Vegan S'mores!

I seriously think MacGyver was a vegan. I say this bc vegans have a way of making anything they want to eat, vegan. Last night I went to a bonfire. What is a bonfire without s'mores right? As a vegan, marshmallows contain gelatin, which is the collagen inside animals' skin and bones. Yum right? So, tonight I grabbed my graham crackers, baking chocolate and (yet again), Suzanne's Ricemallow to the rescue!

Bc the ricemallow is already the consistency of melted marshmallows, I came up with a plan to melt the choc. I used an aluminum foil pie pan, placed one graham cracker on it, placed the chocolate on top of that and placed it over a hot spot on the fire. When the chocolate starts to melt, remove from the fire, dollop on some ricemallow, add the top graham cracker and enjoy! It may sound like a lot of work but I promise you it is not. You don't even have to go hunting around for sticks!

Here is my delicious proof...

I bet if I didn't tell you, you would never know they were vegan!

See you at the next bonfire!

Gene Baur's lecture at Georgian Court University

I finally met him! Gene Baur that is. A man who used to sell vegan hot dogs out of a VW bus at Dead concerts to raise money to help animals. Does it get any cooler than that? Through my journey to veganism, Gene Baur has been one figure that I have always admired. He is the president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. I have had the pleasure of visiting the Orland,CA farm and hanging out with some very special calves! (and pigs and turkeys Oh My!) I hope to make it up to the Watkins Glenn, NY farm in the near future.

Gene spoke of animal suffering. A topic that some people are passionate about, others ignorant. He covered factory farming, battery cages, gestation crates, veal, milk, downers and more. In his book,  Farm Sanctuary Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food, you can learn the details more in depth. Reading his book motivated me to become more active in helping animals.

Take a minute to look over the Farm Sanctuary website. There are a lot of great resources there. You can visit the farm too. Take your camera and go visit the sweet babies rescued from their death beds. They hold no grudges and look forward to the smiles and snuggles that they get! (you can't help it, they are so stinkin cute!)

Also, with Thanksgiving around the corner, Farm Sanctuary offers you a chance to adopt one of their cutie-pah-tooties! When you adopt a turkey, you get a super sweet photo that you can place at the center of your dinner table (or wherever you want!)  http://www.adoptaturkey.org/

Photos from Georgian Court University and Farm Sanctuary Orland, CA

The man himself!

My favorite animal

This goat loved Steve. Followed his every move <3

The sweetest face!

Excuse me, are you taking my photo? Let me pose for you :)

I love this!

The babies were taken away before the were weaned.

Blossom NYC

Before I had dessert at Lula's, my friends and I dined at the amazing Blossom Restaurant. I say amazing bc, well, by the sounds we all made after our first bites, it was. The spot has an upstairs and downstairs for seating. When we went, the top was reserved for a party, so we dined street level. It was a Sat, we didn't have a reservation and we were starving. The server was awesome enough to squeeze us in to a 45 min spot, allowing only one course. (on a budget that is all we could do anyway!) If you are a vegan, you know the pure excitement of staring down at a menu that you can pick ANYTHING you want from! So, I did! You had me at hickory...Hickory basted tempeh that is, with collard greens, potatoes and a horseradish cream sauce. Oh nom nom. The price for this plate of heaven, $18. (Did I mention this place is organic!!!!) Not bad at all. It was just the right amount of food. My girlfriends chose the lasagna and mushroom rigatoni. All of which I had a bite and were equally amazing. I cannot report on desserts as we quickly packed up and headed to Lula's, but I have no doubt that they quite the treat!

Equivalent to the Bible

The collard greens are peaking out

The gateway to heaven

The details:

Blossom Restaurant

187 9th Avenue (21st/22nd)
Telephone: 212-627-1144

Lula's Sweet Apothecary NYC

If someone said to you, "Would you like pumpkin spice or cake batter soft serve?", what would you say? Well, my answer was..."Twist Please!" That is how my evening went last night. After a day of vegan outreach in Union Square, me and my girls went on a vegan food rampage! We had am amazing dinner (which I will save for the next post) and killer (or nothing really died) desserts.

Lula's Sweet Apothecary is awesome. If you love the retro ice cream parlor atmosphere, welcome home! It is a tiny little spot with 4 stools and a window ledge on the inside, and a cozy wooden bench on the outside. Upon entering heaven, you will spot a book shelf to your left lined with jars full or candy bars (including Rescue Chocolate) and cookies. The menu has gluten free options made from cashews and soy options. They are all about sampling their flavors, which I was nice and only took one sample (the ginger molasses which was out of this world). They have 2 flavors of soft serve which changes. I lucked out and had pumpkin spice and cake batter twist. The staff were super friendly as were the customers. I am in love. I don't think I will ever be able to travel to NYC without stopping here now.

Cookies and Candies Oh My!

Next time, it will be a float for me!

Seriously...

It was kinda like licking the bowl of a pumpkin pie cheese cake <3

Who says vegans can't have BLTs??

There are a lot of fake meat products on the market, but only a few make the cut with me. Before I was vegan I used the morning star bacon, which was pretty gross. My Bff told me that she buys Fakin Bacon, by Lightlife, and after seeing it on the shelf forever, I decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised! I can eat it on my "bacon and eggs" while Steve eats it as a "B"LT. The good thing about it is that it is only fermented soy beans, nothing to crazily processed. It has 8 grams of PROTEIN (yes vegans get protein!) which makes the man happy. I like it's smokey taste. Win win! Here is a pic of one of our creations. Looks like the real thing (almost!)

Fakin Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Naoynaise (vegan mayo). This is the best quick lunch sammy ever!

Links to the products...

The Bacon-->  http://www.lightlife.com/product_detail.jsp?p=tempeh_smokystrips

The Mayo --->  http://www.nasoya.com/products/original-nayonaise/original.html

Cranberry Upside Down Cake!

What normal person has several pounds of locally picked cranberries sitting on their counter (besides Shelly)? I have been eyeballing these babies for a couple of days now, wondering what on earth will I do with them all? I woke up this morning after reading my Urban Vegan cookbook before bed and had the answer! Cranberry Upside Down cake!!

The Recipe:

1/2 cup vegan butter divided in half
3/4 cup brown sugar
12 oz fresh cranberries
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
I Tbsp soy flour  (I don't have that laying around, so I used 1 Tbsp cornstarch)
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp lemon oil or 1 Tbsp lemon zest. (I used lemon extract bc that is all I had)

 First:

Grease 9 inch cake pan
Melt 1/4 cup butter and brown sugar on stove
Pour mixture into oiled cake pan
Arrange cranberries on top

Next:

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, soy flour (or cornstarch).
In separate bowl, beat the butter with the extracts and soy milk.

Then:

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients = Batter! (yes, you must eat a finger full)

Finally:

Pour the batter over the cranberries and pop in the over for 40 minutes at 350*

When the cake comes out of the oven, run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake pan to prevent sticking. Allow to cool for 30 mins. Flip that baby over on plate of your choice and admire your work!

All washed and ready to go!

Sitting on top of a beautiful butter and brown sugar mixture

Seconds away from the oven

Smells SO good!

Finished product.

Caramel Apple Bake! Oh Nom Nom!

I have a ton of apple sitting in my dining room waiting to be turned into desserts. Today's adventure...the caramel apple bake! I found what sounded to be promising on Chooseveg.com. Anything with the word caramel in it gets me all worked up! Being vegan caramel is something you feared never eating again. Well, this cake is super simple and already half gone!

Here is the direct link to the website... http://www.chooseveg.com/display_recipe.asp?recipe=28

Now I will lay it down for you...

Apple Caramel Bake

3/4 cup flour 1/2 cup sugar 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. salt 1 1/2 cups apples, peeled and chopped 1/2 cups slivered almonds 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup margarine 3/4 cup boiling water 1/2 cup soy milk

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease an 8"x 8" glass baking dish. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, apples, and almonds. Set aside. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the brown sugar, margarine, and boiling water. Stir until the butter is melted. Add the soy milk to the flour mixture. Stir well then spread into the prepared baking dish. Pour the sugar topping over the batter and bake for 40 minutes.

And now the photos...

Mixing the apples with the dry ingredients.

Pouring in the milk

Nice chunky batter!

I did not have a glass pan so I lined a metal one with foil. Worked great! I coated it with olive oil to prevent sticking!

The butter, water and brown sugar mixture sitting on top.

Fresh out of the oven!

The first piece. Look at all that ooooey gooooey caramel!

I am in <3 with this cake!

Apple Pie!

For those of you that don't know, I have a love for antique things. One group of them happens to be old cookbooks. My mom was the classic 1970's mom without the drugs. Although I grew up in the 80's, the cookbook never changed! Now that I am the one who loves to cook, I got her original "I got this when I made the mistake of getting married" cookbook! Nothing excites me more than seeing the 1968 copyright date and all the oil stains from times ago. I made my apple pie over the weekend from this book and cried tears of joy baking it in my antique Mrs Smith's pie pan. Nothing in the world bakes a pie crust like these pans. My heart skips a beat when I find one at a yard sale. (which happened this weekend!).

I will share with you the pie crust. This recipe makes a top and bottom

2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup shortening
5 to 7 Tbsp cold water

Mix salt and flour, cut in shortening, add water slowly to desired consistency.  
Cut dough in half, leaving one side slightly larger for the bottom crust.
Wrap in plastic wrap
Chill until Cold!
Get baking!

Apples from Conte's Farm in Tabernacle, NJ

Go Organic! Avoid the GMO all veg shortenings

Put those scraps to use! A cute apple baked on top!

Lattice work makes a world of difference!

Vegan Apple Cider Donuts

One of my favorite Vegetarian Times issues is the Sept 2009. It inspired me to go out and buy my donut pans. Yesterday I made some of the apple cider donuts. I love these! Nothing makes the house smell better than boiling hot apple cider! I tweaked the recipe a little, bc I like things spicy! I made 1 dozen mini and 4 large with one recipe.

The recipe is as follows:

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 cup apple cider
1 1/2 tsp egg replacer (Ener-G) {mixed with 2 Tbsp water)
1/3 cup soy milk
5 Tbsp apple butter or apple sauce
4 Tbsp vegan margarine

Boil the apple cider until it is reduced to 1/3 cup.

While this is boiling, mix all the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl

Once mixture is reduced, add margarine, apple sauce, soy milk, and egg replacer.

Mix wet mixture into dry. Pour into prepared donut pans and bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes

When donuts come out and are still hot, toss them in a sugar and cinnamon mixture. I put my sugar mixture in a tiny food processor to make the sugar very fine.

Eat and enjoy!

Suzannes Ricemellow Crème....Oh My!

Ok Vegans, here we go! How many of you miss marshmallow fluff??? I know I do! I have a secret to share with you. You ready??? It's called Suzanne's Ricemellow Creme. I have mentioned it for my vegan fruit dip, but now as the season cools down, I have another use to share with you. Make a hot chocolate and top off with a heaping spoon of ricemellow! Simple recipe = Hot choc veganized! Here is the link again

And this is a quick shot of my snack :)
http://www.suzannes-specialties.com/khxc/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=prodshow&ref=ricemellow

And this is a quick shot of my snack :) I had to go easy on the ricemellow being it was my 3rd helping.

Natural Eye Makeup Remover

Hey Ladies (and some Gents!)

I don't know about you, but I am tired of having raccoon eyes after a night of fabulous eye makeup! I had tried to use only face soap to get the makeup off, but as you know, it can survive a night of blubbering with the girls! I bought the eye makeup removers but was always nervous about how it stung my eyes! I would have bright red eyeballs, but no makeup! So I started thinking natural. I noticed that the makeup remover that I had been using was a mixture of an oil and a chemical. I decided to grab my extra virgin olive oil and see what I could do with that. WOOHOO it works! I drop some on a cotton ball and swipe across my lid, put a little on a q-tip and get my liner off. It does not burn! It even moisturizes :) So give it a try ladies! I have a huge bottle of EVOO that I use for more than just cooking. It is a miracle worker!

Hold a Clothing Swap!

Hey ladies and Gents! So here is a green idea for you. Now that fall is here, go through your closets and weed out those clothes you know you will never wear again. Break out the old boots that you thought you were going to wear last year but never got around to. Get rid of some of those hats, scarves and gloves that you bought bc they were just the right color 2 years ago. (you get the idea!) Bake some vegan cookies and pour the hot apple cider. Invite your styling friends over that you always admire and trade your old goods with their old goods! You will be surprised how many cool items you can get for free! It is a refreshing way to recycle your wardrobe. So get those BFFs together, feed 'em, trade with 'em and be green!

Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles

This recipe comes from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I wanted to make something sweet and spicy tonight so immediately reached for their cookbook. I haven't really tried too many cookies, but the couple that I have are easy and amazing! I definitely recommend picking this book up! The recipe is as follows:

Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Dough:
1/2 c. veg oil
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. pure maple syrup (not the fake nasty stuff)
3 Tbsp nondairy milk (I used coconut milk)
1 tsp van extract
1 tsp chocolate extract (I used 2 vanilla bc I didn't have choc on hand)
1 2/3 c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne


Oven set @ 350* Bake 10-12 mins

Mix the ingredients in order of listing. When you get to flour, sift with the rest of the dries (b.soda, cinn, cayenne)

Roll into balls, roll in sugar mixture.

These spread, so leave a couple inches between each.