Rome, Italy

What to say about Rome.. simply an amazing city with so much history. I cannot fathom how old some of these buildings are! The Vatican Museum made the trip worth it on it's own. The Sistine Chapel is by far one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen (no photos allowed- BOO!) This visit also caused me to want to learn more about art, which is something I have always had an interest in, but never got the chance to learn. All in time. 

The Colosseum 

Pizza! (not vegan =\)

Barcelona, Spain

To date, I think that Barcelona is still my favorite place that I have visited. It's on the water, sunny, and overall beautiful. It also helps that we came from Madrid where it was a little colder and not very sunny. Also came across an AWESOME vegan place called Juicy Jones which was very exciting for me!

La Boqueria

There should be outdoor escalators everywhere!

Olympic village

View from a cable car

Toledo, Spain

For our final day in Madrid, we decided to take a bus to the town of Toledo, which is not far from Madrid. Since it was New Years Day, hardly anything was open in Madrid, so we figured we'd get out of the big city for the day and check out something that wasn't on the itinerary. 

Madrid, Spain

Next we were off to Madrid, which is where we spent New Years Eve. It was a great place to ring in 2014, though I wish it was as sunny as Lisbon!

You see some strange street performers!

Churros!! 

Lisbon, Portugal

Ever since I got my first taste of international travel, I could hardly wait to get back to Europe. So I began planning a three week backpacking adventure through Western Europe with my man over our winter break from school. 

We went on a hardcore budget and the whole trip to 5 countries and 7 cities cost under $3000, including the international airfare. I started off counting every penny, but lost track at the end, so I can't give you the exact number. We left the day after Christmas and landed in Lisbon, Portugal on December 27, 2012. Then began probably the best consecutive three weeks of my life to date. 

This trip also made me decide that I will be investing in a WAY better camera next time I take a long trip. The one I have is not the best, but enjoy the photos anyways!

Our only bags (We are explorers..obviously)

Almost Raw Nori Rolls

I have always loved sushi! Since going veg, I have obviously been sticking with the only vegetable sushi (not sure if that still qualifies as sushi, but it's still DELICIOUS!) I made it once, but the rice was pretty time consuming to make, and if you don't plan it out in advance (which of course I never do) you need to wait very patiently for it to cool. And I am  not patient!! Especially when it comes to eating =\

SO  I figured, why not make it without the extra carbs and sugar and just wrap up a bunch of veggies in the dried seaweed? I have to say, getting the rolls to stick without the rice was a challenge, but if you eat it right away, it's not a big deal. 

For these I sliced up orange peppers, red peppers, spinach, and cucumbers. Some other things that you could use are cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, tofu, mango, and really anything that sounds good to you! The sauce on here is spicy "mayo" that I made with one part Vegenaise and one part Sriracha. 

Unfortunately, I did not photograph any of the steps for my "recipe". You will probably need one of those bamboo sushi roller mats that you should be able to find at most grocery stores in the Asian food aisle. Do a quick search for how to roll sushi rolls and that should help you out. Any favorite veggie combos for sushi rolls?

Raw Vegan Taco Salad

This past summer I went on a kick where I tried to eat as raw as possible. Thought I was going to stick with it for a long time, but it got a little time consuming once my new job went into full swing. (Currently on the hunt for delicious, fast, raw/really healthy lunch recipes)

Anyways, below is a sort of recipe for a taco salad that I made. You'll notice that there's some white creamy stuff in the picture.. that was supposed to be cashew sour cream. Didn't turn out that great though and I don't really remember what I put in it. Also, I'm really not accurate when it comes to recipes, and the below measurements are estimates. Feel free to adjust to your preferences!

Taco "meat"
About one cup of walnuts, soaked in water overnight
2 tablespoons of chili powder (I like it spicy)
Few dashes of cumin
Dash of cayenne pepper
Dash of oregano
Some garlic/onion powder to taste

Put ingredients for the taco meat into a food processor or blender and blend until the walnuts are broken into tiny pieces. Be careful not to blend for too long!

Salsa
I have used a few different recipes, here I just chopped up tomato with some red onion, cilantro, and a jalapeno. Some lime adds a nice touch.

Guacamole
Again, you can use any recipe. I usually just mash an avocado and mix in some salsa/Pico de Gallo.

Once you have all of these elements prepared, simply put desired amount of each over lettuce (I used romaine). This recipe lasted me about two meals. Let me know if you have any adaptions of this that you have tried! Or a better raw sour cream recipe..