they made a statue of us, and put it on a mountain top

So I finally found some time to bake today now that I'm home and I'm really glad because I've missed it :)
I recently got Happy Herbivore's fabulous new e-cook book...Backyard Vegan..and i'm in love! it has soo many delicious sounding recipes that i'm really excited to make. Earlier today I made the PB&J Cookies using strawberry preserves.
the result?

delicious-ness!
The preserves taste really good in it, and the cookies are just peanut-buttery enough but not overly sweet with the preserves also. Perfect. They don't really spread though, at all while I baked them, so if you make them definitely don't be scared to make the jelly-centers even bigger to fit the preserves in there better. The root beer float cupcakes sound like my next creation from there... they sound so clever ;) and who doesnt love a root beer float..in cup cake form??

Also!
A couple weeks ago I made scrumptious pizza while I was still in philly.


The dough was a really simple recipe that I had found through other blogs..

Vegan Pizza Dough:
1 package of instant dry active yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Add the water, yeast, sugar, and 1/2 cup of flour into a mixing bowl. Stir well and let sit for 20 minutes until it gets bubbly. Add the olive oil, salt, and 2 cups of flour and mix well with a wooden spoon until together enough to knead on a floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes, while adding more flour at a time to create a soft, elastic, slightly sticky dough consistency. Form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, while adding some oil to the top to prevent drying out. Cover with a kitchen towel and let sit for 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size (mine took about an hour and a half.) Punch dough down and divide into 2 small balls, and place in large zip lock bags (or wrap in saran wrap if you realize you dont have zip lock bags..like i did...boo) and refrigerate overnight. Let the dough get to room temperature before ready to use, and roll out to the size you want when ready. :)

So the dough I thought was pretty good..although we might've overcooked it a bit, but other than that I thought it was a really good recipe to use!
The sauce that I had used was just a creation from heating up a can of diced tomatoes with seasoning, extra basil and oregano, chopped garlic, and about 2 T of tomato paste, and then putting it all into a blender to minimize the chunks.
The pepperonis were the Yves brand..which I had never had before, but I was quite pleased with how they turned out.
The cheese was Vegan Gourmet mozzerella, which actually shredded quite easily with a regular cheese grater, so I was quite pleased with how that turned out..not to mention it really DOES melt! soo that was great.

So yeah basically, the pizza was awesome, and I had really missed pizza with melty-cheese ;)

Today I stopped by the health food store for a couple of things and saw a new random product and decided to try it out :)



Chee-Cha Puffs in Sea Salt & Spiced Pepper flavor.

I'm a huge fan, they're really air-y..but the seasonings and spices for them are so good. and with only 90 calories for 2 cups! how exciting, i know. ;)
They're also gluten-free, so if gluten is a problem for you then i'm sure you'll like these as well.

Well off to MORE packing.. I leave in 2 days for London and I have lots to pack still...maybe i'm just trying to fit too much? no way haha :)

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.