• 1 medium yellow onion
• 2 jalapeno pepper
• ½ green, yellow, orange, red peppers
• 5 garlic cloves (diced)
• 2 or 3 celery ( I used 2)
• 2 tbps olive oil
• 4 vegan sausages ( I used Italian tofurky)
• 4 ½ cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 28 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen)
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne, basil, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, thyme,
• 2 teaspoons Cajun creole seasoning
• 1 16 oz package of pasta
• parsley
• salt and black pepper to taste

• Start by prepping your veggie, dice the onion, jalapenos, green/yellow/orange/red peppers, celery, and mince the garlic.
• When done heat olive oil over medium heat in a very shallow pan, or large pot.
• Add onion, jalapenos, green/yellow/orange/red peppers, celery, and garlic into oil and saute for 5 mins.
• While veggies cook, cut vegan sausages into small circles.
• Add sausages into veggies stir to blend, cover and cook for another 5 mins stir at 2 and half mins then re-cover. 
• Add 4 ½ cups organic veggie broth to veggie/sausage mixture, fire roasted diced tomatoes, paprika, cayenne, basil, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, thyme & cajun creole seasoning, salt and pepper to taste and stir making sure everything is well blended.
• Add pasta and bring to a boil let it cook for about 10 mins or until your pasta in no longer hard
• Reduce heat to medium simmer, cover and cook for 15 to 17 mins stirring every 5 mins
• Remove from heat garnish with parsley and serve!

Happy May long lost but not forgotten blog! There has been a lot of changes that's happened in the past month with me and I'm eager to share :) In my last blog post, I discussed my plan to get out of debt in the next two years. How has that been going you ask? Relatively well considering that I haven't been able to cut down my spending as much as I would like. I did successfully payoff one of my credit cards on Friday (YEAAAYYY ME!!!) and on track to finish the other the first week in July. The biggest change that's happened since my last post is that I've gone Vegan! Now to clarify, I know being vegan is a way of life for many people around the world, and involves avoiding animal products in all aspects of your life. I'm embracing being vegan in my food choices for the moment. So far It's been 2 full weeks and today marks the start of week 3. There are a few reasons why I decided to go vegan and so far in these short time, I've learned quite a bit about myself and seen amazing changes so far.

This isn't the first time I've gone on a vegan diet to be honest it's actually my 3rd and each time seen different results. My first attempt I chose to tackle on a 30 day challenge about 2 and a half years ago with my good friend Luis who decided to take on the challenge with me for support. Since this was the first time that i'd put myself through a drastic change in diet, it was a bit difficult to adjust to not eating cheese with almost every meal (which to be honest was the hardest part of the whole thing), and finding an alternative to breakfast since eggs and breakfast sausages we're my go to meal almost every morning. Before starting my 30 day venture, I planned ahead by doing research on recipes to make, and food alternatives. I was also doing the workout program Insanity in attempts to get toned and in shape but was a bit concerned of not getting enough protein needed to get through the workout. During that time frame, I had also been experiencing a series of abnormal pap smears. By that point I'd had 3 colposcopy's all still showing mild dysplasia, and pretty much just waiting for my body to go back to normal again. To anyone who has gone through this, you know this is a painful & uncomfortable experience. The constant worrying of what's going on with you body is one of the most unsettling feelings ever! Going into the challenge I had zero expectations other than proving to myself that I could succeed. Once my 30 days were complete, my body had gone through an incredible change and I felt GREAT! I lost the weight and looked nice and toned, my hair grew and was thick and healthy, and skin looked and felt great and biggest surprise of all during those 30 days I had a colposcopy done and my results came back as my cells going back to normal!!! I literally cried tears of joy hearing the news. Soon after that my next pap smear test came back as normal :D :D :D. You would think with such great results I would've stuck with it but unfortunately didn't due to my uncontrollable craving of cheese!

Second time around things we're very different than the first. Jon decided to join in on the fun and together chose to go on another 30 challenge. Reason being, we watched the documentary forks over knives and were very interested in a lot of the health benefits behind being a vegan. One big difference between this time and now was the constant feeling of feeling full but being hungry at the time. It was the weirdest feeling ever. Almost like having to question your sense of being hungry and full. We we're also eating A LOT of beans and high in fiber type foods, needless to say (TMI) my bowel movements were very regular lol. After these 30 days were over, I didn't see as much change in my body as the first time, if anything I bloated and constipated all the time :X :'(. There was also not much exercising going on in my life and honestly i was quite depressed at the time. Jon on the other hand lost weight (TYPICAL), but complained that he lost muscle mass and felt weaker afterwards. Not sure why but maybe a difference between male an female anatomy and strength level.


Well here we are 3rd time around and let me just say I have been crushing it! Seriously I have literally been winning at being a vegan right now. Makes me wonder if 3rd time really is the charm. Now I'm not gonna lie, knowing what your getting into ahead of time and being mentally prepared for it definitely helps. Having a good sense of the types of foods I can eat and the urge to become better at cooking has made this experience fun for me. Now you may or may not be wondering why I've decided to go on another vegan diet (for blogging sake we'll just agree that you we're wondering) and I have many reason for doing so. I've reached a point in my life where I just want to live a healthier life and be the best version of myself that I can possibly be. I've been so down and so depressed for so long that it started effecting my health. My hair has been falling out which was one of the most soul crushing things to realize was happening, especially knowing that I've been taking very good care of it and actively trying to get it to grow as long as possible. Besides my hair deteriorating, I've also felt sluggish and out of shape though for years I've always planned to be in better shape. Lastly over the last 2 to 3 years, I've become more of a conscious consumer. I want to know where my food and everyday products come from. I care of the conditions of the animals being bred for consumption. All this made me reflect on 1st time I went on a vegan diet and how great it felt and how healthy I was and wanted to go back to that. I already went back on a workout regiment with doing insanity workout again (mind you I've been trying to finish this workout for going on 5 years now). Since I'm already in a get healthy state of mind, it felt like this would be the right time to take this on. So far in the past 2 week I've already lost some belly fat and feel less bloated and just all around good. I also noticed today that my hair has been growing back too (THANK THE LORD).  I've made some lifestyle changes and incorportated a 100 day lettering/draw something challenge, I'm currently on day 30 and I've posted all my drawing to date on my instagram. Some days are better than other based on my mood for the day, but it has honestly been such a great stress mechanism. Anywho I would love to hear any of your vegan experiences whether short term or long term. I will be sharing my progress and keeping you posted each week on the meals I've made through out the week. Take care and enjoy the week XOXO