Turning Nothing into Something

 

I had half an onion and a red pepper that needed to be used, so I decided to roast them along with some garlic and half a can of white beans I've had in my freezer for a looooooong time.  I also had a handful of raw cashews so I threw all of this in a blender with some nooch, salt and pepper. 

Tossed with some noodles. I needed to make some kind of homemade, thoughtful food. I'm struggling with cooking anything after work. It's been so hot and by the time I get home I feel dead. So, I'm trying to be kind to myself and be okay with having bean quesadillas or random cheap frozen pizzas from Winco. Life is about balance, so I try to have homemade food on the weekend, even if it is simple.

Like the batch of lentil soup I make to have for breakfast and to take for lunch. This always tastes so, so good on Saturday morning. Not just taste-wise, but it's like my body is just so happy. I think it's less about nutrients and maybe more about feeling some self love. Homemade food is better for the soul I think. It's just an added bonus that it's also healthier for the body.

I haven't forgotten about my commitment to myself to get some help, firstly with therapy. It isn't in the old budget yet, I'm still struggling to play catch up but I have been struggling with some very bad dark thoughts and anxiety. I saw a poster in the back offering some kind of therapy for employees, but it seemed to be work related like maybe if your coworkers are driving you crazy or something. So, I asked the HR person about it, and she is checking on this and other resources for me. That's definitely a big step for me, but I have to try something. 

I'll be back next weekend, I hope everyone has a good week!

Brave Robot + CoolHaus Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches

 

It's been in the high nineties for awhile, and now we're hitting one hundred plus here in SLC. I hate it so, s much. Yesterday after work I decided to treat myself to whatever ice cold dessert that was on sale and sounded good. These were on sale and cheaper than any other vegan frozen treat. I've been uninterested in trying Brave Robot ice cream, because it's always really expensive, and also they use vegan whey and it seems unnecessary and weirds me out. Plus, I think vegan ice cream has always been pretty good, even way back in the day so again, unnecessary.But since I am a gal on a budget I try what the sales are. 

 The ice cream is pretty creamy, but no creamier than any other vegan ice cream I've tried. The cookies are nice and chocolate-y, but the mint ice cream is really, really lacking in flavor. It's like essence of mint. I like really strong minty things. I give them a six out of ten. I definitely wouldn't go out of my way to buy these again, but if on sale I would. 

Kiki is still Betty's biggest stalker. She's gotten a bit better, and a bit less angry but she still chases Betty any chance she can get. Here, she's trying to stalk Betty out of the box, when she doesn't even like boxes to begin with.

What I Ate and Will Eat

 

My first smoothie in well over a year! I still make a juice almost every day, but smoothies haven't been my thing. But something about the heat in the morning has changed that. I made this with some mango, an avocado, strawberries and pineapple. The avocado and mango made it really smooth and creamy. I'll definitely make this combo again. Summer is here, and we are starting the day out at eighty plus degrees and rising. Blech. 

After I cleaned and had my smoothie, I threw these potatoes in the oven for breakfast after yoga. I really wanted ketchup but only had veganaise. Still very delicious.

 Awhile ago I bought these instant noodles with curry flavor. The brand has a sesame flavor which I've had and are vegan, so I assumed these were too. But of course not. The noodles are vegan, the seasoning packet has milk. So, last night I used the noodles cold sesame noodles and added baked tofu, cucumber and radish. This was so easy, but it felt like I made myself something fancier. 

Bread, strawberries, watermelon, green grapes, green onion, tortillas, tofurky slices, chocolate covered quinoa, Bitchen sauce, avocado,chocolate, baby cucumbers,garlic hummus, peanut butter,Chao slices, tofu

 My haul for the week. Turns out Independence day weekend is a great weekend for cheap produce! Smith's has personal watermelons on sale for $.99 each! Green grapes and strawberries were also on a great sale!

The Quinoa crisps and bitchen sauce were on a woohoo last chance sale, so that helped a lot. I did regret buying two watermelons about halfway on my walk home. Although I'm happy they are only personal watermelons!

Today I'm going to prep my homemade frozen burritos for work next week. I have some rice cooling down, and I'm going to assemble and individually wrap them in foil so they're ready to go. I feel content and happy doing this little task. I've never really had a job where I get an actual calm lunch break. So thinking of stuff to eat has been fun. This weekend has been calming in that way. I've been puttering around doing little deep cleaning tasks and I find it soothing. And it's a good release of emotion. You can cry and scrub really hard and it's therapy and a Ms. Clean level scrub!

 

 

 

and creamy. I will defin

Week Two Done and Dusted!

 I made it through week two! I was actually doing work too, not just training. I was entering order numbers with instructions into two or three different programs, all while using two monitors!! I can't believe these words are even coming from me! I'm sure next week they'll up the difficulty a bit, but I'm not as anxious as I was, because I never thought I would be able to figure out what I was doing last week, but I did. I really surprised myself to be honest. 

The biggest accomplishment for me is that I didn't give up before I even had a chance to fail. I've done that so many times in my life. I'm really grateful that everyone in the office is so nice, and I guess I feel safe. I've felt a lot of things at other jobs, safe isn't really a normal one for me. It feels nice. 

I'm still struggling with meals. Even though my job is only two and a half miles from where I live, I have to either walk or take two buses, so my commute is close to an hour. Isn't that dumb/ If I had a car it would be ten minutes, fifteen tops. 

I made a cold potato salad with white beans for protein last week to take for lunches, but it is so freaking cold in that building I struggled with a cold meal. I need warm lunches! 

I didn't know these existed until I stumbled across them at Winco at a really great price. So far Amy's are the best and least soggy frozen burrito. 

I'm going to make my own frozen burritos this weekend. One of the many perks of an office job is a three day weekend! Even though I don't really feel the Independence vibe as a woman this year. So, my celebration will be trying to cook some delicious food for myself. 

The only bad thing about working Monday through Friday is that I don't see a trip to Trader Joe's in my future. Luckily Smith's/Kroger?Fred Meyer has gotten really vegan friendly over the years. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a little Smith's haul. Hopefully some deeper thoughts too. This week has been pretty great, but I did have someone hurt my feelings and the loneliness and needing a hug or something was strong for a few days. I'm still a little foggy today, but feeling better.

Thanks again for reading and all the kind words!