Multi-texture frozen banana bites

You take a bite into your dessert, you first feel something frozen melting in your mouth next you feel chewy and crunchy bits of flavors infusing together followed by a chocolate finish. This my friends, is what it's like to experience this dessert.

Not only is it pretty healthy, it's also easy to make and its a crowd pleaser. 

I'm a big fan of texture and different flavors, I like foods that are both crunchy and creamy or sweet and salty. 

I was craving something sweet and had some browning bananas, so I thought, why not? 

Ingredients:

   1 medium banana

   1/4 cup raw cashews,chopped

    1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped

    2 handfuls dark chocolate chips

    1/4 cup almond butter

    Dried coconut, enough to sprinkle on top before you drizzle the chocolate. I used about 2 TBPS

    

What you do:

        Slice the banana up into 1/2 inch slices. Using a butter knife, spread a think layer of almond butter i'm to each slice. Basically enough to have your cranberries cashews and coconuts to have a base to stick to. Next, sprinkle on some of your chopped cranberries and cashews and if you'd like, the coconut. Melt chocolate chips either in a double boiler or microwave. I microwaved my chocolate chips for about 40 seconds, stopping every 10 seconds to stir. With a fork, drizzle the chocolate onto the ready banana slice with the ingredients. Place in freezer for about 35 minutes to let them harden and enjoy!

**try sprinkling some orange peel onto this too! It really compliments the cranberry! 

Spicy Fiesta Lime Tortilla Chips

'Twas the night before finals, when all through the house, one could hear my stomach rumbling....even a mouse...? Gah, I tried!

Anywho....

Hey guys! So the other night I was studying and was craving something salty and spicy. I had a whole bunch of guacamole but unfortunately no tortilla chips. However, for some reason, I had a huge-family size-grande bag of corn tortillas just chillin' in my fridge. So I went to work.

 You see, I'll use any excuse to excuse myself from studying. If I wasn't such a broke college students and had a lot more food in my fridge, I'd probably prepare myself a five course meal. Unfortunately, the jumbo size bag of flattened white corn frisbees had to do.

Spicy Fiesta Lime Tortilla Chips

Here's what you'll need:

    1/4 teaspoon of the following:

              Lime Juice

              Garlic powder

              Cayenne pepper

              Cumin

    Dash of the following:

               Black pepper

               Salt (or salt to taste)

               Paprika

5 Corn tortillas

2 TBSP Olive Oil

Here's what you do:

       Preheat the oven to 275* F.  In the mean time, pour all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the corn tortillas into a bowl. (Make sure the bowl is pretty big. Big enough to toss around the tortilla trangles.) Mix together well.  Stack up the tortillas and cut in half, and then again across. You can see what I mean by looking at the picture below.

              

                                         

  Once you have them all cut up, throw them into the bowl with the oil, lime juice and spices. Coat well. Let sit for about 10 minutes. Now, I know it's kinda weird to be marinating corn tortillas, but trust me on this. Take out a flat, big baking sheet and EVENLY distribute the chips. They should not be stacked on top of each other. If there isn't enough room, you'll have to do separate baking "trips". Bake for approx. 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through.

 Don't be alarmed if they're soggy when they're done. I promise it's because they're still warm and oily. They'll eventually get crispy.

 Now, I know this isn't some special recipe. It's pretty simple. To me, they were delicious and I hope that you think so too. Tweak the recipe if this is too spicy or not spicy enough. Most importantly, enjoy! It tastes best with guacamole.

Til next time, y'all.

Field Roast Vegan Chao. Could this be the next best cheese alternative!?

I don't care what anybody says, cheese is delicious. I don't know if it's the texture or flavor of it, but we just love to pile on the smelly stuff, whether it's vegan or not.

   Yesterday, as I was just walking down the vegan cheese section at my local Whole Foods, minding my own business and all, I was stopped by this new packaging that I haven't seen before. Field Roast has come out with a cheese alternative.  Could this make my quesadillas even more cheesy? Could this change vegan pizzas?? Could I possibly make myself some grilled cheese!?!? My food loving self  was just thinking of the possibilities. 

Well, let me start out by telling you what this stuff even is; It's called Vegan Chao and according to the package, it's a  vegan cheese alternative made of coconut oil and fermented chao tofu. It brings you a fusion of  Asian and European heritages. They come in a few different flavors, including the Tomato Cayenne that I picked up. Also, my Whole Foods sells it for $5.99. ( a little much for 10 slices.....but the taste of this stuff makes my broke college student self forget about that) 

Here's what I think- HOLY MOLY this stuff is great. I figured that since Field Roast makes it, it would be pretty good since I love their meat alternatives, but I didn't think that it would be this close to tasting like cheese. The stuff melts fairly well, I decided to make myself a grilled cheese and eventually got frustrated with the bread burning, since the cheese wasn't melting. I had to microwave the grilled cheese before I fried it for at least 20 seconds, but it's not a big deal. The texture is great, heated or not. I've tried almost every cheese alternative there is and this one takes the cake. I give it a 9/10. Good job, Field Roast! And great job you Greek and Taiwanese geniuses! 

Now excuse me as I go back to eating this grilled cheese (I added some tomato and tempeh bacon in there) and run back to whole foods for some more! 

Toasted Coconut & Dark Chocolate Waffles

Any sign of fall is always a perfect excuse for me to spend hours in the kitchen trying out new recipes. I don't know what it is, but it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :p.  On this particular morning I woke up with the BIGGEST coconut craving. So while my Fiance was sleeping, I tiptoed to the kitchen and whipped up these super easy waffles.

                                   

Ingredients:

        1 cup all purpose flour 

        1 TBSP baking powder

        1/2 tsp salt

        1 tsp vanilla extract

        2 TBSP sweetener, such as sugar, agave or maple syrup. I used maple syrup.

        1 1/2 Cup shredded coconut

        1/2 Cup chocolate chips

Directions:

         In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, and in a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients. Add wet to dry and add in the chocolate chips. Mix everything together until well mixed, if you feel like you need more chocolate chips or coconut shreds in your mixture, simply add more. ( you can neva have enough coconut and chocolate ;)) 

      Ladle about 1/2 cup at a time into your waffle iron, or if making pancakes, reduce to about 1/4 cup if you want smaller pancakes.   Cook until  nice and crisp and golden on both sides. Service with Soy Whip, maple syrup or anything else your heart desires!

Hope you really enjoy these and let me know below if you made these!!

xoxo Beauty and the Brussel <3 

My two favorite vegan proteins.

     If I had a penny for how many times I've been asked "Where do you get your protein...?" I'd be one rich vegan.  This question frustrates me, not because it's so redundant, but because it annoys me that people don't realize that the animals they are eating had to get their proteins from somewhere. For example, cows. Cows are herbivores, meaning they only eat plants. So, where did they get their protein from? PLANTS.

                                 Here's an example of some plants that give you SO much protein.
                                    (Besides, where'd ya think Popeye got all those muscles?? :p )

google image.

SO, what are my two favorite vegan protein mixes?  

*drum roll pleasssseeee.....*

PlantFusion Protein and Arbonne Protein

PlantFusion

I love this protein powder not only because it tastes good, but also because it is SO smooth and not gritty at all. They have three flavors so far, vanilla, chocolate and cookies n cream (my favorite). I usually like to blend it with 1/2 a banana and a cup of almond milk. It's so creamy and if you make it with frozen bananas, it has the consistency of a milkshake. PROTEIN MILKSHAKE,HELLO?!

All I have to say is, buy it. The price isn't that bad and it's full of vitamins and nutrients.

take a look for yourself.

www.plantfusion.us



Arbonne Protein

I LOVE Arbonne beauty products because they do their job and they're vegan friendly. I never thought that I would find love in a vegan shake that's sold by a beauty company. I guess I should've known that since Arbonne believes in both outer and inner beauty. They only have two flavors, chocolate and vanilla. While I wish there were more flavors, they still are delicious to me.  Like the PlantFusion, the protein is very smooth and easily digested. Adding strawberries and banana to either flavor makes it even more enjoyable. The only downside is the price, PF is a lot cheaper since Arbonne is about $60. I am an Arbonne consultant so I do get a 35% discount, but I wish non-consultants were able to get it for my price.

Here's the nutritional info on the Arbonne protein...

Cheddar Burger (with all the fixin's) + a Delicious Zesty Onion Ring Sauce

          Yeah, sure, it's winter...but, this burger is sure to please your taste buds with the warm cheddar cheese and the cold and crisp pickles.

                                                

Here's what you'll need.

• Hamburger buns (you'll need bigger ones if you choose to use Amy's or Hilary's burgers)
• Veggie Burgers (I used Hilary's..they're delicious!)
• Cheddar cheese (I used Daiya)
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Pickles (the bread and butter kind are the best)
• Purple Onion
• Thousand Island Dressing
• Vegenaise
• Ketchup and Mustard
• TBSP Cooking Oil of your choice

It's honestly up to you how you want to portion this out...some like a lot of onion..other's only want tomato.

I was tempted to throw in some coconut bacon but I just wanted to check this out first.                       

                                              

                                       

                                       

What to do:

           1. Place your veggie burger of choice into the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes. This is to warm it up on the inside. While it's cooking in the microwave, take a skillet with about 1 TBSP of oil and start heating it up over a medium flame.

          2. We want our veggie burgers to have that crispiness on the outside, kinda like how it is straight off the grill. So..we're going to place them onto the hot skillet for about a minute on each side. For that extra grill taste, put them on low on the skillet for about a minute, then on medium for another minute and then flip and do the same on the other side.

       3. During these minute intervals you should be preparing your ingredients for inside the burger. 

      4. At the end of your "frying" place a piece of cheese onto the veggie burger so that it has time to melt and start looking like a real greasy burger. (minus the grease and cholesterol ;) )

    5. Once the cheese has melted and you feel that it's ready. Take your burger off the skillet and place it on the side. Take two buns and butter them up and toast them for a bit on the skillets while they're still hot.

    6. Put some Thousand Island dressing on the bottom of your bun. I like to mix it with the vegenaise a little too, but it's up to you since we're going to still add the vegenaise onto the top bun. 

   7. Add the veggie burger, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and then on the top bun...add some mayo, ketchup and mustard if you like and you are done!

This is very simple and easy to make. However, I have made plenty of burgers before and this one was just SO packed with flavor and tasted amazing. I love the Hillary's brand because when toasted, they have an onion taste and almost taste like the burgers from Burger King (back when from when I ate meat)

As a side, I served up some Alexia onion rings with this homemade sauce. It was cooling and yet kinda spicy.

How you'd make that;

          Mix equal amounts of Sriracha sauce with Vegan Ranch (I love Organicville).

 ..aaaaaand you're done.

Bon Appetit!

  

                                          

My experience with meat eating and veganism.

I often get asked why I am vegan, how long I've been doing it, why I stopped being vegan in the first place....Etc. I figured I would dedicate this post to answer a few of those questions.

Number one question is why I went vegan in the first place. In a nutshell, I never really liked meat growing up. However, I come from a European background and my whole family eats meat for breakfast lunch and dinner. I was always the one at the table That just didn't want to touch the stuff. To me, eating meat was gross and I love animals and didn't understand why they were being eaten and just grossed me out seeing the Raw meat simmer in a pot, on the pan or on the grill. I still would eat it occasionally and suffered from a lot of health issues, including chronic headaches and irritable bowel syndrome. I literally would have to miss at least two or three days of school each month. But hey, what was I supposed to do, I was young and obviously wasnt old enough for a job to afford my own groceries. Nor were there really any vegetarian friendly options at that time (or at least that I knew of) and my mom was afraid that I would lack protein or iron or other vitamins if I just eat vegetables all day. (A lot of people think this today....little do they know.😜) 

Okay let's fast-forward a few years, I was about 16 or 15 years old when the book Skinny Bitch came out. I borrowed it from my friend and decided to just try reading it. Well a whole hour or two later I was finished with the book because it's just that funny and so informative. I found out so much more information in that book than I could've imagined, and that basically made me go vegan. I went online and looked up where the nearest supermarket was,awhole foods or something and found a few supermarkets that carried some of the products that they mention in the back of the book. I literally went vegan overnight, a day before Thanksgiving to be exact ironically, and felt amazing...dropped a few pounds had so much energy, never really had any headaches or stomach issues. 

       About two years later when I was graduating high school I decided to go vegetarian because I had some temptations and for some reason began craving cheese and milk but later on I figured out that it was because I was doing veganism wrong and wasn't eating enough whole foods and my body was just constantly craving junk and I started becoming sluggish again. When I was vegetarian I started getting bloated again from the milk and cheeses and about two years later when I turn 20 I started eating meat again. Worst. Decision. Of. My. Life. 

      I don't really know what possessed me to start eating meat again, I think it was just the college life of partying and then making stupid decisions with food while drinking. But it's not like I was eating complete crap like hamburgers...i was just eating lean. 

      Well, I started noticing that my clothes were tighter and I could no longer fit into my size 0-2 jeans and each time I would step on the scale I would be gaining about 5 to 10 pounds a week. A WEEK!! That was too much to handle but I didn't really do anything about it until I had gained 40 pounds.(this was in about a month and a half) I went to a doctor and she tried putting me on a Paleolithic diet. Horrible decision, I told her I used to be a vegetarian and vegan and she told me that those were horrible diets (hah) and I just decided to take her device on the Paleo diet...another horrible decision because my skin started breaking out and it was so dry and dull, my hair started falling out and I still was gaining weight. 

      I eventually gained 85 pounds within a year. I was put on metformin and that stabilized my weight but it was impossible to lose weight. She had told me that according to my blood work I had an imbalance of hormones and then finally I went to an endocrinologist and she had told me that the fact I was eating meat and all of the hormones and crap in meat was messing with my hormones and causing me to gain weight, break out and lose hair. 

       I went vegan again and have been slowly losing weight without having to restrict my calories. I have so much energy and just feel amazing and so much happier. I rarely ever crave junk food and I feel more in sync with my body. 

      It's crazy how eating right creates this domino effect. When I was eating horrible foods I was really lazy and just didn't feel like doing anything and everything just became sloppy and was spiraling out of control. Once I Turned vegan again I became more organized and just happier with life and I don't think I will I ever go back to eating meat again. Being vegan lets me experiment with foods and try different recipes and it just changes your taste buds and you feel so much better and I swear I am not one of those people that tries to push my beliefs onto other people but I really do think that this diet can help a lot of people out there.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. ❤️ ( and stay warm, to all of my Midwestern readers!) 

Vegan Gyros with Tzatziki sauce

There's nothing better than a warm veggie gyro with a cooling tzatziki sauce and some fresh vegetables.

I came over to a fellow veggie friend's house and I happen to have my groceries in my trunk (seriously..it's cold enough here that the food wont go bad).  I decided to whip up these bad boys for my friend and I. 

Here's what you will need:

•    1 pkg Viana veggie gyros
•    1 small tomato
•    2 large pita breads or 4 small pocket pita breads
•    Diced green pepper, to taste. ( I know this isn't normally in gyros..but it gave it a nice twist)
•    1/4 cup diced red onion
•    1/2 cup Ewelina's Tzatziki Sauce (see below)
•    Vegetable oil ( for sauté pan)

Ewelina's Tzatziki Sauce:

•    1/2 cup Tofutti brand sour cream
•    1/4 cup diced cucumbers
•    1/2 -2/3 tsp fresh lemon juice
•    Pinch of fresh parsley or if you prefer, cilantro or basil flakes
•    Dash of garlic salt

What you do:

•    Heat up sauté pan on stove with 1 tbsp vegetable oil (any preferred oil works fine). Open package of veggie gyros and heat up in pan. **Make sure the gyros are separated into individual pieces!!**
• Turn heat to medium-low and allow it to heat up inside first.

In the mean time...

•     In a bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the tzatziki sauce. Also, slice up your tomatoes, red onion, green pepper and any other ingredients you'd like to include, put those to the side.

• After the gyros have been sautéing for a good 5 minutes, turn up the heat to allow them to get crispy. Make sure you keep stirring the faux meat around. This should only take 2-3 minutes.

• Push all of the gyro meat to the side and grab your pita bread. If needed, add a little more oil into the empty half of the pan, and let the pita bread get warm, crispy and a little greasy. 

• Take the bread off...add the gyro meat and throw on your toppings.

You don't necessarily have to stuff the pita pockets..I kinda just eat them like tacos.

ENJOY!

Some of my favorite natural beauty and vegan cooking books!

(Not pictured: Vegan with a Vengeance, The Kind Diet, Crazy Sexy Diet and Skinny Bitch)

I'll go in one-by-one explaining what each book is and why I like it.

Natural Beauty at Home by Janice Cox : I love this book because it gives you some amazing DIY recipes for things ranging from face masks to foot scrubs. This book is just awesome. I've mad SO many things and they were never a failure. Of course, the only downfall of make-it-yourself beauty products is that there are no preservatives. That's actually a great thing but you just have to make sure to use everything up very quick, or share.

Chloe's Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli  : I first discovered Chloe when I was watching an episode of Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. She was the FIRST vegan to ever win.  I later discovered that she had released a cook book and I purchased it immediately. I absolutely LOVE this book. The recipes are easy to make and they always come out SO good. (Especially her Orange Chicken!!) I also love that she uses simple ingredients...she's a genius. 

The Truth About Beauty by Kat James : LOVE LOVE LOVE this book! I love books that actually take a realistic approach when talking about beauty. That's exactly what Kat James does in this book. She explains how what we eat actually DOES affect our skin texture, aging, health...etc. Must Have.

Part Time Vegan by Cherise Grifoni : Now, you don't need to be a part time vegan or flexitarian to like this book. You don't even have to be vegan. I saw this gem at Half Price Books in my town and it was a pretty good price, so I figured why not. While I dont understand why this book couldn't just be called a Vegan book is beyond me. But whatever, the recipes are still vegan. Some things I love are the Saucy Kung Pao Tofu, Saucy Indian Veggies and the Raw to Die For Apple Pie with Berry Topping.  Oh, and there's a VEGAN NUTELLA RECIPE IN THERE! Need I say more?

New year, new priorities.

Happy New Year everyone! While 2013 was great, I believe that 2014 will be even better!!

2013 has been a very stressful (yet still amazing ) year. Nursing school,planning a wedding and totaling my car just to name a few of my stressors. 

I noticed that writing down my feelings or just writing about some of my favorite things (ex. Makeup and veganism) has been a great way for me to de-stress. 

I may have abandoned my blog for over a year, but this is a fresh start. 

Do I believe in New Years resolutions? Not so much. But I do believe in new year prioritizing. This blog is one of my top priorities this year (and for a very long time hopefully) and I hope to continue with what I started. 

Delicious vegan recipes ,cruelty free makeup reviews AND a new segment called "beauty and the bride" are among the few things that will debut on this blog. 

I hope you all have a wonderful and healthy new year and I'll talk to you soon!

❤️B&B

Hydrating Mango Mint Smoothie

Hello heeellooo <3

So, let me introduce you to a little somethin' that I have been making non stop for about 2 weeks now. It's been my breakfast a few times as well, including today.


First off, I got this idea from a good friend of mine. She had gone on a trip to the beautiful Costa Rica and once she returned, I wanted all the details of her adventures. During this little "storytime" she had mentioned to me how once she got off the plane she was offered a nice cool towel and this mango minty concoction. She said it was the strangest but most delicious combo of ingredients. So simple, so healthy...SO tasty!

Now, mangoes are my absolute favorite fruit. (Banana's come second, but I just recently found out I have a mild allergy to them...more on that another time)

I had to try making this. I figured, how hard can it be? It's only 3 ingredients...but what mango-mint ratio do I use?  I finally got the perfect recipe.


Here's what you need:

2 Mangoes
1/4 c. tightly packed mint leaves
1/2 -1 c coconut water ( depending on how thick you want it)


Chop up those mangoes, add in the mint and the coconut water...BLEND and VOILA! You're done ;)

The mint makes this so refreshing and the coconut water makes you feel so hydrated.
I hope you enjoy!

Mango Habanero Ranch Chik'n Tacos!

Hello there :)

    So, I was sitting in one of my Chemistry classes and I was starrrrving. ( Cut me some slack, it was a 4 hour lecture, we're not allowed to have any food once we're in lab and all I had was a Gluten free waffle for breakfast.)   I started thinking of what I will make for myself for late lunch/early dinner.

I thought of this.
[picture will go here]





I love spicy food. Sometimes I think I was meant to be someone other than part of a polish culture. (NO ONE in my family like spicy food, but me, I could down a whole bottle of tabasco sauce in one sitting...actually, my mouth is watering as I am thinking about this.)

When I used to eat meat, my FAVORITE sauce flavor from a place called Buffalo Wild Wings was the Mango Habanero sauce. Perfect fusion of flavors.

Well, I had a mango, I had some habanero peppers, and I always have some "fake chicken" in my fridge.

I love the "Lightlife" Chik'n strips brand. I can't find them in many places other than Whole Foods and my Jewel Osco...but I love them because they absorb flavor, they're vegan, low carb AND gluten free. (YAY!)

So, this is what you need:

• 1 pkg Lightlife Chikn, or any other chicken substitute...or real chicken.
• 1 ripe mango
• 6 habanero peppers
• Corn Torillas
• Vegan Ranch (I LOVE Organicville Non Dairy Ranch)
• Any Toppings you like, I used:
• Cilantro
• Shredded Lettuce
• Diced Tomatoes
• Daiya Pepper Jack havarti

What you need to do:

• Peel the Mango and chop it up along with your Habanero peppers. Now, before you throw everything in the food processor/blender, put in a little of each at a time. For example, I started off throwing in about 1/2 mango and 2 habanero peppers and it just seemed to sweet to me, plus I needed more. So...just keep adding stuff in til it tastes good! :)
• Once everything is well blended and slightly "pasty" (if it's not, add some water, you want this to kinda be like a thick marinade) throw in your fake chicken. Stir it around and let it sit in your fridge for however long you want. The longer the better, but I did this for about 30 min.
• This is a good time to pretty much just set up the rest of your ingredients...chop the tomatos..lettuce..etc. Also, get two skillets ready!
• Once you take out your chikn, put some oil on your skillet and once it's hot...throw on the chikn ....you can leave SOME marinade..but honestly, I only left about 2 tablespoons of it. Enough flavor will be absorbed.
• Start sautéing all of that good stuff, keep your skillet on medium-low. You can even keep it covered...it'll just make the flavors absorb even more. Just be sure to stir every now and then!
• If you don't like regular raw and cold diced onions, then once you are about a minute away from finishing up your sautéing, add onions to your chikn. This way they'll be slightly caramelized. 
• Turn off the heat, and add in some shopped fresh cilantro.
• Heat up some oil on your other skillet, very little. This is just going to be used to warm up your corn tortillas. I like to add a little bit of cayenne pepper to the oil, but again, I just like spicy.
• With tongs, put your corn tortilla into the oil, move it around...remember, you're just warming it up...you could technically even do this in the microwave..but I prefer this. Flip it over...and then move it around again...and throw it on a plate. 
• Once its on the plate you can pretty much take it from there...add as much of the "chikn" as you want, pour a tiny amount of vegan ranch and add your toppings.
• You're all done...get creative with your toppings! If you're not a vegan you have even more options! Add some cheese...sour cream..dairy and dairy-like toppings will dull the super spicy stuff if you don't like it. :)

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Picture will be up soon,

Enjoy y'all! 

xoxo Ewelina

Twitter: @linciaax

IG: beautyandthebrussel

I'm Baccckkk! & with an Avocado BLT Recipe!

Hey Guys!    Long time no blog. :)

  Are you drooling yet? ;)
I got the BIGGEST craving for a BLT today.. not sure if it's because I've been looking at a lot of #veganfoodporn on Instagram or what...but the cravings have been there.
So, needless to say, on my way home from work I decided to stop at Whole Foods and pick up a few things that I needed.
I'll keep this post short and simple, I know how badly you want to go make this, right? ;p








What you'll need: (This just makes one)
Lightlife's Fakin Bacon strips
Vegan Mayo (I use Earth Balance Olive Oil flavor)
1 Tomato
1/4 Avocado
Ciabatta Bread (Any roll will do, I just love Ciabatta Bread :) )
Few leaves of Romaine Lettuce
Olive Oil


Alright so, heat up a skillet with some drizzled olive oil. Once it's heated, take a few (I took 3, because they're long) Fakin Bacon strips and lay them out onto the pan.  Basically just cook them until they look crispy...like you would with normal bacon.   Take the strips off the pan and cut your ciabatta roll in half, this is optional, but I toasted my two pieces of bread in the "bacon grease".  Take the bottom bread piece and spread some vegan mayo, then avocado and then some lettuce. Lay down some strips, but a light layer of lettuce, a few slices of tomato and then on the top piece spread your avocado and mayo one more time.   Close your sandwich and Voila! you're all done. :)

Also, I decided last minute at the end of my Avocado BLT  to dip some vegan ranch. IT WAS AMAZING. Just sayin'. :)

Hope y'all have a wonderful day! <3

Follow me on instagram! ---> ewelinciaax

Neglect.

Hi Guys,
      I feel terrible. I feel like I gave up way too quick on this blog. It's obvious that with a new blog you won't have any followers...but I felt stupid writing stuff knowing that noone will see. However...I also need to realize that who is going to know about it if I don't put myself out there...?...and I'd rather have a whole bunch of posts so when people do actually come see my blog, they'll have something to look at lol. Ok, that was a total depressing moment.


 Anyways, MOVING ON!

I have to share with you guys what I did this weekend! I live in Chicago, so we had The Color Runon October 13th... it's called the happiest 5k on the planet and they are not wrong at all. It was rainy in the morning so we were scared it was going to be cancelled..but the weather cleared up after we picked up our stuff. So basically, at each Kilometer they would throw this powdered paint at the runners (btw, there were about 15,000 of us)...after the 3rd Kilometer we started walking and just enjoying the paint lol...one of my friends and I would go into the paint bucket ourselves and just throw it at each other. It was such an awesome race....especially at the end. When the race was over, we all got together by the stage...at a certain point we were all to open up our individual packets and throw the paint in the air...all I saw was a huge cloud of dust...AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!

I definitely want to do this race again next year...we had it this June but it sold out so quick. It was brought back by popular demand this October...and it sold out AGAIN.

The Boyfriend.

Otherwise, my life has been crazy with school and work. I stopped doing p90x because I was concentrating more on running. I also was put back on Metformin. I started taking it originally last March, and in May I stopped because I thought it was causing hair loss....well, Lo and Behold...my hair was just falling out because I am just really in need of a hair cut. Yes, really.   Anyways, I'm back on it again because without it it's almost impossible to lose weight...I've been running my Polish butt off and sticking to a strict vegan diet and have only lost 2 lbs. I feel GREAT though, but the fat around my belly is not going away and it's all from this insulin crap.  Blah. Anyways, hopefully my levels will go back to normal after the Metformin being back in my life (just until everything go back down) :)

Alright, big weekend coming up! Will continue to blog :)

<3

Ewelina

Vegan Orange Chicken

                                                         My oh my..ohhhh my.

 I love me some orange chicken. Chinese food is always a make-evelyn-happy food. When I decided to be a vegetarian, I obviously did not have the luxury of pulling up to my favorite chinese restaurant and taking some Orange Chicken,vegetable fried rice and egg roll to-go. I honestly did miss it sometimes...but not anymore! I don't mean to be totally overhyped about this...but I am.  I love it because this recipe is made with Tofu and you can use tamari, so the recipe is gluten free!  It was absolutely amazing, and even my carnivore parents and boyfriend loved it.


Ok, so now for the part I don't like.  I wish I could share the recipe with you...but I can't. :( Basically for copyright reasons since it's from a fairly new book.  This recipe is by Chloe Coscarelli.  If you don't know who Chloe is, she's this super duper cute (and gorgeous) girl which was on Food Network's Cupcake Wars. (She won!!! and she was the first person to ever win a contest on FN with vegan cooking)  She has her own website called Chef Chloe and she even has her own book! (She has a ton of free recipes on her site btw.)

Anyways, I highly recommend that you guys buy her book. I love the recipes and they never seem to fail. It's not too expensive either, especially if you get it on amazon. It's hard to make vegetarian orange chicken actually taste remotely similar to the real thing...and guys, I've seriously tried so many recipes online...and this one truly takes the cake.

amazon.com

So, here's basically what my experience was.

Some of the ingredients, I love that all of her recipes are completely natural.

Heaviest thing near me to press my tofu.

Decided to add some veggies together to have on the side instead of rice.

Time to fry...this is probably the most tedious part...

almost there....

My photography skills are so great. jk,i suck. (phone camera)

I'm gonna say this one more time...it was so good!!! I really wish I could share this recipe with you guys, but I hope that somehow you find it or buy the book.


xoxo Ewelina <3


FYI: I was NOT sent this book by anyone...I bought it myself. I am not being paid to promote Chloe's book.

It's a bit gloomy.... (and update)

BUT I LOVE IT.

I looove love rainy days. When I was little I used to dream of moving to England for three things, the weather, the accents and my love of tea.

Wow, I sound stereotypical.

Anyways, I'm at work right now and just enjoying some of my favorite tea.

Heaven.

Quick disclaimers, no one sent me this tea to "review", I bought it myself a long time ago when I was trying to kick my coffee addiction. Also, it looks super sunny here because I took this picture         yesterday. It really is super gloomy here in Illinois.

So, I LOVE this tea. It's by Allegro in the "afternoon life" variety and I've only really seen it at Whole Foods. It has a tropical flavor mixed with green tea (but without the bitterness). You can mostly taste hibiscus and maybe a tad of mango...when you make this tea, just breathe it in. Happiness in a cup! <3 

So, update about p90x,  I have been doing it! It's been almost a week and I love it...BUT...after the first day I was so sore for a few days that I seriously just half-assed (pardon my french) the rest of the week. I do feel better and I have lost 2 pounds (YAY!) But I feel like I want to start all over now that I have "conditioned" myself. So this kinda will be a "p97x" for me lol.

 

Alright, back to work for me :'(

XoXo Ewelina <3

It's time to get real. p90x.

Hi Y'all,
    So as you may have read in my "about me" or my last blog post, I've REALLY let myself go. Like, big time. I do blame it on stress and the insulin resistance that I had developed...but regardless, it's still MY fault. And noone can fix it but me.  It's G.I. Jane Ewelina time. I've been meaning to get back into shape, i swear..but the day before I'm all "YES, I'm gonna DO IT!"..and then the next day I don't even bother to start.  Well, I've just about had it when this weekend I went to a wedding, thought I looked presentable and then when I saw a picture of myself (the next day) I swear I thought I looked pregnant. (btw, I'll post the pictures, and I was sucking my stomach in at that point)  (WHAT THE EFF DUDE)

So that was strike one.
Then, the next day, I wanted to go out to the store real quick, and I decided to move back home to the suburbs with my parents (lots of bad luck in the city), so I had a lot to unpack. So, like any other person, as you pack/unpack you discover things that you didn't even remember you had before. (It's seriously like Christmas!)  So I found this shirt that I wore a lot about two months ago...I put that on and I could barely fit. It seriously was depressing.
Strike two.

So, yesterday, I was getting ready to go to my morning Human Anatomy and Physiology class and I needed to put on my jeans super quick....as I was putting them on my zipper broke. Again,wtf!!!  I didn't have any other jeans. Note: I have about 10 pairs of jeans, but they're all size 2-5, I refuse to buy new ones since I know Ill get back to my old, comfy, weight. The jeans I broke were a size 9/10.  Anyway, I had to throw on yoga pants.
and that was strike 3.

I swear, the whole time in class I kept thinking (Evelyn, how could you get to this point)...I may seem like I'm being too hard on myself, but fall is around the corner and all of my clothing from last year is much smaller, and again, I refuse to buy new ones.

So, like any other student, I sat on my macbook the whole time and looked up the p90x schedule...I'm starting it today, will blog my experience (Possibly each day) and then with a quick summary of what I eat.

Mind you, I've done p90x before, but only for ab out 3 days, and I stopped because my TV got stolen. (ahh, yes, Chicago)  Could've done it on the laptop...but I have to use the TV.

Anyways my loves, just wanted to let you guys know what Ill be doing....you should join too! We could bitch and moan together about how sore we are....and THEN we can all tell each other how worth it it actually was. :D

I'll post two pictures, a "before" of what I looked like last year..and then a "now" picture..which was taken this weekend at the wedding...and then Ill just continue posting as everything goes.

As far as food for today goes, yeah, not so much, mostly because I dont have time to eat today.
I'm at work until 3, So, I had a soymilk/fruit/fiber smoothie this morning (will post recipe another day, I LOVE it) and then I had a handful of beer chips (love 'em, couldnt help it)  I plan on doing p90x when I get home at 330, eating a good dinner/lunch and heading off to school for a 545-10 class...and at some point there I'll have a snack.

Current Weight: 190.5 Height: 5'7"
Current Diet: Vegetarian, transitioning to Vegan.

Talk to you guys soon!
xoxo Ewelina <3

This was me a little over a year ago.

This was me this weekend, 8/25/12

Same dude, and of course he's wearing the same exact shirt.  Btw, he's my other half...I kinda like him ;)

Wish me luck!

Oh, hello.

Hi there, my name is Ewelina,  (or Evelyn if you please) I live in Chicago and welcome to my blog. Whether you're here to read about beauty products, or vegan/vegetarian cooking and food reviews..or perhaps even if you're just looking around and happen to stumble upon this blog, I'm glad you're here! <3  I've been meaning to start my own blog for a while, and I sincerely do hope that I will be able to continue posting consistently for you guys because  1) I have a lot on my mind a l w a y s..and usually have a lot to say, 2) I LOVE telling people about things that could potentially help them too, 3) because this is basically my dream "hobby"..I love cooking, makeup, writing, running, dance, science and photography. Therefore, this blog allows me to do almost all of them them...except for the dance, but it may explain some random things in this blog later on. Especially the science, I'm in nursing school and planning on going on to Med School later on...sooo, I will be posting a lot of "this is why this ingredient is bad for you and now I'll give you the chemical break down why.." :)

Any who, if there's some stuff you make want to know about me, simply click on the about me section.

I hope I don't disappoint!

<3 Ewelina, your european vegan.