vegan food review // tattooed mom // philadelphia, pa

We don't typically celebrate Valentine's Day traditionally, so this year we took a day trip up to Philadelphia and went to the Mütter Museum and checked out a great restaurant called Tattooed Mom.

The first thing we noticed was the quirky decor and the excellent atmosphere. We sat at the bar because the restaurant was busy, and the bartender was super friendly and helpful. After taking in the bright colors and all, we tried to figure out if we had a similar place back home to try!

I had the vegan cheese steak (with tomatoes on the side to add because they're my favorite) and we split an order of waffle fries. It was made with local seitan and it was delicious. I'm not usually a "beef" fan, but this was so good! It was seasoned well, juicy, and just damn tasty. Mike had the Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich, which was up to par on his spicy scale. All in all, we'd definitely return!

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how I find free & inexpensive books

I've always been an avid reader. When I was a child my grandfather took me to thrift shops to pick out books. I've continued the practice, but I've been really cutting back on spending lately, so I don't snatch up books like I used to. Here are some ways that I still consume books without breaking the bank.

All of these titles I painstakingly sourced for under $5 a piece (many under $3) over the course of a few months. That's not including the many free ebooks I downloaded to my Kindle app and library apps. Here are some ways I save money on books:

Utilize your local library. Of course this tops the list! I'm a cardholder at my home county's library for physical and digital book check out and I'm a digital cardholder at a neighboring city's library. I lucked out and grabbed a digital copy of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins for free instead of Amazon's $17.99 Kindle price tag. To be honest, I don't check out many physical books because I'm so awful at returning them on time, so the digital option is great for me.

Sign up for book deal emails. I receive daily emails from Bookbub with that day's book deals. I get a lot of books for free that way and occasionally I'll spot something on my TBR list that's been marked down. Riffle is another option, but they don't send emails out as frequently.

Check Facebook Marketplace. Recently I got an almost complete Karin Slaughter collection for free from someone locally who was giving them away. I've picked up mixed boxes of books for free and gotten some good reads out of them!

Keep an Amazon wish list. This one might seem odd, but I keep books I want on a separate wish list. Occasionally I'll scroll through and sort by price. Every now and then I can score one I've been wanting for free or at a big discount. 

Utilize thrift stores and secondhand book stores. I sometimes have to stay away from the book section of thrift stores because I'll bring home a half dozen of super low priced books, and I deliberately stay away from 2nd & Charles for the same reason. We have some great used book stores here locally, too! I treated myself to a book store trip when I interviewed for my current job and told myself "one book for a good interview" and came out with seven. My favorite online bookstore is definitely ThriftBooks*. If you use that link, sign up, and spend $30, we both get a free book!

It's easier than ever now to find books! There's absolutely no reason to drop retail price on a book!

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

link love

Chicobag has a Pay It Forward program where you can send them your old reusable bags.

Check out this article about the impact of the potato and tomato on European demographics and culture. It's a good read!

Everyone knows I'm obsessed with baseball. I umpire and play in two leagues, and in my local sandlot league I will occasionally come in as relief catcher, so this article about the evolution of catcher's equipment was interesting.

I love the promising idea of Eco Lips Plant Pod! 

I like hearing the origin stories of things and this article about the white sauce you get at Mexican restaurants didn't disappoint.

Since I don't have a sense of smell, my taste is slightly diminished. I just found the Hot Sauce Mall and I'm too excited to order some different types, like this garlic hot sauce.

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

Photo by Steve Johnson.

easy vegan ratatouille

I started making this when I started eating vegan/vegetarian. This is super easy to make, is great for using up vegetables that have been hanging out in the fridge, and doesn't take long to cook!

I've made this with zucchini, kale, yellow squash, broccoli, bok choy, spinach, and more. You can definitely add any vegetable you fancy. Eggplant, bell peppers, etc. This is just the gist of how I make it! Like usual, I never really follow recipes and cook to taste.

Start with onions, carrots, and celery. I loathe the textures of these but they're vital for flavor, so I puree them, then brown them with olive oil in a sauce pan. Add minced garlic, then the vegetable that needs the most cook time - zucchini is my go to. I like my zucchini still slightly crunchy, but cook to your own preference.Once they're cooked, I add any other veggies that need to be cooked, though not the greens yet. After, I add a can of crushed tomatoes (or pureed diced tomatoes if that's what I have on hand) and get those almost to a simmer, then add in a can of rinsed cannellini beans and whatever greens I've chosen, which is typically kale. I season with every step - usually black pepper, nutritional yeast, basil, oregano, turmeric, onion powder, garlic powder, among others. You could easily give this a Mexican vibe and go with cumin, coriander, and cilantro.

Other options for it can be pureeing the stems of broccoli with the onions to use them up, swapping the cannellini beans for black beans, or if you wanted to add meat (Wegmans have a great meatless beef crumble option). 

I usually serve this over rice, but you could add a little water or vegetable broth and thin it out for a pasta sauce or pizza topping. It's really versatile and super filling.

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*