International Peace Day - I really missed the sour cream and cheese

Today is International Peace Day and I saw a tweet requesting people to eat vegan so animals would have peace too.  I said ok.  I had a veggie burrito from Chipotle.  Normally, I get this with sour cream and cheese, but then I would have broken my promise.  I'm not going to lie; I missed the dairy, but the burrito was still very good without it.

Dinner, I kind of forgot my promise.  Not kind of.  I forgot.  I went grocery shopping at Trader Joe's (two weeks' worth of food for 100 bucks.  I'm tellin' ya, frozen food and fresh prepared are the way to go if you hate cooking).  Tonight's selection of ready made ravioli included PUMPKIN!!!  It's FALL!! YESSSSSSS!  That's what I heated up and tossed with Spanish olive oil and - here's where I failed on my vegan for International Peace promise - I sprinkled romano and parmesan.  By way of rationalization, I'd already had that cheese in the fridge so I caused no harm to any additional animal.

In terms of real impact, I'd been engaged in a pro vs con Twitter storm convo about Capitalism.  I'm pro-Capitalism and was promptly called a "f*cking ghoul" and a charlatan.  Here's the beauty of digital conversation:  live in person, there's a high probability that I would have flipped the f*ck out, but communication via a medium like Twitter meant I could pause, breathe, reach for my higher self and respond, rather than reflexively react.

In the end, the conversation resumed in the morning and it was defused back down to a civil discussion.  While I still feel Capitalism has no equal and is neither moral nor immoral, but depends on the capitalist, I'm open to hearing about its shortcomings and outright failings.  Maintaining my dignity online led to attracting a new Twitter follower, who turned me on to a website that I think deserves highlighting: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/

I'm kicking around the idea of questioning my own stereotypical ways of thinking about poor people and poverty.  It's just too easy to dismiss them as lazy, and perhaps that's nothing more than an outright lie to throw us off the real culprits of income inequality.

This was the healthiest way I could think of to exercise my 1st Amendment rights in the interest of real peace.

Did you acknowledge International Peace Day today?  In what way?  Comments welcome.

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PEACE  ☮☮

Make someone else's day magical!
Mackenzie

#InternationalPeaceDay
#InternationalDayofPeace
#IHateCooking
#Foodies

PART TIME HALF ASSED VEGAN NOTES - 100% Vegan. Really?

Oh, the sheer delight of delicious food!  When the food is also organic and vegan, my heart skips a beat!  Enter Screaming Carrots in Hallandale.  It's the most delightful hole in the wall you're likely to find.

It's bright and sunny inside, with living plants.  You'll be served water in a blue glass bottle - it's oh so Mediterranean!  The menu is all vegan, all organic, Mediterranean and Thai.

Photo Mackenzie Littledale

I had the Thai Mango salad (hold the tomatoes), and 3 on a spiciness scale of 1-10.  If you like crunch and a symphonic balance of flavors, this is the salad for you.

Thai Mango Salad at Screaming Carrots
Photo: Mackenzie Littledale

Traditional thai salad made with all organic mango, carrots, cabbage, roasted peanuts, red onions, garlic and other herbs & spices. Topped with our home-made tamarind sauce


I also opted for the Raw Nut Shake.  There are several different kinds of nuts that go into this shake, including almond milk.  If you're into nuts and shakes, you'll like this a lot.  It's not very sweet, just authentic nut flavor.

Raw Nuts Shake at Screaming Carrots
Photo: Mackenzie Littledale

Take notice of the straw wrapper.  It's a paper straw.  The owner of Screaming Carrots is seriously committed to cruelty-free, organic, healthy, FRESH, and eco-friendly.  If those matter to you (and you like really generous portions of delicious food), then you've got to go to Screaming Carrots!  It's small, so the place fills up quickly.  The best time to go is between 3:30 and 5:30.

Thai Mango Salad with Raw Nut Shake - $23.90 plus tax

826 West Hallandale Beach Boulevard / Hallandale, Fla.
http://screamingcarrots.com/


Make someone else's day magical!
Mackenzie

#foodies
#vegan
#allnatural
#placestoeatHallandale

Dinner for One With Bipolar

This is almost identical to the first post I made about EASY af dinners for one.  The difference is the stuffing in the ravioli and dessert.  The key difference is I took a photo this time, so you can see the beautiful ravioli.

Same instructions.  Just boil water and drop in the ravioli, turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

This delicious meal is Trader Joe's Sweet Corn, Burrata and Basil Ravioli.  It's already made!  Find it in the produce section of Trader Joe's.  Just boil it and serve.  If I can do it, ANY-body can do it.  In my 30s, I had to call my aunt to ask her how to boil corn.  Ok?  I'm so very close to useless in the kitchen, but I do love to eat good food.

Trader Joe's Sweet Corn, Burrata and Basil Ravioli
drizzled with Spanish olive oil and Romano Parmesan Cheese
Photo: Mackenzie Littledale

Dessert.  This is a bit of a throwback to an early Part-Time Half-Assed Vegan Notes post about #fakeicecream.  I had SO DELICIOUS Salted Caramel Nut Cluster.  It's creamy, crunchy and sweet.  God, I love it!  Plus, it's nondairy.  The base is cashew milk.  You'd never in a million years guess it wasn't real ice cream.  Available at Publix.

If you have bipolar or another mental health challenge, it doesn't have to stop you from living independently.  There are super easy ways to get nutrition without a whole lot of fuss in the kitchen.

#Foodies
#bipolar
#fakeicecream
#SoDelicious
#traderjoes
#Publix

Make someone else's day magical!
Mackenzie