Sticky Fingers in DC

An all vegan bakery in DC. Lucky me! So we had chocolate chip cookies and a devil's food cake. The cookies tasted like tollhouse. The cake was moist and a big portion. Bakersfield thought there was too much icing but he's always like that.

It's funny that vegan desserts also have to compete with the "other" desserts. My values are reflected in my food choices not my tastebuds leading my values or ignorance of animal abuse. Even if vehan desserts tasted like cardboard I'd gobble it down with a shit-eating grin.

Woodlands Vegan Restaurant in DC

Yum! Heaping portions!

Beyond Meat Southwestern Tenders

These were great. The crispy breading was spot on. They were kind of small and I thought I would eat the whole bag, but with a large helping of rice noodles and vegetables 4 tenders was perfect. The spice was minimal and I could have used more, but I will buy these again, definitely.

Mac and Broccoli with Kale

I really wanted Daiya Cheddar Mac one night and I also wanted to be kind of healthy so I added boiled broccoli and kale on the side. Daiya mac is my favorite.

Park+Vine: Beans and Rice

It doesn't sound too exciting, but it's really healthy and if you're poor you can pay anywhere from $2-7.

Beans, rice, lettuce, tomato, bbq, and cajun powder.

Best Dessert Ever: Cheesicle

Vegan cheesicle! Seriously. Vegan frozen cheesecake dipped in chocolate. And she mixes up the flavors! Last time it was oreo.

Ugly Vegan Dinner

I love eating those thin white noodles from asian stores. I thought they were always made of rice but these were made out of pea starch and corn starch. I added carrots, onion, garlic, gf soy sauce and kale. The kale I added later.

Candy cane White Chocolate Pretzels

These are from Premier Chocolatiers. The people who make no-nos (vegan mms). The white chocolate is really great. The peppermint candy cane flavor was minimal but I was fine with that. I love chocolate and pretzel.

Whoopie!

Sometimes I go into the all vegan store I work at and it's so hard to figure out what I want for dessert. Usually I want chocolate cake, but we never have that on hand you know. Brownies, yeah. So I found these in the freezer. Whoopie pies! Deliciously moist (after thawing) and hit the spot for the chocolate cake I wanted. I couldn't tell these were gf. And I think I am used to gf now.

Another Lazy Vegan Dinner

I'm in the midst of exam week and tonight I threw together some rice and beans I made yesterday with left over ethiopian cabbage and salsa and greens with 3/4 of a Tofurky kielbasa link. It was pretty good.

Make My Own Vegan Cheese?!

My interest is piqued. I can't wait to share the finished product.

Plain Old Spaghetti (gf)

For lunch I rushed home and made an old standby. Rice noodles, local pasta sauce and galaxy foods parmesan. Rice noodles are a little chewy, but oh, well. Being vegan is so easy.

I got some new reusable bags for bulk foods and produce. They are making me squee. I love not using any bags. Now I just need to figure out what to do with my compost.

Wotd is orthogonal and canonical transformations. I learned that momentum and coordinates can be the same.

Somewhat Vegan Thanksgiving 2015

I was lucky to have almost everything vegan except turkey or gravy this year considering we were at Danny's parent's friend's house. Everything was yummy. She even made cashew mac.

Aladdin's

Had this at Aladdin's in Oakley. It tasted really great except there was too much oil on the fried onions. I can't to try another option. This dish had a name I can't pronounce. They even had a couple vegan desserts. Not cake though.

Happy Chicks Bakery Dinner

Happy Chicks Bakery is in Northside and the serve food, cupcakes and brownies until 6pm.
Me and Bakersfield went for dinner the other night. We had chickpea nuggets, empanadas, quiche, veggies and dip and cupcakes. Everything was so fresh tasting. We both really like because it's not super oily and you don't leave feeling weighed down which happens quite a lot for us at our favorite restaurants.

And did I say that Happy Chicks is all VEGAN. Yup. It's true. I'm going for brunch soon.

Cookie Sandwich from Vegan Vee in Nashville

Bakersfield got me a chocolate chip cookie sandwich while he was on a mini vacay in Nashville. :) mmm. It tastes like homemade cookies. He also got me a "Hail Seitan" t-shirt from Wild Cow restaurant. It's pretty awesome.

Follow Your Heart American chz

I tried a new single serving american chz style from Follow Your Heart. To me it tasted cheddar like. Definitely will get as a snack in future.

Not the Perfect Cookie Cake

I tried to make a cookie cake for halloween but it ended up too crunchy. Oh, well. Then someone brought a Whole Foods. So good. What do they put in it?!

Park+Vine Cafe

I had a free lunch day so I stopped in at Park+Vine. I got some tater salad and the tempeh tuna melt. Always good.

Happy Halloween!

I dressed up as a german guy. I went to an all vegan party with my girls. And we got pizza from a very vegan friendly place called Kitchen Factory. I love pizza. We were going to get chili chz fries from a bar but time ran out.

I got to try Cidergeist, an apple cider beer from Rhinegeist, a local brewery. Not too sweet and I liked that.

Vegan Lasagna

I made vegan lasagna for the first time. I used the recipe from vegetariantimes.com, "Ultimate Vegan Lasagna". It could say "vegetarian". Anyway, I followed it pretty closely. My pan was not big enough though and I used another pan for a tiny lasagna. I don't think I layered my pasta right. I should have used more per layer. I only used 4 oz of spinach instead of 10 oz.

It came out delicious and messy. I hope there are enough noodles in the big pan. I'm sharing it at a Halloween party tonight. I'm definitely making this again. I am going to track how much it is next time.

Peace Street Bakery Pumpkin Bar

I'm so lucky there are multiple places that have vegan baked goods.

They don't have a storefront, but you can get them from Park+Vine and Clifton Natural.

This Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bar was perfectly moist and nicely pumpkin flavored.

Words of Wisdom

Halloween No No's!

I was pretty excited about the chocolate pumpkin, but I was really happy about the orange, yellow and white no no's. It's nice that vegans get to be more and more festive. They still taste like sixlets and I still love them.

Pumpkin Carving Party

I was lucky to get some vegan chili at my friend's party this year. It was so good. I mean the chili flavor is well-balanced and it reminds me of traditional chili. I also brought Rivertown's pumpkin ale which was kind of tame but I appreciated it because I remember last year not liking any pumpkin beers. The best one was Schlafly's though.

Sticky Fingers Cookies!

Just got these Sticky Fingers cookies from my Whole Foods Bakersfield's sister was having her birthday shindig and the cake wasn't vegan so I asked if we could pick up dessert for me. Ha, I just couldn't go without!

Sticky Fingers is a vegan bakery in Washington DC. They won a cupcake wars contest on tv!

The double chocolate chip cookies were crunchy and yet kind of soft. Very chocolatey and the chips were big. I would definitely get them again. The cookies were stuck together but I didn't mind. There were four for $4.99.

Meatball Sub from Native Foods!

Native Foods is a 100% plant based restaurant in Chicago and I got to go while I was on a trip to Fermilab. This meatball sub was really great. The meatballs were especially tasty.

Wotd is meson.

More Candy!

Now I'm really excited because it's the day I get to buy some of this candy.

I have two hours to finish my physics homework. Then off to hot yoga. And hopefully some running.

I get to go to Fermilab tomorrow. Too bad we don't get to go to Chicago.

Mmm. Chocolate.

Premium Chocolates-Chocolate Pumpkin Ghost!

I need this right now!

Green Juice from Off the Vine

Veg Out is my favorite juice from Off the Vine juicebar. It has only veggies in it and I needed it to revive myself after a late night of vegan wine drinking.

Wotd: Fourier Series. It will probably haunt me the rest of my days.

More Brunch at Park+Vine

I had the N'eggs Benedict. It comes with grilled tofu, vegan quinoa goetta, and hollandaise sauce on a split ciabatta roll. All the flavors merge nicely.

Vegan Brunch at Home after Wine Night

So after a night of wine drinking with friends I woke up and decided that I must have brunch. I used Field Roast's Breafast Links, Vegg powder, potatoes cut up and laid out on parchment paper. Put oven 350 and you get nice oil free fries. Scramble didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I needed to drain more water off of it. I am looking forward to use this in other "eggy" recipes like quiche. I might need to go to Park+Vine tomorrow for brunch. Mmmm. 

Coco Gogo Energy Elixir & My Favorite Vegan Blogs

I've quit coffee for almost 4 weeks now. And it has been surprisingly great for me. My focus is better on homework. And I can stay on task longer. I do still get tired when I don't get enough sleep like last night (which makes sense) and at 4pm today I grabbed a green tea and put 2 raw sugar packets in it. Not good. It made me feel nauseous. 

I ran out of my coffee substitute, Teeccino and then it was on backorder so I grabbed this can of hot cocoa mix. It had 20mg of caffeine per 2 tablespoons and since a cup of coffee is almost 5 times that I bought it. It also is made of simple ingredients like coconut sugar, lucuma powder, mesquite powder, and cacao powder. It's not too sweet so I added agave and a jumbo Dandies marshmallow. It really curbed my craving for coffee. Plus there are not many products for vegans that are specifically hot cocoa mixes so this is nice. Califia creamer is best with it. I heard Califia has pumpkin spice latte! I bet it has lots of caffeine. 

My favorite blogs right now are Vegan Crunk, Spooky Vegan, and Bonzai Aphrodite. 

Wotd is nilpotent. It's when matrix A^k equals zero. 

Stir-fry with Forbidden Rice

Just a regular stir-fry with mixed veggies for lunch.

I am excited to buy some pumpkin flavored/ halloween food soon. I saw on Spooky Vegan's page that there are pumpkin rolls at Trader Joe's!

Chips

I found these at my local vegan shop Park+Vine. With only 12 grams of fat per bag, I let myself eat half the bag. ;)

Lots of homework today. I have to try to fit a run in somewhere. 4 or 5 miles!

Homemade Indian Food

I actually like my own indian food at home more than takeout because I don't add any extra oil. The flavor is bland sometimes so I think I am missing an ingredient. I use garlic, onion, random veggies, coconut milk and curry powder. Maybe I should get that vegan Indian cookbook. Yeah, probably.

Kitchen Factory in Northside

I got pizza the day before my birthday. There aren't many places that have a vegan cheese for their pizza except Mac's, Kitchen Factory and Mellow Mushroom that I know of.

On this one we got bbq tofu, green peppers and mushrooms. The bbq tofu was really great. Not too soft and not too crispy. It was a thinner crust and I was glad to save the calories. An 18" was  19.99. I thought it was a good deal.

You can also order sandwiches. Almost all the sandwiches are vegan. And on some days you can order at their takeout window unti 3am!

S'mores

So yesterday Bakersfield threw a surprise birthday party for me. I have the sweetest partner ever. Makes me feel all squishy. :)
He got me a cake from Happy Chicks Bakery, the all vegan bakery with a storefront in Cincinnati. I got chocolate chocolate and it tasted extra good this time for some reason. I mean the other times are good but I don't know... stepping up their game I suppose.
But this picture is of s'mores because I bought this for our dessert but then there was a surprise party and I had cake. So today I laid around the house watching izombie and eating these. Failed at not watching tv. Ugh. The stress is getting to me. I'm just going to have to keep on trucking. Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to GRE bootcamp but I can't. Just thinking about it makes me nauseous.

Vegan s'mores!-grateful grahams (vegan company), Chocolove extra dark chocolate and Dandies fabulous marshmallows. Back in the day Dandies marshmallows didn't have this perfect shape. Mmm. They're even better now.

Lotus Foods Ramen

I tried this Jade Pearl Rice Ramen for the first time. It was ok. I forgot I don't really like the taste of Miso Soup so I will probably get a different flavor next time. I really like the texture of the noodles though. 

So I turned 30 yesterday! I got some vegan pizza. And it was delicious. More squabbles between me and B. Sigh. I'm too sensitive about animals' welfare. 

I'm going running today. And I picked up a copy of Driftwood but I haven't scoured through it yet. 

Sichuan Chili: More Vegan Than I Thought

I watched my boss's pets while he was away on vacation and to repay me he took me to this awesome chinese restaurant.

There was so much food! And everything tasted great. I had the Mapo Tofu, Green Beans, homestyle tofu and a peanut noodle dish. My favorite was the homestyle tofu and green beans. The tofu was fried up into little triangles. I'm definitely going back as soon as I can.

Tomato Soup from Leftovers!

So I hate wasting food, but I also hate eating the same thing again. And sometimes I make a recipe I don't particularly like. Like last week I made some homemade hummus and I still had a lot left but I was all hummus-ed out so I thought I could make a soup out of it. I put some vegan bouillon in and some tomato paste and I called it creamy tomato soup.

I ate it with some crackers for lunch today.

Lunch Today- Quick and Easy

Not too exciting but I had an organic gala apple, boiled potatoes with hot sauce, and a Tofurky ham sandwich with tomatoes, spinach, daiya provolone, mustard and Just Mayo. Oh and Squirrel Nut (?) bread. It's my favorite bread right now.

Vegan Teeth Products

Right now I'm brushing with auromère toothpaste. This flavor is fresh mint. I always use Ecodent's vegan waxed floss. If you're new to being vegan or just curious I didn't always have my body products vegan until I learned about animal testing and the harmful effects of some ingredients in mainstream products. And it still took years for me to make the complete switch because I thought it was too hard. If it sounds too hard for you don't worry about it. Just stick to the main agenda: no meat, no dairy, no eggs.

If you are curious, I'm not sure if Kroger has vegan brands but I know Whole Foods does. Sometimes they're more expensive, sometimes the same price. You could even buy some from vegan websites like veganessentials or vegan cuts. I enjoy finding alternative vegan products. I remind myself to be on my own journey but care about myself and others (including human animals and non-human animals) and deepening that creates a deeper love/light in me.

Elephant Walk Dinner In Igor

So we ate dinner at 10:30 last night before going to Midpoint Music Festival (pretty cool indie thing with venues scattered about OTR, Cincinnati that lasts for 3 days.

Elephant Walk is pretty cool, too because you can get carry out until 11 pm. It's half Indian and half Ethiopian. Me and Bakersfield got yellow split peas and Fasolia which is green beans and carrots. We also got lots of injera which comes with it. These dishes are vegan as you probably guessed. It was really good. I really like the different flavors you get with Ethiopian vegan food and how veggies are the major player.

Btw, I saw there is a new vegan magazine at my local vegan store, Park+Vine called Driftwood. I skimmed through it and it's fucking amazing. It talked about vegan tattoos and vegan writers who use gentle activism in their writing! Dude. This is my work! I think I've found my calling. Now only if I could get this pesky physics degree out of the way or incorporate it into my writing. Mondo stressed out here. Thinking I should try my hand at science writing. 

Also just did round 3 of hot yoga. I really like it still. Just noticed that after hard workouts it's really easy for me to reach for something fatty and sugary. Going to have to bring healthier snacks. Ha. I did bring an apple but forgot about it.

Giving up tv again. No netflix and no youtube. Starting tonight. I already quit coffee for a month now. I saw this new chocolate drink at PV (park+vine) that has 10mg of caffeine per T. Should I get it? What will happen? The world may never know because I have no money.

Daiya Mac Alfredo

I'm trying the new Daiya Mac Alfredo and it is delicious. I ate mine with some collard greens I had as leftovers. I am really leaning on these flavorful quick meals right now at school. It's easier to be healthier when I am not so stressed out.  But I try to at least get lots of greens. For breakfast I usually still have a fruit smoothie or oatmeal.
I just started hot yoga and I love it. I don't think it's a substitute for cardio. I might need to look that up.
I love that you sweat so much. It makes me feel like I'm cleansing. I'm going to try to do it 4 times a week.

Shop Local!

I mostly go to Findlay Market and Park+Vine for my groceries while I'm in school. It means a lot to me to support small business. One of the reasons is because I feel like if all there was was corporate business, how could a lot of people follow their dreams?

Loving Hut Outing

Got some delicious raw blueberry pie at Loving Hut. One of three vegan restaurants in Cincinnati. I also got a salad and some grilled dumplings. The almond ginger house dressing is my fave.

Collard Green Wraps

These were fun to make. Kinda messy because my collards weren't perfect.

I used two collard greens and cut down the large vein going down the middle on each one. Then I put my rice, beans, hummus, tomatoes, and soy crumbles on top of them in the middle. I folded up two opposites sides and then rolled the other ends like a burrito. It tasted pretty good. The hummus stuck it all together. Good way to get more greens in.

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati!

Good times! No vegan food when I checked online. And I ate dinner beforehand so I really just concentrated on beer. Hefe Weiss by Weihenstephan was my favorite. Weihenstephan beers were all vegan-friendly on Barnivore but I didn't see this exact one.