hardcore superstar, by far, you're the ultimate.

So I haven't really been baking or cooking much of anything lately..
having classes over has been SUCH a relief this past week though.
its so nice to not have the stresses of having papers or tests or anything! freedom! :)

Last week though I did find this amazing place..yet only 3 miles away from my apartment!
It's called Weaver's Way Co-Op and its a co-op store in the Germantown/Mt. Airy part of Philadelphia that has couple stores as well. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect before I went,
however, I had been on a MISSION to find Whole Soy Frozen Yogurt..and i had yet to find it ANYWHERE..including whole foods and other super markets that usually carry a lot of soy products. But on the Whole Soy website, they said that Weaver's Way carried it..so I had to make a stop!
Alongside the AMAZING chocolate hazelnut frozen yogurt... (oh gosh its so good)
I also wandered the aisles and picked up a few other things, including some new flavors of fruit leather (i'm addicted to these) and a bag of nutritional yeast!!
I've yet to have ever cooked with this..so i'm SOO excited to make some delicious cheesy recipes!
In a nutshell, Weaver's Way had SO much to offer..plenty of different vegan foods, produce, and they also carried a lot from Mosche's line of vegan sandwiches! It is a $30 charge per year though to become a member (since i wasn't a member I had to pay 10% more..not a big deal though) and you have to work 6 hours of the year there..which I think would be totally fun anyway! When I get back from london..i'll definitely look into joining it :)

Anyway!
Onto my super amazing weekend which also included super awesome vegan food ;)
This weekend I was really lucky enough to stay in new york city with my incredibly awesome boyfriend. and also extremely lucky that he was totally up for trying out some awesome NYC vegan eateries!
On Friday we went to Lula's Sweet Apothecary, which I had heard about ALL over the "blog-world" being amazing vegan ice cream with a huge assortment of different toppings.
It definitely lived up to its reputation ;)
Although the ice cream maker was apparently broken, they still had 3 flavors of soft serve to choose from; vanilla, twist, or cake batter. The list of toppings on the wall definitely seemed like a good amount to choose from as well!

This was mine, which included Cake Batter soft serve with mint newman-o cookies, and deliciously amazing hot fudge. oh how i've missed hot fudge.

This was the boyyy's...he got the Twist soft serve with the mint newman-o cookies and coconut whipped cream! The whipped cream was quite delicious..i've missed that too!

I also got a chance to go to Blossom for dinner last night, which I had also heard a ton of awesome reviews about..
The place definitely has a very small and cute atmosphere..and I really liked the setup a lot! The menu wasn't huge but had a good amount of things on it..and had me torn between a few options.
The pictures however are not the best...due to my camera wanting to stop working..so I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of..note the un-centeredness haha. oh well, trust me..it was gooood ;)

I decided on the Crispy Thai Tofu with Bok Choy,rice and this delicious tangy coconut-milk based sauce. Sooo delicious! The tofu was crispy enough just the way I like it and the bok choy was really well done also. I'd definitely get it again.

Okay so not the most flattering of pictures, BUT this meal was AMAZING. It is the Seitain Scallopini, which was seitan cutlets in a a white wine, lemon, and caper sauce. uhh....wayy too good! I totally would've gotten this instead if I knew how awesome it was!

So yeah, both of these places definitely lived up to the expectations..pure amazingness ;)
New york is just so amazing in general, as well as full of awesome vegan places..i'm quite jealous ;) surre philly isn't bad either i suppose!
After the long weekend i'm completely tired though, so i'm definitely looking forward to a nice long sleep tonight.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!
:)

i've been dancing around the truth

It's been an extremely busy past few weeks, but today is FINALLY the last day of classes for the semester! I cannot even explain how excited that makes me..this semester had definitely been a long one, a good one..but really long! And it's so refreshing to know that it's almost over. :) Senior year..here I come! crazyness!

So aside from being busy with exams, papers, and presentations.. I have cooked a couple of things. And I'm making something this weekend for our sorority Senior Sendoff...so I'll make sure to post about that next week ;)

While I was home a few weeks ago I made the Vegetable Skillet from myvegancookbook.com
This site is just amazing, the recipes are all SO awesome!!


There it is alongside vegan mashed potatoes and cooked asparagus with garlic... scrumptious meal!

Bean & Vegetable Skillet:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium zucchinis cut into 1/4" medallions
1 medium eggplant, diced
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained (i used fire-roasted...soo good!)
14.5 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 c water
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp black pepper
i added about 1/4 tsp of cumin as well, just because I <3 cumin. :)

In a large skillet, cook the onions, peppers, zucchini, garlic, and eggplant with cooking spray for 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring often. Add water, tomatoes, thyme, red and black pepper, and cumin, cover and cook for 7 minutes. Uncover and add beans and cook for 5 more minutes on medium heat until zucchini is slightly crisp.

This recipe made a lot and made me realize how much I really do like eggplant! It was really good in this recipe.

Last week my mom came up for a study abroad meeting at school, so she was here for the weekend. I wanted to make something for her, not to mention I couldn't let the people from work down, I was bored of making cookies and brownies..so I decided on a healthier? dessert. I chose the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins from joy of vegan baking, of course! This simply is my go-to for all my baking needs, the recipes all have come out perfect! And these muffins are no different.




The recipe definitely made more than 12 as well, or maybe I just had small muffins. Either way, there were plenty to give out and everyone loved them. I did add peanut butter to mine, of course, just because there really is no better combo than bananas and peanut butter... + chocolate chips..perfection!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins:
2 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 c canola oil
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tin, or use super cute cup cake papers like I did.. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and the oil. Add the banana and the chocolate chips. Stir in the water and vanilla until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and stir until just mixed. Fill the muffin tins and bake about 30 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Onto some London news - it's official that we're leaving on June 4th, arriving in London early on June 5th and staying until July 10th!! I'm SO super excited and hopefully we find a good place to rent while staying there. I've already looked at a ton of vegan restaurants in london..and wow! I was expecting it to be hard to find places there, but there are so many that I can't wait to try them!!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!! Only 2 exams until the semester is truly over! :)