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! :)

i listened in, yes i'm guilty in this you should know this..

This post is just drenched with chocolate...
I warned you ahead of time ;)
Not even on purpose really, I guess I just was on a chocolate-fix this past week or so..nothing wrong with that though.

I did a take-two of the peanut butter brownies that I tried to make a few weeks ago, but turned into a pan of a too gooey mess!
So I used an old brownie recipe that I knew worked well... and I just mixed up peanut butter and spread it into the mixture..
It came out pretty well, however for some reason these did turn out a bit cakey-ish than when I remember making them..

I used the same recipe from this post.

But I did bring them into work last week, and they were all quite pleased and happy with me again :) so that's always good.

While doing a quickie whole foods trip last week, I saw they had the So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurts in an array of flavors..and I've been meaning to try these for a while. I've tried the coconut milk ice cream made by them..in the mint chip..and was VERY impressed. I am not a fan of soy yogurt though.. I've tried REALLY hard to like it though, but I just can't get over the texture. so I was hoping for good things from this!

Again, i tried REALLLY hard to like it..
seriously..
with each bite I'd be like "it's not..that bad..."
honestly, I really did not enjoy it at all. the tangy ness through me off as well as the texture. maybe i should try a different flavor..
but it was kind of a big dissapointment because i used to LOVE eating yogurt pre-vegan days.. and I'd really like to find a replacement that I like. any suggestions ??

Another fun thing that I found that my mom had told me she had seen in my hometown in maryland ...and I hadn't heard anything about these..



Nasoya Silken Creations.. they had it in the shoprite near me randomly, in the refrigerated tofu section, and i really wanted to try it out! they had it in all three of the flavors, strawberry, vanilla, and..my choice..dark chocolate.

I was thinking of what to make with it, and I thought that my usual peanut butter chocolate tofu pie would be AMAZING using it..

However, I must say..on the package it says to be used in recipes or eaten straight from the box. I gave the straight from the box thing a go just to see how it tasted..and wowwww I think I might just buy it to eat! It tastes like AMAZING chocolate pudding..perfect consistency..and I'm really excited to try the other flavors out like this.



I figured it would already be SUPER chocolately so I halfed my usual 1 cup of melted chocolate chips to only a half of a cup..as well as I left out the soy milk since the tofu was already a pudding-consistency as opposed to when I use the usual silken tofu.
I will say, it did not firm up as well as previous times that I had made this pie and used regular silken tofu.
It was more of a pudding-pie..which..is still quite amazing.. but a bit messier.
I put it in the freezer however in hopes of it firming up quicker, and the next day it was a frozen-ish consistency... but kind of like an ice cream cake texture..which was actually really good! :)

And lastly for the chocolatey-goodness of this post..
my sorority had its retreat for the new girls this semester last night.. and since it was late night-ish we were asked to bring a dessert for it. Of course I jumped at that opportunity, how can I ever turn down making a baked good for others to eat ? Plus, it was thursday..and i couldn't let the friendly applebee's co-workers down!

I tried out the chocolate mint chip cookies from Joy of Vegan Baking. This book never lets me down!




These cookies were AWESOME.
People at work were upset that I didn't bring more of them, and were raving about them all night! I still love that they don't ever believe they're vegan too ;)
I got to the retreat a bit late due to work, but a few of the girls were able to try them and said they were really good. So theres definitely another keeper in that book.. :)

Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies:
1 egg replacer (I used Ener-G)
3/4 c vegan margarine
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl by hand or with electric mixer at high speed. Beat in the egg replacer as well as the vanilla and peppermint extracts. In another bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture along with the chocolate chips. Stir well until mixed, but do not overmix. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a nonstick cookie sheet, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Should make about 1 1/2 dozen cookies


Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! I'm going home tomorrow to be with the family for Easter, so I'm really excited for that :)

theres not a lot to give if you're giving in..

So one of the nights that I was home my brother and I as a duo made dinner for the two of us.
I will say though, even though he does make meat dishes, he does have quite a good mindset for cooking! He seems to always think of interesting types of meals and such..

Onto that, he decided to make homemade spaghetti from scratch, which seemed like an interesting idea that I hadn't really thought to do.. I mean spaghetti is just so simple to pull from the box and boil in a pot!



He had used only about a half of a cup of flour, 1/4 cup of water, and about a tablespoon of salt. Then formed a dough with it and rolled it out, and cut it into spaghetti-like strips. Make sure to roll them out quite well though..they did seem a bit thick!


The sauce that we made was just a can of crushed tomatoes, mixed into it was sauteed green peppers and onions with garlic and a bunch of italian seasonings such as basil, oregano, parsley, etc.
It tasted quite delicious and really fresh tasting as opposed to a sauce from the jar! It was so simple as well :)


I had some pinenuts in the cabinet from when I made the macaroni casserole from previously in the week...as well as my brother had gotten fresh basil, so I found a simple recipe for pesto and blended that up..


I belive I just used olive oil, pine nuts, basil, and garlic. It was a bit garlic-y..maybe use less of that..but it was really good!


all together now!!


The pesto was put on a toasted piece of french bread, alongside the homemade spaghetti with the sauce. Quite delicious!

Oh, I had attempted this past week to make a new recipe that I found for "extra fudgy" vegan brownies...
fudgy they were!
I had mixed in some peanut butter into the recipe to make it extra decadent.. however the brownies were TOO fudgy and couldn't even be picked up :(
I will say though..digging into the pan with a spoon could have been a good option..but I didn't think that seemed respectable enough when trying to let other people try them... ;)
hopefully going back to my "safe" brownie recipe this week will make them much better.

and we'll send up our shooting stars and comets..

So I'm back in Philly at school, and going back to class and work yesterday was just unreal! It really didn't even feel like I had nearly a week and a half away from here at all!
Oh well.. on the bright side, only 38 days (including weekends!!) left until the last day of class.. but hey, who's counting? ;)
this just means the closer to being in london i will be..so i'm pretty pumped.

While I was home though I did get a chance to make a few more things! so that was super.

My parents had left on vacation for a majority of the time that I was home, leaving my two siblings and I to fend for ourselves while they baked in the beautiful Dominican Republic sun... i'm not bitter, i promise :)

So I cooked a tad bit..
One night I found a really simple recipe for homemade falafel, and decided it was something to try. The only time i've made falafel before was using a box mix from Fantastic Foods where you just added oil, i believe. Which were awesome though, so I'm definitely not complaining.. but I felt better about making it from complete scratch this time.



The recipe made quite a bit, and I managed to fit three of them in a pretty big sized pita filled with lettuce, tomato, and hummus :) delicious!

Falafel:
1 can of chickpeas
1 small onion, finely minced (okay so mine wasn't exactly minced persuay..still came out good!! haha)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3 T chopped parsley
3/4 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp tumeric
dash of red pepper
2 T flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drain and rinse the chickpeas, and then put them in a bowl and mash with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Form into ping-pong sized balls and put onto an ungreased baking sheet, and flatten down a bit with a fork. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, flipping halfway through and they'll be done when they're golden brown. You could also try frying these up, but I figured baking was better ;)

For dessert the night before this, on the last night my whole family was home, I decided to make a Hot Fudge Cake. I stumbled upon this recipe while searching for a hot fudge recipe..craving a hot fudge sundae one night..haha but this cake just seemed too good! And made me think of those non-vegan but delicious looking lava cakes that i serve to people everynight at applebee's...



Hot Fudge Cake:
1 1/2 c flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/8 c sugar
9 T cocoa powder, divided
3/4 c soy milk
3 T vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 c hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and 3 T of cocoa. Stir in soy milk, oil, and vanilla and mix until smooth. Spread in ungreased 9x13 glass baking pan. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and 6 T of cocoa. Sprinkle over the batter, and pour the hot water over it all, but do not mix. Bake for 45-50 minutes and serve warm!

I originally found this recipe from jewishvegan.blogspot.com, but it says its truly from Taste Of Home, but just with soy milk as opposed to regular.
I did in fact half this recipe though, and I made it in a 8x8 pan..which kind of made it look like brownies, but this was definitely delicious.
And the fudge sauce stayed delicious and gooey for days after as well :)

Back to the grind of work though now, but hopefully now that spring break is OVER spring weather will finally start to appear! one can only hope ;)