man shapes himself through decisions that shape his environment

So after the past 3 weekends of leaving philly and going to New York for different reasons, I am hopeing I'm back here for a while at least! I'm pretty sure my next break is at the end of October, but that's enough time :)

So I made the Chocolate chip scones from Joy of Vegan Baking last week. This is my second recipe out of this book(first being the AMAZING choc chip cookies) and they came out really well! I had multiple test-tasters, so that was always nice haha.



Chocolate Chip Scones:
1 egg replacer (i used flax seed blended with water)
2 1/2 c flour
1/3 c sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c non hydrogenated nondairy margarine
1 c vegan chocolate chips
1/2 c non dairy milk
cinnamon for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lighlty oil a cookie sheet. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the margarine and cut into small pieces with two knives to create a coarse crumbly batter. Stir in the chocolate chips. Add the milk and egg replacer and keep mixing to a minimum. Mix with a fork until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Gather the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface. Pat dough to a 1/2 inch thick round and cut into 8-10 triangle pieces. Place them 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for 12-15 minutes until tops are golden brown.

I wasn't sure if they were done or not, since they never really got that "golden brown" on top.. but they tasted really good and completely done, so I guess maybe my oven is weird. ;)
For the sorority, we have an alumni tea this weekend..so the girls have to bring something such as an appetizer or dessert, etc. I'm figuring this is a perfect opportunity to finally whip up some beautiful cupcakes from VCTOTW, so i'm really excited! I'm thinking the cookies n cream ones? Or maybe there are other favorites?

Oh yes! and i'm also really really excited because tomorrow i'm going to this vegan chinese restaurant in the city with a new vegan friend, so that should be pretty sweet. :) i've heard about the place for a while sooo i'm excited i'll get a chance to go..definitely expect an awesome review :)
well off to finish this never-ending paper that I keep procrastinating about ;) ohhh college..

phosphate free!

It's starting to cool down now and as much as I like the fall/winter months..I really do not like being cold, at all, and I'm cold all the time. it's a bummer..but at least the leaves will be changing and it'll be beautiful. :)

So I bought lentils because I lovvved the snobby joes from Veganomicon I made over the summer, and I really want to make them here. But I wanted to make something new with the lentils, so with half of them last week I made a lentil salad. It came out pretty good.. I could eat it just by itself, but I found it to be more substantial and delicious on top of lettuce with a bit of italian dressing.


Lentil Salad:
1 c dried lentils
1 diced medium sized carrot
6 thinly sliced green onions
1 diced red bell pepper
1/2 c chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 c chopped italian parsley leaves
1 minced clove of garlic
1/3 c lemon juice
1 T olive oil

Bring 3 cups of water in a large saucepan to boil over high heat. Add the lentils and bring to medium low. Cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Drain the lentils well and spread them out to cool quicker. Toss the rest of the ingredients with the lentils aside from the lemon juice and oil in a large bowl. Drizzle oil and juice on top. Eat then or ontop of lettuce with a bit of dressing as i chose :)

So we also have a new addition to our family! Meet Ziggy!:


This cute little kitten is soo hard to get a picture of! He will never stop moving! I can't even find him asleep to get a good picture. One day :) But we adopted him on Monday from PAWS (the animal shelter in philadelphia) and he's so adorable. Usually I'm not much of a cat person, I prefer dogs, but he's so cute so it's okay. :)

you don't have to say a word to me

Okay so the cooking is still not going so well, but with classes and work and homework..it can get difficult to find time to go to the store and get the stuff and make something delicious.
this past weekend i went up to Syracuse, New York for a football game. The football game was the downside, since syracuse lost, however, I did find my possible new favorite vegan restaurant?
I looked up on happycow before I left to see if there were any vegan places in the area..and only a few showed up, one being the Strong Hearts Cafe. I looked over the menu online and it looked really good, not to mention they had quite a list of flavors for milkshakes as well! Soo I wrote down the address and we luckily got a chance to go there after the game.

The cafe was inside of a building, which looked to be perhaps an old office building? I'm not sure really..but it was a good size, and had a bunch of tables for eating in. The menu when you first look above the cash registers and such was for all of their beverages..they had hot cocoa, brewed teas, many different coffee drinks(think cappucinos and machiatos with tons of different flavor shots!), and an extensive list of milkshakes, which i'll get to :)
The food menu was on the other wall across from when you come in, with a few salad options, a bunch of sandwich options including options like seitan, blt's, chicken and chickpea salad sandwich, etc. Not to mention an impressive looking breakfast menu, which is served all day, including french toast, waffles, pancakes, tofu scramble..etc..
I knew that after I ate I would want a milkshake, so I didn't want to fill up too quickly, so I chose a "chicken" caesar salad.

I was really excited to try the dressing, since I used to really enjoy caesar dressing. It was a darker color, but absolutely delicious! It had just the right amount of garlicy-ness to it that made it taste great. The croutons were also really crunchy and delicious. The chicken strips on top were very familiar to the morninstar chickn strips...I'm not sure if that's what they really used though, but I love morningstars so I loved these! The only thing missing is it would've been sweet to have some vegan parmesan on top, but hey..it was really good without.

This is the sundried tomato seitan sandwich with tomato and vegan mayo on it. I only had a bite, but it was really good! And the toasty-ness of it made it perfect.
So after eating, and trying to decide on which milkshake flavor to get, I decided on a favorite, Chocolate Peanut Butter

I've had a lot of milkshakes..before being vegan, but actually I haven't had one since being vegan. But this by far was the best milkshake, vegan or not, that I've had! It was soo perfect. I also got to try the chocolate coconut milkshake, which was also really good..especially if you love Mounds bars or just the combo of the two in general..it was really coconut-y but not too overly fake sweet coconut tasting. just right.
They also had plenty of baked goods at the front that the guy told me they make most of them there, such as mocha cupcakes, mint chocolate cupcakes, scones, whoopie pies, etc.
So if you're ever in the Syracuse area, definitely make a stop at the Strong Hearts Cafe. You will love it, i'm sure :)
Oh, and the best thing? On Fridays & Saturdays, they're open until 2 AM. oh I would kill for a vegan milkshake at 1 in the morning ;)

soo its been a bit...

OKAY so i'm finally somewhat situated into the new apartment and the internet is FINALLY up and running.. soo i'm excited to get back on here. unfortunately, i have yet to cook anything post-worthy (ex:tonights dinner was banana peanut butter on toast..exactly, however quite delicious) but i have had some awesome vegan sandwiches and such ...but forgot to have my camera with me...guess ill just have to get them again ;)

by the way, ive moved to main street in manayunk in philly, if anyone knows where it is. and its seriously completely perfect. i'm so excited to be here.

expect lots of restaurant reviews ;)

i'm super excited to read everyone's blogs again though. i just wanted to update just to say i havent completely dissapeared..just moved..and hopefully ill be completely situated shortly. a much better update will be coming soon, promise!

now off to read everyone else's wonderful blogs. :)