Graduation Stress & 21 Birthday Celebrations

So I was going to do a Vida Vegan Con Recap, but I think all of my lovely ladies covered that so I will link my favorite recaps HERE (Vegan Eats & Treats and The Little Foxes. Plus I filmed a tour video so you can get the feeling like you were right there with me... still in the works of editing! 

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind! I have been so busy job searching, going to the conference, and then celebrating my 21 birthday so I haven’t had much time for a lot of other things. My birthday was great! I love birthdays because they really make you appreciate your friends so much. I got a Little Mermaid cake and a crown and sash to wear out to the bar... they know me well.  

In other news, I have been thinking about starting a vlog channel for a while now. For some reason I want to be even weirder and walk around talking into a camera haha. I have always loved vlogs, it is probably what I watch most on Youtube these days. My favorite are Ben Brown and Fun For Louis, they have such cool lives and even if all they do is hang around that day I love watching it for some reason.

 My days aren’t really that exciting but my thought is that if I start a vlog I will go on more adventures. I don’t know if I have time to do daily vlogs, but I was thinking of doing it a couple days of the week. Question though to any computer geniuses, how do I save room on my memory space? I find that my videos take up so much space and if I could figure out a way to save disk space I would be much more interested in doing daily vlogs!

 I don’t think the vlogs will be “vegan based”, but more of what I do in the day and I would show what I eat sometimes, but it is more of an adventure vlog. Let me know what you guys think of the idea! By the WAYYYY I am soo incredibly thankful for all of my new subscribers on Youtube, it is amazing! I can't wait to put up more videos for you guys! See ya later alligators! 

My Letter to Portland, Oregon

Dear Portland,

Parting is such sweet sorrow. I am sad to leave your beautiful city with your huge pine trees and friendly people. We have had some good times in this short visit and I leave you feeling more in tune with who I am. Let’s not lie now though, their were some adventures. We can’t forget about the sassy homeless people who were mad at us for walking by them. My confusion of the Portland crowd was also quite entertaining. The homeless resemble the extreme hipsters so I was left playing the “ Are they or aren’t they just hipsters?” I’m not going to lie I was a bit disappointed that your bars card to even eat in them. Umm hello I wanted vegan food and I turn 21 literally in 2 days, can’t I just sit and eat and have water? But that was a no go so lesson learned.

 Portland is filled with vegan food at bars that won’t let you even eat in unless your 21. I must say though all of the people in your city are extremely nice, dare I say even better than our midwestern hospitality which I thought was top of the line. At Vida Vegan Con you put so many vegans together in one area it was inspiring and heart warming all at once. Who knew I would meet so many of my vegan idols and have countless fangirl moments. I lived up all the vegan food and come back probably gaining 5 pounds, but those 5 pounds are pounds of love and joy. I love how your city is so calm and goes with the flow. It also definitely is the place where young people retire because I did not see one elderly person at all which was a shock. I don’t know Portland, maybe your hiding the senior citizens away to keep up your cool hipster image, regardless it was a phenomenon to me. 

Your rain was very bearable and quite pleasant to be honest. Your MAX trains still confuse me though, you really work off the honor system here because no one checked my ticket ever. Walking on your streets is the best people watching and dare I say it rivals New York people watching? Well well, I have been rambling over your loveliness, but you already know how awesome your are. I came to your city convinced I would move here and find my happy ever after; I left feeling not only full of food but inspired by all the vegans and what the city had to show me. Will I call Portland my home? I don’t think so, which now confuses the heck out of me because I had my early adult retirement all planned out with you. Your city awakened something inside me and really allowed me to accept myself and my veganism and feel just like one of the crowd. My adventure begins again trying to find a city or state that I can call my new home, but that is what life is all about... the adventure. So let the adventure continue. You are a true delight Portland and you really are as cool as people say! I’ll see you soon Portland, don’t worry  I wil stay in touch! Ta-ta for now, kisses from Chicago!! 

Sincerely,

A Portland Lover

Getting Ready For Portland!!

Hi y'all! Ok so I literally have been running all over the place getting ready for Vida Vegan Con in Portland. I leave tomorrow so my apartment has bascially been a fashion show of me trying on outfits and my roommates ranking them. Yes... this is the exciting life that I live , I know your probably jealous. Anywho.. I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to blog and the ironic thing is that the conference is all about blogging.

 I was getting a bit overwhelmed with everything I had to do to get ready for my flight tomorrow so I took a run outside on the lakefront. I am so blessed to live so close to the lake to be able to destress. The Buckingham fountain was going off as I ran by so I snapped a picture of it. It is amazing how people think Lake Michigan is really small but it really is quite large. When I was a kid I thought it was an ocean haha.

I can't wait to be in Portland tomorrow and show you guys all the vegan goodies out there! It basically is the vegan mecca, so I have been cleansing with green smoothies and salads all week to prepare. Bring on the vegan donughts and treats!! That is all from me today, I know its super short but I have to get back to packing. Expect more blog posts though throughout the conference!!

Have a great day!

Happy Tuesday!!

Man oh man has it been a weird couple of days! First I thought I was getting allergies and then a cold and now I'm instantly cured. Here in Chicago the weather has been soo wacky, from wearing 2 coats yesterday to wearing shorts and a tank top today my body has not been liking it. I walked outside today and BAM my coughing and intense runny nose were gone thank goodness! I think we can all agree that this is a clear sign that I need to live in a warm climate.

So this week I have been munching on the delicious Yoga Cookies from Chloe Coscarelli's book Chloe's Kitchen. They are out of this world and the best part is that if yI'm on the go and can't make breakfast, these are like breakfast cookies too.

So between battling this allergy and cold combination and getting ready to go to Oregon next week it has been pretty crazy in my apartment. The worst thing is that when I'm busy my room literally looks like a tornado hit it. The cleaning of my room comes last when I'm busy and then when I have time like right now I avoid it and do things like blogging instead haha. Now I basically avoid looking in my room and just walk in and go to my bed soo I probably should start cleaning after writing this.

In other news, I went to Sephora today and treated myself to some new Tarte makeup goodies so I'll blog about them in a few days on what I think. I hope you are all having a great day and I will catch ya later.

BBQ Chikn Pizza Rolls

Hey everyone! It's that time again for another Tasty Tuesday installment and I had to pick BBQ chikn pizza rolls because I have had such a craving this week. It is the perfect portion because having a whole pizza in front of me is dangerous because no one else in my apartment eats my fake meat creations. This is SUCH an easy recipe and it is so quick so it is perfect to satisfy a craving or have for appetizers at a party. I wanted to recreate California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ chicken pizza and I think I did just that, these rolls are so scrumptious.

Ingredients

1/2  chopped red onion

1/2 cup chopped fake chicken strips

3 Tablespoons BBQ sauce or to taste

Vegan cheese ( depends on how much cheese you want per roll)

1 Packacge Crescent Rolls

Directions

• Chop red onion and chikn into small pieces
• Saute red onion and chikn in pan with BBQ sauce for 8 minutes or until bubbly
• Roll out crescent dough
• Fill crescents with chikn and onion filling
• Sprinkle cheese onto the filling
• Roll the dough into little pockets to lock in the filling
• Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until slightly brown 
• Enjoy

You can also check out the video HERE

http://youtu.be/wD4AEBoriyE

Comment down below if you try these out! These rolls can be filled with lots of different fillings (spinach & cheese, chocolate chips & banana... the options are endless). They are also great if your watching your weight like I am so I can just have a few instead of being tempted by a WHOLE pizza. I love making vegan recipes of traditional foods and it is a lot easier than people think. I'm going to go enjoy some pizza rolls I hope you had a great Monday everyone!

Tasty Tuesday:Roasted Bell Peppers

Yayyyyyy!! I am so excited that I have FINALLY done a recipe I am proud of on this blog and I have my new camera to thank for that! 

For today's Tasty Tuesday I bring you Roasted Stuffed Peppers, which I have been obsessed with this month. They are super delicious and really filling and best of all they are incredibly healthy. Expect many more recipes for this blog, this camera is honestly amazing and I can't wait to show you new food items. 

If your short on time this is the PERFECT recipe to throw together! I know I am short on time during the weeks and I don't have the patience to cut a bunch of vegetables so these frozen vegetables are out of this WORLD and make the perfect quick meal.

Roasted Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

• 1 Green Bell Pepper
• 1 handful Black Beans
• 1 handful Roasted Corn
• 1 handful Roasted Onions & Peppers
• 1 Tablespoon Tofutti Sour Cream

Cooking Directions
1) Cut off top of bell pepper and remove seeds
2) Fill pepper with desired amount of beans, corn and onions
3) Place stuffed pepper on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil
4) Place in oven on Low Broil for 25 minutes or until pepper is soft and slightly charred on the outside
5) Spoon a tablespoon of sourcream onto pepper
6) ENJOY!!!

The sour cream gives the pepper a nice richness with the vegetables, think of it like a cheap and homemade meal from Chipotle! If you made cilantro rice this would be amazing in it too.

You can check out the Tasty Tuesday Youtube video HERE 

Portlandia Addiction!!

Hey Everyone! So Comcast Xfinity has made all hit shows available this week for the Watchathon week and I have been watching Season 2 of Girls and Portlandia nonstop. Girls is like the hip and funny version of Sex & the City but not as glamorous and Portlandia is a sketch comedy show based on things in Portland Oregon. I've never been to Portland, OR but I am oh so excited to go! I will be in Portland this May from the 23-27 for Vida Vegan Con which is a vegan blogger conference. In the show Portlandia it shows sights all around downtown Portland which only makes me more excited to go there. I will be going with my lovely friend Michelle that I met here on the internet through our Youtube channels and you can check out her amazing blog here at Vegan Break. 

Photo Attribution

The only times I have been out west is to go to Disneyland in California, so I am really excited to see mountains; I know I sound super lame. I also am going to workout super hard before hand because their are so many places I want to eat at in Portland like Blossoming Lotus cafe, Voodoo Doughnut, Food Fight! Grocery, and I'm sure many more!

So having a marathon of Portlandia is only making me wish I was in Oregon sooner!! Other than watching those shows whenever I have free time I have been enjoying the lovely sun of Florida which feels great because I am pale like Casper the ghost. Well that is all from me today I am off to go walk outside and take advantage of the beautiful weather. Let me know if you've been to Portland, Oregon in the comments down below and if their are any other must see vegan places. 

Have a great day everyone!