Vegan Foodie Pen Pals: Vegan Princess in an Omni Kingdom

 The Vegan Food Swap that’s hosted by Cat @ The Verdant Life is back on, this month, as well!

I actually sent a package over to Lindsey Reedy, whom, I've previously sent to back in September. So I got to reconnect with her, which was cool. I sent her a package filled with some of my favorite vegan sweets, including.. raw chocoagave syrup. Oooh yeah.

This month I was fortunate enough to have Molly Caple, Vegan Princess in a Omni Kingdom, send me some awesome vegan treats from Seattle, WA! I’ve never been to the Pacific Northwest so I could not wait to dig into the great package that Molly hand-picked just for me. I was even more excited when I read her note saying that she got most of the goodies from Vegan Haven, which is an all-vegan grocery store in Seattle. An added bonus is that all proceeds from the store go to Pig’s Peace Sanctuary, to help the pigs that live there. Which I love.

Molly included some info about the Sanctuary, along with a button with their mascot on it. I collect buttons! So this now has a new home on my tote bag where my collection subsides. Isn’t it adorable?!

I lucked out big time! Molly included Butler Soy Curls-which I’ve been dying to try out but my natural grocery stores unfortunately don’t carry them. Along with a few recipes that use the Butler Soy Curls in them. I like Molly’s friend’s suggestion in using them to make “chicken tacos”, but the “Sweet & Sour” recipe is calling my name. If your not familiar with Soy Curls, they are a product that’s made from whole soybean, and are 100% natural..with no additives or preservatives. Just the whole bean goodness.

I have plans for The Vita Crisp chips. They are Nacho Chez flavor, are made with organic ingredients, are sprouted(love), and gluten-free. I'm thinking these chips will be fantastic with some avocado, roasted vegetables, black beans, and salsa.

Caramel Sauce from a small bakery in Seattle called Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery. So yes, I now have homemade and bakery made vegan caramel sauce. I’m pretty much set for life! Question is.. what I’m going to do with it all? I love the fact that it’s local, though, since I’m a huge fan on receiving local items! So regardless of having received homemade caramel sauce in the other swap. I’m still pretty stoked about this sauce!

Lastly, we have a Go Max Go* Thumbs up vegan candy bar. In her note, Molly said that the Go Max Go candy bars are a favorite. Thumbs Up candy bars are just simply.. vegan Butterfinger. I used to tear up butterfingers when I wasn’t vegan. Easily an old favorite. Thanks to Molly, I got to indulge in a vegan version that old favorite! I'm definitely looking into getting more of these candy bars. I think Vegan Essentials has them. (;

Thank you so much Molly! I loved the candy bar! It was a real delicacy. I can't wait to dig in to the rest of the items! 

Does swapping vegan food goodies interest you? You should consider joining in on the swapping fun by clicking here.

Foodie Penpals: We're Back!

I’m excited to be able to finally get back into the swing of things, such as foodie pen pals, that’s hosted by Lindsey at The Lean Green Bean.

Though, that’s not all. Needless to say, this new year already, has hit me pretty hard and I’ve fallen back on a lot. A lot. Though, this post isn’t about that.

This is a happy post! Filled with the yummy food that Antoinette sent me from California!

Antoinette went beyond what I was expecting. She put so much thought and effort into my package.
From the exterior..

(Truth be told.. I adore hello kitty!)

..clear to the interior.

(Just look at that beautiful wrapping job and my favorite color ironically enough!)

Believe it or not.. it gets better.

Antoinette included both local and homemade goodies for me. All vegan approved!

The two local items she sent me were: Kinder’s* BBQ Mustard Sauce and Perfect Pom Juice. The BBQ sauce is found locally from neighboring cities around where Antoinette lives. I've been using it as a marinade for tofu and a couple soy products, such as Gardein, that I like to add into my salad. This sauce is made with all natural ingredients(which I love) and is gluten free! I'm not gluten-free myself, but nevertheless, pretty cool. The Perfect Pom Juice is from Wine Country in Napa so the juice is mixed with Merlot grapes. This juice was fantastic! I rarely drink juice at all, but when I do I like it to be 100% natural with nothing added. This is only made with pomegranate juice and California Merlot grapes. No added sugar, and it's pasteurized. They got the name right- it's perfect!

The homemade goodies wow'ed me. Antoinette send me a inventory sheet along with my goodies, that told me what all was used in the making of the homemade treats. I appreciate that a lot because I'm very strict with knowing what a certain food item contains. Being vegan, that's just normal. I've read all about vegans falling off the wagon and their body rejecting the food due to it having meat, dairy, etc. Trust me, it sounds unpleasant. At first I was hesitant toward the Lemon Poppy Seed Granola. I'm not a real big lemon fan. I like lemon in water, but other than that I've found lemon flavored items are a bit too overwhelming for me. First thing I do when I pull this out? Smell it. (Yes, I smell food I'm unsure of. I can't be the only one, right?) After that I bite the bullet, so to speak, and tasted it. Surprisingly enough, I liked it. Which I'm thrilled about because Antoinette sent me a ton of it! This granola plus some soy vanilla yogurt equals pure awesomeness.

For the Grenadine and Lemongrass-Ginger Syrup I added them both, individually, to La Croix* Pure Sparkling Water. I poured a generous amount of the syrup over ice. Then poured the sparkling water over it. Refreshing and a nice way to treat myself since I don’t really drink anything other than water, tea, and coffee.

The Caramel Sauce got me really excited. I've never seen vegan caramel sauce in the stores. (Though, caramel sauce has never been on my grocery list, so that may be why?) Nevertheless, I can't wait to use this sauce! I have a few ideas-over coconut ice cream with some nuts, in a vegan caramel milkshake, caramel apples.. mmm. I can't wait to go grocery shopping so I can start experimenting! I also love that this sauce is made with only simple ingredients-sugar, hemp milk, water, vanilla, and salt. That's it, people.




Antoinette deserves a big THANK YOU! I absolutely adored my package this month! Making homemade, vegan goodies can be intimidating to some, but Antoinette did a fantastic job! Thanks a million, Antoinette!

 

 Interested in becoming a Foodie Penpal yourself? Here’s the details:

• On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
• You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
• The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
• You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
• Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
• Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re interested in participating for February, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. You must submit your information by February 4th as pairings will be emailed on February 5th!

Cheezy Semi-Mexican Quinoa Cassorole

I got this recipe idea from a lady that you all have head about if you read my blog. Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean.

I rarely follow a recipe full force, 100%. I usually just take in a recipe and do 3/4 of what the person who originally made it did, then the other 1/4 I play with. You can find Lindsay's original recipe for this casserole here. 

My recipe is basically hers just I didn't add in the corn, extra green bell pepper, some of the spices, or well, the dairy! Reason being.. I didn't have all the spices on hand like I thought I did, I didn't want to use a whole other pepper since I'm on a budget and I need that pepper for other things, and I don't like corn. Why? Because of all the crap you hear about corn being genetically modified. You can read about that here if you were not aware of that. That's a newer study that just came out a few weeks ago. I've known for years about it, though. Ever since finding that out I've extremely limited my consumption of any corn products. I do eat corn tortilla chips on occasion, but other than that.. nothing with the word "corn" goes into this body.

Ingredients.

• 1/2c onion, diced.
• 1 red bell pepper.
• 2c black beans, cooked.
• 1 clove of garlic, minced.
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
• 1/4 teaspoon of paprika.
• 1/4 teaspoon of parsley.
• 2c quinoa, cooked.
• 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast seasoning. (I used Bragg)
• 1c unsweetened original almond milk. (I used Silk)
• 1 tablespoon of earth balance* soy free vegan margarine.
• 1 tablespoon of flour.
• Toppings: diced tomato, avocado.

Directions.

1.  Cook quinoa, as package instructs. Preheat oven to 400.
2. While quinoa is cooking, saute onion, red bell pepper, garlic and spices in a pan, until softened.
3. After quinoa is done cooking, remove from heat, then add in the black beans and quinoa, mix well.
4. Transfer mixture into a bowl, set aside.
5. In the same pan, melt the vegan margarine then add in the flour.
6. Slowly add the almond milk and stir to remove lumps.
7. Add in the nutritional yeast, stir well.
8. Add in the quinoa mixture and stir until evenly mixed.
9. Transfer mixture to a sprayed or greased casserole dish and bake for 20 minutes.
10. Top with tomato and avocado!

 

Banana Blueberry Bran Muffins!

 It's December 31st! I can't believe that a whole year has already passed. We're literally hours away from welcoming 2013!

I decided to stay home and celebrate with family, since my boyfriend is "sick". Sixth time this month, alone. Crazy, I know. I'm thankful to say that I have gone ill-free, aside from my food poisoning, this year. I'm just a lucky one. For NYE, my family ordered pizza from Pizza Hut and I got an Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza. Let me tell you. You haven't had good frozen pizza until you've tried this. If your vegan or not, I don't care. Go to the grocery. Grab this pizza. Cook it. Eat it. Thank me later. I'm not kidding, GO! (Well, don't go yet. You can wait around for a little bit.) Back to NYE, I wanted to make a healthy side for the family since "pizza" isn't the healthiest thing in the world. So I made a side salad that only my grandmother and I ate, because my grandfather can't chew salad, and my uncle "wasn't hungry" even though he was chomping his way through a second slice of pizza. (Fist palm.)

Then the inner baker inside me finally shouted at me.

"Bake something, bake something, bake something!"

So I hit up the family pantry, examining different products, trying to figure out what I could possibly come up with. I noticed a box of unopened oat bran that I had purchased with every intention of using, but unfortunately I never found myself getting around to it. I actually had forgotten that I had some to be completely honest. I thought to myself, today is the day. I'll make Oat Bran Muffins.

As I was setting up in the kitchen, I noticed that my grandmother had purchased some bananas. That's when the light bulb in my head went off and I decided that Banana Oat Bran Muffins, would be my choice of action. Until, that is, I opened the freezer door and noticed my frozen fruit that I keep stocked up on. My eye, caught my blueberries, and the rest is history.

Ladies and Gentlemen.. I give you. Banana Blueberry Bran Muffins.

Ingredients.

• 1c spelt flour.
• 6 tbsp sugar.
• 1 tbsp baking powder.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• 1c oat bran.
• 2 tbsp golden milled flaxseed with blueberries. (plain milled flaxseed would work, also.)
• 1c ripe bananas, mashed.
• 1c frozen blueberries.
• 1/2c unsweetened almond milk.

Directions.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare 13-cup muffin tin by spraying with pan spray or lining with paper liners.
2. Shift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in oat bran. Once fully combined, add in remaining ingridents.
3. Mix until moistened. Fill muffin tins, almost full.
4. Bake for 15 minutes.

When the muffins are ready, let them cool for just a few minutes in the pan before turning them out.

I'm sure most of you already know that when you eat something that is loaded with fiber you should always drink an extra glass of water with it. If you didn't know that, well, now you know. If you don't drink the extra glass of water the exact opposite of what you'd expect from a bran muffin will happen.

After the family and I each got our muffin, I froze the leftovers. I did this simply to preserve them. You can always thaw them back out and/or microwave them for whenever you'd like another.

Elf4Health: Dec 24-29th.

 Monday, December 24th.
“Call a friend just to chat!”
I called my mom since I haven’t spoken to her in a few days and to wish her a happy Christmas Eve. I only got to talk to her for about 20 minutes because she was hanging out with "a potential girlfriend" but the day after Christmas, she texted me and told me that, that relationship was all for nothing. It just didn't work out. Unfortunately, my screenshot app wasn’t working so I couldn’t snap a proof picture of the call.

Tuesday, December 25th.
“Go for a walk with a family member!”

My grandmother and I went on a nice walk through Charlie Creek Trails in 37 degree weather for about an hour. She went prepared. Three layers, gloves, a hat. I just had a tank top on underneath my hoodie. No gloves, no hat(unless you want to count my hood as a hat) so needless to say I went unprepared but I still went 3/4 the way through the trail and back so I'm pretty proud.

Wednesday, December 26th.
“Look at yourself in the mirror. Find three things you truly love about yourself!”

My eyes: I’ve always liked my eyes. They change color from blue/green/yellow to a dark green/yellow. To me, they are my best feature.
My nose: I have a very unique nose. I have an indention in the center of my nose that nobody else in my family has and quite frankly I haven't met anybody else with a nose similar to mine. My nose is just one of kind, I guess. Which makes me like it more.
My shortness: Though, it can be annoying having to use a step stool to open up cabinets, put things in the microwave, etc. I like the fact that I’m 5’0”.

Thursday, December 27th.
“Make a list of 20 things you’re thankful for!”

In case you can't get a good look at the picture and what I wrote, I'm thankful for:  My wonderful grandparents-they have always given me open arms and a place to come to if something happened and I had no where else to go. My mother-though we have had our ups and downs. She is my mother and I can't help but be thankful for her since she is my only parent. Thomas's love- through everything.. the ups, the downs, me moving, he has never stopped loving me, and has never given up on our relationship. Lilly(my fur-daughter) she always rushes over to me whenever I come home with her tail wagging, and her big, cute, dog smile of hers. Lilly gives so much love. I've had her since I was 10 years old and even though I know she won't be around forever, I'll always cherish the time we've spent together. There's nothing like the unconditional love of a dog. Choosing to live(life over eating disorder)-even though I still struggle, I know I have came so far from where I was. I was literally knocking on death's door but I learned to just accept life and now I'm re-learning to love life and all it has to offer. I no longer live in that fear and mindset. My health-I don't have any diseases. My last check up I had a month ago said everything was a-ok with me and I'm so grateful for that considering the hell I have put my body through. Ability to excerise- some people can't physically exercise due to health reasons. I'm thankful I'm lucky enough to have this simple yet powerful ability. Vegan alternatives- I don't know what I would do without them! I wouldn't be able to bake without my egg replacer, wouldn't be able to enjoy my favorite foods like.. Macaroni & Cheeze without cheese alternatives. I'd feel completely deprived without them. I'm thankfully people are out there making such alternatives available to me. I'm excited to see what they come up with in the future. Music, creativity-I'm an art lover of many sorts and music has helped me through a lot in the past, present and I'm going to guess and say that in the future it will help me too. Not living in proverty, having a roof over my head- I'm happy to say that I'm not struggling with money. My family in general isn't struggling, and I'm thankful for that. I never have to wonder if I'll be able to eat that day, or worry about having the house reprocessed. Having the opportunity to graduate early, love, forgiveness, my dreams that I live for, my motivation, internet access, cell phone- so I can keep in contact with my friends/family. Coffee, tea, avocado, blueberries- just to name a few favorites.

Friday, December 28th.
“Make a healthy mug cake in the microwave.”

I made a chocolate mug cake, but since I was feeling a little rebellious I made a side of vegan cream cheese frosting to put on top! Nommers! The frosting wasn't really that calorific. It was made with just 2TB vegan cream cheese, a little bit of powdered sugar, almond milk, and vanilla extract.

(It may look like a mess, but the texture and taste was perfect-o.)

Saturday, December 29th.
“Take some time for yourself! Read a book for fun, do a craft, take a bubble bath!”

After a busy day, I took a nice, hot, relaxing bath. Used my new Spunggle that I got from my grandmother for Christmas, and gave myself a hand/foot srub! Perfect way to end my day.

Scenes from the Weekend: Holiday Family Visit(Uncle Adam, Aunt Charlotte, Cousin Riley)

My uncle Adam, his wife Charlotte, and her daughter Riley came up to visit us for the holidays this weekend. They were supposed to come up from Tennessee for Thanksgiving but Charlotte got ill and they never made it. I was sick at that time, too, due to food poisoning. (Note to self: If I ever go back to Trader Joe’s, I need to make sure to bring a cooler. My perishable food that needed to be refrigerated spoiled on me on the 2 hour trip from Indianapolis to Wabash. Stupid mistake. Won’t happen again.) So truth be told, I was relieved that they weren’t going to make it. That would have meant that I would have had to move upstairs into “my room” that’s unbearably cold. Plus, I wouldn’t have been able “to be seen” since I looked like death. I wouldn’t have allowed it. Not sure why I fear to be vulnerable-looking in-front of people but I do.

Unfortunately, for me, I’m going to have to move up there for a couple days since Adam and Charlotte will be in the “guest room”, that is, the living room. Friday-Sunday. Yes, I have been sleeping in the living room for the past few months. Reason being? There is a heater directly beside the couch and I’ve been using it to my full advantage. I let my legs fall off the end of the couch and cover my lower half of my body with one blanket which makes the warm air travel up and spread throughout my body. Then I use another blanket to cover my upper body. It works, judge me.

On Friday:

• After my continuous nagging at my grandmother to get me an electric blanket she finally gave in and got me one. Well, two. One for me to use while I’m upstairs and one for Riley. I’m a happy girl.
• It snowed for the first time since I’ve been here! I don’t like it. Yes, it’s pretty but the fact that it’s cold turns me off. I’m just not well-adapted to this type of weather.
• I’ve been enjoying this hot tea I got at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago. It smells just like french toast. I’m not even kidding.
• When Adam, Charlotte, and Riley first came through the door.. I’m not going to going to lie I felt immediately judged. Adam said hello. Charlotte and Riley did not. So I kept my distance, and took pictures with my grandfather until we had to go over to my cousin Nicki’s house. I kept having to mentally trick myself because I suffer from social anxiety on occasion. It’s mild anxiety. Nothing serious. I have mental tricks I do like pretend I’m in a video game. It helps me act like myself and not take what anyone says (that’s negative) to heart. I just do me, basically. After 2 1/2 hours of talking to family I hadn’t seen in years, I was beyond ready to go home and hit the sack. It’s hard to get my grandmother out of social situations but eventually she took my word that it was time to go. I came home, took my sleep aids, and said goodbye to Friday.

On Saturday:

• I woke up early-ish, to discover that everyone was gone. I knew they were wanting to go to the YMCA because Riley has to practice for swimming. So I automatically assumed that’s what they did. So I made some wake up juice aka coffee, sipped on it a couple times and starting doing my ab workout. I only got in 10 minutes before they came back. At that moment, I was frustrated because I needed to get in at least 20 more minutes. I went up stairs to do my hair, makeup and as I was doing so Adam came up and told me they were going to the YMCA. Phew! They had just went to breakfast. So after they left again, I ran down, and did 20 more minutes of exercise.
• As soon as everyone came home from last minute Christmas shopping. My grandmother and I went to work with preparing the Christmas dinner. (We figured we’d do a small Christmas with everyone here.) I made a Vegan Green Bean Casserole, Vegan Cranberry Stuffing, Vegan Mashed Potatoes(easily vegan- just don’t add butter or milk into them), and a Spinach Avocado Salad. My grandmother made a Ham, Yeast Rolls, “Regular Green Bean Casserole, and Apple Pie. We also set out an olive and beet plate. I wasn’t really hungry but I ate a little bit of everything I could.(except for the pie, no room left in my belly for that)
• After eating, I helped my grandmother clean up and then we opened up presents. My grandmother got me two Spongelle. Which are body wash infused buffers made with bergamot, lemongrass, sea kelp extracts and olive oil. Awesome! My grandmother actually got me a cool gift. I’ll be putting these to good use. Adam, Charlotte, and Riley got me 4 nail polishes. Black, Blue, Red, and Sliver. Great! I needed some new colors other than black. I love the bag, too. It’s adorable. I love pugs. (and bulldogs, just saying) Lilly is half pug so this bag was a cute idea.
• Charolotte, Riley and I had a "painting party". Which is just us three doing each others nails. By this time I felt more accepted because every one wasn't so uptight. I don't have a picture, but it was nice having some quality family time.

On Sunday:
My grandparents took Adam, Charlotte, and Riley to The Wabash Inn, for breakfast. I was orginally going to go but my uncle Rhett came home earlier on in the night/morning and woke me up from being to loud so I was sleep deprived. My grandmother bought Adam upstairs so I could say my goodbyes, though. I'll miss Adam.. he has always been my favorite uncle. 

Elf4Health: Dec 17th-22nd.

 
 Monday, December 17th.
“Do a circuit workout today!”

While I was looking at the email that Lindsay and Elle sent me. I saw Elle’s pick for The Power Hour Workout for the ambitious elf. I looked it over and decided that this would be perfect! I definitely have been very ambitious with my exercising this whole month which I’m very proud of. So I figured, why not? Let’s add on another 30 minutes to my usual 30-45 minute workouts. I did half the workout in the morning before Bowen, and the other half after Bowen. I feel accomplished!

Tuesday, December 18th.
“Treat yourself to something you’ve been craving!”

I treated myself to two nutrition bar. Yes, two. I grew ravenous after my workout in the morning and decided to just rad my "stash of goods." Blueberry and Peanut Butter were my cravings so I grabbed two bars with those flavors. (Told you those *Perfectly Simple bars were on my grocery list.)



Wednesday, December 19th.
“Bake cookies! Find a healthier recipe to try or make some healthy swaps for an old favorite.”

Great excuse to get myself back into baking. I’ve been slacking with it, lately. So I hit up my Pinterest and found my favorite low calorie cookie recipe for 42 Calorie Pumpkin Cookies.


Thursday, December 20th.
“Winter is the perfect time for casseroles! Make a casserole for dinner tonight. Add extra veggies and go easy on the cheese and sauce.”

I was unsure with what kind of casserole I wanted to make for this day. Lindsay’s pick in her email was her Lentil Veggie Mac & Cheese. I have previously posted a recipe for regular ol’ Vegan Mac & Cheese, but being the lover of Macaroni n’ Cheese that I am. I decided to make Lindsay’s recipe but revamp it vegan style! (All I did was use vegan alternatives to her recipe and I added in an extra cup of vegetables. I used 1 cup each of red onion, tomato, peas, red bell pepper, and spinach.) It made a perfect dinner on a cold, rainy day. Everyone enjoyed it.

Friday, December 21st.
“Pay it forward! Do something nice for someone else.”

I emailed my elf, Laura, on Monday and asked her if it would be okay to send her a care package for this day’s challenge and because Christmas is literally.. right around the corner and why not give to all I can? Yes, I’m a giver. Always have been, always will be. I went shopping for cute Christmas-y items for her and her family and mailed it off to her on this day!


Saturday, December 22nd.
“Going to a holiday party? Eat a snack before you go, choose water and split dessert with someone else.”

I did my “holiday party” yesterday at my cousin Nikki’s. It wasn’t really a party though. More as, a get together. I did eat a “snack” before going while I was making a salad to take over. I ate the leftover garbanzo beans that I didn’t put into the salad as my “snack” before going. Yes, I know, eating garbanzo beans straight out of the can is strange. You don’t have to tell me. I already know. Since I’m the only vegan in the family. My salad was the only thing that I could eat while I was there. The spaghetti had meatballs in it and the garlic bread had butter smothered all over it. The dessert was pumpkin and lemon zest bread. Which I assumed was made with dairy so I didn’t touch it. I only drink water, coffee, and tea. So I easily avoided the pop and stuck to my water.

Today starts off Round 3 of Elf4Health as well as a new elf buddy for me. Hopefully my new elf is just as wonderful as Laura has been. Tomorrow, I'll start on my new challenges.