Vegan Mofo VI- Day 30: Cool It Now

I can't believe what is happening back east with this storm. It's impossible to truly understand what is happening by just seeing photos or footage, but it is even more difficult to fathom such things when you don't even know what weather really is or what it can do. We are fortunate to have such lovely sunny skies almost all year round. We get a bit of rain and once in a while we have to stop wearing shorts and put a jacket on, but there's really no need to get bundled up unless you're going to the mountains or trying to look cute in a photo. I hope the worst is over and everyone is getting the help they need to get through this.

It's been in the high 80s over here, so I can't bake anything, but I also don't need to nail all my windows shut, so believe me I am not complaining. There are only a few no-bake sweets I like to make but luckily I had some frozen treats that required even less effort. These are the TJ's version of Tofutti Cuties. I haven't had the originals in a while so I can't really do an accurate comparison but I think they are quite good. The only difference I could tell right away was the these are less melty, if that makes sense. They take longer to melt so I try to remember to take one out and let it rest a bit before biting into it. Maybe you could microwave for a few seconds? TJ's saves the day again. I am crossing my fingers for the TJs version of daiya shreds. Do it!

p.s. Here is a corny joke:

p1: knock knock
p2: who's there?
p1: ice cream soda
p2: ice cream soda who?
p1: ice cream soda people can hear me

Vegan Mofo VI-Day 26: Grab and Go Joe!

I'm on no sleep today. I was up until early this morning doing last minute cleaning because we had an appraiser coming to the house today and my room wasn't ready for that at all. I had it almost all finished last week, but that was when I started to get sick and then I found out he wasn't coming until this week so I slacked off until about Wednesday night. I wanted to clean for reals and not just shove things under the bed and in the closet, but I did have to do a bit of that before taking a teeny two hour nap.

I was going to take a nap around 1 or 2, but we went to my sister's new house to get the locks changed out and leave them a little gift. Her boyfriend and his friends were moving things in and the locksmith was still working so my mom started sweeping the patio. I couldn't be a bum, so I got to work on the shelf paper my sister wanted out. The first few drawers were easy but after that it was a lot tougher. That paper was more stubborn than me. I was wiping it down with some product to help remove sticky stuff so I decided to just wipe down a bunch of shelves, let it sink in and then go back to effortlessly removing the paper. It was a good plan until I swiped my hand across a random shard of glass and cut my fingertip open. At first I thought I had poked it on a nail but it was bleeding way too much for that. After I got it under control I looked again and found the piece of glass. I worked a little more after that but couldn't get as much done without being afraid of ripping my cut open again while tugging at the paper. I put in about 2-3 hours work so I can't feel too bad about not finishing something I didn't even know I was going to begin.

My mom wanted to get some flowers and a few items for the empty fridge so I said to go to TJ's to get cinnamon rolls. While we were there I had her buy me some sushi for an easy no dishes/utensils lunch (every thing's still in boxes) and she let me get some kale chips too. I almost didn't see them but I found one bag hiding and quickly grabbed it. There were lots of other tasty treats like sammich wraps I would have loved to try but they all seemed like they would taste better warm and I had to have something I could open and eat without any fuss. Yay for TJ's coming to the rescue again. They are the unofficial mvp of my mofo this year. Thanks for letting me get away with some lazy shortcuts Joe!

Vegan Mofo VI-Day 24: Poppin' Fresh (Vegan) Dough!

When I found out there were refrigerated, ready-to-bake cinnamon rolls at TJ's I just had to get them! I didn't have a lot of money when I stopped in, but my sister offered to buy me something so I let her buy these while I took care of the more reasonable purchases. I'm not even sure how much they were since the price card was missing but I'm guessing they're under $4. Does it really matter though? These are cinnamon rolls you can have in about 20 minutes, anytime!

I really want to make my own cinnamon rolls from scratch, but I admit I am still a little intimidated by the process. TJ's is not helping me to get over it by making it much to easy for me to have yummy cinnamon rolls with very little effort. You are meant to get five rolls, but I had trouble separating mine and left it at four. They come with an icing packet too so you can have all sorts of fun decorating them as nicely or as quickly as possible depending on how soon you want to gobble them up. It would be great to just keep a few tubes stashed in your fridge for the wintery months in case you have surprise visitors or you just feel like pigging out but are in a hurry to to do so. As much as I love making my own treats from scratch, every now and then it's great to take a shortcut.

Vegan Mofo VI- Day 20: Freezer Fiend

I only had to work from 11-5 today so I thought I would come home, make waffles and blog about them. But even though I slept in late the last two days and even a bit this morning, I am feeling yuckier than ever. I don't feel like getting everything out, putting it all back and doing all the dishes. Plus I am still kind of in a bad mood and I do not like to cook when I am in a bad mood. I am really looking forward to trying out this waffle recipe and I want to make it when I can truly enjoy it, which is definitely not tonight.

I had no idea what to eat for dinner since I only have beans and rice in the fridge right now. I ate that for dinner last night and for lunch today, but even I do not love beans that much. I quickly realized it wasn't too hot outside and I could probably get away with using the oven for about 20 minutes. I had a Tofurky cheese pizza hiding in the freezer so I knew I could eat that. The only problem is that left to my own devices I would probably eat the whole thing in a sitting. They aren't very big, but I still don't need to eat it all for one meal. Then I remembered my sister dropped off some TJ's Crispy Chickenless Tenders last week. They're pretty much the knock off version of Gardein and are way cheaper, yay! So now I have pizza and "chicken" instead of just stuffing my face with pizza. I probably should have made a salad to go with this, oh well.

Vegan Mofo VI- Day 17: Those Are Nacho Kale Chips!

These are the best things ever! I love kale and have been saying I am going to make kale chips for at least a year. Now that TJ's has them, I have a bigger excuse for putting it off. The package is kind of small, so if you love kale chips or hate sharing, I would grab more than one.

I think it was around 3-4 bucks for the package. I've seen same sized bags priced at twice that so I decided to go for it. I broke a chunk off a huge piece and it was good. So I kept picking at the huge pieces, thinking about whether or not I liked them. Then I saw the bag was already halfway gone. I think that's a "hell yeah", right?

I took the rest to my work yesterday and teased one of our fave patrons about trying them but she did and she loved them. Then we pressured my co-worker into trying them. She wasn't as into it, but I am glad she gave them a chance. By this point all I had were little crumbles, but I didn't want to throw them out. When I got home I had some leftover mac and cheese, so I sprinkled them on top of the mac and stirred it up. That was the jam! I can't wait to go back to TJ' sand get more of these. I also have some of the cinnamon rolls I need to bake but not in this heat!

p.s.
I had my job interview yesterday and I think I crushed it. I should know in 3 weeks what the folks who interviewed me thought. There's a lot going on this week and I'm starting to feel run down so that's why I don't have a "real" entry today. I'm trying to rest today so I can get back on task tomorrow!

Vegan Mofo IV Week 5: Your Grocer's Freezer

I planned on making "Chard Florentine On Toast Points" today, but had to cancel since I cannot read a recipe or write a grocery list. I scanned the recipe quickly before going shopping yesterday and thought I had everything except bread, chard and tahini. I remember finding tahini at grocery stores in the past so I was frustrated when I did not see it on the "international" aisle. I went to get the rest of my items and read my list one more time. It didn't say tahini, it said tamari. I have tamari, game on. I get chard and bread and I'm ready to go. Later that night I'm putting things away and decide to review the recipe so I'll be ready for the morning. I needed tamari and tahini, plus miso, which never even made the list. Luckily I was planning on making scrambled tempeh for the billionth time so I wouldn't be without breakfast, but I've already written about that before. Did I mention I eat it almost every week?

It was basically downhill from there. My breakfast plans were ruined and I hadn't planned on making dinner since I have so many leftovers to choose from. When I was out mailing a package for a PPKer, I popped into the Chinese takeout place to see if they had any green beans but they were out. They would have gone so great with my left over tofu, so I was disappointed but not enough to go a few doors down to the market and get some to make for myself. It's been getting colder and I've done far too many dishes, I just couldn't be bothered to cook dinner.

Thank goodness for Trader José and his Black Bean and Corn Enchilada. I used to eat these all the time at my old job and then I went through a snobby phase of eschewing frozen foods. I still don't really like to "heat and eat" but some nights when I only have to cook for me and I'd rather do something else, it's a good back up to have. Otherwise I just eat a bowl of cereal, and it's too cold for that right now. So here were are, one day left of mofo and the cooking is grinding to a near halt. Hopefully I get my head out of my asparagus and come up with something better for tomorrow. I am just glad I didn't give up after taking a few days off this year. I barely kept up with writing and am extremely behind on reading. There are just too many amazing vegan bloggers out there. Good job Mofo's!