Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope that you are well! I'm sitting tight over here. I have to say that getting back to the gym has definitely be so amazing and I always feel better after a workout. Sadly I have had to take two of my scheduled days off because I have a sciatica flare up which makes all kinds of movement an issue so I'm just trying to deal with that and then I can get back to it. Does anyone have any tips for sciatica pain? This is the worst flare up I've ever had and I'm just trying to be as still as possible while siting or laying but also trying to get up and move around to stretch out while I can. Anti inflammatories are hard for me since they are so harsh on your stomach and mine is already so sensitive. I'd appreciate any tips you may have.

Otherwise things have been the same. Summer and fall is our super busy season at work so I'm staying busy there. I've been trying to capture as many of my meals this week as possible to make up for the lack of them lately. I have been eating and enjoying some yummy food!

This was a random snack I had one day. I really wanted some carrots and hummus and of course you know I love my stuffed grape leaves. Such a yummy and satisfying snack.

For breakfast one day I was really craving some delicious fruit so I had a bunch of cherries and three plums. The plums were so sweet and juicy. I am so happy to have summer produce back in my life.

I've been having some chocolate cravings so I made up this container to bring to work with me. It is a serving of the Trader Joe's just a handful Almonds and about 2 tbsp of Trader Joe's chocolate chips. I keep them on my desk if I want a quick snack.

I call this my third grade lunch, ha! It felt very reminiscent of a packed elementary school lunch (before nuts were banned). It is a peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread with some baby carrots and two small peaches. So yummy and exactly what I wanted.

I used about 2/3 of the bag of gluten free pasta to make a big batch of my favorite Vegan Chick'n Ranch Pasta Salad that I started making last year. It is so good but I don't eat it often because I just don't crave pasta that much. Well the craving hit and I made a big batch. It was delicious for dinner last night and I will be eating it for lunch today and tomorrow at work as well. It's so easy to make. I just mix up some of my favorite pasta (I use gluten free) with some lettuce or greens of choice (this is butter lettuce), some quartered grape tomatoes, vegan grilled chicken strips of choice (I use Morningstar vegan strips) and mix it all together with Just Ranch. It's so easy and I highly recommend it. It would be perfect for a summer BBQ too!

So this is some of the stuff I've been eating this week. I've been getting better about photographing but I still need to try and be more diligent. I hope that you all had a great week and that you enjoy your weekend! Any fun plans? It's going to be in the 90s here so I'm probably not going to be doing all that much 😂

Have a great weekend!

Grocery Haul & Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I'm back with another real post today, yay! I've been trying to be diligent about taking photos of my meals and I know that people love seeing grocery hauls so I'm including that in this post as well. It was my first time grocery shopping in a few weeks (pantry challenge AKA budget challenge) so I'm happy to incorporate more fresh foods back into my meals.

I also have another really exciting update. I've gotten my butt back to the gym and I've been pretty diligent with my routine so far! For right now I'm trying to establish the routine and habit back into my schedule so my workouts are usually just 45 minutes of cardio but I'm really excited to start working some strength training back into my program as well. I felt my best a few years back when I was a little gym bunny and got to be the most fit I've ever been in my life. I was never super thin but feeling strong and healthy made me feel like such a bad ass and I really miss that feeling. So, I think you'll see those health goals reflected in these foods for the most part as well.

So first up we have some groceries:

The bulk of my Trader Joe's haul was fresh produce which was what I was missing in between trips to the grocery store. I grabbed some plums, peaches, broccoli and cauliflower, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, baby carrots and baby spinach.

I also grabbed these Crunchy Curls (Lentil and Potato snack crisps that are Snapea crisp level addictive), a bag of chocolate chips and an avocado.

I really wanted some of my Vegan Ranch Pasta Salad that I started making last year so I ran to the regular grocery store and grabbed some of my favorite gluten free pasta, vegan chicken strips and some butter lettuce.

And here is some stuff I've been eating!

I had been in a breakfast rut so I decided to make some chia pudding! I made this an almond chia pudding by adding a little almond extract (I also added some cinnamon) and I topped it with defrosted wild blueberries from Trader Joe's, sliced almonds and some coconut chips. It was so good! 

Some amazing avocado toast. Seriously it may be hipster chic but it's damn good.

I know it's in styrofoam and I hate it but sadly I can't control that. This was an otherwise delicious lunch  of rice with beans and broccoli.

I have been searching for this seasonal limited release Watermelon Wonder Kombucha and I finally found it!!! I was so excited and it was on sale so I grabbed two. I've been really starting to like Kombucha lately and it's been my favorite way to get my probiotics in so I was really happy to find these because I just ran out! I do like it but to be honest it wasn't my favorite that I've tried! I really like Kevita's Pineapple Peach and believe it or not I like the Target brand blueberry grape one a lot.

This is a really unattractive picture of some delicious zucchini noodles. I added some spinach in with it and a teensy bit of shredded vegan mozzarella. It makes the sauce a little creamy (it can get a little watery when it cooks with the zucchini and the little bit of cheese helps thicken it) and super delicious.

I'm sure you'll notice that there are some processed foods in the haul as well as the meals. I've been thinking a lot about cleansing and rules and all of that kind of stuff and I decided that I can't try to put myself in a box because it just doesn't work for me. I have to stop the restrictive patterns of removing certain foods because to be honest a little processed food absolutely will not kill me. I think that including some processed food here and there with mostly whole foods and lots of produce is fine and I'm not going to drive myself nuts to try and figure out the "perfect diet." It's a really dangerous headspace for me to get into so I'm just going to try to move forward with goals of eating a majority of fresh healthy foods but being ok with eating some processed stuff as well. I just don't want to depend on processed food for convenience which was a bad pattern I had gotten into. I think you'll notice that the balance in the meals above seems to be pretty good.

So there you have it, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I have meal planned pretty diligently this week so I'm hoping to be able to get some more pics of stuff I ate to share on Friday. I hope that you are all well and I hope you have a great week! ❤

4th of July Ideas Roundup!

Hey you guys! First, thank you all so much for being so supportive over the last few weeks. It was a really rough time for me and I'm still dealing with some issues (although to be fair I'll be dealing with this stuff forever) but I feel like it's time to get back into it and start putting out some quality posts again. I am slowly starting to build up some food pics to share but for today I thought it would be fun to take my friend's suggestion and do a fun recipe roundup for cool 4th of July vegan meal/snack/dessert ideas! I'll be pulling fun recipes I found on Pinterest and sharing them here with you. I haven't decided what I'm going to do for 4th of July yet (and I know sometimes it can be difficult to be patriotic when things seem to be going to shit) but perhaps one or more of these recipes will make it to my table?

Anyway, here is some cool stuff that I've found!

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The first recipe that I chose was a Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad by Budget Bytes. I chose a pasta salad because I think it is the perfect thing to bring to a BBQ that will get people to see how amazing vegan food is and it'll also be hearty enough for you in case that is your only option. It is so colorful with fresh seasonal produce and you can definitely customize it to your preference. This is just one example of a pasta salad recipe and there are tons more out there, but I think Pasta Salad is a perfect 4th of July BBQ dish.

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Next up we have this super adorable 4th of July fruit salad from Vegan Heaven! I love the fun detail of cutting out your fruit using star cookie cutters and the festive colors are a perfect combination of delicious and hydrating summer fruit. It's perfect for a day in the sun.

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Getting into more BBQ type dishes, these Balsamic Garlic Grilled Mushroom Skewers from Closet Cooking look freaking amazing! I love mushrooms so this is totally up my alley but if you aren't a fan I bet that marinade would be awesome on veggies skewers of your choice. I also think these mushrooms would be great on a roll with some caramelized onions and fresh greens. 

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You know I'm all about my potatoes so when I saw these Grilled Baby Potatoes with Rosemary by A Virtual Vegan I knew I had to include them in this roundup! They look so perfectly crispy and tender and I know I would definitely be all over those at a 4th of July party. And let's be honest, you can never go wrong with the potato/rosemary combination.

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If you have some time and want to be a fancy bitch and impress the hell out of everyone, these Vegan BBQ Ribs with Spicy Korean or Spicy Traditional BBQ Sauce by Delightful Delicious Delovely might be the way to go! Holy crap you guys, these look LEGIT! I was never even a rib person and my mouth is watering. I really want to try this. 

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You guys. I mean honestly, look at these beauties. Summer practically begs for s'mores and luckily thanks to companies putting out more vegan marshmallow options these are totally doable now. I love the idea of adding fresh berries in these Dark Chocolate S'mores with Fresh Berries by JoyFoodSunshine. It is the perfect, quintessential summer dessert and adds a fun fresh flare with fresh berries in the mix. These sound awesome and make sure you get those Trader Joe's marshmallows while you still can (they are a GREAT price for vegan marshmallows!).

So these are just a few recipes that I found that I thought would be awesome for a vegan 4th of July celebration or even just a summer BBQ. Of course there are other staples like corn on the cob (give me all of the corn on the cob please!), your favorite vegan meatless bbq options such as burgers, hot dogs and now sausages. I can't believe how many options are out there! Anyway, these were just some of the ones that I found interesting and thought it would be fun to do a roundup of recipes that I found and would totally make. Maybe I will be really I'm lazy so I guess we'll see 😂

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Tuesday with some yummy food I'm eating and most likely a grocery haul!

Quick Update

Hey guys. Sorry I haven't been around. Things are still crazy. My aunt is on the mend but still needs some help. My gastritis/reflux is also acting up so eating has been quite difficult. I'm finally getting in to a new dr. to try and get to the bottom of that because it causes a lot of stress and is quite painful. So sadly I don't really have much for you for food pictures. I literally just have one picture of fruit I snagged off of an edible arrangement but otherwise that's it.

I know this isn't much of an update but I don't have much to say? I will be back on Friday and I'm going to post some actual content, even if it's not the food I've been eating. I keep forgetting that I don't have to only post my food and hauls on here so I'm going to come up with something to share with you on Friday.

Haha my sad little fruit salad from the edible arrangement. There is a pineapple flower under there somewhere. So random question, does anyone eat the pineapple core? I do when it is in something like the flower or when they are cut into little semicircles with the core still in. The core is actually good for you with extra fiber and a really high concentration of bromelain and I actually really like the texture. I haven't heard of anyone else eating the core, am I alone in this?!

Also, this meme is freaking hilarious and ME 😂 It makes me laugh so freaking hard.

Anyway, that's all I have for you today! I hope that you are all doing well and I'm excited to bring you an actual post on Friday. Not quite sure what it's going to be just yet but hopefully I'll be able to think of something awesome to share!

Have a great week!

Getting Back To Business

Hey guys. I'm sure you noticed that I was not around last week. To be honest, it was a REALLY hard week for me. I was having some personal issues that were causing me a lot of stress and anxiety. On top of that, I heard the news that Anthony Bourdain had taken his life on Friday and that really affected me. I know it isn't a popular opinion among the vegan community to be a fan of his but I was. A really big fan in fact. Sure, he made some disparaging comments about vegans but guess what… his discourse was meant to be extreme and polarizing. Sure, he's painting vegans in a negative light and that sucks. But,  I chose to look at all of the amazing work that he did for PEOPLE. I think sometimes we can forget that people are animals too and deserve the same kindness and compassion. Anyway, I had huge respect for his talent, his storytelling, his drive to champion and support the underdog and his desire to teach us what travel is really about… straying off the beaten path and experiencing local cultures the way they should be experienced. He allowed people to tell their stories to a global audience and shed light on how people truly live in places we would never otherwise see.

So while he made his comments about vegans and our diets vastly differed, I appreciated him for the work that he did for people. I also appreciated his humor, his snarky attitude, his raw honesty and his authenticity. And it makes me sick to see vegans celebrating a man's death because they didn't see eye to eye and because they felt personally attacked by his words. Sure, he compared vegans to Hezbollah in an extreme statement. But are you proving your point or his when you celebrate his death?

I'll finish these thoughts by including some of my sentiments that I already shared on social media. Mental illness doesn't care what you eat. It doesn't care about your race or gender. It doesn't care how rich you are, how famous you are or how much status you have. It doesn't not discriminate and we need more mental health awareness and we need to stop the stigma so people who need help feel comfortable enough to seek it.

Over the weekend a family member was injured and I have been helping to care for her. Then yesterday I found out that my Master's Thesis Advisor/Committee Chair had passed away from cancer. I had a great deal of respect for him and to be honest, it was an absolute honor and privilege to have been able to work with him. He was generous with his time and resources and he fought for me. He fought for me to get into that program, he fought for me to get an assistantship and he fought for me along the way when people gave me shit. He is the reason I went to that school and I'm so incredibly grateful for everything that he did for me and shared with me.

As you can see this week has been pretty shitty. And that is why I haven't been posting and I only have 4 images to share with you today. I'm tired, I'm emotionally drained, I haven't been eating much and what I have eaten I haven't really photographed much. All I have is last week's grocery haul and a few images of boring food. I'm going to share them with you anyway.

A small haul from Trader Joe's. Tomatoes, zucchini, baby carrots, avocado, eggplant (from a different grocery store), whole wheat couscous, basil and the new Peanut Date bars.

I highly recommend these bars. They are really delicious with simple ingredients. I've read in the Vegan Trader Joe's Facebook group that they are really good out of the fridge and freezer so I'm going to put one in each and see how I like them.

Some avocado toast on whole wheat bread. The avocado was perfectly ripe.

Finally some perfectly ripe, juicy peaches. So delicious. I'm so glad summer produce is finally here.

So that is what I have for you today. I'm sorry if it was a downer but I'm doing my best to rebound and get back on track. I'm also sorry if I seemed a bit rant-y in my discussion of Anthony Bourdain above but I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. Maybe I'll catch shit from the vegan police and maybe I won't. I guess we'll see. 

I'm hoping to be back on track with documenting my meals for a post on Friday. I'm not 100% sure because I am still helping to care for my family member (she broke her shoulder so she does need quite a bit of help for now) but I'm hoping to be able to find some balance and to get everything done.

I hope you all had a good week last week. I'm sorry again for the brief hiatus and the sadness in this post. Hopefully happier times are in the future.

One Week

Hey you guys! I hope you are all doing well. I'm just going to cut right to the chase. I hate this mostly raw cleanse. I have attempted this a few times before and I let enough time go in between that I always think it is a good idea again the next time I want to try it. I get all excited and I'm like "yeah I love fruit this will be great." Nope. I can't stand it. I don't want to eat fruit all day. By the time I get to dinner I'm annoyed and have a headache and I want to get food down as quickly as possible and crawl into bed. I know that it's probably detox but I just can't stand the idea of eating this much fruit for the next three weeks.

As I mentioned above, I've barely taken any pictures because it's all the same. I don't know why I try this again and again because I literally just get annoyed every single time. I'm revising the plan (still going to try to detox but just not in this way) and I'll discuss that after the pictures of fruit 😏

This is probably the highlight of what I have consumed. This is a watermelon tart cherry juice. It was good and definitely a nice change of pace.

I've been eating tons of grapes. I did not eat this whole bowl at once because I would never be able to get that down.

Lots of watermelon. Still love watermelon, but when I eat it this way it doesn't feel like a treat anymore.

Lots of bananas. Just one here but lots have been consumed.

So I think my issue with this and any "detox" or "cleanse" is how many rules they have and how restrictive they are. I love the idea of eating fruit and raw food all day in theory but in practice it sucks. First, I will never be able to consume the amount of calories I need in fruit because the volume is just too much. The reason I'm doing this is because I feel sick and to have to eat huge quantities of food is just not ideal for me. Also, it's just relentless sweet all day. I love veggies but to be honest I prefer most veggies cooked. I think that for me what is most important is still to focus on produce but to loosen the reigns on whether or not it is cooked and when I consume it. So, going forward I am going to focus on a whole foods plant based diet with minimal added oil, salt and sweetener and with as few ingredients as possible. I'm keeping the processed foods and sticking to what the earth has provided. I will still eat some raw food and I will still eat fruit. I'm just going to allow myself more variety.

I guess you can look at this as a failure but I'm choosing to look at it as I tried and I am adjusting based on what my body needs and I am adjusting to what will allow me to achieve my goals and what will push me toward success. I am also getting away from the structure and restrictive rules of what I was trying to do this week because as I mentioned I am healing and recovering from an eating disorder. I think it is in my best interest to loosen up the rules a bit for my mental health and for my recovery.

So, that's pretty much it. I feel better about this plan and I think that I will enjoy more success and feel better this way. I am still optimistic that this will help and I'm looking forward to sharing the meals that I have planned for next week.

I hope you all have a great weekend!