so much for resolutions

Let's pretend that I have updated once a week like I said I would.. ;)

Anyway! Unfortunately, I don't know where my cord for my camera is, which has a TON of pictures and good food that I've made and gotten in the past few weeks that I really want to share..but I can't seem to do that without uploading them :( boo.

Hopefully I'll find a cord I can use or find a place to buy one soon though...
I do have a few foods from before then though that i've made..(from thanksgiving, wow that was a while ago) BUT they were good regardless so I'll share :)

For the meal


This was a cabbage salad that my mom made, and it was abbbbbsolutely delish! Not quite traditional thanksgiving-ish food..but it would be really good to whip up anytime. It had ramen noodles in it, which added a nice different crunch to it with vinegar and cabbage. She has the recipe, but I'd definitely make it again soon..



For dessert I made two things. This was the apple cobbler that I made, which was a lot like the one I made last year. I used granny smith apples, peeled and corred, with a crumble on top consisting of oats, brown sugar, and vegan margarine. It was really good and not toooo sweet which was nice with the apples.



I've never had pumpkin pie since this one. Last year I attempted to try pumpkin pie by making a chocolate pumpkin pie... I think I ate one bite and couldn't eat any more. I really did not like it, maybe it was the chocolate mixed with pumpkin that threw me off. Anyway, I did think this pie was eat-able. edible? hmm...
haha it's quite strange, I really like pumpkin flavored things, like coffee and tea and such..but not quite a fan of pumpkin pie. I'm a strange one, I know.
Other people enjoyed it though, so I blame my tastebuds :)

Vegan Pumpkin Pie (that other people will like if you don't like pumpkin pie) ;)

1 16 oz can pureed pumpkin
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2-3 T cornstarch
1 package of silken tofu
9" vegan pie shell

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Blend pumpkin and sugar. Add salt, spices, cornstarch, and tofu and mix well. Pour into the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 and bake for an hour. Chill and serve.

Not going to lie, when I first blended it all and put it in the shelll, I thought woo its done! and was about to put it in the fridge without baking it! haha such a pumpkin pie newwwwbie. :)

So sorry for old shtuff, however they're quite good anyway and needed to be touched on ;)

I have lots of good stuff to share (think AWESOME reviews of products from Christmas, as well as a recipe from Candle 79!! )

So I'm hoping that I'll be able to find something to upload my pictures for soon!
Off to class in a bit, only the 2nd week and I'm already feeling the bore of classes...hurry up may!! :)

2010 for Vegan Gal

So as 2010 is quickly approaching (as in less than 12 hours!!), I felt it quite appropriate to get back on here and update one last time in 2009! (ooh i'm quite the poet..kind of)

Anyway, I'm very excited for the start of this year. 2010 = my graduation year!
one more semester to go..for undergrad anyway!
Also, as exciting and amazing that 2009 was for me, I feel that 2010 can only get even better..so that's definitely something to look forward to :)

I don't have any recipes or food reviews or pictures to post right now, I have plenty of them from the past month or so..but I want to dedicate this post to saying goodbye to 2009 and hellllo to 2010! But no worries, I'll get to them eventually ;) Let's just say I got a spiralizer for Christmas and I know how to use it..woo!

What was so amazing for me in 2009?
Well within the first month of it I met Jason, who is amazing beyond belief and I've fallen quite in love with him..so that alone can make the whole year amazing ;)


In March I saw Chelsea Handler, my favvvvorite, live at the Tower Theater. Which was ...awesome!


I also spent 5 weeks of the summer in London with Emily. Which I posted a ton about all the awesome vegan places and cool spots we found. It was definitely a life experience that I will always be very grateful for.


I got through my first semester of my senior year in college, which was a toughie- (hellooo advanced research project) but managed to get through it with quite good grades! (hellooo A in advanced research!! awesome!)

I was able to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at home with my family, which is something I am very thankful for. And also that I saw Chloe one last time before she passed away this past month.

(My brother, me, and my sister last year..my mother hoarded all the pics from christmas and thanksgiving this year!)


So! That brings us to this new year. And like many others, I definitely have some resolutions that I am going to be working towards.

For one, This Blog. Vegan Gal is something that I never want to give up. I know I've become less connected to it as far as blogging as much as I used to (used to be a couple times a week! now i'm lucky if its been a couple a month!). I still read others blogs all the time though, and love getting inspiration from them!
So my resolution for Vegan Gal is to blog at LEAST once a week. I'm really hoping I succeed at this one.


Two - In connection to blogging at least once a week, that means I'll have to get cooking more often! Being in college, things get quite hectic and leaves very little time to make fun vegan meals. So, I'm going to try to get in the kitchen more often and cook cook cook! :)

Three - This one is more of something I want to continue doing as opposed to start doing. This past year I've realized I've finally let myself rid of the things that I was not happy with, and fill them with things that do make me happy. I want to continue this and not let myself fall into places that I was not happy with them. Examples being - for many years of my life I was in a relationship(s) that I knew myself I was not happy with at all. But I stayed there, comfort perhaps? But I finally got rid of that and now I'm in a relationship where I'm very very happy. Also, I worked at Applebee's for 2 1/2 years..not liking the food I was serving people, not liking some rude customers I dealt with, and not liking the way management was - in other words I didn't like it at all! Finally, I no longer work there and now I work at Mugshots and I'm much happier there :) So I'm planning on keeping this up!!

Four - Do well in my last undergraduate semester!!! Crucial, peeps. This is the last of the last until I finally get myself to grad school, so these grades have to come out looking quite nice :) I feel I can do it!

Five - FINISH one of the bunches of songs I've been playing on the piano! Currently I'm working on "We're So Far Away" by Mae, and it's a beauuutiful song on the piano, it really is. But I don't want to start another song until I finally finish this one. Yes, this means more banging on my keys in frustration (i can be quite the frustrated pianist sometimes, haha pianist..) BUT I am determined to finish this one, and I know my sense of accomplishment will be great once I do!

Okay. I think that's basically the gist of what I'm hoping will come from the new year! My plans for the evening? Going out in Center City! woo! Hope everyone has a wonderful and fun New Years!!
See you in 2010!

how is there a countdown to a countdown??

I definitely wanted to get a review-post up about austin before thanksgiving, because I know (hopefully) I'll have tons to share about that!

Anywayy, about a month or so ago I went to Austin, Texas with my fantabulous boyfriend and aside from the warm, beautiful weather (except for the last rainy day..) the super cute town atmosphere, and the fun/interesting street of bars and restaurants...it was aweeeeesome for vegans! quite perfect, i must say :)

Thinking of texas, one wouln't exactly imagine a vegan friendly place admist the hamburger loving cowboys it would be known for. howeverrr..it was quite the opposite, at least in Austin anyway.

Within walking distance of where we were staying, was the biggest Whole Foods I've definitely ever been to. Aside from the huge salad and hot food bars that are in most Whole Foods, they have a ton of different food stations to get food to go from as well - including a sushi bar, mexican food, "american" food with grilled sandwiches, and a bunch others. it was quite overwhelming, and seemed impossible to actually make a decision on what to eat!



Although there were so many choices and it was hard to pick, I'm definitely not complaining..choices are always nice ;) just hard when youre only there for a short time! After wandering around the aisles, we found yet another station near the produce..the all vegan and mostly raw food! definitely found my pick...



Just this station though had SO many options that all sounded great! I've never had spiralized veggie pasta before, and they had that in a bunch of different vegetables with a few sauce options, so I decided on that.



This is what inspired me to ask for a spiralizer for Christmas (wink wink, mother!). Wow..it was a mix of beets, carrots, and zucchini all spiralized to pasta-shaped with a pad thai sauce on top. They also had an alfredo and a marinara sauce as well..which I'd love to try.



I was torn between the pasta and the taco salad they had, which had cashew sour cream, seitan on top, and guacamole. Luckily, Jason got it so I got to try a bit anyway :) It was definitely really good..and the sour cream was much better than some vegan sour creams I've had before..

Honestly, I could've spent all the days we were there in just the Whole Foods...but I suppose theres more to Austin than a grocery store :)

While wandering down Guadalupe Street, we went to this cutesy little toy store which had some of the most random stuff in it. But next door I spotted a sign (I always have my vegan-radar on) that said vegan soft serve. Uh...yeah?



How cute is the dancing vegan softserve??



Knowing we were about to go to dinner somewhat soon after this, we decided to split something instead. I definitely had to try something! We shared a Butter Finger Milkshake which was awesome! I've heard of the vegan butterfinger pieces, but I've never tried them..they were great in the shake though, I'm sure they'd be great to bake with sometime..

Soo dessert before dinner, but that's okay ;)

Since I have quite the obsession with New Harmony in philly, the a-mazing all vegan chinese place, I was suuuper excited to hear that there was a vegan chinese place in Austin as well!



Veggie Heaven! Indeed it was. It was pretty small and crowded inside, with not much of an attentive wait-staff, but the food definitely was awesome.



We started off with spring rolls -- his fried, mine steamed. I'm pretty sure this was the first steamed spring roll I've had, and as much as I like the crispy-ness of the fried ones, the steamed was quite good!



I had ordered the Lucky 7, after much debate, which was 7 fried tofu balls made of celery, carrots, chestnut, vegetable protein, and breadcrumbs are cooked with broccoli, baby bok choy, cauliflower, carrots, napa cabbage, onion and garlic in a slightly sweet and spicy red sauce The "balls" tasted more like a type of falafel, but were reallyyy tasty, especially with the sauce.



Not gonna lie, I don't really remember the specific name for what Jason got..but it was pretty much the same sauce I had with veggies, and fried strips of tofu instead of the balls that I had. They were both really good, although the sauce did have a bit of a spicy kick to it! As did many of the things we had while we were in texas haha...

Austin was definitely an awesome place..and I'd looove to go back sometime, since there was so much there that I loved, and I'm sure tons that I didn't get to see that would be great :) I guess it does kick the stereotype a tad bit, doesn't it? :)

can you tell me which flowers gonna go?

so it's been a month..and between my computer not working, my camera breaking and then getting a new one but losing the battery..it's been a tough one to blog ;)
i've definitely been having some awessssome vegan eats though, so no worries on that one.

a couple of weekends ago the roomie and i went down to baltimore for a concert. oh, but not just any concert.. we saw Hanson with HelloGoodbye.
Quite a show, I must say. My inner 12-year old hanson fan was just bursting out of me and I was quite pumped for them!

While we were in Baltimore, we looked up a vegan place (which btw...emilys gone pescitarian, soo AWESOME for her! :) )
we found there was a "soul food" type place in the city..which we love the Nile Cafe in philly which is kind of vegan soul food, so this place sounded good. It's called The Yabba Pot and i was definitely amazed by how delicious their food was! You know this girl loves her veg soul food ;)

The Yabba Pot was a very hole in the wall place but the inside of it was decorated beauuutifully!


I loved the decor for the seating area, the tables and chairs were all so unique and cute. and the huge gorgeous butterfly on the ceiling was definitely something to look at :)



Where you ordered your food, they offered some wraps and sandwiches, but once emily and I saw the hot food buffet and saw that you could get 6 different things for a sampler, we were sold. We do love our food all together..and we wanted to try everything, so this was perrrfect for us. They also have a lot of juices that you could get, which we did not, but i've heard they are quite good and refreshing!



Our sampler plate. We chose to get one with the 6 different things on it to split, wanting to save room to try their desserts! Over brown rice, we got a raw kale salad, a black bean saucey dish, a chickpea curry, a collard greens and cabbage dish, seasoned mushrooms and tomatoes, and the most AMAZING tasteing "chicken" i've ever had. honestly, i tried to cut it..and thought I hit a bone so I was a bit freaked out at first, only to find it was on a toothpick (silly me) but the chicken was SOO delicious, i'd definitely get an order of that again.

Everything was awesome, and it was a perfect amount to split between the two of us, and still want some dessert.
Unfortunately though, all they had on the dessert front was a pumpkin pie..which neither of us are too fond of (i know, i know, everyone loves pumpkin..except for this chica) but we did venture to the awesome Whole Foods in baltimore and split a peice of raw strawberry shortcake. No picture available, but trust me..it was deeelish. :)

Also! I finally got to try the PB&J Larabar
Bloggers were not wrong..this bar is AWESOME. I'm not a huge fan of larabars, some flavors I like, and some I don't..but this one is definitely a keeper!

And for the hanson concert?
Let's just say it was prettttttty awesome!


Me and Zach Hanson..;) you know you have mmmbop on your itunes, don't even pretend..haha.

Also when I was home on sunday my mother made me a deliish dinner that I must share. It's not often..ever..that I get dinners from my mom soo this was quite exciting since usually mine are quick meals the roomie and I make up in about 10 minutes. :)




Butternut Squash Chili! And mannn this was tasty. the squash and the beans were quite delicious in it :) thanks mom!

As for the recipe, because I definitely recommend making this soon! especially with butternut squash in fullll bloom right about now..

Butternut Squash Chili:
2 T olive oil
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 Tblsp mild chili powder
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder or cayenne pepper to taste (for spice)
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 15-oz. can kidney beans
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and chop squash and set aside. In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Sautee onion and bell pepper until soft – about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sautee 2 minutes more.

Add seasonings and stir well to coat. Add tomatoes (and their juice), water, squash, salt and pepper to taste, Cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook 20 minutes.

Add beans and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Cover and cook until squash is tender, but not disintegrating – about 30-40 minutes.

Have a good week! Soooon I'll be posting about the how AWESOME austin texas is for vegans..oh it was wonderful!

my heart like a kick drum..

school has been keeping me quite busy lately with papers, mid term exams (how is it midterms already..?? i do not know.) and whatnot.. so sadly this makes my blogging fall to the back of the to-do list.

but i do have fun stuff to share about being in new york and a deliccccious veganized dessert recipe that i made last week!

a couple of weekends ago i was in new york with the boyy and of course, had a fabulous time :)
but we made some more stops at some fabbulous vegan places in the city.
on friday night we went to Baby Cakes for dessert after eating some tofu chinese food at a random spot.
Since I had been to Vegan Treats the weekend before, I was expecting something as awesome as that.



the outside and the sign-age was definitely very cute :)



I apologize for the bad and dark picture quality..I recently got a new camera and haven't quite figured out all the good settings to use..but i'll get the hang of it soon, hopefully..

Up first to try from BabyCakes was the frosting shots!



Ever since I heard that they had shots of frosting there I was already excited..i loove frosting so this sounded like an amazing idea. We both tried the chocolate and the vanilla..I was a bigger fan of the chocolate.. Oh and isn't he a great hand model? ;)



Minnne.. I chose the chocolate mint brownie cupcake.. it was reallllly tasty, and the frosting was perfectly minty without being too much. The cake was also super moist, de-lish!



If they didn't have the cookie sandwiches, jason would have been pretty upset haha he'd been looking forward to trying those..and luckily they had them. it was quite delicious as well :)

I will say that even though everything I had from BabyCakes was verry scrumptious, they had a much smaller assortment than I had been expecting, but there was still a few really good options there. I'd definitely love to go back and try another cupcake sometime though! :)

For dinner on saturday night we went to try out Candle 79.
Last time we came to the city we went to Blossom, which was soo awesome, so we had our expectations high for Candle 79 to hopefully be justttt as amazing.
I'd definitely say it was..

For an appetizer, we shared the Guacamole Timbale, no picture was taken though, but i assure you it was delicious and gone :) The description - chipotle black beans, caramelized onions, tomato-cucumber salsa, tortilla chips, ranchero sauce ...the caramelized onions in it was a really good combo with the salsa.



My dish was really good. I liked it more than what I got at Blossom I think, but they were both different so it's hard to tell. I got the Carribean Jerk Grilled Seitan which was brown ale black bean sauce, sautéed collard greens, caramelized onions, plantains, mango-papaya salsa, jalapeño-cilantro coulis

talk about amazing. the fruity salsa was perfect with the spiced veggies and plantains.



Jason got the Seitan Piccata, which is their "classic"..everyone talks about how amazing that dish it.
creamed spinach, grilled potato cake, oyster mushrooms, lemon-caper sauce
It was really good, and the sauce was really good over the seitan. It reminded me a lot of what he ordered at Blossom..which was also quite good.

Definitely too full after all this to try dessert at Candle 79, but I have heard good things..the specials of the day all sounded really good as well!

Also while we were in new york we stopped in the Whole Foods..i'm not sure which one it is or how many there are in nyc..but it was jam-packed! all I wanted was some almond butter and rice dream chocolate, but the line was wrapped around and it seemed pretty silly to wait for that. guess people in ny love their whole foods ;)


So last week for my sorority we were having a bake sale to support one of the sisters causes.. I dooo enjoy baking for bake sales, especially for non-vegans!
I wanted to make something that I hadn't had in a while, I mean cookies are great..but it's nice to switch it up a bit.
I remembered last years bake off someone made Magic Cookie Bars and I kept thinking how much I used to love those pre-vegan days!



These were soo good! Just as I remember of Magic Cookie Bars..soo many good flavor combos with the walnuts, chocolate chips, and coconut over a tasty crisp graham cracker crust. perrrfection. People at the bake sale seemed to enjoy them as well ;)

Magic Cookie Bars:
1/3 cup extra firm silken tofu
1/3 cup vanilla soy milk ( i used almond breeze)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1/4 cup earth balance
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup flaked coconut
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray and 8x8 baking dish with baking spray. In a blender, puree tofu, milk, sugar, and cornstarch until smooth. Put margarine in a bowl and melt in the microwave. Add graham cracker crumbs and mix until well moistened. Pour into baking dish and press to coat the pan. Pour tofu mixture over the crust. Sprinkle with nuts, coconut, and chocolate and press all into dish firmly with a fork. Bake for 30 minutes, until lightly browned and the coconut is crispy.

I found this recipe on Fat Free Vegan and was soo excited to try it out! have i mentioned how much i LOVE her site? no? well i do. :) a lot. i'm even in the group on facebook..haha..

well i'm off to enjoy some vegan mexican food, margaritas, and enjoy whats left of the weekend! happy saturday! :)