My Summer Vacations / According to Instagram

Sorry it’s been so quiet around here lately. This lucky girl got to go on not one, not two, but THREE extended weekends in a row so far this summer.

The first weekend I went with two of my friends to Vermont to attend the Wanderlust yoga festival. The following week, Jim and I had a wedding to attend in Philly so we hit up the city of brotherly love for a few extra days. Lastly, over July 4th Jim and I did our now annual trek to Boston to celebrate the Independence Day holiday. We love Boston during July 4th because majority the historical sites important to our country’s independence are right there and we are big time history nerds.

I’m finally back in Brooklyn with no joke, around 800 photos to sort through.  I suspect that’s going to take me a while, so for now I wanted to share some of the highlights of each weekend via Instagram.

Left to Right, Top to Bottom // The lodge where we took our first yoga class / Vegan, gluten-free pizza by Pizza for the People / Our pre-hike “hydration” / Gorgeous view at the top of Stratton, which made the difficult hike worth it!

Left to Right, Top to Bottom // The Philly skyline on our first day / Eastern State Penitentiary, by far one of my favorite highlights of summer so far / Vegan ice-cream at Little Baby’s Ice Cream / The Sphinx at the Penn Museum at Penn University

Left to Right, Top to Bottom // The Old State House in Boston, where the Boston Massacre happened (our hotel was across the street! / The Museum of Fine Arts / Brunch at North Street Grille in the North End on July 4th / The Cheers Bar!!

Are you on Instagram?  If so hit me up!  My handle is @BrooklynBliss.

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Eating Vegan Paleo / Baked Sweet Potato with Beans and Greens

For the past several months since I’ve gone grain-free, I’ve been on the search for really quick, easy to make “lazy day” meals that will keep me satisfied without hitting up Seamless for takeout.  These types of recipes are especially important for me when my work schedule gets insane and my days really long.

While perusing Pinterest one day I came across this recipe on the Kitchn and have been hooked making variations of it ever since.  The formula is pretty simple.  Take a baked sweet potato, and stuff it with a tasty combination of beans and greens. Depending on how you cook the potato, it can be ready to eat in 10 minutes start to finish.

If I have some extra time, I’ll actually roast the sweet potato in the oven (which takes an hour).  Otherwise, if I’m being super lazy it just goes in my microwave on the baked potato setting.  The beans and greens get sautéed in a pan with olive oil, garlic, and maybe some onions or shallots while the potato cooks.  They also can be mixed and matched depending on what you are in the mood for.

Here’s some examples of the different variations I’ve made:

The Original

(i.e. the Kitchn version)- Sweet potato, kale, white beans.

The Mexican

Sweet potato, spinach, black beans and top with salsa and avocado.

The Italian

Sweet potato, broccoli rabe, chickpeas and a squeeze of lemon juice. (shown above, this one was AMAZING)

The Clean-Out-the Fridge

Sweet potato, whatever greens are in my fridge, whatever beans are in my cabinet.  It can also include other “leftovers” from that week.  One particularly good version included some leftover lentil salad I had made for the bean component.

The possibilities are pretty endless.  Plus it’s pretty damn tasty.

What’s your favorite “lazy day” recipe?

Babycakes

Any time I’m in the Lower East Side, I try to hit up Babycakes.

Babycakes is a vegan, gluten-free bakery who has I kid you not won awards for the best cupcake in New York City. I’m not saying vegan cupcake, just cupcake in general. Their cupcakes are freakin’ fantastic.

Another awesome thing about a visit to Babycakes? It’s literally right around the corner from MooShoes. What vegan girl doesn’t consider sweet treats and shoe shopping the best day ever?

Highlights of my Week / According to Instagram

Spotting highlighter color paint on the sidewalk that matched my highlighter shoes during a shopping trip / My Casual Friday outfit / The Fuse Gallery Nose Bleed gallery opening / Gluten free vegan tartine at Le Pain Quotidien

Giant latte bowl / Ryan McGuinness show at Pace Primal (and loving my neon orange rain boots!) / My new striped ruffle front blouse / Homemade gluten free vegan tempeh tuna toasts and the Hunger Games on a rainy Sunday afternoon