Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all well. It is almost the weekend and I couldn't be more thrilled. This will certainly be a self care kind of weekend where I continue to declutter my life, rest my body and this weekend I also get to catch up with a friend of mine. We will be hanging out on Monday and I'm thrilled. I have missed her and it will be nice to catch up. We'll go out for lunch and I don't know where but I'm looking forward to sharing some of the awesome vegan food Long Island has to offer.

I'm not feeling great physically (I'm mid flare right now) and I'm working on adding in some probiotics into my daily routine. I am also looking for a vegan source of an Omega 3 supplement. Everything I found so far has some sort of orange sourced ingredient which I can not have due to my allergy. I have contacted a company to ask the source of their beta carotene and if it is not orange then I will take that one.

Anyway, let's take a look at some of the awesome meals I've been eating lately.

You guys. The baked oatmeal is freaking glorious. It is very dense but it is delicious and the chocolate is a game changer. When you warm it up the chocolate gets all melty again and it's awesome. I bet it's great with some plant milk on top too. I used this recipe from The Healthy Maven. I just used pecans instead of the walnuts, added the chocolate and didn't put the banana on top.

Like I said, I'm trying to be more consistent with my probiotic intake. I love the mango kombucha from Trader Joe's so I have been drinking this. I also have a supplement I can take if I need and I also have raw apple cider vinegar that I'll mix with water if that's what I feel like doing for the day.

You know I love my bagels and this one is toasted (from the freezer, you know how I feel about toasting fresh bagels) with half Earth Balance and half Tofutti. I enjoyed this with a cup of coffee with the Caramel flavored Silk Almond Creamer. Really delicious meal!

I finally made another bento box in my Monbento! This one is pretty similar to my staple box and it includes dolmas, grape tomatoes, baby carrots, hummus and some honey crisp apple slices. This meal is so fresh and tasty and really east and quick to put together.

As you can see, I didn't photograph any of my dinners. As I mentioned earlier I'm mid flare and I'm just so exhausted by the time I get home from work I barely even want to eat dinner, never mind dealing with photographing it. You saw a lot of it anyway with the meal prep so I figured it wasn't a huge deal.

On a fun note, I'm hoping to get to Aldi this weekend for my groceries! Wherever I end up I'll make sure to photograph it and share it with you.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Do you have any fun plans? Let me know what you're up to!

So. Many. Hauls. (And Some Meals!)

Hey you guys! I hope that you are well and that you had a great weekend! Mine was good except I apparently can't get my shit together to just stop and relax. On Sunday I went out and ran so many errands which included FOUR grocery stores (WTF!?). I have hauls for three of them (one was just the Turkish market for my favorite hummus) and I am really excited to share them with you. I was not able to get to H-Mart because I just didn't have it in me at the end of that but I am hoping to go tomorrow after work. I figured three hauls is still good enough (😂) and I have a few meals and things to share at the end!

So up first we have Whole Foods. I rarely ever go there but there were a few things I wanted and knew I could only get there so I made the trek. Before I get into the haul I have to say I'm so proud of my restraint. I wanted EVERYTHING and only brought these few items home so yay! Anyway, I got a container of roasted mushrooms and eggplant to have with my hummus (sometimes you make concessions when you know you won't have the energy to cook), some Teeccino to try (maybe I can kick the coffee for good), some carrots because Whole Foods has THE BEST CARROTS, Earth Balance sticks to keep in the freezer if I need to bake at any point, Kite Hill yogurt (on sale 4/$5) and some Mother In Law's white kimchi. As you know I'm not a fan of most vegan yogurts and I actually find Kite Hill to be way too sweet but I really wanted yogurt so I got the plain to have with fruit and granola and the vanilla and key lime for other specific things 😉

Next I went to Trader Joe's and got just a few things. I got some honey crisp apples for the first recipe test for my e-book, some dolmas, coconut oil, pears, Mango Kombucha to try, cucumbers, tomatoes and frozen mango. Can you tell I've been craving mango lately?

Finally I have a small haul from the Israeli Market!! I go there for their amazing soup and their cashews and the other stuff was a bonus. I grabbed some vegetable barley soup (which I brought with me for lunch today), some potato leek soup (it was frozen but it is my favorite soup they make so I am giving it a try out of the freezer) some Date bars which just have dates and nuts and stuff, a point of the most delicious cashews and a big ass container of tahini.

This gorgeousness is my first recipe test for my e-book! I made a breakfast apple crisp which is essentially baked apples with a granola type topping.

I had some for breakfast and it was really good! There are a few tweaks I need to make but I love it and I'm excited! I drizzled some vanilla yogurt on top to mimic the creaminess of vanilla ice cream or vegan whipped cream on a traditional apple crisp and it was amazing.

Finally I thought I'd share a Mediterranean plate I made! It's been a long time since I've shared one and this one was really good. The roasted veggies are SO GOOD with the hummus, I highly recommend it.

So that's what I have for you today! I hope you enjoyed the post and that you have a great week! I'll see you back here on Friday! 💜

This & That

Hey everyone! I hope that all is well! I don't have a ton of pictures to share with you today because I haven't been able to photograph much since Wednesday. As I mentioned I'm at my brother's house watching the pets so yesterday was a transition day for me and therefore hard to get anything photographed. I will share the meal that I do have and I also thought I would take some time to talk a little more about what I hope to achieve in 2019.

As I mentioned the other day, I woke up Wednesday feeling really exhausted. The holiday weekend really drained me of my energy (even though I thoroughly enjoyed it!) and I just wanted to stay in bed as long as I possibly could. I decided I would grab my sushi rolls because on Wednesday it is $5. I just expected the rolls to be a little smaller as that is what they normally do to compensate for the price reduction. Luckily they didn't do that! I got these regular sized fresh veggie rolls for $5! That was a great deal. I paired it with my favorite Blueberry Grape Kombucha from Target and it was a great meal.

So now I thought I'd talk a little bit about what I hope to achieve next year in regards to my health journey as well as my blogging journey. The two paths cross a lot so the goals are fairly similar. I am hoping to bring you guys along for the ride! The content should remain fairly close to what I post now (I'll continue to post meals and grocery hauls and things like that) but there will be minimal processed foods and more homemade meals. My homemade meals will be simple and fuss free as I don't typically have the energy to spend hours in the kitchen anymore.

For anyone joining us here for the first time or just recently I'll just give a little context. This year I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which is a chronic illness characterized by widespread pain and chronic extreme fatigue. I've decided to minimize my processed foods intake and increase my activity to see if I can naturally manage my symptoms. This will cross over with my blogging as I will share my journey with you here along with the food I'm eating. 

I wasn't sure if I was going to share this because I tend to shy away from talking about projects that I am working on or plan to work on because my follow through isn't great. There are a whole lot of psychological reasons for that (fear of success and failure, fear of people HATING what I put out, etc.) but I decided that I need to change that in 2019. So I wanted to talk about how writing an E-Book has been a goal of mine for years. I never knew what to write and I always talked myself out of any ideas that I have had in the past. I had the idea of putting together everything I learn through this process and if it works and I can get my symptoms under control I would put together an E-Book about managing chronic illness and what I did. I will never mislead anyone by promising a "cure" (it makes me absolutely nuts when people promise cures for incurable diseases) but I can share my journey and what I did. It would be less of a recipe book (even though I would include recipes - but they will likely be so simple I'd hesitate to call it a recipe book) and more of a "What I Ate" guide. As I just mentioned, my recipes will be incredibly simple as people that suffer from chronic illness can lack energy and the idea of spending an hour in the kitchen can be daunting and quite frankly it can be a complete turn off. I know that most people will likely see my recipes as ridiculous and not see the point in having "recipes" for such simple meals but I look at complicated recipes and can't fathom spending my time using 20 ingredients to make a dressing to put on the main course that already took an hour to make. 

So I guess my question is are you interested in this kind of book? Do you think it would be a waste of money to buy an e-book of such simple recipes even though the concept is more about the process of healing rather than the specific recipes? Do you see value in simple recipes that take minimal effort or do you feel like you only get your money's worth from books with elaborate dishes in them? I'm having such a hard time gauging and I have a huge fear of people buying a book that I poured my heart into just to feel like they didn't get their money's worth. Any insight and opinions that you have would be so helpful and I'd love it if you shared them in the comments!

Anyway, if you read through this whole post I appreciate you sticking with me, it was definitely a long one! I'm going to do my best to get another post up on Tuesday and I should definitely be able to as I'll be settled in by then and I'll be on the tail end of a 4 day weekend that I gifted myself as a way to recharge after holiday madness! I'll see you then and I hope you have a great weekend!

Trader Joe's Haul and Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! Sorry for all of the lackluster content lately… it's been a rough end of the year healthwise so it always kind of messes with your meals and eating. I am back on different antibiotics for a tooth issue to while I have to make sure to eat I never actually want to. Anyway, I do have a Trader Joe's Haul to share with you today as well as a few meals.

Also, why doesn't anyone sell Earth Balance butter sticks? I can always get the tubs but I need the sticks for baking and I can only get those at Whole Foods (which is not super close to me). Has anyone else had that problem? Have you found an easier to find substitute? One of my cookie recipes calls for coconut oil which is great but I need butter for the other two. Any tips would be awesome!

Ok so let's get into it!

First up is the produce! Carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, pears, potatoes and an attempt at a bag of butter lettuce. Looking at the picture I'm annoyed at all of the packaging. It's so unnecessary. This has always been an issue for Trader Joe's, maybe one day they will actually fix it.

I decided it was time for my annual treat to the Candy Cane Joe Joe's which are my FAVORITE, some Jasmine rice (when you feel like shit all the time sometimes you just need some frozen rice to get a meal on the table), the Veggie Spring Rolls which I've heard are awesome, the Cranberry Spiced Apple Kombucha, dolmas and chocolate chips.

I had an everything bagel lightly toasted with avocado, salt and pepper. It was really good and exactly what I wanted.

I decided to get some more veggie rolls as well. This time I used my favorite chopsticks that my friend got me from Japan. I love these and they are perfect. I love the rainbow steel ones I got online but they are heavy and big and harder to use so these continue to be my go to!

Sorry this is such a short post but that's what I have for you today! What is on your holiday shopping list? Are you into the holidays or is it just another day for you?

Hope you have a great week and I'll see you Friday!

Transitioning To Gluten Free And Nightshade Free

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and that you had a great week. Things are going ok here, I'm working on transitioning into my gluten free, nightshade free lifestyle and it has been difficult and slow moving. It's a lot of work to try and prep and plan everything and I feel like I didn't have a ton of time to plan before jumping in which made it more difficult. I've been focusing on getting everything planned and doing the best I can so I haven't taken much time to photograph a lot. So, I figured I'd share the few (ok two) pictures that I do have and then show you some of the recipes that I found on Pinterest that I plan on making in the next few weeks!

As you guys know I am not a huge fan of Kombucha. There are maybe two that I like and the one above being my all time favorite. It is from Target and it's the only place you can find it. I had it twice and then for months have not been able to find it. For some reason on Tuesday morning I decided to go to Target before work to see if I could find it and wouldn't you know it they FINALLY stocked it! So, I grabbed every single one they had 😂 There were 7 bottles and their Kombucha is reasonably priced between $2 and $3. I drink half at a time so this is 2 weeks worth of probiotic goodness. I was SO HAPPY because probiotics was on my radar for building wellness as well so I'm really happy about it.

I also decided to get some veggie rolls with brown rice for lunch one day. I'm switching over to brown rice as refined white rice is something else that supposedly causes inflammation so I'll just make the small changes where I can. I paired it with a delicious honeycrisp and it was a perfect lunch.

So, as I mentioned above, preparing and planning is going to be crucial to my success of maintaining this lifestyle. I always hesitate to use the words restricted or limited or anything like that regarding a vegan diet because you always want to show how abundant a vegan diet can be as there are definitely a ton of options. However, the nature of the lifestyle is basically that there are limitations and restrictions on what you will eat and to add on two more big limitations is difficult. So I've been doing my research to get some ideas of delicious meals I can make vegan, gluten free and nightshade free. I plan on having a meal prep day on Monday so I thought it would be fun to share some of the recipes I've found on Pinterest!

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The first thing that I wanted to figure out was how I was going to substitute for tomato sauce. There are plenty of options for gluten free pasta and pizza crusts but without tomato sauce it is a little ore difficult (particularly for pizza). I know pesto is always an option but it's not my absolute favorite. Then, as I was perusing Pinterest, I spotted this recipe for Creamy Garlic Pasta from the Minimalist Baker and I knew that creamy garlic sauce was the answer to my dilemma! Obviously I would not use the tomatoes if I made the pasta but that sauce is perfect and I can't wait to try it (omg you guys, how good is that going to be on pizza?!).

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The next thing that really caught my eye were these beautiful Chickpea Flour Mini Veggie Frittatas from The Mostly Vegan. These cuties are a combination of sautéed veggies (I will of course leave out the nightshades) combined with a batter made from chickpea flour, nutritional yeast and seasonings to make these adorable frittatas. These will be a perfect on the go breakfast, particularly paired with some fresh fruit. I'm really excited to make these and I probably will on meal prep Monday. Hopefully that means I'll have some photos to share on Tuesday 😉

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Potatoes are probably the food (along with tomatoes) that is going to be the most difficult for me to give up. I saw these adorable Cauliflower Hash Browns from Healthier Steps and was so excited to see this as an option. I think these are such a great answer to potato hash browns for those days where you just want a full delicious brunch. I can see these being a great pairing with the mini frittatas I discussed above or I can see them as a great option for an avocado toast substitute (omg imagine these topped with fat free refried beans and avocado for breakfast with an apple?! Yes please!). I definitely will be making these in the future and hopefully they will freeze well!

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Gluten free baking has always been really daunting to me but I guess now is the time that I need to jump in! I decided that these Black Bean Brownies from The Pretty Bee would be a great way to start since I won't have to buy a million different flours. Chocolate is always delicious and these are packed with protein from the beans. I've always been curious to try so I think I will give these a try pretty soon!

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My basic bitch is coming out and I've been craving some pumpkin bread big time. I found this recipe for One Bowl Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread from The Beaming Baker and knew I had to give it a try. I think it'll be delicious and a perfect way to satisfy the fall baking cravings. I haven't decided if I'm going to make a loaf or some muffins but either way I can't wait to try these!

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For the last recipe I found another fall treat that looks so delicious and I think I want to make for Thanksgiving! They are these beautiful Paleo Apple Pie Crumb Bars by Jay's Baking Me Crazy. I've never been one to really subscribe to the whole Paleo thing but I knew it would definitely work in my favor to find some gluten free vegan recipes and this one is perfect. The shortbread crust is made out of almond flour, there aren't a ton of ingredients and the final product is gorgeous. I definitely see these happening in my future, hopefully for Thanksgiving so I can enjoy some dessert as well 😉

So that's what I have to share with you today! Sorry I didn't have more of my meals to share with you but as I mentioned, I've been a bit of a mess this week and completely disorganized. I hope to have more to share on Tuesday along with some meal prep so you can see what I have planned for next week's meals as well.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 💜