Food and Kombucha!

Trader Joe's cream cheese "alternative" is amazing!

Trader Joe's knocked it out of the park with this vegan cream cheese. I wonder which cream cheese it is? I'm slightly less impressed with their bagels, but what can you do? I can't get enough of the cruciferous crunch salad blend. Brussels sprouts are delicious raw, something I never knew. Thanks Joe!

I won!!!

My name was drawn in a little contest over at My Blissful Journey and this is what I won! Thank you so much Jennifer! I haven't won anything since I won a stuffed Scooby -Doo when I was five. It's one of my favorite memories, so this felt really fun and special, and I like feeling like a kid again. Anyway, enough about me, let's talk about this stuff. These claim to basically be kombucha, but in capsule form! The ingredients are raw, and organic. The box says this " Includes the best attributes of Kombucha's origins, the potent B vitamins, probiotics, digestive enzymes, and high polyphenols from black tea-deliered to you sugar-free in capsules." Since I haven't gotten back into brewing my own booch, these are muchly appreciated since Kombucha on the daily can hurt your wallet while your job hunting!

I finally found soy curls!!!!

I believe it was the fall of 2012 that soy curls were all the rage. It seemed like every blogger who wasn't soy free was using these, and it killed me because I could not find them anywhere. I found some online, but I can't afford shipping from a lot of online stores. So, I had kind of forgotten about them, because of course since then a million and one new vegan items have come along and blown our minds. I was very excited to find these at Vegan Haven! I had to go back, at the request of a non vegan who was dying for more daiya cheesecake! Yes, a non vegan is obsessed with this cheesecake, it is that good.  I don't know what I'm going to make with these soy curls, but I know there will be no shortage of recipes online. Ha. I also caved and decided to give the Cappuccino cashew milk ice cream a try. It's very rich and creamy like the other flavors, but I get more cinnamon than coffee. I love cinnamon, so it's fine, I was just expecting a stronger coffee taste. It is still very delicious, don't get me wrong. I have now tried all the flavors except the original cashew flavor, and I have to say salted caramel is by far my favorite. It has killed me to try the other flavors, because I just keep wanting the salted caramel. I can't say it enough times- serve this ice cream to any non-vegan you know, and prepare to blow minds. Even/especially the negative Nellies.

Lots of green!

For dinner last night I decided to use some of the fresh rice noodles from Trader Joe's to make a noodle and veggie bowl. At the bottom of my bowl are some rice noodles, with some baked tofu, Romaine lettuce, cilantro, green onion, and some roasted and sliced Shishito peppers. I dressed the bowl with a quick sauce made of sesame oil, soy sauce, and Sriracha sauce. Simple, healthy and super tasty. Sesame oil is another great  Trader Joe's find. They're roasted sesame oil is under $2.50 which is a steal compared to a lot of places.
I'm going to challenge myself to really try to get used to my small ass kitchen. I think tomorrow is going to rain, so maybe today I will find a somewhat involved soy curl recipe. I love to cook on rainy days. I have to force myself to get used to cooking in this kitchen. I've definitely cooked in my share of tiny kitchens, so I guess it just boils down to retraining myself. More job hunting today, so maybe in comparison the kitchen will just feel "cozy".
Happy Tuesday!