Vegan Street Taco Options!

Just a short post today.  The week got away from me YET AGAIN!  Yesterday, our local art gallery had a Food Truck parked outside.  I stopped by to introduce myself because I'm part of a committee looking for food vendors for various upcoming events.  I found out they were from Kane and had been in business for at least 2 years already.  I never knew they existed! Then I was even more excited when I saw they had 2 vegan options on their menu!  YAY!

I decided to get one of each.  The one on the left was Quinoa, Black Beans, Corn, and a Lime Cilantro Salsa of sorts.  The other one - on the right - was Sweet Potato, Cauliflower, and sauce.  I think I'll go back today.

I have to say...I'm SO OVER THIS WEEK!

We have a few things planned for the weekend but things have been a little weird lately so we will see what actually happens this weekend.

I'm thinking about taking another 'brain break' so if I do that I will surely take pics and post!  In the meantime, you can see more of what I have been up to on my Instagram.  If we aren't already friends I would love to know how to find your IG!  Let me know in comments!

WNY VegFest - Part I - The Speakers

This past weekend was the 2nd Annual WNY VegFest and my sister and I attended because we had SO MUCH FUN last year! I have a wonderful sister! She's not a vegan or even vegetarian but has attended this festival both years now and even sat thru 2 of the speakers this year with me! I'm so grateful for her!

Speaking of which...here's a photo of her and I waiting for one of the 'chats' to begin. We did an official VegFest Selfie! Megan and I are 3 years, 2 months, and 1 day a part in age! How cool is that?

Last year was the first year I met the guys from The Vegan Zombie and I wanted to meet up with them again this year, too! Here they are! Jon (on the left) kept saying 'sorry' because he was distracted by the puppies from the puppy rescue on the other side of them. But who could blame them? They were super cute dogs! More on that in a future post I am sure! Then Chris (on the right) and I chatted about social media, T-Shirts, their road trip, juicing, and more! A few months ago I was going to buy a Breville Juicer but had seen Chris's posts on Instagram and totally had to ask which juicer he was using and I ended up getting that one instead. It's a SlowStar Juicer. I had told him on Instagram that I purchased one and he asked me if I used it yet and felt a little bad that I hadn't used it yet. His encouragement is greatly appreciated. I think between them and OPAL over at I;m Celebrating Life - I will be pursuing that more seriously around the 17th of this month. I ended up buying another Vegan Zombie Shirt and also bought a WNY VegFest T-Shirt at the festival's table, too!

This year my sister and I were able to attend 2 of the talks. The first speaker we saw was Karen Ranzi. I will be purchasing her book in the very near future Raw Vegan Recipe Fun for Families: 115 Easy Recipes and Health Tips for Energetic Living.

Another speaker we were able to see was Kristin Lajeunesse. I was lucky enough to meet her, too! I have been following her on Instagram for a while and we were chatting back and forth on there prior to her talk and meeting. She's super nice! 

Her book is Will Travel for Vegan Food: A Young Woman's Solo Van-Dwelling Mission to Break Free, Find Food, and Make Love, and is the founder of the award willing website, Will Travel for Vegan Food.

Not sure if you can see me in THIS vlog she posted on Instagram but I'm in the 3rd row back on the right behind a lady with a black tank top on and she's sitting by a guy with a black shirt and sunglasses on.

HERE is a list of the other speakers that were at the event. I was standing next to Vlad while in line for fresh juice and didn't know it was him until after he left. And I would have loved to catch Jane Esselstyn and Victoria Moran's talks but we were doing other things during those times. Another one I wanted to see was Jessica Meyers Food Demo which was living foods and sprouting and fermentation.

I will be posting more and more throughout this week on the adventures of WNY VegFest so please check back and let me know if you were there! And if you weren't there let me know if you've ever seen any of these speakers and/or YouTubers!

Mango Cream Smoothie, Dijon Walnut Sauce, and Raw Vegan Eggplant Strips

One of the issues our household has been battling since we've been back from West Palm Beach has been Kidney Stones.  Hubby has battled with them for years now and now that we know he has Crohn's we have found that they are connected.  While looking for foods that help certain issues I came across how the might mango may help fight kidney stones.  We will be incorporating more of them in our diet to see how they can help him.  I recently made a Mango Cream Smoothie and it turned out tasty so I shared it on The Raw Food World News Site.  

If you have been to my blog in the past you may have picked up on me being a SAUCE type person.  Above you will see the photo and excerpt of the Dijon Walnut Sauce I did for raw vegan zucchini noodles.  It was very flavorful and creamy.

On the bottom you will see Hearth Healthy Raw Vegan Eggplant Strips.  I paired that with info on heart health - of course!   I made those in my Excalibur Dehydrator.

In other news - I FINALLY ordered a new juicer!  I opted for the Tribest SlowStar Juicer.  It's a Single Auger Juicer and Chris over at Zombie Gate/The Vegan Zombie was the one who twisted my arm to finally make the purchase.  His Instagram Juicing Photos are amazing!  I'm still waiting on the juicer to arrive but I'm VERY excited to jump right in!

Soups & Social Media

Just a quick little check in today with a HELLO to all!  I HAD to share this soup photo with you but because I wanted to submit it as a possible feature over at The Raw Food World NEWS Site under their RECIPE Section I thought I would wait to mention what's in it. I have to say I'm pretty proud of this soup, tho!  The main ingredient is BEET and YES those are Hemp Seeds you are seeing!  Eventho I'm not a girlie-girl and not fond of the color PINK the color of this soup is out of this world!  The flavor was amazing, too!  It's considered a RAW VEGAN Soup as well!

In other news...

There is only 2 days left on my friend Anne's Kickstarter Campaign if you have a few bucks to help her out it would be greatly appreciated!  She's in the process of trying to purchase and take over 52 Teas which is a really creative tea companies that prides themselves on organic and vegan ingredients.  Read more about this and contribute HERE. 

Incase you aren't already following me on InstaGram you can find me HERE.  I try and post at least 1 photo everyday but most days I go a little crazy and post several and especially with the upcoming plans we have I will be posting almost everything on InstaGram before I post it anywhere else.  If you are on InstaGram make sure you let me know in comments!

Vegan MoFo ~ Rare Breakfast & Raw Vegan Cheese Sauce

For today's Vegan MoFo Post I wanted to blog about these two photos and NO I didn't eat them together! First - I have a breakfast bowl from the weekend.  I had crackers, figs, and sprouted and flavored nuts.  The reason this is rare for me is because it's very unusual for me to find FRESH figs in a store in my region.  I actually found them a few weeks ago at Orchard Fresh in Orchard Park, NY.  They were still FRESH because of my Berry Breeze.  I will be blogging about my Berry Breeze often because it works and I LOVE it!  So...I was super excited about this fresh figs and have been snacking on them since I bought them but also savoring them because I don't get them often.

As for this photo of the Raw Vegan Cheese Sauce I made I have to tell you I adore it!  The base recipe was from one of Philip McCluskey's books.  I posted it on Instagram and tagged Philip and he responded.  He's so nice!  Very encouraging!  Since I stayed quite close to his recipe and didn't stray much I won't put the exact recipe here on my blog but I will tell you that I used the following ingredients it in...Nutritional Yeast, Hemp Butter, Lemon Juice, Basil, Garlic, and Turmeric.

Again...I will be blogging throughout the day today and I encourage you to visit again!  This is my 2nd blog post of the day so far so please scroll down, too!  Thanks so much!

Raw Food & Mono Meals

 I took a few days off but I'm back and have LOTS to post about!!!  This is one of them!  Fresh Produce!  Raw Food!  Mono Meals!  Clean & Healthy eating and Snacking!  I also posted these on Instagram.  I'm working on adding additional tabs to my site, here, and will try and connect other places you can find me.  I've made some new friends on Instagram and have really enjoyed their posts.  I've also found out a lot of them have blogs so I will be linking up to them soon!  Let me know if you are on Instagram and I will FOLLOW you on there, as well.  As you can see I have Apples I bought this past weekend!  They are Organic Gala Apples.  My area is a little short on Organic foods so when I find them at a good price I try and buy them!  I found these at Aldi.  This post is also a little earlier for my Midweek Munchies Post but I really stocked up so I will have more to post on Wednesday - stay tuned for that too!

 I also found Avocados!  They tend to be expensive here so when I saw them for 68 cents at Aldi's I couldn't resist.  I just found out they will be even cheap on Wednesday so I hope to go back!  They should be 48 cents then!  Woot!  I bought two this past weekend and ate one already.  I usually try and buy at least half of them ripe and the other half not ripe so I have time on them.

 I also got some Blackberries!  Another thing I usually don't buy because of the price...but these were only 99 cents!  YAY!  I brought them with me today and might have them for my lunch today or breakfast tomorrow!  I'm thinking about using them in with Grapenuts & Coconut Milk!

 Mangoes!  LOVE Mangoes!  Another fruit that is pricey here but they had these crates of 6 at Sam's Club for about $6...I HAD to get them!  As you can see I already ate half of them.  I'm getting my husband into them, too!  But they have to be almost over-ripe for him to eat them!  We had 1 each and split the 3rd for a snack yesterday!  It was AWESOME!

And I got these little cuties at Aldi's too!  Mini Sweet Red Peppers!  I haven't eaten any of them yet but might try and do something with at least half of them tonight.  I am thinking at least half of them I might slice up and dip in hummus and/or Guacamole.

Now that we are Sam's Club members I hope to get more bulk fruits and veggies but the closest one is a good 40 minute drive from our house so it won't be consistent...but when we do I hope our trip is meaningful.  I'm also sprouting again which I will do another post about in the next few days!  Right now I am sprouting lentils!  So far - So Good - on the attempt!

Since it's just ME that eats this way in my house...it's EASY for me to do Mono Meals.  Much of what I have learned about Mono Meals came from Dan McDonald (AKA The Life Regenerator) and Dara Dubinet!  Both of which are on YouTube as well as many other Social Media Outlets.  I have Dara on Facebook and I'm super excited because Dan recently LIKED one of my photos on Instagram!  It was of my Lentil Sprouts!  Woot!

Participating In:
Marvelous Monday
Monday Mellow Yellows

MY Wee Beastie

My friend OPAL is a super creative lady!  She was blogging about some of her creations - which I LOVE - and she was recently blogging about how her daughter's friend LOVES Owls!  Check out the blog post HERE.  The Owl sort of reminded me of a friend of mine - locally - who creates WEE BEASTIES.  I absolutely LOVE them.  I told Opal I would blog about them a bit.  Ellen has a shop on Etsy where she sells them and that's located HERE.

The photo above is the WEE BEASTIE I purchased at a local vendor show a few years ago!  It still sits in the same place!  On my desk at work!  It makes me smile often!  I LOVE the lil guy!  He has LOTS of personality!  I have him on a file fold tray ledge where he can sit.  As you can see he guards my computer tower - as well as my NuNaturals items and some of my Tea.

The photo I took a while back and edited thru an iPhone App and posted on my InstaGram App from there.