Unplugged. Picnicking on my porch after work, reading a book, eating veggie scramble and oranges and soaking up the warmth and fresh air

Hello, all and Happy Friday!

Things have been quiet over here at Wicked Vegan. Here’s some reasons why:

First, a few weeks ago, I realized I was getting a number of headaches. The kind of headaches where you are taking extra strength Tylenol PM at 6pm and zonking yourself out so you can sleep away the pain. I haven’t had headaches like that since I gave up dairy so I was kind of surprised. After taking a mental step back I realized, I was in front of a screen A LOT! Computer when I get up to check email and blogs, computer at work, cell phone at lunch to play candy crush, computer when I got home, cell phone all day. I caught myself at one point watching TV, while on my laptop and on my cell phone texting people. No wonder I was giving myself a headache! So, I’ve been trying my best to unplug. After work is spent at hot yoga, ballet, reading or hanging out with my friends. I’ve pushed my book club to get their act together, practiced my guitar and overall, felt a lot better. This means less time to write blog posts and edit pictures, though. I’m working on setting up a balance where I update the blog once a week, set the posts to launch at a certain time and then walk away. It’s a work in progress. I haven’t abandoned the blog though and I look forward to sharing some great recipes next week

And second, last week was CRAZY in Boston. I actually had a post for cookies and Friday favorites scheduled to launch on Friday but I was woken up at 5:30 to my work being cancelled “Due to Police Activity”. WTF? Turns out my work, which is in Watertown, was closed because the Boston Marathon Bomber was on the loose. Then the whole of Boston was on lock down! I live approximately 2 miles from Watertown so you bet your butt my roommate and I were glued to our TVs all afternoon watching the drama unfold. With everything as tense as it was, I didn’t feel like a comical blog post on cookies was appropriate so I pushed the blog back…to next week. Stay tuned!

Now, onto some Friday Favorites… because I can!

1. Favorite New Blog Find: Thug Kitchen. It’s hilarious and vegan. Homeboy’s only been up and running since August and Gwyneth Paltrow is already throwing props his way on Rachel Ray. Go. Read. Learn how to avoid dick cancer…

(picture 100% property of Thugkitchen.com)

2. Best Call-em-out, point-the-finger, and tear-them-a-new-one News Reporting. Ahh, Jon Stewart. Thank you for saying what we were all thinking.

3. New Music Video Obsession:Paramore- Still into you

4. Favorite Way to Stay hydrated: Water + muddled Fruit + a few hours to sit and get yummy= Aqua Fresca. Shown here is Pineapple Strawberry and All Citrus (Lime, Orange and Lemon). You’re supposed to get something like 8 glasses of water a day. WATER. Not fruit juice, coke, coffee or booze, all of which can actually dehydrate you and do crazy things to your blood sugar and digestion. WATER. Making water fun helps get that done.

Half-gallon mason jars hold 6 cups. That’s almost the Doctor recommended amount of water you should be drinking. Get on this!

5. Favorite New Subscription: Boston Organics! Its like channeling the excitement of getting a package in the mail, except it’s all organic produce. Isn’t that exciting!!! I’m currently signed up for a bi-weekly produce drop off. My box is half veggies, half fruit and it’s all organic. You can also have add on’s like eggs, coffee, tea, chocolate, milk, etc. Again, all organic. I’m pretty stoked! My first box arrived last Thursday so I’m still trying to work it all out.

6. Favorite concert: Andrew McMahon.  I’m so in love with him right now. I saw him a few weeks ago and I’m still riding the high. Favorite song- Hammer and Strings by Andrew’s band, Jack’s Mannequin. This wasn’t played at my concert but it is easily one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time. Check it out below.

What have you been up to lately? What are you into? This weekend I have a date with some friends and season 1 of Games of Thrones. I’m told I’ll love it. I’m skeptical… Whatever your plans are though, I hope you have a great weekend and I will be back next week with some new recipes

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…but I may have spent my evening hunkered down in JP Lick’s sipping mocha lattes,  eating ice cream, and watching The Vow. Then,  I spent a solid 2 hours chatting it up with a friend instead of editing photos (I use the term loosely) and writing up a post.

Check back in at 5 and I will send you into the weekend with a donut recipe! YUM!

<3

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…hello Christmas Holiday!!

I  just ate the last bit of my Tofurkey and I’M SO EXCITED! The thing about being the only vegan at Thanksgiving and having your own food is that you get ALL the leftovers. Like…all of them.

Like…a whole Tofurkey…

…and whole gallon size ziplock baggy of vegan sausage stuffing…

…and whole green bean casserole…

…and a whole pumpkin chocolate chip cookie pie…

…I’m really sick of Thanksgiving food…

I’ve literally been eating leftovers about two meals a day in an attempt to try and get rid of everything.

But, with the end of my Tofurkey (and the leftover sweet potato casserole and the pie…did I mention I’m sick of Thanksgiving food??), there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Thank gosh!!

So with my cleanse completed and Thanksgiving out of the way, I’m looking forward to making and sharing lots of wintery/christmas recipes. Think cookies, cause I know I am! And chocolate and mint everything!! YEAH!

I’m hoping to be back to our regular scheduled 2-4 recipes a week by next week, with possibly one or two recipes at the end of the week. It’s just me so I don’t want food to go bad but I’m almost through those leftovers!

Have a great week and I will see you (hopefully) by the end of the week!

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Hey Wicked Vegan users,

I apologize for the lack of posts this week but I have been feeling a bit under the weather. I went to lay down after work last night and take a short nap and I woke up 4 hours later at 10! As I still had a headache and still wasn’t feeling great, I read for a whopping 30 minutes and fell right back to sleep. Nothing like 13 hours of sleep to make you feel more refreshed!

Combine that with my Two-week cleanse, and there hasn’t been a lot coming out of my kitchen lately. I’m dying to make you some Thanksgiving treats but have had to put it off because of the cleanse. Thanksgiving should be filled with yummy comfort food like green bean casserole and pumpkin pie, both of which I am hoping to provide recipes for next week.

So come back on Monday when I’m, hopefully, feeling like myself again. I’ll have some yummy recipes for you that will get you excited for Thanksgiving and make it easier for you to avoid the non-vegan items.

xo- Erin

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Monday things coming when my photo editor is working and not crashing my computer.

Until then, I want to tell you about something my friend, Rachel, from RachelRobinsnest.com alerted me to. She posted last week about how she would be doing something called No Spend November, where she cuts her spending drastically, focusing only on things she must pay for, such as bills, student loans, etc.

My initial reaction was, “holy crap! She’s nuts!”, especially when she said no coffee runs. But the more I thought about it, the more I really liked the idea. I’m very addicted to “stuff” and I enjoy retail therapy a little too much, which I think was evident when I purchased a billion halloween themed things. My room is a cluttered mess of “things” and maybe cutting back on spending for a month wouldn’t be the worst idea.

In addition, after my debit card number was stolen and my checking account cleared out, I’ve been striving to use more cash and really budget things. I have cute little envelopes for different things- groceries, spending money, gas, Target, etc. By spending less, I would be tightening my budget and allowing more to go into savings. I really liked this idea.

I had some follow up questions for her, which you can read here. My biggest concern was that she had cut all her money for “fun” things. Going to get a drink with friends, going out to eat, going to the movies, etc. I felt that if I completely eliminated that, I would find the whole month unfun and would be more likely to slip in my spending.

So here are the guidelines for the No Spend November if you want to join us (I’ve added my comments in purple):

1.  No buying crap for myself.  This extends to pretty much every aspect of my life–no going out to eat, no Starbucks or Dunkin’ runs, no clothes, no shoes, no jewelry, no personal care products.  Nothing! (I have cut my spending money down to $20 a pay period. This is a DRASTIC cut. It’s also all in cash which will help me focus it better. This money is intended for social events- out for a drink, dinner, movies, etc. NOT for Target, clothes, jewelry etc.)

2.  I will still take care of necessary expenses–rent, groceries, bills, credit card payments and student loans all need to be paid.

3.  Focus on getting Christmas shopping done.  This is perfect timing, because I do all my budgeting based on 2 pay periods per month, and November magically has a 3rd pay period! (Honestly, this point was the saving grace for No Spend November. I really liked the idea of refocusing that saved money on Christmas shopping. I’m hoping to put the money I’ve saved from my first two paychecks toward christmas shopping and then use the third for saving and buying new tires for my car, which is a serious expense. Also, it means I can still indulge in some retail therapy but it’s all for other people. yeah!)

4. (This is an additional step from Rachel’s No Spend November) Since I am trying to focus on being less material driven in November (as well as saving), I would also like to go through my super cluttered room and get rid of a lot of stuff I don’t need and have been holding onto- Clothes I haven’t worn in years, books that are rapidly stacking up on my book shelves, shoes that need to be thrown out, etc. I can sell back or donate these items in which ever way is best. If I sell them back, I will put the extra money toward my savings or Christmas funds, if possible.

We’ll see how this goes! I was hoping to have a more low-key, less consumer driven Christmas and make a lot of my presents were applicable (my brother would hate me if I gave him a mason jar candle for christmas…) so I think this No spend November jives well with that. Where homemade gives wouldn’t be acceptable (Ie. my Bro), I can indulge in some retail therapy.

I will let you guys know how it goes. I’m super excited about it and hope I can get my butt in gear to really get some cleaning and de-cluttering down.

We will return to our regular scheduled recipes tomorrow =)

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Happy Halloween, Wicked Vegan readers! This is my all time favorite holiday and I’m totally pumped today.

Check back in with me this afternoon. I’m hoping to have one more creepy, vegan treat for you to make while handing out candy or entertaining this evening!

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Hey Everyone! Hurricane Sandy is kicking some butt here in Boston but so far I haven’t lost power! Fingers cross is stays like that. So, I’m using my day off to write some blogs and do some Halloween crafts. Stay safe everyone! 

Look who I saw in Salem!

Fall dinner with friends! We made Autumn Pizza with Sage pesto, butternut squash, caramelized onions, vegan sausage and vegan cheese. YUM!

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