I like this post by Kristen Conn on Eat Drink Better about plastic in the kitchen – it’s all stuff I’ve mentioned in the past but it’s a good refresher…check it out!
Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes
Back at Easter I made some very yummy cake balls but never got around to telling you about them. I know the big thing is making cake pops but that just added more complication to these already time consuming treats.
The recipe I followed over-complicated them so here is my simple version:
bake two Duncan Hines cakes (yes, the mix is vegan – just use your favorite egg substitute instead of adding an egg to the mix)
crumble the cake into a large bowl and add 1.5 containers of Duncan Hines frosting (yep they have vegan frosting!)
scoop out balls of the mixture and place on a cookie sheet
put in the fridge or even freezer to cool them quickly – I cooled them just enough to be able to roll them into nicely rounded balls
while they’re cooling melt two bags of Ghiradelli Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips (yep, they’re vegan!)
covering them in chocolate isn’t the easiest thing – I can’t really tell you there is one amazing way to do it so if you don’t like my way, try something else. I held each ball in one hand, filled a soup spoon with the melted chocolate and smoothed it over/around the ball – careful, that chocolate is very hot – I definitely burned my fingers!
sprinkle on some fun decor and put them back in the fridge to cool. when they’ve hardened, pull them out and store them in an air-tight container. I kept mine in the fridge and either ate them cold or would pull them out about an hour before serving – at which point they were super gooey and delicious
you could very easily make these with any type of cake and frosting. It certainly took out several steps in the process by using a cake mix and pre-made frosting but since I NEVER buy that stuff I’ll likely make them completely from scratch next time
Category : Dining Out, Food & Beverages
I’ve been loving the Pret that opened across the street from my office. Today was my third visit and they continue to impress me with delicious healthy options – specifically vegan for me. I discovered that they can do their oatmeal with water or any kind of milk – so I had soy. They steam it with the steam wand on the espresso machine so by the time I got settled back into my desk it had thickened up and was fantastic. It has almonds, hazelnuts, cinnamon, cashew, coconut and supposedly currants but they seemed like raisins to me – either that or they were currants on steroids! Regardless it was delicious. Although the package doesn’t say it, I read online it has maple syrup – which I definitely taste. This was the perfect Friday – gloomy day – breakfast. I’ve always been a Jamba Juice oatmeal fan since they do theirs with soy. Jamba’s is slow cooked and consistency wise better but I love the flavors in the Pret oatmeal – and considering its far closer to my office I think I’ll be sticking to Pret from now on! Love it!
The other day I whipped up some delicious fresh, strawberry jam. You’d be surprised how easy it is to do! I had two quarts of strawberries which was almost 6 cups. I mashed them with a potato masher and added 3/4 cup Coconut Nectar : 
cooked it then put it in my warm jars, then put them in a water bath to seal the tops. After cooling over night on a dish towel on the counter I had a few jars of delicious, fresh strawberry jam – so much better than store bought! I found some cute fabric remnants and hot glued a piece to a jar and gave it to a friend for her birthday last night.
Category : Food & Beverages
Unfortunately I’ll be at a wedding this day so I’ll miss this – those of you in Chicago should definitely check this out – sounds so fun!
Join Mercy For Animals, Upton’s Naturals, and hundreds of Chicagoans, as they find the best vegan chef in Chicago! Twenty individual chefs, or teams of chefs (three people maximum per team), will compete for the Best Vegan Chef title, while raising funds for MFA’s work to prevent cruelty to farmed animals.
Each chef, or team, will create a dish utilizing Upton’s Naturals seitan for the public to sample. The event is for all ages, open to the public, and will have no admission fee; but there is a $1 suggested donation for each sample. The winner will be determined by the people’s choice – whichever chef or team sells the most samples, wins! The top three chefs will win products from Chicago’s favorite vegan-friendly restaurants and businesses.
Interested in competing? There is a $25 entry fee per chef or team of chefs, and entry closes July 7. Each chef or team will be provided with complimentary Upton’s Naturals seitan, but must provide the other ingredients and methods to keep their food warm or cold. We will provide contestants with tips on how to do this as effectively and affordably as possible. Please email Nicole@UptonsNaturals.com to sign up and to learn more.
Category : Food & Beverages
Amande Cultured Almondmilk is my new love. This is the BEST vegan yogurt out there. So far I’ve tried cherry, peach and blueberry with cherry being my fav, peach #2 and blueberry #3. This is crazy because normally I don’t like cherry flavored things but this tastes just like fresh summer cherries. The yogurt is thick, just like the dairy version. The yogurt itself is flavored and then there are pieces of real fruit.
Amande is:
Dairy Free
Soy Free
Fruit Juice Sweetened
Gluten Free
Live Active Cultures
No GMO
Casein Free
Lactose Free
The bonus is that until the 28th my Whole Foods has it on sale for 5/$5 – I would imagine most all WF have the same sales so go now and try some yourself!! I did have a difficult time finding it as my WF put it on the very bottom shelf in the yogurt area so look hard or ask for help if you don’t see it.
Category : Food & Beverages, Recipes
After a recent trip to the farmers market, where I picked up a green tomato, I did a bit of searching and came up with a fabulous recipe for fried green tomatoes. I had never made them before but I think I’m hooked now! They were super easy to make. The sauce was so creamy and delicious and a side of fried, sliced potatoes rounded it out into a perfect meal. Check it out here.
Alamy
I’m so happy to see that Girl Scouts USA are finally giving in and making an effort to change the palm oil they use in their cookies. I don’t purchase the cookies anymore since I’m vegan but I was a Girl Scout and LOVED selling the cookies. I event did it the old-school way and knocked on every door in the neighborhood – always selling over 100 boxes each year.
I had heard awhile back that they were using non-sustainable palm oil in their cookies but didn’t know the entire story until now. A Time article told me all about the two young women (from Michigan of all places – my home state) who have spent the last few years standing up to the national organization to push them to switch to a sustainable palm oil or to find a substitute ingredient. It sounds like they’re finally getting somewhere! Read the article here…
Another great find in this month’s Whole Living Magazine was the Dole Organic farm finder application. You select from the drop down menu the three digits you have on your Dole sticker and then it brings up the name of the farm your produce was grown on, the map of where its located, number of years they’ve been certified organic, which organizations they’re certified under, what crops they grow and even photos! I highly encourage everyone to purchase locally but there are some things such as bananas where this isn’t really possible for the majority of us. That being said, it’s fun to be able to learn a bit more about where you food came from, both to appreciate and respect the farmers who did all the work and to give yourself a reality check on the environmental impact of transporting your food such a long distance.
I love that Refinery29′s Sierra Tishgart and Shani Silver did a post on Chicago’s Hottest Vegetarian Restos. Don’t these dishes look fabulous? Check out the article for yourself… I’m sad to say I’ve only been to 2 of the 8 places mentioned! I’d better get on that!
