Kitties!

Here's my little seat thief Joan! Every time I get up for a second, she is all over my chair. And just look how sweet and cozy she is. I never have the heart to move her. She rarely sleeps in the red chair or chaise gifted to me by my neighbors. I'm sure it's because I rarely sit in them!

I had this juicy perfect watermelon for breakfast the other day and it was so wonderful! Watermelon isn't one of my favorite fruits, but it sure is perfect and refreshing in this heat. I am so, so ready for fall. I've never said that before because I always know fall leads to winter which usually makes me very sad, but man I need a break from the savage sun and dry heat.

I treated myself to this root beer kombucha yesterday. This is definitely one of my favorite kombuchas. I just got a flyer from Natural Grocers and they have this brand on sale for $1.69 a bottle! I will be taking advantage of that sale tomorrow. It's funny, the flyer is for the month of August, but I only got it yesterday. I wish I would have gotten it earlier in the month, but what can you do?

I caught Kanye and Afro snuggling like this the other day. Kanye stuck her tongue out right as I was snapping the picture. They love the corner of my bedroom by the closet for some strange reason.
As far as food goes, since I've been on a super tight budget my meals have been pretty dang boring. Lots of potatoes and tofu. It's okay though, when I get home from being out in this heat the last thing I want to do is get fancy in the kitchen. I'm hoping that when the heat subsides a little my budget will loosen up just a little. I really do miss tinkering in the kitchen. 
Happy Wednesday!

Monday Monday

I was walking somewhere on Saturday morning and the air was still cool, and the sun was still gentle and I had to take this picture to remind myself of the beauty of the sun. This summer I've spent lots of time cursing the sun which is so not like me. Two hours later I was back to cursing, but I had this moment!

I also hit Sprouts market on Saturday. They were having another amazing weekend sale, and I got all this for thirteen dollars! I got two pounds of nectarines, five pounds of red potatoes, cilantro, strawberries, two packages of tofu, bulk split peas, and bulk Jasmine rice. Nectarines are one of my favorite fruits, and Sprouts had them on sale for $.88 a pound! It's so funny every time I go to Sprouts, the cashier also always comments on how much stuff I get for what I spend. And they work there!

This tasted so great on Saturday night! It's just Jasmine rice and tofu baked in a sweet and spicy hoisin sauce with some cilantro. After eating mainly potatoes for quite some time, rice just tasted so incredible!

Thanks to the sale at Sprouts, this meal was about one dollar. Look at those perfect potatoes! I love red potatoes so much. I just cut these in half and seasoned them with smoked paprika, garlic powder and nutritional yeast. Simple and delicious!
Happy Monday!

Views and Tacos

I got Lena Dunham's book from the library, and the book was on the fourth floor which I have never been too. I couldn't resist this picture. The view is just something I will never get used to. It's been too easy this summer for me to get focused on the heat and forget about all the beauty.

As I mentioned I've been eating lots of potatoes and lentils. And Lentils and potatoes. So last night I treated myself to tacos with no potatoes or lentils. These are refried bean and tofu tacos. I baked the tofu in the oven with a little taco seasoning from Trader Joe's. Shredded iceberg, green onion, nooch and hot sauce completed the tacos. These tasted so, so good. I realized it's been way too long since I've had tacos. I'm looking forward to cooler temps so I can feel more inspired to cook.

I have been loving all things lemon/lime this summer. So I knew I had to try this lemonade kombucha. It was pretty tasty.  Not as lemon-y as I expected, but still tasty. The GT's strawberry serenity is still my favorite flavor.

Here's Etta and Afro being sweet little cuddle muffins. They're comforting each other after I was mean and ran the vacuum! I am the worst!

Potatoes All Day

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been eating a lot of potatoes. Lentils, split peas and potatoes have pretty much been my summer diet staples. Yesterday I was craving something other than an oven baked potato. But potatoes, plus a small amount of tomato paste, a jalapeno and garlic were all I had. So, I decided to make spicy cheesey scalloped potatoes. Or maybe they would be more like Au Gratin potatoes? I boiled one potato with two cloves of garlic and about half a jalapeno. Then, I blended it all with some nooch and the tomato paste and that became my cheese sauce. I sliced the rest of my potatoes very thin and layered them in a casserole dish with the sauce and some vegan shreds. This was a thrown together keep my fingers crossed it's edible kind of dish and it turned out soooo delicious! The cheese sauce would have been excellent for nachos!

So creamy and cheesey!

I made this huge hash brown for dinner one night. It's baked in the oven and totally oil free. I just shredded the potatoes and spread them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Yum.

This was a very beige but delicious dinner. I made some oven fries and also tater tots. It's all about balance you know! I also made a really delicious dipping sauce. It's Just Mayo, smoked paprika, a little sriracha and a few drops of mesquite liquid smoke. Sooooo good!!

This was a really amazing dinner. BBQ baked tofu nuggets with garlic-y oven fries all dipped in Just Ranch.

And here's Afro sleeping with her favorite toy. I mentioned earlier this summer that I let her out on the deck with my supervision and she likes to try and sneak down the stairs. There are seven dogs that live in these apartments, and not one of the owners uses a leash. So yesterday she snuck down the stairs and out comes one of the dogs with her human. The dog is named Willow, and she is a full grown German Shepard! Luckily Willow is super sweet and didn't chase Afro up the stairs, but that was quite the scare for my little nosy girl. I would like to say it taught her a lesson, but this morning she was back at it trying to sneak down the stairs!

It's Me Again!

Well, I've officially lived in Salt Lake City for a year. I can't believe it if I'm being honest.Especially because it is still incredibly easy for me to get lost. I've taken my time to feel all of my emotions, cry, cry some more and now I am going to start blogging regularly again. I just was feeling too many things and definitely didn't feel like blogging about food. And to be honest between my emotions and the heat, I haven't been eating the most exciting food. Most days I get home from being out in it, all I can do is peel a few potatoes and get them in the oven. I don't know if I'll ever get used to this intense, dry heat. Sometimes I come home and my eyes are burning from the dryness. I've never experienced that before.  There were a few rainy, stormy nights and early the next morning the air would still be humid and I almost cried tears of joy. Those mornings have been the best mornings I can remember. But it's time for me to join the living again, and it's time for me to get back to my normal routines. So, Hello again!!
As I mentioned, my food has been pretty damn boring. Between the heat and a tight budget, lentils and potatoes have ruled my diet. I did treat myself to a package of Trader Joe's gluten free pizza crusts and a package of their vegan shreds and made an amazing pizza with lentil "sausage" I just mixed some cooked lentils with smoked paprika, fennel seed, dried thyme and garlic. It was soooooo good!!!

On top of the lentils I added the vegan shreds, sliced white onion, minced garlic and green onion. And of course nutritional yeast! Trader Joe's vegan shreds are the best price I've seen for vegan cheese. You definitely don't want to eat them cold, but melted it's fine.

Sprouts market had green split peas in bulk on sale one day, so I made smoky split pea soup. I usually use the hickory liquid smoke, but I tried mesquite this time and I like it much better! When I lived in Erie, PA. I had split pea soup for breakfast for at least one full year. I guess I burned myself out on it because I haven't had it since. But this tasted delicious so it will be added back into my breakfast soup rotation!

And here is everyone but Roxy watching all the squirrel activity in the trees. My apartment has trees in the front and back so between the birds and the squirrels it's all very exciting!

Still Trying to Catch Up!

I went to Smith's for some tofu, and found a pound of mushrooms for $.99 and Treeline cashew cheese for $3.69! I also treated myself to some Yve's gluten free veggie burgers. I've loved these burgers even when I wasn't gluten free.

Since I couldn't splurge on the burgers and gluten free bread or buns, I had my burger in a lettuce bun with avocado and a little BBQ sauce. Very tasty.

I made this tasty dish with my sale mushrooms and some tofu. I also tried this spicy and sweet chili heat sauce from Soy Vay. It's kind of lie a spicy hoisin sauce. Another tasty meal.

I had this booch recently. I loved it. It is in my top three favorite flavors of booch for sure. This company also makes a blood orange flavor which is soooooo amazing.

Here are Kanye and Joan keeping a very close eye on the outdoor kitty situation. Please excuse the lighting, it is still dark out in this picture!
I'm slowly forcing myself to be human again. I apologize again for my spotty presence. I've just felt kind of lost and like just keeping to myself. Sometimes you just need to be in your own head. Next week will be the year anniversary of my move to SLC. Isn't it crazy how fast time really does fly? I don't now how it's been a whole year. A year feels so permanent, like a real commitment that I didn't think through enough. See, this is why I've been keeping to myself!
I hope all is well with everyone!

Catching Up!

Sprouts Market was having another amazing sale over the weekend. I got all this stuff for eleven dollars! I got blueberries, strawberries, three avocados, three limes, two red peppers, five and a half pounds of red and Yukon gold potatoes, bulk Jasmine rice and bulk sea salt. I always assumed Sprouts was a more expensive store, and some of the stuff is pricey, but this summer they've been blowing my mind with their produce sales. I've been able to eat much more fruit and veg this summer thanks to them.

My standard Trader Joe's haul. I've been loving the fruit frenzy bars. Those and the frozen lemonade have been all I want this summer. I can't remember the last time I've had chocolate. Like even that monthly urge for chocolate has disappeared. I never thought that would happen!I never ever thought I would utter these next words, but I seriously am over summer. I think if I had a car it wouldn't be so bad, but trudging around in this heat is hardcore. And a lot of bus stops have no shade, so it's just really intense. I used to see the sun as my beautiful friend, now it's shifted more to that toxic, abusive friend you kind of have to deal with on a daily basis.

Here are a couple of delicious meals using my Sprouts potatoes. I almost always buy russet potatoes because they're the cheapest. Sprouts had red and gold potatoes two pounds for a dollar so I indulged. I much prefer red and gold potatoes so this was such a treat. Chunky skin on wedges with smoked paprika and garlic powder on top, and below the same wedges with baked BBQ tofu nuggets. Delicious.

I got this booch on sale at Natural Grocers for $1.10! I could hardly believe my eyes. It was very delicious and of course refreshing!

And here's naughty Joan stealing my spot as usual. She lets me know when she wants this chair. First she starts using whatever part I'm not sitting on as a scratching post, then she jumps up and tries to sleep on the unoccupied part, and slowly stretches herself to give me less room until I finally give up and move somewhere else. She is not shy about letting her feelings be known.
I'm slowly coming back. This month in two weeks will be my one year anniversary of moving to SLC and I have mixed emotions about the move, and living here. I haven't bonded and don't feel a connection to this city at all. I feel like I am a Seattle girl in my heart, so it's just a strange time emotionally, and I've just been doing a lot of reflecting. But I hope to start posting more and getting caught up on comments, and other blogs and all that very soon.