specialty items. I doubled up on most things to make it last a few weeks.

I got two each of the Earth Balance Puffs, EB Cheddar Squares and 2fer bars.

I also got two Violife cheese slices, Beyond Breakfast Sausage, Field Roast Breakfast Sausage and Violife Mozzarella Shreds.

Finally, this is my first haul from Nuts.com! I've heard great things from them and I really wanted to get stuff to snack on while I work because I tend to eat breakfast later (usually around 10-11) and I start work at 1. I figure these snacks will help me get through to dinner and will be easy to eat while I work.

I know it's hard to see what is in the bags. Basically, the bottom left blue bag is vegan mini chocolate chips (they were a good price for a huge bag and always good to have on hand), above it in the green bag is some puffed quinoa which I thought would be delicious in some homemade chocolates or even to try as a cereal of sorts. The yellow bag is dried diced apples, the blue bag next to it is peanut chews because chocolate and why not. Under that is dried peaches which is my all time favorite dried fruit. They are so delicious and I don't typically find them in stores (although I guess I usually don't think to look) and then the last bag is lightly salted cashews. 

I was really happy with my Nuts.com order. Sure things can be a little pricey but most nuts and dried fruit is. The bags are quite large and they will last me a while. I placed my order on Thursday, it shipped Friday and was on my doorstep Saturday morning. They have tons of stuff beyond nuts and dried fruit. They have grains, beans, legumes, superfood stuff; snacks; candy, energy bites, etc. I am not affiliated with Nuts.com at all but I do think it is a great option to stock up your pantry if you don't feel like braving the world just now.

So that's what I have in my fridge, freezer and cupboards right now. How have you all been holding up?

One of my favorite local vegan eateries re-opened and I was happy to be able to support them during this stressful time. I'm looking forward to sharing that with you in my next post. For now, stay safe and healthy my friends 💚

Quarantine Eats

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and that you had a good week and that you are all safe and healthy. Things are moving right along here. I am losing track of days and time but I guess that's all par for the course. I haven't been great about photographing my meals but I guess that's mostly because it's the same over and over. I did photograph a few though and figured I'd pop in and share them with you.

I've been enjoying my simple salads. It feels good to get some fresh veggies in. Hopefully I'll feel more confident in more raw stuff as things start to get better but for now I'm sticking with packaged stuff.

OMG that chocolate cake you guys. It's a chocolate cake with the most rich ganache on top. The cake is not big but it's rich. So delicious and I'm glad I splurged on it!

A wonky mini flatbread pizza, ha! It was very delicious though.

I really wanted a comfort meal so I made myself some of my favorite vegan Chick'n Noodle Soup! I made enough for two meals so I enjoyed the rest the next day for lunch and it was perfect!

So that's all I have for you today. I do have some more fun stuff to share in my next post so definitely stay tuned!!

💚 Stay safe my friends!

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!! 💚