WooHoo of a Lifetime!!!!

I had to run to Smith's for a few cat related items yesterday, and I had a few minutes so I perused the shelves looking for WooHoo deals, and boy did I find one that shook me to the core!!

Yes, you see that right. Just Egg for fifty cents!! Smith's doesn't carry Just Egg and they got it by accident so they marked it way down to get rid of it. They must have no idea what the actual price is because good lord!!! I've seen Just Egg at a few stores around town and the cheapest I've seen it is on sale at Sprouts for $7.99!! Usually it's around nine or ten dollars which is completely insane, and there is no way I could or would pay that. I had to buy all four bottles, but now I feel overwhelmed because I honestly don't even miss or desire eggs. To be honest I still remember the first time I tried black salt, it ruined a perfectly delicious tofu scramble!!
But regardless I'm excited to try something I probably never would try otherwise! I also scored some wholly guacamole for $1.79!!  Avocados have been expensive lately so I had to snatch those up!!
I know I've said it before, but it's worth it sometimes to take a few minutes and look at all the aisles because most stores have some kind of clearance section, usually in some weird dark corner, but they also mark stuff down on the aisles, and find strange spots for refrigerated and frozen stuff. The Just Egg was just kind of tossed in the very bottom of the juice cooler, right by the kombucha and nowhere near regular eggs or the kind of vegan refrigerated section.

Sorry for the bright flash-y picture, but I just thought Bubba looked so cute and relaxed with his legs all stretched out!! We're facing some roadblocks on becoming one big, happy family. Kiki has decided that she wants to kick his ass which is so surprising to me because she's so sweet and rather timid. And Joan and Etta still hiss at him. Afro and Roxy are the only girls who are accepting. At least he has his own room he can escape to!

Kitchen Upgrade

I've lived with a small oven with only three working burners the entire time I've lived in this apartment. Since my oven was so small, it only had one shelf and I could only fit one thing at a time in there. No double baking for me!! I told my landlord when I first moved in about the burner that basically blew up and didn't work, and she just never seemed to care. In a black and white world there are landlords and then there are slumlords, but we live in a grey world and my landlord teeters that line between the two.
She mentioned the possibility of having a new oven installed months ago, but time passed and I forgot all about it. Until this week when I got a text about a new oven coming!! Even though my new oven is like the cheapest, most basic oven you could ever imagine, it's still brand new and more important full sized with four working burners, including two large burners, and a full size oven with two racks!! I can now bake everything!!!

Old tiny oven

New oven with a clock!!

I'm very, very excited and happy to have a fully functioning stove!!! I lost all the drawers between the stove and refrigerator but that's okay. Most of them had kind of turned into junk drawers anyway.
I'm so happy this happened, but it was a bit stressful because the handy man is very loud, and VERY messy. He left like half an inch of dust or sand or something on the kitchen floor, and he left dirty rags and some kind of really heavy ruler looking thing here. I always dread when he has to come clomping around.

This was my first meal cooked in my new oven! Quinoa, baked tofu, romaine, cucumber, avocado and spicy peanut sauce. I was a little stressed and wanted comfort food!

I think I've tried every vegan flavor of the Outshine bars except peach. I've been scared to try them because while I like peaches, I hate peach flavored things. It always tastes so freaking fake. I decided to be brave and give these a try because every other flavor is so stellar. I'm happy to say these are delicious too!! They taste like real peach, and they're kind of creamy, almost like sorbet. Highly recommend!!!

TVP Taco Tuesday!!!

I was making tacos for myself and some non vegans last night and I decided to use what I think is an unappreciated ingredient. TVP!!! I always make tacos for non vegans for some reason, and people love the tacos whether I used TVP or a more expensive plant crumble.
A lot of times you can find TVP in bulk sections. I filled this whole pasta sauce jar for sixty six cents!! I was able to make enough filling for about twelve tacos, and I have enough TVP for many more meals. I'm thinking TVP sloppy Joe's!!!

This is the final product. I just sauteed the TVP in some coconut oil with green onion and taco seasoning and then added some cooked black beans. So easy and crowd pleasing!!

Here are some filled tacos! I kept it pretty simple as I usually do. Just some crunchy shells, the taco filling, tomatillo salsa and shredded romaine.

I found these on sale at Sprouts so I picked up a box for dessert. I should have bought all the boxes, these are the best mochi I've ever had. I thought the chocolate would be my favorite, but I loved them both. Sprouts should sell the strawberry coconut ice cream on it's own, it had a great strawberry flavor! I had to show the box to prove these are vegan, so I say that's a success!!

Hauls and Cats!

I made it to Sprouts and Trader Joe's!! Just barely though. I left later than planned, so Trader Joe's was way worse than I expected. I just grabbed my basics and got out of there. I guess it's easy on the budget, cause there was no lingering and finding impulse buys!!

Bananas, spaghetti,orange,potatoes,lemons, soy creamer, cucumbers, lime popsicles,tofu,coconut oil coconut milk, green onion, celery,romaine hearts

Live probiotic soda,bulk spices,gluten free flour,cauliflower puffs,white and yellow nectarines, pears,frozen mochi,pasta sauce,raspberries, green tea

Epsom salts, curry tofu nuggets

If I could afford it, I would only eat Hodo soy tofu. I don't know how they do it, but the texture is so chewy in the best way! It was on sale this week at Natural Grocers so I treated myself!!!
I also discovered a clearance shelf at Sprouts and I found a four pound bag of gluten free flour for three dollars. Deal of the century!

Bubba is getting braver each day and exploring his new home more. He now walks past hissing Etta and Joan. Yesterday morning he cuddled up to me on the couch and fell into a deep sleep!

Kiki and Roxy being the cutest. I love it when they cuddle up and it looks like a little kitty heart!!

Some Tasty Vegan Food I've Been Eating!

I had kind of an eat out of the pantry weekend since I needed to get groceries on Saturday but just wasn't up to Trader Joe's or even Sprouts to be honest. I still managed to have some tasty food, but I can't wait to get some more fruit and veg today!

When I want sushi but don't feel like rolling I love to have little sushi wraps with seaweed snacks. I will say the gimMe seaweed snacks are extremely fishy. I don't think I'll buy that brand again, it was a little too much for me.

I picked up this hummus at Smith's. I've always been curious about it, but I assumed it could never be as good as Trader Joe's Mediterranean hummus.Boy was I wrong this stuff is so good! It's really herb-y and tastes really fresh!

I picked up one of those Asian salad mixes one night and had it with some baked tofu. This is one of my favorite easy meals. I don't buy those salad kits often because they're so expensive, but I really, really love the Asian salad kit. It's such a treat!

Smith's also had Endangered Species chocolate bars on sale two for four, and these are my favorite!! Does anyone like Mr. Goodbar? These are like a fancier version!!

Yesterday I roasted some potatoes with a little Italian dressing. It's so good, the potatoes soak in all that flavor. I had some for breakfast with some garlic and dill sauerkraut. Delicious!

Last night I made tofu tikka masala. I used this recipe. I changed a few things of course. I didn't use bell pepper, or a slow cooker. I don't even understand the difference between a slow cooker and a crock pot!! I also didn't use cherry tomatoes. I remember I followed a different recipe for tikka masala once, and it involved soaking dried chilis and cashews and using the cashew cream. It was much more complicated and this recipe is just as good. Anyway this was rich and very delicious!

I've also been enjoying these GoodPop orange cream bars! Vegan creamsicles!! I've seen some mixed reviews on these, but I love them so much!!!
Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a haul. I don't know how to describe how I've been feeling. It's not really a funk, it's just maybe a slump? Or I'm just exhausted by people. I'm not sure but I'm just a bit off. But I've put grocery shopping off as long as I can so look out Trader Joe's!

Oat No!!

The concord grapes that grow on the fence by the alley behind my apartment are coming along nicely! Yesterday I finally noticed some purple coming through. It won't be long before I have tons of free grapes!!

I went to Target yesterday and I saw this silk oat milk yogurt. I tried an oat milk yogurt awhile ago, I think the brand was Nancy's. I remember it was okay, it wasn't terrible but it also didn't blow my mind. Silk was one of the first vegan yogurts I tried, and I loved it then and I love it now. it's pretty easy to find and it's one of the less expensive brands. I expected to love this, but sadly I had to force myself to finish it. It has a very chalky mouthfeel and a weird aftertaste. I mean it's bad. It might be the worst vegan yogurt I've tried. I almost bought more than one because of the sale, and I'm so glad I didn't!!!

Someone on Instagram suggested the watermelon Outshine bars. So far I've tried mango, lemon, lime, pineapple, raspberry, strawberry and grape. I don't know why I haven't tried watermelon yet. But I decided to trust the webz and give these a go. YUM!!!! These taste like watermelon bubblegum in the best way. Maybe a little less fake. Either way, they taste amazing and like summer! I highly recommend!!

What I Ate While Ignoring the World!

Yesterday I took the day off from everything to try and recover. I've been having to deal with some toxic people and it's drained me so much. I just feel so tired and drained. But that's what energy vampires do, they drain you. So, I called in sick from life and took it easy yesterday. I've always wanted to be one of those people who can be around any type of person and not really get affected by their energy. But unfortunately I don't have that gift.
I took a picture of everything I ate, except my green juice. But by now you know what my celery juice concoctions look like!!

I started the day with chia and hempseed pudding with raspberries. I really enjoy chia pudding, I need to have it more!!

I went foraging for more peaches. Pretty decent haul for free!!! Just to be clear, the peach tree is on the grass between the sidewalk and the street, in front of some house so I'm not sneaking on to someone's yard. And a lot of these peaches were on the ground. Whoever lives in the house doesn't understand how lucky they are to have all these free peaches!!!!

I found some real Seattle's Best coffee for really cheap at Winco, so I've been making cold brew coffee instead of using those instant packets. This is so much better!! Plus, I've been really homesick for Seattle. Although when I lived in Seattle I became a coffee snob and didn't drink Seattle's Best. I'm not a snob anymore, this tastes pretty great, especially compared to instant!!!

This looks like such a mess of slop but it was so freaking good! I made a cheese sauce with some raw cashews and potatoes and then made mac and cheese with tofu. I used these tiny gluten free macaroni noodles I got at Trader Joe's, and I think I like bigger noodles. I think the tiny mac would be better for soups or something. Either way it tasted so much better than it looks!

This has been Kiki's thing. Stalking Bubba. Not in an aggressive way, in a curious I'm studying you kind of way. She keeps her distance as you should do when your tailing someone!! I don't think he minds because of her super gentle nature, and because she does keep her distance.

Gardein Veggie Burgers!

I used to love gardein back when I ate gluten. I especially loved their mandarin chick'n. I had to say goodbye to most of their stuff when I went gluten free. They do have a chipotle black bean burger that's gluten free, but it's kind of hard to find. So I was so surprised when I saw another gluten free option at Natural Grocers.I didn't even know gardein had a plain veggie burger, so I had to pick up a bag!
In my vegetarian days, my favorite veggie burgers were the gardenburger original brand and morningstar farms veggie burgers. They were made with veggies and not really truing to be meaty, but they still had a little of that greasy burger feel in a good way. A lot of the veggie burgers that are vegan are healthy and they taste extremely healthy.
I had high hopes that gardein would follow in the footsteps of gardenburger and morningstar farms. I decided to heat one up for a quick lunch yesterday. I just heated it in the oven and had it plain at first so I could really taste it, and then I added some mustard.

Gardein did not disappoint. It's full of peas, red peppers, carrots, and corn. It has a savory garlic taste and it's definitely not trying to be meat, but it's not trying to be healthy either. It holds together really well so I bet they would be great on a grill! It would be great loaded up with lettuce, tomato, sprouts and avocado on a big old bun.

This is one of my goals. When I'm in a great mood I think I am that person, but sometimes after a long day of toxic people I know I am not someone I'd love to meet.

The pink sweater is still a part of my bed! You should see the panic on the faces when I wash the bedding including that sweater! And these two are just ridiculous!

I'm a Freegan Now!!

I was off yesterday and I had a nice mellow day. Just puttering around the house, and keeping to myself. My introverted self feels especially drained this week for some reason. People have just taken their toll on me!
On days like this I try to really listen to my body and give it what it wants. My body was really craving peanut butter and banana so that's what I had to start the day.

I also had this delicious plum, I believe it's called a dapper, or maybe dappler plum? And while I normally avoid fuzzy peaches, a house up the street has a peach tree and the peaches are spilling on to the street so I picked two. The skin is so much less fuzzier than peaches in the store. I'm a freegan now!! Ha!

I also had a few cold baked potatoes with mustard. Cold baked potatoes are seriously delicious, I know it sounds weird but I swear it isn't.

I also drank a lot of this iced. I found this on sale at Sprouts and it is so freaking good!! It has a light grapefruit flavor and it's just really, really refreshing on a hot day.

When I was coming home from the park I found a tiny little cherry tomato plant along the fence! It had one little ripe tomato. There were some green ones too, so I'm going to keep checking. This little tomato was so sweet and flavorful!

More peanut sauce for dinner! I have this Korean BBQ sauce made with gochujang that I don't love on it's own, so I decided to use some in a peanut sauce. Peanut butter and some sesame oil definitely improved the original sauce! I had the sauce with rice, tofu, cucumber, romaine and green onion.
And that was a day of eating. I did also have a celery and pear juice and a lime popsicle that didn't get photographed. 

Bubba wishes everyone a happy Sunday! He's still loving life on the inside! Etta and Joan are still hissing at him, and he prefers to stay in his room most of the time, but he's getting more comfortable every day!

More Stuff I'm Going to Eat

I have another small haul today. I did make it to Trader Joe's. Even though I got there early, it was still pretty busy. I was thinking I just need to go there like once a month and stock up on my favorites and then just go other places the rest of the time. Because they do have some unbeatable prices on certain things.

Bananas, lime,romaine lettuce,tofu,potatoes,frozen blueberries,peanut butter,coconut milk,green onion,lime fruit bars(so, so good!) soy creamer

I also stopped at Smith's and Natural Grocers for a few random things. I wish Natural Grocers were cheaper because I would do all my shopping there! There is never a crowd, in fact sometimes I'm the only one shopping! But I guess if they were cheaper than they would have more crowds.

Chili garlic sauce,instant coffee, lip balm, gardein veggie burgers(!!), live kombucha

I'm very excited to try these! I can't have most of gardein's products because they have gluten. I can have the black bean chipotle burgers and the beefless ground. Until now. These are new at Natural Grocers, I don't know how long the actual burgers have existed. They're made with brown rice and veggies, and totally gluten free!! And they were on sale for $3.45!!! I know super real veg burgers are all the rage, but I really prefer actual veggie burgers, but I still want it to be flavorful and not super dry and healthy tasting. I really think these will be great!!

Apparently Kroger/Fred Meyer/Smith's wants to get in the vegan game as well! This is their store organic line and they already make a pretty decent vegan ice cream. Now they're making deli slices I'm assuming to mimic tofurky. These are so new they didn't have a price sign yet, but tofurky slices are $3.49 at Smith's so these will probably be a little cheaper!!

Sprouts Haul!!

I went to Sprouts yesterday for some stuff. Every few weeks they send a five dollar off coupon in their weekly ad and this is a week where I had a coupon! I wanted to go to Trader Joe's too, but I just didn't want to deal with them yesterday. So I'll hit them up today. Bagged salads and lettuce are a dollar cheaper at Trader Joe's and since I've been trying to eat a lot more greens that adds up. So, anyway here's my little Sprouts haul!

Lemons, tea, onions,tomatoes,kombucha,tamari,tofu,sunbutter cups,celery,potatoes,bulk rice, garbanzo flour and cashews,all the types of plums,pears,rice and millet ramen,mayacama gravy,garlic

I noticed last week I was snacking on junk more than usual. I mean, not total junk but I guess more junk than I'm used to. Vegan Rob's and Snyder's gluten free pretzels were both on sale so I was in snack heaven. But, I also noticed that my stomach was very upset for the last two or three days. Just for the first few hours I was awake. I have a pretty iron stomach so it was pretty surprising. I decided to go a week with no junk food (except for my beloved popsicles!) so that's why this haul is so healthy and basic. Sprouts has had Vegan Rob's veggie and cheddar puffs on sale for quite awhile, and it was so HARD to pass them up!!! Like so hard! But honestly, I had no junk yesterday, and I had potatoes for dinner and I feel much better today. In the past when I've done the potato diet, my digestion has always been on point so I'm going to eat a lot of potatoes this week!

I saw some new to me burgers and other mock meats. This company also makes deli slices. It seems everyone is making "beefy" burgers these days!!

And another option! I've heard rumblings of this company, but yesterday was the first time I've seen them with my own eyes! More 'beefy" burgers, plus more!

They have chickenless nuggets, chickenless patties, sausage patties and crumbles. As you can see, they're on sale for six dollars so that means they're usually more. I feel like a bad blogger because I didn't even check the ingredients to pass along. They aren't priced for me so I didn't even think to see what they're made of. But they are vegan I do know that!

I love this. Sprouts does have the Beyond meat burgers, ground and sausages near the regular meat, but it has it's own cooler next to the gross stuff. I know Beyond is going for the non vegan customers, and I fully support that, but for me having their products mixed right in with regular beef is a huge turn off for me and I'm sure many, many others. I feel like this is such a perfect compromise. These products are still front and center with the animal products, but they have their own safe little cooler.