Poison me not yet

Yes, I did disappear again....Oops not really..

I have been sick thanks to wonderful allergies that are hear in Texas...oh the fun! I actually went to the doctor to get medicine, I am not one to get prescription medicine. However it is very helpful to get sometimes when only the problem is getting worse and not better. 

So I have been grumpy,tired and out of it thanks to the loving medicine that is to help my allergies, it even messes with my sense of taste and smell. I wanted to update you all with whats going on, I know I said I would be in here more however life gets in the way.

I do have lots of things to post on here I mean tons from last year all the way up until now. Or maybe I will skip all that and just start fresh. My main focus right now is get my life straight, I might hop on here from time to time. 

Oh one last thing I have a tumblr account are they worth it for blogging feedback is loved. 

Blogging and Body Confidence

Life is interesting, full of twists and turns; makes things interesting yet fun. That is how I am back to blogging I have made turn to start writing and start photography again. Some where down in my heart tells me it is the right thing, to listen to your heart is to listen to soul. It's like the saying that music is the heart and soul for singers, will I happen to be a really good singer... Yet I hide that I am simply because I am shy..

I am going to start a blog series based on positive thinking, positive  thoughts and self improvement; along with that I will share my adventures of me learning to be myself with confidence. All of this came upon after watching a couple YouTube videos from Sarah Rae Vargas, she is awesome. She made me realize that body confidence and confidence are really important to oneself. 

I will still be doing my food and nutrition part of my blog, I will sharing more of my daily life posts to show you how I have been able to be successful at my weight loss. Yes that's right all the weight I have kept off has not come back and I will go into how it has been possible. For now I will leave you to wondering where I have been....

Vegan Comfort Food: Taco Edition

It's no secret if you look almost every blogger here in Texas is big on tacos, it's almost the state food you would think lol. Personally I don't mind taco's for breakfast/lunch or dinner because they are simple, versatile and you can make them how every you want. Last night I made tacos with a slight fusion to them; I made spicy turmeric onions for bean tacos.

The spicy turmeric onions are four simple ingredients: yellow onion, coconut oil, pepper, garlic and turmeric. Sauteed together on high heat for about 5-7 minutes until they were slightly caramelized almost. Once you cook them I transfer them right over to the taco for the best flavor, these onions are delicious while warm. I served them with re-fried bean tacos that were topped with guacamole and lettuce. These were topped Skyville Taco Sauce which paired perfectly with the onions creating a perfect in flavor. 

If you have Instagram follow me @southernpurpleveg , you'll be able to see my daily posts of vegan goodness and the scenes behind why I don't blog all the time.

Yike's It's Inventory time.

I'm not going to lie but Vegan MoFo falls on the month that my work does inventory so schedules are chaotic along with my chaotic life. Right now I have a lot on my plate between blog, work and life it seems to became a huge blur. So I'm going to slow down and enjoy small things in life; like my dedication  to healthy plant base food here in Texas. 

This week at work we got halloween products next to my desk at work, and I like to wonder over to them time to time to play with them. Hey I got to have fun at my work at 6am when there are no customers. Oh boy did I have fun and so did one of my co workers we even got people through the day laughing too. 

I found mummy's that do the thriller dance, yes before you ask I do have a video( if you go over to my instragram page I have the video with sound just look up southernpurpleveg ). I am leaving you with that for now since I am off to a Inventory meeting, yay!!

Another Yummy Bite: Pepper Tree Veggie Cuisine

On Friday I was going on a date with the fiance to the movies and have dinner but we changed our minds since we drive about 15-30 minutes to get into town. So we got on the toll way we drove to Pepper Tree Veggie Cuisine a place that both of us can agree on. It's a completely vegan friendly Chinese restaurant in Houston located pretty close to the toll road. Plus it's very delicious food, I have only been to this restaurant once and that was for the buffet it was awesome no less.

This visit was during there dinner hours which I have never experienced before,the ambiance was nice and quiet. I ordered Kung Pao Tofu Combo Special it comes with vegan egg roll, soup of the day and a drink; fiance whom isn't vegan ordered General Tso'  Vegan Chicken Special. As for the soup I picked out hot and sour soup, it was like normal version but vegan.

After the soup they brought out the main dish which included brown rice, vegan egg roll and the Kung Pao Tofu all on one plate. At first I was like it's too pretty to eat, after 5 seconds I was so hungry that I dug right into the food. I'm not a huge fan of tofu to stay, in fact about almost my whole life I have avoided it. However this dish may have changed my mind about Tofu, I actually ate my whole dish and wanted more. 

Until next time, any one else know of a vegan friendly Chinese restaurants in the Houston area or any where in Texas. Leave a comment below.

Hello I'm...Late

Wow I'm late to the party by 3 days oops!, I do apologize and this is what happens when I post on the fly. I wanted to start about with a huge Vegan MoFo boom but Larbor Day happen it's a pain in the neck for me at work. It's like one of the insanely busy days that everyone wants to return anything plus the big regional/district bosses like to come out to the store since it's one of the bigger/higher selling stores in the area. 

That's okay things happen but from here on I'll be more part of the community and the Vegan MoFo environment. I'm like a quick ninja I'll post when your not looking ha ha, I'm really a smart ass and this year I decided to show my true self in my working for everyone to understand who Southern Purple Veggie really is. For example it's about 11pm on September 3 and I have work at 5am; I really need to be asleep so I am going to make this post short. There will be better and longer posts to come in the next few days when I am not typing with one eye open.

So this year during Vegan MoFo part of my theme was to show vegan grocery hauls or things I usually buy around where I live. Mostly recently I purchased the Earth Balance vegan cheddar flavor squares,  dark chocolate bixby bar, and emmy's macaroons. All of these are products I have never tried and I loved them all, especially the Earth Balance vegan cheddar squares. I love them with a passion I even have a box at work now, that even my co workers who are not vegan eat also because they taste good. 

I think for now I'll leave you with this picture of vegan yummies until next time. Oh and one more thing I introduce my new lovely kitten lucky sugar bear; he's a rescue kitten from a truck that was parked in my work parking lot when the weather was over 100 degrees.

Release Hot News #VeganMoFo2014 is coming

Hello, everyone this is start of VeganMoFo aka Vegan Month of Foo; its the time of year that a team of bloggers unite to kick up this wonderful blogging event. They are such a wonderful team of people that in fact you don't have to be vegan to be of it but you do have to post 100% percent vegan recipes during the event. 

This year is the 8th Annual Vegan Month of Food (aka VeganMoFo) is ready to take the internet by cats and dogs. September 1,2014, is the date that several hundred bloggers and now including instagrammers from all over the globe will commit to posting vegan food for at least 5 days a week for the whole month of September. Most dedicated participants try to blog all 30 days. Food writers, bloggers and home cooks will write about what they eat, what they cook and even what they imagination to cook with the intention of showing off the wide and delicious world of vegan food. Some participants use VeganMoFo as a motivation to tackle massive culinary projects, some choose a theme for each day or for each week; while others take the challenge on of daily posts from the seams of their pants!

Ha! that's me this year I'm doing this from the seams of my pants, yes I do have a theme but it's on the fly when it comes to writing up posts. On to the press release info, early I mention that instagrammers are part of this even this year. This is something new to the VeganMoFo event, in fact there is a hashtag you can you during the event which is #veganmofo2014. That way if you are curious what vegans are eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - you can take a look and will be amazed at the variety meals and foods. I mean there will be everything from summer produce, family dinners, green smoothies, mountains of cookies, waffles, and ice cream. 

Local blogger Ashley Nikole of Southern Purple Vegan is one of the blogs participating this year. She first began Southern Purple Vegan back in 2011 which focused on her love for vegan food, local restaurant reviews, food recipes and much more about her journey in Texas. 

An alphabetized list of all participating blogs and Instagram accounts will be posted online at the Vegan MoFo Headquarters International (http://www.veganmofo.com). There you will also find information about generating an RSS feed to help you keep track of all the food writing. Vegan MoFo can also be followed on Twitter @veganmofo. VeganMoFo is a grassroots event that has evolved from an international community of vegans who love to cook, and are passionate about sharing their love of vegan food with the rest of the world. First organized by famed vegan chef and cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz (theppk.com), Vegan MoFo has been gathering more and more enthusiasts each year. Anyone interested in food should definitely go online and check it out. And be prepared for a growling stomach!

Wow! Did you get all that awesome information? Isn't it exciting?????! My theme is slightly random, I'm keeping it interesting needless to say I have three themes at one time. My main theme is dinner with a movie, which I pair a vegan meal to the movie I am watching, my other theme is vegan lunches for work and last but not least my 3rd theme is my love for vegan food finds/grocery hauls. I might even include a few vegan friendly places around my area I live.

Hello to Earth

Hello everyone I am back after a long break or whatever you want to call it. However I have come back with quiet a few updates that I have been dying to release. One I mention before I went on break, was that I moved positions at my work. The opportunity I was given was an blessing, I love my new position it's the best; my boss and co workers that I work with are awesome. 

I think that's one of the many updates that I wanted to share along with that I have finally gone to Austin,Texas for the first time. My trip to Austin was a trip to never for get it was a bunch of first's for me and my fiancee. Yes you read that right I am engaged, I have a whole post about my trip to Austin and the proposal. Since the proposal life has been moving so fast, that if I even stop to blink it seems that I miss time. 

It's strange to be back on here but yet very comfortable and nice like a big warm fuzzy blanket. Speaking of fuzzy and warm; I have a rescue kitten that's from my workplace. Yes at work my co worker saved a little orange tabby kitten he's name is lucky sugar bear. He is probably the cutest thing in the world that I have seen this year beside my moms cat Sgt. Pepper.

I think I may have gotten to all the updates I want to post for now, expect for one last one. I am going to be part of vegan mofo for the second time. I am very excited for this years #veganmofo2014, it seems like there is going to be a lot of interesting things. 

Until next time my veggies, I leave you with these updates and one picture of kitten cuteness out of this world.

Tasty Tuesday

I'm introducing a new mini series for the spring and summer called "Tasty Tuesday". Each Tuesday I will post a new food item I found or a new restaurant I have tried currently or in the past. I want your feedback on "Tasty Tuesday" if it's a good idea or not. 

The first post of this series kicks off with my mothers dinner that she made me about two weeks ago, upon request she made it will little or no oil while baking my dish. She infused rosemary and garlic into the oil she did use to make my food. What was made is a dish full of roasted vegetables, it had green beans,potatoes,onion and much more in it. It was the best in my option!!

It was a very filling dish that my mother made for me, I will try to get her recipe for the infused olive oil because it was the best part of the dish. I'm not a fan of oil in any of my food since it aggravates my roseaca in my face and flares it up. So until next Tasty Tuesday...have a great week.

Learning the meaning of balance

I may not be the best blogger in the world or even consistent at it either. I have learned a few things over the past few months about balancing my work life and personal life plus this blog. Southern Purple Vegan got put aside until now, I took on new responsibilities and moved departments at my current job. The position I have new required my full attention during my training and to this day at times it will require my full attention.

Even though I haven't blogged in a while it's still something I like doing, it's a creative outlet. I recently have been eating a more raw diet, because it's been so hot plus humid in the building I work at. That eating a fresh non cooked meals at work made more sense than eating something cooked. My meals may show up on here from time to time that I take to work, but mostly this blog is about my weight loss journey and healthy recipes plus food.

Since last year I have declined in blogging but have not declined in my regime of getting healthy I have maintained my current weight for a year with out gain more than 7 pounds and losing it. Needless to say I might be randomly posting at times when it's easy for me, at times there may be a gap in my blogging. So needless to say welcome to Southern Purple Vegan...oh here are some of my random moments of work from the past 6 months.

Random things you find in a drawer at a work.

Free coffee from a customer to all the employees working outside when cold.

Serious mix up on a order at work, who orders a coin operated dryer.

Need Red Bull?

Yum Simple Dinner

While I was working so much during the holiday season I made some very yummy simple dinners and so did my other he made  me a few dishes. My typical meals were simple very few ingredients in them I figured less ingredients would equal less time in cooking. 

Here's a few of the dishes I had during the holiday season, my decent dishes that I worked on I'll be posting with a recipe. For this post its all about the pictures.

It's the new year.

I known I haven't blogged in a long time, I don't have excuses. I was lazy plus I was living retail hell the holiday reason is always the worest. However it shouldn't have been a issue for me, that was then and this is now.

Along my absence both computers in the house have issues one has a dead battery for a laptop and the other is the netbook it has a major virus that has disabled wireless network. So I'm using a combination of my Samsung Galaxy S 4 and my new tablet to write this post. I'm honestly going to attempt to make more blog posts this way so I can keep the blog update.

I have so much to write and show, I'm excited. There will be several posts over the next few weeks.

Oh dear blogger I forgot you

Well I'm sorry about the major lack of communication on here, I did disappear again for a couple months. I have a lot going on right now with my job and family. I don't want to abuse my blog or forget it either.

If you noticed my about me section,its  changed,  as I have been posting quite a lot on Instagram recently, it's easier. I have taken on more responsibility at work and been  learning lot more skillwise. At the same time I'm trying to focus on getting really healthy and cut out a lot of junk food. Reasoning about this is my grandpa recently had a stroke, it hit me hard as it was unexpected. I haven't seen him in almost 6 months or so because of my job.

His stroke had made me want to focus on getting back to why I made this blog. I'm going back to my roots; I'm going to get healthy and stay healthy. Along with that I'm going to show how to cook healthy on a plant based aka vegan diet to prevent health issues. Yes that's right, I'm going to change things around a little bit. I'm going to promise to post at least four times a week going forward however if work gets busy I will not be able to post.

So there it is Southern Purple Vegan is going to be about a hard working twenty something girl working hard to make a career at the same time while staying healthy on a plant based(vegan lifestyle). I'm excited about my change I feel it's a good move it's a passion.

Feel free to comment on about the changes.

Wordless Thursday

Wordless Thursday in Vegan Mofo month means. An awesome picture..

A recent meal from Whole Foods, it was awesome. Tomorrow ill will show some more favorite foods.

Try to guess what dish this is and I might do a giveaway...

Random Eats

I know I'm official behind on Vegan MoFo but man retail is kicking me so hard in the butt. That it physical feels like I go home eat shower sleep and repeat over and over. I haven't had a single day off in almost now two weeks. 

However I have captured a little bit of my food during the past few weeks plus I have found some new favorites at Whole Foods down the street from my house and work. Well I guess I should show you some food huh? 

First new item I found that I like is Whole Foods Organic Orange Strawberry Banana Juice.  Me and My boyfriend are so totally in love with this juice.

Second item I found was this juice called evolution it's so delicious. It's sold at Whole Foods and Starbucks; Starbucks happens to own Evolution juice products now.  I buy mine at Whole foods because they are 3 dollars cheaper than Starbucks. 

I have found other things that I love and that are favorites but some of them are for the next post. Maybe it's a fake meat or maybe it's a dessert would knows.

Take a guess...

Grumpy Morning

Every had one of those mornings where you just didn't want to get out of day and head to work. Today is my Monday and I'm having one of those days. I woke up early for no reason I could have slept in but oh well instant I'm on here.

I firgured if I'm awake then why not write a new post for Vegan MoFo.  I figured I show you my recent grocery shipping trip. Note it's tiny because I'm finishing what I have in the fridge. Plus with me working in retail I have chance of being to tired to cook. So I only buy what I need for maybe a few days.  

I bought coconut milk, granola, sweet potato, avocado , mushroom, baby bok choi, carrots , water and a protein bar. 

Hope everyone has a great day, I'm thinking I might head to whole foods for a n almond milk latte. 

Monkey Madness

Welcome back it's day two of Vegan MOFO, plus it's labor day! So what that means for you is that you are stuck with my favorite Skincare company or should I say one of my favorites. If you follow me on instagram which my username is: SouthernPurpleVeg, you would have seen that I posted a sneak peak. Plus I usually post on instagram about 7 times a week or more so if you want to see what i'm eating in real time follow me there.

Well on to it..my favorite skincare company would have to be Lush Cosmetics. I mean it's where I practically get all of my skincare, with having cystic acne and rosacea it's hard to find products that don't make my face react. They have a variety of products to choose from shampoo's to lotions and bath bombs plus more it's like a heaven of body care/skincare.

When you go to a Lush shop you can get sample's of the product to insure that what you are buying is what you need. I happen to be lucky because the manager at my local Lush location happens to have the same skin care issues too. I know she will always have me covered with trying new products plus she always points out which one's are vegan friendly too. Almost everything is vegan if not it is vegetarian friendly plus also organic and fresh which says alot these days about body/skin care. The above picture is my recent samples I got from the local manager.

I have my usually product's I always buy which are 1.Angels on Bare Skin (gentle scrub),2. Aqua Marina (daily face cleanser), 3. Eau Roma(Toner) or Tea Tree Water(toner)  and 4.Celestial(face lotion). The picture below shows each one of these products expect Tea Tree Water which I didn't buy right now. So if you got a lush shop near you I would say stop in and check them out; if not take a look at the website www.lushusa.com

I know you were expecting a food post but to be honest it's labor day and this is a backup post since I work in retail. I am working a double today so I basically have no time for myself or this blog. I'll be back tomorrow with a foodie/food post promise.

Have you ever been to Lush, If so what's your favorite product? 

P.S. follow me on Instagram :)

Sidenote: This post was a personal post I was not paid nor asked to make this post to promote Lush Cosmetics. All the products are purchased by me and this is a personal opinion post. Nor is this post ad or advertisement. This post was written for pure entertainment and silliness.

Oh My Stars Welcome To Vegan MOFO

Hello Everyone,Welcome to my lovely blog it's Vegan MOFO time and that means I will actually be on my blog during this month. Plus maybe I might be able to get some interesting people to step in for me when I'm busy. I really I have a wonderful post set up for the first day of Vegan MOFO but for now I'm going to share with you my favorite pizza joint. On to the action...

The past few months I have been pretty lucky to have gone to some of the places I got to go to. One of the places I got to go not once but twice in one month was Star Pizza 2. It's now my favorite place in Houston for restaurants but that might have to do with that it's pizza. Granted I do love my pizza over any other type of food maybe.

Star Pizza offers lot's of different options in regards to Italian type food, but everyone pretty much goes there for the deep dish pizza. It's so frickin delicious it's almost addictive, I mean a small personal size pizza has four slices to the pan. The pizza slices are so big that you actually need a fork and knife sometimes to eat your food, so needless to say one small can feed two people.

Don't believe me take a look at my photo below that's a small vegetarian pizza made vegan, yes Star Pizza is vegan friendly trusted me they have a button for no cheese which is for vegans. They are willing to let you sub one topping since you take off the cheese as you can see I go for jalapenos. 

Now seeing this pizza while writing this post makes me want Star Pizza that's okay, I can enjoy my cup of almond milk instant. Everyone I know is kinda like ooh Star Pizza can I go with you , I mean anyone who likes pizza in Houston,TX knows about Star Pizza.

Every had a pizza so big that you had to use a fork and knife to eat? Leave a comment below.

Pardon Me

I'm too tired to create a new post, I'm dead tired from work. I'll be back on Tuesday with a new post until then enjoy the cat picture. 

Issues with phones

Most of you don't know I don't actually blog from a computer anymore due to my job. I have been using my iPhone for blogging and now it's on a revenge with me. So it's going to be a day or two before I'll be able to post pictures with my posts.