 Hi Travel Fam! How are you? It's been a crazy, busy, fun month, hasn't it? I hope you have been having some fun and travel adventures! I'm at home for a bit longer, but while I'm here we are eating well and trying new, amazing vegan recipes. I'm just back from the market and wanted to share my mini veggie haul. Spinach, Romaine Lettuce, Snow Peas, Bananas, Onions, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, Lemons, Zucchini, Tofu, Tomatoes, Oranges and avocados! Oh and Jalapeños peppers! I also bought frozen mango chunks, blueberries, cherries and strawberries for smoothies. I was still fixed pretty goood for beans, mushrooms, kale, carrots, limes and garlic. Do you have stuff you buy all the time? This is my normal mid-week shopping trip. But today the Jalapeños were on sale for something like .25 a pound! Pictured is approx. .45 cents worth lol. #Win  I can't wait to get cooking!  Nothing beats homemade vegan nice cream on a warm, Spring day!  Do you see a cherry theme here?  Its been a long week, excuse my eye bags and death stare, lol  I finished this last week and will review hopefully soon. Spoiler: It's a great!  Have a great weekend~
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 Hey! How are you? If the rest of this year passes as fast as Janurary did then I'm in serious trouble!  So what the Hell did I do? I had guests for 2+ weeks and worked. The house was full of people, plus some stayed down the street at a B & B. So there was lots of laughing, eating and visiting going on! It really was an amazing visit!  We watched some movies... I blogged about some movies to watch with your BFF here and also reviewed a random movie a friend recommended to me here. I also managed to do some used book shopping.  I read a bit and owe you several reviews. Hopefully later this week I will get those out. The top book on that pile Hounded by Kevin Hearne was recommended by one of my friends here for the visit. She knew I would like it and she was so right! I'm already reading the second one in the series and buying the rest! We decided to eat healthy for this adventure so I mostly cooked. We wolfed down nice cream and smoothies everyday as well as homemade soups, Buddha Bowls, vegan cookies and lattes. I didn't take many pictures because I was busy eating too, lol!  Buddha Bowl - Red Beans, Sweet Potatoes, Avocado, Yellow Squash, Onions, Peas, Fresh Mushrooms ~ MMMMMMMMM We ate a LOT! I think we went through approx. 40 pounds of bananas in two weeks! It's hard to tell because I had a lot of produce before we began this adventure, lol. Everyone seems to be happy eating plant based vegan and no one went hungry. The downside though, one person caught a cold and before you knew it we all had it. I finished off the month in bed, but at least I had a lot of new books to read.  Call me sneezy- I'm excited to see what February brings.
See you at the airport~  Another mini used book haul~ Hello ~ So I’m wondering, how do you feel about New Year’s resolutions? My 2017 resolution was to stop spending so much on printed books and working so much. I actually went on a book buying fast for several months in 2017 and cut way, way back in 2018. It was difficult because I so love books, but it is made easier when I think about having to either ship them or store them when we move again. And the working so much? Well, I have taken a bit more time off and am back to daily walks, which help me handle the stress a lot better. Just getting away from my desk and out in nature has made a big difference.  Behold the beautiful New Mexico Mountains!  Bring on the veggies! I also vowed to eat better - which I'm still enjoying. :D
Some resolutions really change your life, others not so much. So for 2019 I am working on buying used books (cheaper and recycling is always a good idea) and also being picky about how many I keep. I'm going to continue eating the clean, veggie rich diet and make more time to travel. I think we may visit Sweden this year as well as some short trips in the US. So how about you? What are your resolutions and are you keeping them?  Not Guilty about much actually, lol - but the blogging challenge continues. This is a tough one, cause I really don't feel guilty about much. I work hard and live my life the way I want so I'm not really guilty about anything. #TrueStory I don't "cheat" as a vegan. I eat 80/20 healthy, plant based. I don't consume sugar, drink or smoke. I haven't had a Starbucks in so long I can't remember when?! So yep, I'm pretty boring and not guilty at all. Probably my number one guilty pleasure right now is too much online shopping.  #AnotherTrueStory But its my money and I work hard for it...so I'm not guilty at all. Lately I've been buying winter clothes, art supplies, vegan make up, stuff for the new house and of course stuff for my son.  Random purchase for the house.  Random sampling of beauty products, lol  Newest box.  Even though this kinda counts as online shopping, subscription boxes are another of my weaknesses. I'm currently receiving Vegancuts, Sketchbox, and Fab Fit Fun + add ons and up-sells on all of them. I stopped the beauty mask monthly box just because I wasn't using the masks fast enough. Now that I'm about out of masks I will restart that subscription. So compared to most people I know, thats not many at all.  Vegancuts  Good amount of random vegan snacks delivered to my door.  My TBR (To Be Read) pile of books is getting pretty low... so I'm not feeling guilty about that at all. If anything I feel like I need to make an effort to find more books. #Yikes!  And you? What are your guilty pleasures? Are you overspending or over indulging? Or are you like me and not guilty about it?
Tune in tomorrow as the blogging challenge continues~  Sunrise yoga outside! The blog challenge continues - warning this is gonna be kinda of boring. Being it's just an average day - its full of work and food, lol  4:45 a.m. Let's Do this! Coffee on the Patio/Water Plants/Wake Up 5:00 Journal/Meditation 6:00 Yoga/Watch the sunrise/Cup of tea 6:45 Banana Nice Cream  7:00 Shower 7:20 Get dressed 7:45 Commute to my office (three rooms away)  7:47 Forget that I have laundry - so start the washer... 8:00 Begin Work  Work 12:00 lunch 12:45 Meeting  Snack in between. 2:00 Back to work 6:00 Call it a day! 6:05 Commute to Kitchen, lol 6:07 Cook again  I whipped up a loaded vegan pizza. (See video for description.) I was quite proud, it was amazingly good!  More vegan goodness... From 7:00-11:00 pm I usually read, sketch, write or watch a movie. Some nights I spend it catching up with friends on the phone. Then bed and do it again. #Goodtimes  Stay tuned for the next blog challenge... Are you bored yet? This is just an average day. I will be traveling this weekend so maybe I will do another 'Full Day' post, and show you what I do when I'm on a road trip.
See you at the airport~  The blog challenge continues. Read past posts here, if you need to catch up. Today I am sharing 8 things I am currently loving. These are not linked or sponsored. Just my personal finds that I use everyday and love.  Buddha Tea If you visit here often or follow me on Twitter you know I love tea! And I love trying new organic, eco-sourced products. This month I'm drinking Root Chakra Tea. Buddha Teas are not the cheapest teas, nor the most expensive, but they are some of the best. I want to say I paid about $6.50 for a box?  Garnets!  And they help plant trees!  I am also loving these three products. I love this small travel toothbrush from FFF. I picked it up as an add-on and love it! Its compact and super soft. It came with three, instead of two brush heads. I honestly have no idea what I paid, but I know it wasn't over $20-$25? I am also loving the Essential Oxygen organic toothpaste and brushing rinse. I have been using the brushing rinse for over a year, but had a lot of Earthpaste stocked piled. #TrueStory - When I find a product I like I purchase a supply of it. #NOTaHoarder I promise. Once I used it all, I bought the EO toothpaste to try. Now I really love it too. The Toothpaste is only $8.09 on Amazon and the brushing rinse is $10.27.  I still like my old brand. but wanted to try the entire line of EO together to see if it was even better together. I'm also so loving this Acure scrub and Nelson Hair Mask. I use both while soaking (and reading) in the tub, for a wonderful and relaxing afternoon. The hair mask really helps tame my thick locks and makes my hair super silky.  I love all of the Acure products! I finished off my last tube of facial scrub and decided to try this one with Sea Kelp. I'm so glad I did!  I was surprised it was green!  Between the sea kelp and the French clay this is way more than just a scrub. Really feels nourishing on my skin. Also on my list: Pacifica Dreamy Youth Day and Night Face Cream, which I also bought on Amazon for around $15USD. I not sure, but I think that was the subscription price? After using it a week I knew I wanted to try it our for several months, so I quickly added it to my monthly subscriptions. It is amazing and so light weight. In this crazy summer heat you don't want a heavy cream on your face, making you sweat even more. I have been using it for about three months now and am very pleased.  Pacifica is another brand I don't think you can go wrong with. It's not greasy at all and is easily absorbed into the skin. + Like all Pacifica products it is cruelty-free and vegan. #WIN   My last item is a couple of pens I received in a Sketchbox monthly subscription box. I am drawing more and am so pleased to try out new, professional grade products.
So how many is that?
Join me tomorrow for the next challenge post.  When not traveling, you can usually find me experimenting in the kitchen. Living in the Southwest the summers are so freaking warm that standing over a hot stove or baking seems insane! So I try to eat as much raw as possible. Luckily there are many fruits in season right now. I've had company most of the summer and we've been busy mowing through all this fruity goodness.  While I love figs, cantaloupe and berries, nothing says, "SUMMER" like fresh watermelon!   Surprisingly there aren't that many watermelon smoothie recipes. So i've had to make up my own...  If you follow me on line you know my latest obsession is watermelon based smoothies. So I turned my kitchen into a laboratory and began experimenting! One of my best creations was Kiwi/Watermelon topped with Hemp seeds. It was super quick to make (like most smoothies) and the taste was rich and refreshing. Also this is one of those odd smoothies that doesn't contain bananas.  I put a splash of unsweetened nut milk in the processor with a generous amount of watermelon and 2 ripe kiwis (peeled of course). I also removed the black seeds from the watermelon and blended well.  Topped with hemp hearts. I also tried it with strawberries. (Not my fav.) and watermelon with just nut milk. My son's favorite was mango and watermelon. I actually am not a fan of mangoes but I enjoyed it too. If your melon is ripe it will be plenty sweet and frothy no matter what you throw in. Watermelon is of course, mostly water — about 92% — but this refreshing summer fruit is also drenched with nutrients. According to Live Science.com "Each juicy bite has significant levels of vitamins A, B6 and C, lots of lycopene, antioxidants and amino acids. There's even a modest amount of potassium. Plus, this quintessential summer snack is fat-free, and very low in sodium. Also there are only 40 calories per cup." #Win These smoothies are prefect for a lazy, summer morning.  Doesn't that look good? And did you know Hemp Hearts are incredibly nutritious too?  Plus they also taste good! Hemp seeds are a great source of vitamin E and minerals such as phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron and zinc? If you are worried about protein, about 25% of calories in hemp seeds come from protein, which is relatively high. 30 grams of hemp seeds, or 2–3 tablespoons, provide about 11 grams of protein, so sprinkle this super food on everything! I'm wishing I had a smoothie right now. I'm currently sitting on the patio watching another phenomenal sunset. (This mostly makes up for the scorching heat.)  Catch you later-  I'm still alive! Hello! It's been awhile and I have no excuse other than I have had company almost every single day since late June! The last bunch is leaving Monday and then hopefully I can catch up on blogging. Life is really good now. I have really enjoyed visiting with everyone and exploring the area. Its great to see things through other people's eye. You, or at least I, forget how beautiful every day life can be. So truthfully we are spending most of our time outside in the garden and of course eating!  (From one ladies snapchat, lol. I'm glad they liked my vegan food. :D)  Bring on the vegan food!  OMG! These were soooo good!  And the tacos are flowing!  Meanwhile the plants are blooming..  My garden is kicking-ass!  My toad crop is really coming in nicely this year, lol!  Free range crop is not amused.   We have been chasing sunsets..(that's actually a sunrise, cause sleep is for losers)  (Sunset in progress) I'm enjoying a low key summer for a change. There are so many AMAZING travel deals right now, but I cannot get away from work yet. I'm still working almost every day, but hiring additional folks has really helped, so hopefully by next year we can return to the travel life. (Fingers crossed.)  We are in the monsoon season and it's been really nice and cool lately. Perfect weather for exploring in between rain storms.  I also have a TON of boxes and other goodies to share with you! I took lots of photos so expect to be bombarded with posts soon!  #Yum!  Newest Obsession! I really hope you are having a great summer!
I promise to put together a proper post soon, Until then-  I know most ppl are like "OMG! WTF?!?" For the long time readers of the blog, (thank you both, lol) you know I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 18 and vegan for 5 + years now, but I still get asked questions like, “What do you eat?!”  So now that vegans and vegetarians are much more mainstream, chances are good you may find yourself invited over for dinner. What can you expect? Well, first off don’t panic! If a gourmet chef invited you for dinner you would expect to try some sublime foods that you had never tried before. If a specialty pizza chef invited you for dinner, you would expect to eat some incredible pizza that evening. You would probably even look forward to the bits of flair that would be added to the plates and table as you sampled this new cuisine, yeah? So what happens when your vegetarian friend invites you to dinner? Will it be a GIANT bowl of raw salad, sans dressing and heavy on the kale? Hardly, if you are lucky enough to be invited to a vegetarian’s home for dinner you can expect a culinary adventure! Now that being said, there are many different types of vegans and vegetarians and people are all different. I for one, am not a fan of curry. (Insert hate mail here, lol) Which is the one guaranteed vegetarian meal on all flights… #FML Anyway, enough about airplane food…If you yourself are not a vegetarian, you should be open to trying a couple of new and interesting foods at your *BVFF’s house. (*Best Veggie Friend Forever) Don’t be afraid to try meat alternatives, if they serve you any, most meat eaters love them, once they get over the “TOFU FEAR” that most people seem to have. Just come hungry and enjoy yourself in a new environment of tastes and smells. I have a few tips to get you ready for what you may encounter on a typical vegetarian table. Are you game?  Seasoning Adventures Vegetarians frequently use strong seasoning in order to bring out flavors more effectively in foods that don’t necessarily add their own flavor to a dish. There is a high likelihood of finding characteristic flavorings from other cultures. So expect to try some new flavors. Traditional vegetarian cultures have influenced American vegetarians quite a bit. Indian spices are very popular in combination with vegetarian entrees and sides. But as I said not everyone eats Curry. Spices, herbs and seasoning from Mexico, Italy, and of course Asian cooking, are popular in vegetarian cooking. Ingredients such as peppers, soy sauces and sesame oil are also quite common in most vegetarian kitchens. Depending on the individual, of course, but its a safe bet that you can expect richly flavored dishes rather than simple salt and pepper. Favorite Dishes for Non-Vegetarian Guests So, what is it that you will be eating that will be seasoned so beautifully? There are a few options. Protein source - could be beans, mushrooms, lentils, quinoa or Tofu. Tofu and tempeh are common soy products, that are now easily found in most US markets. They both receive flavor very efficiently and are easy to make fit any dinner mold. In addition to the protein portion of your meal, expect a colorful variety of vegetables. A spoonful of peas or corn would be insufficient for a nutritious vegetarian meal, so expect more varieties and larger servings. Finally, the carbohydrates will finish off your plate. Potatoes are a possibility, but it is more likely that you will find pasta, rice or risotto. If you are not accustomed to eating vegetarian meals, you will be surprised at the filling and satisfying results that an experienced vegetarian cook can produce. #WIN Now, that being said, of course there are many different types of vegetarian meals, way too many for me to list here.  Trust me, not every meal is salad, but if we serve you a salad it will be amazing! The important thing to do is to be willing to sit down at the table with an open mind. Get ready to enjoy something new, fun and delicious. Vegetarian foods are definitely unique as compared to typical American fare, but they make for an incredible dining experience.
Catch you later- |
Author Welcome to my travel blog, my healthy Vegan lifestyle blog and my life! It's a lot, but it's my passions and I just love to write about it. Here I share tips, stories and photos from my adventures and life. This is the place where people can find daily inspiration to travel and motivation to live healthier lives and laugh a bit too! 
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