Meal Prep and Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for your continued support while I'm working through my mental health stuff. I'm pretty proud of myself that I've been fighting through it rather than withdrawing and retreating which is my typical way to cope. I would probably disappear from here for a while and just let it consume me. I'm not willing to let that happen anymore, at least not without a fight. So here I am with some really yummy (if I do say so myself!) meal prep and some really tasty meals I've been enjoying this week.

I'll start with the meal prep. I've been wanting to make this for a few weeks but didn't have the chance to until this weekend.

Vegan Spinach and Feta Pinwheels!!!!!!!

OMG they are SO FREAKING GOOD.

I decided to veganize this recipe from That Skinny Chick Can Bake. It was super easy. I just got vegan versions of the cheese and Pillsbury Puff Pastry happens to be accidentally vegan. I subbed regular garlic powder for garlic salt (you DO NOT need to add salt to this recipe, even with vegan feta - it's already plenty salty!) and just used a water wash instead of an egg wash on the puff pastry. It came together quickly and they look beautiful and taste great! I used Violife Feta and Daiya Mozzarella for my cheese and increased the mozzarella to a half cup. I think this will be a go to recipe for holiday appetizers in the future! It's so easy and looks so impressive! It would be really good with some chopped broccoli in it too!

So now onto the stuff I've been eating!

I decided to make a Mexican style flatbread pizza. It is an individual sized flatbread with Fat Free Refried Beans, a little bit of vegan mozzarella, some corn, green onion and salsa. It was SO GOOD!

You know I love my bagels so I had a plain one toasted and had half with Earth Balance butter and half with Tofutti cream cheese.

I love chips and salsa and rarely ever eat it so I decided that I needed to get my snack on and enjoy some! It was so good!

Here are the amazing Spinach and Feta Pinwheels in action. I was intending to have a salad with it but I ran out of greens so I decided to have some fruit instead. It was a perfect side, a really great balance to the savory pinwheels!

As I mentioned in my last post it was my intention to go to the movies to see Christopher Robin. I faced my fears and I went and while it was difficult at times I was able to get through it. As far as the movie itself, it was ok. I love all things Winnie the Pooh and I was super excited to see it but it wasn't my favorite story and I wasn't in love with the visual aesthetic they chose for the characters. It also felt like it had a really dark and sad tone throughout almost the entire movie which just felt strange to me. That said, I do love Ewan McGregor so I was happy to see him in it. All in all I'm glad I went out and had the experience and faced my fears but the movie itself was a little bit disappointing.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week and I'll see you on Friday!! <3

Orlando Trip Recap!

Hey everyone! As promised, I'm back with a recap of my trip to Orlando! This one will probably be a bit longer because I have A LOT of pictures but I figured that there is nothing wrong with that :) I have a combination of meals I cooked, meals we had in restaurants and some pictures from our activities. Hope you like them!

My friend had to work from home on Thursday so we just hung out for the day in the house. This was before we had gotten groceries so for lunch I made a bagel with peanut butter and banana and it was delicious.

After we went shopping I made my Vegan Chick'n Ranch Pasta Salad for dinner. This one was a twist on my Chick'n Caesar Pasta Salad since we could only find Just Ranch. I added some cherry tomatoes and it was so good. We also found this amazing fresh roasted garlic bread that had super soft and delicious chunks of roasted garlic dotting it. Seriously delicious.

The following day was my birthday and we went to Magic Kingdom! The very first thing I did was get my birthday button and my Minnie Ears :)

Here is Walt and Mickey hanging out in front of the castle.

And of course the castle.

I had an amazing time! It was crowded and VERY hot (90 degrees and blazing sun) but we still had a really fun time, rode a few rides and checked out the shops. If I could make any changes I would have made sure to be more hydrated and I didn't eat anything all day which was stupid and terrible. Still a wonderful time!

That night we were STARVING so we had my birthday dinner at Loving Hut! We started with this amazing wonton soup. The broth is really light and delicious and the wontons are yummy too.

For my main I had the combo number 1, my tried and true favorite. The soup was filling so I didn't get through the whole thing but it was amazing.

The vegan bakery that we had gone to in previous years closed down so the options were limited for vegan birthday dessert. I found this Rice Dream Mocha Ice Cream Pie and it was really yummy!

The following morning we went to Ethos Vegan Kitchen for brunch and I got my absolute favorite breakfast burrito. This beauty is stuffed with faux sausage, potatoes and tofu scramble and smothered in delicious gravy. Seriously one of my favorite meals ever.

Here it is from the inside. Seriously, how good does this look?!

The next morning we went to the farmers market at Lake Eola. Their market is amazing and huge and I love going there when I can. I picked up a beautiful necklace which I'll show you in another post. After the market we walked around the lake and I grabbed some scenic shots for you.

They painted the amphitheater as a rainbow after the Pulse Nightclub Shooting and I think it looks amazing and is a beautiful tribute.

After the market I made us some brunch. I made a very sad loaf of banana bread (the texture was off and the bottom was soggy because he did not have a cooling rack) but redeemed myself with one of the best tofu scrambles I've ever made. It had tofu, spinach and grape tomatoes and was seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic. So simple but so delicious.

That night I made a "Sunday Dinner" with one of my favorite foods ever. My mom makes these roasted potatoes in French Dressing and I know it probably sounds weird but it is so damn good you guys (just make sure the french dressing doesn't have honey in it). I made some baked tofu with the same dressing (I also added salt, pepper and garlic to the potatoes and tofu) and we had some delicious roasted asparagus. It was a really amazing meal.

So that's pretty much everything! I hope you enjoyed it and maybe got some meal ideas out of it. I cooked a lot more this trip and I think we had some really great vegan meals. I had an amazing time and a wonderful birthday weekend and I'm so grateful to my friend for making it special!

I hope you all had a great weekend as well <3

Short and Sweet

Hey everyone! I hope that all is well! I'm also hoping that you are all knee deep in a long weekend. I'm a few hours away from my first three day weekend in a long time and I couldn't be more excited about it! This week has been a bit tough, I'm feeling really burned out and tired and in desperate need of a break. I'm also feeling that urge to clean so I'm hoping to get a good chunk of my de-cluttering done this weekend. I also thought of a really great way to give myself the alone time that I crave so desperately and I'm hoping to start that next weekend :) If I get to go I'll make sure to take some pictures so I can share the experience with you! Fingers crossed the weather holds up for me.

Like I said, I've been feeling drained and burned out this week. Needless to say the meals suffered again. I haven't even been photographing much because they all just tend to be the same but I grabbed a few pictures for you.

I have been loving my peaches lately! A fast, easy breakfast for me is two peaches. They are so sweet and juicy right now! I need to get my hands on some berries too.

I haven't had a pizza bagel in so long and decided it was time to fix that! This is just a simple one with sauce and daiya mozzarella. It was so incredibly filling. Next time I'll probably just make half and have a salad with it. 

I wanted to finish up the rest of the spinach, refried beans and my last quesadilla so I made one more of my favorite quesadillas. Seriously so delicious. This is my favorite combo.

Those are all of the meals I have to share today. I'm planning on getting a few things from Trader Joe's tomorrow so I should have a small haul to share with you along with some meals. I'll probably post a little later on Tuesday to share my 4th of July meal with you.

source

Just as a random side note, I FINALLY saw Moana (it's on Netflix!!) and you guys… it was so good!! I don't know what I was expecting but I really really loved it. I like how Disney has been going in a direction where the Princesses are more independent and the focus is on their strength and not necessarily on the need to find a Prince. The movie was really great and I felt extra joy because of the connection that she had with the ocean. I've always been in love with the ocean and I just love that the ocean plays such a large role that it was almost like a character for me. It was really beautiful and I'll probably watch it again at some point this weekend. I highly highly recommend it.

Do you have any fun plans for the long weekend? Let me know! The only things I know for sure right now is that I want to get my weekly bubble tea tomorrow, I have to run to Lush to pick up facial cleanser at some point and I will be doing the bulk of my major cleaning. Otherwise I plan on doing some major relaxing and probably some binge watching.

For all of my fellow Americans I hope you have an Happy and safe 4th of July! To my international friends out there have an amazing weekend!

Hauls and Meals and Mugs, Oh My!

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Mine was really nice but went way too quickly. After an incredibly stressful work day on Saturday I met up with my friends for dinner which was really nice. I did absolutely nothing on Sunday and loved every second of it and then yesterday I met up with a friend and then I went to the mall. It was stressful but I'm glad I went! I feel like a day of doing nothing paired with a day of productivity is a perfect way to spend a weekend. What did you guys end up doing?

Today's post is going to be a combination of all kinds of fun things. I have a small grocery haul that mostly supplements what I already have in the house. I also have a few meals and I'll also show what I picked up at the mall!

For produce I just picked up some asparagus, romaine and grape tomatoes.

For random stuff I picked up some tater tots (!!), my favorite tortilla chips, Lavash wraps, the individual servings of raw almonds, the vegan marshmallows (they're back!!) and the coffee mochi that I have heard great things about! I was feeling a little junky this week haha.

I really liked the Ginger Ale Zevia so I decided to try the caffeine free cola version as well! I really love it! It's so funny because they are all clear (which is great, no artificial colors!) and it reminds me of the whole Crystal Pepsi phenomenon. It's perfect if you want a soda but don't want to drink the chemicals and crap. 

Another delicious flagel (flat bagel) with tofu cream cheese. This is seriously my favorite meal.

We went out for my dad's birthday last week and I got this delicious salad. The only adjustment I had to make was to leave off the cheese. It is romaine, walnuts, cranberries, apples and grapes. So good and fresh.

When I met up with my friend on Monday we went for bubble tea. I seriously love this stuff. I went for my favorite peach tea and I loved it as always.

So I went to the Disney store yesterday to get my mug collection started. They didn't have a great selection at all but what they did have was on sale so I was happy about that. I had a hard time deciding (they didn't really have any princess options which would have made it a lot easier) so I decided to go with some girl power.

Of course I had to get this adorable Minnie Mouse mug! How cute is she?

I also decided to go for the Tinkerbell mug. The other sides have different poses and they are equally as adorable.

In addition to the mugs I decided to treat myself to a Kat Von D liquid lipstick. If you are into makeup but have not tried these liquid lipsticks I HIGHLY recommend them! The formula is amazing. They are super opaque, they are super long lasting and they don't budge. I had one shade before (Lolita, the most popular shade) and decided I wanted to go for a red. I'm so bad about choosing colors for my complexion but I will never try lipsticks on from a sampler… no matter how much they sterilize it. I can't even describe how gross I think that is. Anyway, I picked up the shade "Outlaw" and I am so happy with it! I LOVE it! It's the perfect red shade for me!

source

This is not my picture but it shows off some great swatches of the color. How gorgeous is it?! I'll try to remember to take a picture of it when I wear it :)

So that is the randomness I have for you today. Sadly the weekend went by way too quickly but hopefully the week will be quick and painless. I hope that you all had a great weekend and I'll see you here on Saturday! Have a great week! <3

Stuff I'm Into Saturday

Hey guys! I hope that you all had a great week! It was my intention to take pictures of delicious food to show you today but sadly that didn't happen. I wasn't feeling great this week (oh migraines, you are the worst) and I just wasn't really into prepping anything interesting or eating anything interesting for that matter. I wasn't going to post because I didn't feel like I had anything to talk about but I thought it would be fun to bring back the old Fun Friday style post that I used to do. I did one a week or two ago and it was fun so I decided rather than skip this post, lets just have some fun!

I decided that I would talk about some things that I am into at the moment as well as things that I want to do. Check it out!

source

Something that has definitely not been on my radar in quite a few years is travel. Well that's not entirely true I guess. I've had places that I want to visit but there were never any real plans to go. As my bubble got smaller due to my OCD, things like travel completely left my radar. There was no way I would feel safe. I'm so excited to say that now that I have started treatment and have been able to see past the OCD my desire to travel has come back full force! A few of the places at the top of my list are Sedona, Iceland, Denmark, Montreal, Israel, Greece and Amsterdam. I'm really hoping to plan a trip for sometime in the next year but obviously finances will determine whether or not that is possible. I'm just really excited that the idea of travel is back on the table.

*Note: I know I have gone to Florida but I consider that more of a visit than an actual travel experience. I'm talking about going to new places :)

source

When I was younger photography was a passion of mine. It was something I truly enjoyed. I've worked in the field for 9 years now and I've pretty much completely stopped shooting on my own for fun. This is something that I want to remedy. For a long time I hated it. I couldn't imagine doing something in my free time that I did all week at work. Now I have what feels like a second wind. I want to create. I want to see what I am capable of. I have a list of places I want to visit this spring/summer and I want to see what I can capture there. I will make sure to share them with you.

source

You guys. I know you have to be with me on this. Don't you miss summer fruit?! I seriously can't wait for the weather to get warmer so I can enjoy more raw foods and so summer produce is back in season. All I've wanted lately is fresh summer produce. I'm also thinking about starting to juice again once it gets warmer. I remember how good I felt physically and I miss that. 

source

Is anyone else excited about the live action Beauty and the Beast movie?! I have a friend that saw it yesterday and she said it was really great. I haven't been to a movie theatre in 6 years (also OCD related) but I'm thinking about dealing with that fear and going to see this in the theatre. I'll let you know if I see it and if I do how I like it!

I know it's not a lot but that's what has been going on here. I'm thinking about taking a trip to Whole Foods tomorrow instead of to Trader Joe's. It's obviously a bit more splurgy to go there but there have been some things that I have wanted to check out and it looks like they have some decent sales going on. If I go I'll make sure to photograph my haul to show you on Tuesday.

That's all I have for today. I hope that you are all doing well and thank you so much for reading this :) I know it's an interruption in our regularly scheduled programming but sometimes it is fun to give an update on things that aren't food related. 

I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll see you on Tuesday!