Grocery Haul and New Products!

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was certainly productive if anything. I'm really excited to show you this grocery haul which includes some new products that I found! I can't believe how many cool things are coming out at the stores now. I'm going to skip my blabber and just get to the goods! I went to Trader Joe's as well as Stop & Shop.

Trader Joe's produce: Romaine hearts, sliced mushrooms, tomatoes and broccoli.

Trader Joe's groceries: Almond milk, a new vegan drink (Vanilla Almond Spiced Chai!!!), tofurkey, soft pretzel and slivered almonds for some almond feta I'm going to make!

Look at how awesome this is! It's everything bagel seasoning! What?! I know I'm definitely going to be sprinkling this on the pretzel and we'll see where else it ends up! I think it would be kind of amazing on popcorn too.

Stop & Shop: Gardein tenders (Trader Joe's hasn't been stocked in weeks and I wanted to make a chick'n caesar salad. These are so much more expensive than Trader Joe's too, boo!), Califia Hazelnut creamer for my decaf coffee that I drink once a week and of course some stuffed grape leaves!

I also found this!!! They had the Cherry Garcia and it was hard to choose but I went with the Coconut Seven Layer Bar flavor. 

You guys. This shit is good! The texture is super creamy, definitely an improvement over the Chocolate Brownie flavor which was a little icy to me. I'm happy I found this! Cherry Garcia is definitely next.

I made another stir fry because the last one I made was so good. This one has leftover eggplant with garlic sauce I had and I mixed it with tofu, mushrooms, asparagus and broccoli. There is some rice under there too. So good you guys. I made a huge batch of this so I'll be enjoying it all week. 

So that's what I have for you today! I've been feeling really good about my posts here lately. I've been really motivated and inspired and I haven't felt that in a long time. I'm really excited to keep bringing you fun posts with delicious vegan meals :)

I hope that you all have a great week! I'll see you on Saturday!!

What I Eat In A Day #3

Hey guys! I hope that all is well. I didn't forget about you this week, haha. I still can't believe I did that. I hope that you are all enjoying the beginning of your weekend. I'm looking forward to joining you all in weekendland in a few hours. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to do another what I ate in a day post. I photographed all of my meals from yesterday. I actually also have a bonus photo of my lunch for today because it looked way too good not to share.

For breakfast I toasted up a pumpernickel bagel and had some tofutti on it. Super good, as always.

For lunch I was lazy as f*** so I decided to pick up some fresh veggie rolls and they were also delicious, as always. Always a steal at $6.49 for all of that. 

For dinner I stopped being lazy as f*** and made this hash brown scramble kind of thing. I used the frozen shredded hash browns from Trader Joe's and combined it with some mushrooms, spinach and green onion. As you can see it was topped with a generous amount of ketchup and it came out really well.

Since I already had the pan out to make my dinner I decided to go ahead and make my lunch for today and look how delicious it looks! It is so simple but it is probably one of the best stir fry dishes I've ever made. There is some jasmine rice on the bottom and the stir fry is tofu, mushroom and some thin asparagus. The sauce is hoisin sauce, tamari and garlic powder. It is a little sweet and a little savory and it came out better than I expected and I'm excited to enjoy it for lunch today!

So that's what I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed seeing what I ate in a day and one of my meals from today. I'm anticipating being back Tuesday with another grocery haul and some prep meals and/or meals I've eaten since today. I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll see you in a few days!

Trader Joe's Grocery Haul

Hey guys! I hope that you are all well and had a good week. Mine was incredibly busy which is why I didn't realize that I had nothing to post on Saturday until Saturday. I'm sorry I missed it but it happens sometimes. I'm currently at my brother's house just for two nights because my sister in law's grandma passed away and they had to fly out to Texas for the funeral. Her grandma lived a nice long life, she was about a month shy of turning 101 when she passed. She lived on her own into her 90s if I recall correctly. It's sad that she passed but like I said, she lived a nice long life.

I have a short post today with just a Trader Joe's grocery haul and a new product that I found. Check it out:

Two bags of shredded hash browns, baby spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, green onions, an avocado, apples (I think they are called Envy apples - I've heard good things and wanted to try them) and baby carrots.

Inner Peas, waffles, dried mango, lavash wraps, roasted seaweed snacks.

I didn't get these at Trader Joe's, I think I saw them at the regular grocery store but I thought they looked so good! I had tried them already when I took the picture and I really like them. The mint is subtle but still present. They also have a Double Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Macaroon and Cherry Chocolate Chip. These would be so good mixed into banana nice cream. I am definitely looking forward to trying the other flavors! If you can find these I'd definitely recommend them.

So that's what I have today! I'm going to try and get some pictures of my meals this week to show you on Saturday. Grapes must have been on sale because there were three bags at my house and I found three bags at my brother's house so there will definitely be a lot of grapes on the menu :) 

I hope you all have a great week! I think I decided that I will be posting on my second blog, Shine Bright In The Darkness, ever Sunday. I may add a second weekly post eventually but I think I'm going to stick with just Sundays for now. I just want to thank everyone that headed over there again for your support!

Sharing the Love

Hey guys! Happy Valentine's Day? I guess? It's funny, I've never really been into Valentine's Day at all. It's just never something that has been on my radar. I have been trying to figure out what today's post was going to be for a few days now and I finally came up with it this morning. I'm not going to make Valentine's Day themed treats or share any special meals because it's just not me. I did still want to incorporate the idea of love because I have nothing against the idea of love. So I decided that today I would share some things with you that I have been loving lately. Just as a heads up, I have no affiliation with any of these companies or people. These are just things that I've been genuinely enjoying lately and wanted to share with you.

A few posts ago I got a few comments on my nail polish and I wanted to share it with you. This is the color that I was wearing in that post. It is by Zoya which is the only brand I ever buy anymore. The color is called Dillon. It is gorgeous and definitely one of my new favorite shades. I love them because they are Big 5 Free (they removed 5 of the toxic chemicals that can be found in many other popular brands) and they are vegan. They are a bit pricey at $10 a bottle but I've never purchased a bottle at full price because they are always running promotions! 

This is the color I have on now. It is called Alice and it is one of their Pixie Dust shades. I was curious about it and thought the color was beautiful so I got it as part of my Black Friday purchase. You guys. It's GORGEOUS. Glittery (which you know I love) and it has texture to it. You don't use top coat because it dulls the color. I thought it would be impossible to take off but it really isn't (this is the second time I've used this color). I have my eye on a few more Pixie Dust shades for when they go on sale again and I'm looking to splurge on myself.

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I've never really been into the whole Alex and Ani craze but that changed a bit after I saw this beautiful bracelet. This is their Hand of Fatima bracelet and it is beautiful. It is essentially a Hamsa or a Hamesh and is supposed to protect you from negativity by "deflecting the gaze from the evil eye." I've always wanted a Hamsa and thought this one was perfect and I'm really glad that I treated myself to it. I really like that they have a whole collection of Charity designs where part of the proceeds will go toward the charity it represents. 

I have a few blogs that I've been reading and LOVING lately too. The first is Emilie Eats and she has a beautiful vegan blog that I discovered recently when I found her recipe for Black Bean Soup. Her blog is absolutely gorgeous and her recipes all sound delicious. Definitely check her out, she is amazing!

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As many of you may know, I am Jewish. I'm not really religious at all but I really enjoy the traditions of my religion. I was looking up recipes for Jewish cuisine one day and was led to What Jew Wanna Eat. This is NOT a vegan blog by any means. But you guys. She's fucking hilarious. I love reading her posts and I love her modern take on Jewish cooking. I think a lot of her recipes are easily veganizable and that is why I'm linking you over to her. I know a lot of people aren't really into promoting non-vegan content but I really like her ideas and like I said, I think a lot of her recipes can easily be made vegan. If you aren't into non-vegan content then it isn't for you. If you can look past that then definitely check her out. 

I'm still loving my Monbento Bento Box that I got a few weeks ago. The one above is my latest combination. On the left you have a simple salad of baby romaine and cherry tomatoes with Just Caesar dressing. The little container on the left has a homemade trail mix of peanuts, raisins and chocolate covered cacao nibs. In the box on the right is roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potato and a little tiny sauce container of ketchup. I love my little bento box and the color is still giving me all kinds of life.

I'm sorry but that is fucking hilarious. I don't have anything else to say about it. My brother sent it to me and I laughed for a solid 10 minutes.

I know I haven't been sharing my planner layouts lately but I still plan every week. I am glad I switched to my personal sized planner because I don't have much of a life and therefore not a whole lot of plans. I'm saving quite a bit of money on my stickers too. This is this week's layout and you guys… I really love it. This kit is called "Love Yourself" and I thought it was just absolutely perfect for this week. It's just glitter everywhere and a really beautiful, positive message. I love looking at my planner this week and had a really good time planning it all out. 

So there you have it! I hope that you liked it :) I know it is a little different from the strictly vegan food content I've been sharing lately but I thought it would be appropriate to spread some love today <3 I hope that you are all doing well and for those of you that popped over to my second blog, Shine Bright In The Darkness, thank you SO MUCH! I am always so overwhelmed by all of the support you give me. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and I'll see you on Saturday!

All The Stuff

Hey guys! I hope that all is well with you. It's been a bit of an up and down kind of week for me but things are coming around. I started off with a not so quick trip to the ER on Tuesday because I was experiencing kidney infection type symptoms… which occurred after getting zero treatment from Urgent Care so I decided to skip the follow up there and just get it taken care of. The test results were inconclusive as they always seem to be for me but they treated it like an infection and it's getting better. Anyway, I'm on the mend, all is well. Thursday was Snowpocalypse so I was home and ended up shoveling for 2 hours. It was so heavy! I can't complain though, so far it has been the only significant snow we've had this season *knocking wood.*

On the plus side, I'm really excited to share a project that I've started with you. As I've mentioned in my OCD post, mental health awareness has become a passion of mine and I'm trying to do my part by sharing my story. Well, I've decided to take it a little further by starting a second blog. It will focus specifically on mental health and I'll be sharing a lot about my journey, talking about things I notice happening in regards to mental health and inviting people to share their stories as well. The blog is called Shine Bright In The Darkness. I've put up my first post already and plan to post again soon. I don't have a posting schedule for that blog yet but I'm hoping it will be 1-2 times per week. I'm also really open to suggestions and requests on content that you would like to see. The goal is to help people by sharing more of my story so if there is something specifically that you would like to see that might help please let me know! You are welcome to join me over there if this is a topic that interests you. If you are not interested I will be keeping up my Tuesday and Saturday posts here so I'll see you here! :)

OK now on to business. I've photographed a bunch of my meals to show you! I've been eating pretty well and I'm excited to share it with you.

I made a buffalo cauliflower salad to bring to work with me early in the week. This came out really well! It was romaine, cucumber, tomato, carrot, buffalo cauliflower and Just Ranch dressing.

On Wednesday I was exhausted after a 7 hr trip to the ER (we didn't get out until after 1) so I just picked up some veggie rolls from the store. It was a good decision, they were delicious and easy.

My favorite meal has been this simple plate of sweet potato wedges and roasted brussels sprouts.

On Thursday I made a pot of black bean soup and you guys... it is the BEST black bean soup I've ever had! I basically just filled up this bowl for the picture. I ate about half because it was A LOT in there. I used this recipe from Emilie Eats. I didn't use bell pepper, jalapeño or cilantro. I also cut the salt from 2 teaspoons to 1 and I'm so glad I did. I found it to be quite salty with just the one, next time I'll probably cut it down even more. It is DELICIOUS though. It would be great over rice!

This was the actual meal that I ate. Half of the bowl of soup and some oil free oven fries. Super delicious and perfectly comforting after a few hours of digging out.

I made this delicious sandwich for lunch yesterday. Hummus, tomato, pickles, carrots and romaine on a pita. Super good.

Every time it snows we get these memes and they make me laugh EVERY TIME so I wanted to share my favorite with you. All of my friends in snowy climates can relate I'm sure! And no, my boss didn't make me go to work, he actually decided to close the day before.

So that's all I have for you today! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend and for those of you dealing with the cold and the snow please stay safe and warm <3

What I Eat In A Day #2

Hey guys! I hope that you all had a nice weekend! I was a total lazy ass on Sunday just to kick the rest of the cold. It pretty much went away in 36 hours but I just wanted to make sure. I'm going to credit the nutrients I crammed into my body. Anyway, I was fairly diligent about photographing my meals in my laziness on Sunday. Oh and no I didn't watch the game. I don't get football so it would have been lost on me anyway. I did make a festive dinner though, ha! Anyway, here is a full day of meals from Sunday.

For breakfast I had this beautiful bowl of oats that I topped with banana, raisins and dark chocolate covered cacao nibs. This was really good. Oh and there is cinnamon in there too.

This is part of my lunch. I thought the plate looked pretty so I just took a picture of it solo. This has become a favorite combination for me recently. I actually plan on having it again for dinner tonight.

This is the full meal. I wanted to eat the berries before they went bad so I made a simple bowl of strawberries and raspberries. The raspberries were still a weird sickness craving because as I've mentioned, I don't normally like raspberries. This meal was delicious.

I tried to be festive for the Superbowl even though I didn't watch it. I was going to make my Pizza Quesadillas but didn't feel like dealing with it so I make a tortilla margarita pizza and some buffalo cauliflower bites! I was so lazy I didn't even bother to bread my own cauliflower. I bought the tempura cauliflower from Trader Joe's, crisped it up in the oven, tossed it in Frank's RedHot Buffalo Sauce (confirmed vegan, even with "butter flavoring") and put them back in the oven for a bit. Oh and I dipped them in Just Ranch dressing from Hampton Creek. This was a really good meal. And I had ton of cauliflower left over.

So that's what I ate in a day. I'll be back on Saturday with another post. I don't know what it'll be yet but I'll figure it out :) I hope you all have a great week!

Photo Round Up

Hey guys! I hope that all is well and that you are having a great week! I've been holding on to a bunch of photos for about a week so I figured I would share them with you in today's post :)

The first day I was at my brother's house I had no groceries so I needed to grab a quick breakfast and lunch to bring to work. I stopped by Starbucks for a decaf soy hazelnut latte and the oatmeal that I topped with the dried fruit and nuts.

I also grabbed a chopped salad which I topped with balsamic vinaigrette when I ate it. This one has romaine, chickpeas, cucumber, carrot and sun dried tomatoes. So good.

I made some overnight oats for breakfast one day. It has oats, almond milk, ground flax, cinnamon, raisins, almonds and some dark chocolate covered cacao nibs.

This was lunch one day - the best red lentil soup with some Lemon Energy Bites and an apple.

I didn't get a ton of pics of the babies but here is Tyler lounging next to me.

TJ has no problems making himself comfortable.

I love his face so much.

So I ended up getting sick on Thursday and had to stay home on Friday because I just felt so awful. One way I know when I'm actually sick and it's not just allergies is that I have major cravings for super nutritious foods. I didn't have much of an appetite but I made this one big beautiful meal to enjoy last night.

Roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potato with a super simple caesar salad with baby romaine that I had grabbed. I don't know if it is a placebo or if it really was the nutrients but I felt a lot better after. I still feel yucky but it definitely helped.

I also was craving fruit and figured it wouldn't hurt to get some probiotics in so I had some So Delicious Coconut Yogurt (Strawberry Banana flavor) with fresh raspberries (which is weird because I don't normally like raspberries) and strawberries. This was also really good.

So there you have all of my photos from the week! I hope that you are doing well. Does anyone care about the Superbowl? I'm going to enjoy a festive dinner but that's about it, ha! 

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend! <3