What I Ate - April/May 2015

I've been a little stressed at work lately, so I haven't had a chance to post much. I wanted to remedy that, but since my life has pretty much been work, eat, sleep, repeat, I haven't had much to write about. However, inspired by Vegan Crunk's "Stuff I Ate" posts, I figured I could at least share some of the better things I've eaten in the past couple weeks. I love drooling over everyone's vegan food posts, so I thought this would be a fun, quick, and visual way to showcase some finger-lickin' vegan food I've eaten recently! Note: Most of these have been posted previously on my Instagram, in case you already follow me there and are thinking these look a tad familiar!

 My version of Frito pie! I made this with Trader Joe's Corn Dippers (though Fritos are "accidentally" vegan), black and refried beans, Follow Your Heart's Cheddar Vegan Gourmet Shreds (my new fave vegan cheese shreds!), crispy cabbage, red salsa and hot sauce. 

 Enjoyed these Field Roast Frankenfurters on my patio, topped with lots of ketchup, mustard and saurerkraut, paired with some tangy vegan ranch chips from Beanfields!

 I've heard so many good things about these Lenny and Larry Complete Cookies, so I had to pick one up when I found them at Fresh and Easy! Half of the cookie made an excellent breakfast, especially when paired with the blackest of black coffees.

Basically my favorite meal - pizza and beer! I made some pizza with Follow Your Heart Mozzarella Shreds and my go-to toppings, pineapple, olives, and jalapenos. I also FINALLY found some Einstok beer...I remember it as being one of the stand-out beers I tried at Vegan Beer Fest last year, so I was ecstatic to find it (I found it at Fresh and Easy, but I also recently saw it at Whole Foods). 

 Mister Spooky and I had brunch at Seabirds Kitchen in Costa Mesa a few weekends ago - we didn't get anything off their brunch menu, but got a sampling of their small plates and drinks (Birdy Mary for me and a Mission Dark Seas beer for him). We had to try their new empanadas (pictured in the center), which are "mushroom, grilled onions, kale, and provolone cheese wrapped in flaky dough pockets, served with cilantro chutney". We also got our old favorites, the grilled cheese crisp ("sourdough grilled cheese melt with sharp cashew 'gruyere' spread, basil avocado sauce and a kennebec potato chip crust") and purple taquitos ("purple potatoes, chipotle sour cream, fermented curtido, almond feta, cilantro")!

 The bahn mi salad at Veggie Grill is one of my new favorites from their spring menu - I even like it better than their bahn mi sandwich (and I loooove that sandwich an awful lot!)! Of course I had to get their dreamy carrot cake, too! 

 New product alert from Trader Joe's! They JUST started carrying these tasty pretzel bagels! AND they are vegan!! I love 'em smeared with some vegan cream cheese, but they also make delightful sandwich buns!

These Beyond Meat Swedish meatballs had been sitting in my freezer for a while (I found them randomly at Whole Foods, though I haven't seen them since), but they made wonderful comfort food when paired with mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts and gravy!

 This past weekend Whole Foods' had a sale on their vegan sushi (made by local sushi house Kikka Sushi), so I had to scoop up two rolls - the Orchid Roll is on the left, and the Golden Gate Roll is on the right. I didn't care much for the pink sauce on the Orchid Roll (made with fruit juices), but I loved the forbidden rice and veggies they used!