package swap
I participated in my second PPK swap and look at all the loot I got:
Yum!
Cleaning Out My Closet
Over the last few years I have become complacent and sloppy about my appearance. I used to really be into fashion and making my own clothes and I was a terrible labelwhore although I’ve given most of that stuff away. Lately, I have begun to change being sloppy about my appearance. I had my haircut for the first time since I moved to Madison and dyed back to my natural color. I wear BareMinerals nearly everday and have a nice stock of Origins products as well. I have already given away my Prada and Hobo leather purses. I am in the process of cleaning out my closet but still have several pairs of of (old) leather shoes. I have quite a few cashmere sweaters that I am on the fence about. But I am definitely going to get rid of the Marc Jacobs stuff I have left. He makes stuff out of chinchillas! I have too many clothes anyway and they don’t even fit in my closet and my bedroom looks like the closet threw up all over it.
There are three things I will not get rid of even though they are animal products. The silk and fresh water pearl necklace and bracelet I wore at my wedding, my ivory silk wedding dress and scarf, and a pearl necklace given to me by my mentor that was given to her mother by Grace Kelly.
Shoe Lust
I am so out of the loop but Melissa shoes are amazing. And made of recycled plastic and the sweat of fairly paid workers! Oh my! I guess I don’t need to go to Target anymore to get cute shoes. I would rather pay a bit more for eco and human friendly ones.
I especially <3 these:
Melissa Shoes Campana Zig Zag, $59.00
Strawberry Shortcake Green Smoothie
My goal in this was to create an introductary green smoothie that my husband and non-existent kids would like.
5 cups of fresh spinach
2 cups of soy creamer
2 t. of real vanilla extract
pinch of salt
4 T. of ground flaxseeds
3 cups of frozen strawberries
1 cup of water
Put spinach, creamer, vanilla, salt and flaxseeds in blender. Whip until you have a frothy green liquid. Add strawberries and water and blend until smooth. You can add more water depending on how thick or thin you like it.
It definitely does taste somewhat likes strawberry shortcake with the creamer, flax seeds and vanilla. And no, you can not taste the spinach. Trust me!
Private Icon: Joan Jett
My favorite part of Nylon Magazine (I scored a free subscription) is the Private Icon feature where they take characters from movies and in music and come up with items you can wear to be inspired by their style. Kind of dorky I know but I love it. Anyhoo, this month was Joan Jett and I’m not sure if she was a vegan way back when but she certainly is now. And they had leather shoes! Tsk tsk. And Rimmel (Coty) tests on animals.
So here are my cruelty-free picks which I think are even cuter and cheaper than Nylon. Click on the image if you want to see the individual pieces.
Joan Jett – by sealux on Polyvore.com
cute vegan shoes from Nordstroms
Volatile ‘Fiesta’ Wedge $44.99
Jeffrey Campbell ‘Mae’ Rain Boot $59.95
Franco Sarto ‘Blonde’ Boot $139.95
via a tip from Urban Monarch
Trader Joe’s
It’s hard for me to get up to Trader Joe’s in St. Louis Park because the buses run infrequently during the weekend, but my sister came up and drove me. I slipped while trying to put something into the cart and did a swan dive into the refrigerated case which was pretty funny with my feet sticking out in the air. But after shopping at expensive co-ops going to Trader Joe’s felt positively thrifty by comparison. Do you have any idea how much $183 can buy you there? Eight bags of groceries! Including bourbon vanilla extract and a huge jug of grade A maple syrup. And they have tofu there for $.99! I bought many of the ingredients I need to make cupcakes although they don’t have vegetable shortening. I brought my copy of vegan with a vengeance so i could try to emulate the ideal pantry list.
Jeremy and I are vegan heaven. He opens the fridge or the cupboard and can’t decide what to eat because there are so many options.
My favorite easy comfort food is:
+ Nature’s Path Organic Flax Plus Multi-bran Cereal
+ Freeze Dried Strawberries
+ Fortified Vanilla Soymilk
Yum! And the Omega-3s are awesome for my moody brain.
Heavenly Lebanese Food
There is a fabulous new Lebanese deli called Zakia Deli very close to where I work. Yesterday, I stopped by for the first time and order a roasted red pepper hummus & veggie pita sandwich which was fantastic and today I ordered Mjadra (the M is silent) pita sandwich topped with labanese salad. Mjardra or mujadara is a delicious mixture of lentils, rice and onion with “special seasoning.” I am going to have to find a recipe for this once I purchase a food processor.
Other vegan options from Zakia: babba ganouj, stuffed grape leaves, burghul, fasoolya, and tabouli.
Conversion
I’ve been ovo-lacto for the past 10+ years, but that doesn’t mean I’ve had healthy eating habits. Through a combination of unhealthy food, thyroid problems, medication, et al I gained more weight than I’m comfortable with and instead of a quick fix diet, I want to reformat my way of eating.
So the other day I was flipping through a vegan cookbook and asked my husband, “Why do we eat animal products? We love animals.” and that really just got us thinking and pumped about removing animal products from our diet and our lives.
It’s been 5 days since we have eaten a vegan diet and haven’t caved in although I was close at Pizza Luce because I had tried some chedder soy cheese that I had bought earlier and gagged. But I had the vegan bruchetta there and it was awesome! My other favourite vegan thing that I’ve eaten so far is a chocolate raspberry cupcake with creamy topping that tasted like cream cheese, but Jeremy didn’t like them. I have to get that recipe from the Wedge. Jeremy said he was having cravings today for bacon but he was an omni before so I guess that is understandable.
