BBQ Chicken PIzza

Being a native Californian, I used to love BBQ chicken pizzas in my pre-vegan days. Specifically the one made famous by California Pizza Kitchen. Don't know why I waited so long to try this but it was simple. Trader Joe's pizza dough brushed with a light coat of olive oil and bbq sauce, then Trader Joe's vegan mozzarella, Gardein chicken strips that were sauteed in bbq sauce, red onion, a little drizzle of bbq sauce and some crushed pepper flake. Into the oven to cook and then sprinkled with fresh chopped cilantro when it came out. Was great!

With a big mound of arugula salad on top.

Vegan Cosmetics Review: Shiro Cosmetics Part 2

I wanted to show you my second order from Shiro Cosmetics because it is different from the last one which was full of rainbow-y colors. This time I was drawn to pretty browns, oranges and taupes. Great for creating earthy natural looks with a bit of sparkle!

All these loose eyeshadow samples in bags were $1 each. Lots of browns, taupes, greys, oranges... You get plenty of product to last many many uses. The thing about mineral makeup is that a little goes a long way!

This was the Color of the Month: The End is Nye featuring Bill Nye The Science Guy. And gold lipgloss inspired by the potion Felix Felicis in Harry Potter.

Swatches! I used two primers: Milani eyeshadow primer on top half and Elf Glitter Glue on bottom half. Not sure if you can tell the subtle differences. From left to right: He Who Must Not Be Named, Salt and Stone, Ganondorf, The Boy Who Lived, Gift of Mercy. Taken in direct light. Just beautiful.

Same colors as above taken in indirect light. I am in love with these colors.

From left to right: No Men Like Me, Hodor, Hypothesis, Hermaeus Mora, My Mind's Telling Me No, Burnt Flowers Fallen, That's Chess! Take in direct light. I didn't take one in indirect light and I regret that because they are very shiny in direct light.

Some closeups from top to bottom: That's Chess!, Burnt Flowers Fallen, My Mind's Telling Me No.

Left to Right: No Men Like Me, Hodor, Hypothesis, Hermaeus Mora.

From Left to Right: Mother of Dragons, Girl on Fire, I Loved a Maid, Wizard Wheezes.

The End is Nye. This is very beautiful.

The End is Nye and the lipgloss, Felix Felicis. Just gorgeous.

A couple of sandwiches.

A couple of my go to sandwiches: hummus avocado and tofu "egg" salad. Yum.

Vegan cosmetics review: Jen Joi Cosmetics

Jen Joi Cometics is a wonderful company I found on Etsy. Jennifer is the owner and she makes beautiful makeup that is all natural and mostly vegan. I think a few colors may not be vegan. I made sure that my choices were vegan. When I received my package, I was so surprised how big these samples are. Blushes and foundation samples are $4 and eyeshadow samples are $3. What a steal!

So this is what I got to try out. Morning Rose blush, Apricot and Peach blush, Olive 3 foundation shade, Queen Elizabeth eyeshadow and a free sample she included, Honey eyeshadow.

Beautiful pigments! And look how generous these samples are. The eyeshadows are packed into a 3 gram jar. I have no idea how many grams of blush/foundation are here but it's a lot.

Morning Rose blush is a beautiful red-pink blush, the color of pretty rose petals. It has some shimmer in it but if you use a light hand, it looks very natural.

Apricot and Peach blush is a kind of cinnamon neutral color. On my skin it's only slightly darker so it shows up on my face as very natural and slightly shimmery, kind of like a highlight or illumination powder.

Olive 3 foundation is offered as a neutral foundation for olive skin tones or deep beige skin tones. There are a lot of shades offered and I tried to pick the closest to what I wear now which is a medium tan neutral. Works great with my skintone. I used it this morning mixed a little into my moisturizer.

Queen Elizabeth gold eyeshadow is lovely, an antiqued gold with some grey and silver in it.

Honey shadow is wonderful. This works as a highlight powder for me too.

Morning Rose blush and Apricot and Peach blush swatched on my inner arm. Gorgeous colors.

And the eyeshadows swatched with bare skin on left, primer on the right. You'll notice the gold is darker on primed skin and the honey goes more ivory. Completely happy with my purchase. The quality is wonderful and the colors are very pigmented. If you are interested in trying mineral makeup but don't want to make too big of an investment, I suggest you take a look at this great little shop! JEN JOI COSMETICS

"Joe's Red Neck Chili", veganized.

Hey all! Was in the mood for a comforting chili this weekend after a horrendous Friday. I've had this funny little book called COWBOY CUISINE (Recipes From Around The World by Friends and Performers of Buffalo Bill's Wild West) for a while and I've been meaning to cook something from it even though it is VERY meat centric. I chose a chili recipe (there are several in the book) that is called "Joe's Red Neck Chili". "Joe" would ask you to use venison and beef but here I am using Gardein ground veggie crumbles which I think works great for a meaty texture.

Came out great! I made my own addition of pureeing red new mexico chilies that were dried and soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes. It really gave it a good flavor.

Served with hot flour tortillas and a dollop of Tofutti sour cream and a sprinkle of Trader Joe's mozzarella vegan cheese.

JOE'S RED NECK CHILI, VEGANIZED
Ingredients:
2 TB oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 stalks of celery, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 (6 oz can) of tomato paste
1 TB chili powder
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp sugar
1 TB lime juice
1 1/2 cups or so of gardein ground veggie crumbles (I eyeballed it.)
2 cans pinto beans, drained
1/2 bottle of mexican beer
1 cup water or more as needed

For chili mixture:
3-4 dried new mexico chilis
1 TB masa harina
Soak chilis in hot water for 15 minutes. Pluck chilis out and blend with a little bit of the soaking water until pureed. Pour out into a bowl and mix in 1 TB masa harina.

Method:
Heat oil in a pot and sautee onion, green pepper and celery until translucent. Add the rest of ingredients plus the chili mixture. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer, covered for an hour or so. Season with salt and pepper.

All The Foods!

Some food pics to get you hungry for the weekend!

Dinner a movie. A brand of fake chicken I found at Target. I think it was called Simply Balanced or something. The frozen chicken strips looked weird but once you cook it up and add the teriyaki sauce, it looked nice and tasted nice too!

Another dinner and a movie. BBQ Chicken sandwich made with Boca Chicken burger with bbq sauce and homemade coleslaw.

Good vegan snack or otherwise known as meal in a bag. I can eat this all in one go.

Delicious veggie burrito from Tacomiendo!

More vegan snacks that are too good to only have one.

Carla's Vegetarian sandwich at Bossa Nova without the goat cheese spread. Was delish.

Comforting mac n cheese made with leftover sausage gravy and Daiya.

Vegan cosmetics review: Shiro Cosmetics

Another vegan cosmetics review. I've been on a vegan makeup shopping spree kick these past few months so you'll have to bear with my posts about it! I am loving all the colors and fun packaging and themes. Check it out. This is another indie company, Shiro Cosmetics based out of Oregon run by a lovely lovely gal named Caitlin. More fandom, movie, tv show, pop culture themes makes these products so much fun to collect and use.

These are the items I got. 10 eyeshadows and a lip gloss. They also included 3 free samples in little baggies.

These are full size shadows in 5 gram jars which range from $5 to $6 each and include artwork on the lids. From L to R: Diggy Diggy Hole (brown with green duochrome shimmer), What's This Lever Do? (red-orange shimmer), Ziggy (marsala red/pink shimmer with blue sparkles), Krampus Schnapps (goldy yellow), Midnight (navy).

These are the "mini jars" which are $3.50 each. From L to R: A Free Elf (mustardy brown), If You've Got Enough Nerve (metallic copper), It's Mine, I Licked It (dark green shimmer with blue sparkles), Women's Weapons (dark red), Grow Home Douglas, You're Trunk (mustard/green).

And the funniest lip gloss theme ever: Nic Cage Nibbling Petit Fours in A Posh Victorian Tearoom. So funny! This one is a beautiful dusty rose color. There are other Nic Cage glosses! And I'm not even a fan of Nic Cage!

Swatches on my arm on top of bare skin on left and primer on the right. From top to bottom: Violence Solves Everything (sample), Women's Weapons, If You've Got Enough Nerve, What's This Lever Do?, Ziggy, Ha Ha Ha Ha (sample).

Top to bottom: Ziggy, Ha Ha Ha Ha, Krampus Schnapps, A Free Elf, Grow Home Douglas, You're Trunk, It's Mine, I Licked It, Diggy Diggy Hole.

Grow Home Douglas, It's Mine, I Licked It, Diggy Diggy Hole, Demaciaaah, Midnight.
SHIRO COSMETICS