Hello Trader Joe's My Old Friend

It's been awhile since I've been to Trader Joe's. Although I appreciate them limiting how many people they allow in, when I see a long line I just go somewhere else.

Yesterday I lucked out and got there a few minutes after opening. I was able to get in and out before the real crowds showed up!

Tempeh,fruit frenzy bars, tofu,carrots, chips, romaine, lemons,coconut milk, refried beans, chickenless seasoning,oranges,water kefir,celery,coconut coffee creamer,frozen blueberries,cherry plums,nectarine, apple,yellow and red onion, ginger

Trader Joe's now has two vegan shreds!! They also have the cheddar style slices which are cashew based! The original vegan shreds aren't the best, but they're not bad at all, and for $3.50 a bag you can't beat it. The cashew shreds are the same price.

This is very new to me! It says the dressing is made with tofu. The dressing on the left is also vegan! I just bought the FYH Caesar, but when I'm out I'll definitely give this a try! Remember the dark days when Italian, and maybe a Balsamic vinaigrette were the only options?

Perfect waiting for the bus hydration!

Banza and Bubba!

I had written off all bean pasta after trying two or three brands, and not liking anything about them. They are heavy, dull tasting, and way too expensive to be so gross. If I want extra fiber and protein, I'd rather toss some actual beans in my pasta dish. But, I was watching a recipe video, and they made pasta salad with Banza chickpea pasta. it looked so good, and this person talked so highly of the chickpea pasta it made me want to give it a chance.

Fast forward to my trip to Whole Foods, they just happened to have Banza pasta on sale. I wouldn't have been willing to try it without a sale, because somehow pasta made from one of the world's cheapest foods is the most expensive pasta.

I'm pretty blown away by this pasta! it doesn't have that gummy taste or texture of other bean pastas I've tried. I like it better than regular old gluten free pasta! It has a nice, firm but not too firm texture, and no weird aftertaste.

I made a nice summertime pasta salad with black olives, red onion, celery, sliced baby peppers and of course Italian dressing. Really, really tasty.

For dinner I made some BBQ soy curls along with some pasta salad. This is definitely the most American, summery dish I've eaten in quite awhile!

We keep getting closer to cuddles. If there's anyone who's going to cuddle Bubba, it's going to be my sweet Etta!

Here's Bubba playing with his little poof that's been rolled in catnip! I love watching him being a playful indoor cat!

Small Vegan Whole Foods Haul

I needed plain, unsweetened vegan yogurt for a recipe I want to try this week, and it felt like a great reason to go to the Whole Foods downtown, which I've never been.

Violife cheddar cream cheese, strawberry filled chocolate, citrus pops, yogurt, cilantro, romaine hearts, gluten free flour,watermelon, more yogurt,fizzy water, water kefir,chickpea pasta, gardein veggie burgers,coconut milk, celery, carrots,oranges, lemons, more chocolate!

Even though I got treats, I took my time and scoured for sales, so I still kept my bill around forty dollars.

I spotted the gardein canned soup I've been hearing about! It's full of gluten so not an option for me, not to mention three fifty for a can of soup is a bit out of control, but still who ever thought we'd see vegan canned soup that isn't Amy's, or just an accidentally vegan soup.

They also have a whole row of vegan gummies!! I wish they didn't use the plastic containers though. I wanted to try some, but I ate too many vegan gummies awhile ago, felt a sugar hangover for a few days and swore never again. The sour lemonade rings sound so good though!

Vegan at Winco

Winco is now carrying Miyoko's products! They have oatmilk butter, pepper jack and cheddar shreds all for around five dollars. Still a little spendy, but cheaper than anywhere else I've seen Miyoko's. I don't really use butter too often, but I love her cashew based butter so much I have to try this too!

I know I showed this the other day, but it bears repeating because I found this S'mores oatmilk ice cream, and I haven't even seen this flavor at Sprouts or Natural Grocers! Their vegan ice cream is always a great, great price. Often under four dollars!! And I love Chloe's Pops, (except for the oatmilk pops) and they're under three dollars which is so much cheaper than anyplace else!

This was the biggest surprise to me! First of all, I didn't even know field roast made nuggets! And look at that price, The wings and mini corn dogs are never under eight or nine dollars!! Winco also has the corn dogs, which you can kind of see under the nuggets. I wish I could try them all, but sadly they are all made with gluten.
They also sell a lot of Gardein and Boca, along with Alpha nuggets and burritos, and they have a big selection of Morningstar Farms products. All cheaper than you'll find at other groceries.
It took me a long time to actually check out Winco, because I assumed they weren't very vegan friendly. But I was wrong! They also have a HUGE bulk section, which is partially closed due to the pandemic, but usually their bulk section is so big it's almost overwhelming!

Sharing our favorite bag!!

What I Ate Plus More!

I bought this on a whim at Winco the other day. I've never had a Caesar salad, but I love FYH blue cheese, and I know Caesar dressing is supposed to be lemon-y and pepper-y, both flavors that I love.

I had a little breakfast salad yesterday with romaine, sliced baby peppers, and a cut up veggie burger with the Caesar dressing. Ten out of ten! It is very pepper-y with a nice lemon kick. I think this might be my new favorite dressing!

celery apple juice

peacharine and pluot

For dinner I kept it simple. Red Thai curry with red lentils and tofu. I usually use A Taste of Thai curry paste, but I found a different brand at the Asian market, and it is soooooooo much better! Spicier and fresher.

More Winco finds! I haven't eaten these yet, but I will be! I didn't even know S'mores ice cream existed!! The ice cream itself is graham cracker flavored, with pieces of chocolate and swirls of marshmallow flavored coco whip!!

I have this reusable bag that the kitties just love. I finally gave in, cut the straps off and let them have it. It dug into my shoulders anyway. Silly girls!

Daiya White Cheddar Mac and Cheese

About a month or two ago I saw daiya mac and cheese was on sale for $1.99 a box!!! I can't stand their cheddar mac and cheese, the Alfredo style is a bit better, but still not good in my opinion. I haven't tried the white cheddar, so I figured why not try it while it's such a good price.
It's been sitting in my pantry mostly ignored until last night. I didn't have it in me to cook, and I didn't have much of an appetite so it seemed like a perfect time to make something I might not like!

The pasta packet comes with freeze dried carrot, peas and red bell pepper. I thought the carrot and red pepper were a bit strange, but peas in mac and cheese is a classic. Unfortunately, the veggies did not properly cook with the pasta, and they had the strangest texture. Dry, tasteless and kind of crunchy. The sauce itself is the best of the three flavors, it's just too bad you can't get past the weird veggies.
I give this a three out of ten. The score would be so much higher if the veggies cooked properly.
In my opinion, we're just not there with vegan mac and cheese. We've come so far with faux meats, cheeses and even vegan butter, and homemade vegan mac and cheese can be amazing, but there's still a lot of work to do on boxed mac and cheese!
Has anyone else tried this? Did I just get a funky box with weird, hard veggies?

Just Another Random Monday

I've been craving falafel for awhile now. I've never been good at making falafel, but I figured I'd give it another try. To be honest, I think baked falafel is just never as good as deep fried, no matter who makes it. But I don't deep fry, so I found a recipe online and went with baked. I think falafel just has to be something I eat when someone else makes it!

I made a whole feast, lemon garlic rice, cucumber and pepper salad with violife feta, stuffed grape leaves, and the falafel. The falafel were dry and really crumbly. At least the rest of the meal was tasty.

Natural Grocers had a BOGO Health-Ade kombucha sale, so I tried these two new to me flavors. The grape vibes was really tasty, nice light grape flavor, will definitely buy again. The cherry berry was just okay, not a ton of cherry or berry flavor.

Scenes from my Sunday morning walk. I love the two tone roses! Especially the pink and white. They remind me of peppermint candy! Whenever I see these mysterious V's on poles, I always say "V is for vegan" in my mind!

I spotted this at Target the other day! I didn't even know Healthy Choice was adding vegan choices to their line. Pretty awesome if you ask me. And I'm glad they're using gardein.

Last night I had horrible cramps and my appetite was pretty low most of the day, and I definitely didn't have it in me to cook, so crinkle fries to the rescue! With some salad for good measure.

I dipped my fries in this BBQ sauce. I found it on clearance quite awhile ago. It's a lot thicker than other BBQ sauces, which I like. The flavor is also really nice. I bet it would be good slathered on some tofu for the grill!

Bubba has recently discovered that he loves toys, and catnip. Preferably toys rolled in catnip!

Skincare, Chocolate, Flowers and Cuddles!

I had a few extra bucks leftover in my weekly grocery budget, so I went to Natural Grocers for a few things. Mainly I needed my beloved Nag Champa incense but I found a few other goodies too!

Nag Champa, hair skin and nails vitamins, violife feta, parsley, stuffed grape leaves, dark chocolate, soy curls, kombucha, garbanzo bean flour

This chocolate is the star of this haul! OMG, the sweetness from the pineapple and coconut help with the bitterness of the dark chocolate. I was iffy about pineapple and chocolate, but it's a match made in heaven!! Eleven out of ten!

I love Pacifica products. I've never tried something I didn't like from them. So, when I see a sale, if I can swing it that week I get something! Sprouts had a sale on Pacifica this week, so I chose this glow baby serum, and the wake up beautiful overnight mask. I used the overnight mask Friday night, and woke up to really hydrated skin Saturday morning. No easy feat in dry ass Utah! I used the serum last night before bed, and my skin looks so dewy and nice this morning. Ten out of ten will buy both again! Bonus, the serum smells AMAZING!!

I came across this beautiful tree on my walk yesterday. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is, but I love the red bell shaped flowers.

The cuddling never stops!

Another Vegan Sprouts haul!

Yesterday I wanted to go to both Sprouts and Trader Joe's, which is something I used to do often. But those days are gone, hopefully not forever, but definitely for now. I decided to go to Sprouts, because it's very stress free on weekday mornings. And, Sprouts always has fun fruits that I can't resist!
Before I get to my haul, I saw two new to me things to show!

I didn't even know kite hill made sour cream! I was off my game and didn't check the price, but kite hill is usually pricey. Has anyone tried it?

I've seen Upton's products, but never their updogs. Not sure if they're new to the world, or just Sprouts.

Papaya, teecino, English cucumber, so delicious yogurt, treeline cream cheese,kombucha, lemon ginger tea, clover sprouts,avocado, peacharines, plant snacks chips

Amy's chocolate bar, coconut cream, carrots, pears, yellow plums, red plums, lemons, grapefruit, oranges, cilantro, tofu

celery, gluten free bread, pluots, ginger, onion, garlic ,potato, sweet potato

I'm on a huge plum kick lately. And all of the plum hybrids have been really fun to try. This week I got three different varieties! I love it when they're so juicey you have to eat them over the kitchen sink!

These two take spooning to a whole new level! Since it's getting so hot, the cuddles really only happen very early in the morning!

Dal, Sandwiches and Inari!

I was feeling a bit run down physically and emotionally the other day, so I made a nice pot of red lentil dal. It's so comforting it always makes me feel better. I use this recipe, except I halve it. I really love it!

I've been loving veggie sandwiches for breakfast all week! Each one is a little different depending on what I have. This sandwich is lightly toasted gluten free bread, vegan cream cheese, clover sprouts and English cucumber. Yum!

Last night I decided to make inari sushi! Never did I think that would be a possibility! I found this at the Asian market last week. All you have to do is make the rice, the packet comes with the tofu pouches, and seasoning packets for the rice. It was very easy to make, the tofu pouches are flexible and very forgiving. next time I will make a full sushi spread, but I was just too excited to wait!