Southern Purple Vegan

Catching Up

2012-02-23T13:22:00.000-06:00

I am so sorry for the lack of posts but I have been off in lala land recently. So my mind wasn't thinking about blogging but I do have alot to catch up on here on the blog. Yesterday I got to see one my childhood friends we have known each other since we were 9.

It has been four years since I have seen her since I moved away from Texas to Oregon , but now that I moved back I was lucky to see her. It was nice to catch up with an old friend and see that a lot has changed in four years; my friend she now has two little boys and is married.

Oh boy did that make me to start feeling old , I mean most of the people I knew from high school are now married or have children. As far as me, she got to meet my lovely sweet boyfriend yesterday that she has heard so much about.

That's all I have to post today , I am curious have you ever had a meetup with old childhood friend that just made you realize that your getting older?

Very Carrot Soup

2012-02-15T12:16:00.000-06:00

Last week in my house we had about 4 pounds of carrots that need to be use grant we do eat carrot;however in my family we don't eat that much carrots. So I was thinking of making some agave sweetened carrots but I am too lazy to figure out how to do that.

Source

Since I didn't go with agave sweetened carrots recipe to use up some of the carrots; I decided to make a ginger potato, onion , carrot creamy soup. So I went to work and boiled everything together including a little curry spice. The soup had a very good taste it wasn't bad but it wasn't done yet. I still had to figure out how to blend the soup together to make it creamy ; and I only have like something like a magic bullet

The Carrot soup has it was being blend carefully.

I had to figure out how to blend a big pot of soup with one little bullet like blender, it worked out but ended out taking an hour just to blend the soup. I was amazed that I even got it done in the first place, it took so long to blend. However the reward of eating the soup afterwards was wonderful it tasted delicious and very flavorful.

Carrot Soup with green onion topping it.

Have you ever made carrot soup before , any tricks to make it easier?

My First Gluten Free Dinner

2012-02-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

I got inspired yesterday to make my first home cooked gluten free meal. I was very undecided about what I wanted to make myself since I was so hungry at the time. But then I got inspired from when I had my CSA share back in Oregon. I made this wonderful dish with green beans, potato's and onions plus what ever I had on hand.

Source

The reason why this idea come up was my mom had some fresh green beans in the fridge that she wanted me to eat. Not only that she had fresh green beans, she went to the farmer's market and got quite a few things: local organic green onions, local organic cilantro, local organic salad mix and local portobello mushrooms.

The wonderful dish.

With all those wonderful ingredients minus the salad mix and cilantro , plus adding in a little red onion. I come up with a wonderful dish that was so fricking good, I wish that there was more when I made it. The dish had no oil of any type unless it was in the Dijon mustard that I had used. Which brings me to what I used to create a marinade made of maple syrup and Dijon mustard with a dash of pepper.

My wonderful dish.

I wish I could give you guys that recipe but it was made off the tip of my knife , I will try to recreate the recipe again. So that you too can enjoy this wonderful dish, have you ever made a gluten free meal?

Say Wheat?

2012-02-09T13:06:00.000-06:00

I don't know where to start, but what I do know to say is that I no longer eat wheat. I am not gluten free just wheat free ; when I removed wheat from my diet in the past few days. I have felt lighter and my stomach area wasn't bloated anymore. Plus I started to loose weight again and felt great.

Source

I am very new to not eating wheat so this is going to interesting , needless to say my family supports me in my decision of going wheat free. However I found that I want to tempt myself with things that have wheat and afterwards I am all bloated and heavy.

So being wheat free is one of my many changes to my diet but this is the biggest change. It going to be a journey on how to eat wheat free, so I am going to start weekly posts of my wheat free meals or finds.

Please feel free to leave me any comments or good recipes to wheat free meals.

One Computer , Two People

2012-02-08T00:02:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the lack of post's but in my house we only have the one laptop for two people to use. Well the other person that has been using it , needs more than me because they are looking for a new job. I am going to type up alot of posts tomorrow when I am able to use the computer and set them to auto post.

I have a few new things to share with you in regards to my eating habit/diet it's changing again; I am still going to be vegan but there are changes.

Wordless Wendesday

2012-02-01T15:26:00.001-06:00

I am pretty busy right now typing up the post for jar peanut butter vs natural peanut butter. So I will leave you with a picture for today.

My Past Week Via Pictures ( Warning Pic Heavy)

2012-01-30T09:30:00.000-06:00

My new favorite plant based milk. It's so good.

Homemade Pizza

Homemade Vegan Coleslaw.

Salad with homemade green dressing.

Messy Kitchen almost everyday.

Blister from new shoes after 10 minutes.

Failed Cupcakes :-(.

Chickpea Popper's too spicy this time.

Marini's Avocado & SW Black bean Empandas with salad.

Burnt my finger's so it hurts to type.

Mass Of Cupcakes

2012-01-27T16:08:00.001-06:00

I really wanted some cupcakes the other day and I wanted to use up my strawberries. So in my head I came up with the idea of making Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. Which I did a little research on a recipe and decide well lets try it by adding a little of this and that. In the end I got a mass of cupcakes and not individual ones.

Needless to say I will not be doing that again, It was a epic fail. Have you ever had a trouble making cupcakes?

Movie Review: Underwold Awaking 3D

2012-01-24T08:30:00.000-06:00

Source

I have been a big fan of the Underworld series since it started back when I was in high school. I was and still are completely obsessed with anything related to Vampires , Zombies or Werewolves. I was excited when a couple months ago I heard that there was going to be a NEW Underworld movie; I was thrilled!

I didn't know until recently that Underworld Awaking was going to be in 3D, however I was excited. I love it when action packed movie's are in 3D it just makes the movie better in my opinion. With the new technology that has come out in 3D movies I had hope that this movie was going to be good. Before I went to see the movie I started to read reviews on Rotten Tomatos website and I was very worried that Underworld Awaking was a bad movie based on all the reviews. That didn't really stop me from seeing the movie because I loved the original Underworld.

I was glad that I went & saw Underworld Awaking in 3D it was not a mistake. I do believe if I didn't see it in 3D that the movie may have not have been as good. The effects of 3D used in this movie was excellent very well placed in the right parts of the movie , didn't seem out of place with Underworld movie. In fact I hope that they make another one especially with the way they end the movie they better making another Underworld movie & it better be in 3D.

Source

I think I may go see the movie again but in a better theater the one I went to there 3D was off a little so it messed with my eyes. Usually that doesn't happen if you go to a movie theater that takes care of there 3D equipment. I got to see a few previews for upcoming 3D movies such like Resident Evil: Retribution, which I have seen the trailer already but I got to see it in 3D.

Why The Disappearing Act?

2012-01-23T22:32:00.000-06:00

I know that I didn't really post anything after Wednesday of this last week, I just didn't have the motivation to get on the computer. I was in a mood of avoiding technology except my iPhone which has all my email accounts setup on it.

Source

I was glad to not be near a computer for a couple days and not having to post anything. I was able to enjoy myself and rethink about how I am going to blog. I realized that I kinda suck at blogging I am not the best blogger nor the most consent blogger either but I realized that I write from my heart about subjects that are dear to me.

Source

I realized that when my heart isn't fully into something then I don't complete it, however with my mini break. I really did miss posting things in fact I have lots to write about. It is the year of the dragon so there is luck heading my way since I am dragon in Chinese zodiacs.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you were glad to not have to deal with technology?

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T10:30:00.000-06:00

Upcoming post sneak peak. Kombucha!

Weekend Update PT. 2: Radical Eats

2012-01-17T12:25:00.000-06:00

Radical Eats sign at the Farmer's Market.

More weekend fun information from this past Saturday & Sunday , I got to finally eat food from Radical Eats. Unfortunately I was only able to get a few pictures before my mom and me eat the two tamales. If you come across Radical Eats you must try there tamales, they are the best.

Owner of Radical Eats getting a sample of Corn & Spinach Tamale for me to try.

I got to meet the owner which is in the photo above , she gave me information on where Radical Eats is located. I will be going to the Radical Eats location sometime in the future but not sure when because my mom likes there food and so do I.

Getting my tamales packed up to go.

After the sample of the Corn & Spinach Tamale; we got one Corn & Spinach Tamale and a Chiplote Black Bean Tamale. I wish I could have gotten more Tamales they were just that good;I mean the Corn & Spinach Tamale is great. The flavors are very balanced all around , every bite had the same flavor so you didn't miss out on the Corn & Spinach.

Lemonade you can buy a cup of to go with tamales and salsa.

As far as theChiplote Black Bean Tamale, it was spicy with a smoky overtone. I loved that it was spicy with every bite, it was smaller than the Spinach & Corn Tamale.

Spinach & Corn Tamale on left. On the right Black Bean Tamale.

I loved both of these tamales, I would get both of these tamales again. I wanted to know how to make tamales because of the one's I eat. Upon searching the internet I found a YouTube Video of Radical Eats showing how to make the Chiplote Black Bean Tamale.

I enjoyed Radical Eats , Have you every eaten at Radical Eats or any place similar? Leave a comment below.

Weight loss update & Weekend Fun pt.1

2012-01-16T11:29:00.000-06:00

I have alot about this weekend to post so I am going to break it down into two post's so that I don't scary you off with alot of words. However I did good this week on weight loss I lost 4.4 lbs but gained +1.8lbs so I figured I am still doing good with my weight loss journey. I didn't really keep track of what I eat this past week but this upcoming week I'll start posting what I eat week to week while I lose weight.

Source

Beside's the weight loss update , I had a great weekend. I am going to break down my weekend into multiple post's for this week because I splurged and got things that I normally don't get. I loved that I got to go to the Farmer's Market on Kirby in Houston; I am not sure if that's the right street or not. It was beautiful weekend , great weather and beautiful tomato's.

My mom showing how big the tomato is compared to the others.

This is just a quick short post I am working on the other parts of this post of this past weekend. I didn't get any photo's of remaining part of the farmer's market except for a few awesome photo's of the things I splurged on.

Beautiful tomato's from farmer's market

What's your favorite thing about going to Farmer's Market, leave a comment below.

Foodie Friday Finds & Fails

2012-01-13T16:55:00.000-06:00

I didn't really have anything planned this Friday, so I am going to just wing it. Tomorrow I am going to a Farmer's Market in Houston somewhere, I promise to given information about it and a review. So I have to go see what I have in the kitchen and what I want to make.

On to the finds & fails of this past two week since I forgot to post last week...First up is spaghetti squash I was so excited to make this but unfortunately it was a epic fail.

Way under cooked but overcooked at the same time.

Next up was a great find at Whole Foods in Sugar land, yes this store is proving me that is plant based diet friendly. I found these yummy pot stickers that were completely veggie.

These were all gone before I got home

The third find is not food related but yet a find of what the weather did in one day here in Houston with a major cell storm. This picture is from down the street from where I live.

Finally a find & a fail at the same time ... Hopping John with homemade cornbread. I learned the black eyed pea's were not cooked all the way which was the fail and find is that I could make it.

I hope that everyone has a good weekend , let me know if you had any finds or fails this week. Leave me a comment , I love comments.

Review of Marini's Empanada House

2012-01-12T20:29:00.000-06:00

Source

I found a wonderful empanda house right down from my house , it's wonderful. I can walk right to the place with in a few minutes and get delicious food. I love that it's a family owned business which means that they only operate two locations but serve wonderful food. They are so friendly and excellent and it makes me feel good that I am supporting a local company.

Inside of a cherry empanada.

They allow you to customize your food however you want it, in fact they have a vegetarian section of their menu , you can make it vegan by omitting the cheese from it when you order the empanada. And the dessert emphana's wow it's like dessert heaven, i was so excited about how many choices their were to choose from. I really like that they have such great selection and of course the food is super good, I want to try the curly fries if possible and maybe a empanada that isn't just the avocado.

Inside of avocado Empanada.

The dessert empanada are sweet however they are prefect amount of sweetness and fried dough. Which I shouldn't be eating that many of them very often, they are very sweet. The price of the place is about average price ($3.00-$7.00) for food because your paying for quality ingredients instant of crap. I am trying more and more to find places that are family owned or local like I used to in Oregon.

Have you ever had a empanada before, leave a comment if you had. I have the information on this restaurant on my vegan friendly tab;Check it out.

My experience on this journey

2012-01-06T14:49:00.000-06:00

I have been absent from blogging due multiple things going on, for one I am looking for a job. Well looking for a job is not easy in this economy so it demands alot of me. I have been working out more with my free time and I love it. Before I start this blog I was very overweight in fact I almost weigh about 290 at my highest, that was when I was very unhealthy.

It's took me about 1 year of learning how to get in a groove of wanting to get healthy. This year I will be able to lose my weight and will be able to keep it off. This past year before I went vegan it was a very rough year or two. I went from being vegetarian to vegan overnight due high sensitive to milk and all milk products.

I really didn't understand until a few months ago what the exact healthy benefits where of a plant based diet (vegan). It was like overnight results and they are still continuing. The picture on the left is from November 2009 and the picture on the right is from November 2011.

I didn't really notice the different until I found my pictures on my camera from the past year's and noticed the weight different. However this is the only the begin I am going to continue to this process to lose weight, I am at 250 now. I know it's not the best weight but I have kept it off and I am continuing to lose the weight.

I am really putting myself out here to explain that my blog is going to be changing alot , after thinking this over. I am going to keep the name but however my focus on going to be primarily on weight loss journey while here in Texas. I am going to keep on doing reviews of everything that comes my way that is part of the plant based diet; notice that I am not really using the word vegan. I feel that it's way overused these days but yes I will consider myself vegan.

What do you think of my new direction for my blog? Be honest please I am open to feedback.

Goals Not Resolutions!

2012-01-02T18:49:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the year 2012, this is my year. I have decided that resolutions are out and goals are in; simply because we set our self for failure when it's a resolution. With goals you usually hold yourself more accountable for your actions to that goal.

For myself I am setting a few goals that are personal and I will share only five of those here on my blog. The other's will be kept to me and my close friends & family.

So here they are:

1. Removed ANY High Fructose Corn Syrup products from my diet completely.

Source

2. Do yoga everyday at least 30 minutes per day.

Source

3. Start college before my next birthday.

Source

4. Blog more often which means setting time as side each day to write at least 5 posts a week.

Source

5. Enjoy 2012 because it's my year the year of dragon.

Source

Is there any goals that you hope to meet this year? Let me know.

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

2011-12-31T17:35:00.000-06:00

Source

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!!

Source

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

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

***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

2011-12-27T13:41:00.002-06:00

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

2011-12-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

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

I will be back on Dec. 27.

Busy Holiday

2011-12-23T14:24:00.000-06:00

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

Spiral pasta with homemade pesto and cooked tomato with garlic.

What I am Reading

2011-12-21T09:30:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-20T17:11:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-16T17:02:00.000-06:00

Source

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

2011-12-15T11:50:00.000-06:00

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.

Source

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.

Source

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

2011-12-14T12:30:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-12T21:15:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-11T10:07:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-09T20:59:00.001-06:00

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?

2011-12-08T15:13:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-07T13:06:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-06T17:45:00.001-06:00

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 .

Source

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

2011-12-04T21:59:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-03T13:00:00.000-06:00

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..

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

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 ..

2011-12-01T10:37:00.001-06:00

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.

Source

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.

Source

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.

Source

Veggie Fun Noodles

2011-11-29T11:14:00.000-06:00

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

2011-11-27T12:18:00.001-06:00

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.

Happy Tofurky Day

2011-11-22T10:18:00.001-06:00

Happy Tofurky Day to all. I will be on hiatus until the holiday is over which means I'll be back on Friday. If I get free time before Tofurky Day then I will post.

Have a good Tofurky Day!!!

I will leave you with a wonderful picture.

Wonderful Picture of Snow from Oregon taken by R.Bork

When not to argue with a meat eater

2011-11-18T22:59:00.001-06:00

Today while I was out with my family, we went grocery shopping and we're going to pick up a pancake mix; for a breakfast this week. My family stated that I would have to eat eggs in order for them to make the pancakes because that is the only way you can make pancakes. Right then at the exact moment I bit down my tongue knowing that it was one of those moments in life that test you about your beliefs and way of life.

I decide that this was not the argument that would be worth the hard time and mental thinking to get my point across. However I guess that it was one of those days that I had to get my point across about vegans being able to eat the same things as meat eaters. This wasn't my first run in with this argument I have avoid it once before , because I don't like to push my thoughts on to other about my beliefs nor prove myself either.

This argument started about with how I like baking, and my family chimed in will you can't bake without eggs. Oh boy that was when I was like man the ship for all weapons it's time to go to war. I was locked and load .

See I used my knowledge to make sure that I could backup my argument , but about the baking apart that was the beginning. The argument ended today in the store over the pancake mix, after I stood their looking at my family while they were shopping for pancake mix. I just said look I am not going to argue about this anymore, if you don't believe then don't but their are facts backup me showing that it is possible for vegan's to make pancake mix with ANY eggs,honey, or milk.

I have a feeling that this argument may come back, but what I really learned is that if you believe in something . Sometime it is important to argue your point and sometime it is not. Which leads me to the title of this post when not to argue with a meat eater. I choose it simply because I live in the land of meat and potatoes ; I have to learn when to choose my battles.

Have you ever had an experience like this or anything similar?

Please comment below.

Occupy Movement

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

Warning this post is about me rambling about the occupy movement and my thoughts.!!

My thoughts on Occupy movement, is very open to what it is about. I would have to say I would completely agree with what the movements presence is about. However I know lots of people that don't like the movement. I usually don't believe in sharing my thoughts on politics but however this is one of those things that I will talk about.

When I lived in central Oregon which is in the middle of the state, I went to a tea party movement. I was lucky enough to get pictures of the whole movement that day and everyone was willing to allow me to take the pictures. I think I was allowed to capture the whole thing digital because I am young person in my twenties and I am not happy with how the government has gotten.

A picture from Tea Party in Bend,Oregon 2009

In fact I am pissed off about how the government is now , especially since I didn't get a chance to go to college right after high school. Simple because my family could not afford the cost of college in 2007 and I know since then it has gone up. Instant of college I went to right into the workforce and worked for a anonymous fortune 500 company for four years in the hopes that I would be able to afford college.

However I still couldn't afford college nor afford to change jobs because during the time I was working the government and economy got ruined. I mean living in Oregon which has one of the highest unemployment rates shows really how bad the government is f**k'd up. The fact that they stated it was getting better ,but it hasn't they bailed out the banks and emptied the 99%'s wallet at the expense of bailing out the banks.

Most people would say that it's not true, try living in Oregon where it is true. After the economy got ruined and the banks were bailed out income tax got higher. Along with everything else , at first I didn't believe this and I though I was imaging it all. I would look over my pay checks and notice that almost 2/5's of my paycheck was going to the government, I was paying for what the government did.

I still feel that the government should own up to what has happen instant of avoiding and abusing the people over the rights that the government has to fix the situation. Every person has the right to peaceful protest this movement but however the government feels that we should be stopped and silenced. That we the 99% have no say in what happens in this democratic government , except for what options are given to us. Which are limited and few.

Everyday I listen and read about what is going on in the movement all over america. What I hear is that Occupy is making good steps in its movement but then I here about. The brutal things that the police are doing so many people have been injured , why is it that for protesting something that your passion about. Gets you beaten up by the police which are to protect us, but yet they do what the government tells them to do.

For now I will leave this subject be at what I have typed , I may come back at a later dated in time and post more things about this issue. What I wrote was something that I need to get off my chest and need to be written down before I forgot.

Please feel free to leave comments about how you feel about Occupy movement.

Who's a which witch?

2011-11-17T21:24:00.001-06:00

I love sandwich's of all types and I love most sandwich shops too. However my favorite shop since I got to Texas is Which Witch, personal this is the best sandwich shop hands down. The location I go to ; the employees are so friendly and nice.

It's nice to go Which Witch because of the employee's and of course the sandwiches; enough of me rambling. I got a Tomato & Avocado sandwich from them tonight, it was my first real meal since I got sick.

Which Witch is not vegan shop they make all types of sandwiches but however they have a special set of sandwiches that are vegetarian.

Note all the vegetarian sandwiches can be made vegan if you don't select anything animal related. Above picture shows how you order your sandwich .

You select which type you want , then you select what type of bread. It goes on how much you can customize your sandwich to the way you want.

As you can see I ordered a Tomato & Avocado on wheat toasted with salsa, red onions, lettuce, cucumbers,black olives, mushrooms,oregano, pepper and of course garlic.

I took a picture of the sandwich for you guys before I bit into it, Which Witch is my favorite go to sandwich place but they are higher than Subway.

What's your favorite go to sandwich shop? Have you ever been to Which Witch?

If so whats your favorite sandwich?

Zombies or Snot

2011-11-17T11:59:00.001-06:00

I know that the title isn't the best but hey what can you say when it's the first thing that comes to mind. I recently posted that I was out sick, and I was. It felt like I was a zombie just going through the motions of living but not being able to enjoy it.

I had caught a stomach virus that was going around, in fact it was in the news. They went over on how to avoid it and prevent it from happening in your family. Which I think in my opinion they posted this a little too late, I lost about 30 dollar worth of groceries because they went bad by me being sick.

It's been almost a week and I am now starting to eat real food besides the B.R.A.T diet. Which most of us would know isn't that fun, it's very limited. I am glad to be able to eat miso soup and a salad with ginger dressing from Sushi Hana , it's now my favorite meal.

It feels nice to be blogging again, but I know that this isn't a review of anything vegan nor vegan related. However while I was sick I got a couple cookbooks on one of the days I was feeling better, so I'll show those soon.

Right now I am still not interested in food because I am not completely better,once I am my posts will be my regular schedule one's and even more home cooked food. I decided that's the only way to make sure that I don't get sick like this again.

Any suggestion's for food that is flavorful but will work with a stomach virus?

Out Sick

2011-11-11T22:21:00.002-06:00

I will not be posting for a little while , I am very sick right now. I got some type of flu, so it may be a couple days before I am back with posting on time. Just wanted to give a heads up and let you'll know that I haven't stopped my blogging.

Whatever Wednesday

2011-11-09T12:56:00.001-06:00

I really don't feel like writing today, so I am calling this post Whatever Wednesday.

So I am just going to post a picture of my dinner from last night.

Black bean ,bell pepper , kale , tomato and gaucomole burrito.

Holy Amy's

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

My best stash of Amy's products , this was before I left Oregon. Can you tell that I like Amy's soups a little to much. What's your favorite Amy's product?

Wonderful Purple

2011-11-07T11:30:00.000-06:00

I am a sucker for purple things because it's my favorite color in the whole world. I have most things purple, but I didn't think that would be part of my lotion collection that I have. I recently got Victoria Sercet Lotion and a few other things from them. My favorite smell is love spell , which happens to be purple( I think that's funny).

I would have to say that this stuff smells great and I love it. I love Victoria Sercet customer service , they helped me alot. When I got the box from UPS the body spray was missing from the box, I know its in the picture. I called them told them what happen , and the rep ordered me a new one with three day shipping because of what happen at no charge.

What I got was the shimmer lotion , hand lotion , two body butter's and a body spray for $ 30.00 dollars. Which they have that deal going on with the whole collection right now , however the simmer spray and brush are not included. Victoria Secret lotions and body spray are cruelty free which I love that and they are sulfa free expect the shower stuff that has sulfa in it.

*Dis closer: Complete review was of my own opinions and I was not paid to review this product.

Prefect Pumpkin

2011-11-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

Add caption

My new favorite thing to get besides Luna & Larry's Coconut Ice Cream, is Pumpkin Pie gelato. I was like omg! they have something that tastes just like pumpkin pie, I haven't had a pumpkin pie since I went vegan. The area I was living in was a really small town, so when I saw this I was like wow.

I had the Phoenicia cafe make sure for me that it had nothing from animals in it , and they stated that it's dairy free, egg free and honey free. So I picked out Pumpkin Pie and my mom picked out pistachio with orange blossom. So inside the container half was pistachio and half was pumpkin pie which made it hard to spoon out the pumpkin pie to avoid pistachio part.

I was finally able to just get the pumpkin pie part out , and it was just like eating pumpkin pie.Here's a picture of it

This was from Phoenicia Deli & Coffeehouse which is on 12151 Westheimer Rd Ste P in Houston , the Neighborhood it's in is Westchase.

Moo Moo's Poblano Patties Review

2011-11-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

Moo Moo's Poblano Chickpea Patties

I was so excited when I found vegan & gluten free frozen dinner in the frozen section at H*E*B. Moo Moo's had a few frozen dinner options at the store , but I went with this one.

Simply because I love spicy things and I figured it would be spicy because of the Poblano. I would have to say this frozen dinner was not cheap it was about almost $7.00 after tax.

Nutritional Information for the Poblano Patties

Based on the nutritional information and it being poblano patties, I got the frozen dinner. I waited to try it for a couple days, so I finally did try it. I wasn't that happy with the frozen dinner, first of all the plastic broke while microwaving the food. Which mad me really upset ,because half the sauce that was in the dish was on my microwave.

What came out of the dish on the side was the roasted corn salsa that was supposed to be part of the poblano chickpea patties. The patties were very mushy, and lacked a little flavor their was no real spice. It seemed like the poblano was lack of from the patties, if their was a little more poblano that would have balanced out the mushy part of the patties. If they were more firm that would have been excellent, but they weren't.

I had to add in a little more salsa my self to make the patties better, because they are mushy. The mushy thing was the part that I didn't like at all. Overall the flavor was okay , the product was good and the plastic of the product is okay. I would not buy this again simply because the flavor was off and wasn't what I was expecting.

* Dis closer: All reviews are of my own and I was not paid to review this product.

Cute Cat Necklace

2011-11-04T10:51:00.001-05:00

Cat Necklace From 1sayasale.

I was very worried about buying from one of the sale websites , the one's that have great deals. I decide to give one a try which is 1dayasale.com, and they had this wonderful cat necklace. I was for $7.99 which normally it's $112.00. First thing that came to mind was that it might be of poor quality, oh boy was I wrong. This necklace is of really good quality plus it only cost 13.98 with shipping.

I just love this necklace which is my new favorite, I just had to share. I was not paid to review the website all opinions are my own.

Hail Merry Macaroons Reivews

2011-11-03T15:25:00.002-05:00

Outside of Hail Merry Macaroons.

I love love these they are the best , just so wonderful and good. The package may look a little empty its because by the time I got to take a picture of it. My family and I had eaten most of the Macaroons, they were just that good. What really drew me into trying some of the Hail Merry Products was that it is raw,vegan and gluten free. I always try to get raw desserts instant of the one's that have refined sugars and Hail Merry Macaroons don't have refined sugars.

Nutritional Information on the Macaroons.

Hail Merry Macaroons are something I will being getting in the future again, the macaroons are so so amazing. They have just the right amount of chocolate in them, the chocolate macaroons almost don't seem like they have coconut in them.

One of the Chocolate macaroons.

I will be trying more of Hail Merry products in the future, the macaroons won me over. I got these in Houston on Kirby at the Whole Foods, and they have alot of Hail Merry products. Note you can find the Hail Merry products past the produce section over the yogurt and refrigeration section of the store.

Inside of Hail Merry Macaroon.

This review was all my own opinion and I was not paid to do this review. If you have had Hail Merry products tell me your favorite is.

Who said vegan pizza wasn't good.

2011-11-01T12:05:00.006-05:00

When I moved to Texas, I was in a rude awaking because this is the land of meat and potatoes. I got kinda of worried that I wouldn't be able to find a decent pizza place that I could eat at besides Domino's. I'll save my thoughts on Domino's for another day, however I did find a pizza place thanks to my wonderful mom.

Russo's New York Pizzeria was the place that my mom recommend to me , I was worried that they used eggs. Will I emailed the company directly and asked if they used eggs in the pizza dough. I got a very quick reply within 2 hours stating no they do not use eggs in the dough and they are happy to work with people whom do not eat dairy nor meat.

Front of the pizza box

With knowing that I ordered a pizza from the website , I got Hearty Healthy Veggie. It includes:

Fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, onions, basil, mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, garlic sauce. The pricing of the pizza ranges from 14.95-20.95 before tax, but it is worth it.

Sorry I digged in as soon as the pizza was delivered, and my mom too. Its so good , the flavors of the pizza are so light. Its most or less like a very good pizza sandwich since you have to fold the pizza to eat to prevent the toppings from following off. I would get this pizza again , simply due to its just so good.

A close up

This pizza was better than a pizza with cheese , that's what my mom said and she is omi. So that surprised me alot and showed that pizza without cheese is pretty damn good. Tell me what your favorite pizza place is? Mines Russo's New York Pizzeria

Hello Kitty

2011-10-31T11:08:00.000-05:00

I am a big fan of Hello Kitty and I love that it has been everywhere. I mean its on tee shirts to clothing all the way to makeup. She is everywhere , I am excited because I love Hello Kitty not because its pink., but because she is so so cute.

I have been more excited than every since Hello Kitty products are everywhere . I even have two tee's from Hello Kitty, one from Hot topic and the other from Old Navy. On top of that I got something yesterday to add to my collection and it was at a good deal. I got Hello Kitty boots like house boots they are so cute, normal 30.00 dollars ..... I got them for 10.00 dollars from Ross.

If you like Hello Kitty, tell me your favorite thing that you own?

Grocery Finds

2011-10-31T10:55:00.003-05:00

I recently had a chance just to go grocery shopping with my boyfriend and me instant of me and my mom. When I shop with my mom I don't really get that much time to look for things I like to get. I got quiet a few things that I was surprised about from Kroger and Super Target which are down the street from me.

Super Target was the first place I went to get some food, at first I was thinking I am not going to be able to find anything. As I started from frozen food section to dry foods my hope got better and I found quiet a few interesting products. From Annie's to Guacamole to anything else, I lost the receipt so I am just going to show the pictures I took of what I got.

Annie's from Super Target, I am so excited.

Organic Fruit Leather Super Target brand.

From Super Target Pirate's Booty Veggie, YAY!

After Super Target I went to the Kroger that was within walking distance and I really got a haul on Lara bars. I was excited about how many flavors they had , it was like I was back in Oregon. I also lost the receipt to Kroger so I'll show you pictures of what I got.

Larabar stash from Kroger.

More of Larabar stash from Kroger

True North is from Super Target and Back to Nature Granola to Go from Kroger

Two are from Super Target and one from Kroger.

These looked yummy , they were from Kroger.

I know thats not much food but I had alot of food at home. I never really buy snacking food, but with how I get busy and forget to eat. These products I got will make sure that I eat something when I am in hurry. I paid for this all myself and I was not paid to review these grocery stores.

Enough of all that tell me what your favorite thing to get at Super Target is?
Mine is getting the Pirates Booty Veggie.

NPR & Zombies

2011-10-30T22:51:00.003-05:00

The other day I was in the car with my mom and we're listening to NPR on Saturday to be exact. One of the subject's that was on at the time was about this decades icon and what it was. I was very interested in hearing what it was, so I listened to find that Zombies were this generations icon.

I started to think "What?", but then I realized yes that is very true. Since I could remeber as a child that zombies was always a sub culture,but as I got older zombies became more common. They were every where from tv to books, including your daily life. I did a little research and found lists upon lists of zombie films and information.

After a little thinking and research I realized that what NPR said was completly true. I have always been following the Resident Evil series along with anything horror related. Infact I have seen every Resident Evil movies that has came out in the past few years.

With doing all this research I came across this clip about the upcoming Resident Evil : Retribution coming out in September 14th, 2012. So mark your calender Resident Evil fans! Tell me what you think about what NPR said, comment below.

Mac VS Pc

2011-10-26T18:50:00.002-05:00

I have been looking for a laptop for when I start school , but i am still not sure about what degree I am going for. Which has been part of the problem when looking for a laptop or mac book , simply because I do not know what I am going to be doing.

With knowing that I am not sure about what degree I am going to do , I have looked and looked over laptops and mac books. And now I have to selected down to three different mac books and laptops that I may wanted to get.

What I want to get top to bottom...

First Place is 13inch Macbook Air

Second Place is Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Multitouch Tablet

Third Place was Tosbiha Portege R830

Back to 80s remix

2011-10-18T21:38:00.002-05:00

I was thinking about the decade that I was born in the 80s to young to remember , I was a baby in those days. What I do remember is that their were a lot of horror / scifi movies during that time that come out. Recently The Thing was released in the theatres again, I am not sure if it's a remake or prequel.

I saw the movie , I thought it was great movie it was different then what I was imaging when this movie come to mind. It is definitely a must see if you are the type of person that likes horror movies. Afterwards in the evening I looked up on netflix the original version and add it to the quene , I haven't watched it yet.

Just Juice ...

2011-10-18T21:23:00.002-05:00

I usually a person who doesn't like fresh juiced beets or anything like that , but I have changed my opinion about beets. I recently got a chance to go to Central Market in Houston , Texas. Omg! I love this grocery store its what a store should be.

When you first walk into the store you are in the produce section, its big. Its my favorite produce section I have seen to this date. In this same area they juice the veggies and fruit that they sell. Their were quiet a few options I got two of the juices: ABC (apple ,beet , carrot) Juice and Carrot Orange Juice.

The flavor of the Carrot Orange was very very well balanced I would have to say. The other juice ABC which I didn't take a picture of was different but won me over on liking beets.

To cute tofu

2011-10-12T12:53:00.002-05:00

I recently went to a H*E*B which is a grocery store here in the Houston , Texas area. While I was in the store my mom told me about a tofu fried rice that was completely vegan and it was in the store we're at. She told that she meet the people who own or make the products , and that the food was to died for.

I am not a person who likes tofu very much but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try the fried rice. So I got the rice it was like around $5.00 or so , can't remember but what I do remember when picking up the rice is that they made egg rolls that were completely vegan. Now those were very pricey in my opinion it was like $6.97 for a box that had maybe 6-9 egg rolls in them , they looked yummy.

This is what it looks like right after microwaving it.

So I bought the tofu fried rice from Banyan Foods , which to be honest someone who doesn't like tofu. I actually liked it which surprised me and my mom.This is a very simple tofu fried rice that is very good the box has two servings inside of it and nutrition was pretty good. It is very easy to make the fired rice they give you two ways to make it. I made it by microwaving it , I was hungry.

However I did noticed that it had a slight lack of favor , I add in Bragg's Liquid Amino's to it with some pepper and Toasted Seamese Oil. Which add these things it made it taste better. Overall I would have to say that the Tofu Fried Rice is pretty good in my book.

I'm back

2011-10-11T00:10:00.000-05:00

Well after a couple months of self pity and loathe , I found that after all the research I did. That I wasn't happy where I was nor the job that I was doing. So I made a huge change.... I moved back to Houston, Texas. I mean its a big change , I am in the land of meat and potatoes and this is hard to adjust to.

So from now on going forward this blog will be changing a little bit since I have moved into my family's house and will be making din dins with them instant of just for two people. But the main thing I am going to show here that it is possible to be vegan in Houston.

Later this week I am going to do a review of Russo's New York Pizzeria or Mission Burrito new places that I found were yummy.

Food for thought

2011-07-06T00:44:00.002-05:00

I know that I haven't been posting recently, I was kinda of rethinking my life. I'm in my early twenties and I'm not thrilled with where I am nor what I do as my profession. I while I was rethinking, I figured I should go back to school. So I haven't had time for adventures and things. I am attempting to figure out what I want to do and get a degree in. On top of I have to remember if its going to be job that will pay money. Ugh!

That's how I feel in regards to all of my thinking recently but it has to be done. No more of me complaining. On to the main part of this post.

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day and we were talking about cooking. I was telling her that I finally cooked collard greens and it turned out wonderful. She started to ask what I had paired it with jasmine rice and chiplote salsa. Nicely set up on my new flat black plates, sent her a picture and describe what the flavor were in the dish.

My mom told me to write down every homemade recipe since I cook from scratch. Then proceed to tell me that I could make a cookbook.

Its a wonderful idea, she said especially since I understand flavoring from both vegetarian and non vegetarian views. I have a tester my boyfriend whom does he eat meat. So he tests both types of recipes, I'm thinking that this is something naturally comes to without any issues.

CSA Recipe #1

2011-06-26T00:17:00.003-05:00

Well the first post of my cooking, I made bok choy stir fry with what I have on hand. I used a whole bok choy, mushrooms, ginger, garlic,sesame seeds and olive oil. I don't have the exact recipe but I pictures. Yay pictures!

CSA Share # 2

2011-06-22T23:02:00.002-05:00

Well this week, I wasn't able to pick it up myself. So I sent my boyfriend to pick up the share, the only thing that I asked was for him to take a picture. But I got my CSA share and no picture of what I got.

So I'm going to list what I got this week: spinach , pac choi, kale, turnips, lettuce and strawberries. I know that I was going to post recipes for the last share however I got busy this last week.

Hopefully with this upcoming week that's going to be back to normal. I'll be able to post more things than last week. One more week until I have another mini vacation.

First CSA Share

2011-06-17T00:48:00.002-05:00

We got the first share well I though it was a little small but it's the beginning of the season. We got two different types of lettuce, radishes, about two pounds of spinach and homemade organic strawberry spread.

This well be my first time eating radishes, I mean I have ate them before in salad. I'm going to try different way to east them besides in a salad.

I will post videos and recipes on the blog and the videos will be attached here from my YouTube channel.

This CSA is Eco friendly they do not use the traditional boxes to give the weekly shares. When you go to pick your share it's behind the stand at the farmers market. The share is in a plastic box with a top inside the box their is a little bit of water to keep the vegetables crisp.

Black me out

2011-06-02T17:09:00.002-05:00

Black out curtains

Shoes for thought

2011-05-29T18:03:00.002-05:00

Vacation Time

2011-05-29T01:55:00.002-05:00

Sorry about no posts, I have been cleaning like crazy since my mom is in,town from Texas this week. So their will not be as many posts , I might just post a picture of whats happen that day. Here's a picture of the yellow brick road in Oregon.

The Day

2011-05-22T00:45:00.001-05:00

Today was the day!

The day that my wii died, just kidding but very closed to dying. I have a sensor bar that is officially not longer emitting a infrared. I was advised to return the product to target whom I got my warranty through and wait almost a month before I would receive anything at all about a gift card to buy a new wii. Well I was going to do that until I starting thinking why do I have to return the whole system and everything if its a little sensor bar that stopped working. With this though I went out on the Internet webs and found that Nintendo sells the sensor bar for 7.50 reburished. I bought the reburished sensor bar and until the label gets here for the return I will think really hard if I should return the wii or not.

Note : I paid 199.99 for the wii and it came standard equipment nothing extra, if I do the exchange and send it in. They will send me a gift card to Target to buy a new one. A new wii costs about 149.99 now so I would get 50 dollar back but I have to buy a new warranty which is about 30 dollars.

Just no I say!

2011-05-17T02:14:00.003-05:00

Today was Monday , I wished it was Tuesday. Only reason why I wished it was Tuesday is my first Friday of the week for me. I haven't posted that I work a call center and anyone who has work/worked for a call center. Very well know that their are always the weird shifts as people will say. Well I work one of those shifts but almost normal my weird shift is M-F. That makes you guess what I work, well one hint is I only work four days a week. Two days on , one day off, two days on, two days off. I love it but if I was to go back working 13hr shift vs four days a week I would say no.

Basically I have rethinking about my hours and how I personally feel hinted the name of title of this post. I feel like everyday should be Monday or Friday. That is my blah post for the week.

Mystery Plate

2011-05-15T03:08:00.002-05:00

We went to Red Robin for Colin's birthday at first I wasn't happy but I found that they offer Boca Vegan Burger. I was excited;i order the burger natural style. Which is where everything is on the plate you basically build your burger. I asked for melon instant of fries but they got it mixed up. So I have picture of the half empty plate I wish I had took a picture of the burger. It was fricking huge, I mean it makes the ones in the grocery store so small.

On another note we got part of our CSA covered by Winter Green Farms , some wonderful people help paid for us to get fresh produce. So we only have to come up with 310 instant of 510, I'm just simple amazed. The first box will be coming June 14th, so for now we will still buy produce. But once the box comes I will be posting recipes and videos. Note the videos will be on my YouTube channel.

Skyline

2011-05-10T00:23:00.003-05:00

This action packed horror sci-fi movie , wasn't original at the top of my rent list. But as my family started to tell me about the movie I became interested. Even after many reviews and watching multiple trailers I broke down and rent the movie.

Now with me having netflix streaming from my wii, I didn't want to rent the movie longer than I was going to watch it.So with my new found love blockbuster express, I rented Skyline you can't blame me I mean it was only a buck to rent the movie.

In regards to the movie it was good I felt that it could have been better. I like the movie overall , I felt that plot was different than most movies. The trailers to the movie didn't do any justice to the movie; this is one of those movies that you have to watch to really understand why its such a good movie. The directors take on how he filmed the movie was just wonderful, this movie really tricks you.

Just when you think you know whats going to happen, something else happens instantly. As far on my scale of rating it would be 7 and the only reason why is because of the ending. I felt that the movie was shorted a little and could have a better ending.

Cinco de Mayo

2011-05-06T01:38:00.002-05:00

One thing post about work and home is nachos. Here's a picture of what I had for dinner while watching skyline. Ill post a few of it on Sunday when I have my next day off.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-04T22:15:00.003-05:00

Tuesday Trade

2011-05-03T21:42:00.002-05:00

Today was day number one off it was a nice relaxing day but I didn't do anything that I wanted. Thanks to the wonderful gas companies and the wonderful state of Oregon taxing the $@#? out of gas. Sorry I a little upset with how it keeps increasing I was stuck home all day due the price of gas.

Ive included a picture of how I feel note I own a jeep. This made me want to trade my jeep but I'm in love with it before I even got it. With knowing that I love my jeep and the fact that no one is buying SUVs I'm not trading. I'm going to cope with gas prices and cut down on cost.

Monday ...

2011-05-03T00:34:00.002-05:00

So today was Monday , it was one of THOSE Monday. I wanted to be out of work as soon as I got to work. Well that didn't happen, however I have tomorrow off and Wednesday. In my head I was doing the happy dance. I got home after a ten hour day and I got a confirmation from qwest about my service upgrade. What a great way to come home, I was worried that they didn't make the change.

Long time , no see.

2011-05-02T01:45:00.002-05:00

Its been a few months since I went hiatus on the blog with recent change of thoughts. Ive decide that I am going to continue the blog like I wanted to. I will be showing my daily life of what it is like to live in a smaller area. When your too use to big cities and how to cope with the fact things are not the same. Plus I will be showing my new adventures to random places and I mean random parts of where I live. I have include a picture of my wonderful transportation that will get me to these random places.

World of questions

2010-11-22T00:30:00.003-06:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Oh my!

2010-10-13T21:41:00.003-05:00

Wordless Wednesday.