a cupcake chronicle

Suds & Sweets

2012-03-06T08:09:00.006-08:00

Really? December 27th was the last time I wrote a blog post?! RIDICULOUS. Well I'm coming back with a bang! Mixing Bowl Bakery was super busy filling Valentine's orders for the sweethearts of the world. We made heart sugar cookies, amaretto black forest cupcakes, oreo truffles, black & white 'xo' cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, and red wine cupcakes. Valentine's Day was a huge success and %10 of proceeds went to Mercy For Animals. YA!

Now for the real reason why I'm blogging today - to support & rave about Kim's soaps at Bodhi Basics! Made with high-quality organic ingredients, a junk-free guarantee, and a %10 donation to the Humane Society in Sarasota County - how could you go wrong! Check out the website and scroll through the pretty pictures and read the tempting descriptions - exhibit A - The Lavendar Bar - "Organic mango butter and avocado oil combine with Lavender essential oil to sustain a luxurious, lightly scented, and note-worthy bathing experience. 100 % vegan." - yes please! Want your pup to smell good too? Check out their soaps for dogs!

Kim and I used to bake together at a Chicago restaurant, and if her soap skills are half as good as her baking skills, we're all in for an awesome treat!

Christmas Craze

2011-12-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

Oh boy was this Christmas crazy. Let me paint you a picture - my roommate got gallstones, our kitchen was drowning in red & green sprinkles and christmas cookies, UPS gouged me with their shipping prices, my car died, and 50 gajillion people were visiting from out of town. Don't worry - roommate is out of the hospital, I filled every Christmas order with grace & precision, my landlord's giant pick up truck revived my dinky car, and I got to see my out of town friends...but UPS still gouged me. Phew!

Here's what it looked like: spiced molasses, rice krispy 'trees', oreo truffles, chocolate peppermint bars, toffee bars with almonds & dried cranberries, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, and buckeyes.

One thing that helped me get through the stressful moments were my customers. Too bad I forgot to take happy photos of a majority of them...p.s. I'm going to be making a happy customers page on my NEW WEBSITE, so if you would like to become a celebrity, send in your photo to mixingbowlchicago@gmail.com

Sean became so excited his head turned into a christmas cookie tin.

Stay tuned for some new projects - Valentine's Day and a month long fundraiser with Mercy For Animals!

Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T08:43:00.000-08:00

Mixing Bowl Bakery did a bunch of Thanksgiving orders this season! Thanks to loyal & new clients, I had a bunch of sweet potatoes to peel, pumpkins to puree, and tofurkey's to roast. Every dish was homemade - down to the whole pumpkins, seasoned breadcrumbs, cashew cheeze sauce, slowly roasted garbanzo beans, coconut whipped cream, and fried onions for the green bean casserole. This was the first delivery service that Mixing Bowl Bakery has offered and it was a huge success. Every dish was inspired by Grandma Lawson's thanksgiving dinners.

Hummus Trio - Roasted Red Pepper, Garlic Lemon, & Sesame

Stuffing with Leeks, Mushrooms, & Homemade Tempeh Sausage

Macaroni & Cashew Cheese mixed with Cheddar Daiya & topped with Homemade Seasoned Breadcrumbs

Green Bean Casserole with Homemade Baby Bella Gravy & Homemade Fried Onions

Maple Sweetened Sweet Potatoes with Maple & Brown Sugar Topping

Seitan Tofurky Roast filled with Stuffing & topped with Homemade Mushroom & Onion Gravy

Pumpkin Cheesecake in a Homemade Gingersnap Crust topped with Coconut Whipped Cream

I made a couple of these dishes for my family's thanksgiving...and I have to go eat the leftovers now.

My Quest with Vegan with a Vengeance

2011-11-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the last post, I'm reading Julie & Julia...yep...still a little embarrassed, but whateves, it inspired this new project. I get TONS of vegan cookbooks...my family has this habit of latching onto a single interest that they know you have and buying you every possible gift that could be related to it for your every birthday and Christmas. Exhibit A: being a Japanese Studies major and MENTIONING that you tend to OCCASIONALLY SEMI-like hello kitty. Who has a hello kitty toaster & waffle iron? This girl. So, needless to say, I have a lot of vegan cookbooks...unfortunately, thanks to the internet, I rarely use them. Lately, I've been really getting into cookbooks and not so much diggin' the internet recipes. I've decided to pick one cookbook each month, tab the recipes I want to make out of it, and blog about it. My first month has to be Vegan with a Vengeance. A staple that I've barely explored. For some reason my copy has detached binding, hello kitty post it notes all over it (see?!), and food mucked all over it. So, I've used it a little bit, but only for a handful of those recipes I make over and over. Really, I haven't even scratched the surface, but now I'm gonna really get in there and see all this vengeance everyone is talkin' 'bout. Lucky lucky Adrienne got to eat lunch with Isa!!

First, I made the Fauxstess cupcakes. Anyone else pass by this recipe, really want to make it, notice the 4 step process, close the book, and eat a little debby in defiance? Welp, that was me, until now! I decided to whip these little pain in the asses up for one of the best vegans I know. Evan's birthday was this past Saturday and I had to make her something special. They turned out amazing. This recipe really worried me...Isa told me to use electric beaters to make the batter...???!!!!...rule NUMBER 1 in vegan baking - NEVER over mix the batter...but I JUST DID IT. I was also worried about the fluffy vanilla icing for the filling. I thought the caster sugar would make it too grainy, but it actually tasted amazing as a filling in the cupcakes. Highly recommended. Take the time to make these!

Gingerbread Apple Pie - really awesome...I'm eating a slice right now.

Garlicky Kale with Tahini Dressing & Tempeh White Gravy with Biscuits

Both really good. I didn't read the tahini dressing directions right -- I didn't briefly sautee the garlic first...so it was REALLY garlicky kale. The gravy was super good, but I had to thin it out a lot...I think I prefer a slightly soupy-er gravy.

Ginger Pear Waffles - part of the weekly "Go Hard Brunch Series" with Seth

yea...they were alright.

Zombie Vegan Meatloaf...Vegan with a Vengeance has a recipe for zombie vegan meatloaf? NO. NOT THAT COOL. All Evan.

Pumpkins, Meal Deliveries, Dinner Parties, & Apple Pie

2011-10-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time, dear readers, but I got a few excuses...well maybe it's just been a severe case of writers block...but I just haven't felt like writing. I guess what really got me back on the horse was reading Julie & Julia...yes...I'm embarrassed I'm reading some book that has a movie based off of it starring Meryl Streep & Amy Adams, but I can't pass up a sassy woman who takes a culinary challenge. I stumbled upon the book in the library one day noticing the subtitle "cooking dangerously for one year" and I couldn't help but check it out since I feel like I'm going the same route.

The main reason why I haven't written on this blog is because I've been working on a lot of stuff concerning Mixing Bowl Bakery. Small stuff includes making a yelp page (if you left a nice review it would mean the world to me!), making halloween specials, and constructing a mailing list and newsletter (having some technical difficulties on that one, but no worries, I luckily have a saavy uncle who can help me out with my computer incompetencies). The main project that I have been preparing to launch includes my meal delivery service.

The Mixing Bowl Bakery is expanding to include a meal delivery service to support my passion in cooking & baking, advocating a healthy vegan lifestyle, and increasing accessibility to healthy foods. Meals will be prepared in a commercial kitchen space and delivered to your door, while supporting Midwest farmers through the sourcing of local and sustainably grown produce from Growing Power and the Chicago Women’s Skillshare. Growing Power is “a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.” The produce received in a weekly CSA share will inspire each meal. During the winter months, produce comes from Growing Power’s greenhouses in Milwaukee, the Rainbow Farmer’s Cooperative, and small-scale, locally or family owned wholesalers.

I founded Chicago Women's Skillshare last spring through the desire of forming an intentional community of women. This organization aims to create a women's only space where learning and teaching are used as mutually beneficial and empowering tools. We have hosted three gardening skillshares in the Campbell Co-op Garden where we have planted summer crops and cold crops in our own raised bed. The onions, beans, and leafy greens will be included in the meal delivery.

A special thank you goes out to Adrienne over at Crack the Plates Meal Delivery for inspiring and supporting me to take the next step in expanding my business. With the support of Adrienne, close friends, family, and my Chicago vegan community, I have decided to follow the scary, yet exhilarating process of identifying myself as an entrepreneur. I want to dedicate more time and energy towards feeding my community healthy meals and satisfying sweets. As I commit myself to this mission, I ask for your continuing support throughout the process of this new project!

I thought the perfect launch to my new project would start with throwing a dinner party for my loyal customers and strongest supporters.

First Course:

Roasted blue potatoes with cashew cream garnished with dried parsley.

Second Course:

Mixed baby greens salad topped with 3 varieties of golden beets, daikon, and carrots drizzled with a agave sweetened soy sauce based dressing.

Third Course:

Kabocha & pumpkin soup blended with coconut milk and Indian spices garnished with roasted kabocha seeds.

Paired with a whole wheat mixed grain bread.

Fourth Course:

Breaded seitan cutlets with mushroom gravey matched with heirloom herbed mashed potatoes and red bunched carrots marinated in a sweet & spicy syrup.

Fifth Course:

Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheeze frosting.

The party was a HUGE success! Good conversation and amazing company made the days of planning and preparation for the meal well worth it. Mixing Bowl is at its 9 month anniversary and I can't believe all of the amazing people I have met through it.

In other news...I went to the Bucktown Apple Pie Contest today. Sound familiar???

No? Well does UNCLE APPLE RING A BELL?

Gaaahhh, just kidding! That's what I found when I googled Uncle Apple half expecting to see my pie as the first hit. Here he is!! Ahhh...what a site for sore eyes. This year they didn't have ONE vegan option. Yea..I was pissed. I guess it's my own damn fault for not entering the contest, but last year there were at least a couple vegan pies. Welp! Uncle Apple is coming back next year with a vengeance so fierce those pie eaters won't know what hit them.

But...we had fun

Stephanie and I didn't want to stand in line for face painting like last year...but we had to document our one year anniversary.

New York: Cupcakes & Coney Island

2011-07-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

Before I left Chicago, I mapped out a vegan bakery tour of New York so I could eat the raddest cupcakes the big apple has to offer. Well...after facilitating a jam packed 8 day session for the debut of a culinary arts program, I didn't have much energy to complete the whole tour. The first stop (and what ended up being the last stop) was Babycakes. I put the wrong address in my phone so I ended up combing through the streets of Chinatown...which pretty much did me in. Magically, Chinatown ended and Babycakes was right in front of my face.

creepin'

creepin' a lil' more

I ordered a red velvet cupcake and helen had a carrot cupcake. The frosting was pretty awesome, but the cake was a little too crumbly for me...BUT pretty freakin' good for something that's soy free, vegan, and agave sweetened. I really enjoyed trying their baked goods since I've always wondered what their baked goods tasted like seeing as I have their pretty complicated and meticulous cookbook. If anyone else has their cookbook you know what I'm talkin' about - coconut oil (that shit's expensive), all different kinds of gluten-free flour, xanthan gum, etc. It's not like you can go into your pantry and make something from the Babycakes cookbook on a whim. You gotta plan that shit and go to Whole Foods.

Aside from baked goods, the concept and the style of the place was pretty cute and kitchy - right up my alley. The women at the bakery even wore 50's diner-y outfits and bright red lipstick to heighten this kitchy theme...in an extremely small, crowded, and hot kitchen...this is a feminist can of worms I won't open right now.

I also went to Lula's - BEST PLACE IN NEW YORK FOR VEGANS (I had cake batter flavored soft serve), Red Bamboo (buffalo chicken wings AMAZING and a philly steak sandwich - too much bread not enough fake stuff), Terri (pretty good butterfinger milkshakes - could be thicker - and a chocolate vanilla cupcake - all around yummy), Curly's (reasonably priced huge and amazing entrees - lower east side, gotta go).

But now for my most favorite place ever ever...coney island. All I want in life are carnival rides, cotton candy, old school photo booths, and the beach.

you got the crazy murals

and the wonder wheel

and photo booths with sassy friends

and this boy...who patrolled the beach...with his motherfin' socks on...??!!

Chicago Women's Skillshare - Gardening

2011-06-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

Chicago finally has its own women's only skillshare! If you're a woman, live/are visiting Chicago, and would like to contribute or learn a skill, add yourself to the group on facebook to stay in the loop. This group was mainly inspired by the desire to initiate an intentional community of women. I realized that I have so many unique and amazing friends that would benefit from both learning new skills and teaching others their own amazing talents.

Here's my schpeel:

Chicago Women's Skillshare aims to create a women's only space where learning and teaching are used as mutually beneficial and empowering tools. Women are invited to a monthly skill share hosted on the first Sunday of the month. "Skill" is an extremely open ended term and is completely dependent on what you feel like you should share with the group. This could include teaching a hands on skill - knitting, fixing bikes, cooking, gardening, playing tennis - an informative skill - teaching a language, talking about geography, discussing your favorite author - or even telling a story.

Check out the photos of our first skillshare on gardening at the Campbell Co-op Garden.

Showin' off our dirty hands and cover crop

Our raised bed complete with carrots, beans, beets, swiss chard, potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes (seedlings from Thomas Jefferson's estate provided by Slow Food Chicago)

Our squash mound

Giving the low down on compost for the neighborhood

Cleaning out the 3 bin composting system

Collecting our edible wild greens for a snack

It's Summa Time, Y'all!

2011-06-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Thank the fucking lord. It's summer time. It's been a long winter and a nonexistent spring and I'm ready to break out the sunblock, the mini grill, and All Girl Summer Fun Band. This memorial day I went to Millennium Park for the free concert...I don't even remember who played, I just go there to drink beer in the grass with my friends. I made homemade oreos from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I finally had an excuse to use the 100 set of cookie cutters that I found at the thrift store last fall. I was tempted by the money sign and bike cutters, but settled for hearts and a brontosaurus.

After talking about my heart and dinosaur shaped oreos, I believe this is an appropriate time to announce my nomination for the Adorable Blog Award! A kind thank you goes out to the ladies at Girrrl!!! comic and Things I Like.

Now I guess I have to tell you 10 things about me...

1. I really love fireworks. I carry snappers around in my bag everywhere I go and the bottom of it is covered in saw dust. Sometimes they fall out of the box and snap in my bag and it scares me and everyone around me.

2. I'm REALLY good at hula hooping.

3. I'm the real life Harry Potter. I have terrible dreams with voldemort in them and my friends and I go horcrux hunting.

4. I think carnivals, cotton candy, and fair rides are the best things in the world.

5. I'm passionate about animal rights and feminism and use baking as my primary form of activism.

6. I love my job as a cooking instructor for children - I get to teach kids about vegetables and I turn moms on to tofu and tvp.

7. I enjoy breaking rules.

8. I will kill you in a game of four square.

9. I have an insatiable desire for sugar.

10. I enjoy being a bakery snob.

I will now nominate this award to my wonderful friend Adrienne over at Crack the Plates. She named her cats "Baby Rar" & "Baby Perl"...I mean...come on.

Adventures in Pad Thai

2011-05-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Who knew that something so annoying and completely metal would push me to finally teach myself to make vegan pad thai. Most of the Asian food markets in Chicago are way north all the way in uptown...which is a huge pain in the ass. After doing some sleuthing, I discovered JoongBoo Market (AKA Chicago Food Corporation) on Kimball, conveniently somewhat near my apartment. I am proud to say that I've officially found my Asian market. Has anyone else always had their go-to Asian market wherever they have lived? Well I have. And it's taken me a year to find one in Chicago...but it was worth the wait.

Here is a shot of all the amazing stuff I got at JoongBoo: concentrated cooking tamarind, roasted peanuts, firm tofu, silken tofu, rice noodles, green onion, cilantro, bean sprouts, red cabbage, sweet chili sauce, and anko & taro mochi.

Eat shit, vegan metal chef. I'm better than you.

I mainly used this recipe as a base, but changed a whole lot of things. I didn't put in carrot, broccoli, or shallots and added fried tofu. I also doubled the tamarind sauce, added about 1/3 c. more soy sauce and agave nectar. I found that it was really bland without the additions.

Making pad thai is easy!! Now I'm going to save boku bucks instead of ordering it all the time from Penny's.

Birthdays!!

2011-05-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

April 24th was my birthday, and I received two of the most wonderful cakes in the world! The first is from my mom:

This is a vegan lemon cake with a lemon curd filling and a lemon buttercream. This was the first vegan dish/dessert that my mom has ever made me...and I was so appreciative...but it was so terrible! It's ok. The whole family was laughing and I would have never wanted any other cake. The cake was extremely dense, the lemon curd didn't set, and the buttercream separated and was really runny. We kept dunking the dense cake in soupy lemon curd and I got a tummy ache from laughing and consuming so much sugar. I have the best mom in the whole world.

The second cake was made by Stephanie Schreuich - a strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream and chocolate ganache...in the shape of a cupcake!! It was so so so fucking good. I had 3 pieces, ate a ton of candy from my pinata, had a ton of tofu dogs, and shot off a bunch of fireworks. It was the best birthday ever, but I've had a tummy ache for the last week from all the sugar and the laughing.

Passover!

2011-04-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

The Great Northern hosted an anarchist seder tonight, which meant everyone brought an item of food or kosher wine to share, and we picked out parts from the haggadah to read and discuss at random. We also collectively recited the exodus and searched for the afikomen, as well as decided that gluten free matzo is far superior to the regular kind.

I decided to make a sweet vegan kugel with raisins, granny smith apples, and a cinnamon & ginger custard. This isn't a very attractive picture, but I always remember to take pictures of the food only after I've eaten part of it.

Then we talked about Star Wars...

and who our Harry Potter boyfriends would be....

and drank lots of kosher wine.

The Mixing Bowl Happenin's

2011-04-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

What the hell have I been up to? I'll give you a quick summary - working my butt off too much, lovin' kids, going to too many art shows with crazy paper maiche, seeing weezer cover bands, baking my brains away with cupcakes, and watching old school green day and sum 41. Oh my god...I love the 90's...you know what I love even more? 90's boys. you know what I wish the most? that I was in that sum 41 video. I wanna skate that half pipe and be that girl who shaves her whole head except for her bangs.

Enough wishful thinking, let's get down to baking business. The Mixing Bowl Bakery's main project has been creating latin infused desserts. Here's the line up:

traditional flan

shot glass of traditional flan

tres leche mini cupcake with coconut whipped cream and slivers of mango

spicy brownies

mango lemon bars with a guava glaze

You may see some of these at El Nuevo Mexicano's restaurant benefit night for Mercy For Animals...stay tuned.

Up next - stay tuned for some new cupcake creations that I'll be creating for Bon Bon in Wicker Park.

Plus, a logo for Mixing Bowl Bakery is in the works and should make its debut soon. Visit next time to hear the story behind the name, what the hell i'm doing, and maybe some new updates and baked goods.

In other news, CHECK OUT THIS COMIC ABOUT ME - Girrl!!! -

"Girrrl!!! is a comic that we have been scheming about for months now. It is all about the adventures of your typical vegan activist radio DJ Jenny and her trusty sidekick, Aaron at a small, Midwestern liberal arts college. Together they protest evil corporations, face chicken pirate mascots, have the occasional identity crisis, and sometimes even go to class, all while giving their loyal listeners a fabulous radio show every week. There will be a colorful cast of characters including a badass Japanese exchange student and a grungy teenager who goes by “Gravy” in addition to our heroes Jenny and Aaron."

If you don't know me, no sweat. Just read the first issue and you'll get a perfectly good idea of who I am. Plus, my friends Laura and Caitlin made it...I'm not THAT vain enough to make a comic about myself.

Happy Anniversary

2011-03-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

It's the one year anniversary of A Cupcake Chronicle. I didn't have time to blog today, so this picture of a cat wearing a hat will have to suffice...actually...I'm going to write, goddammit, even though i'm tired because this blog is THE BEST.

A Cupcake Chronicle started with a notebook.

Now it contains silly posts on cupcakes filled with obscene vulgar language from yours truly. I've thought about toning it down a little bit because, you know...my mom reads it and all and I'm trying to start a little baking business...but who the hell cares! It's been great to have a creative outlet, especially with writing since I was only used to writing papers in college and angst-y journal entries in high school.

Stay tuned for more cupcakes and other exciting happenings. I've been going on some baking adventures and I'll document them soon. Thanks, readers, for a wonderful fabulous blog year!

<3<3<3

Vacay!

2011-03-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

I flew down to Atlanta to visit Adrienne & Nate for a few days to get out of grey Chicago and enjoy the sunny south with some sunny friends. So, I got up at 4:00 am, ran to the bus, got on the el, got on the plane, sat next to a lady reading a book written by Russell Simmons on how to get rich, and hopped into a car with beautiful Adrienne blaring Best Coast.

I WAS STARVING.

But Adrienne is awesome and she took me straight to the ORIGINAL Soul Veg on the south side of Atlanta. I went BALLISTIC.

LOOK AT THAT. QUICHE. CORNBREAD. MAC. YAMS.

After Soul Veg, hugging cats was on the agenda.

Baby Rar

And Baby Perl.

Livin' in their baby world.

Singin' all their baby songs.

About noooooooobody.

And nooooooothing.

We also went to a gallery opening where Adrienne's friend, Aubrey, had his amazing embroidery work exhibited.

I finally finished my super secret sewing project! A "Welcome" garland for Nate & Adrienne's new home! There are two panels for the cats - Baby Perl (the timid cat) & Baby Rar (the mean cat), a Ru Paul "W", a mushroom "E", a hand "L", a cupcake "C", a donut "O", a bling monster "M", and a button "E". It took a lot of love, time, work, and felt to complete this project. Please click on the picture to see the enlarged picture and all the detail I included! I'll make you one for $$$...seriously.

Adrienne and I went to The Center for Puppetry Arts. We saw a puppet show called, "The Body Detective" and made skull puppets with the children. I got to see puppets that were in the Labyrinth and saw a display on the show Dinosaurs (that show was legendary!). Ah! That place was so amazing and if you're ever in Atlanta, you have to go!

I HAD to go get some vegan sweets while I was in Atlanta, so Adrienne & Nate took me to Southern Sweets. Their strawberry shortcake cake and chocolate raspberry mousse cake were out of this world.

I love my friends.

Happy Vegan Birthday to Me!

2011-03-03T20:40:00.001-08:00

Today was my vegan birthday. I'm four, ladies and gentlemen, four vegan years old. I found this picture that was recently taken at my friend's valentine's day party, and I feel like it's very representative of my vegan birthday. First of all, i'm wearing a big bow that says "I'm 4" in puffy paint, also, i'm holding a cat wearing a fucking bow tie. Yep, that pretty much sums up my journey thus far as a vegan.

Brenda and I celebrated my vegan birthday by making some vegan shrimp cocktail...well...not really...but I guess I just don't know what to call it. We mixed tomato, onion, cilantro, lime, valentina hot sauce, kethcup, tvp chicken, and avocado and placed it all on top of a tostada. It was really good...I ate 4...which is a lot, but I had to because I'm 4 vegan years old.

I also made myself cupcakes to share with my friends...it also gave me an excuse for people to sing me happy birthday and to blow out a candle and make a wish. If having an extra birthday wish isn't enough of an incentive to become vegan...I don't know what is. I made a chocolate cupcake with coconut whipped cream and shredded coconut topped with a chocolate almond cluster. It was pretty damn good.

But in all seriousness, it has been an awesome 4 years. I've learned a lot, volunteered a lot, figured out my niche of activism, met a ton of amazing people & animals, and have eaten/cooked a crazy amount of amazing food. If anything, I've become more aware of my surroundings - discovering the impact that my food choices have on myself, those around me, the animals, the earth, and other social justice issues. I've been enlightened by so many animals - particularly those I've nursed at shelters, visited at farm sanctuaries, and my own domestic animals - and I can't wait to meet more inspiring animals that provide me with a humbling perspective.

Enough sentimental yip yap, i'm gonna go eat a cupcake.

Want s'more pie?

2011-03-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

puns..make the world go round..so does this freakin' pie.

Now this is what people should be eating around the campfire.

Last night, the dream boat had a pie party and there was this giant bag full of vegan marshmallows and I got to take some home. Since I've never made anything with vegan marshmallows, and pie was on the brain, I decided to make this smores pie tonight. It's pretty yummy, but the marshmallows are like chewing through a freakin' leather shoe...so i might just chop them up and sprinkle them on top next time...or use some of that marshmallow creme they probably sell overpriced at whole foods.

<3<3<3

My Life

2011-02-25T21:17:00.000-08:00

Churro Buddies

The Cutest Cupcake

Cupcakes and Cupcake Puzzles (1000 pieces - thanks, mom)

Seitan Bacon

Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcake

2011-02-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

I know it doesn't look fancy, but it sounds fancy, right? I went home to South Bend, Indiana this weekend for my mom's birthday. I've been looking for any opportunity to experiment with a few ideas of mine, so I decided to test one out for my mom's b-day present. My parents are picky, so I decided to combine flavors that they both love - chocolate and hazelnuts. Good luck finding hazelnut extract at 5:00 on a Sunday in a small town in Indiana. Thank god for kind people who work at Starbucks. I popped in there, asked them to give me a few squirts of hazelnut syrup and then asked for a giant cup of free water because I was super thirsty...i'm a terrible customer to help so that's why I tip well.

These cupcakes turned out AMAZING. So freakin' fluffy, so much hazelnut. My whole family was overcome with complete cupcake euphoria.

New & Improved

2011-02-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

The Reeses Cupcake - Nut Free!

It's got moist chocolate cake, sweet sunbutter filling and buttercream, drizzled chocolate ganache, and chocolate jimmies...CHOCOLATE JIMMIES.

The Not So Red - Red Velvet Cupcake

It's got the mild cocoa, the cream cheeze frosting...and not that much red. I tried to exclude red food coloring for two reasons 1. it's just a bunch of gross shit. 2. it's freakin' expensive.

Instead, I tried to use all natural ingredients...secret ingredients that I won't tell you. But you probably don't even care because it didn't even work. Next time I'll try adding more of my secret ingredient and MAYBE add some food coloring.

Orange you happy I made cupcakes?

2011-02-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

I did another cupcake experiment today - Dreamsicle. I haven't had a Dreamsicle in forever, but believe me, that creamy bit of orange heaven has never left my brain. "So Delicious" better get on that.

I attempted to recreate this flavor and I think it was a success...wait, I just asked my roommate if it reminded her of a Dreamsicle and she has reported that Dreamsicles have more of a cream soda taste. Since when?! Anyways, I'm going to try and add a bit of cream soda to it next time.

The Mixing Bowl Bakery

2011-02-04T20:30:00.000-08:00

I'm in business! I just delivered the Mixing Bowl Bakery's first order today and boy was it a doozy. Lucky for me, I did my first order in the middle of a huge snow storm. While I full heartedly appreciate thunder snow, this storm definitely made things a bit more difficult. For Christ's sake, this city has been acting like it's recovering from the apocalypse...which it basically is.

Anyways, enough chit chat about thunder snow, let's talk cupcakes. I'm makin' 'em and you should be buyin' 'em. Tell your friends in the Chicagoland area and shoot me an email! Here are a few pictures of what will be sold tomorrow at the Chicago Vegan Meetup happening at Veggie Bite on Milwaukee!

Strawberry Patch Cake - strawberry cake with cream cheeze frosting

Carrot Cake - carrot cake with maple cream cheeze frosting

Key Lime Pie with Toasted Coconut

Reeses Cupcakes - chocolate cupcake with sunflower seed butter filling & buttercream (all nut free!)

English Breakfast Cupcakes - english breakfast tea with hints of citrus and fluffy icing

Breakfast for Dessert!

2011-01-30T20:56:00.001-08:00

I don't know why people get all riled up about breakfast for dinner when you can have it for dessert with my new English Breakfast Cupcake! I just bought a huge pack of English Breakfast tea from Trader Joes and thought I would experiment with some new ideas I have for cupcakes. A perfect blend of black tea and hints of citrus topped with a super fluffy icing made this experiment a success.

Lucky for you Chicagoans! My English Breakfast Cupcakes, along with some other unique creations - a Strawberry Patch Cake, Reeses cupcakes (nut free!), Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheeze Frosting, and Key Lime Pie! - will be on sale at Chicago's Vegan MeetUp at Veggie Bite this Saturday 1:00.

Show your support for local vegan businesses and my beginning baking business!

Jim Henson is the Grandaddy of Hip

2011-01-25T22:23:00.001-08:00

The only good thing about winter in Chicago is the boatload of free days at all of the museums. One of these being my favorite - the Museum of Science & Industry. I was fortunate enough to catch the Jim Henson exhibit, which featured some puppets from sesame street and the muppets and tons of his awesome sketches. Overall it was one of the happiest exhibits I've ever been to in a museum, and I learned that Jim Henson is seriously the grandaddy of hip.

This picture was my favorite part of the exhibit. It's little Jim Henson sitting in his front lawn in Mississippi performing as a snake charmer to a garden hose. He seriously looks like the best neighborhood friend anyone could ever have. I'm pretty sure he raised hell and every mother on the block thought he was a weirdo.

Here are some of my favorite sketches. It said not to take pictures, but you know I don't listen to that shit.

SCIENCE!

2011-01-21T21:15:00.000-08:00

Apple Enchiladas

2011-01-19T21:02:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was dinner over at the Great Northern. Aaron and I kicked into extreme cooking duo mode and created a mountain of black bean burgers and sweet potato fries. We cut the sweet potatoes into wedges, covered them in olive oil, salt, and curry powder, and then set the fire alarm off 20 times. While Aaron made the black bean burgers, I whipped up dessert - apple enchiladas - an unpatriotic twist on the apple pie!

The recipe came from "Hot Damn & Hell Yeah" and here's the recipe off the top of my head:

Sauce:

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

scant 1/2 c. earth balance

1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix and bring to a boil. Let simmer for a few minutes to thicken.

Filling:

4 granny smith apples peeled, cored, and sliced

1/4 c. white sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

a few dashes nutmeg

Put filling in 6 flour tortilla shells. Put in little casserole dish, pour sauce over it, preheat oven to 350, bake for 20 minutes.

This thing seriously kicks apple pie in the booty.

the grocery store is such a happy place

2011-01-18T21:34:00.001-08:00

P-p-p-p-potluck!

2011-01-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

it..was..an..itty bitty teeny weeny lil' lil' ravioli!

i just made up that song.

This past saturday was one of Kenny's infamous monthly vegan potlucks. I've been living in Chicago since May and I was finally able to make it out to this one! The theme was "healthy" and let's face it folks, asking me to cook healthy is like asking the beach boys not to be hip. it just don't happen!

One perk about work is that we get to take home all of the CSA veggies that people don't get around to picking up. Thanks, rich Wicker Park dudes, for getting me local and organic produce for free! I got a ginormous butternut squash, which has been hogging the fridge for a couple weeks, so I thought I would use it to make Butternut Squash Ravioli! This turned out to be a big hit! Here's my recipe:

Dough:

If you find wonton wrappers, use those. Whole Foods was out. WTF.

2 3/4 c. flour

couple dashes of salt

a few dashes ground sage

2 egg replacers

2/3 c. water

mix dry ingredients, create a well and pour water in. STIR!

let this sit while you make the filling

Filling:

1 c. steamed butternut squash

minced fresh sage

1/2 c. mozzarella daiya

Tofu ricotti-

1/4 block extra firm tofu

1/2 t. each of dried parsley, oregano, basil, and thyme

about 1 1/2 t. salt

1 T. olive oil

sauteed garlic

Whirl all that ricotta shit in a food processor. Mash the butternut squash, add the tofu ricotta mix, daiya cheese, and fresh sage.

Roll out your dough hella thin, slap some filling in there, sandwich it together with a little water acting as glue, then press the edges down with a fork.

Boil water with some salt and olive oil to prevent sticking. Boil ravioli for 7-10 minutes.

Top it all off with some daiya and fresh sage.

Last step - go get 'em, tiger.

We made mini sweet potato pies at work today, which automatically made me have sweet potatoes on the brain all damn day. I was flipping through "The Dirty South Cookbook" and remember seeing a recipe for Sweet Potato Pudding. Thanks again to free CSA stuff, I had a boatload of sweet potatoes to use. My sweet lord. As cigarettes and alcohol have a warning to pregnant women and to destroying your lungs, this recipe should have been mandated by law to have a warning to those with low sugar tolerances. Hot damn was it sweet and hell yeah was it good!

CHIA UPDATE

Uke

2011-01-09T21:04:00.000-08:00

Aloha! I just bought a ukulele so I can say things like that!

DON'T JUDGE ME.

Groupon wouldn't let me buy ukulele lessons to Old Town School of Folk Music, so I'm going to teach myself! I bought my beautiful ukulele at Andy's Music on Belmont for real cheap! This place is so freakin' awesome! It looks like a tiny store from the outside, but once you enter, you'll discover that it's a labyrinth filled with instruments from all over the world. It's almost like you're going through your grandma's attic...if your grandma is a hoarder...and also if she is some crazy international music guru...i want that grandma.

Here is a video of me doing scales. I know it's not that impressive, but i bought this baby 2 days ago! My goal is to learn this song by the end of the month. It's only 4 chords repeated! I can do it! And my ultimate goal is this.

LOOK AT THAT FUCKING DONUT.

2011-01-03T21:10:00.001-08:00

GO AHEAD. LOOK AT IT.

YEP. IT'S A FUCKING HUGE DONUT.

Giant silicon bakeware was pretty much the only thing that I asked for this Christmas. Last Christmas I got the giant cupcake, this Christmas I got the ginormous donut. I definitely prefer the giant donut despite my partialness to cupcakes. I used the yellow cake recipe in "Hot Damn & Hell Yeah," which has a great compilation of dirty south food - sounds like my kind of fucking cookbook. I made up a quick chocolate frosting, threw it in the microwave, and smothered it all over the stupid place. Then Gwen, Sean, and I ate it and replaced "jump on it" with "big donut."

Fuck you, Dunkin'.

I also attempted to make a tempeh rueben tonight...once you've had a radical rueben from the Chicago Diner you can't ever really top it. Since I'm a girl who only has a yellow schwinn to my name in the dead of winter, I have to alter recipes when I don't have the necessary ingredients. That meant ditch the caraway and sauerkraut and add more stuff that I actually had in the fridge. I marinated the tempeh in a mixture of olive oil, water, soy sauce, minced garlic, yellow mustard, cumin, and salt. I cooked this at 350 for about 40 minutes, put it on some toasted whole wheat bread with avocado, red onion, and a thousand island dressing i made. I love thousand island dressing. Seriously, the amount of thousand island dressing that I would be willing to eat is probably offensive.

I also planted my Chia herb garden today, which includes chives, sweet basil, and dill. Chia gave me 6 herbs and 3 pots so I had to choose only 3...WHAT THE HELL, CHIA.

Where am I?

2010-12-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

What the hell? My only post in over a month is me trying to open a bottle of champaign with an oven mitt...well you may think that I've hit rock bottom, but here's the skinny - I haven't been posting my adventures in baking and crafting because I've been working on some top secret Christmas presents. I love Christmas...probably too much. I always go overboard. I force myself to make a SMALL list of people that I would like to make Christmas presents for. This list then explodes to include every freakin' person I've ever met...doesn't matter where they live, my heart will pay the asinine postage fee and go through the pain in the ass adventure of finding the right size box. Seriously, I love this stuff.

Since I love Christmas so much, I have to make my house look like Christmas spewed all over it. This begins with a lovely set of handmade ornaments! Evan and I always scout out the Martha Stewart page for holiday crafts and found this awesome set of easy ornaments to make at home.

These ornaments are made out of 1 cup of cinnamon, a bunch of craft glue, water, and some glam metallic craft paint and sequins. They take a bit of time to make, but they smell really good and they're really fun to decorate, especially if Christmas records are involved!

Poppin' Bottles is a Terrifying Process

2010-12-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

fat food

2010-11-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

My friend's band, the Mother Z's, played the other night at the Elbo Room here in Chicago. This uber cute brother sister duo requested cupcakes and I pumped out these beauties - a double chocolate cupcake decorated with an almond "z" cookie. I used the chocolate cupcake recipe from vegan cupcakes take over the world, and I made up the chocolate buttercream by creaming 1/4 c. earth balance with 1/4 c. shortening, adding about a 1/3-1/2 c. cocoa, a bunch of powdered sugar, 1-2 tsp. vanilla extract, and water (ran out of soymilk). I got the cookie recipe from "the decorated cookie" blog. The flavor in these are really great, but it is a bit hard to manipulate the dough. I warmed up the frosting in the microwave so I could just dunk the cookies in the icing, but this just ended with burned finger tips and sloppy decoration - I was short on time, OK?

Y'all better hop on this gravy train. Tonight I made Suzanne and Michelle an extra special dinner, which included an epic menu of country fried seitan steaks, mashed potatoes, gravy, cornbread stuffing, pumpkin pie, and broccoli (i only cooked this out of some sick obligation to have something green on my plate). I used "Tomorrow Friendly Food" blog as a base for the country fried steaks and it turned out extra crispy and greasy - gotta love it! The mashed potatoes turned out wonderful - but it's pretty hard to screw those up, right? - and the stuffing turned out pretty good, but I think I'm going to stick to my traditional whole wheat bread. I made a non-sweet corn bread and cubed it along with some wheat bread. This was mixed with sauteed 1 c. onion & 1 c. celery, 3 c. no chicken broth, and a shit ton of poultry seasoning, 2 tsp. onion powder, and 2 tsp. tried parsley.

I haven't been able to stop drinking so much water ever since I finished my meal - I'm not surprised since I pretty much consumed a block of salt fit for a full grown horse.

Kickin' Route 66 Style

2010-11-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

Fuck Chicago. We're kickin' it route 66 style. Gwen and I have been wanting to take a day trip to get a little country air in our lungs and some corn in our face. Jesus H. Christ was it hard trying to find somewhere fun to go in the midwest for a day. Though we were faced with these challenges, Gwen and I grew up in the Midwest, so we are used to inventing our own fun...thus, a road trip along route 66 was born. We mapped out our trip from Chicago to Funks Grove, IL where we would stop at a series of quirky locations. These sites were so underwhelming...which made it overwhelmingly fun!

boo-bye, chicago!

polk-a-dot drive in - braidwood, il.

this is what vegans eat at diners...sweet lord i hope these were vegan.

the world needs more fiberglass statues.

where i should be - in between elvis and james dean.

wah wah waaaaaaaahh.

piss hole.

Barney Fife ain't got shit on me.

silo shadows

probably the most underwhelming site - a filled-in pedestrian tunnel.

DUN DUN DUN DEAD MAN'S CURVE.

Memory Lane in Lexington, which had a series of vintage billboards along a mile stretch of original route 66.

Chapel of the Temple Trees in Funks Grove, IL

pumpkin cat.

2010-11-01T20:51:00.001-07:00

pumpkin cat.

halloweenie

2010-10-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

Our obsession with holiday fare carries on. Evan and I decided to bake a pumpkin cake (pumpkin in both flavor AND form) with a vanilla pumpkin buttercream. I got the cake recipe from 365Halloween.com (frosting recipe our own creation), and while our cake doesn't display such fancy decoration, ours is in the shape of a pumpkin, which obviously dominates. Adding to the halloween festivities included halloween pandora...which wasn't very halloween-y and Troll 2.

a lil' bit o' craft

2010-10-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

The small third bedroom in our apartment was one of the prime factors for me in making our final decision on choosing our home. I told myself that I would transform it into a sewing/crafting room where I would rediscover the creativity that I had cultivated before college. College crushed it. I'm reclaiming it.

Here is a little bit of an update on things that I've been working on. I've come up with a lot of fun ideas, but I have yet to execute many of them due to the lack of supplies and the pain in the ass bike ride to Jo-ann's. I've mainly been focusing on sewn houseware items, specifically aprons, but in light of not having tracing paper, I've resorted to making crafts with the items I have on hand.

The first of these are ric rac broaches. I have designated a ric rac bag, which I hang on my bed frame, and make these while I watch Pushing Daisies. p.s. i have no life.

Tonight I started making a garland out of the Spanish Bingo cards that I bought at the Walgreens by my house. Once again, living in Humboldt Park has worked towards my greatest advantage. I'm in love with the pictures and have been trying to think of some ways to use them. The first of these has been transforming one of the cards into a dirty dishes/clean dishes sign on our dishwasher since it's so hard to tell the damn difference. The small cards I thought would suit well as a cute garland. I've added some bows of polka dot ribbon that has been in my sewing kit forever, but unfortunately I ran out.

I also sewed a set of curtains for our wonky three front windows. Curtain selection is absolutely terrible and you bet I'm not wasting my money on any of the shit they have at Urban Outfitters and I'm sure as hell not going to drive my ass to Ikea.

Pumpkin Hunting

2010-10-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

It's mid-October. I'm gonna carve a fucking pumpkin. Last time I was biking to Logan Square I spotted this gem of a pumpkin lot located across the street from an ihop and a walgreens. Once again, I've found a little slice of good ol' Indiana in the city. This thing looks exactly like those christmas tree lots featured in a Christmas Story and holiday episodes of Family Matters. In fact, "the pumpkin keeper" (the name we assigned for the guy running the place) looks like a character straight out of Pete & Pete.

Gwen and I picked two pumpkins and a bunch of indian corn to hang on our front door. The process of picking your pumpkin soulmate is so exciting! Everyone has specific criteria for their perfect pumpkin - cute small size, long stem, nice color, etc. You'll comb the fields for hours looking for not only pumpkins that fit your qualifications, but ones that stand out from the others. And once you've found your significant pumpkin, you squeal! Well that's what I did.

I found him!

Bucktown Apple Pie Contest

2010-10-17T19:49:00.001-07:00

so frickin' cute.

So...I didn't win...but I still had fun! The crazy amount of kitchiness compacted into one small space made my heart explode with happiness. There were 140 different apple pies, face painting, pumpkin painting, square dancing, bluegrass, and a bouncy house. To put it simply, I was in heaven. It was like having a tiny slice of my Indiana home in Chicago, which I miss oh so much.

it's your big day, uncle apple!

best friend matching face paint!

Sunday Brunch

2010-10-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Fuck work. Make brunch. - This was my mantra for Sunday, and it worked surprisingly well. I made fancy vegan french toast, which included some strawberries, bananas, and, of course, aunt jemima - side note - gwen and i have almost gone through a whole large bottle of aunt jemima in under a month...we're disgusting. For this brunch we decided to watch an episode of doug - Doug is the most anxious and self conscious cartoon character on tv.

Sunday's weather called for a big pot of chili and corn bread, so once dinner hit, I invited stephanie over and made what i call "Xtreme Monster Chili." I have never created something so excessive in my life - it looks like I was cooking for a crew of construction workers rather than 3 women. I sauteed chopped onion and garlic and added 6 cans of beans and stewed tomatoes. I then added a layer of corn bread on top of this concoction, which was added by another batch of corn bread because stephanie and i thought it was a good idea. This is what made "Monster Chili" into "Xtreme Monster Chili."

LOOK AT THAT.

AND THAT.

Brunch a' Munch

2010-09-24T23:35:00.001-07:00

I've decided that I'm going to do a brunch series here on a cupcake chronicle. i work crazy shifts, so most of the time i have to hang out with friends over brunch. This meal usually consists of pancakes, some type of berry, and of course, aunt jemima.

blueberry pancakes and high fashion are necessary brunch items

Apple Pie Cage Match

2010-09-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

Fall is quickly approaching! Leaves are turning brown, the wind is fucking strong, and people start eating apples until their ears bleed. Another symbol of the transitioning seasons, is Bucktown's Apple Pie Bake Off, which is happening on October 10 in Holstein Park.

*que "the final countdown"*

I have registered in this contest and I plan to dominate. I've chosen to name my pie "Uncle Apple" and this title is best illustrated by the dough handlebar mustache that I have given him. I made my first practice pie last night, which consisted of a hella thick, rich crust, and a combination of golden delicious and granny smith apples covered in freakin' amazing goo. I was really pleased with how this pie turned out, but i'm definitely going to tweak the recipe by adding more of a thickening agent and some spices and perhaps lowering the amount of sugar.

I'll document more practice pies, but in the mean time, don't worry, i'll post pictures of my ribbon when i win.

An Ode to Craft

2010-09-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

One of the only redeeming qualities of the unrelenting Chicago summers is the awesome amount of craft/art fairs going on in West Town. I went to the Bucktown Arts Fest with Michelle a few weeks ago and ran into some awesome local craftsters.

Of course, Circa Ceramics' cute, kitchy bowls in bold pastels and vintage prints never cease to prevent my squealing. You really can't lose with selling "wee tiles" and "wee bowls" that feature typewriters, bikes, the cook county flag, holga cameras, and kewpies - irresistibly hipster, right?

Another craftster that remained unique among the countless of garlands, screen prints, and felt plushies, was SODA. Amy's whimsical nature prints simultaneously create beautiful, simple jewelry to wear and cute, compact cups to sip warm autumn drinks! I also appreciate the minimal color palate she has chosen, which includes my favorite shade of tealy blue.

Coffee Cupcakes

2010-08-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

I love baking so much that when I was looking for a job, one of the things I looked forward to most about being employed was baking cupcakes for my co-workers. Since I work later at the conservatory on Wednesday's I used this morning to whip up a batch of sumthin' sumthin' for the gardeners and administration staff. I was originally planning on making mocha cupcakes, but to my disappointment, I noticed that I didn't have any cocoa powder while in the middle of my recipe. I switched gears and decided to make some vanilla cupcakes even though I didn't have any vanilla extract (my baking staples are extremely lacking considering that I like to bake so much). I was thinking about just making a vanilla buttercream, but thanks to Gwen's persuasiveness, I decided to make a coffee buttercream.

This picture definitely emphasizes my kitchy canisters and spice jars instead of the cupcake...this was not an accident.

Ok, that's better.

I made up the coffee buttercream by mixing 1/4 c. each of vegetable shortening and ebal with a bunch of powdered sugar and some leftover coffee from this morning. I then added a lot of coffee grounds to intensify the flavor. They were a complete hit and I'm happy to say that my cupcake carrier survived the cta.

Welcome to Our Pad

2010-08-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

One day, little Jenny was at Carousel daycare in Indiana and saw a little boy with a bowl cut walk into the girls bathroom. Like any frightened 6 year old, she naturally went and got the attention of a near by counselor to send this sucker to time out. Well, little did young Jenny know that this was a little girl with an incredibly masculine disposition - mainly caused by a bowl haircut. This little girl was Gwen and now they're living together in Wicker Park.

That's the best damn story you're ever going to hear and our apartment has to live up to that same amount of awesomeness. This starts out with an embroidered sign that my mom made for her and my dad's first apartment (craftiness runs in the family!) and a kick ass, cheap meal of black bean burgers and homemade french fries. The first few months of rent are rough due to security deposits and up starting costs so I'm trying to make economical meals rather than fancy ones.

The black bean burgers have one can of black beans and one can of chickpeas mashed and mixed together with crumbled crackers, sauteed vidalia onion and garlic, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and chili powder. Other than looking like dog shit, these were pretty good! I also made some homemade french fries that were baked with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Gwen and I ate this meal with really cheap beer on cheap furniture while watching crappy cable. Yep, it's starting to feel like home.

Pot Pie Pot Pie Chicken Pot Pie!

2010-07-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

I cooked a homemade vegan chicken pot pie, which consisted of freshly steamed asparagus, corn boiled and cut off of the cob, boiled potatoes, seitan, a vegan nutritional yeast gravy, fresh chives, and cracked salt and pepper. It was super yummy and the flaky crust made it even yummier. FYI to those who want to make a vegan pot pie - buy pepperidge farms puff pastry - it's really good and it's vegan! Between 1 and 10, I would rate this as a 7 on the difficulty scale. It's not so much hard as it is time consuming, especially if you're going to cook all of the vegetables yourself rather than use canned.

I also made a lemon cupcake with cream cheese frosting. I would upload a picture, but the one I have is the wrong type of file. Damn technology! I got the recipe from bake and destory, a chicago-based baking blog. I actually saw the writer by johnny sprockets one day, and i'm not going to lie, I was a tad bit star struck. If I'm going to live up to the bad ass baking reputation I want to gain, I think I'm going to have to get like 5 more cupcake tattoos and sew some more kick ass aprons. But don't you worry, aprons are on their way. I'm planning to amp up my sewing game and house wares are my specialty, so get prepared to read about it on my blog!

I got to go! I'm watching DC Cupcakes on TLC and some lady is chewing out a guy over moldy strawberries. We cupcake lovers are biiitches!

Bake a Bunch

2010-07-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

Hello, stranger. It has been quite a while hasn't it? My life has been pretty crazy with trying to find employment and an apartment so I haven't been too focused on updating my blog. My life is kind of settling down...well not really because i'm going to be working all of the time and moving in a week or two...but at least I've made a life for myself in Chicago! I haven't ventured on too many cooking excursions, but I have made a few yummy fares for the 4th of July and a goodbye party for Heather and Jonathan.

These are some vanilla cupcakes with a mixed berry buttercream frosting. I used the vanilla cupcake recipe from Jennifer McCann's blog and I whipped up a buttercream frosting from 1/2 c. each of ebal and veggie shortening, a bunch of powdered sugar, a little bit of vanilla, and a bunch of mixed frozen berries...wow how much more vague can i get? Just mess around with the proportions until you get the right consistency. I couldn't find hand mixers and I was in a hurry to get these to the dinner I was having with Aaron's family, so I used a food processor. I wouldn't recommend this usually, but it is a nice alternative when you're in a hurry and hand mixers are absent. I made a make shift pastry bag from a ziploc bag and cut the end with zig zag scissors to try and get a swirly affect - I can't wait to buy real pastry bags!

Mini's - so cute!

The frosting recipe made enough for another batch of cupcakes I was going to bake for Evan's 4th of July party. This time around I thought I would make an agave nectar cupcake to kind of offset the sweetness of the frosting. I think I liked it more with the agave because it was a nice contrast to the frosting and had a more dense consistency, but Aaron thought the vanilla worked better because it was fluffier. Who the hell knows!

For Heather and Jon's going away dinner, Suzanne made a monster vegan lasagna, while I baked basil garlic breadsticks from Sara Lewis' "The Bread Book." Check this book out if you're interested in learning more about baking bread and if you find the bread lingo a little confusing to you. The book includes a variety of sweet breads, rustic breads, breakfast breads, etc. to choose from and its a lot cheaper compared to those $40.00 bibles on bread they sell at Barnes & Noble.

these pictures suck - sorry!

Let the War Begin.

2010-06-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

Enough riff raff about plants, lets get down to the real nitty gritty - cupcakes! This blog ain't called a cupcake chronicle for nuthin'! So a ton of people have notified me of the so called "Cupcake Wars" on the Food Network and I just watched my first episode a few nights ago. Add this show to my True Blood addiction because i am obsessed. Evan and I have decided to embark on an incredible journey, which includes taking on the challenges of each Cupcake Wars episode by adding our own personal creativity and vegan spin. I will document this adventure extensively and this damn blog will actually start living up to its name.

Creme-filled Chocolate Orange Cupcake

Our first cupcake was not our own creation, but rather the recipe of 23-year-old chef Chloe Coscarelli. Above is a Creme-filled Chocolate Orange Cupcake - An orange chocolate cake with orange buttercream filling topped off with chocolate ganache. Warning - the cake batter turns out real thick, just add more almond milk and orange juice in even amounts until you achieve perfect cupcake batter consistency. Vegans, this will take you back to the days of eating those chocolate oranges, which were oh so good.

But as they say in Coscarelli's article - "When it comes to cupcakes, don't mess with a vegan."

Garfield Park Conservatory

2010-06-24T20:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I went to the Garfield Park Conservatory because who wouldn't want to look at beautiful flowers and plants from around the world for free? It's one of the largest conservatories in the nation and they have works by Dale Chihuly - awesome Willy Wonka like orange and yellow discs in a small pond with coi fish. I'm also pretty sure that the conservatory copied my method of choosing plants with hellishly cute names.

Exhibit A - "Lollipop"

"Giant Sea Grape"

"Pony Tail Tree"

"Polka Dot Plant"

and a conservatory wouldn't be a conservatory without some "holiday cheer"

I strongly recommend visiting the Garfield Park Conservatory because they put a great amount of effort towards community outreach. If you don't care about community outreach like I do, maybe the labyrinth will appeal to you - how couldn't it?!

Green Thumbin' it UP

2010-06-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

I grew up sitting in my backyard garden popping grape tomatoes in my mouth like nobody's business. I've never been too involved in gardening, but it's always been a part of my life since my mom has a real knack for it. I decided to learn more about gardening by beautifying our balcony with a series of random flowers. I got most of my plants from Fertile Gardens on Diversey, where I based a majority of my decision making on the name of the flower. I got plants with names, such as "ice cream" and "confetti," so pretty much anything that made a cute reference.

I also planted an herb garden with lemon basil, cilantro, dill, and peppermint. I'm really looking forward to putting fresh herbs in some cold salads :)

Summer Time Eats

2010-06-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't been eating too regularly since I've moved to Chicago mostly because I haven't instituted a routine quite yet. I was sick of not eating enough good food and decided to cook up a storm of summer eats yesterday. I decided to use the ginormous bag of flour I bought the other day to make two loaves of basic white bread. I used a recipe out of "The Neal Yard Bakery Wholefood Cookbook," which has a really cute layout with a vintagey disposition. I thought that the bread would work perfectly with a mock chicken salad, which I made with frozen then thawed tofu, veganaise with grapeseed oil, honey dijon mustard, bread and butter pickles, red onion, dill, salt, and pepper. I also made some garlic hummus to eat with the chicken salad and bread. I thought I would finish the meal off with a berry mousse, which was made with frozen blueberries, fresh raspberries, sugar, silken tofu, and vanilla extract. After test running these recipes of mine, I've discovered that they are the perfect food for a picnic. I need to do one of those soon.

Pizza Party!

2010-06-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

Evan and I made the most fabulous vegan pizza EVER. I made the crust from a recipe out of Vegan with a Vengeance, while Evan topped it with yummy tomato sauce, green peppers, onions, olives, baby portabellas, mozzarella and cheddar daiya cheese, and the best part - a mix of arugula and basil. HOLY MACROL.

before...

after!

i'm a better american than you because i spent memorial day weekend on a farm.

2010-05-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to the Midwest's largest farmed animal sanctuary, SASHA farm, with friends from Mercy For Animals - Heather, Alexis, Lee, Andrew, Amelia, and Meghan. For those of you who don't know, a farmed animal sanctuary is a farm for animals who have escaped or have been rescued from factory farms. They are taken care of by volunteers and allowed to live out their life as they please - not for food consumption. I fell in love with every animal there along with Michigan's country side. We left Chicago super early and arrived in Manchester, Michigan around noon, which was then followed by a tour and some good ol' hard work. We cleaned the horse's pasture and helped fill the barn with hay. We finished the day off with a vegan potluck, which included vegan frittata, bbq seitan, noodles, rice, chips and salsa, and my dish - peanut butter and jelly bars. Then we sat back, drank a few pbr's, had a bonfire, and looked at the stars.

"Bigger"

CAT BARN!

POT BELLIED PIG!

If you haven't pet a turkey's head...you really need to.

I love them goats.

A bonfire was definitely in order to celebrate that shit ton of hay we put in the barn.

I already miss SASHA farm and have decided that I would love to work on a farm sanctuary for a small amount of time hopefully in the not too distant future.

I write about vegan mac & cheese waaaay too much

2010-05-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago I made a really yummy vegan mac & cheese from the clear creek co-op's cookbook. I added some mozzarella daiya to the mix to make it really cheesy and creamy - it ended up being the richest vegan mac & cheese i've ever put in my mouth, and that's saying a lot. I accompanied it with tofu, which I spread a locally made sweet and spicy honey mustard on. I really love comfort food and I feel kind of guilty when there isn't anything green on my plate. I decided to steam some kale and I somehow tremendously failed. I swear, for a vegan, I truly suck at cooking vegetables. In this case, I put way too much salt on the soggy kale that I over steamed...but the rest was good! Once my metabolism slows down, I'm going to be the fattest vegan in the world.

I also made some chocolate chip cookies out of the The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes. I had just finished my exit loan counseling and decided that I needed to console myself through baked goods.

In other news, Michelle bought me a cup that has my name on it at a garage sale. I have a crunk cup. The end.

Sushi Haze

2010-05-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

After going to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Evan and I decided to cook up a storm of vegan Japanese food. We trekked over to an asian grocery store, called Tai Nam, which is on Broadway right off of the red line Argyle stop. I was really surprised at their variety - every type of noodle you could ever think of, really tasty mochi, lots of Japanese staples, and even fresh produce. I stocked up on rice and bought a jug of soy sauce the size of my head - it was amazing. While I made inari sushi, Evan made some fancy maki rolls stuffed with avocado, cucumber, and carrot, along with sesame seeds sprinkled on the outside. We made little nori faces for the inari sushi and decided we had to fill the bento box Evan had just bought at Kawaii on Halsted. We finished the meal off with anko and taro mochi. While I've only had taro in a bubble tea, it is equally delicious as a filling in mochi.

Chicago's Green Fest

2010-05-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

free faux mustache i got from upton's naturals!

i really like chicago

This weekend was Chicago's annual Green Festival and Evan and I decided to check it out yesterday. It was located at Navy Pier in this gigantic event hall jam packed with vegan food, recycled apparel, and a cause for everything and it's mother. Some veg Chicago restaurants, such as the Chicago Diner and Soul Veg, were selling some wonderful looking food, but I suppressed the desire to buy anything in order to save some money. Plus, there was enough free samples of chocolate, juices, snacks, and granola bars to fulfill my appetite. My favorite booth was the cliff bar table, which provided a bunch of really yummy samples, and the t-mobile station, which gave me a postcard advertisement that would sprout into wildflowers if I planted it :)

why hello, chicago

2010-05-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

fuzzy chicago

Hey, y'all, I moved to Chicago! I lived here last summer during my internship at Mercy For Animals and thought that it would only be appropriate to move back here to start the next chapter in my life. It's a great place for vegan food and you'll probably be seeing more posts about vegan restaurants that I eat at rather than food that I cook myself. Well maybe not because I don't have any money...but I might just do it anyways!

homemade pizza and a reuben with roasted veggies

My first night in Chicago was kicked off by making vegan pizza with Michelle and eating it with friends from mercy for animals - nathan, lee, and johnathan. We put broccoli, green peppers, onions, and boca crumbles on the pizza and topped it off with a hefty layer of daiya cheese. While living in the veganless areas of Indiana, I've almost completely cut out vegan substitutes from my diet, but thanks to the shit ton of Whole Foods in Chicago, I can know stuff my face with wonderful daiya cheese. The next day, Suzanne and I went to the Chicago Diner and I ordered my usual, which is the radical reuben. Best damn thing on this planet, even my dad raves about it. I failed to take pictures of the food at the time it was prepared, so you guys get to see the next day leftovers.

Other restaurants I went to were "the loving hut" and "lula cafe" in logan square. Yes, "the loving hut." This may sound like I'm up to some promiscuous activity, but it is actually a strange cultish vegan restaurant that is centered around the supreme master. On that note, you should go there!

While searching for apartments with Gwen in logan square, we dined at "lula cafe." It was really yummy and reasonably priced. I got a vegan breakfast burrito, which had some cilantro lime marinated tofu with lots of fixings like avocado, tomatoes, a yummy salsa, and potatoes.

it's gonna rain...let's go to the beach!

2010-05-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

This whole week has been rainy, so the first glimpse of sunshine inspired me, sarah, and meryl to go to the beach. Unfortunately, it took roughly 20 minutes for looming thunder clouds to roll in after we made our plans. Whatevs!

hello, beach!

before...

after!

We packed the car with bubble wands, sweatshirts, music, and good snacks. I made homemade vegan focaccia from colleen patrick-goudreau's the joy of vegan baking. I put a lot of rosemary and diced sun dried tomatoes in it, which gave it a little pizza flavor. I think next time I will bake it on a wider, flatter surface so that it's more like a flat bread rather than a hefty wheel of bread. The hummus turned out amazing. I soaked chickpeas for a whole day and then simmered them in a crockpot for about the same amount of time. Maybe you can do this in a more speedy process, but I don't mind going slow. I whirled the chickpeas in my food processor and added tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, olive oil, and water. It turned out really really yummy and it made a ton!

goodbye, beach!

pie on a rainy day

2010-05-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

While I was driving back in the car to South Bend, I decided that I really needed to make a strawberry rhubarb pie in my sunny kitchen. I would wear a summer dress, ride my bike to the farmers market, bake a pie while listening to andrew bird's bowl of fire, and have the pie cool on the windowsill. May sound ridiculous, but I live for this sort of shit. Well, today ended up being pretty cold and rainy, but I decided I would still make the pie.

Vegan Eggs Benedict!

First I made a vegan eggs benedict for dinner. I mixed olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and sea salt and poured that over extra firm tofu, which I then baked for 20 minutes. I also topped the english muffin with tomato, steamed spinach, and a vegan hollandaise sauce. I used this recipe as a base for the sauce, but added a bunch more nutritional yeast, dry mustard, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cornstarch to make it thicker and creamier.

lonely pie in a big oven

the pie other pies pick on

but sarah seems to like it!

After dinner, Sarah came over to help me make a strawberry rhubarb pie. I bought the rhubarb at the farmers market and added strawberries, lemon juice, white sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, and some cinnamon. I made the pie crust from a recipe off of chooseveg. I think I should have doubled the crust recipe in order to tame the heinous amount of filling that we made. It was sloppy and sticky - as desserts should be in the summer time.

it's summa time y'all!

2010-05-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ingredients!

My stove top going CA-RAZY!

Mac and Cheese got a little burned - I always forget about the broiler

Mashed potatoes in the pot I've made mashed potatoes in since I can remember!

BBQ Seitan!

Four corners of absolute goodness!

I've been vegan for over 3 years and I've never made my own seitan from scratch. I mean, it's always been such an intimidating food to me and it has always seemed impossible to cook, and if it were possible, I thought it took like 5 hours to make. Shit, it took me the same amount of time to figure out how to say the damn word, and I'm still not sure if I'm saying it right.

Today was my first official day home in South Bend and I really wanted to cook something good to celebrate my liberation from college. I decided to turn to Beth Bee's Rabbit Food again and attempt to tackle the seitan recipe. It was extremely easy! All of my preconceived notions surrounding seitan disappeared in the matter of minutes it took to make it. While I let it simmer, the best smell ever filled the house, and it reminded me of mac and cheese...so I made mac and cheese too. I used clear creek co-op's recipe again and accompanied this with wonderful mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus. I poured an alabama style bbq sauce, which was made by Helen's mom, over the sauted seitan. Everything turned out really well, but I think I needed to saute the seitan a little longer. It was a still a little moist due to simmering in the broth for 2 hours. I think more sauteing will remedy this, but I'm not sure, I'll have to experiment.

I didn't have enough energy to make a dessert, but you better believe I'm making one tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Sprinkles!

2010-05-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

Since I have a lot more free time on my hands and I bought a shit ton of flour, I've been experimenting with some cupcake recipes. I'm at this point where I have to say goodbye to a lot of people I've worked with at not-for-profits in Richmond, and a lot of them have never eaten a vegan cupcake. I had to bake them a few before I left. I thought I would try and make strawberry shortcake cupcakes because strawberries are in season and they remind me of summer. All of the recipes I found told me to make the "Golden Vanilla Cupcakes" out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The cornstarch and the butter make these dense and taste like cornbread...not a cupcake. So instead, I found this recipe off of Jennifer McCann's blog, who is the author of Vegan Lunch Box. I whipped this up and added some chopped up strawberries. I then made "Old-Fashioned Velvet Icing" from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and it turned out terrible. I remember trying to make this same recipe a year ago and it didn't work out then. I should have known better. It turned out really really runny instead of fluffy like the whipped cream texture I was going for. It really takes a lot to make me angry, but I tell you what, runny icing is up there.

In order to redeem my messed up batch of strawberry shortcake, I made Jennifer McCann's recipe again, but added sprinkles and topped it with a really thick chocolate icing. I think I subconsciously made this icing insanely thick because I was so pissed off about the runny icing. My all time favorite childhood cake was funfetti. I was really surprised that I had never tried to make it before, so I did it today! It turned out really well, and if you look at Norah's cupcake sandwich, you can see the swirl of wonderful colors!

A Weekend of Art

2010-05-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I finished up my time with Centerville Junior High School's photo club. We didn't get to print a terrible amount of photos, but I think we all learned a lot about how to use the camera and make our own prints in the dark room. I talked to the librarian at the Centerville Public Library and they let us display our work. There are a few photograms and some pictures we took around town in antique shops.

This past Saturday was the womyn's center spring art show. Women identified students were invited to submit their art and perform poetry, music, dance, etc. We worked really hard getting the space well lit and inviting, and I think it really paid off. The art was absolutely beautiful and the performances were amazing. I was a little worried since we only had a few scheduled performances, but lots of people volunteered to read poetry and some even led us in some rounds. WE DID ROUNDS. how cute is that? It really seemed like there was an intentional community present and it made me really happy.

Banana Bread and Shel Silverstein - Perfect Combination? Yes.

2010-04-27T20:19:00.001-07:00

I made this banana bread a few weeks ago from Beth Bee's cookbook, Rabbit Food. I tweaked the recipe a little bit by amping the amount of spice and replacing the melted butter with vegetable oil. I also sprinkled a heavy layer of brown sugar and cinnamon on top....so yea, not your typical healthy banana bread and you bet your ass there weren't any walnuts up in this shit. This is the best banana bread that has ever been in my mouth and I think I'm going add chocolate chips next time. Yea, I'm definitely doing that tomorrow.

So I have yet to add any comments on music to my blog. I have to add music to my food blog because cooking wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable unless I had a good playlist going. Discussions on music haven't popped into my head while I write posts on here, but today I discovered something amazing. On June 8th, Sugar Hill records will be releasing a new tribute album to Shel Silverstein. Check out the track list:

01: My Morning Jacket: “Lullabies, Legends and Lies”
02: Andrew Bird: “The Twistable, Turnable Man Returns”
03 John Prine: “This Guitar Is for Sale”
04 Dr. Dog: “The Unicorn”
05 Kris Kristofferson: “The Winner”
06 Sarah Jarosz With Black Prairie: “Queen of the Silver Dollar”
07 Bobby Bare, Jr. with Isabella Bare: “Daddy What If”
08 Black Francis with Joey Santiago: “The Cover of the Rolling Stone”
09 The Boxmasters: “Sylvia’s Mother”
10 Ray Price: “Me and Jimmie Rodgers”
11 Todd Snider: “A Boy Named Sue”
12 Lucinda Williams: “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan”
13 Bobby Bare: “The Living Legend”
14 Nanci Griffith: “The Giving Tree”
15 My Morning Jacket: “26 Second Song”

Check this out to hear Andrew Bird and My Morning Jacket's tracks. I've listened to Andrew Bird's "The Twistable, Turnable Man Returns" about 5 times in the last 15 minutes. So good. Plus, what is there not to like about anything having to do with Shel Silverstein? I remember one of my most memorable moments in Chicago last summer being the "Shel-abration" tribute in Millenium Park. People reciting his poetry, singing his songs, and old people dancing - LOVE IT.

Lastly, I have to tell everyone in the world to check out Portland's up and coming comic artist. If what you need is an overly cute pick me up, then check her out.

Birthday Picnic

2010-04-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today was Isa's birthday and we celebrated by having a picnic in our backyard. I LOVE birthdays. They give me an excuse to bake and I have a stash of birthday candles for these occasions. For Isa I made margarita cupcakes topped with yellow turbinado sugar. They definitely have a limey flavor with a little kick of tequila.

Let me know when your birthday is and I'll make a cupcake catered to your personality!

Photo Club

2010-04-14T14:12:00.001-07:00

Today at photo club we "walked into town" and took pictures at the antique stores. I love it when I'm in a small po-dunk place and you can do things like "walk into town." We took pictures at a wonderful place called "Mockingbird Antiques," and if you're ever in Centerville you should visit it. I've posted these pictures because no one reading this will probably ever find themselves in Centerville and I want to share these manifestations of the midwest.

This is for all of you who keep bitchin' at me to update my blog

2010-04-08T21:18:00.001-07:00

Ok, I have a lot of ground to cover that doesn't include really old Japanese food: vegan mac & cheese, skip-bo, etch-a-sketch, and college veg pledge...go!

I have just made the best vegan mac and cheese in the world. I got the recipe out of the clear creek co-op's cookbook and it is AMAZING. Seriously, I've been on a quest for over 3 years to find the perfect vegan mac & cheese and I feel like I've found the holy grail. I'm finally satisfied. Because I want others to share in this amazingness with me I will give you the recipe:

3 1/2 c. macaroni

1/2 ebal (cool abbreviation for earth balance coined by adrienne lowe)

1/2 flour

3 1/2 c. boiling water

1 1/2 t. salt

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 1/2 t. garlic powder

pinch o' turmeric

1/4 c. oil

1 c. nutritional yeast

dash paprika

Melt the margarine and mix in flour with whisk. Stir until smooth and bubbly. Add water, salt, soy sauce, garlic powder, and turmeric. Let the sauce cook until thick. Add oil and nutritional yeast. Mix sauce with drained noodles and pour in casserole dish. Brown under broiler.

IT'S GOOD.

In other news, I have a new obsession with a rip off game of Uno, called Skip-bo. I must learn how to dominate this game, along with dominating at etch-a-sketch. I will keep you updated.

Also, for all of you looking at how wonderful this vegan food looks and are contemplating the veg lifestyle, you should check out the college veg pledge! Go the platinum route and pledge to be veg for the whole month of May. Considering how much waste and cruelty (this is not a direct link to a gruesome video) that is involved with industrialized agriculture, you should just give it a try! Another plus is that I'm listed as a veg mentor, which means I can answer your questions and become your friend, if we're not friends already!

Really Old Japanese Food

2010-04-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

These pictures are really old, but they're the most food bloggy pictures I have on my computer and I feel obligated to post them. I went to Japan about a year and a half ago to study abroad and teach English at a junior high school. During my stay, I lived with a host family and embarked on the adventure with my host mom on cooking vegan food in Japan. We cooked a lot together and even experimented with baking some vegan cake and donuts. I had my mom mail me some egg replacer since we had a little trouble with binding agents and my host mom instantly fell in love with it. We also went to cooking classes hosted by this famous tv chef that lived in Morioka. It was really fun because the chef thought of ways to veganize traditional Japanese dishes (even though a majority of them are pretty vegan friendly) and I got to hang around a bunch of Japanese housewives.

My memory is pretty foggy, but the first picture shows a center dish of miso shiro with tofu and green onions accompanied by tofu mixed with shredded carrots, mushrooms, and maybe daikon. I completely forget what the other dishes are. The third picture shows vegan jajamen, which includes udon noodles, a chunky sauce primarily consisting of a dark miso past, shredded cucumber, green onion, and a tomato. The center dish has croquettes patted with bread crumbs and almond slivers, along with a jello type dish that I think is made out of konnyaku. The last dish includes some really yummy mochi desserts.

And this is why being vegan in Japan ain't that bad.

Bubbles on the Roof

2010-04-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

This is more of a suggestion than a documentation. If you have a roof, climb out on it. If you have a bubble wand from your mom, blow bubbles.

Cupcakes and Epiphanies

2010-03-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

My friend from Chicago sent me a surprise care package that included this wonderful little notebook (the little bird is from her too). I knew I had to use it for some special kind of purpose, so I started writing activities that would make me happy in it. Now that college is winding down, I've realized that though I've learned a bunch, I've barely exercised any of my creativity. Thus, a cupcake chronicle was born. I plan to document my adventures in vegan baking, sewing, photography, and my involvement at community service sites, such as the local soup kitchen and the photo club I teach at the junior high school.

My quest to rediscover creativity began by making a yummy lunch out of the cookbook "Rabbit Food." This is a tiny cute bound zine made by beth bee. Seriously, it's really cute. It has a hard cover with really small dividers and tabs that categorize the main meals, appetizers, desserts, drinks, etc. I purchased it through herbivore, but you can also check out her website, which includes downloadable recipes! ka-ching! The thing I made for lunch was definitely not the "savory potato and tofu burritos" I originally planned on making because I'm trying to be more spontaneous and original....so i put kale in it!

For dinner I went over to Chelsea and David's house because they baked 3 10 lb. bags of potatoes! I shredded some vegan cheese (follow your heart cheddar) on my baked potato and accompanied it with a great salad that Chez made with greens from the clear creek co-op. I ended up making the dessert, which was coconut cupcakes with coconut frosting and a slice of strawberry. Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy, but I was distracted by the three wonderful dogs that live there!

Today was a good first day for a cupcake chronicle.