Tasty Meals and Some Whole Foods Treats

 Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. I'm thinking that I may try to stick to posting once a week. It feels manageable and I definitely think I'll have some better content after the craziness of the holidays passes. I had taken off this past Friday and tomorrow (Monday) to give myself a little break and a long weekend to set me up to some short weeks and long weekends to close out the year. This year has been very stressful, I've taken minimal time off (two days the entire year I've been working there so far) and the new year is the busiest time of year for me. It has been really nice to have some time to breathe before it gets really busy. 

On Friday I decided to head over to That Pizza Place in Levittown, NY to grab some vegan pizza slices. I have been there a few times since the plague started and would typically get there at night when options were limited. This time I got there for lunch and had lots of options to choose from! Above you'll see a fresh tomato and garlic slice and a broccoli rabe and sausage (!!!) slice. OMG they were both DELICIOUS. I was so stuffed after I ate them I couldn't eat for the rest of the day but it was so worth it. I also got a mac n cheese slice and a grandma slice tucked away in the freezer for a lazy night when I need a quick meal. In the few instances I have ordered food I always do takeout, always change packaging from the original and always reheat. I know that places are being careful but it gives me some peace of mind.

This is just some random sushi I had at some point last week. The rolls were super fresh and delicious. 

Today I decided to have a treat yo self moment on my self care weekend and headed over to Whole Foods. I decided not to photograph my whole haul but wanted to share some of the more exciting stuff that you haven't seen a million times on this blog. I did get some veggies for stir fry, some Just Egg (on sale for $3.99 so I decided it's finally time to try it!) and some Chao slices and Violife Mozzarella shreds.

OMG you guys. I have not had a chocolate chip muffin in YEARS and I loved chocolate chip muffins in my pre-vegan days. Obviously I had to try these when I saw them. Clearly I couldn't wait and ate one before I remembered I wanted to take a photo 😂 They are DELICIOUS. They are not super sweet but they are very yummy and were definitely worth every penny.

YOU. GUYS. This right here is the biggest win of my shopping trip. Inari rolls are my favorite sushi ever and for whatever reason I can not find them anywhere! I have looked at every sushi menu in my area and they just aren't offered. The one place I found there I ordered it and I got one piece and it was literally a tablespoon of rice in a tofu skin for $3. It was so disappointing. As you can see these are properly stuffed Inari rolls and I can't wait to eat them!

I haven't had vegan chick'n nuggets in a little while and decided to try the 365 brand since it is less expensive than the Gardein ones. Hopefully they are good! I will definitely let you know.

You guys. Ice cream! I LOVE mochi and I have not really found vegan mochi outside of Trader Joe's (and I haven't been to TJ's since the plague started because it's just too crowded and I'm not waiting 2 hours to get in). I had tried these mochi the last time I went to WFs and loved them. The chocolate flavor is delicious and the mochi texture is so nice. I highly recommend them. They are very pricey but for a treat they are worth it. I also found these vegan cookie ice cream sandwiches! I definitely had to try one too. I'll let you know how that is as well!

I love popcorn and this looked so good on the shelf. It is just popcorn, some oil, salt and nooch if I remember correctly. I'm sure it'll be delicious for a snack!

Finally, some chocolate! This was on sale 2/$5 so I grabbed 2. I love dark chocolate with espresso beans and I thought the crispy rice bar would  be nostalgic and fun to try. Definitely looking forward to these as well.

All in all, this was definitely a splurge and will be a rare treat. It's nice to treat yourself to some fun stuff and try new things sometimes though. 

I hope that you are all well! I can't believe Christmas is this week again. I hope that you are all staying warm and safe. We had our first snow storm and I'm already over it, ha! What are some fun new things you've tried lately?

Catching Up

Hey everyone. I hope that you are all doing ok. I can assure you that it was not my intention to take a break. The reality is that things have not been great here and blogging was just the last thing on my mind. I have a lot going on and I just didn't have it in me to keep up with this right now. Things keep piling up and I am just incredibly depressed right now. The odd thing is that I've been keeping up with my social obligations that I've made. I'm trying to get out and not withdraw. It's difficult because all I want to do is be home in my bed but I go out. It's nice to spend time with friends but I just feel empty inside right now. Long story short, I'm struggling.

During my hiatus I've taken some photos of some meals that I've enjoyed with friends and a random Whole Foods haul. I figured I'd pop in and update you on where I've been and share the pics.

A few weeks ago a group of us went to Golden Star in Medford, NY. They have an extensive vegan menu and I started with an unpictured wonton soup (omg so good) and this is the vegan pork with broccoli. This is not something I would normally get but for whatever reason I went for it. It looked so realistic it was kind of crazy but it was actually really good and I'm glad I went outside of what I would normally get and tried something new.

This beauty has been a staple meal for me. It is a Greek style salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, Violife Feta and stuffed grape leaves. I dressed it with some red wine vinegar and pepper and it was delicious. I eat this quite a bit.

This is part one of my Whole Foods haul. I got some Earth Balance Cheddar Squares, Skinny Pop everything bagel mini popcorn cakes, key lime larabars (my fav flavor and so hard to find), a vegan chocolate chip scone and some bagels.

I went to Whole Foods because their Violife cheese was on sale big time. I got the feta and cheddar slices for $3.99 each and decided to try the WFs brand shredded mozzarella. I got two mango kombuchas and hummus as well. I tried to show some restraint and I think I did ok.

Up next was another meal at Little Fu's. My friend and I decided to grab a late lunch (which turned into dinner - we were there for like 3 hours 😳😬) and got a few dishes to share. We got the vegan pepper steak (I just had the onions and "steak"), chick'n with broccoli and veggie lo mein.

I also went back to That Pizza Place with my friends and brought some slices home to keep in the freezer. Here we have a broccoli mac n cheese slice, eggplant parm slice and 2 plain slices.

This is the only slice I've had so far but omg isn't it a beauty? This goes against everything I believe in, ha. I don't typically eat pasta and I really don't like pasta on my pizza but it looked so good I had to try it and OMG is it good. I make an exception for this. They added tons of garlic which was delicious and they make a cashew based cheese sauce which is delicious. It's so so good.

 

This was an Asian Chopped salad that I topped with a chick'n patty from Aldi's. Super delicious and a very quick, easy meal.

A friend of mine was helping out with a fundraiser for rescue pups and I offered to donate a piece of art for the raffle. I made this piece and I'm so thrilled with how it came out. I decided to customize it and add special details to make it more appropriate for the event and it turned out perfectly.

So that is the update I have for you right now. I am sorry I haven't been keeping up with your blogs but I will catch up soon. I'm not sure when my next post will be but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. I hope that you are all doing ok .💚

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! 💜

Treat Yo Self (Well): Whole Foods and Trader Joe's Hauls

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and that you had a great weekend! Mine was pretty good and now we are back to another work week. I mentioned last week that I was going to go ahead and have a little bit of a Treat Yo Self weekend and it's funny how the meaning of it changed pretty quickly.

My intention was to go to Whole Foods and pick up some harder to find vegan fun foods that I can't really get closer to me. Instead, I decided that I need to treat myself... well. Which means rather than put  more processed garbage into my body, I need to feed it really beautiful, colorful, vibrant, nourishing food. I've mentioned it before but I suffer with chronic pain and it has gotten much much worse lately. I am sick and tired of putting pills and garbage into my body and having negative reactions and just feeling really shitty. So I decided that I'm going to heal myself from the inside out. I'm going to try to eat mostly anti inflammatory foods and see how it goes. I think it will be reflected in my hauls that I'm going to share. I still did treat myself just a tiny bit to just a few of my favorite things but for the most part it is all nourishing and will hopefully help me feel stronger and less pain.

So enough of that, let's get to the hauls!

First I quickly ran to Trader Joe's to grab a few things that I knew I could get cheaper there:

I got a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, riced cauliflower, baby spinach, zucchini noodles, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, basil and the high protein tofu.

Then I trekked over to Whole Foods and got all of this goodness!

For produce we have a head of swiss chard, some honeycrisp apples, lemons, fresh ginger (I don't like ginger but I'm going to try!), asparagus, carrots (these are HUGE!!) and an avocado.

These are the grocery items that aren't totally terrible for you (although I guess the yogurt is questionable?). I got some Mary's gone crackers, Kite Hill Greek Yogurt to try (on sale 2/$3!) in Strawberry and Peach flavors, some firm tofu and four Larabars.

These are probably the "worst" foods for me but you can see I didn't get much. I got some of the golden sesame tofu from the salad bar (it's one of my favs!) some of the Follow Your Heart Provolone slices (because sometimes you just need a grilled cheese and it's been way too long), four of the Thai Peanut Primal Strips (I controlled myself and limited it to four) and the SeaSnax Chomperz which are oddly addictive.

So that's what I picked up to treat myself! I have a few things planned and I can't wait to show you what I come up with for meals. As I mentioned I'm looking to eat a majority of anti inflammatory deliciousness and that also means I'm going to try to cut the gluten out as well (although I will be eating a grilled cheese on whole grain bread every now and then). We'll see what I come up with!

Here is a little bonus meal ha! I told you I'd be making a grilled cheese out of the Follow Your Heart cheese and you guys. It was so good and worth it. I knew I had to have one treat meal since I was making it a Treat Yo Self kind of weekend so here it is! I added some sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil and it was seriously delicious. The Follow Your Heart cheese is by far the best I've tried on grilled cheese by far. 

What do you eat when you aren't feeling well? What are some of your favorite gluten free recipes? Let me know!

I will see you on Friday with some meals that I've made throughout the week! Hope you all have a great week! <3

Grocery Haul

Hey everyone! I hope you are all well! I know I'm a day late but yesterday was crazy so here we are. Today's post will be short and sweet but I did want to show you my Whole Foods haul from Monday. I rarely go to Whole Foods so I made sure to photograph the haul. I also have a few meals to show you.

Dolmas, carrots, broccoli, 2 Kite Hill Greek Yogurts, sesame tofu, blackberries, avocado and Follow Your Heart Slices (I've heard they are great!).

My favorite gluten free pasta, buckwheat ramen, miso paste, low sodium tamari, primal strips and Alter Eco Dark Quinoa Chocolate.

For breakfast yesterday I tried the Kite Hill Greek Yogurt and a green apple. The yogurt was definitely better than the other version because it wasn't as sweet but it definitely had a strange taste to it that I couldn't quite place. Still waiting for my probiotic pills to get here.

I made a bento box for lunch. This one had sesame tofu, carrots, broccoli and a sliced farmers market pickle. Super delicious.

That's all I have for today. I'll hopefully be back Friday for a Fun Friday Post. I hope that you are all having a great week! <3

Whole Foods Haul & Bonus Meals

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed your weekend and that your Monday went well. My weekend flew by as usual. I'm back with another haul, this time from Whole Foods. I rarely go to Whole Foods now but since the prices will apparently be dropping a bit maybe I'll see myself over there a little more often! I had one thing on my list (which of course they didn't have - the new Kite Hill Greek Yogurt) but of course I still left with stuff. Here is my haul.

So I thought I had grabbed a large Silk Soy Creamer but apparently I grabbed protein soy milk. That's kind of a bummer. I didn't even realize that until right now. I grabbed Chocolate Almond Breeze for smoothies (because why not), Kite Hill strawberry banana yogurt tubes (strawberry banana is my favorite yogurt flavor), Dolma of course and some Popcorn Soy Nuggets.

I also grabbed some Maca Powder to try in smoothies, cotton candy grapes (SO WEIRD!!), tofutti, Justin's PB Cups (bc reasons) and of course my beloved primal strips.

My Whole Foods is right next to a Starbucks and I grabbed a lightly sweetened passion tea lemonade to try and it was really good! I love that color.

I decided to be all frugal and re-use the Starbucks cup for my smoothie this morning. This is a peanut butter banana smoothie and here's what's in it: 3 bananas, 1.25 cups Chocolate Almond Milk, 1 heaping TBSP of Peanut Butter, cinnamon and 1 tsp of Maca Powder. It's so good but also really filling. I'm about a third of the way down and so full so I'll be sipping it all morning.

If I am hungry for lunch I made this bento box with Dolma, tomatoes, lots of carrots and some of the grapes. I can't find the white container  that goes in my bento for now so I had to use this dressing cup for my hummus.

That's all for today! I'll be back Friday with a Fun Friday post! Have a great week!

Whole Foods Haul

Hey guys! Hope you are all doing well. I don't have much to say for today's post so I'll just get right into the pictures :) Here is my haul from my splurge-y Whole Foods trip yesterday!

Cherries were on sale for $3.99/lb down from $6.99/lb so I felt like I had to get some. They are good too so it was totally worth it (they were still expensive even at the sale price). I also got some strawberries and some peaches.

I know that the primal strips are excessive but they are my favorite quick snack and it is so hard for me to find them so when I do I stock up! I grabbed 10. Oops! I also got some fruit strips because they are great for satisfying your sweet tooth.

I also got some Mother In Law's Vegan White Kimchi, Kite Hill Key Lime Yogurt, Almond Dream Plain Yogurt (for baking), Tofutti and some Soy "Popcorn Nuggets." I have really been wanting to try kimchi and this stuff is expensive but I decided to go for it! I also have tried Kite Hill yogurt in the past and thought it was way too sweet but I love key lime and wanted to give this flavor a try. I'm hoping the tartness of the lime flavor will tone down the sweetness a bit.

Two containers of mushroom broth (why is this stuff so hard to find?!) and some EB cheddar squares.

I forgot to put this in the picture above with the refrigerated stuff but I treated myself to some chao! What is your favorite way to eat Chao?

I am pretty set for snacks for a very long time. I'm glad that I went and I'm glad that I treated myself. I only go once every few months and I grab things that are hard for me to find elsewhere. I am glad I stocked up on the broth (ooooh that pun thoooooo) because I have some soups planned!

This is my lunch for today! I thought I'd throw it in for fun ;) You can see it is quite produce heavy and I couldn't wait to try my fruit from my haul. It's going to be delicious.

So that's all I have for you! I hope you are well and I'll see you on Saturday <3

Treat Yo Self

Hey everyone! Happy (?) Tuesday! I hope that you all enjoyed your weekend and that you are settling into your week. I've had a bit of a splurgey weekend and I'm totally ok with that. It's not a bad thing to splurge on yourself every once in a while and I definitely did that at Whole Foods. I also bought myself another little gift but I'll show you that when it arrives.

Anyway, I was pretty excited about my Whole Foods haul so I'll show you that now!

First up is the produce.  Some bosc pears, strawberries, butter lettuce, honeycrisp apples, carrots and a tomato.

Next we have random stuff, haha. Gardein crispy tenders, apple cider vinegar (I'm going to start drinking a tablespoon of this mixed with pineapple juice in the morning), some mushroom flavored ramen and a chocolate So Delicious yogurt.

This was pretty splurgey haha. This is my snack haul. Puffins Cinnamon cereal, dill pickle chips, my favorite Thai Peanut Primal Strips (!!!!! this is the first time I've seen these in my Whole Foods in years!), emmy's mint chip macaroons, Artisana pecan and walnut butter packets and Dandies to put in hot chocolate because it's still cold as f*** here.

Alexia Rosemary fries (they sounded so good!), almond milk, So Delicious Chocolate Cookies n Cream ice cream and some Tofutti.

Yesterday I did some more therapy homework and went to the mall. My goal was to go for an hour and I surpassed that by 15 minutes for a grand total of 75 minutes at the mall by myself. I was so incredibly proud of myself and decided to reward myself with Bubble Tea! I drank a lot of bubble tea when I lived in Seattle but have only had it twice in the 10 years since I've lived there (it's not easy to find here on Long Island). They opened a kiosk at the mall and I was so excited when I found out about it! 

This is what I ended up with and oh my goodness you guys! It was FREAKING AMAZING. I got the mango green tea with boba and it was so delicious and refreshing. This may have to be a tradition when I go to the mall from now on ;)

So that's what I have for you today! Lots of splurging and I can't wait to get into all of it. Luckily it should all last me a while so I can justify the price tag that way. What have you splurged on lately?

I hope that you all have a great week! I'll catch up with you this weekend!