Hummus / WIAW

I'm SOO excited right now because I finally made something that I have been dying to make for a very long time... a bowl full of delicious hummus.  I know, it's not really thaaat big of a deal, but every girl has her dreams and goals right?? Mine just happened to be "make some hummus."  

I love to eat Middle Eastern food, I love Arabic (I'm in the process of learning), and I love to cook.... so basically hummus is a necessity in my life. Yes I know, I'm a wanna-be, but at least I'll admitted it :)

Here is the recipe.

Thank you Nada at One Arab Vegan for making this possible, you are my hero :)

I'm linking up to WIAW (What I Ate Wednesday) over at Peas and Crayons. You should join in as well!

Breakfast:

Pan y Palta con Té (Bread and Avocado with Tea). My favorite!

Lunch:

A fruit smoothie for lunch on the go! I threw in some frozen fruit, a handful of almonds and walnuts, some raisins, honey, cinnamon, and soymilk.

Dinner:

Pasta shells stuffed with mushrooms and spinach baked in pasta sauce.
(And just to let you know, I definitely ate way more shells than I photographed here)

And that concludes my What I Ate Wednesday post.
In a few minutes I'm going to make myself some chai tea in order to settle in and finish my homework.

Que te vaya bien!

What I'm Listening to:

Watercolored Journal DIY

It's been awhile since I posted a DIY tutorial for anything crafty and, honestly, I haven't made anything since then either. This finally changed the other day and I'm really excited to share a DIY with you!

It is my friend's birthday and she is a creative writer so I decorated a journal for her. 

Easy, quick, and beautiful!

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Materials:

• Plain journal
• Watercolor paints
• Paintbrush
• Water & paper towel for cleaning

Step 1:

      Decide how you want to decorate the journal. I sketched my ideas out on a scrap piece of paper and then I lightly sketched my final idea on the journal with a pencil.

Step 2:

      Begin to paint! For this journal, I painted the outline of a guitar that morphs into a wave.  Then I splattered the paper with watercolors and extra water then stood it upright to let the colors run down the page.

Step 3:

      Let it dry, this usually takes about 20-45 mins depending on the amount of moisture on the page.

Step 4:

      Since my friend is a writer, I painted a quote on the front that is by a very talented young writer/slam poet named Adam Gottlieb, "Poet breathe now because peace might depend on your piece."  The youtube video below is the piece where this quote came from, watch it... it is very inspiring!!

Step 5:

      This step is optional, but I decided to seal it with a few layers of polyurethane sealant, then mod podge, and then sealant again.  This will keep the decorations safe from any accidental water spills!

Now fill the journal with your thoughts and memories :)

Adam Gottlieb, "Poet Breathe Now":

Que te vaya bien!

Pan y Palta (Bread and Avocado)

Ever since I can remember, I have always loved avocados. So when I went to Chile and found out that avocado (la palta) is a staple in their diet, of course I was overly excited!

In Chile, "once" (pronounced: awhn.sé) is dinner and it typically consists of bread, an avocado spread, and tea. "Once" is a small meal because lunch is usually the largest meal of the day and it is eaten around 3.

Although Pan y Palta is usually eaten at "once," the beauty of it is that it can be eaten at any time of the day! I frequently eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

The ingredients for Pan y Palta is exactly that; bread, avocado, and maybe a little bit of salt. It is best served alongside a cup of hot tea.

Step 1:

Cut open the avocado, take out the seed, dig out the green part using a spoon, and mash it in a little bowl using a fork.

Step 2:

Spread the mashed avocado on the bread. Salt to taste.

Step 3:

Enjoy!

I'm not ashamed of my over-excitement and neither should you!

Listening to:

Que te vaya bien!

Christmas in Chile

I know that it's almost February and Christmas seems like such a long time ago, but this post is about sharing a Chilean Christmas with you!

Each culture around the world has a different story about Santa Clause. In the US, Santa comes into the house through the chimney. In Chile, Santa comes in through the window! To decorate for Christmas, it is common to see Santa hanging outside the house trying to climb in through the window.

So how would you feel if suddenly Santa broke in through the window?? I don't really know how I feel about it... but then again someone breaking in through the chimney is pretty scary as well.

Que te vaya bien!

The Doors of Viña

Aló! Classes have just begun again and I am in a whirlwind of chaos. So to calm myself down and to procrastinate a little bit, I decided today is the perfect day to show you a snippet of the beauty of Chile.

Viña del Mar is a beautiful city filled with beautiful doors and I am so excited to share a sampling of them with you :)

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Mushroom and Spinach Pasta with a Lovely Salad

Simple, quick, absolutely amazing!

Today I had a serious hankering for some mushrooms. Well, that's nothing new for me, I'm actually always a mushroom fanatic (especially now that I'm vegan, they are the perfect food!).  

So as a ravenously hungry Lydia came home from class today, you know that it was time to break out the heavy machinery.

This included pots, pans, cutting boards, knives, and...

Ta-da! The handy-dandy-brand new-thank you mommy-food processor! WOO! My life is now 10x easier :)

Anyways, I cut up my mushrooms and threw them into the pan with some olive oil, a little bit of onions, a huge handful of spinach, and spices such as salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and chili powder.

NOM.

While that was cooking on medium-low heat, I cut up my carrots, radishes, and tomatoes for the salad. The cilantro looked so lonely in the fridge and it smelled too lovely to leave it out so I threw some into the above mentioned food processor to add to my salad.

After I mixed it all together I squeezed some lemon juice over the yummy masterpiece, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and drizzled it with Olive Oil Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing.

 

The mushroom-loveliness was done and I set the pasta to a boil on the stove.

Can I say it again? NOM!!

As the pasta cooked, I heated up the pasta sauce and threw the mushrooms and spinach into it. 

As a vegan, I have to be careful about everything that I buy. Some pasta is not vegan and neither is all pasta sauce. I have definitely learned to read the labels!!

Despite the absolute deliciousness of the meal, I could not even finish all of the pasta (probably because I snacked on tortilla chips and fresh salsa while I was cooking...)

I know that this is extremely easy and has been done before, but I just had to post it because it made my day!

Listening to:

Hola a todos!

Feliz Año!! Happy New Year!! I hope yours was great! I was fortunate enough to spend mine with a best friend in one of the most beautiful places in South America... Viña del Mar, Chile.

Our spot overlooked the whole coast.  The closest fireworks were in Viña del Mar and the others are further down coast in Valparaíso and beyond. What an amazing night!

New Years in South America is quite an adventure.  The people crowd the streets and dance until the sun comes up.  The party that I was at served us dinner, had an open bar, and played music that lasted throughout the night. People of all ages celebrated the new year, from children to grandparents, and all were on the dance floor literally dancing the night away.

The aftermath of Año Nuevo littered the streets the following days. Confetti, broken bottles, cigarette butts, etc. 

Beauty can be found everywhere, even among the litter!

It was a night that I will never forget. 

Every year it is necessary to make a New Years Resolution.  Mine is to be completely vegan, not just for the year but for my whole life.  Over the past few months I have been educating myself and experimenting with different foods and so now I feel that I am fully prepared to embark on this journey! 

I intend to keep you all updated on my progress with photos and recipes of all the delicious foods that I eat, maybe I will even inspire some of you to take the same steps that I have :)

Que te vaya bien! Feliz Año!

What I'm listening to: