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!

Champs Diner in Brooklyn, NY

Hey guys! Hope you are all well, safe and healthy. Today's post is definitely something special because I had wanted to try this restaurant for a long time. Anyone that has been to this region will know that diners are a big deal. We LOVE diners and they are EVERYWHERE. Since going vegan it has been difficult to indulge in diner fare but we are lucky enough to be able to do so thanks to Champs Diner in Brooklyn. In December I went to visit Doug's grave with two of my friends and we decided that the best way to honor him after would be to enjoy a meal for him. Doug was a foodie so he definitely would have approved of the plan so we decided to head over to Champs Diner after we spent some time with him.

There were 4 of us in total (my friend's son came as well) and I got most of what we ordered except for one of my friend's entrees and my friend's son's entrée. I'll share the photos that I did get though.

We all really wanted to try the biscuits and gravy and OMG are we glad we did. We all LOVED it!! Biscuits are one of my favorite things and their sausage gravy was absolutely delicious. We didn't really eat the hash browns because we all had some sort of potato with our meals but omg those biscuits were amazing!

This was by far my favorite part of the meal. I had been craving a Caesar salad for months at that point so we ordered a chick'n Caesar salad to share. It was absolutely delicious and exactly what I had been wanting. Everyone else enjoyed it as well.

This was my meal. Breakfast was always my favorite at the diner so I ended up getting a breakfast plate. It looks delicious but was sadly only ok to me. I wasn't really impressed by the tofu scramble (I ate maybe half of it) and I decided to get all sausage because I have always hated bacon. I ate one of those and was kind of over it. The star of the plate was the French toast which was so surprising to me! I normally don't eat sweet breakfasts in the form of French toast or waffles or pancakes (I like them but I just don't really eat them), but this French toast was seriously delicious! It kind of made me wonder why I don't eat it more often but it's probably for the best that I don't, ha! It was definitely the star of the plate though.

One of my friends got the same thing as me but she got hers the way it comes on the menu which is with both bacon and sausage. 

I didn't get a photo of my other friend's meal (she has a really amazing looking burger) but I did get a photo of her dessert!

She ordered the birthday cake sundae and holy shit you guys, how amazing does that look! I was so full I couldn't fit another bite in my facehole but it just looks incredible. It had ice cream, whipped cream, funfetti cake bites, sprinkles and a cherry. It may have had syrup but I don't remember. It looked amazing and I really wish I had space for a bite but I just couldn't do it.

I have been back one more time since this outing and decided to go for the chicken Caesar salad for my meal and it was just as delicious. We also tried the nachos and holy fuck were they good!

Bottom line is that Champs Diner in Brooklyn is seriously amazing and I can't wait to get back there after this damn pandemic. Everything on the menu looks and sounds incredible and there are so many more items to try. I'm glad that I was able to go with my friends and share a meal in Doug's honor. It was really a bittersweet day but I'm so grateful for the amazing people that I met through him.

So that's all for today. Stay well and stay safe my friends 💚

That Pizza Place(!!) And Some Art

Hey you guys! I hope that you are all doing well. I am super excited to share today's post because I went back to That Pizza Place in Levittown, NY. As you know from my MoFo post about my first trip to TPP, they have amazing food there. I met up with a friend there for dinner last weekend and was excited to share my meal with you. It may seem boring but OMG it was so good. I love that I can go to a pizza place and that they have vegan options of legit NY style pizza ready to go. It is a big deal when you grew up on NY style pizza and it has been one of the things I've missed most as a vegan.

I don't know about you guys but I freaking love garlic knots. As you know, I love all things bread so these make me very happy. I actually ended up bringing almost all of these home which I can assure you was not a problem at all 😉

They had vegan greek salad on the menu and I had to get it. They use Violife Feta (as far as I can tell) and it was really delicious. I'm glad I decided to get this! I didn't think I'd get a salad but my friend inspired me and I'm glad that I got one too.

I went with a plain old margarita slice and it was so good you guys. Like I've mentioned, I like the plain jane kind of slices. I was hoping they would have their white pizza but they didn't. This was an excellent choice and was a perfect way to round out the meal.

That Pizza Place does have a pretty expansive vegan menu but I'm mostly interested in the pizza. As you know, I'm not much of a pasta person and I've never been into heros. I'm a happy camper with my classic pizza. But if you are into other pizza place fare you will certainly be happy with their menu! I'm really glad that I got to go back and I had such a nice time catching up with my friend. I was going to get some slices to go but we stayed until closing and what they had left looked a little past their prime so I decided to hold off.

Like I said in my last post, I've been working a lot on getting my art together to sell at a fundraiser. I've been working really hard on it and wanted to share some of it with you! This is just a sampling of one kind of art that I've been working on. It is the aesthetic that I've been gravitating toward lately and the one that I think best represents me and what I like.

These are some of the 2.5x3.5 inch cards I made. I have a lot more but these are just a sampling of them.

These are some of the 5x7 sized pieces that I've made. I really love this quote, I'm obsessed with the moth and you can't tell in the pictures but the lightbulbs have a hint of shimmer that I really enjoy.

These are some more of the larger sized pieces that I made. I love these butterfly stamps.

I made a ton of bookmarks too! Again, these are just some of the first ones that I made but there are a ton of different colors and styles. There may also be a mermaid one with shimmery bubbles 😉

So that's what I have for you today. Having these few days off have really helped me and I'm glad I was able to prepare for this event over the week. I don't have as much done as I would like but it's ok. I'm just proud of what I've accomplished and I'm excited to share it with people.

I hope you've all had a great week and that you enjoy your weekend! 💚

Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. I'm exhausted but looking forward to the weekend!I'm especially excited because I actually have plans! I am going to go to a psychic fair that is being held on Sunday and I'm really looking forward to it. I've never been to one so I'm not entirely sure what it entails but it sounded like something that would be interesting to check out. I've been a lot more spiritual over the past year or so and I think that this would be really cool. I will definitely let you know how it goes!

Other than that I plan on working on some art for the event I will be selling at in a few weeks and RELAXING. I've been so drained since I started this new job but I'm really trying to get back into the swing of things. For today, I have some stuff I ate to share with you. I apologize in advance for the horrendous lighting. I am not home during daylight all that often anymore.

As you know, I'm not really a pasta person. One pasta dish I did love was fettuccini alfredo. I really wanted to try making it and I wanted it in its proper, unhealthy form. I found a super easy recipe online and gave it a try. The texture of the sauce was great but I used the wrong creamer. It was supposed to be unsweetened but had a hint of sweetness so it was a little odd. I think I need to try and find Ripple or something completely unsweetened and give this a try again. Oh, and because I don't eat pasta I had to use udon noodles for this dish 😂

You guys know that I'm a grilled cheese master and this one was no exception. It was perfect on sourdough bread and so so gooey. This was exactly the comfort meal I needed!

I've been enjoying avocado toast for breakfast. Always delicious.

Delicious honeycrisp apples in horrible lighting. So sorry.

Random snacky type lunch plate. This is the ranch dip from Trader Joe's. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It has a nice flavor but you really get hit with that coconut flavor. I'm wondering how it would be with something more savory. For now, I'm not sure I'd repurchase.

Veggie filled plate with potatoes, broccoli and delicious asparagus. This was a great meal and I had it several times this week.

I hope that you all had a great week and that you enjoy your weekend! 💚

Birthday Dinner at Little Fu's in Hewlett, NY

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. Thank you all so much for your sweet and supportive comments on my last post. My family member is home and doing ok. It was pretty serious and she is still recovering but she should be ok. It was a very stressful time but things are finally getting back to normal. Sunday was actually my birthday as well and I had such a great weekend with friends and family. I went to visit Doug's grave on Sunday because he had specifically said to me that he was looking forward to celebrating my birthday with me so I made sure to include him in my plans and honor that for him. It was incredibly emotional but I'm really glad that I did it.

On Saturday night I met up with some of my friends for an epic birthday dinner at Little Fu's in Hewlett, NY. It has quickly become one of my favorite restaurants and I was really excited to go back and try more dishes. My friends that I went with are all vegan and were up for ordering a bunch of stuff and sharing so that is what we did! I got to try tons of dishes and they were all so damn good. I took pictures of everything to share with you.

Up first we had some steamed veggie dumplings. The order comes with 8 but we had each taken one before I remembered to take a picture, ha. These were really good but they were typical dumplings.

We decided to get one chick'n dish, one "beef" dish, one tofu dish and some noodles.

This is the chick'n with cashews. It came with some delicious veggies and cashews and it was so so good. Definitely a great dish and something I would order again.

The "beef" dish we ordered was the Pepper Steak which came with green bell peppers and onion. As you know, I'm not a fan of bell peppers but I did try the "beef" and the onion and it was excellent. I wouldn't order this again just because a lot of it would go to waste since I don't eat peppers but it was definitely delicious. 

The tofu with mixed veggies was DELICIOUS. It didn't sound particularly exciting because you can get tofu with veggies at most places but this was so good! The veggies and tofu were perfectly cooked and it had a really great combination of veggies. I really enjoyed it and it is definitely something I would order again.

I know it sounds weird but even though I don't really eat a lot of pasta (think Italian food) I do LOVE noodles. When we decided on lo mein I was super excited because lo mein has always been a favorite of mine and this did not disappoint. It was delicious and also something I would order again!

This is my plate piled with tons of deliciousness. I was stuffed but it was amazing and I enjoyed every bite of it. Even better than the delicious food was the amazing company. I feel so blessed to have made so many wonderful friends through Doug but this group of ladies and I have a special bond and I really love how close we've grown. They made me feel really special for my birthday and I was so happy to be able to celebrate with them and I look forward to more fun times with them!

So that was my birthday dinner with friends Saturday night. I'll be back on Friday to share what I ate when I went out with my family on Sunday, my actual birthday, along with some stuff I've eaten throughout the week. I also have some more art to share with you so I'll make sure to share that on Friday as well.

I hope you all have a good week and I'll be back at some point this week to check in on your posts as well. I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep up but life has been crazy. Anyway, have a great week and I'll see you here on Friday 💚

More Randomness

Hey everyone! I hope that you are well! It is Friday and we made it through another week (well, just about)! This week has been hectic again and my post today will reflect that. I have some very sad snacky type things to share. I wasn't really prepared this week and didn't really meal plan or prep so I was scrambling and it definitely taught me that I need to think about it in advance and get my life together, ha. I will be going grocery shopping this weekend and I will be planning and prepping so my meals should be so much better next week.

Anyway, here some random stuff I've been eating (mostly snacks).

One night toward the end of the week I was hungry, low on patience, ingredients and time so I made a delicious personal flatbread pizza and it was delicious. Just the comfort meal I wanted at that point.

I've been snacking on some delicious grapes as well. Fruit is seriously one of my favorite snacks.

I have some of these veggie straws in my desk in case I need an afternoon snack. I have an early lunch time so it's nice to have something around in case I get a little hungry later on.

I've been eating a banana with some almond butter for breakfast and have been enjoying it a lot. This one is a little green so I put it in a paper bag and it was good to go in the morning!

So there you have it. I am looking forward to regrouping over the weekend and getting some groceries and meal prepping. I will feel so much more confident going into my week if I am prepared and ready to go. I am also hoping to get a little art time in this weekend. It is my happy place and I've been missing it so hopefully I'll have some pieces to share with you next week.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 💚

Stuff I Ate: My First Week At My New Job!

Hello my friends! I hope that you are all doing well! Today is the last day of my first week at my new job! It has been exhausting and stressful. There is a lot to learn and a lot to do all the time. It's great because time flies but it's been really difficult for me when I feel lost and need help. I came from a place where I've been there for 11 years and just knew what to do. Now it feels like I'm trying to keep my head above water. I'm glad today is Friday and that the weekend is coming up. I have been sleeping so much more this week (which is great because I typically don't sleep well) and I'm looking forward to resting over the weekend. I'll have to figure out some meal prep as well and I'm sure that'll find its way onto this blog 😉 I am still working on getting used to this schedule and daily routine (I went from a 10:00-6:00 schedule 7 minutes away to an 8:30-5:00 schedule 40 minutes away) and I will catch up on all of your blogs this weekend! I promise!

I wanted to keep things easy for myself this week so I decided to just photograph the meals I've been eating and wanted to share those with you today. I'm going to try to get something fun up for you next week but for today, let's check out some stuff I've been eating this week as I get settled into my new routine!

I have been eating a lot of Asian Chopped salad kits. This one was one that I got from a regular grocery store and I also had one from Trader Joe's. I love these. They are so quick and easy. I think that I'm going to try and make my own next week by just getting my own veggies and chopping and dressing them myself. I can get more bang for my buck and it is a great, easy meal to have on hand.

This beige delight is some of the Morningstar Farms Popcorn Chicken and some Tater Tots from Trader Joe's. Not healthy at all but so delicious and a comfort meal for sure.

I've been making sandwiches to bring to work with me on some days (other days I've brought salad). It is a very basic sandwich because I don't have much at home. It is made on sourdough bread with tofurky slices, butter lettuce and some hummus. Definitely basic but so delicious and easy to make ahead of time (the bread doesn't get soggy despite the lettuce and hummus!).

This is the Sesame Crunch Chopped Salad (or whatever it is called) from Trader Joe's. You guys. The toppings that you mix in make this salad the best. It has nori, sesame sticks and cashews. So freaking good. I made a few pieces of the cauliflower tempura from Trader Joe's to enjoy with the salad. This meal was perfect. I brought the rest of the salad for lunch the next day.

Finally, I've been snacking on Skinny Pop White Cheddar Popcorn since finding out it was vegan. It's so damn good. I've missed popcorn in general (I don't know why I stopped eating it!) and white cheddar flavor is definitely a treat when you are vegan! My current favorite snack for sure.

So that is what I have for you today. It has been a crazy week and I'm looking forward to relaxing and catching up on your blogs and my comments. I hope you've all had a wonderful week and I'll see you back here next week! 💚

Vegan MoFo 2019: That Pizza Place in Levittown, NY

Hey friends! Today we have another post where I share another amazing location on Long Island that has AMAZING vegan options. This time it is That Pizza Place located in Levittown, NY. I have been wanting to get there for a really long time. It's not that far from me but it's far enough that I hadn't gotten there yet. That all changed when I was in the area for something else and decided to stop in and grab a bunch of stuff to bring home and try through the week. 

This is the front of the shop and it's so cute. There is a mural on the side of the building (thankfully, that is how I found it and didn't miss the parking lot 😂) but I forgot to take a picture of it.

I went inside and it was empty so I guess that it must have been early (although I got there at about 12:30 on a Sunday). I asked about their vegan options and was shocked and thrilled that SO MANY of their ready made options were vegan! They also had a full vegan menu to order from!

This entire first section was vegan and I believe the furthest pizza was a "grandma" style pizza, the thing of beauty in the middle was a rigatoni a la vodka slice with A GARLIC KNOT CRUST(!!), a chick'n or eggplant parmesan slice (I think they said chick'n) and a plain slice.

The top two shelves in the middle section were vegan as well. There were rice balls, mac n cheese balls, chick'n roll, eggplant roll, mac n cheese pizza, chick'n bacon ranch pizza and Jack Daniels chick'n pizza.

How the hell do you choose?! I decided to get the stuff that was already ready because I was doing takeout. I figured I'd go back with friends and get some stuff off of the menu.

I got one of the whatever (😂) parmesan slices, plain (I always just ate plain cheese pizza in my pre vegan days), the garlic knot crust because duh and a rice ball.

For dinner that night I had to go with this beauty. It was SO GOOD. And that is coming from someone that is not a big pasta fan. To be honest, I'd be happier if this didn't have the pasta on it (pasta, garlic knots and crust is a lot) but it had great flavor. My favorite part was the garlic knots because just give me a ball of dough and I'm a happy lady!

A few days later I tried the chick'n parmesan pizza with a piece of the rice ball. I have never really been big into rice balls so I'm not sure why I got it over the mac n cheese balls but I felt like I made a weird decision under pressure 😂 Anyway, it was pretty good but just not something that I'm obsessed with or would get again. The pizza was delicious though. The chick'n was made from seitan which was pretty good but it just feels so good to be able to enjoy a proper NY style slice of pizza. Very delicious and filling meal but I would definitely try the mac n cheese bites over the rice ball next time.

Finally, the following Friday, I tried the simplest slice but also the one that I was looking forward to most. As I mentioned previously, my inner basic bitch shines through in my pizza preferences. I will always go for a plain cheese slice. It is my favorite. So this was the true test. And you guys… it was SO DAMN GOOD. It was my favorite slice, as expected. A plain cheese slice with a garlic knot crust would be my ideal pizza. I feel like that is a challenge I need to take myself up on, ha!

So there is my review of what I've tried so far from That Pizza Place in Levittown, NY! I definitely recommend it, they have delicious pizza and a ton of options. They can be a bit pricey but not too bad considering. I've heard from fellow Long Island Vegans that they have an AMAZING white slice which I definitely want to try too. 💚

Vegan MoFo 2019: More Stuff I Ate and some Art!

Hi friends!! Welcome back to another MoFo post! For today, I have another round up of delicious meals that I've eaten over the past week or so. I love these types of posts because I always get ideas for meals that I'd love to try and I hope that this will inspire you as well! 

For this meal I enjoyed a chick'n parmesan individual pita pizza with some roasted cauliflower on the side to make me feel better about myself 😂 This meal was DELICIOUS.

Anyone that has been reading my blog for a while that this is my favorite and staple meal, particularly to bring to work for lunch. I have stuffed grape leaves, grape tomatoes and baby carrots with some roasted garlic hummus. Such a great, quick meal to put together for a work lunch or easy dinner.

For this meal I made a chick'n parmesan sandwich and some curly fries. I was feeling super junky that night and this was perfect.

I had a sweet, snacky dessert type of plate with some graham crackers, strawberries and an individual cup of chocolate hummus. This chocolate hummus was even better than the original one I tried from Aldi! It is so chocolatey and fudge, so delicious! It was awesome paired with the strawberries too, my favorite pairing so far!

As I mentioned back in my Introduction post, I am really passionate about mixed media art. I started creating pieces a few months ago and it has been something that has helped me through difficult mental health periods as well as my grief. I'm incredibly grateful that I found this outlet! I can't believe I haven't shared any pieces with you yet!

When I first made this piece I HATED it. I wanted to try something new and juxtapose the pretty florals with the industrial looking cardboard texture and gears. It's been a few weeks since I created this piece and when I look at it with fresh eyes I actually really love it!! I'm really happy with it and glad that I went out of my comfort zone.

I created this piece as a gift for my friend. I was supposed to go to a concert with Doug in the beginning of August. She messaged me a few days before the show and asked what I was doing that night. I told her that I was supposed to go to the concert with him so I wasn't sure how I would be feeling that night. She told me that he had inspired her to get tickets and she had an extra one and she felt like it was right for her to reach out to me and invite me. I accepted immediately and was able to enjoy a really beautiful and EMOTIONAL (I cried through half of the show thanks to the setlist that I am pretty sure they created to make me cry 😂) experience with a new friend. As a thank you for inviting me I made her this piece on a CD because I felt like that was appropriate fitting the whole concert theme. I'm so grateful to have that experience and I'm 150% sure that he was there with us enjoying that show and the fact that he brought us together.

So that's some stuff I've been eating and creating! I hope you liked this post and stay tuned, tomorrow I have a really special post for you 💚