Category Archives: Vegan Care Package Swap

Vegan MoFo Post 16: Chipotle Burrito Bowl

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Hello my friends. I’m sorry I didn’t post yesterday. Truth be told, I’ve been SICK. Yesterday I got so sick at work I had to leave early. I’ll spare you the gross details but It hit my very quickly (a coworker told me all of the color drained from my face in the matter of one minute) and I had the worst stomach pain I’ve ever had. I’ve also had a hard time keeping food down so I’m basically at the point where I’m more concerned about eating foods that I can keep down rather than if I’m eating fruit or sugar or whatever. I just need to keep myself going until my appointment on Monday.

Since my meals have been sparse and boring I figured I’d show off a recreation that I’ve made a million times before. It is easy to make at home and it fits in with my theme quite nicely :)

Here is an actual Chipotle Burrito Bowl :) I feel like there is no way to make a burrito bowl look pretty but here it is. These things are damn good minus the tons of cilantro they put in there. If my tummy wasn’t angry I’d totally want to eat one right now.

It’s so funny because here is a dish I made before I ever even went to Chipotle! I guess it can be considered my first burrito bowl! I made it using rice and beans, spinach, broccoli, salsa and avocado. A little bit of a departure but check out all of that greenery.

This is one of my more recent recreation attempts :) I used quinoa and beans instead of rice and beans which was great! I added some salsa and avocado to it. In retrospect I wish I would have used some lettuce for crunch.

This last one is rice and beans with some salsa, Daiya, mashed avocado and a tortilla for scooping.

I guess the moral of the story here is that dishes like the Chipotle burrito bowl are super customizable! I love being able to make restaurant dishes at home because I can make it to my taste… in this case that means no cilantro! For my next one I will also try to make some home made pico de gallo and definitely use some shredded lettuce on top.

A bit off topic, you may remember that I participated in the 4th Annual RWT Vegan Care Package Swap for the second time this year and was paired with Brigid! You can check out what she sent here and if you are interested, she posted the package that I sent to her here :)

So I guess that’s it for today’s post. Sorry it’s nothing new but I don’t know how much new stuff you’ll get out of me. Today I feel a lot better but am still very cautious of what I eat and am really just trying to eat easily digestible foods that are easy on the tummy.

I hope that you are all well! For all of you lucky people with normal work schedules hooray for Friday tomorrow! I have to work Saturday in the studio as always and I have a wedding on Sunday so I still have a few days left. I’ll be living vicariously through all of you :)

Have a great night friends!

Vegan MoFo Day 1: A Birthday Swap and Grocery Haul

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Hey everyone! Happy MoFo! I hope you are all doing well today :) Today is the first day of Vegan MoFo (month of food) as all of you may know and I’m so excited! As I mentioned, this year I will be trying to recreate restaurant meals that I’ve tried and loved, or that I want to try. I would love to post every day but that is quite daunting so I will not make any promises that I will have 31 posts in 31 days. I will definitely have the minimum of 20 posts and hopefully will surpass that :)

One reason I can’t make promises is because I am dealing with a major change in my work schedule. Starting this week my boss wants me to be in the studio 40 hrs/week from Tuesday through Saturday. The only day I will be allowed to assist is on Sunday… I will have Mondays off and Sundays if I’m not assisting. It’s going to be an adjustment so I’ll do my best to post when I can.

So, as you know I recently celebrated my birthday! Well, another amazing blogger, Gabby, over at the Veggie Nook celebrated her birthday just 5 days before mine. We had been talking about doing a Care Package Swap for a while and we thought what better occasion than our birthdays!! And what a lovely surprise to come home to than a Care package chock full of Vegan treats!

Gabby included lots of green tea as well as Natural Calm, an Anti Stress Drink! I seriously can’t wait to try the calming drink, I feel like I need it all the time! She also included a packet of Sunwarrior raw protein powder which is SO exciting because I’ve always wanted to try it! There is also a Vega Electrolyte Hydrator packet which I love for my workouts!

I am seriously so spoiled! There are Ginger Snappers (ginger snap cookies, yum!), Cheesy Ultimate Kale Chips (Holy yum can’t wait to try!), Gluten Free Walnut Brownie (!!!), Pink Salt Sacha Inchi Seeds (intriguing!), a Mint Berry Clarity Chocolate, Peanut Butter Ginger chews and a Dark Chocolate Coconut Bar. I may or may not have already eaten the Coconut bar. Seriously amazing! I’ll be dreaming of that for a long time!

Thank you so much for the amazing treats Gabby!! And for the really sweet card you included. You are awesome!

So I came home from Florida to a basically empty fridge so I did some major grocery shopping to prepare for my Vegan MoFo venture. Check out the loot!

Asparagus, lemons, 4 avocados (on sale 4/$5!!), organic honeycrisp apples, tomatoes and broccoli,

2 packages of organic firm tofu, some mediterranean flavor marinated sun dried tomatoes, chocolate chips.

Van’s Gluten Free Waffles, Gluten Free Brown Rice Bread, Organic Fillo (I don’t remember it ever being spelled this way but I’m also a bit dense at times) Dough, Earth Balance, Tofutti Cream Cheese, Frozen Cherries (I rarely see them so I scooped some up) and Frozen Raspberries.

Spring Mix, Baby Spinach, basil, potatoes, portabello mushrooms, carrots and a cucumber.

That’s a pretty serious haul! I have big plans for you guys this year and hopefully I’ll be able to stay on track with my posts :) I’ll be back tomorrow with my first recreation!

Have a great day friends, happy MoFo!

4th Annual RWT Care Package Swap

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Hey everyone! First of all, thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! You are all so sweet and kind and I really appreciated all of the well wishes :) I had a really amazing day and I am very fortunate to have a really amazing family that helped me celebrate and feel special. I’m also really blessed to know all of you. One of my biggest goals with blogging was to get to know really amazing people that share common interests and I feel like I’ve accomplished that goal and I feel really lucky to have been welcomed into this community, so thank you all!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I signed up for Lindsay at Running With Tongs’ Fourth Annual RWT Care Package Swap. I was paired with Brigid over at Vegging Out. It was such a great surprise and great timing on her part (although I’m not sure if she knew ha!) because I got her package the day before my birthday! It was so fun to get it and it kind of felt like an extension of my birthday ;)

Brigid included a cute little card and a recipe for a super yummy sounding dill dressing! I have to say it’s pretty brilliant to include the recipe and I may have to steal that idea in the future :X So cute and the recipe sounds great!

Included in my package was organic ginger aid tea (that will definitely help with my nausea and digestion!), some garbanzo bean flour (Soccas anyone?!), plantain chips (LOVE these), Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter (YES!!!!) and some stone ground mustard. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t already dug into the plantain chips. I love these things, they have a hint of salt and are savory and delicious. I can’t wait to try the chocolate hazelnut butter too, it sounds delicious!

I had such a great time putting together Brigid’s package, when she posts about it I’ll make sure to link you to it :) These swaps are so fun! Thank you so much for the treats Brigid!!

So it has been a few days since I’ve posted and I have a few things that I’ve collected to show you so here are some miscellaneous things from the past few days :)

I was able to see my friend from Massachusetts the other night and as I mentioned we celebrated both of our birthdays :) We were born exactly two weeks apart which is so fun. And another fun fact, my best friend that I’m visiting in Florida was born exactly 5 days after me so I’ll be with him to celebrate his birthday! Yay! Anyway, I decided to make her cupcakes and figured some classic chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting (both recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World) and rainbow sprinkles would be a good call :) Here they are all packed up and ready to go!

I had to show you this because I thought that they were so cute and amazing and so absolutely perfect for me. A friend of mine gave me this wall hanging that says “Do Something Amazing Every Day” and a really cute “Fight Like A Girl” tumbler. I love the art because it resembles something I pinned on Pinterest (you can see it here) and I am putting it directly across from my bed so it is the first thing I see every day when I wake up. And the tumbler is just so perfect! :) I’m sipping from it right now actually!

In case you didn’t think I was already a spoiled brat, I wanted to show you this stuff too because again, it is so indicative of my style and who I am as a person. My friend from Massachusetts gave me this adorable and thoughtful gift including a super cute mug and mug cozy (aaaahhhh so awesome!!), some delicious smelling vegan pumpkin spice soap, a gorgeous owl necklace and she packed it all up in the super cute skull and crossbones tote! That is definitely going to be my new farmer’s market bag! Thanks M!!

So I guess that’s everything exciting from the past few days! I hope that you all had a great weekend and that your Monday went well! Two more work days until Florida! Yay!!

CVL Vegan Care Package Swap!

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Hey everyone! I literally just got home from work…and I couldn’t be happier. My worst fears came true and I woke up this morning (after only 2 hours of sleep) at 4:30 and all of the congestion in my chest moved up to my head.  My nose was completely stuffed, my head was aching, sinuses completely congested. I literally felt like my head was going to explode. And I knew I had a long day ahead of me.  I was completely exhausted.

The day was long but the couple was very sweet. Truth be told I came on right away so I could post then rest for the remainder of the evening.

As I mentioned yesterday, I participated in Lindsay’s CVL Vegan Care Package Swap for the first time, and I’m so glad I decided to do it! I was partnered up with the lovely Isobelle over at vganjar and I must say it was a perfect match! We seem to have very similar tastes and preferences AND as icing on the gluten free cake, she lives just outside of Seattle…where I lived for a year and a half in grad school!  Small world :)

I received my package yesterday and I think it was perfect timing…almost like a combo birthday/get well package. It definitely cheered me up! So without further ado, here are the goodies that Isobelle spoiled me with!

I was first greeted with this super pretty handmade note. I am so lucky to have been paired up with such a talented artist!
This is more of a side note but my goodies were cushioned in pages of the Tacoma Weekly, and this caught my eye! An article about a vegan coffee house!
This is a view of all of the loot. I broke it down into smaller chunks so you can see everything.
A few non-edibles. Some amazing smelling soaps (I could smell it through the paper!) and some super cute magnets from Seattle/Washington.
The far left is a jar of Chocolatl, a raw chocolate maca sauce (yum!), then a box of sweet and spicy herbal tea, a jar of Peanut butter & Co. Smooth Operator PB, and a bag of gluten free flour to experiment with!
Here is a packet of green superfood protein powder, a bag of Mrs. May’s Black Sesame snacks (can’t wait to try these!!!), an Endangered Species chocolate bar in a chocolate mint flavor (on of my favorite combos!) and 2 larabars (apple pie and chocolate chip cookie dough).
Finally, a maple pecan oat bar which I’m probably most excited to try, and a Bumble Bar in a Chai with Almond flavor (another combo of some of my favorite flavors!).
As you can see, I’ve been completely spoiled by Isobelle. I hope that she likes her package as much as I like mine! Thank you so much Isobelle!!
And now I’m off to rest and drink tea. Good night everyone!