three shooby doo

It's going to be a tough one for me to update this on a normal basis.. we cancelled our internet (even though it has not been working in over a month so thats not really a difference) and so currently i'm updating from my school library, even though i'm not technically a student anymore haha.

Anyway!

Things have been going pretty well. I have my ups and downs, but for the most part there have been many more ups :)

First off - Jason and I are engaged!!
We left for Disney World on the 12th of june and he proposed to me the night before.. :) :) I'm super excited to be his fiance, he means the world to me.

I really want to say what a fabulous time I had in Disney World though! Not only was it a ton of fun and great to spend all that time with Jason, but they were VERY vegan friendly! It made it super easy to get really delicious vegan meals there :)

For dinners, we had reservations each night at a difference place in one of the parks. Our first night we ate at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. Other than an awkward entrance from the host, the meal wasn't that bad. I don't have a shot of it, but it was not my favorite of the meals..basically a pasta and veggie dish. It was a cute set up though, set as a theme of a 50's kitchen.

The second night we ate at Marrakesh Restaurant in Morocco in the Epcot park.


They definitely had a great option for vegans! For our appetizer, we split the Moroccan Salad combo for two, which had hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, and tabouli with crisp pita chips!



My meal was the Vegetable Couscous. The couscous was really flavourful and fluffy and the vegetables were grilled perrrfectly :)




The live entertainment of music and a belly dancer definitely added points to the meal :)

This could have been one of my favorite meals while in Disney..

Another night we ate at the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater in Hollywood Studios.


The inside was so cool and creatively decorated! You got to eat in the back of a car :) With a huge "outdoor" movie screen in front playing old sci-fi clips. It was definitely a really cool experience for dinner.


My entree there was Seared Marinated Tofu. It was grilled tofu with a mango relish sauce with veggies and rice. The sauce was a-mazing!



What great presentation they had there as well! This probably ties with the moroccan meal as my favorite. The tofu was grilled so well, not too mushy but not overly-crisp. :)

We also ate at China in Epcot one of the nights too. I had the vegetarian stir fry, which was tofus and veggies stirfried with rice and an asian sauce. Not the most exciting meal in Disney, but it was just great to have the option at every restaurant we went to.
Also exciting - at a lot of the ice cream stands (including the one in our hotel) you can specially ask for Rice Dream or Tofutti ice cream! I had the vanilla rice dream one night, wasn't the best, but nice that they even had it!..but next time I'd ask for tofutti instead. :)

Lunches were pretty easy to do around the parks too - most of them had a veggie burger and salad option and a few of them had a grilled veggie sandwich option as well. For breakfasts, our hotel had soy milk in the fridge with cereal as well as other quick options. I think it's pretty great that Disney was able to accomodate a vegan diet so well, and made the trip even better :)


(Us in animal kingdom..which was one of my favorites, the giraffes were so cute!!)
It was a fantastic trip and the vegan options were great,...hopefully I'll be able to update sometime again soon! Hope everyone is enjoying their summers :)

guess whos back? back again..

It's been a LONG 4 1/2 months..but I'm back, and I really really REALLY want to get back to posting regularly and checking up on everyone else's a-mazing blogs! :)

So what have I done since January?
Well, to add to the "food obsessed blogging cliche'"...i ended up going in-treatment for an eating disorder at the beginning of April. Yeah, not my proudest or most glorious moment, but I did it and I'm out and yeah.
I did learn a lot being there, and I hope it carries with me..
One thing that sure doesn't fly at an eating disorder treatment place is being vegan..vegetarian was allowed though which helped a bit..
And yes, for the first time in 2 years I ate eggs (well..egg beaters) and dairy. Did I die? Did I get sick from the lack of it in my diet? No..
I ate it, and carried on.
But since I've been out, I, of course, went back to an all vegan diet and will continue to do so for the rest of my life :) :)

Since I've been out I still go to an outpatient place 3 evenings a week, so no worries, I'm still receiving some sort of care for it.

I don't usually get that personal on my blog..mostly just keep it to the food stuff, but I feel as though it's an important thing to address. Especially since SOO many blogs out there, vegan or not, are from people who are either struggling with an eating disorder or are recovered and showing inspiration for others. So I know I can relate to a lot of readers and other bloggers and not feel too off.

But hold on..that's not allll I've been dealing with since January..
Even though I had to go away in April, I still was able to finish all my tests and papers for my LAST semester of college...thus being able to walk and graduate last weekend!!



^My brother, me and my sis outside of my graduation! :)

After the graduation ceremony, we had a get together with my family and my roommate's family at our favorite Mexican place, Adobe Cafe. They catered the food, and Vegan Treats was the dessert!



The peanut butter bomb cupcakes..definitely a fave :)

My graduation was exciting and I'm SOO glad to be done with college..at least this part of it anyway. I know grad school will be in the somewhat soon future, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy living, the summer, and trying to be care free.

This past weekend I got to try a newww vegan place in Philly that I've been wanting to go to for a while!
I've been to Govinda's before, the sandwich shop with the amazing vegan cheesesteaks and tuna wraps, but I've never eaten at the fine dining part of it.



We made a reservation there, just in case, but when we got there and for the majority of our meal, we were the only people eating there. However, they have many tables downstairs, and even more upstairs! You'd think they'd be busier..

Despite it being pretty empty, the food was definitely worth it :) Plus, they're BYOB, so bring a bottle of wine and it's even more enjoyable ;)



We started off with the black bean and roasted red pepper dip to share. It came with spinach chips as well to dip in it, and had melted vegan cheese throughout it. Definitely would get this again, the seasoning on the beans were soo good and I was glad they were whole and not pureed. The roasted red peppers were my favorite part though :)



For my meal, I got the vegan chicken caesar salad. Caesar salad used to be one of my favorites before going vegan ( i was unaware that the dressing had anchovies in it until my freshman year of college..thanks emily! haha) so I was really excited to try Govinda's vegan version. At first, I couldn't tell the difference between if I was eating a crouton or a piece of "chicken"...but I was able to differentiate between the two after having pieces of both haha. It was good though, the dressing was an orange-ish color though, as opposed to the traditional creamy looking caesar dressing, but it was really good anyway.



Jason got the Grilled Pepper Steak...which was pieces of seitan and grilled vegetables with an a-mazing sauce and then a bunch of rice in the middle haha :)
It was really good though, and the seitan was cooked perfectly. His meals are usually the better of the two haha ;)



Dessert was awesome, of course. From Vegan Treats, was the peanut butter bomb cake! Anything with their peanut butter bombs on top is a favorite :)

For brunch the next day, we went to Honey's Sit 'n Eat on north 4th street. I've heard about this place before for brunch and that they had a few vegan options..



However, as far as brunch went, the only option was really the tofu scramble, which was okay because I really wanted it anyway. They also had veggie sausage, which Jason got with his non-vegan brunch, but he said was pretty good. The tofu was good, but most scrambles usually taste the same..can't really mess them up!
I'm not sure if I'd go back here for brunch again, as I would have to get the same thing.. Mi-Lah definitely has a great vegan brunch though on the weekends, with TONS of options! :)

Hopefully I'll be posting again soon and keep up with this again,I've really missed it!
<3

so much for resolutions

Let's pretend that I have updated once a week like I said I would.. ;)

Anyway! Unfortunately, I don't know where my cord for my camera is, which has a TON of pictures and good food that I've made and gotten in the past few weeks that I really want to share..but I can't seem to do that without uploading them :( boo.

Hopefully I'll find a cord I can use or find a place to buy one soon though...
I do have a few foods from before then though that i've made..(from thanksgiving, wow that was a while ago) BUT they were good regardless so I'll share :)

For the meal


This was a cabbage salad that my mom made, and it was abbbbbsolutely delish! Not quite traditional thanksgiving-ish food..but it would be really good to whip up anytime. It had ramen noodles in it, which added a nice different crunch to it with vinegar and cabbage. She has the recipe, but I'd definitely make it again soon..



For dessert I made two things. This was the apple cobbler that I made, which was a lot like the one I made last year. I used granny smith apples, peeled and corred, with a crumble on top consisting of oats, brown sugar, and vegan margarine. It was really good and not toooo sweet which was nice with the apples.



I've never had pumpkin pie since this one. Last year I attempted to try pumpkin pie by making a chocolate pumpkin pie... I think I ate one bite and couldn't eat any more. I really did not like it, maybe it was the chocolate mixed with pumpkin that threw me off. Anyway, I did think this pie was eat-able. edible? hmm...
haha it's quite strange, I really like pumpkin flavored things, like coffee and tea and such..but not quite a fan of pumpkin pie. I'm a strange one, I know.
Other people enjoyed it though, so I blame my tastebuds :)

Vegan Pumpkin Pie (that other people will like if you don't like pumpkin pie) ;)

1 16 oz can pureed pumpkin
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2-3 T cornstarch
1 package of silken tofu
9" vegan pie shell

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Blend pumpkin and sugar. Add salt, spices, cornstarch, and tofu and mix well. Pour into the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 and bake for an hour. Chill and serve.

Not going to lie, when I first blended it all and put it in the shelll, I thought woo its done! and was about to put it in the fridge without baking it! haha such a pumpkin pie newwwwbie. :)

So sorry for old shtuff, however they're quite good anyway and needed to be touched on ;)

I have lots of good stuff to share (think AWESOME reviews of products from Christmas, as well as a recipe from Candle 79!! )

So I'm hoping that I'll be able to find something to upload my pictures for soon!
Off to class in a bit, only the 2nd week and I'm already feeling the bore of classes...hurry up may!! :)

2010 for Vegan Gal

So as 2010 is quickly approaching (as in less than 12 hours!!), I felt it quite appropriate to get back on here and update one last time in 2009! (ooh i'm quite the poet..kind of)

Anyway, I'm very excited for the start of this year. 2010 = my graduation year!
one more semester to go..for undergrad anyway!
Also, as exciting and amazing that 2009 was for me, I feel that 2010 can only get even better..so that's definitely something to look forward to :)

I don't have any recipes or food reviews or pictures to post right now, I have plenty of them from the past month or so..but I want to dedicate this post to saying goodbye to 2009 and hellllo to 2010! But no worries, I'll get to them eventually ;) Let's just say I got a spiralizer for Christmas and I know how to use it..woo!

What was so amazing for me in 2009?
Well within the first month of it I met Jason, who is amazing beyond belief and I've fallen quite in love with him..so that alone can make the whole year amazing ;)


In March I saw Chelsea Handler, my favvvvorite, live at the Tower Theater. Which was ...awesome!


I also spent 5 weeks of the summer in London with Emily. Which I posted a ton about all the awesome vegan places and cool spots we found. It was definitely a life experience that I will always be very grateful for.


I got through my first semester of my senior year in college, which was a toughie- (hellooo advanced research project) but managed to get through it with quite good grades! (hellooo A in advanced research!! awesome!)

I was able to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at home with my family, which is something I am very thankful for. And also that I saw Chloe one last time before she passed away this past month.

(My brother, me, and my sister last year..my mother hoarded all the pics from christmas and thanksgiving this year!)


So! That brings us to this new year. And like many others, I definitely have some resolutions that I am going to be working towards.

For one, This Blog. Vegan Gal is something that I never want to give up. I know I've become less connected to it as far as blogging as much as I used to (used to be a couple times a week! now i'm lucky if its been a couple a month!). I still read others blogs all the time though, and love getting inspiration from them!
So my resolution for Vegan Gal is to blog at LEAST once a week. I'm really hoping I succeed at this one.


Two - In connection to blogging at least once a week, that means I'll have to get cooking more often! Being in college, things get quite hectic and leaves very little time to make fun vegan meals. So, I'm going to try to get in the kitchen more often and cook cook cook! :)

Three - This one is more of something I want to continue doing as opposed to start doing. This past year I've realized I've finally let myself rid of the things that I was not happy with, and fill them with things that do make me happy. I want to continue this and not let myself fall into places that I was not happy with them. Examples being - for many years of my life I was in a relationship(s) that I knew myself I was not happy with at all. But I stayed there, comfort perhaps? But I finally got rid of that and now I'm in a relationship where I'm very very happy. Also, I worked at Applebee's for 2 1/2 years..not liking the food I was serving people, not liking some rude customers I dealt with, and not liking the way management was - in other words I didn't like it at all! Finally, I no longer work there and now I work at Mugshots and I'm much happier there :) So I'm planning on keeping this up!!

Four - Do well in my last undergraduate semester!!! Crucial, peeps. This is the last of the last until I finally get myself to grad school, so these grades have to come out looking quite nice :) I feel I can do it!

Five - FINISH one of the bunches of songs I've been playing on the piano! Currently I'm working on "We're So Far Away" by Mae, and it's a beauuutiful song on the piano, it really is. But I don't want to start another song until I finally finish this one. Yes, this means more banging on my keys in frustration (i can be quite the frustrated pianist sometimes, haha pianist..) BUT I am determined to finish this one, and I know my sense of accomplishment will be great once I do!

Okay. I think that's basically the gist of what I'm hoping will come from the new year! My plans for the evening? Going out in Center City! woo! Hope everyone has a wonderful and fun New Years!!
See you in 2010!

how is there a countdown to a countdown??

I definitely wanted to get a review-post up about austin before thanksgiving, because I know (hopefully) I'll have tons to share about that!

Anywayy, about a month or so ago I went to Austin, Texas with my fantabulous boyfriend and aside from the warm, beautiful weather (except for the last rainy day..) the super cute town atmosphere, and the fun/interesting street of bars and restaurants...it was aweeeeesome for vegans! quite perfect, i must say :)

Thinking of texas, one wouln't exactly imagine a vegan friendly place admist the hamburger loving cowboys it would be known for. howeverrr..it was quite the opposite, at least in Austin anyway.

Within walking distance of where we were staying, was the biggest Whole Foods I've definitely ever been to. Aside from the huge salad and hot food bars that are in most Whole Foods, they have a ton of different food stations to get food to go from as well - including a sushi bar, mexican food, "american" food with grilled sandwiches, and a bunch others. it was quite overwhelming, and seemed impossible to actually make a decision on what to eat!



Although there were so many choices and it was hard to pick, I'm definitely not complaining..choices are always nice ;) just hard when youre only there for a short time! After wandering around the aisles, we found yet another station near the produce..the all vegan and mostly raw food! definitely found my pick...



Just this station though had SO many options that all sounded great! I've never had spiralized veggie pasta before, and they had that in a bunch of different vegetables with a few sauce options, so I decided on that.



This is what inspired me to ask for a spiralizer for Christmas (wink wink, mother!). Wow..it was a mix of beets, carrots, and zucchini all spiralized to pasta-shaped with a pad thai sauce on top. They also had an alfredo and a marinara sauce as well..which I'd love to try.



I was torn between the pasta and the taco salad they had, which had cashew sour cream, seitan on top, and guacamole. Luckily, Jason got it so I got to try a bit anyway :) It was definitely really good..and the sour cream was much better than some vegan sour creams I've had before..

Honestly, I could've spent all the days we were there in just the Whole Foods...but I suppose theres more to Austin than a grocery store :)

While wandering down Guadalupe Street, we went to this cutesy little toy store which had some of the most random stuff in it. But next door I spotted a sign (I always have my vegan-radar on) that said vegan soft serve. Uh...yeah?



How cute is the dancing vegan softserve??



Knowing we were about to go to dinner somewhat soon after this, we decided to split something instead. I definitely had to try something! We shared a Butter Finger Milkshake which was awesome! I've heard of the vegan butterfinger pieces, but I've never tried them..they were great in the shake though, I'm sure they'd be great to bake with sometime..

Soo dessert before dinner, but that's okay ;)

Since I have quite the obsession with New Harmony in philly, the a-mazing all vegan chinese place, I was suuuper excited to hear that there was a vegan chinese place in Austin as well!



Veggie Heaven! Indeed it was. It was pretty small and crowded inside, with not much of an attentive wait-staff, but the food definitely was awesome.



We started off with spring rolls -- his fried, mine steamed. I'm pretty sure this was the first steamed spring roll I've had, and as much as I like the crispy-ness of the fried ones, the steamed was quite good!



I had ordered the Lucky 7, after much debate, which was 7 fried tofu balls made of celery, carrots, chestnut, vegetable protein, and breadcrumbs are cooked with broccoli, baby bok choy, cauliflower, carrots, napa cabbage, onion and garlic in a slightly sweet and spicy red sauce The "balls" tasted more like a type of falafel, but were reallyyy tasty, especially with the sauce.



Not gonna lie, I don't really remember the specific name for what Jason got..but it was pretty much the same sauce I had with veggies, and fried strips of tofu instead of the balls that I had. They were both really good, although the sauce did have a bit of a spicy kick to it! As did many of the things we had while we were in texas haha...

Austin was definitely an awesome place..and I'd looove to go back sometime, since there was so much there that I loved, and I'm sure tons that I didn't get to see that would be great :) I guess it does kick the stereotype a tad bit, doesn't it? :)