Splitting Burritos

I saw this recipe for a glowing skin juice on Instagram and it was just sweet potato and pineapple. When I went to Smith's they had whole pineapple for $.98 so I knew the juice was in my future. Unfortunately I got the white sweet potatoes instead of the orange so my juice wasn't that gorgeous color. Plus it's the orange sweet potatoes that have beta carotene which is excellent for the skin. It still tasted amazing and obviously was still healthy. I've been trying to hydrate my skin on the inside and outside more than I usually do.

I also whipped up this delicious coleslaw for my burrito I was having for dinner. I used cumin and lime juice and it was definitely the best thing I made all day. Even though it's super simple I wrote down how I made it so I can make it again. I figured I'd share the recipe because it's so simple and summer-y!

                                                Lime, Cumin and Jalapeno Coleslaw

• 4 C. Shredded Cabbage
• 2 T. Lime Juice
• 2 T. Pickled Jalapeno
• 1/4 Tsp.Salt
• Pinch of Black pepper
• 1/2 Tsp. Cumin
• 3 T. Just Mayo

Combine lime juice, jalapeno, salt, pepper, cumin and just mayo in a bowl an whisk it together to make a dressing. Add it to the cabbage and stir to combine. Let sit for at least fifteen to twenty minutes.

This was great in my rice and bean burrito, and it would be great on tacos too. Especially fishless tacos with the gardein fishless filets! If you don't like spicy you don't have to add the jalapenos. I just had them in my fridge but I tasted the coleslaw without them and it was delicious and cumin-y!

I was a a little too excited when I stuffed my burrito and it split. So this was very messy to eat, but it tasted so good! I stuffed it with myacoba beans, lime cilantro rice and the coleslaw. I also had some potatoes that I roasted with taco seasoning and nooch. This really hit the spot!

Just some girls cuddling with their favorite sweater of all time! I thought maybe the summer would be the time I could move the sweater from my bed, but no such luck!!
Happy Caturday!

Some More Food

We are only a few weeks into summer and it's already been brutal here in SLC. Upper nineties and one hundred plus temps and it only gets much much worse in July and August. In addition to it being so hot it's just so dry which is what gets me the most. Growing up in the Midwest and then living so many years in Seattle I've heard over and over and then over again how it's the humidity that makes it unbearable, and dry heat is about like being on a vacation! Well, I have to agree to disagree with those people. I have now experienced dry heat and wet heat? Either way I find dry heat to be so much more unbearable. It just sucks the moisture right on out of you, and no matter how much water you drink and coconut oil you use on your skin you're just always parched. I don't know how I scored it but I am so so so grateful that my apartment has air conditioning and utilities are included in my rent!!
I keep forgetting to take pictures of my smoothies. I feel like I need to prove that I get fruits and veggies and color in because so many of my meals have been beige lately! But I have been having smoothies and juices every day!

I had avocado burgers instead of toast the other day for breakfast/lunch. I used the griller burgers from Sprouts. I really like these. Sprouts actually makes two of my favorite veggie burgers, the spicy chicken and now the Griller. I sprinkled the avocado with the South African smoke seasoning from Trader Joe's.  I am green dragon sauce level obsessed with this stuff. It's like I'm planning meals around this seasoning!

This was my dinner the other night. I made a broth with gochujang, garlic, nori and water and added cabbage and shredded carrots, baked tofu and super thin rice noodles. I did add too much nori so it was a little too fishy for my taste, but still tasty. This was a night when I needed a brothy bowl of noodles!

I made some mayocoba beans for burritos, but last night burritos seemed like too much work. I would have to make rice, and roll and blah blah blah. So I went with lazy and made quesadillas with the beans and some vegan shreds. Dipped in green dragon sauce. These were delicious! Mayocoba beans have definitely become one of my favorite beans. Hopefully tonight I'll make that burrito!

I stopped at my coworkers place on my way to work the other day and her pup made himself at home on my bag. He could smell all the fur love! He wouldn't let me take a picture of his sweet face. I didn't force it because I can relate!

Small Steps and Small Haul

There is a cat cafe here in SLC where one side is a room with cats who are up for adoption, and one side is a cafe with coffee, tea and pastries! From what I've read online some or all of the pastries are vegan!! Well the cafe just happens to be on the way to Trader Joe's. I stopped at Tinkers on my way to go shopping and left my phone number for the owner in case she ever is hiring. She and her husband come into the store I work at and so we've talked about this before. I really hate making coffee drinks, I was a barista several times in Seattle and uugghh, but at the same time I hate it less than cashiering. But also cats. And helping cats find their forever home. She didn't seem to be in a hiring rush if you get my drift. It's a pretty new small business so she's probably doing a lot of the work herself. But it felt good to push myself to do that.

As I was walking I came across this gorgeous tree. Does anyone know what kin of tree it is? I'm pretty sure I've never seen one like it before. It was very vibrant and cheerful as I was walking/melting on my way. Yesterday was one hundred degrees and here I go walking one mile to Tinkers and 2.2 miles to Trader Joe's.

As you can see my haul is very small. I took one step into Trader Joe's, it was insane and I couldn't handle it, so I grabbed the few things I absolutely needed and headed for the door. I decided to run into Smith's for a few more things.

I've been really disappointed in the produce from Trader Joe's lately. And a lot of the produce at Smith's didn't look the greatest to me either. I also was feeling depressed and just not into it so I definitely didn't do the greatest job shopping this week.

I did find Treeline cashew cheese on a WooHoo sale. It's my favorite flavor, garlic and herb. It's soooooo good. I love finding this on sale! Look at my poor shredded and furry couch in the background!

Basic Meals

I've been needing to get groceries for a couple of days now and just haven't been able to drag myself to do it. Between the heat and not wanting to be in a grocery store my fridge is bare! I've always enjoyed grocery shopping until working at a grocery store. Now it's a total chore to go and it's become easy to make excuses and blow it off. So my meals have been pretty basic for the last few days.

I had a little bit of Trader Joe's Carolina gold BBQ sauce and a little bit of a different brand of Carolina style BBQ sauce so I dumped them both in a dish and added some tofu cubes and let them slowly bake in the oven. I feel like I always hear low and slow in regards to BBQ so that's what I did. Except in an oven not a grill. I had the tofu with some mashed potatoes. Super simple and obviously would have been great with some greens or even corn, but this was what I had! It was super tasty and felt pretty summery!

Yesterday I stopped at this store downtown for a Live booch. They have them on sale for $1.79 a bottle. This was the last one or I would have gotten more! I decided to try this Asian chopped salad kit from Earthbound Organics.

This was my very simple but very delicious dinner. That little salad really perked up my otherwise beige dinner of baked tofu and rice. I've only had the Dole Asian chopped salad which I love, but this salad is all organic and was the same price. I liked the dressing on this version a lot more. It's tahini based where the Dole version is sesame oil based. Both tasty, but I o prefer the Earthbound Organics!
Today I'm getting groceries. My fridge is down to condiments and the bowl of baking soda! I don't even have much in my pantry at this point. This is like the adult version of putting off your homework till the very last minute an you have no choice!

Spicy Gochujang Peanut Sauce

I was watching a video on YouTube yesterday on Cheap Lazy Vegan's channel and she made this delicious stew with noodles, rice cakes, kimchi and of course gochujang. I actually learned about gochujang from her channel. It looked so good but the only ingredient I had for the stew is gochujang. As much as I wanted to make that stew I wasn't willing to take the bus to the Asian market to get the rice cakes and other ingredients. I had been planning on making tofu and rice with peanut sauce for dinner, so I decided to experiment with adding some gochujang to my sauce.

It turned out so tasty! It was hard not to eat it like soup before I had dinner! It was spicy and a little sweet. It is super easy, I almost feel silly posting the recipe, but it's so good!

                                                    Spicy Gochujang Peanut Sauce

• 2 1/2 T. Peanut Butter
• 2 T. Gochujang sauce
• 1 T. Tamari or Soy Sauce
• 1/2 to 1 T. Chili Garlic Sauce
• 1 Tsp. Sesame Oil
• 8 T. Water

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy and sauce like. I started with 1/2 tsp. of chili garlic sauce, but I love spicy so I added more. I would definitely say start with a half teaspoon first.

I baked some extra firm tofu with South African smoke seasoning from Trader Joe's. I am seriously addicted to that stuff! I put the tofu with some rice, cilantro and green onions and drizzled liberally with this sauce. Seriously delicious! This sauce would also make a great dip for spring rolls!

Lazy Sunday!

Me Myself & I

I had to get a few things yesterday so I ran to Smiths and they were having a little sale on Dr. Teal's, so I decided to treat myself and try the Super Moisturizer. This heat is no joke here in SLC, and since there is no humidity a girl's skin gets dry. I used some last night in a bath and it was amazing! I feel like it helped my back and skin! The fragrance is very light which I like. I usually don't buy Dr, Teals because I find some of the scents to be way too strong, but this is just barely there.

I also decided to try this new to me flavor of the simple truth organic kombucha. It's really, really good. If you live near a Kroger, Fred Meyer or Smiths I highly recommend. It was light, not too sweet and not too dry.

I also couldn't resist these ice pops. They are vegan, but they also have lots of dye #all of them which I am choosing to ignore for now. I couldn't resist the flavors. Don't judge but I used to love circus peanuts!! I used to always feel sick after eating them, but I ate them anyway! The popsicles actually taste like what I remember circus peanuts tasting like! Also they totally nailed cotton candy.

Last night I wanted curry, and I decided to kick it up a notch as they say. I added some peanut butter and made it a peanut curry. I remember trying a peanut sauce recipe that used curry, peanut butter and coconut milk and it was to DIE for. I'm pretty sure it was an Isa recipe. Anyway I thought of that peanut sauce around the time I had decided to make curry. It turned out great! I used red lentils and potatoes in the curry and I may never not use peanut butter again! It just made it richer and gave it a deep flavor. I had a nice day of self love and this was the perfect meal to end the day!

Struggle Bus

I've got some more beige meals to show today. I've had a really rough couple of days. I try not to bore everyone with too many boring details of my job because if I let myself truly unleash it would be a five million page novel of complaints. And honestly a month or so ago I was applying an looking for other jobs. But lately I've been in a rut because I am so burned out on customer service or service jobs. Like it's all I've ever done and I swear I can't listen to another complaint. So because those are the only jobs I qualify for I just gave up. It isn't that I want to stay where I'm at, it's just that depression kicked in big time. I've noticed that depression is harder for me to fight with these late night shifts because I'm just always feeling tired.I'm just really in a rut, and my job is becoming more unbearable to me, but then I look at job postings and it's all customer service, so I stop looking and I just get more depressed. I really only have myself to blame which makes me even more down. UUGGHH. It's so frustrating. I have experienced having a shit job, getting a different job and somehow that one is worse. It's sadly happened more than once so that always is in the back of my mind. It's the feeling trapped and stuck that's the worst I think. I'm doing my best to keep it together but I've done a lot of crying the past week. Wow, sorry to go on. I've been wanting to talk about my depression issues for a few days, but it's scary because I feel like I'm going to be judged because I'm so stuck. But this is my life and what I am going through and I know I'm not alone in the battle with depression and all it brings to the table.
Now I guess we can move on to my beige meals for the last couple of nights. I have definitely relied on easy and quick.

On Thursday night I decided to try the Original Griller from Sprouts market. These are gluten free and of course vegan. I had mine with some potato wedges.

I really like them. They taste similar to a Boca vegan patty or the gardein beefless burger. I guess it's a little more like the gardein because it's a little oilier than a boca. In a good way, they are juicy when they're done cooking. And they are $2.99 for a box of four which is definitely one of the better prices for veggie burgers. I will definitely buy these again!

This was my dinner last night. Crinkle cut fries with sriracha Just Mayo. Even though it's not the healthiest this is one of my favorite meals to be honest!

Caturday Cuddles

What I Ate on a Wednesday

I started my day with a cup of green tea and lemon water followed by a vegan bulletproof coffee. All in bed since it was my final day off. My first smoothie of the day was this blueberry, mango, spinach, maca powder and banana concoction. Of all the berries I've used blueberries definitely make the murkiest looking smoothies, especially if you add greens. It was tasty though.

As I was cleaning and prepping for dinner I made a second smoothie with frozen strawberries, spinach, half an avocado and a banana.This one isn't really the prettiest either, but it  was really creamy and sweet.

I made tacos for dinner! I used mayacoba beans, and potatoes and tofu baked with lots of nooch and the South African smoke seasoning. I'm addicted to that stuff! I also have green dragon sauce under the lettuce. These were so delicious. I used flour tortillas that I had picked up a few days ago because of an intense quesadilla craving. I got organic uncooked tortillas because they didn't have a bunch of weird ingredients. But because of the lack of weird preservatives I felt I should use the tortillas soon. Usually I try to space my gluten cheats out a little more. I really do prefer flour tortillas over corn so this was a nice treat.
Speaking of gluten free, I have some bad news for any gluten free Trader Joe's shoppers. When I was there on Tuesday, I was looking for their frozen gluten free pizza crusts. I asked an employee and apparently they discontinued them and replaced them with the cauliflower pizza crust!!!! NO!!!!!!
The gluten free pizza crusts were a great value because they were like $3.49 for a package of two. The cauliflower crust is a little more than that for only one, and it's smallish. If you're cooking for several people you would need a few of these crusts. I know cauliflower everything is all the rage, and even I, a lifelong cauliflower hater have embraced cauliflower wings, cauliflower Alfredo sauce and cauliflower gnocchi. I haven't tried the crust but I'm sure it's fine. It's just the point that sometimes I  want a pizza on a crust not made of vegetables. And also as someone on a budget I appreciated the value of those crusts. I blame the keto people. It's like it's 2000 all over again and carbs are the DEVIL!!

I tried this kombucha one day last week an it's worth mentioning. For some reason I was scared to try this flavor, but wherever I picked this up only had the original and lemonade. The unflavored original is the worst, and it has a million and one floaties in it. GT's isn't my first choice when it comes to kombucha.  But I would definitely buy this flavor again. It had a nice lemon flavor, wasn't too vinegar-y and most important no floaties! I had this on a scorcher of a day and it was very refreshing!
Remember the dark days when GT's was the only brand you could find anywhere?

Vegan Trader Joe's

Potatoes, tofu,pickle popcorn,avocado,spinach.lime fruit floes,butter lettuce,lemons,gluten free pasta,frozen blueberries and strawberries,Jasmine rice,South African seasoning blend,olive tapenade,tahini,red and yellow onion,maca powder, complete cookie, bananas

I decided to get my groceries at Trader Joe's this week. I needed maca powder and they have the best price I've ever seen. I also kind of started craving tofu again and I've never had an issue with their tofu. I was only going to buy the high protein because it's vacuum sealed, but I made myself buy one water packed container just to face my fears!

I know I always get the same things pretty much everywhere I go. But these are two new two me items I tried and they are definitely the standouts. The popcorn is almost gone because I couldn't stop snacking on it yesterday! It has an amazing pickle flavor, and isn't super oily or messy. Seriously if you like pickles you need this popcorn in your life! I also decided to try the South African smoke seasoning blend. I used it last night on some potatoes and tofu and it was AHMAZING! The ingredients are paprika flakes, sea salt, garlic and basil. So it isn't spicy but it is very smoky. I took a bath while the potatoes and tofu were baking, and when I came out of the bathroom my apartment smelled so incredible!! I feel like this would be great on grilled veggies and corn on the cob for all you brave grill masters out there!

I also ran into Natural Grocers for some Epsom salts and booch. They have Kevita booch and probiotic drinks on sale for $1.99 so stock up if you live near one! 

This was my delicious and healthy dinner last night. Tofu and potatoes roasted with a little coconut oil and the smoke seasoning, quinoa and butter lettuce all in a bowl drizzled with a lemon sriracha tahini sauce. Yesterday was the anniversary of losing everything in Seattle so it was obviously not an easy day. I requested yesterday and today off because pain and customer service don't mix. The jerks can smell frazzled nerves and will be the worst. Honestly I also thought I was maybe going to drink and I wanted to have today off to nurse the hangover. I'm very proud of myself for getting groceries, and taking a soothing bath and having this healthy dinner instead. I also let myself feel and cry. I'm glad I just woke up sad, not sad and hungover.

My little bird/squirrel watchers! All the girls love to watch, but Kiki and Joan will spend hours running from my bedroom window to the spare room window and so on an so forth. It's pretty hilarious. Not to mention great cardio for them!

Monday Monday

Yesterday morning I took the time to whip up a red lentil and potato curry before work. That way all I had to do was make rice and warm the curry after work. I also packed some up for a coworker. He mentioned the other day that he's never had  curry!! That is not living in my opinion.

This is one of my favorite meals of all time. Not only is it delicious, quick and easy, it's also one of the cheapest meals ever! My coworker loved it too! Vegan food for the win!

Funny story about where I work. I know I've mentioned over and over that the store I work in is very old school. Produce is all the way in the far back corner as if it's something to be ashamed of.  And it's shocking how little produce we actually sell. Some days I wonder why we bother. Since I've started working there we have gotten a few new vegan items and I always love seeing people with gardein in their cart. So the other day I was SHOCKED to see vegan mochi being sold right in the front of the store by the cash registers. With a huge vegan af sticker to boot!!! Here's where it gets hilarious. The next day when I got to work the vegan af stickers were gone. Apparently the president of the company found it to be not family friendly. First of all, I live right next door to an elementary school. I hate to break it to everyone but small children know a lot more than you think. And second of all, the amount of food waste and plastic use in addition to the fact that we DON'T RECYCLE is enough to make me gag. But that's all behind the scenes. Also, the low wages to the point where one cashier I work with who is a single mom is on public assistance because she Doesn't make enough to pay bills and FEED HER FAMILY. I could actually rant on and on but I won't. I fantasize about being a real journalist and writing a scathing expose on what is really going on behind the scenes in grocery world. Regardless of the BLINDING hypocrisy of that decision, I am super happy to see something so proudly vegan being sold front and center at such a standard grocery store. And A LOT of people have been buying them. Woot!

If you look really closely on the tree you can see a little squirrel. It was so cute this morning he or she chatted with the kitties and I for a good five minutes. They had a lot to say. I know my girls love being surrounded by trees!

What I Ate Greens Edition

I started my day off with this beautiful green juice made with pineapple, baby broccoli, fresh turmeric root, and some Romaine hearts. This was good, but I forgot how strong Romaine is. It's weird how it's mild in a salad, but juice it and it turns super grassy.
I also had a strawberry, nectarine, mango and banana smoothie but I drank it all down with no picture. I'm really trying to give my body a lot of nutrients and love so I can get out of this rut I've been in. Although I love my green smoothies, fruit smoothies are such a treat!

I was wanting something different for dinner, and I had some lentils marinating in Korean style BBQ sauce, but I was also kind of wanting sushi or sushi burritos, so thanks to Google I came up with this very inauthentic version of Gimbap, or a Korean sushi roll. I just made a Gimbap burrito with the lentils, some Romaine and green onion. I made a gochujang dipping sauce and this was AMAZING!! It was pretty messy and maybe best for solo meals, but so delicious! It was different flavors and temperatures in each bite, and the sauce was spicy and a little sweet. One of the differences between sushi and gimbap is the rice. Rice vinegar is stirred into sushi rice giving it a slight sweetness, and toasted sesame oil is stirred into the rice for gimbap making it very savory.

This is a total out of order post in terms of food! I almost forgot about this beauty I had for lunch. I toasted an Ezekiel English muffin in the oven and spread some perfectly ripe avocado on top with  salt, pepper and of course nooch. I haven't had avocado toast in so long, is it even still a thing??  This was amazing and worth the gluten cheat!

I also finished these green grapes that have been my work snack. These were excellent grapes from Sprouts. Crisp, tart and a little sweet.
This post makes me feel a little better, I may eat a lot of beige meals but I  also eat a lot of green. It's all a balance right? Sometimes scrolling through Instagram can make you feel really horrible. People always having fresh vibrant beautiful organic meals while I can barely muster the energy to heat up some tater tots!

What I'm Going to Eat

Grillers burgers, spicy chicken burgers,avocado,red mango,pineapple,strawberries,nectarines,coconut milk, bulk rice and red lentils,whole wheat tortillas,citrus booch,green onion,potatoes,baby broccoli,green grapes,bananas,yellow mangoes, lemons,crinkle cut and steak fries,Romaine hearts,

I went to Sprouts on Wednesday and they gave me a ten dollar store coupon for the tofu which was very nice of them. The guy also tried to talk me into some different types of tofu they have to offer, which I politely declined. I told him that I need a break from tofu because THE SLIME!! I didn't have the heart to say when I do decide I can eat tofu again it will be from Trader Joe's!! Or anywhere else really. Even though the tofu incident was pretty gnarly, I still love Sprouts and their produces prices are seriously the best. I got all this gorgeous food for forty nine dollars, and with my coupon thirty nine dollars. The best thing about shopping at Sprouts on a Wednesday is that the sales from the previous week are still going plus the new sales so it's a bargain shoppers dream!!
I've been having issues with spinach freshness from Trader Joe's and also Sprouts. So I'm going to make green juice with the baby broccoli which is organic and was only ninety eight cents a pound!! So I'll have green juice and then fruity smoothies. I've been really depressed and feeling like poo so I'm trying to flood my body with nutrients. Especially because I tend to eat a lot of beige dinners on my work nights.
I wanted to thank everyone for the suggestions on getting rid of the stench in my fridge. I scrubbed it two times with my cleaner from Brandless, then I cleaned it with vinegar and I have a bowl of baking soda sitting on the bottom shelf where it happened. The smell is about ninety five percent gone. I just put the baking soda in last night so hopefully by tomorrow my fridge will smell normal.

Found this flavor of lip balm. I'm a huge fan of this bran, I've tried three different flavors and loved them all, and they're under two dollars which is pretty great.

As I was taking a picture of my lip balm I saw Roxy just sitting like this! She's bird watching but in the funniest position!! She looks drunk!