Hauls and What I Ate on the 4th of July

Hey everyone! Happy 4th of July! I hope that you are all enjoying the day and have had a great weekend. Mine has been busier than I expected and as always I haven't really had the time I need to take care of myself and things that I need to take care of but I guess that will all come soon. I still have intentions of taking some time for myself this weekend as long as the weather holds up and I'm really looking forward to it. I was able to accomplish a little bit of my cleaning and I did relax a little bit but otherwise it was a pretty busy weekend.

I managed to stop at what seemed like a million stores to pick up a few odds and ends so I can make some fun meals this week. I figured I'd share the hauls with you. There is also a non-food haul and my yummy 4th of July dinner!

Two thirds of this picture I found because of Vegan Peace! I saw the Mocha Nut Latte and the Onion Salt on her Instagram feed and knew I had to add them to my list! I'm so excited to try the Onion Salt! I already know the first way I'm going to use it and I'm so excited. I am also really looking forward to trying out the Mocha Nut Latte. I'll let you know what I think! I also grabbed some turmeric because.... you know, health.

For some produce I grabbed some basil, romaine lettuce, baby carrots, fresh garlic, one lonely tomato, an avocado and some frozen corn.

I grabbed some Ezekiel English muffins from Fairway and some really yummy air packed sun dried tomatoes from H-Mart (I could only find oil packed at Trader Joe's).

I grabbed some Tofutti sour cream for my quesadillas (oh yeah, I grabbed some more un-pictured tortillas and fat free refried beans) and some Tofutti cream cheese. These came from Stop & Shop.

So I decided that the 4th of July was a good enough excuse to get some vegan ice cream. While I was in Stop & Shop I checked out the vegan ice cream section and saw my absolute favorite kind on sale ($3.29!!!) and figured it was a sign, ha! Of course I picked it up. If you haven't tried the Chocolate Cookies 'N' Cream Cashew Milk Ice Cream grab it if you can! It's so good.

Here is my non-food haul! I decided to head over to the mall (and those of you that have been here a while know that I struggle with the mall) and pick up a few things from Lush. I picked up my tried and true Fresh Farmacy facial cleanser. I really love this cleanser. It's really gentle and soothing on my sensitive skin and even helped tame an allergic reaction that I had to a makeup wipe once. Yes, it is expensive but it lasts a really long time and it's worth it to me to spend a little more on a quality product that I know will be ok on my sensitive skin. I also wanted to try some of their toothpaste options. I like the charcoal toothpaste I have but to be honest it's still a bit of a mindf**k to brush your teeth with black toothpaste and sometimes I wish my teeth felt a bit cleaner after. I've heard some good reviews about the Ultrablast Tooth Powder and wanted to try it before it gets discontinued (which is happening soon I think). In anticipation of it getting discontinued I also asked to sample the Sparkle Toothy Tabs which are solid toothpaste tabs! I think this is such a unique idea and perfect for travel. They were incredibly generous with their samples and gave me enough for a full two weeks of brushing twice a day so I could make sure I really liked it. I tried the Ultrablast tooth powder first and have used it twice so far and I really like it. My teeth feel clean and it's really refreshing. If you read the packaging close enough you'll notice that wasabi is an ingredient in the tooth powder. This was a concern for me because truthfully I hate wasabi. You don't really taste it at all though and I am really glad I tried this. I may have to pick up some more before it is discontinued!

Side Note: After grabbing the link to the Sparkle Toothy Tabs I noticed that those are a Last Chance Item too. I also noticed in some reviews that they have an overwhelming black pepper flavor which seems a little weird to me. I'm kind of nervous about trying them.

This is a random picture of my iced coffee at work on Saturday. I used my new favorite Silk Soy Creamer and it was delicious.

I've been wanting to make the Hummus for Bagels from Veganomicon for a while now (it's one of my favorite hummus recipes and it's been a while) so I made some this morning. I think this is the best batch so far! I added a little extra lemon and it's so delicious.

Naturally I had to have some for my brunch meal today and I decided to make my favorite sandwich with it. I toasted up a bialy and had it with hummus, sun dried tomato and basil. It was so good you guys and super filling. I was good until dinner after this.

For dinner I attempted to be somewhat festive for the 4th of July. I had a delicious "Cheeseburger" using a vegan Boca Burger and some Chao Cheese and topped it with ketchup, pickles, lettuce and tomato. I assure you that when I eat boca burgers they never look like this but I guess this is my attempt at making the most appealing looking burger I could :) I had it with a side of corn and it was delicious. 

There will be some of that ice cream in my future for sure!

That's all I have for you today! I really hope that you enjoyed your holiday weekend! I'll be back this weekend hopefully with some interesting meals to show you!