catching up

On August 31, 2020August 31, 2020 By VictoriaIn LifestyleLeave a comment

Hello everyone, it’s been awhile since I last posted here! It’s been crazy and hectic and I lost a lot of motivation to do anything at the start of the new year. Being in quarantine definitely hasn’t helped. It’s hard to believe I have barely left the house the last 6 months, but I’m grateful that I am able to stay home.

Here are some updates from the past few months.

We adopted a puppy!

I have spent way too much time playing Animal Crossing New Horizons.

My birthday was in June and we celebrated with amazing food. Here are the jalapeño poppers and stromboli we had (all vegan and homemade):

And that’s about it! New recipes and blog posts coming soon. ♡

What a vegan orders to drink on a night out

On August 2, 2019August 2, 2019 By VictoriaIn Favorites, LifestyleLeave a comment

I always say, if the only thing I can get during a night out is french fries and beer then that’s okay with me, but that usually leads to a trip to Taco Bell at 2am (which is also okay with me).

An app I use when we go out is called Vegaholic, plus there’s a website that it gets its information from called Barnivore that lets you know if liquor is vegan or not. They’re both useful tools to quickly check, but I have my go-to beers since I don’t like checking the app while I’m out with friends. Here’s some of my favorite drinks to get:

1. Guinness

A classic dark beer. This is my go-to beer, I usually have the classic Guinness or Extra Stout. The Black Lager and The 1759 are not vegan.

2. Bishop Cider

Living in North Texas, this has been easy to find at a lot of places near us. Bishop Cider is made in Dallas, TX in one of our favorite barcades (cidercade, specifically).

3. (512) Pecan Porter

A nice, dark beer that DJ compares the taste of to cigarettes. I personally love the flavor of it, but you have to be into thick, dark beer to enjoy it.

4. Dream Crusher IPA, Deep Ellum Brewing

One of the lighter beers on this list, it’s my go-to at Spiral Diner, a vegan diner located in Denton, Dallas, and Fort Worth. It’s hoppy and fruity and goes well with the burgers and nachos we usually order.

5. Dos Equis

The Lager, XX, and Ambar are all vegan. This one is not one of my favorites on this list, but it’s at most restaurants and easy to find.

6. Blue Moon

A lot of Blue Moon’s beers are vegan, but not all. Some have honey in them, so I would double check before ordering.

7. Chief Justice Stout, Legal Draft

Another dark beer we discovered at Spiral Diner that has a nice, light coffee flavor.

8. Jack Daniel’s Whiskey

Most, but not all of Jack Daniel’s whiskey is vegan (Tennessee Honey and Jack Daniel’s Ready to Drink are not).

9. Or, if you don’t want anything alcoholic, there are quite a few bars around us that serve Kombucha on tap.

Honorable mentions: Bud Light, Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, Corona, and Heineken beers are vegan.

Hope this is a helpful guide! I definitely prefer darker beer over light, so are there any lighter beers you’d like to recommend? Let me know! Be safe and responsible while out. ♡

Air Fryer Review // why I try to cook everything I can in our air fryer

On February 12, 2019February 12, 2019 By VictoriaIn Lifestyle, Reviews, Vegan ProductsLeave a comment

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My parents gifted us an air fryer for Christmas and we cook everything we can in it. I never want to put the oven on since it makes our apartment hot, but this doesn’t produce any heat and it cooks everything quickly and evenly. Here’s some of our favorite foods to throw in it:

1. Baked potatoes: Poke a few holes in a potato and throw it in the air fryer. We bake them at 400º (the highest temperature the air fryer can be set to) for 20 minutes and they turn out great.

2. Frozen burgers: (the one pictured is Hilary’s Veggie Burger) We just follow the recommended time for baking them in a conventional oven and set the temperature to 400º.

3. Frozen taquitos: We just follow the conventional oven directions on this one too.

4. Frozen hashbrowns / tater tots: 400º for 8-10 minutes.

We haven’t tried it yet but I’ve read air frying tofu is really good too.

Here’s an Amazon link to the one we have: Avalon Bay Air Fryer. It’s worked well for us so far. It’s a healthier way of “frying” food, plus it heats food up quickly without having to preheat. There are tons of air fryer recipes posted on Pinterest so check those out too!

Some updates // tasty vegan food we’ve had recently

On January 28, 2019January 28, 2019 By VictoriaIn Lifestyle, rheumatoid arthritis2 Comments

The past few weeks have been a lot. Here’s some updates:

We finally tried some recipes from the Hot For Food cookbook. The ‘bacon mac and cheese skillet’ is absolutely amazing and the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had. We tried out the recipe last Monday, made it for family Friday, and now I’m making some more for myself tonight for dinner (I’m going to try to make it a bit healthier tonight, though [I didn’t add any vegetable oil and no salt]). Next up is the Tofu Benny recipe.

We visited Phoenix for a week at the beginning of January and my body felt so much better. Maybe it’s the climate in Texas, but as soon as we got back the fatigue, pain, and lack of motivation was intense.

We also discovered in Phoenix that Whole Foods has “Vegan Mac & Yease” in their salad bar section, and it’s the second best mac and cheese I’ve ever had.

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I’ve been eating a lot of tofu in the hopes the turmeric will help with my inflammation (plus it’s a nice hearty breakfast before work)

along with trying to drink turmeric lattes every night before bed.

That’s everything new with me. Hope you all are having a lovely start to the year. ♡

New Year’s Resolutions // 2019

On January 7, 2019 By VictoriaIn LifestyleLeave a comment

Torrance, New Mexico

I have never really stuck with any New Year’s resolutions I’ve made in the past, and that’s if I had even made any. I always feel motivated when the new year comes around even though it’s a pseudo new start, but the feeling doesn’t last long. This year though, I wanted to make a few goals to change my lifestyle and try my best to stick to them.

Start working out again.

Rheumatoid arthritis has made this one tough. I now work full time in retail, but I need to make the time to start consistently working out and improving my health.

Get better at guitar.

I was inspired to take guitar lessons because I feel like I’ve plateaued from teaching myself. A minimum effort for this goal would be to learn a new song every month, but ideally if finances work out I’d like to take lessons. We’ll see how this one goes.

Keep a journal.

I started reading Theft By Finding (1977-2002) by David Sedaris. I liked reading the short blurbs of his every day life, and that has inspired me to want to keep a journal even if it’s just one sentence a day. I’ve also tried the 365 Project in the past and would love to try that again.

Read 25 books.

I never stick with this one, but I really want to read more. I just want to read at least 1 book every two weeks, which is very doable, I just have to stick with it.

Make time to travel.

I want to go on more trips in 2019. We had so much fun traveling to different states and discovering amazing local places this past year.

What do you guys want to accomplish this year? Let me know in the comments!