Stuff I Ate

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying safe and healthy. I'm trying to get used to the new normal and have some struggles of course but I think I'm holding up ok. I've been trying to psych myself up to go to Aldi but haven't gotten there quite yet. I'm going to try really hard to get there on Thursday but I guess we'll see. This week I tried to photograph as much as I could and have a few pictures to show you of stuff I ate. This week is Passover but I haven't really been following it because let's be real, we are in the middle of a plague so I think all will be forgiven if I can't get my kosher for Passover food.

So here is some stuff I've been eating!

First up I have a little flatbread pizza and some steamed broccoli which I desperately needed.

I made this udon noodle stir fry and it was so delicious! It was udon noodles with zucchini and broccoli and onions and I added some tamari, agave and some garlic.

I found this really cool product and was lucky enough to get my hands on it! I still haven't tried the Just Egg in the bottle because the price was just crazy to me but I decided I couldn't pass these folded "eggs" up. You know I love my breakfast sandwiches so I thought it would be a fun time to try something new!

Another amazing breakfast sandwich, this time with the Just Egg and Beyond sausage patties. The sausage patties were super delicious and I can't decide if I like the Beyond Sausage or the Field Roast better. I would definitely buy them both again. The Just Egg folded things were good and definitely mimicked having eggs in the sandwich but they were kind of bland. I don't know how often I would buy them but it is definitely good and I'm glad I tried it. I definitely still want to try the liquid version. I think Aldi carries it at a much better price so I'm hoping to get my hands on it at some point.

This was a random udon noodle soup with some corn and broccoli and Better than Bouillon No Chick'n Broth. It was very delicious and came together quickly

This last treat was something I found on Pinterest for 3 ingredient cookies! I used this recipe and it was so simple and came together so quickly and they were delicious! The three ingredients are almond flour, banana and baking powder. I wanted to add even more flavor so I included some chocolate chunks, some vanilla extract and a little maple syrup. They were seriously delicious and I will probably experiment with oat flour and different add ins as well.

They aren't the most beautiful but they were tasty and seriously so easy. I highly recommend them.

I've moved my home office out of my brother's house and into my own home because I just didn't feel comfortable leaving my house and being around other people anymore. I did snap one last photo of my lazy coworker sleeping on the job yet again. He is too adorable and I definitely think that is why he gets away with it 😉

I hope that you are all holding up ok and staying healthy 💚

Vegan MoFo 2019: Vegan MoFo Wrap Up

Hi my friends! I hope that you are all doing well! I can't believe I made it through Vegan MoFo without missing a single intended post. And honestly, I'm really proud of the posts I did put out there. I did my best to remain creative and keep the content as fresh as possible. My biggest goals were to use this month to revitalize my blog, gain new inspiration and more creativity in the kitchen and to keep up with the schedule. I feel like I've achieved all of these goals and I couldn't be more thrilled. I'm exhausted but really proud of what I accomplished. I just want to thank all of you that stuck with me for the entire month and I truly hope that you enjoyed the content I put out and that you were inspired as well 💚

I figured I would go with the prompt from the MoFo site and just do a general conclusion/wrap up post. I thought it would be fun to share some of the things that I enjoyed most from my MoFo journey. 

First and foremost, I LOVED following all of your amazing blogs!! I loved following Susan's super creative ABC theme, Julie's "Elementary, My Dear Vegan" theme, Food For Dissertating's AMAZING vegan Bento ideas, Jennifer's CSA adventures and all of the other amazing, creative vegans out there! I have gotten so many amazing ideas from them and I can't wait to start trying them out in my own kitchen so thanks for the inspiration everyone!!

As for highlights from my own blog (is that obnoxious? Probably but oh well?) I would have to say that sharing some of the amazing vegan options Long Island has to offer has been really fun for me! I've only barely scratched the surface but it has been great getting out and exploring some of the places that I've been wanting to try!

The sesame chick'n has definitely been a highlight for me and I'm glad I got to share Little Fu's with you!

Finally getting to That Pizza Place was definitely a highlight! I'm so glad I went and tried all of this amazing food and that I was able to share the glory of garlic knot crust with you! 😂

The most special post to me was where I talked about Zen Garden, the amazing restaurant where I shared a meal with Doug before he tragically passed. This restaurant is not only DELICIOUS but it holds a very special place in my heart and being able to share my experience there with you was truly THE highlight for me. I'm glad I was able to introduce you to Doug a little more through that post because he was truly a special person.

Of course the Rocky Road bar from Sweet to Lick was another amazing highlight!

In addition to trying these amazing restaurants (which I will absolutely continue in the future) I also finally tapped into my Pinterest pins and tried out a few of the recipes.

The Ambitious Kitchen's chickpea blondies and this incredible sundae were definitely a must try from me! So so delicious with less guilt for the actual blondie (I mean there is ice cream sooooooo yeah).

FINALLY trying the Viet Vegan's Tteokbokki recipe was another highlight. I have made it again and will continue to enjoy it because it's freaking awesome! Another recipe I would highly recommend trying!

Finally, I really enjoyed taste testing lots of fun products that have been new to me. 

The "thin mint" type of cookie from Aldi was a really great treat! I love thin mints and wouldn't mind having a package of these in the freezer at all times 😂

The Mahalo bar was SO AMAZING! It was also a nice gesture from a new friend that I shared the amazing concert experience with in the beginning of August. I've had a lot of really beautiful moments with new friends this month and it is another reason why this has all been so special.

WHITE CHEDDAR POPCORN IS BACK IN MY LIFE! I was so excited to learn that this was vegan and even more excited when I tried it and it was delicious! Now I just need to get all of the bags the next time I see them 😂

So there you have it, some of the highlights of MoFo for me. If I had to put it into a nutshell, I'd say the thing I enjoyed most about my own journey has been getting out and experiencing more of the vegan scene around me. This blog has been called Long Island Vegan for a long time but I haven't really been showing you what Long Island has to offer. Until now. I'm really excited to spend more of my time on this blog sharing all of the amazing things Long Island and the surrounding areas have to offer. I am also excited to tackle my Pinterest list and share everything with you. And you know I'll continue sharing my meals and hauls with you. It feels so good to be re-invigorated.

So, for now, I will be taking the weekend off and then going back to my twice per week schedule as I adjust to my new job, new schedule and new routine. Once I have it all well managed I will probably try to add on at least one more post per week. I will definitely let you know when the time comes 😃 What have been some of your MoFo highlights? What did you see here that you'd love to see more of in the future? Is there anything you'd like to see less of or not at all. Let me know, I am so curious to know what you think and what you are enjoying!

I hope you all have an amazing weekend and I'll be back here next week 💚 Thank you all so much for taking the time out to come here and read my ramblings. It truly means so much to me!

Vegan MoFo 2019: Even More Stuff I Ate!

Hello again my friends! I hope you are all well today! As you can tell by the title of this post, today we are doing the wrap up of stuff I ate this week.

I had another chick'n parmesan sandwich (in my pre vegan days I used to eat the chicken parmesan sandwich from Burger King that would be offered every once in a while and I loved it - gross I know… this has been my ridiculously lazy effort to recreate it so many years later) and tried to balance that (I mean honestly, so ridiculous ha!) with some amazing, crispy grapes and some baby carrots.

I made another batch of The Viet Vegan's Tteokbokki and it was amazing, of course! I added some soft tofu to it this time and a half of a bag of rice cakes made three meals for me. I never realized how filling these rice cakes are!!

Of course I have my obligatory weekly pumpernickel bagel with tofu spread 😍

I didn't eat all of this watermelon in one sitting but oh man did I enjoy it every time! It was a perfectly sweet and juicy watermelon!

Sometimes ladies have chocolate cravings and I just happened to have one over the past few days 😂This Haagen-Dazs ice cream was on sale for less than $3 so how could I resist?! I may or may not have an extra pint in the freezer 😉

So that's some stuff I've been eating pver the past few days! I know, kind of junky but whatever. 

Fun news! I'm going to be house/pet sitting for my brother and his family next week so it'll be nice to have a lot of space and an air fryer to use! I'm planning on doing some major healthy meal prep while I'm there (the new addition of a husky pup will make my time in the morning very limited) and I'm looking forward to sharing that with you next week!

Have a great day!💚

Vegan MoFo 2019: Vegan Sandra's Easy Chickpea Omelette

Hey everyone! Welcome back for another MoFo post! Today's post will be part of the "trying other bloggers'" recipes theme. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it seriously spoke to me. It is very strange to me that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day but I lack some serious breakfast inspiration most of the time. I think it's because I rarely want to make an elaborate meal in the morning and I'm usually in a rush on work days. Anyway, I've been missing some great breakfast options so when I saw and oniony chickpea omelette I knew I had to try it. Typically I don't really follow through on my pins on Pinterest so I'm happy to say that I did follow through on this one!

So, the recipe I wanted to try was for the Easy Vegan Chickpea Omelette by Vegan Sandra. Her recipe that she posts is an onion omelette with lots of onion and herbs. I decided to test out the recipe using just the onions that she included in her recipe the first time around.

How awesome does this omelette look?! I only used a half of a small onion and it still had TONS of onion flavor. I decided to cook mine up a bit before adding it to the batter because I really love cooked onions and wanted to make sure they were thoroughly cooked before making the omelette. I didn't really have herbs on hand so I just added some green onion as well and the only other change I made was to add a little garlic powder for extra seasoning.

This omelette was DELICIOUS. I highly recommend adding the garlic for the extra seasoning because it just added a really nice flavor to it. I was very excited that this tasted as great as it looks because it is such an easy and quick breakfast meal that you can enjoy any time of day!

I have so many ideas for fillings I want to try. I really want to try a spinach and feta omelette with Violife feta, Sun dried tomato and basil as well as a spinach, broccoli and vegan cheese omelette. I will definitely post them when I do get to try them!

Pinterest Summer Roundup

Hey guys! I hope all is well! This is not the post I was hoping for today but the week just got away from me, I got stuck in my head about some stuff and photographing food just wasn't on the agenda for me. I figured that rather than skip the post I'd share some awesome recipes I found on Pinterest and am looking forward to trying this summer. Let me know if there are any fun recipes that you are looking to try or any of your summer staples that I should try!

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The first recipe are these 3 Ingredient Kind Coconut Almond Bars from the Beaming Baker. I think these will be a perfect summer snack on the go, especially because I am planning on getting back into a gym routine and these will help me feel energized. The original Kind bars contain honey are are more expensive than necessary so I'm looking forward to trying them out on my own!

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The second recipe that I'm excited to try is the Long Weekend Grilled Salad from Oh She Glows. I love grilled veggies in the summer so this salad is right up my alley! I can't wait to try it, it'll be a perfect healthy staple meal.

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The next recipe screams summer to me. These are the Zucchini and Chickpea Pancakes from Just Hungry. I think these sound amazing and I am planning on adding corn to them because I think it'll add that much more summer freshness!

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This is the Farro and Corn Salad from the Food Network. It is bright and beautiful and screams summer freshness. I think this will be a perfect work lunch during the summer, it'll be quick, hearty and delicious.

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OMG YOU GUYS. I am not a fan of putting on the oven in the summer but I sure as hell will to make these Vegan S'mores Brownies from Make Thyme for Health! Are you kidding me with these?! I think these would be a great dessert for 4th of July or a night out by the fire pit. They look sooooooo good!

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I've always wanted to try dessert hummus and this Brownie Batter Dessert Hummus from A Virtual Vegan looks perfect!!! I think it'll be a great dessert with some fruit for a summer chocolate fix. I'm really excited to try this one!

So these are the summer recipes I'm really excited to try and review for you! Let me know what you are looking forward to trying this summer! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. 💜

Cookie Idea Roundup

Hey everyone! I hope all is well! Thanks for your well wishes after my sick day post, it is greatly appreciated! I'm definitely starting to feel better but not near 100% yet so meals are still quite boring. I figured it would be fun to share some fun cookie recipes I found on Pinterest for anyone planning on getting into the holiday baking spirit! I definitely plan on making some cookies once I feel better so I'm sharing the list of cookies that I will definitely be making as well as some maybes :)

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First up are these gorgeous Vegan Chocolate Crinkle Cookies from Nora Cooks! I love the powdery, snowy finish on them, it reminds me of hot cocoa and snow. These are on my definite list and I'm so excited to give them a try!

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Next up are these beautiful Molasses Cookies from I Love Vegan. I always want to make Molasses Cookies but I never do and I think I want to change that this year. I love the ones with the sugar crystals on them because it reminds me of glitter and you know how much I love glitter 😉

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These Chocolate Chip Sprinkle Cookies from Namely Marly are another one on the definite list for me. I know they may not be Christmas festive but they are fun and festive and the only thing that is better than funfetti is when there is chocolate involved as well. I'm so excited to give these a try!

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These beautiful Vegan Thin Mint Cookies from The Pretty Bee are a PERFECT cookie for the holidays! I'm pretty sure everyone loves Thin Mints and mint and chocolate is such a classic holiday pairing. They would be beautiful with some crushed up peppermint candies on top as well. These are high on my list and one I would love to make if I have the time!

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Another recipe that I found and would love to make are these Vegan Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies from Loving It Vegan. This may be blasphemous but I'm actually not the biggest fan of peanut butter cookies but I had the idea to swap out the Peanut Butter for some Trader Joe's Cookie Butter (you're welcome!). To me that feels so festive for the holiday because the cookie butter has such a warm holiday flavor and what is better than a little Cookieception around the holidays? 😉😂 If I get the chance to make these I'll be using the cookie butter and I will definitely let you know how it swaps out!

The last thing I hope to be able to make are little chocolate clusters with lots of different ingredient combinations in them. I love making bark and chocolate clusters around the holidays because they are so easy and come together so quickly and the flavor combination possibilities are endless. Some of my favorites are peanuts and raisins (any fans of the Chunky bar?), cashews, pecans, cranberries and pistachios with white chocolate (how festive!), the Candy Cane Joe Joe's from Trader Joe's, pretzels, etc. The possibilities are endless and it as easy as melting chocolate, adding your mix ins and scooping onto a pan and refrigerating.

So that's what I have for you in my cookie lineup this year! Are you baking for the holidays? What's on your cookie list? Definitely share your ideas in the comments!

I hope that you all have a wonderful week. I'll see you back here on Friday, hopefully with some regularly scheduled programming 😃

H-Mart Haul & Meal Prep

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all well and had a great weekend! Mine was sort of lazy and sort of productive but I guess that's how most of my weekends go. The pain has been pretty bad this week so I've been taking it easy and trying to do a little extra self care as well. I'm planning on starting to do some yoga in the evenings so I can get all relaxed and stretched out before bed. I found some really great videos geared toward people with chronic pain and illness so they are more gentle practices and that is exactly what I need. I'm looking forward to it. I may try to do yoga by candle light because I feel like it doesn't get much better than that!

Today I decided that I would focus a little on meal prep and also show you my latest H-Mart haul. I decided that I'm going to step up my ramen noodle game (there are plenty of gluten free ramen options, yay!) so I picked up a few things to get on that. I did a little meal prep for the week as well so I wanted to share that too!

So first up is my H-Mart haul. I grabbed some of that mushroom seasoning to make some broth (I will be using miso with it I think), some unsweetened original Almond Breeze for when I am ready to make that garlic sauce), some enoki mushrooms, green onion, baby bok choy and some soft tofu.

On Sunday I was not feeling great but I decided that I was going to make the gorgeous Chickpea Flour Mini Veggie Frittatas from The Mostly Vegan. I used spinach, mushrooms, broccoli and green onions and I used the Onion Salt from Trader Joe's instead of regular salt.

Aren't they beautiful?! They are delicious too you guys. I highly recommend this recipe! I have them in the freezer for a quick on the go breakfast.

The veggies I used were getting to their use by dates and I didn't know if I would use them in time so I packed them up and put them in the freezer to grab for a quick mid week stir fry. Looking at the picture I regret using the plastic bag but I will use a re-usable container next time. Anyway, the moral of the story is that I'm trying to limit my food waste by freezing any unused veggies before they go bad.

Finally, if you've been here a long time you'll know that I used to roast veggies to eat with my hummus/dolma plates. Since my favorite fresh tomatoes are out I decided I cook up my favorite veggie combo for this dish (minus the eggplant) and sautéed up some onion, zucchini and mushrooms. I'll reheat in the oven so it gets that roasted flavor and I promise you guys this is AMAZING with hummus and dolma and some lettuce (which I don't think I have… oops). 

Anyway, that is some of the prep that I did over the weekend and my amazing H-Mart haul. I love how affordable they are. That mushroom seasoning was the most expensive thing at $6.99 but when you think about it that is going to last so long. I think I read that it is good for three years so I imagine that it will go A LONG WAY and that makes the price tag so worth it to me.

What are some of the things you've been meal prepping lately? These veggies will also be amazing in burrito bowls with brown rice, black beans, corn and avocado. I think that it will end up being a staple for me :)

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! I'll be back on Friday to share some of the amazing meals I've been eating lately!

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! 💜