Michigan Pt. 2

On September 10, 2018September 12, 2018 By VictoriaIn Travel LogLeave a comment

We travelled back to Michigan for another wedding almost two weeks ago. Check out this post from July for Part 1: Vegan Travel Log // Michigan

Here’s our latest trip in photos:

Breakfast the morning we left Dallas: Fresh Morning Donuts’ tofu scramble burritos and donuts. We bought extra to share with my parents who were kind to drive us to the airport.

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We landed in Detroit that afternoon. We were hungry so we stopped by Seva in Ann Arbor to pick up some dinner before our 5 hour drive across the state. We started with some queso and chips then ordered the Beyond Burger Patty.

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It was a long drive with lots of trees.

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The morning of the wedding we picked up some bagels and hummus from L’Chayim Delicatessen in Beulah.

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At the wedding they had a delicious option for the vegans there: a squash filled with quinoa and veggies with asparagus on the side.

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I also didn’t think any of the desserts were vegan so I picked up some Ritz crackers, then saw a sign that said all the cookies were vegan.

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We went to a BBQ the next day and were surprised to find a grocery store (Shop N’ Save) that had not only Gardein chick’n burgers and daiya cheese, but also Dandies marshmallows on display.

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We left for Dallas the next day. While waiting for our plane at the airport we stopped by Bigalora, a pizza place that had vegan cheese. Then we found out our plane was delayed so we got some drinks and fries while we waited.

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That’s the end of the quick look of our trip to Michigan. I was surprised how easy it was to find places near us with vegan options in an area I didn’t think had many. Have you guys been to Michigan? Let us know of any places we should try out next time we visit!

Also, here’s a video I posted on my YouTube channel of some clips I took while in Michigan: Our trip to Michigan.

what I ate today // stomach issues + easy meal ideas

On August 19, 2018 By VictoriaIn What I Ate TodayLeave a comment

First of all, I just want to say I started a YouTube channel! Check out my videos and let me know what you think: ParanoidNoAndroid (I wanted to keep this name since I will be posting a lot more than just vegan videos!)

I’ve been having stomach pains and problems for the past month. My appetite changes drastically from day to day. One day food makes me nauseous and the next I’ll be ravenous. I haven’t been cooking much and I’ve been eating a lot of rice and avocado/vegetable rolls and bean burritos. My meals have been white/beige, and very basic.

Here’s what I ate today, trying to get lots of veggies and fruits back in my diet.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with blueberries, chia seeds, peanut butter, and cinnamon.

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Lunch: DJ pre-made a bunch of sandwiches and made one for me for work today. The one I had was loaded with spinach, tomatoes, pickles, avocado, and a Hilary’s vegan sausage patty. I didn’t take a picture since I was eating it in the break room at work where there is really bad lighting, but here’s one I had the next day at home (no Hilary’s sausage, but I added some Vegan Egg by Follow Your Heart and Daiya cheddar shreds):

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Dinner: DJ made dinner for when I got home from work. ♡ He made a vegan taco pasta salad with a little bit of Vegenaise, hummus, and taco seasoning and mixed that with pasta, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and red onion. I topped my bowl with even more sun-dried tomatoes and crushed red pepper. It was SO delicious that I may even make a recipe post next time we make it, but that’s the gist of the recipe.

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That’s everything I ate today! It’s definitely more colorful than what I’ve been eating lately. I’ve noticed I mostly crave a lot of carbs and fats when I’m not feeling well, which is why I tend to eat a lot of pasta, rice and avocado. Don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel and leave your thoughts in the comments!

mediocre sushi // my first YouTube video

On August 5, 2018August 14, 2018 By VictoriaIn Recipes, YouTubeLeave a comment

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I finally made my first YouTube video! It shows the process of how I make sushi at home. I eat sushi so much more often now than before I went vegan and it wasn’t until I went vegan that I started making it at home. It’s so easy to make and really cheap. Here’s the written recipe for the video.

I used about 1/2 cup of white rice for each roll. That’s one reason I called this mediocre sushi, I didn’t even use sushi rice.

Chickpea salad:

1 can of chickpeas
3 tbsp classic hummus
black pepper
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
paprika
thyme
nutritional yeast

Just blend it enough so it’s all combined but still a bit chunky.

Creamy hummus sauce:

hummus
a tiny splash of water just to thin it out.

I also topped the sushi with some sriracha and sesame seeds (pro tip: add the sesame seeds after you add the sauce so they stick and don’t bounce all over the floor. Also maybe don’t drop them from above for cinematic effect either).

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I grew up watching YouTube and I’ve always wanted to start posting videos of my own. I had a lot of fun editing this video and I can’t wait to post more in the future. Let me know your guys’ thoughts in the comments! ♡

Creamy tomato and chickpea pasta // easy vegan recipe

On August 1, 2018 By VictoriaIn Creamy, cheesy, pasta recipes, Recipes1 Comment

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This is a super easy recipe that I made this afternoon to try and clean out the fridge and freezer and use up some canned food we’ve had lying around for awhile.

For the sauce:

half a bag of frozen cauliflower (about 8 oz)
a can of diced tomatoes
lots of spices:
- garlic powder
- minced onions
- nutritional yeast
- black pepper
- paprika
- ground cayenne pepper
- thyme
- crushed red pepper
- lemon juice
about a cup of almond milk.

Defrost and steam the cauliflower with some minced onion and garlic powder until it is soft. Add the soft cauliflower into a blender with a bit of almond milk (I probably used around 3/4 cup), a tbsp lemon juice, and about 2 tbsp nutritional yeast and combine until it is creamy.

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Add that back into the pan and mix it with the can of diced tomatoes and all of the spices. Once thats combined add in:

as much boca veggie ground crumbles as you want
chickpeas (I used about 3/4 of a can)
a few handfuls of spinach

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Mix all that together and let it simmer. I added some more milk to thin it out while the veggie crumbles cooked.

Finally I boiled the pasta (we had angel hair pasta) and combined it with the sauce and that’s it! It was super easy and turned out really tasty.

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Vegan Travel Log // Michigan

On July 31, 2018 By VictoriaIn Travel Log1 Comment

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We left for Michigan from Dallas a few weeks ago. This is the first time we’ve been in Michigan since we’ve both been vegan, so I was pretty nervous. Turns out, it was extremely easy and there were tons of delicious options for us.

Saturday:

At the Dallas / Fort Worth Airport we were running short on time for breakfast and options were scarce near our terminal so we stopped at a Blimpie. We both got a sub with all the veggies and mustard on white italian bread.

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We landed in Michigan a few hours later. Our first stop was at Tim Horton’s. I’m from Buffalo, NY so we used to get our coffee from Tim Horton’s, not Starbucks. I got a plain pretzel bagel and some coffee.

That night we met up with some family and ate at the Blaze Pizza in Auburn Hills for dinner since it was close to the hotel. There’s one about 40 minutes from where we live in Texas and we’ve only been there once, but we really enjoyed it and hoped the family we were with would too. We ordered a vegan pizza to split between DJ and I and a side salad (I love the build your own salad option Blaze offers!). We topped the pizza with vegan cheese, spinach, tomatoes, and onions. This is a terrible sneaky picture of our food because I was super embarrassed taking photos of my food in front of people I didn’t know yet.

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Sunday: (the wedding!)

We came here for a wedding, so I figured I would also show the makeup I used. Everything is cruelty free from the brand Wet N’ Wild. It is super affordable makeup that I think looks really nice. I used the photofocus foundation in shell ivory, the coloricon blush in mellow wine (that broke in my suitcase on the way back home), the megaglo highlighter in “When the nude strikes”, their black eyeliner pencil, and their retractable brow pencil in ash brown. I never wear lipstick so I forgot to include it in the picture (it was still in my bag from the wedding) but that was also from Wet N’ Wild in the shade Wine Room.

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We had a bit of food at the wedding (lots of beans, veggies, and potatoes) and that night we drove 3 1/2 hours east to Beulah, MI. We stopped at a Wendy’s for dinner and I ate some fries and the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad (without the chicken, pecans, and the bleu cheese).

The wedding venue was really neat, there was a small room under the pond outside that made for some cool photos.

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Monday:

Oatmeal for breakfast:
Instant oatmeal has been a lifesaver for when we go away. Hotel buffet breakfasts don’t usually have much we can eat, if anything at all, so we always go to the closest grocery store (usually a Walmart) on our first day and pick up prepackaged oatmeal and Lenny and Larry’s cookies. Hotels will always have hot water near the coffee in the lobby, so adding it to a bowl and mixing it with some oatmeal and bananas or other fruit is such a quick and easy breakfast. Lenny and Larry’s cookies are also a good snack to have on hand because they are so filling.

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For lunch we stopped by a restaurant in the city of Empire called Joe’s Friendly Tavern. They had a plant-based burger, and we were told the buns are vegan. This was another sneaky shot out of embarrassment of photographing my food.

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Tuesday:

For breakfast DJ and I ate at the Crescent Bakery and Cafe in Frankfort. The Vegan Panini and the Veganlicious were so good! There were tons of options here and they even had oatmeal raisin cookies too.

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We wanted to stay in Frankfort for dinner and found the Stormcloud Brewing Company. They have flatbread pizzas that can be made vegan, the pretzel bites are vegan (the cheese it comes with obviously is not), and some delicious hummus with veggies. We split the Caprese flatbread with vegan cheese but without the pesto (the pesto is not vegan) and the hummus and veggies.

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Wednesday:

We had a long travel day ahead of us, from Traverse City to Detroit then finally home. We had a three hour layover in the Detroit airport so we had a nice dinner at Mezza Mediterranean Grille. We highly recommend eating here if you’re at the airport, especially if you’re stuck there like we were. The vegan options are clearly marked and the staff was extremely nice. We split the Mezza starter which includes hummus, baba ghannooj, and tabbouli, and we both ordered a falafel wrap. We can’t recommend this enough, it was so tasty.

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Those are some of our highlights from our short time in Michigan. We’re going back in September for another wedding so there will be a part two coming soon. We didn’t think there would be so many options, and there are many more places we want to try when we go back.

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what I ate on my birthday // vegan

On July 29, 2018July 29, 2018 By VictoriaIn Vegan pizza, What I Ate Today1 Comment

My birthday was a few weeks ago, but I wanted to highlight some of the amazing meals I had that week.

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On the night before my birthday we went out to Spiral Diner for dinner. I tried one of the Blue Plate specials that I had been wanting to try all month: the Buffalo Mac Doggy. I hadn’t had a hot dog in such a long time, plus it was my first time trying the Beyond Sausage from Beyond Meat. I highly recommend trying it out, it tasted just like sausage. We also had the spicy buffalo chik’n nachos for an appetizer.

For breakfast on my birthday I made myself a feast. I had some scrambled tofu with daiya cheese, avocado slices, and a Hilary’s veggie sausage patty on a mini bagel. I had to work that day so I wanted to treat myself.

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During my lunch break we went out for sushi. I had two avocado rolls with a side of rice noodles that I poured sriracha all over after I took this picture.

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And for dinner that night I ate my leftovers from the night before (the beyond sausage plus the mac and cheese was so filling!).

Later that week my family and I had a veganized version of a family tradition plus an amazing vegan birthday cake.

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I wanted to document all the treats that I ate on my birthday to show that anything can be veganized and you don’t have to miss out on your favorite foods on a vegan diet, especially on your birthday.

Easy Vegan Meals // #2

On July 10, 2018May 31, 2019 By VictoriaIn Breakfast recipes, Creamy, cheesy, pasta recipes, Low Spoon Recipes, Recipes, rheumatoid arthritis2 Comments

Part 1: top 7 meals for bad days

An edit to the hummus pasta from the previous post: Add some vegan cheese to the sauce and melt it in! This makes it super cheesy. I’ve been loving the new Daiya cutting board style shreds.

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These are some more of my go-to lazy meals that I’ve been making. Like I said in my last post, I haven’t been in the mood to cook a bunch and make crazy recipes. Here are a few meals I’ve been eating recently that are cheap, quick, and easy.

Smoothies and nice cream.

I know this isn’t anything special, but it’s been my go-to breakfast recently. It’s quick and easy to make, plus it’s packed with nutrients:

2-3 cups of spinach (honestly, as much as I can fit into the blender cup.)
1 cup cashew milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup frozen mangoes
1-2 scoops of protein powder
Lots of cinnamon.

Blend the spinach, milk, and water first, then add the other ingredients once the spinach is creamy.

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Also, use less water and milk and turn it into nice cream and add some toppings.

One of my favorite nice cream recipes lately has been:

2 frozen bananas
1 scoop of protein powder (we’ve been using the brand Aloha in the vanilla flavor)
lots of cinnamon
and a splash of vanilla extract.

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I like to leave the bananas out for 15 minutes before blending because I think it makes the ice cream easier to blend and makes it creamier.

My body feels so much better on days when I make smoothies. My inflammation goes down and my energy levels go up (it is a slight, but noticeable change). I highly recommend adding smoothies to your daily routine.

Taquitos.

We made these one night when we didn’t want to make dinner but didn’t want to get takeout either. For our filling we mixed together some Boca veggie crumbles, refried black beans, taco seasoning, and chipotle tabasco sauce. We rolled them up in little tortillas with some Daiya cheddar cheese, baked them in the oven until the tortilla was crispy, then topped them with a little hummus. We also found some vegan sour cream at the store and had that on the side too.

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I topped these with hummus, but I love making a vegan cheese sauce (like the one I mentioned above with hummus and daiya) and dipping it in the fake nacho cheese. These are so easy and so filling. You can also add in some spinach or avocado, pretty much whatever you want.

Potatoes.

We cut them up and bake them in the oven and eat them with some veggies, ketchup, and hummus. I find the little yellow potatoes easiest for me to cut. This one isn’t novel but it’s one of our go-to meals.

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Those are some meals we’ve been enjoying recently. They’ve been easy for me to cook especially on days when I don’t feel like cooking. Let me know what some of your go-to easy meals are in the comments!

what I eat in a day when I’m sick // vegan

On July 6, 2018 By VictoriaIn What I Ate Today1 Comment

Today I woke up feeling really sick with a fever. I wanted to make some delicious meals that were packed with nutrients to help me feel better. I also wanted to spend more time in the kitchen since I don’t feel like I’ve made a proper meal in a long time. For the past few weeks my meals have been quick and easy, but today I wanted to treat myself with some recipes that would fuel me and make me feel better.

We went grocery shopping this morning to pick up a few things to cook today, plus a kombucha hoping it would help my stomach.

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When we got back home I wanted to have a savory breakfast. I made some protein pancakes based off this recipe. They weren’t the prettiest, but they were really filling and full of protein. Plus they were gluten-free, which I think helps my body when I’m sick and achy with flareups.

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While we were picking up groceries from Sprouts we found some vegan ravioli, which I had to try. I haven’t had ravioli in so long, plus we’ve tried products from LightLife before and have never been disappointed. These are the vegan sausage ravioli and they were so delicious! This was definitely a treat for today.

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For dinner I wanted to make a quick and easy soup. I modified this recipe by using low fat coconut milk, green lentils instead of red (we couldn’t find red lentils while we were out), lots of curry powder, black pepper, garlic powder, and spinach. I highly recommend trying this recipe out, it turned out really good and it’s easy to customize to your taste. I decided halfway through cooking I wanted a spicy curry and it was still really good, but you could make it into a soup or make it thick like mine was. I also added lots of ginger so it had some extra zest.

That’s everything I ate today while I was home sick. Let me know what you guys like to eat when you’re sick and what your favorite comfort foods are in the comments.

Vegan travel log // Phoenix, AZ

On June 8, 2018 By VictoriaIn Travel Log2 Comments

Last week my family and I took an unplanned trip to Phoenix. Here’s what I ate on the 15 hour car ride and while we were there for the week.

For breakfast during the week I had lots of fruit. I bought a bunch of bananas the first day we were on the road and snacked on some apples, peanut butter, and bananas. Having lots of snacks also helped to keep me full. Dried mango is one of my favorite snacks and I made sure to have plenty for the trip.

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We also bought some pre-packaged oatmeal a few days after we arrived which had chia seeds and dried cranberries in it. It was easy to make in the hotel lobby; all I had to do was add some hot water and let it stand for a minute or two, then topped it with a banana. It was great to have since I couldn’t eat anything that the hotel provided for breakfast.

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There was a Whole Foods two minutes from the hotel so for most nights we would bring some meals back to the hotel since everyone could get something they wanted. This was a lot cheaper than eating out at restaurants every night, plus it was a lot more convenient. I mostly ate EatGud meals, including their jackfruit wrap and falafel wrap. They had a ton of other vegan treats too, like some veggie potstickers and mochi.

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One night for dinner we checked out the Loving Hut in Phoenix. Loving Hut is one of our favorite places to go when we’re near Addison so I wanted to try out the one in Arizona. Everyone liked it and the food was great. I ordered the Chow Fun and my parents had the Loving Hut Burger and the Spicy Cha Cha.

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I also had to make up my own meals from the menu from a few places (this was just some veggies and rice):

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Taco Bell and Subway were also really convenient to stop at since they have so many vegan options compared to other fast food restaurants. At Subway I always get the Italian bread and I load it with veggies and mustard. Taco Bell is super easy too. My go-to orders are either a bean burrito fresco style (no sour cream and no cheese) or a Crunchwrap Supreme (substitute beans for beef, and also make it fresco style. Adding potatoes or guacamole is really good too). It’s so easy to customize your order so we stopped at these places a few times.

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The past few road trips we’ve been on since being vegan have been pretty easy. Bringing our own snacks helps a lot and tons of restaurants have vegan options now. Let me know what your go-to tips for traveling while vegan are in the comments!

top 7 meals for bad days // vegan

On May 21, 2018May 31, 2019 By VictoriaIn Low Spoon Recipes, Recipes, rheumatoid arthritis4 Comments

Most times when I have bad rheumatoid arthritis flareups I don’t want to cook. I’d much rather not eat at all or have takeout food, but that obviously makes my body feel much worse. Here are some examples of lazy meals I make when I don’t want to cook but need to eat something relatively healthy.

Tortilla pizza

This one is super easy to make. I took a tortilla (this one’s a spinach wrap) and topped it with with leftover marinara sauce, Daiya mozzarella style shreds, and Yves veggie pepperoni. I popped it in the oven and baked it at around 300° until the tortilla was crispy and the cheese was melted. Some additional topping ideas: leftover veggies, spinach, basil, nutritional yeast, and tofu scramble.

Creamy hummus pasta

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I’ve been making this a lot for dinner since it is so quick, easy, and delicious. First, I boil some pasta and microwave some leftover veggies. (I also like having just noodles and spinach). While the pasta is boiling I scoop out 2-3 tbsp of hummus into a cup (we usually have red pepper or garlic hummus at the house), add a splash of water, and mix it together to make a simple sauce. It’s tasty like this but sometimes I’ll add some black pepper, nutritional yeast, or paprika to spice it up.

White rice, avocado, spinach, and nori with hummus (sushi bowl)

This one is especially easy if you have cooked white rice leftover. I’ll put some white rice in a bowl, microwave or sauté some spinach, cut up half of an avocado, and place some nori sheets on the side. I also top the bowl with hummus and sesame seeds. When I eat this I’ll take a spoonful of a little bit of everything and lazily roll it into a nori sheet like a little sushi burrito. Optional: Gardein chik’n, leftover tofu, or any other veggies you want to add.

Avocado toast

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Avocado + toast. I usually like to have it on mini bagels or Dave’s Killer Bread and topped with any combination of lots of nutritional yeast, paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, or garlic powder. Pairing it with a chickpea salad and tomatoes is really good too.

Peanut butter on toast with bananas and cinnamon

Peanut butter + toast + bananas + cinnamon.

Sandwiches and wraps

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Whenever I make a sandwich I’ll throw whatever we have in the fridge together and hope for the best.

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One of my new favorite combinations that resulted from random ingredients is a spinach wrap, purple hull peas, spinach, pumpkin seeds, almond slices, and sriracha.

Stuffed sweet potato

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I had this for breakfast one morning with a smoothie and I felt energized and full for most of the day. I baked a sweet potato and put some peanut butter and dried cranberries in it.

Those are some of my go-to meal ideas when I’m having a bad day or having a bad flareup. I hope this helps and inspires, and if you want more easy meal ideas check out my Instagram.