Back to School Vegan Eats and Life Updates

Hello internet friends! Welcome to another recent vegan eats post (a back to school vegan eats, to be exact) where I show you some things I’ve been noshing on lately, give random life updates, and give you my hot take on new products I’ve tried.

I’m writing to you from my futon in my wee little studio; Millie is curled up on top of multiple pillows at my side. I’m watching YouTube, wrapping up some work, and trying to relax after a crazy week.

The past couple of weeks in general have been full of surprises, highs and lows. I feel like I can’t even process everything that’s happened. Less than a month ago I was home in Wisconsin, living a cozy familiar life, enjoying tons of laughs, hugs, meals, and sunshine with all of my closest friends and my family.

Now, literally everything is different, and I am just starting to meet new people, and just starting getting to know this new place while navigating a whole new work and study space. Everything still feels so unfamiliar. Eep! Life’s adventures are crazy. Thank goodness for my adorable, loving dog.

Adulting is hard! Self-doubt can be paralyzing! Anxiety is annoying! Decisions are tough! And the older I get, the more homesick I am! Oh, the struggles of change!

Also unsettling: there was a local shooting this week. It was way, way too close to home to not shake me up a bit. Yikes.

I just feel like my anxiety has been rearing lately. Which is why this weekend, I’m planning some down time, which will include lots of mommy/Millie time, a little blogging, junky TV, and some other content creation.

I have so much to be thankful for. I truly do. I just need some time to process my thoughts and settle into a comfortable routine. I’ve found that when I don’t have a routine, I really feel….off. So once I have settled into a weekly rhythm, I am sure things will feel more normal.

Now that I’ve blabbed my life at you, let’s chat about vegan eats. To be honest, I haven’t been taking many food photos lately, and food has been feeling pretty whatever these days.

After my stomach issues, my appetite has been just…different. I want a lot of simple foods and have been very much eating to get by for energy and less for enjoyment, and haven’t really been thinking about documenting eats for the blog.

But here’s what I have documented, and I hope you enjoy.

Let’s get into it!

Peanut Butter Sandwiches

‘Tis the season! Haha. Back to school means back to packing lunches. Until I’m more in my groove, I’m very into quick-to-pack easy and reliable lunch options. Which means a lot of peanut butter on Whole wheat bread with super exciting sides like bananas, apples, baby carrots, nuts and granola bars. I’m five years old when it comes to my school lunches, and proud of it.

Panera

I had yet another customer meal to redeem, so I took Mille for some 10 veggie soup and a Strawberry Poppyseed Salad. Yum. Also, check out the giant piece of baguette they gave me. I won the bread lottery! Haha.

Silk Oat Yeah Oatmilk yogurt

I had a $1 off coupon for this so I decided to give it a whirl. It gets a hard “NOPE,” from me. It’s watery, too sweet, and overall did nothing for me in terms of taste or satiety.

I ate some chocolate granola with it to try to make it better, but it was still pretty meh. Won’t be buying again (I do love most silk products and non-dairy milks but this product was not good to me so please don’t get mad or offended if you love it).

Lava strawberry yogurt

This was okay. I enjoyed that it wasn’t too sweet and was rich and satisfying, but it didn’t blow my mind. I feel like this was very hyped up to me and my expectations were perhaps a bit too high. It is good, just not good enough for me to buy it again, personally.

It did taste great as a fruit dip for banana and apple slices, so if you buy it I’d recommend enjoying some of it that way!

Luna chocolate chip bars

Is this a new flavor? Well, it was new to me! Overall, I thought it was pretty good, but I think my favorite Luna bars are still the s’mores bar and the blueberry bar – that one is a 10/10!

Frozen veggies + Banza

This is what I ate tonight: frozen veggies + pasta + jarred sauce. It’s a go-to “I have no fresh groceries but don’t want to go to the store,” meal. Basically, boil a bunch of Banza (or whatever kind of pasta floats your boat) and add frozen veggies to the boiling water (or microwave separately).

Drain it all, and dump in a bowl. I added a boatload of nutritional yeast, lots of salt, and then dumped half a jar of TJ’s marinara on top. Then, I was still feeling snacky, so I had a giant bowl of cereal with almond milk after. Nothing spectacular, but tasty and filling enough to get the job done, and I didn’t have to go to the store to feed myself! Yippee.

More Peanut Butter Sandwiches

I’m so boring, honestly.

Sweet potatoes with Black bean Dip + Frozen Veggies

I grabbed a jar of Trader Joe’s Black Bean dip when I was there last, and holy cow that stuff is good. I have been enjoying it with tortillas for lunch/snack, and I’ve been enjoying it even more globbed all over sweet potatoes! SO GOOD.

This photo is poorly-lit and kinda crappy overall, but I had this with some greens + heated frozen veggies + half a brick of tofu for dinner last night and it was another “I don’t have much but I don’t want to go to the store” kind of meal that did the trick!

Bananas

Duh! They taste even better on university campuses. And that’s a totally unproven fact I just made up.

Halo Top Pumpkin

Holy yum! This caught me off guard. The nice people at halo top sent me some to sample and I gotta day – it’s really tasty. It tastes like pumpkin cool whip. If you think of it as that instead of a replacement for ice cream, I think it’s super yummy!

Nothing low cal will satisfy me when I want rich ice cream, but I love things like halo top and SoDelicious CocoWhip for when I just want something light and fluffy.

Purple Sweet Potatoes

I microwave-steam these and eat them like they’re apples. With salt + almond butter and sometimes a little nutritional yeast. The ultimate comforting, filling snack!

Peanut Butter + Saltines

Sometimes I sleep on Saltines. Other times, I loose control of my bowels while grocery shopping and remember they exist.

Anyways, they are delicious! Especially smeared with peanut butter for a late night or mid-morning snack.

Ice Cream (for Millie)

I decided getting a cone (for the dog) is going to become a weekly outing. 🙂 I so cherish time with my girl!

That’s all for now! Sorry this post is much shorter than my usual recent vegan eats, but I thought I’d blog anyways because the more I blog the more I want to blog! So posting this will encourage me to keep up the content-creation, which fulfills me so greatly.

Thanks for reading! What have you been enjoying lately? Inspire me! Write a comment below, and/or reach out on Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube!

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