Haul, Meal Prep and A Few Meals

Hey everyone! I hope you are all well. I just wanted to start off this post by saying thank you so much for your supportive and kind comments that you left on my last post where I spoke a little more candidly about my mental illness. As I mentioned, I always felt the need to separate the mental illness discussion from the vegan food but I know that I don't have to do that any more. I really appreciate this community that we have here and your interest in me and my story beyond the food that I share here. I can't describe how much that means to me 💜

I'm still feeling blah, particularly because last week was very difficult for me physically. Every day I have a headache and every day I'm in pain. The pain over the last week has been particularly intense and I've never really experienced anything like it before.

Due to this I don't have a ton to share with you but I did take pictures where I could. I have a small Trader Joe's haul, some basic food prep and a few meals I ate.

So here is the small Trader Joe's haul. For some reason I was craving those delicious Cornbread Crisps, asparagus, basil, Opal Apples, potatoes, pears, soft pretzels, veggie spring rolls and some carrots.

I made another half batch of Isa's Hummus for Bagels (if you are looking for the recipe it is on the second page of the Hummus recipe in Veganomicon in a little box).

I roasted up some potatoes to heat up during the week. These potatoes nearly caused a meltdown. I was trying to cut them and I just couldn't do it. My arm muscles were in so much pain and I couldn't grip the knife correctly and it was incredibly upsetting that a task as simple as sitting and cutting a few potatoes was so difficult and painful. I struggled through it and now I have these beautiful roasted potatoes to eat but it was pretty upsetting.

I had my second giant honeycrisp apple with my favorite blueberry grape kombucha. I need to try and stockpile of the kombucha because I need more probiotics in my life.

Finally, I made another one of my favorite bagel sandwiches with the hummus and tons of fresh basil and some sun dried tomatoes. It was a perfect meal and very low maintenance and minimal effort. Also as a side note, I rarely like my bagels toasted if they are fresh (which this was) but toasting is essential for this sandwich 😉

So that is what I have for you today. I'll be back on Friday. I'm playing around with a few ideas of what to post so I guess we'll see what I come up with. 

I hope you all have a great week and I'll see you back here on Friday!

Update and A Meal

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. I figured I'd make today and update post because I only took one picture of a meal since Tuesday. I've been feeling like garbage (yesterday was particularly bad) so when I am eating I don't think about taking the picture until it is too lately… normally because I just want to eat and get it over with. So I figured that this would be a good time to do a mental health and chronic illness update.

So I guess I'll start with the mental health update since you guys already know I've been struggling a bit. I know I've vaguely mentioned anxiety and depression here and I've discussed my OCD in this post but I don't think I ever specified that I have Bipolar II which is where you cycle between hypomania and depression. It may make things a little clearer as to why my posts bounce around in tone and mood and my meals as well. I do discuss this more in depth in my other blog where I talk about my mental illness more in depth. Anyway, my cycles and particularly my crashes have been pretty bad lately so the depression has definitely been more prevalent lately and I'm just trying to ride the wave knowing that I'll climb out of it eventually. As far as the OCD is concerned, I've completely managed the checking behaviors I detailed in my first post but lucky for me OCD likes to reinvent itself with fun new intrusive thoughts 😩 I've always had some issues with germs but it was never that bad. Now, my hands are a mess from washing so frequently and germs are panic inducing rather than just a little stressful.

Fun, right? I don't normally like to get really in depth on this blog because I like to try and keep things focused on vegan food but I think it's important to get that information out there. It's easy to make things seem ok from behind a computer screen but the struggle is real and there is no need to separate my mental illness from my vegan lifestyle. Like I mentioned above, I do get way more in depth about my journey in treating my mental illness in therapy in my other blog so if it is something that interests you definitely check that out.

So, as far as a chronic illness update I'm currently mid flare and it's pretty awful. That is why I just haven't been able to bring myself to take pictures of my meals. I just want them done so I can climb back into bed and not move. Last night I was in pain from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. My muscles were spasming everywhere and let me assure you that chest muscle spasms are TERRIFYING. Add a migraine to the body wide muscle spasms and that was my night last night. I know I'm being whiny about it and it could be so much worse but I think when you are sitting in it mid flare it is easy to be whiny about it. At this point I'm just trying to get through to the weekend so I can rest and recharge and figure out how to regroup and still be productive.

So that's my life 😂 I know that I'm going to be ok and the symptoms will pass and the depression will pass. That's what makes it all a little easier. For now I just need to buckle up for this ride and try to keep things as "normal" as possible. Which means I should hopefully have a Trader Joe's haul for you on Tuesday.

With that said, I do have one meal to share with you:

I made a flatbread sandwich with Isa's Hummus for Bagels recipe and it was delicious. I had it with my usual sun dried tomatoes and basil and it was really great. Warming/toasting the flatbread in the oven is crucial for this sandwich and it was by far my favorite thing I ate over the past few days.

Sorry this post was a bit of a bummer but I like to share where I am physically and emotionally sometimes. Would you guys prefer me to keep the mental health stuff separate from my vegan blog or do you want me to keep posting some mental health stuff here and there? I don't really know which way to go with this so any feedback would definitely help!

All that said I want to thank you guys so much for always being so supportive in your amazing comments and for continuing to read here. I love this community and feel grateful to have you all here! 💜 Have a great weekend and I'll see you back here on Tuesday!

Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope that all is well. I feel a little better after the weekend and particularly after my therapy session for this week. It's still a struggle but I'm doing the best I can to get through it and every day is a new day. I don't have a ton of meals to share with you today but the ones I have are damn good. I finally made something I've been craving for a long time and it's so freaking delicious.

I mentioned that I have been craving fruit like crazy lately so I had some pineapple over the past few days and it was freaking delicious. It's not mango but it did satisfy the juicy fruit craving.

This is what I've been wanting to make for a long time now. It's a boring as picture but this is the glorious Hummus For Bagels from Veganomicon. This is my favorite hummus recipe because it is PERFECT as a spread for bagel. This is only a half recipe because one of my cans of chickpeas was just not right (even though the expiration date was12/2020) and I didn't want to chance it. This is probably for the best thought because I don't know if I'd get through a whole batch before it was past its prime. Anyway, I like to top my hummus bagels a little differently from most.

Here is my most glorious meal of the weekend. A toasted plain bagel with a thick spread of hummus topped with fresh basil and sun dried tomatoes. I know it seems like an unlikely combination but it is freaking delicious and I would eat it every day if I could.

I have also been wanting some comforting ramen and remembered that I had some of these gluten free ramen noodles in the house so I made a steamy bowl of ramen for dinner one night.

It was really delicious. I added a heaping cup of the green veggie foursome from Trader Joe's and it was perfect with the added veggies. 

So, that's what I have to share! I almost got some bubble tea yesterday as a treat since it's been a little warmer lately but I just didn't feel like trekking over there so maybe this weekend I'll treat myself. I hope that you all had a great weekend and I'll see you on Friday!

Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope that all is well and that you all had a great week. I'm still deep in the feels so my week has been weird but it's almost over. I am definitely looking forward to some self care time this weekend along with some productivity. Since I've been in the feels my meals continue to be super weird but you'll see there are more fruits and veggies in there so that's a bonus. I've been craving summer fruit big time, and I've had a HUGE craving for mangos. I especially crave mango for breakfast so maybe I'll make that happen soon.

Anyway, here are a few meals I've eaten.

This meals was super simple but also really delicious. I had some of my roasted potatoes with roasted asparagus and a pear. I love the fruit with roasted veggies, it's really refreshing. I had the same thing again the following night but with roasted broccoli instead of the pear. I forgot to take a pic though.

Here is my comfort meal that I enjoyed. A pumpernickel onion bagel with tofutti. I love that bagel stores offer tofutti now, it is so nice to be able to go and get breakfast from the bagel store without having to bring my own spread.

Another easy dinner of roasted potatoes and one of the Aldi's Mushroom Risotto burgers. I still have 4 of those left.

For breakfast yesterday I just had a GIANT honey crisp apple from Trader Joe's. It was delicious and seriously freaking huge.

So, that's some of the stuff I've been eating this week. I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll see you back here on Tuesday!

Trader Joe's Haul & Random Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope that all is well! Things are moving along here… the first week back after vacation was tough and I've been in a bad mental health place again (which you'll see y my weird/lazy meals). I'm trying to snap myself out of it but anyone who struggles knows how hard it is. Anyway, I did manage to make it to Trader Joe's this past weekend to get some more veggies back in my life because you'll see after what I ate this week it was definitely necessary.

First up I have some freezer staples from Trader Joe's. I got some Veggie Spring Rolls because they are glorious, the mushroom medley and Green Vegetable foursome to throw together a quick and yummy dinner and of course some Jasmine rice.

I also got fresh broccoli and asparagus, some of the new VEGAN Chocolate Brownie and Vanilla Creme sandwich cookies (so good!), mango kombucha, bananas, chocolate, honeycrisp apples and some potatoes.

This is a random snacks meal of an apple and some Triscuits because why not.

I found this randomly at Stop and Shop and decided to try it!

The inside looks nothing like the picture. It is a congealed gray blob in the middle but I have to say it tasted pretty good and the crust was DELICIOUS. I won't be buying it a whole lot but it wasn't awful.

I had a small pocketless pita pizza one night because I needed some comfort food.

This was a random meal of toast with tofutti and an apple.

I roasted up all of my potatoes to have as a quick side for meals this week! They always taste best fresh out of the over but take too long for me to bother and they have been reheating well!

So that's what I have for you today! I can't wait to show you some more colorful meals because I'm sure that will help me not feel like garbage. I hope you all have a great week and I'll see you on Friday!

Orlando Vacation: Stuff We Did!

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I hope you all had a great week. I'm ready for the weekend. The week after vacation is always difficult and I'm feeling it for sure. Anyway, I'm back with a fun post where I'll get to re-live all of the awesome things that we did while I was visiting my friend in Orlando! I have a lot of pictures to share so I'll get right into it.

The very first thing that we did on Thursday (my first full day) was head over to Blue Spring State Park early (while it was still chilly) so we could see the Manatees!!!! I took a panoramic picture so you can see just how many there were in this one little section.

The manatees like to go there during the winter when it is cold because the water is 72 degrees all year so they can find warmer waters in the winter month. I felt comfortable going here because they do not allow people to touch, feed or interact with them as it disturbs them so they just allow us to observe them in their natural setting.

For those of you that may be new here, manatees are my absolute favorite animal on earth. They are so sweet, kind, gentle and even playful. They are also freaking adorable and I always have a pretty emotional reaction whenever I am near them. I am so happy that we got to go and see them.

As you can see there were TONS there on that day. I think I heard someone say that there were over 400.

There is a nice little trail you can follow with viewing points along the way. It was a great way to spend the morning and I loved every second of it.

This viewing section allows you to get closer to them (still not close enough to disturb them) so I was able to get this great picture of them really close up.

After we went to the park we popped over to Cassadaga as it was only a short drive away! I have been there before and we always enjoy making a trip over. It is a spiritualist town full of psychics, mediums, spiritualists and have people doing readings, shops where you can pick up crystals, jewelry, cards, books, etc. and a nice area for you to take a walk.

We've been to Cassadaga before but I've never had a reading and I decided that this trip was the trip to do it. I scheduled my reading for 1:00 with April but I actually ended up being rescheduled for 1:30 with Gypsy because April wasn't able to get there in time. They say everything happens for a reason and I'm a firm believer in this because I had an AMAZING reading with Gypsy. I was really overwhelmed by it if I'm being honest. It was also really fun so that was an added bonus.

While we were waiting to have our readings done (my friend went right after me with Gypsy as well) we took a walk around the nice wooded area and I snapped a few pictures there as well.

Another picture from Cassadaga.

After Cassadaga we were both starving and that was the night we went to Loving Hut for dinner. It was a really fun day finished up with the most delicious meal!

The following day we decided to go to the outlets for a little shopping excursion. I took a picture of the Disney Character Warehouse because that was why I chose these particular outlets. I really wanted to see what they had since I had to skip Disney this trip (thanks to my budget, wah!) and it's interesting to see what they have and the prices. I did see a great set of dishes that I loved for only $10 but I decided I just didn't need them so I passed on it.

After the outlet shopping I was exhausted and not feeling great (I was on day 3 of a migraine, had a really bad travel day on Wednesday and a long day Thursday - all in the middle of a Fibromyalgia flare) so we went home and relaxed a little. I cooked dinner that night and made the pasta dish that you saw on Tuesday. It was the perfect meal to make because it came together quickly and required minimal effort.

The next day we met up with our friends for brunch after a quick trip to the farmers market and then decided to pop over to Michael's and Sprouts!! I've never been to Sprouts and have only heard great things. He told me it had opened and I knew I had to check it out! I didn't want to grab a lot but we did grab the Daiya Chocolate Cheezecake (on sale for $6.99!), the Sante Fe Burrito from Daiya, a Live Cola kombucha which I can NEVER find, some trail mix and chocolate almond clusters. I am SO JEALOUS that we don't have a Sprouts!

That night we decided to have a quiet night and the reason why we got the cheezecake was because we were going to play the Golden Girls Monopoly game that was part of my Christmas gift to him this year! We thought it would be hilarious to get the Cheezecake to enjoy while we played and it was perfect. As I mentioned on Tuesday it was so freaking delicious, I can't wait to enjoy it again!

Since I was flying home at sunset on Sunday (I landed at 6:00 because my timing is perfect for Superbowl Sunday 😂) I had to take this picture of the gorgeous sky! It was the perfect sendoff I think.

So that is what we did during my Orlando vacation! Have you ever been to any of these places? I highly recommend all of them, I had a really wonderful time and seeing the manatees was a highlight of my life. It was really magical for me because I love these animals so much.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you back here for regularly scheduled programming on Tuesday!

Orlando Vacation: Stuff I Ate!

Hey everyone! I hope that all is well! I'm back from Florida and have two awesome posts planned for you :) Today I'll be sharing some of the delicious meals that I ate on my trip and on Friday I'll be sharing some of the stuff that we did.

I tried to photograph and much as I could so you could get a good idea of some of the deliciousness that I ate. Here it is!

One of the first things I consumed when I got there was this Basic Bitch Starbucks 😂 I got a tall soy hazelnut latte and it was delicious.

For dinner Thursday night we went to Loving Hut and it was AMAZING! We were starving, I actually had only had the Starbucks and a banana that day and we got to Loving Hut at about 5:15. We both got the same thing and started off with this seriously delicious wonton soup. This is the only way I'll eat cilantro because it doesn't taste soapy in this for some reason. Anyway, it is delicious and was a perfect way to warm up a little and satisfy that hunger while waiting for my dinner.

For dinner I got my usual which is the Combo #1. It is so freaking good! They changed up the rice a little since the last time I was there but it was still delicious. This meal was exactly what I wanted and I love getting it every time I'm in Florida.

I was really craving some fruit so I got this little fruit cup from Wawa (NY get your shit together and get some Wawas!! They are awesome!). It had mango, pineapple, apples and grapes.

I usually cook a meal when I visit so this time I made this yummy pasta dish. It is whole wheat pasta with some asparagus and tomatoes roasted in garlic and olive oil and some spinach. It was in garlic and olive oil and was really good.

This is my plate. For serving reference I used a salad plate for my meal so I had some pasta with some vegan cheesy garlic toast that I made to go along with it.

On Saturday we met up with some other friends for an awesome brunch at Ethos Vegan Kitchen! This is another must when I go down there because Ethos makes the most delicious vegan brunch. Just like with Loving Hut I have my favorite there that I don't stray from and that is the Breakfast Burrito. 

I took a pic once I busted into it. It had tofu scramble, potatoes and vegan sausage in it and it is smothered in an amazing white gravy. It's so freaking good.

This was a random meal I threw together. I found the Daiya burritos in my trip to Sprouts (more on that on Friday!) so I had that with some chips and guar and some of the leftover fruit from my snack. It was really good.

Finally for something sweet (there was also a reason we picked this particular thing) we got the Daiya Chocolate Cheezecake and you guys. This is GOOD. Like I was completely shocked by how good and authentic it tasted. I am so glad that we tried it because I know it'll be a great dessert option for a holiday if I need something quick.

So there you have it, lots of delicious meals enjoyed in Orlando! I'm really excited to share all of the fun things that we did in Friday's post! I hope you all have a great week and I'll see you on Friday!

Stuff I'm Into Lately

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all well! I am currently in Florida enjoying time with my best from, some warmer weather and some time away from everything. I figured now would be a good time to go over some things that I've been loving lately! Sometimes I'll do this just to check in on some products and media that I've been loving and I thought now would be a perfect time to share some of them with you!

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As you guys probably know, I really love coffee. I try to stick to decaf nowadays but I just love the flavor of it. I am so picky about my creamer though. I do like my coffee on the lighter side (not super light but regular plant milks don't do it for me) so I do prefer a vegan creamer. I used to stick to the Silk Soy Creamers but it has been more difficult for me to find lately. Instead, I've seen the Almond creamer EVERYWHERE. So, I decided to pick it up in the Caramel flavor and OMG YOU GUYS. I am a Silk Almond Creamer (not sponsored but I'm here for you Silk 😂) fanatic now and will continue to buy it in the future. They have a Sweet and Creamy flavor that I can't find but I really want to try! Anyway, I highly recommend this creamer and this is coming from someone that is so picky about creamer.

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I am currently OBSESSED with Mixed Media Art and I have been dipping my toe into it myself. I am currently working on setting up a workspace for myself and gathering materials and playing with some watercolors and things like that. I love that it is a way to get out all of my creativity and I am just in love with this style of art. I can't wait to start sharing some work with you! The GORGEOUS journal cover pictured above is by Gabrielle Pollacco and she is so freaking talented.

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Along the same lines I really wanted to share a Youtube Channel that I have been binge watching obsessively lately. The channel name is Maremi Small Art and the artist is named Marta Lapkowska. You guys. Her videos are amazing and she is one of the most talented, creative, sweet people I've ever seen on YouTube. If you are into art and are curious about this form of art I highly recommend her videos. She is incredible and I've learned a lot from her. She also has a blog that you can check out here.

This is a picture from the last time I was here but I'm posting it because I am highly anticipating getting to eat it again this weekend when we go for brunch (I hope they still have it!!). It is the breakfast burrito from Ethos Vegan Kitchen and it is my favorite brunch item ever. 

This is random but there has been a "10 Year Challenge" on Facebook where you post a picture of yourself from 10 years ago and a picture of you now. I decided to play along and found a picture of me from 2007 (left) and a picture of me from 2018 (right). The difference is crazy to me! Have you guys ever done a comparison like this. I think that it is easy to look at a pic from 10 years ago and think that you look younger but to have them side by side is weird! I enjoyed this random Facebook challenge and thought it would be fun to share!

So I guess that is all I have to share for stuff I'm into! Since the past few weeks have been weird for me (and I've been obsessively binge watching the YouTube channel I spoke about above) I don't have a ton of new things to share but I did want to share the few things that I've found and talk about Mixed Media Art a little. I'm really excited about this style of art and like I said, I can't wait to start sharing projects with you! 

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend! I am really excited to share my Florida vacation with you next week! I'll see you in a few days!