Vegan Month of Food - New Friends, Old Friends

A few friends are moving away and I was thinking that maybe it is that time of our lives, or just life in general, when it makes the most sense to move back closer to home.

It's where they would like to settle down and begin a more stable phase of growing up, maybe we already grew up though. They want to be near to those that love and support them the most, but I can't help thinking about what that means for me. These are a few really close friends that have become my support. When they leave it'll feel really lonely around here, I won't have as many opportunities to see them in person and it'll be sad that they'll be so far away. Though it won't be that different, we all have such busy lives it's hard to spend much time together anyway. So we'll be more like pen pals and visits will be planned a little farther in advance. I understand their need to go back home and hope things work out for the best. Part of me also feels that someday we'll live in the same city again, or we'll get better at being long-distance friends. I will also need to think about my own support network and how it will change once they move.

Losing these friends will be hard, they're nice to have around and I worry that with distance we will lose touch as well. I hate to lose them all together, but I also have to think of ways to fill the void they will leave in their place. New friends are hard to make in this city. We set up a lot of boundaries and come off as cold, it's just so hard to break in when you're starting over. The cliques that we formed in high school are still in force, it's so strange to see this and have to deal with it in social situations as an adult. Maybe it's the rain? So I'll work on friendships and hope to find a closer friend in the general pool of acquaintances. I'll have fun, it's like dating!

One friend I'm getting closer to went out with me with a few others to a concert, somehow I ended up needing to leave before the headliner. I was really sleepy. We all left in search of tacos together, the plan was to go to a restaurant nearby. That was changed to getting into a cab and driving really far away to a different restaurant for nachos. I think I could have ordered a salad there, but I was more into drinking water and trying to keep up with the conversation. Not a very vegan friendly bar, thus this post has nothing to do with vegan food other than the fact I wish we had gone somewhere I could have eaten. A great night though, well on my way to finding anew best friend!

Vegan Month of Food - Options for a Luna Bar Addiction

A while back I found myself eating way too many Luna Bars, impossible as that sounds...

I like to eat as many whole foods as possible, limiting my sugar and salt consumption while also cooking more and spending less. It was great to get so much nutrition from one snack though and I wanted to find something that I could make myself that had similar values of micro and macro nutrients, without too much of the bad stuff. I took to the internet and remembered a muffin recipe that would be perfect for filling the void of Luna in my daily food intake, but I decided to add some chocolate chips because that's what I liked so much about Luna Bar. A spoonful of sugar and all that, really does help make my super nutritious snack less nutritious and yummier. It's more fun this way, believe me. So I've been making muffins and adding chocolate chips, I added white chocolate chips once to try to make it more like carrot cake. It worked that way, but I like dark chocolate more and couldn't justify the price of vegan white chocolate chips. I might try it again sometime for variety though.

Now Luna has a coconut bar out that is really tasty, and they were on sale at the store the other day. I bought a box because I haven't had time to bake and need an afternoon snack when I'm at work. I'm basically a three year old. I would take a nap too, but I don't have time for that. I'll be eating Luna Bars happily for a bit, I should be able to bake a batch of muffins soon though. Maybe I'll incorporate coconut into the recipe and replicate the delicious new flavor that may have me falling off the wagon. It's a slippery slope, but one that I don't feel too bad about. I just need to get back to baking, I've been away from it for a bit since getting back from my trip. It's something that I enjoy though and should do more often.

Vegan Month of Food - Popcorn and Breakfast

Day 3

Popcorn with nutritional yeast! The best and so yummy!

Day 4

Breakfast, savory style. Some leftover vegetable and tomato sauce on a english muffin, with a little Earth Balance. It was really good and I never eat breakfast because I'm too rushed to get to work, so I'm trying to make more time for this.

With coffee!

I really want to post every day for this, but it looks like it's already turning out to be every other day. I hardly have time to write, I'm heading out to a soccer match. Duh, it's called football anywhere else. I'm also doing a lot of meal planning and I really want to make a dish with black eyed peas that's simple using ingredients I already have. That might be tough, the cupboards are a bit bare. I haven't had time to really think through the grocery list, that's what meal planning is about though and hopefully I will get going on that.

Vegan Month of Food - two in one

Day 1

Pancakes for breakfast! I went out last night with a friend and drank too much vodka and did not feel that well this morning so I made a really nice breakfast to hopefully scare away the awful hangover. It sort of worked. The pancakes and coffee were delicious regardless.

Pancakes with fresh raspberries and maple syrup with Earth Balance buttery spread, my roommate got the whipped kind. And the recipe is super easy to fallow - 1 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1 cup milk. I like using whole wheat flour and almond milk.

I also made spring rolls. I was traveling in September and haven't been able to go food shopping really so this was a pretty basic meal idea. I had a few sheets of wrappers left and then used shredded zucchini and carrot as the filling with fake chicken strips for protein. The method I use is to place one sheet on a plate and pour boiling water on top to soften it and then assemble the spring roll on a large cutting board. Sometimes the sheets are cracked, which makes it hard to get the perfect roll.

filling heated up with some sriracha sauce, Bragg's, and a bit of maple syrup

All rolled up, the filling was pretty saucy so I just ate them as is. Sweet chili sauce would be good with these too, I might not do the filling the same again though. It was sort of messy with a little too much liquid and a few tears in the wrapper, but really good anyway.

Day 2

I used up the rest of the pancake batter for Sunday morning breakfast, I didn't have anymore fresh raspberries so I used frozen raspberries. Here they are cooking up.

Plated up with maple syrup and Earth Balance, I really need to buy some of my own and not use my roommate's. We share though, I only want to make sure we have some more in the house in case we need more. I don't think there will be a buttery spread emergency anytime soon though, I think I can wait a little while longer before going back to the grocery store.