Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

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I'll be back on Monday so everyone can have a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. So like the title says goodbye 2011 and hello 2012. This upcoming year is going to be great for new year since I found out that it's the year of the dragon. Yay!! 

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I haven't really set any goals for myself yet , except that I am hoping to maintain blogging at least 5 times a week and get my butt into college.

What' your goals for this upcoming year? Leave a message I'll reply back to you.

Foodie Friday

***Foodie Penpal Reveal***

Today is a fun day it's foodie Friday and I get to reveal my foodie penpal.  Yay!

I found out about Foodie Penpals from when I was looking through my favorite blog Veggie Next Door.

Opening the box from Leah o ooh bubble wrap.
I sent my box off to my Foodie Penpal, then a couple days later I got my box from Leah. She was my Foodie Penpal this month; unfortunately she is blog-less but never the less super awesome with what she sent me. I was very surprised about the goodies in store for me, everything in the box was something that I have not tired before . 

Lovely note from Leah explaining everything in the box for me.

Everything from the box and the front of the card from Leah.

Leah, was super awesome she got me some of her favorite goodies and  I loved everything in the box; It was all very delicious. I got a wonderful Gingersnap Larabar ( love larabar's) , a carton of coconut water, a  carrot cake bar and a bag of Stacy's Toasted Garlic Bagel Chips.

I love these it's my new addiction.

Needless to say she got me setup with some new favorite's especially the Stacy's Bagel Chips and the  Gingersnap Larabar. Now here's the fabulous information about Foodie Penpal & about it

In case
you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all
about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via
email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get
their mailing address and any other information you might need like
allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies
in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the
goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items
or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also
include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining
what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items
depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about
flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re
a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short
guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you
received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry
about writing a post for that month. *US Residents only please at this
time- hopefully we can expand soon!*

If you’re interested in participating for January, please send  an
email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the
following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)

Lindsay will need to hear from you by January 4th as pairings will be
emailed on January 5th!

Random Finds and Great Time

Homemade sugar cookie.

 I have really bad allergies right now so I am very out of it. I hope everyone had a great weekend, I know I sure did. I got to see some family that I haven't seen in years and it was nice to see that my aunt was excited to see me. 

I don't really have much time to write up a post but I am going to leave you with some pictures from the past few days. Plus I have some thinking to do since I was offered to go to LA for a couple months so I have a lot to think about.

My mom uses this for smoothie's recipe coming soon.

A one pot chili with avocado (homemade).

Texas Ruby Red Grape Fruit.

Leave a comment below for what you did this weekend ?

Merry Holidays

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all of you!!! 

I will be back on Dec. 27.

Busy Holiday

Sorry about the lack of post due it's the holidays and here at my house it's chaos; just like at the grocery store. I have alot that I need to post after Christmas, heads up I will be a guest post over on Veggie Next Door's blog on Dec. 26 so check it out. 

I haven't been posting what I have been eating nor reviewing it sorry. I promise that I will have more regular posts after the holidays. I made some homemade pesto recently, it was excellent. I will post the recipe on here soon. For now I will leave you with some pictures of what I have been eating.

Steel Cut Oats with melted chocolate chips and blueberries.

White rice with steamed zucchini & squash with  homemade pesto

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Spiral pasta with homemade pesto and cooked tomato with garlic.

What I am Reading

Sorry about the lack of post's , I have been staying away from anything that would keep me from studying. I am reading a few books in fact one of them is to improve my ACT score. I am getting ready to go back to college , so depending on my original score. I may have to take the test again so I am studying, so here's what I have been reading.

My new found pumpkin addiction

I know this post is a little late , but I guess for some reason it just never posted.

I love all things that are pumpkin flavored, I guess it's my one food addiction I have besides of chocolate. For the holidays I was very excited to see that Whole Foods had a vegan pumpkin pie for thanksgiving. Yes you heard me vegan pumpkin pie; in fact they had a few options for the pumpkin pie.

This is the personal size of pumpkin pie.

They had half a pie , whole pie and personal size of pumpkin pie available at Whole Foods. I checked I found these pie's at three different Whole Foods in the Katy/Houston area. So I got a personal pumpkin pie for my dinner since I had a upset stomach. Plus we also got a whole pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving to take to my family's.

About 8 oz personal pumpkin pie.

Needless to say I know I have addiction to pumpkin pie , and I need learn to make it myself. These pumpkin pie's may only be a seasonal thing not sure yet.

Have you ever had pumpkin pie from Whole Foods?
Leave a comment below.

I won... Celebrate Vegan

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I won a copy of Celebrate Vegan over at Andrea's Easy Vegan Cooking. This is my first time winning a giveaway ever, I am so excited for this book. I am going to cook from it as soon as I get it, check out Andrea's  website she has great post's and recipes on there.

Omg! Trader Joe's is coming to Houston

All I can say is oh my goodness , Trader frickin Joe's is coming to Houston. That was one of the things that I missed when I moved back to Texas , they have no Trader Joe's. I was sad, but when I heard this news I was excited. 

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However it's not going to be in area close to me, I found online that it's going to be opening in a Woodlands Shopping Center. Supposed to be opening in 2012 spring, which peaked my interest because that is right around the corner.

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Also there is a rumor that Trader Joe's may be opening in Montrose District of Houston , at the old site of Alabama theater. Which is a historical site, I haven't heard much about this recently. But I am hopefully that Trader Joe's goes to Montrose District. Simply because it's closer than the Woodlands area.

Have you ever gone to Trader Joe'?

Amazed at the Kindle

This last weekend was my birthday and I got a gift that I wasn't expecting at all. My boyfriend's family had gotten me a Kindle for my birthday because I have been wanting one since they have been around. Plus I had about 10 different books on the computer for kindle.

So that's why I have been not posting as much, I am reading all the books that I haven't been able to read on the computer. Right now I am reading A Vegan History: 1944-2010, it's so interesting. I am completely addicted to this book right now, I feel that anyone who is vegan needs to read this book. It is completely amazing and very informational to anyone.

Any other suggestions for a good book like this one?

I felt like a kid in a candy store but only with cupcakes

This past weekend was my birthday weekend, and my family made it a big a event. On Saturday I got to go to Sprinkles Cupcake's in Houston , it's in a nice part of Houston. Most of the parking was valet parking , so me and my mom waited like 15 minutes or so circling the parking lot to find a spot. 

Picture of Sprinkles inside.

We finally found a spot right up front after circling for 15 minutes and their was a crazy line going out the door, I managed to get a picture while waiting in line. However Sprinkles only has one type of vegan cupcake which is the Red Velvet Cupcake, note lots of people say that it is the best cupcake. My mom even stole a bite of my cupcake and was like " Omg that is vegan , I didn't know that vegan cupcakes could be that good."

I got the cupcake on Saturday the day before my birthday , I would have to say that it was better than any other cupcake I have ever had. I was kind upset that I ate my birthday dessert the day before, however on the day of my birthday my family secretly. Went back to Sprinkles; and got 6 cupcakes , two we're for me.

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcake with V on top.

I have ton's to share from my birthday weekend, but Sprinkle's was the first thing I wanted to share with everyone.

 Have you ever had any cupcake from Sprinkle's?

Busy birthday weekend

I am sorry about no post but I have a very busy birthday weekend. I got the chance to meet some really awesome people and go to some really awesome places; also got some awesome gifts. I will write up a post on Monday when I have time, until then I will leave you with this wonderful picture.

Quick Artichoke & Olive Ravioli Dinner

So I got Rising Moon Organics Artichoke & Olive Ravioli for the first time from Whole Foods. The only reason I have never bought this before is because I do not like any faux cheese things , that even includes soy based cheese made out of tofu.

I didn't want to put pasta sauce over this ravioli because I wanted to actually taste it and see if I like it or not. So I whipped up a few things to make the ravioli taste great, I pulled things out of my kitchen that need to be used. 

I decided to cut up some walnuts , onion, and chopped garlic with a few spices ; heated it up in a sauce pan with olive oil for about 5 minutes. Then I add in some fresh basil from my little garden ; cooked & sauteed then I mixed it with the ravioli. At the end I add in some fresh tomato, and tossed the dish to mix the flavors.

I actually liked the ravioli this way , and even didn't mind that it had soy ricotta cheese in it. 

Have you ever had anything from this company?

I was going to post something today but I woke up very late like four hours late. So my whole day has been all messed up. Just going to leave you guys with a picture from my trip to my family's from Thanksgiving.

This is a gas station in Texas , it's the size of a grocery store.

Bok Choy Stir Fry Recipe

This is my favorite stir fry , I have made in the past year or so. This is a very simple & easy stir fry in my opinion, I made enough for about 1-2 people depending on how much you eat.

Bok Choy Stir Fry:

• 1 medium size Bok Choy, sliced greens leafs and chop the white stem about 1/2 cup
• 1/4 cup of Shitiake Mushrooms , sliced
• 1/4 cup of Broccoli
• 1/4 cup of Green onion , chopped
• 2 Tablespoons of white onion, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon of finely chopped ginger
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon of finely chopped garlic
• Almost 2 Tablespoons of Earth Balance Coconut Butter
• A dash of red chili pepper flakes
• A handful of pumpkin seeds (optional)
• Wok 

I would get everything together before starting the stir fry which is what I did and it made it so much easier. Note: I used pre-chopped garlic & ginger for the recipe.

Place wok on the stove on a low setting , and add in 1 Tablespoon of the coconut butter into the wok; then add in the white parts of bok choy. Turn up the stove to high for about 2 minutes , then add in the onion , green onion, and Shitiake mushrooms cook for about 3 minutes or so. After the 3 minutes add in the remaining coconut butter , and broccoli; let the coconut butter melt once it's melted. Add in the garlic, ginger & red chili pepper flakes. Cook everything for about 2 minutes or so , make sure that your stirring everything while cooking. Add in the bok choy leafs & pumpkin seeds ; cook for about 5 minutes on high heat. 

Serve over your favorite type of rice, I used white rice for this recipe but anything will work.

Have you ever made a Bok Choy stir fry yourself?

A little cold here in Texas

Technically it's not winter officially yet, but it sure feels like it here in Texas. It has been very gloomy the past few days, in my house we officially turned on the heat .

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So I have been very lazy because of the gloomy weather however, I did make a wonderful dish last night. I made a wonderful stir fry last night I did write everything down in regards to the recipe. I will post it tomorrow, here is a wonderful picture of the stir fry.

What I am working on

Sorry lack of post's but I warned you'll its my birthday week so I get busy because of so many things to do. I am working on my review for Larabar, this came a day or two ago.

Tamale's a Texas girl's favorite thing

I would have to say that my mission of being vegan in Houston, Texas has been adventure for me. When I moved to Texas I figured that I wouldn't have any luck and that is slightly correct to a certain point. My mind was changed after I went to several Whole Foods in the Houston area and I found vegan tamale's, I was excited with joy.

I was so happy I bought them at a heft price of 6.00 for 3 tamales , needless to say they were eaten the next day. So they did hold up very in the refrigerator overnight , which I was happy to see; they heated up very well. Expect the tamale's started to fall apart as soon as they were warmed up, the slights bit of heat.

The tamale's were the best one's I have eaten since I have gone vegan, I will be glad to eat them again. They were cheesy but their was no faux cheese in them at all; there was squash inside of them with a few other items too. Very filling at the same time, which I understand why they only sold them in three.

Now the tamale's may only be based on certain locations depending on where you live; the reason I say this is because I have two Whole Foods close to where I live. The one that is in Sugar land has the tamale's but the one near Houston doesn't. If you come across tamale's at Whole Food's which are vegan , get them you will not regret it at all. 

Have you ever had a vegan tamale before? Or a tamale at all?

Starting to look a little bit like chirstmas..

Needless to say when I was getting my Applecare+ for my iPhone, I found these reindeer in the middle of the mall while I was lost.

It's Holiday Season ..

Wow this year is flown by so quickly, it was gone in a blink of a eye. It has been a great year for me , a lot of changes for me and this blog.  I hope everyone has had a great year so far , and this is going to be a great holiday season. I love that it's December 1st , simply because my birthday is in less 10 days. Which means Christmas is less than 23 days , I know it by heart because my birthday is 2 weeks right before it.

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I know it's holiday season when I see specialty vegan chocolate chip mini muffins at whole foods , which is only for the holidays. When Christmas lights go up and Christmas tree's being sold ; snow in some places of the America. 

Vegan mini muffins.

I just love this part of the year because it's wonderful, I love it. However I wish it would snow in Texas, it's only a wish. You could say I am dreamer about this , but I lived in Oregon up until 2 months ago. So I am used to snow for this part of the year. 

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Best part of this time of the year is gifts in my opinion because my family gets creative, with my birthday being so close to Christmas. Gift's are part of the holiday season, everyone know that it can be tricky. So I have decide that every day this month I will attempted to post something related to the holiday season, however apologize in advance next week. I will disappear for a couple day's because of my fabulous birthday coming up.

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Veggie Fun Noodles

Taken at Whole Foods, shows whats in the bowl.

Last week I got a rice noodle bowl from Whole Foods at first ,I wasn't too sure that I would like rice noodle bowl. Oh was I wrong , it was so good that I had it for dinner & supper. The bowl it's self look good in whole foods and I didn't know that it was so good. In fact I didn't mind the tofu in the rice noodle bowl, note I am a vegan who hates tofu; which means this bowl was good.

Whole Food's prepared rice noodle bowl for show

I was worry that since the bowl had broth that it would be messy getting home, but no the person who made it put the broth in a separate container. This made things easy for traveling back home which was about 15 minutes away on a good day with no traffic.

Left container  has everything for the rice noodle bowl  & the right container has  the broth.

I was happy once I got home because I was so hungry by then I was thinking , I could eat the whole bowl. However after I add in the broth , it seemed like the bowl got bigger than before. It was the best I have every had before I love the complete flavor of the whole thing, I add nothing to it at all. Which is a good sign and in fact I ate the tofu; I wasn't turn off by it either is a very good sign.



Veggie fun rice noodle bowl with broth add in.

I really liked this bowl and will probably get it again , when I am in a hurry and have no time. Everything in the bowl is just the right flavor , but i am not sure of the nutritional information on the bowl. So if your really trying to keep track of what you eat then you might want to make it at home.

Thank you Diana @ VeggieNextDoor, for helping me with my iPhone picture situation. I went a little crazy and used photoshop on all these pictures.

Have you ever had a noodle bowl from whole foods?

Long Holiday

Thanksgiving is such a nice holiday to see family and spend time with them but it is also a very long holiday. If you include black Friday as part of that. I spend most of my Friday recovering from the long trip to my family's house near Huntsville , Texas. It was a great day , however I didn't capture my plate of food that I bought with me.

I bought butternut squash dusted with cinnamon , green beans, brussels sprouts and rosemary rolls which was all from whole foods; and of course vegan pumpkin pie.I think I have found my new lover for pumpkin pie, because sadly the pumpkin pie gelato now has milk in it. I was sad to hear that but oh well , whole foods makes a killer pumpkin pie.

Needless to say my family was slightly interested in how I eat , except for one family member whom was general interested at the same time. I kept my cool with all the questions about why I was vegan and what I eat. I mean I haven't seen my family in 4 years so I could understand, because the last time they saw me I was vegetarian.

Enough about me rambling about Thanksgiving and stuff. Some exciting news, I am going to be reviewing Larabar and Amy's courteous of both of theses companies. I should be posting a review of Amy's frozen items sometime this upcoming week. Along with those reviews I will be posting a review of the pumpkin pie above that I had for Thanksgiving, plus two restaurant reviews from the Houston area.

Does anyone know how to transfer pictures from iPhone to computer to use on a blog?

Please leave me a comment below if you know anything on how to do that.