Self Care – Best Vegan Mac & Cheese Recipe (YouTube Video)

It’s time to prep a midnight snack, although you may want to make sure you’re either alone, everyone is awake, or whoever you’re with is a HEAVY sleeper, as it requires a blender.

This is definitely a comfort food.

Now, I made this earlier in January while my parents were in Las Vegas (yes, I currently live with my parents; I’m barely making enough money to cover my car and health insurance payments; I definitely can’t afford rent). I didn’t have the nutritional yeast, so used a little almond milk. I can’t say exactly how much because I basically added to taste, and it was very little because the bulk of the liquid came from the broth. It was delicious, but I do want to try it with the nutritional yeast.

I haven’t made it for my parents yet, though… my dad especially likes to make “I’m a meatatarian” jokes, so it’ll be interesting to see what he thinks of it…

Self Care – Portobello Cheesteak Recipe ~ Brown Vegan (YouTube Video)

Dinner time!

So, it needs to be said that I am in love with mushrooms. Mushrooms make me so happy. I know not everyone likes them, for taste and/or other reasons (I can see why eating a fungus would be off-putting). But I’m definitely a mushroom fanatic. I have mushroom field guides (though no, I’ve not gone hunting for them… yet), apps, recipes, and more. I’m constantly on the search for new mushrooms I haven’t tried, and one day, when I have my own place, I’m going to have a mushroom garden where I grow chanterelles (my absolute favorite; sautée them with a little butter and garlic, and they actually taste like spaghetti with butter and garlic; I’m not kidding), trumpet, morels, matsutake, porcini, and a few other varieties.

One reason I adore mushrooms so much is how versatile they are. Because I love them, I can put mushrooms in almost anything (I do draw a line at desserts and other sweet stuff, though… mushrooms are savory, not sweet; and I won’t put them in “meal shakes”… I’ve seen that, and just… they’re a food, not a drink), from soup to sauces/salsa to salad to sandwiches… and, often, with the right marinades and spices, they make a perfect vegan substitute for meat. Like here…

I think the only thing I’d do differently is, like a classic cheesesteak, put the ingredients in the roll, wrap it all up real tight in aluminum foil, place them in the oven, and let the cheese melt over them that way.

Self Care – How to Make a CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE MEGA CAKE! With GIANT COOKIES & COOKIE BUTTER Buttercream! (YouTube Video)

(Have I shared this already? I think I might have. Welp, all well. Here is it again.)

I love How to Cake It. Yolanda Gampp is just a phenomenal baker and artist, and her cakes are ridiculously out of this world.

As someone who loves chocolate chip cookies, this mega cake just makes me drool. I can imagine that a single slice is nearly, if not over, 1000 calories, but I don’t care, because… just… damn…

Join me in drooling…

Self Care – $5 Pizza Vs. $135 Pizza (YouTube Video)

“Worth It” is a really cool and funny Buzzfeed video series. So far, with two exceptions (a date and a tattoo), it’s mostly focused on food; comparing the same dish at three different price points. In this case, it’s pizza:

Now I love me some pizza, but I’d rather spend $5 than $135, thanks. I don’t need truffles and fancy cheese on my pizza. I just need mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce, and, if it must have toppings, mushrooms and black olives or pepperoni… or the cheese itself is perfect enough. And it needs to be foldable without breaking with a thin, crispy crust. Though I love a good Sicilian, and I’ve yet to try Chicago’s lasagna pie pizza, so I won’t pass judgement on that.

Anyways… enjoy your pizza, however it’s made and at whatever price point. I’d like to say that pizza is one of those things that’s good even when it’s bad, but then people who believe that have obviously never had kosher pizza… [insert *dry heave* gif here]

Don’t. Get. Me. Started. On. Kosher. Pizza.

Self Care – How To Make French Toast 3 Ways : Classic, Vegan and Guilty… (YouTube Video)

(Note for vegans: eggs and milk are used here. Actually, to be honest, I just realized that most of today’s food posts are going to involve animal products of some kind [after this, it’s a video about pizza, then cake; I’m not sure what the fourth and fifth videos will be, yet]. I apologize. I think I’ll focus on looking for a couple vegan food things for the last two posts at 7pm and 11pm.)

It’s breakfast time! Assuming you’ve woken up before now… 😀

This is a video showing you three different ways to make french toast: the classic way, a vegan way, and a super rich way. The host, Alex, has a thick French accent. There are subtitles, but they aren’t perfect. Either way, this video made me hungry, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make some french toast now…

So today’s a fooding day… fun!

Self Care – The Wonders of Space – Amazing Hubble instellar images – sit back, relax and enjoy the view! (REALLY LONG YouTube Video)

This video is 8 hours, 54 minutes, and 19 seconds long. It’s basically a compilation of so much of what Hubble has brought us, along with images from the Spitzer, Herschel and Chandra Telescopes, as well as from the ISS.

I did actually have this video playing once a few days ago for the entire nearly 9 hours when I just had no interest in doing anything else but cleaning, eating, and relaxing. What I would do is, if you can, cast this to your TV or set it to full-screen on your monitor and just enjoy the view while doing other stuff.