Natural Vegan Eco Mom In..... Orlando! Favourits I've been buying....

November 12th 2013 :

Wow, what a few days!

I've not stopped, and I admit, I am exhausted! It's all been so so worth it though! We're having a blast here in Orlando, and the fan isn't stopping yet, we still have some awesome things planned, with some huge things happening, so it's all exciting stuff, so stay tuned!

I thought I'd quickly share with you what I've been buying from Wholefoods, if you're like me and like to be nosey and look what  Christmas-sy delights can be found abroad or home, you'll like this as it's all super yummy and very festive!

Non dairy heaven! Brands I love : Daiya, Earth balance , Almond Breeze, So Delicious, Califia, Veganise and So Veggie.

Oh my GOODNESS! HO HO HO , it's Christmas in my mouth with this! The most amazing Mint Chocolate drink EVER, even beats the dairy ones I'd get from Starbucks back in the day! Totally amazing, and I wish I could take it all home!  I'm going to have to get more since I've drank it all with Seth - he loves it too! The boy has the best taste yet he's only 7 bless him!

Eggless Egg nog?! Wholey moley, this is so beautiful it's not even funny. I've been drinking this stuff like there's no tomorrow. The weird thing is, it's juts Water, Almonds and raw cane sugar ( I think ) as there's no egg flavour types in the ingredients. Weird.

Anchor butter fan?! YES!!!! This tastes so creamy, buttery and salty that you forget it plant based. Probably one of my faves from this trip in Orlando, I LOVE it. Knocks the spots of the awful 'butter' we get back home. I'm going to be taking this home with me, well, a few I guess actually!

Daiya, as I mentioned before, I'm THE biggest Daiya fan, I have been eating this on just about, well, actually, everything in sight, as had Opeie. Not sure about the Strawberry cream cheese one yet, but might make good cheesecake! I will let you know as I'm planning on playing around with it, to see what i come up with! Sound good? Stay tuned!

Go Veggie! - Kinda like a cheaper Daiya, I'll let you know how it goes down on the Melt-y front!

Cream cheese Daiya, - I've been eating the chive one on oatcakes! Crumbly, a great likeness in texture and amazing taste. I really love this and wish they'd make other flavors like pineapple, or spicey red peppers.

Totally delicious, I am in love with this. I've always been a HUGE Tartar sauce fan, I love sauces and dressings, but this is something else. Soy free too! Woop! It's so creamy that you forget it's not egg / dairy based. Totally amazing, and so flavour-some it's awesome. I've had it on everything, and have been dipping carrots in it like there's no tomorrow!

Oh yes! Vegan So delicious Ice creams! Daiya Pizza and Wholefoods Burritos  for my fiancee Pauly!

Opeie's been eating the So Delicious Mini's with curiosity since hecan' t understand what they are, or why they're so cold as he's never had Ice cream before, since the UK ones hard to get hold of where we live or they have soy in them. So since he had these , he's been in an ice cream dream.

Stay tuned for more on Orlando's best foodie haunts, products and restaurants for vegans. .....

Lots of cheesey love, Laura ( Who's eating a fabulous Daiya pizza! )

Vegan in Orlando : Daiya Pizzas, Vega One, Weightloss

Well,  we've been super busy this week, and I've not had chance to write too much as we've been working on something exciting....

But I thought that you might like to see what I've been munching on... I had THE BEST pizza the other night... I have been THE biggest fan of Daiya since discovering it, so much so I named my iPhone Daiya ( don't ask! Odd ball girl ) .... it was worth the wait since my freezer stash ran out. YUM! The base was gluten free so it meant Opeie could eat it also. I've since gone back and bought 2 more in other flavors as Opeie loved it so much and keeps saying " Opeie have some pizza please?"

I like to eat more raw foods mostly but this pizza was an ultimate treat, as was the ice cream I ate afterwards!

Even the boys who are non-gluten free / vegan enjoyed it! I think I slightly overcooked the it as I'm still getting used to this cooker we have. although it's an amazing cooker, so I don't mind, and the base tasted gooooood! Probably the best pizza I've ever had. I don't want to come back to the UK at the end of the month.

On the way to the Disney park the other day I had VegaOne cherry chocolate protein bar. It was 16g of protein and the first few bites were good BUT it was kinda chalky and heavy. I had to eat it over 2 days. At $3.99 they're quite pricey too, but would be good for an after gym session I think.

Opeie's been munching on Minion bananas, all of the bananas have minion stickers on them, but Pauly decided to go one step further and decorate the yellow fruits with a biro for Opeie's snack.

I've done tons of food shopping at my mother ship, Wholefoods Market, I had the nicest suprise too while I was in there, When I was in the store 18months ago, I made a friend, a fellow Brit, who'd moved to Orlando with his parent's as a teen.... I was walking through the aisles and I said Hello to him.

I started to say, " Hello again.. you helped me so much last year...."
He remembered me but said " DAMN GIRL YOU LOST SOME WEIGHT....... "



Then we hugged and high fived. It was such a nice suprise, as I'm always the person who remembers everyone. After a chat I picked up some more products, and I am so happy that I was able to meet up with someone who helped me so much, even if it was just a few hints, it was more the state of mind change that helped.

 Last Year:

And this year.....



Here's to eating healthy!

Plans for the week: To check out some awesome parks, go swimming alot, shop! , check out some tasty vegan restaurants, and have a blast generally.

Enjoy today, Laura x

My Love of WholeFoods and the Wholefoods Market Cheltenham

Yesterday for a lunch time treat we popped to WholeFoods Market Cheltenham.It is simply the best place to shop for food if you love the best healthy, tasty, fresh and vegan food. Even if you're not vegan it's still the best because it has everything you could wish for!

I LOVE the Wholefoods diet that I've been on ( I don't mean the wholefoods Market diet , but eating wholefoods.. if you get me!?) anyway, we sat down to a really lovely but slightly naughty lunch. I had the Vegan Pizza that they offer, and some linguini , I rarely have wheat so it was a 'treat', I'm not keen on eating loads of Gluten-y foods.

 Before the Pizza & Linguini

Opeie always loves our trips to Wholefoods, he calls it the 'OOOOhhhh Tasty Shop"  I totally get why, and he always knows exactly what he wants from the Cafe, the staff remember him everytime and make a real fuss.

The lunch time treat / cafe visit wasn't the only thing, but I wanted to hang out with my new buddy and chat about all kinds of stuff. We chatted for a while about all kinds of things, how not many people are willing to open their minds to a Vegan way of thinking, and how all the time on Facebook I'm constantly getting comments on how it's 'dangerous!' and given uncalled for lectures on B12, Protein and Amino Acids etc.

If I had the money, I'd spend thousands in Wholefoods Market, it's my perfect shop ( minus the fact it doesn't have Daiya! But i'm working on that) I love the unusual foods you can get from there, and the yummy recipes they have floating around the store.

As for my Wholefoods diet, It's been going really well, this last week came to a bit of a halt when my Bobble filter stopped working, and I was waiting for my new bank card, thus couldn't get one off Amazon. I usually try and drink a fair bit everyday, but never feel thirsty, unless it's the middle of the night and I've been feeding Opeie lots - which always happens, but in the day, nothing. Never feel thirsty!

I'm trying to experiment more with more pulses, and things, this week I made a mean red lentil , carrot, cumin and corriander soup. I will post the recipe here one of the days, Oh boy it was good, and so filling! Packed with proteins too.

I managed to pick up a bunch of new stuff to try, along with some oldies I can't live without. Even tried some of the Bessant and Drury ice cream, which was very lovely.

Today I'm going to order a Vegan cook book, I keep looking at this one:

But I've read/ heard really mixed reviews, so I'm not really sure. Apparently it has few pictures, which I like to look at, as my brain reacts better to images than words.

Another I've read is good if your trying to loose weigh is the 'Appetite for reduction book. Which I'm sure would be interesting, just hope it doesn't contain loads of Soy.

What are your favourite Vegan cookbooks? I just want one that's not Japanesey /chinesey flavoured food, as that's not my thing. Just a wholesome , Wholefoods, wheat / gluten / soy free one, I'm not asking too much , surely? Ha!

Either way, no matter which book I buy, I will be sticking to my Wholefoods diet, and trying to cut out wheat too. I've lost around 1.5 stone so far, and still have around 11-20lbs to loose before I'll be confident going wedding dress shopping, which isn't the motivation I must add, I just want a clean body and mind.






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