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: Trying The Viet Vegan's Ttoekbokki!

Hey everyone! It's another day of MoFo and I'm super excited for today's post because it is part of my "Trying Other Bloggers' Recipes" theme for this year (as you know I'm following several themes). I've been eyeing The Viet Vegan's Ttoekbokki recipe FOR SO LONG. I've heard amazing things about Ttoekbokki and I love the texture of the Korean Rice Cakes but haven't ever made it in the traditional way. I found this recipe and loved how easy it looked and how short the ingredient list is (and I'm lucky enough to have access to Asian Markets so I was able to locate all of the ingredients easily). I don't know why it took me so long to try it but I finally decided that I was going to make it and try it out!

I decided to try the tube shaped rice cakes because I'd only ever had the sliced version. As I mentioned above, the ingredients list is short and that is important to me. I rarely ever make recipes with long ingredients lists so that was definitely part of the appeal of her version. It didn't take long to put together at all which is also great. I halved the recipe since it is just me eating it and I had leftovers to enjoy at a later time.

So how did it taste? In one word, AMAZING. I had a lighter hand with the spice (which you can tell because my sauce isn't quite as red as hers) and a little more generous with the sweetness and I really love the balance that I found. I liked the balance of the sweet and spice and thought it was a really nice flavor. The texture of the rice cakes is so amazing and I love it with the sauce. When I had the leftovers the sauce had actually thickened and it was even better! I am glad that I halved the recipe because it would have been a lot otherwise but I think it would be a great dish to make for company if they love spice.

The next time I make it I will certainly make sure I have kimchi on hand to pair with it and I think I may add some soft tofu to it. I think it would be a really nice addition and sure, it won't be authentic but it will certainly still be delicious!

I'm sure this won't be a surprise but I highly recommend trying her recipe if you haven't already and if you have access to the ingredients! I will certainly be making it again and I can't believe it took me this long to try! 

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you back here tomorrow! 💚