fala-fail.

there are a few new things.

my grandma sarah moved from california to georgia last week. the news came quickly so there wasn't much prep time for my parents, but i think everything worked out and now she has officially moved to the east coast!

i'm excited to be able to go home and see my family...

but on the bright side,

i found out yesterday that kenzie and robby on a slight whim are both coming to provo for thanksgiving! this is the first time family has come to provo for thanksgiving so i'm thrilled. that makes my dad, kenzie, and robby. so excited! we're just going to have a nice little reunion here in utah.

needless to say, i'm happy for things to come.

on a completely unrelated note, lately with school i have had little to no time to exercise or cook most of my meals so i have been feeling less than wonderful in terms of health. 
my family is vegan, and when i went home over the summer i was exposed to different foods i probably wouldn't have tried otherwise. one of those new foods was falafel. at the time i thought it was good, but i didn't think it was amazing. 
well, i started craving it a few days ago and so i went to the store and bought all the ingredients to make it. i finally made it yesterday.
i call this one
fala-fail.

i don't have a food processor so i was chopping and squashing things by hand. when i finished following the recipe, it was not pliable at all. it kept falling apart. 

with a little help from the queen of culinary arts, my sister, i made it work.

maybe next time i'll try to find a food processor...

but the recipe is great and pretty easy.

if you're curious, the recipe is

falafel with a twist

from Oh She Glows, 

a website devoted to vegan recipes.

the word vegan might scare you, but just try something.

i dare you to not like it.

i'm not a strict vegan myself.

my family has never really eaten dairy or a lot of meat so my diet is accustomed to that. then when i left the house they became more strict vegans. i've tried some really delicious vegan dishes, and i've tried some that were a little less than savory, but overall i think vegan food will surprise you. the one summer i went home after my freshman year at school [where, needless to say, i gained my freshman weight]

i came home to a vegan diet.

i wasn't thrilled, but i ended up losing the weight i had gained and i felt extraordinarily healthy, even though i wasn't even running like i had been doing before.

i'm not saying to go crazy and change your whole lifestyle, though that's what my mother and sister would advocate,

but just add some vegan dishes to your diet.

you'll feel healthier and happier with more whole and living foods.

it's actually not as hard as you might think.

bon appetit.

love,

lo.