Vegan Finds, Changes, & Updates!

I was going back thru a slew of photos I have been sitting on since my hiatus and realized just how many I still have yet to post - to blog about - and to share!  This post will be just as busy as yesterday's if not BUSIER!  First I wanted to share with you a salsa I made.  I was lazy the other day and opened a cheap storebought salsa.  It was pretty underwhelming.  Once I added sweet corn and black beans it made all the difference in the world!

Before fair week I went to Wegman's for one last shopping session before all the fair craziness!  My mother and I went and had their salad bar.  This is what I was able to find and it was tasty!  There were 2 kinds of greens for salad base, pickled sweet peppers, butternut squash zoodles, carrots, mushrooms, various seeds, cabbage, peas, artichokes, etc.  I believe I topped it with a Pomegranate Balsamic of sorts. 

One of the items I finally broke down and purchased was Miyoko's Vegan Butter.  I had not yet tried this because it's usually quite pricey.  I remember it being on sale by a buck or two so I figured WHY NOT.

I grabbed a package of these to have in the camper freezer.  I have had them before and with the right dipping sauce, they are pretty good.  

In my travels over the last couple of months I have been seeing more and more places carrying Lenny & Larry's!  I remember having them when they first hit the food shows last year and enjoyed the ones I tried up to that point.  I was just so excited that I saw these at our local Sheetz that I had to grab one!

I picked up these but I cannot remember where I got them.  I want to say they were over at the new Giant Eagle in Erie but I could be wrong.  They were pretty tasty.  I would probably purchase them again if I came across them.

These Vegan Potato and Onion Pierogies were something left from last last Ohio Trip.  They were YUMMY and I remember making a Cashew Based Alfredo Sauce which was even better than the Pierogies themselves!  I was just sooooo thrilled to find a storebought Vegan Pierogies that I couldn't pass them up!

About a month ago or more I made my first online BRANDLESS purchase.  There were a few things that didn't go as planned with my order but it all worked out in the end.  This was one of the things I bought and I am so happy I did!  It's delicious!  And I'm not going to lie...I recently had a couple of spoonsful stand alone and straight up.  I know that's weird but it was tasty and I bet would make a good soup!

One thing I made before Fair Week kicked in was this Lentil Curry.  I just used what I had on hand (which wasn't much) but I made do with what I did have.  Lentils from a Halal Market in Buffalo, Frozen Spinach, Canned Coconut Milk, Canned Stewed Tomatoes, and some spices.  It turned out fine and dandy!

Next up is this Vegan Camping Food Plate.  I have to apologize for the foam plate.  I don't usually buy them or use them.  It was someone elses and it was a thrown together potluck meal.  My mother made Baked Beans which were vegan and no one even knew.  I made the Sweet and Sugary Tomato Salad and there wasn't much of that left.  I used an organic and vegan natural sugar for it.  I also made the Vegan Macaroni Salad which is now being requested by many on the fairgrounds.  Of course that makes me smile.  I'm glad I'm not the only one eating the vegan stuff...eventho...the other people aren't vegan.

One of the new things over at the VIP Tent during fair week was the 'throw back' looking popcorn machine.  The accidently vegan kicker was the 'buttery' look...it was actually a non-dairy coconut oil base.  YAY!

Our fair was the first full week of August but this past weekend we went to a neighboring fair.  We were treated to a special 'ice cream' and because it wasn't vegan I wanted to participate somehow.  I noticed they had frozen bananas on a stick.  I asked if they could do one PLAIN and she said yes.  Oddly...I HATE BANANAS!!!!  But I thought I would step out of my lil box of comfort and try it.  When it was completely frozen it wasn't too bad.  When it started to thaw I couldn't handle the banana taste or aroma.  I ate what I could and shocked my husband in the process!

I did find another accidently vegan option this past weekend, too!  This was a Blooming Potato!  I asked the vendor about the oil and the fryers all they used in the fryer was potatoes and the oil base was vegetable.  There were tons of toppings you could opt for but I stuck with the basic potato and hit up the condiment bar.  I put onion, relish, and ketchup on them and they were VERY filling!  It was a WHOLE POTATO afterall!  I shared with about 6 other people, too!  It was a real winner!

Not sure if I mentioned on the blog but I mentioned on my IG that our town recently got a new Ollie's Bargain Outlet!  I used to visit the one in Erie when I was around and always had to hit up their book section for vegan cookbooks!  Now I don't have to go to Erie!  I have one right here!  So far I have bought at least 4 or 5 discount vegan books there and added them to my collection.  This was one of them.  It was only $2.99.

I absolutely LOVE this photo I was able to take of one of the stray cats in our neighborhood.  I felt bad for her that she was stray but she seems to be fine with being outside.  Prior to leaving for fair she was laying and sleeping on our front steps and stoops.  As soon as I approached her she would run away.  I haven't seen her in about a month.  I hope she's ok.  I always worry about our busy street and animals getting hit.

Another thing I haven't updated you all about in a while is my adorable niece who FINALLY started walking the past couple of weeks.  My mom and dad watch her 3 times a week and took her to a local park yesterday.  Here she is with my mother and their dog Lexi.

And speaking of furkids...here are my two pups!  They have been doing more and more of this since we lost Paco.  Riley is about 17 years old and our feral cat Charlie is 18 so I'm afraid what the future may bring with the two of them being older at the same time.  

Cricket is about 5 now, I think.  She is still the Queen of the Castle.

And another thing I forgot to tell you was that I finally cut my hair a couple of months ago and think I'm already due for another haircut!  With my last two haircuts they cut off about 14 inches of hair!  WOWZA!

Mixing Leftovers & A New Mug!

Here's one of 3 new mugs I bought over the weekend!  It's from a local vendor that I couldn't find online anywhere but HAD to post this bit of pottery!  LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  I will save the other 2 mugs for a later date.

As for my Food Challenge for this week - I didn't spend any additional money yesterday on food and used leftovers and added it to something I had a little bit left of in my pantry...pasta!  It turned out tasty!  It was a bunch of stuff thrown together that is for sure!  I ate it for dinner last night and the rest today for lunch!

I used the leftover black beans, and leftover cauliflower rice, carrots, and peas from the night before and added it to elbow mac.  I used - all to taste - Vegan Mayo, Dijon Mustard, and Garlic...YUM!

This is a different take on a Vegan Macaroni Salad.

Also a good way to get in more veggies for the day!

I was pleasantly surprised!

Tabouli Mediterranean Snack Bar & Cafe

I will have multiple posts today so be sure to check back!  First up I'm VERY EXCITED to tell you that there is a NEW restaurant in town!  Yup!  In the small town where I live there is a new eating establishment that opened on Monday called Tabouli.  It's a Mediterranean Snack Bar and Cafe.  They have MANY vegetarian and vegan options available and they are clearly marked on their menu as such!  None of my co-workers have ever had Mediterranean Food (other than Greek Mediterranean Food, that is) so I brought a few things back for them to try!

In the first photo above is their Falafel made with Chickpeas, Onions, Parsley, and seasoning.  Some of you know I'm a HUGE fan of Falafel so of course I adored this!  I will note...their Tahini Sauce is made with Yogurt so I offered that to a co-worker as it isn't vegan.  Their Hummus is the vegan option for this.  Both are shown.

The other photo is of their Lentil Soup.  It's a thinner soup and the Lentils appeared to be ground and not whole.  The caramelized onions kicked the flavor up a notch!  YUM!

I know I will be ordering a LOT from Tabouli so be on the look out for more posts!  It's a block from where I work so I'm sure they will get to know me real well - and I - them!

Improvements with Aches & Pains

Earlier this year (I can't believe I'm already saying that - it's March!) I was telling you about some aches and pains I was having that seemed to be increasing.  I also told you that I was looking into ways to improve them.  I feel like I have done that (somewhat) successfully.  Of course some days are better than others.  I have to tell you that I haven't been diagnosed with anything and I'm not really self-diagnosing either.  But what I can tell you is that almost everything I was dealing with lined up to fibromyalgia systems.  Steps I have taken to help with my systems have helped a great deal.  After doing research on the subject I found out that many doctors will say that it's true if you have 13 (or 15 - depending on who you talk to) out of 18 pain points.  I can say that I have different levels of pain and/or aches in 16 out of 18 of them.  

So what have I done to make these improvements?  

First and foremost I have upped my B Vitamin intake.  I have also added Spirulina and Chlorella tablets.  I've always LOVED Turmeric so I have increased my intake in that as well!  I have been wearing different bras for the past couple of months.  They are high impact sports bras.  I have changed the way I sleep.  I used to be a side sleeper and have changed to laying on my back.

I have picked up many things from Forks Over Knives, Dr. McDougall, and the Hallelujah Diet.  All of which are plant based.  Each day I have been trying to learn more and more and implement something new.  So far I have seen a HUGE difference.  I will continue to report on things I find to be helpful.

Raw Vegan Juices of the Moment

Yesterday I mentioned how behind I was in posts for taking a little bit of time off from blogging but I didn't know how far back I was logging stuff until I went to edit photos!  OMG!

So this post will be ALL juicing and juices!  This is the first of at least 2 (or 3) posts today so be sure to check back!  I have so much to share with you over the next few days and weeks!

First up...take a look at this rich, deep color of the Blueberry, Raspberry, Grape, Lemon Juice my mom and I recently did!  I believe this was made out of 1 container of raspberries (maybe 2), 2 containers of blueberries, about 2 pounds of grapes, and 1 whole lemon.  This made well over a quart.  My father LOVED it so he kept the quart!

This one is simply Plum Watermelon Juice.

We bought a watermelon that wasn't very flavorful so instead of 'chucking it' we decided to juice it!  We used about a pound or more of watermelon and 3 pounds of plums!  YUM!

The funny thing is that my mom LOVES watermelon but doesn't like watermelon juice by itself.  Lucky for me I LOVE BOTH!  I did find out that my dad like plum juice...he also like things with lemon in them were as my mother doesn't.  It's fun learning what each one likes to zone in on and how taste buds are different!

What are your favorite things to blend with watermelon?  I wanted to do Strawberry Watermelon but I wasn't able to find any strawberries YET.

Hubby has been CRAVING Orange Juice.  Since he was diagnosed with Crohn's he hasn't been able to drink it because of the pulp.  I won't drink store bought OJ because it freaks me out...most OJ here in the US has funky ingredients in it (some even contain fish or fish bi-products!!!!)  So it's been a while since I had a good, solid, NATURAL, freshly squeezed cup of OJ.

This was great!  We took about 3 to 5 pounds of navel oranges and juiced them.  It made more than you see here but for the jar I brought home for my husband it was less because we strained it 3 more times.  I'm SO HAPPY he liked it!  It didn't seem to affect his stomach either!

I've heard that the Tribest SlowStar Juicer I use is one of the best to yield more juice and less pulp!  I will try and post a few videos in the near future!

Next up...Pineapple Kale Blueberry!

Here we used 1 container of Blueberries, a whole Pineapple, and about 6 to 10 leaves of kale.  The kale I used was of the sweeter variety and smelled like cabbage.  It was white with dark green highlights!

I will say this smelled weird.  I will also say this is one I sipped on a bit and revisited the following morning.  Word to the wise on this one...if juicing and refrigerating overnight you most likely will have to restrain this in the morning!  Some of the pulp that got thru the juicer and strainer expanded overnight!

ALL of these would make FANTASTIC Freeze Pops, too!  I have some more juices to share with you in the near future and I know my parents are both excited to be trying new juices so I am sure this will be at least once week or every other week I will have new ones to share!  If you have any suggestions let me know in comments!

Gingerlily Essential Oil & Depression

I truly believe certain things happen for certain reasons.  Perhaps there is a clear reason or maybe just a coincidence that really makes you think and half chuckle.  Either way I had something happen to me just now that fits in that category!  I was going thu some of my old earrings and mementos that dated back to my college years and came across 2 items I didn't even know I had...Gingerlily Essential Oil and a spray that was the essential oil equivalent to a cologne.  It was called a Positivity Spray!  I sprayed one small squirt on each wrist.  It smelled lovely.  More importantly I found the following info on Gingerlily Essential Oil and wondered if I located it out of the blue for a reason...I've been 'down' and 'down on myself' lately and could really use this in more ways than one...

"In this fast moving world, people are packed with their busy work schedules and suffering from mental exhaustion and depression problems. This oil is very effective in providing the relief from your mental stress by calming & revitalizing your mind as well as body. It is used broadly in aroma therapy treatment to get relief from the nervous related problems such as stress, mental exhaustion, anxiety, depression etc." ~ Website Source/Quote

Poms, Snips, & Crystals

It's been a rough week.  But since this is my positive and uplifting space My Blissful Journey I won't vent here.  Instead I will focus on a few things that made me smile yesterday.

A small local grocery store near here had pomegranates on sale for quick sale.  They were VERY ripe but you could get 2 for 79 cents!  I grabbed a duo of them and might try and go back to get more depending how the two I got look when I crack them open later today.

Parsnips!  Parsnips are a food that I don't eat a lot of.  Not because I don't like them - mostly because they aren't a big thing in my area and they don't keep many in stock at the stores.  And when they do they aren't the cheapest thing.  I don't really have many recipes and/or ideas in my creative arsenal for them either.

I branched out.  Yesterday I grabbed two of them.  They cost $3.71 for the two of them.  I would like to do a raw vegan rice recipe with them soon!

One of the many things I am learning about at the moment are crystals and chakras!  I ordered two of these cones and should get them tomorrow.  The orange and the yellow.  I'm thinking about getting the red, too, because of how I tested on a chakra test and daily life, habits, characteristics, and interests.  I hope to put them on my desk at work and surround myself with more positive things.  Another thing I am getting back into is Mandalas, too, and will be putting some of those in my office when I complete them.

Vegan MoFo ~ New Friends!

Today's prompt for Vegan MoFo is...Reach Out!  Make a new vegan friend!  Well I think that is what makes Vegan MoFo great!  Each year I find new vegan friends online that I treasure long after the month is up!  I consider ANYONE who has visited my blog and commented to be in that group this year.  You can visit them on my BLOG ROLL post and if I have missed anyone please let me know!  Someone I really want to throw a SHOUT OUT to is someone I 'met' prior to this years Vegan MoFo and I absolutely LOVE their blog!  This person is great!  Some may know them as Vegan Peace others may know them as Vegan Power or perhaps you know them by the name of My Cat Loves Daiya which is the title of her blog!  No matter what you call her she's great and so is her blog!


I'm so happy I found her blog or she found mine either way she's great!  Funny thing is - she used to live about an hour to an hour and a half from me and I didn't even know it until about a week before she moved to the other side of the country!  BUMMER!  BUT...at least we have the blog world, right!  Another reason I would like to do a shout out to this person is because she's a great commenter and last week she made a comment on one of my posts and suggested I do a Tomato Soup!  Well, I took her up on the challenge and made the soup you see here!  It's a Vegan Tomato Cream Soup!  It only has 3 main ingredients with a few optional ingredients or ingredients you can add to taste.  Here's what's in it... 5 Tomatoes, 1 Avocado, 4 Sun Dried Tomatoes, and Basil Leaves, Sea Salt, and Cayenne to taste.  Special Thanks to Vegan Peace for this suggestion/challenge!

Domestic Displays, Freebies, and Dobson Fly

I still have a few posts-worth from Fair Week but it just occurred to me I have a slew of other things I need to blog about and FAST!  So I will most likely be doubling up on posts for a while!

Check out this shot of the jams, jellies, and other canning goods from the week of fair in the Domestic Buildings!

With all of the rides, animals, and live concerts at fair I think sometimes the Domestic Displays aren't as talked about but with our county fair they are celebrated NICELY!  There were TONS of crafts as well.  A family friend of ours won 1st and 2nd place for some of his veggies, too!  I loved seeing walls and walls of produce whether it be fresh or canned.

What's your favorite thing to can?

Tuesday - the day of our headlining concert - is the day we usually give away a few thousand plastic travel mugs from a local company that has become known world wide.

Here's a photo of our mug giveaway!  People go CRAZY for them!

Because the company increases their 'going green' practices each year we had TONS of different kinds of mugs to give away this time around.  Many of their unused mugs are melted down and the plastic recycled/reused so they don't store as many of them any more like they used to.

While interviewing some local and state politicians I noticed this weird bug directly behind them.  The photo doesn't do it justice, tho, the bug was about 5 or 6 inches in length.  Longer than my finger.  At the top of it's head you can see it has claws!!!!  It has pretty scary but we left it alone for the most part and the next day it was gone on its own accord.

From the research I've done it seems to be a Female Dobson Fly,

What was weird was they are known as night time bugs but this was seen in the middle of the day.

I also found out that there are about 60 different species of Dobson Flies.  Pretty interesting stuff.

If I remember correctly Opal's daughter used to like bugs - perhaps she will get a kick out of this one, too!

Media Lunch & Media Happenings

This week you will see a lot of posts having to do with last weeks' county fair.  Yesterday I blogged about the food I consumed and a few furry friends I made.  Today I thought I would tell you a bit about the media side including the Media Lunch as well as some of our radio interviews during our live remote broadcasts.

First up - the Media Lunch.  There were over 50 people who attended and speakers included various fair board members and volunteers as well as a politician and a few people from our vacation bureau.

These beautiful arrangements were the table centerpieces!

Most of the attendees had chicken but there were two of us who didn't consume it.  The one was a girl I have known for years and she has Celiac and Wheat allergies and I don't consume animal products.  We were so blessed that the organizers made us a special mixed greens salad with veggies and cute strawberries topped with Balsamic.  It was wonderful!  And greatly appreciated!  The main organizer was the wife of one of the fair board directors and her former in laws were strict vegetarians so she understood where I was coming from!  A great time was had by all during the Media Lunch.

This year there was a new bench dedicated to our former morning show host, sales manager, and dear friend who passed away from cancer about a year and a half ago.

Here's a photo of the bench - it turned out wonderful!  One of the fair board directors made it!  We placed it in front of our radio booth and will also store it in there during the winter months, too, to protect it from the elements!

We were able to interview so many different people throughout the week!  It was fun!

One of the interviews we did was with The Swon Brothers on Tuesday afternoon.  They performed live on stage later that evening.  The brothers were super nice.  If you are fans of the TV Show "The Voice" they may ring a bell to you!  They did a great interview that afternoon and were a couple of fun guys!  You can see me here with my ponytail which I sported most of the week for a few different reasons.  One being I need to get my hair trimmed and colored and the other reason being it was just easier to deal with during the week with all of the running around we were doing.  We had a pretty neat set-up then again we have been doing this each year it seems to get better each time we do it.

When I do my post about the 4 concerts last week I will get into each performance a bit more.

But in the meantime here's a closer look at the interview we did.

For the most part the weather was pretty good.

It poured pretty hard core on Monday afternoon and evening and sprinkled a bit after that but mostly it was bearable weather-wise.

Another funny thing about being on the radio during fair week is everyone wants you to do things out of your comfort zone.  My husband has always wanted to operate a huge tractor and a few of the other track guys put me on one to tease my husband.  I got to operate one before he did.  He was so jealous.  But he was able to drive one around during the parade they did on the track later in the week.  Here's a snapshot of the two of us on a huge John Deere Tractor.  I was sitting funny so it's not all that flattering but my eyes look really blue - don't they?

WNY VegFest - Part II - The Juices & Food!

Today's post is all about the juices and food we had at WNY VegFest on Sunday!  Be sure to scroll down for the speakers and other photos from yesterday!

As for the first photo in this post I HAD to give major shout outs to the folks at Ashker's Juice Bar in Buffalo!  They really pumped up VegFest full of color with their juices!  It was so awesome seeing so many people walking around with fresh juiced juices!  I really hope more juice business start opening up in the region!

Check out this first one...Heated Heart...with beet, carrot, lemon, sage, apple, and ginger!  It was SO tempting...I almost bought one but decided on a different one which you will see in a moment.

The one on the right of this photo is the one I opted for it was called Clean Greens and it had cucumber, kale, celery, apple, parsley, and mint!
It was FAB.

I wanted to try all of them!  As you can see there was a Zinger that had orange, lemon, carrot, apple, and ginger.  Then there was one called Golden Child and that one had gold beet, ginger, carrot, apple, and turmeric.

As you can see in the back there is a sign for their newest addition and I just HAD to get that, too!  That was the Watermelon Slushie and it had Watermelon, Lemon, cucumber, apple, and beet and it was AMAZING!

Here's a pic of me with the Watermelon Slushie with my green juice in tow.  We saved that for the upcoming speaker.  My sister and I both had some but I probably drank 75% of it to her 25%.  It was great!

My sister doesn't like watermelon - actually it doesn't like her.  My father has the same problem.  Not me...I could live off of it.  My mom and I usually treat ourselves when watermelon season is here.

We were sitting in a grassed area re-grouping before the speakers.  What you can't see in this photo is that we were watching and listening to one of the musicians on their outdoor stage.

The weather was great this year and I really think there were at least 5 (if not 10) times the amount of people at the event this year!

This was one of the first things we had when we first got to VegFest!  It was from a local bakery D & M Confections!  This is their Vegan Oatmeal Blueberry Banana Cupcake!  It was YUMMY!  My sister and I split this, too!

I don't usually eat sweets mostly because there are no local vegan dessert options near me and I'm certainly NOT a baker!

D & M Confections is located in Tonawanda, NY, and about 2 hours from where I live.  It's not a 100% vegan bakery but at least they have options, right?  I will say that THIS option was awesome!

The color was out of this world, too!

Taking a look at the Food and Food Trucks this year!  This place was there last year, too!  I was tempted by many of their menu items and probably would have ate more if I could but it seemed like we were eating and drinking all day!

The BEST part - at VegFest - everything is VEGAN - so I don't really have to think too much about what I can eat!  YAY!  I know this might sound silly to some people but where I live that isn't the case often!

There was at least 1 food truck that was missing from the previous year but there were many new food vendors this year which was AWESOME!  And some of them weren't even trucks but tents regardless the options were terrific!  There was a stand that did vegan nachos and another that had vegan ice cream.  I would have gotten some ice cream but didn't want to walk around and eat a cone.

Amy's Place in Buffalo was there with Amy's Truck!  Years ago I visited Amy's Place and LOVED it!  The truck stop was packed so we didn't grab food from there but I want to visit their location again, soon!

There were representatives from Strong Hearts Cafe in Syracuse, NY, at the event and I wasn't able to meet Joel but I saw him there!  My sister and I are planning a day trip to Syracuse with Strong Hearts Cafe in mind and top priority!  I'm sure we will find other things to do while we are there, too!  It's about a 3 and a half hour drive but I know it will be FUN!

One tent we did stop at for food was this place!  The SoHo Project!  The one guy was telling a fellow festival go-er that it was a proof of concept type food business.  The business helps their non-profit and the non-profit is to help animals.  I loved the idea!

My sister and I each had a quinoa bowl from here which you will see mine in just a moment.  We both opted for the Cilantro Lime Dressing.  Mine with WITH jalapenos and my sister's was WITHOUT.

My sister said it was one of the BEST quinoa bowls she's ever had!  In addition to quinoa it had black beans, avocado, corn, lime, cilantro, and lettuce!

We didn't get a "candy" apple but they sounded wonderful!

And here's what my quinoa bowl looked like!

All I want to eat now is variations of quinoa bowls!  They were so tasty!  I do make them often so it's not that much of a stretch to do them but it's nice to try other people's bowls, too, right?

So as you can see we had plenty to eat and drink during WNY VegFest!  It was bigger and better than last year and I know it will just continue to grow and I'm so excited about that!

I still have at least one more blog post I will be doing about VegFest so stay tuned!  I want to share many of the vendors that were there, too!