VEGAN MOFO - GO MAX GO WINNER!!!

Seriously everyone, thanks so much for entering this awesome giveaway! I really wish I was able to pick more than one winner, for reals, you are all winners in my book :) Sadly, there could be only 1 this time, and thanks to Random.org, I am super excited to announce that Carrie from Vegan for the Win has won this one! I promise that her blog name has absolutely nothing to do with her actually being the winner, it's just an awesome coincidence!

Carrie - please email me with your address so we can get those bars out to you asap! Thanks again for entering everyone! I hope to do at least one more giveaway before MoFo is over!

Mofo Post 6 - Cookies N Cream Cupcakes

Do you guys want a cupcake that is seriously worth writing home about? Make a batch of these little badasses and you will not only want to write home, you will want to blog to the entire vegan world about them! Every cupcake I have made from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World has been phenomenal and each recipe I make is even better than the last.

That brings me to the Cookies N Cream cupcakes. If you have the cookbook, just whip up a batch of the standard chocolate cupcake, smash up about 10 Newman O's  and mix them in with the batter. The same goes for the frosting, make the buttercream frosting recipe, smash the shit out of some more O's and mix them in. Then, consume and die happy. After my successful run with the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes and now these, I have decided to make one batch of cupcakes each week for the remainder of MoFo, sure that's only like 2 or 3 more batches but that is 2 or 3 steps closer I will be to my life dream goal of cooking every recipe in that book.

What's your favorite recipe from VCTOTW?

Vegan MoFo Post 5 - GO MAX GO Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay folks, I've been waiting for months to do this post! The super rad Susan over at Go Max Go was kind enough to send me one of each of their flavors to try awhile back and also agreed to let me do a giveaway! Summer got too hot to be able to have them shipped(nobody likes a melted candy bar) and then I lost the cord to my external hard drive with all of the photos I took of the candy bars. The time has come where the weather has begun cooling, I am settled into my new apartment and have found the cord! Soooo let's get on with it already!


I was never a candy bar junkie before going vegan but that's not to say I didn't enjoy them. Now, knowing there are vegan versions that far exceed the deliciousness of their non-vegan counterparts, I can't help but buy a few bars every time I see them in a store now! All of their ingredients are vegan (obvs), they don't use hydrogenated anything, no artificial ingredients and the most delicious rice milk chocolate you will ever get your little lips on.


First up, the Mahalo bar. Holy fucking shit guys, this is THE BEST candy bar I have ever had! I am always all over anything that combines chocolate and coconut but if you were ever a fan of a Mounds or an Almond Joy, you need to get off your ass and go buy one, or 10, of these little babies. Before discovering GMG, I had thought a few times of how I could recreate the non-vegan original into an animal-friendly version but thanks to the Mahalo bar, I don't have to! Look at all that sweet chewy coconut below!

Ever hear the slogan "Hungry, why wait?" and been reminded of how delicious you thought Snickers bars were back in the day? Well, again, thanks to the geniuses that created this awesome vegan candy bar line, you don't have to wait anymore! The Jokerz bar has everything a good candy bar should, melt in your mouth chocolate, nougat(!!), peanuts and caramel, except it's a million times better. Why you ask? BECAUSE IT"S VEGAN!

Moving on to the Twilight bar(vampires not included). This little bar is reminiscent of those Milky Way bars that you see all the stupid commercials for without any of the stupidness! For me, it was a tad too sweet, but I always felt the same way about Milky Way bars. Sweetness aside, it still rocked my socks totally off. It had nougat(!!), how could my socks be left on after that?

Okay my little swashbuckling mateys, let's talk about the Buccaneer bar! First of all, pirates are WAY cooler than horseback riding riflemen so right off the bat, this bar blows a non-vegan(gross!) 3 Musketeers bar out of the water. In case you haven't guessed by now with the repetitive exclamations in parentheses every time I use the word "nougat" (!!!!!!!!!!!) that I am a huge fan. This bar is all nougat in the perfectly sweet rice milk chocolate coating. If you are a pirate, or just love talking like one(me!) than you need to try this bar!

Oh! And in case you live under a rock haven't heard yet, there are 2 new flavors!

SNAP! is what vegan dreams are made of. Okay, maybe you don't dream about vegan candy bars, but other than Mahalo, this is my dream bar. That dream is now a reality though! My favorite snack at the movies was always a Crunch bar, and while movie theaters don't sell vegan candy bars(are you reading this movie theater owners?!) you can now smuggle a SNAP! bar in with you! Sure, it might be a simple bar, just crisped rice covered in rice milk chocolate, but it is fun as hell to eat, as long as you eat it the way I do. Take a piece, suck on it like it's a hard candy(that's what she said!) and then crunch up the crispy rice in your mouth when all the chocolate is gone! Please fellow movie goers, I urge you to write to your local movie theater in the masses and threaten to boycott until they carry these bars. Let's make the world a better (read: more vegan) place, one candy bar at a time! And really, what is more fun than a bright orange package? Um, nothing.

Last, but definitely not least, I bring you Cleo's! I think most people will agree that peanut butter and chocolate go together like Danny and Sandy from Grease. Okay, maybe Danny and Sandy aren't peoples first thoughts on things that go together but in my book they are. Peanut butter cups in general are an easy treat to make, I made them a million times in my pregan days, but these little cups of joy are, well, exactly that, cups of joy. The peanut butter is perfectly sweet while keeping it's peanuttyness very present( i don't care if spell check hates me for making my own words up, it's my blog goddammit!) and the chocolate, oh my god, the chocolate. The rice milk chocolate that they use on all of their bars is hands down the best vegan milk chocolate I have ever had.

Finally, the moment you have all been waiting for, the giveaway! Susan, one of the masterminds behind this whole company has graciously agreed to send a package containing 1 of each (that's right, 1 of every flavor!!) to the winner of my little giveaway so here are the ways you can enter to win(there are lots of 'em!):

1: Go follow Go Max Go on Twitter and leave me a comment with your username

2: Go follow me on twitter and leave a comment with your username

(If you already follow GMG or myself, just leave a comment saying such)

3: Like my blog (its over there, to the right!)

4: Like my blog on Facebook and don't forget to leave a comment

5: Leave a comment telling me either what your favorite GMG bar is, or what flavor you think you would like best and why. 

Winners will be chosen at random with a number generator on Friday October 14, 2011 and will be posted Saturday October 15. Get your entries in!
(Edited to add: This contest is for residents of the US only, sorry!) I promise I will do another giveaway before the end of MoFo available to everyone in the world! 

Vegan MoFo Post 4- Chipotle Lime Grilled Tofu with fried rice

Seriously guys, I am getting spoiled at work! We have a new head chef who has been coming up with some pretty badass specials for our daily menu. For example, tonight's Entree Special was Chipotle Lime Grilled Tofu with mashed yucca and a lime cashew crema. It looked awesome an people loved it!

My dinner was a little different but still just as awesome. He cooked up some of the tofu he was using for the special and put it on a bed of fried rice with a side of kale greens. Oh man, it really hit the spot. The tofu was cooked perfectly and the marinade was fantastic. I could really taste the smokiness of the chipotle. The rice had snow peas, red bell pepper, shredded carrots an was topped with sesame seeds. I really wish I could've finished it all in one sitting but I definitely packed the rest to bring home as a late night snack!

Vegan Mofo - Day Three - Indonesian Stir Fry

Sometimes when the owner of the restaurant I work at is in, I get lucky enough to have him cook my food. He always comes up with an awesome meal for me. This time it was an Indonesian Stir Fry, while I don't get what makes it Indonesian, it doesn't matter because it was fuckin awesome!

He cooked up some soba noodles with cubes of tofu, jalapeno, fresh ginger and garlic. It was in a bowl on top of some fresh spinach leaves and topped with bean sprouts, crushed peanuts and black & white sesame seeds. I have no idea what else he put in it, but it is by far the best meal he has made for me yet!

Vegan MoFo -Day Two-Danged Quesadilla

I've mentioned before that I am the manager at a veg*n restaurant in the Boston area, I'd tell you the name but with all my blogging fame I would be sure to get some stalkers. Anyways, the food there is awesome and I promise I'm not just saying that because I work there.

Sometimes I eat off the menu, sometimes I create my own meal and have the cooks make it and sometimes if its slow enough I will get behind the line and make myself an awesome salad or pizza. A few weeks ago, after eating wraps for days on end, I had enough. I was all wrapped out(ha) so I asked the cook to make me something else but I couldn't figure out what I wanted. The only guidelines I ever give him are vegan(obvs) and no raw onion, This particular day he decided to make me a quesadilla. I've had some pretty awesome quesadillas in my life and while this one was pretty basic, it was out of this world! He stuffed a whole wheat tortilla with tons of Daiya, breaded soy chicken, avocado and hot sauce. Served with a side of our house salsa, it was the perfect meal to get me out of my daily wrap routine!

Vegan MoFo-Day One - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing

Fall is by far my favorite seasons! How could it not be, I live in New England! With all of the gorgeous foliage, pumpkin beer making its way back into bars and liquor stores, the cool breeze that starts chilling the air at night, the abundance of apples, the sound of leaves and pine cones crunching under your feet and getting to dress Gizmo in adorable sweaters adorned with skulls and crossbones are all things that make this season awesome. The one thing that will make this fall especially awesome is Vegan MoFo! 

If you aren't familiar with MoFo, I suggest you get yourself acquainted because for the rest of the month, myself along with 800+ other vegans will be blogging almost daily! Last year I suffered from MoFo burnout, but I am determined to not let that happen this year. Armed with my million vegan cookbooks, my Nikon D40, iTouch and my awesome job as the manager of a veg*n restaurant I will see this bitch through til the end! Sure, some posts might just be a photo and a few sentences about what I am eating, buying or cooking but I will succeed!

Now, onto my very first MoFo post of the year.........

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing!

I walked to the market with plans on buying canned pumpkin to make some dog treats for Gizmo and her new best friend, Stank, my neighbors pitbull. I left with about 5 cans so of course I had to find something to make for myself with my surplus pumpkin supply.  One of my missions is to eventually bake my way through Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and these cupcakes got me one step closer.

They are super easy to make and friggen delicious! I've made a shit ton of cupcakes in my vegan and pre-vegan life and these are by far, the moistest(is that a word?) cupcakes I have baked. I've had pumpkin bread, cookies and muffins before but never a cupcake. The only thing I think I will do differently next time is add a little more cinnamon and maybe throw in some nutmeg and ginger to give them more of a pumpkin pie flavor. But even without the extra spices, these little cakes of heaven are seriously worth dying for.

Hey Mofos! It's that time of year again!!!!

Yeah, I know it's been a million years since my last post and I NoFo'ed last year but I am in it to win it this year! That's right, it is time for VEGAN MOFO!!!!!!!!!!! And by "win it" I mean successfussly post all 31 days of October! Luckily, working in a veg*n restaurant leaves me no shortage of vegan noms, so when there is no time to cook, there is always time to eat! Armed with my nikon and itouch, I will succeed!

I spent my evening cleaning and organizing my cabinets and now I am working my way through a stack of cookbooks! Even if I can't cook everyday, I WILL post everyday! My mantra for the month of October will be "Must MoFo"

I can't wait to see what all my amazing PPK peeps create and am hoping to find a bunch of new awesome blogs to read! If you haven't signed up yet, get your ass over here to get in on the action!

See ya in October Mofo

When it's too fucking hot to cook

Spring Rolls are what is for dinner! I feel like this is a reoccurring theme with me where I tell you how much I used to hate something but gush about how I love it now but here goes.... Spring rolls used to gross me the fuck out. Not because of the fillings but because of the wrapping, they always me reminded me of flaccid penis. No joke. One day that all changed but don't get me wrong, they totally still remind of a limpy. A delicious and healthy limpy!

I was determined to make something cold but still filling for dinner and everything I was coming up with just wasn't tickling my fancy until I started thinking about limpies spring rolls. I set out to the grocery store and picked up all my fresh veggies and had to make a quick detour to a small local Asian market for the spring roll wraps(my grocery store doesn't carry them? wtf).


For the filling I used baby spinach, red bell pepper, cucumber, bean sprouts, carrots, pickled beets and mint. I got them all rolled up and chilled them for about 30 minutes to maximize the coldness.

After I got home and got all my veggies chopped I threw some sunflower seeds in the blender with some olive oil. I then mixed in some soy sauce, lemon juice, fresh ginger, apple cider vinegar, Asian chili sauce and thought it was good. Jeremy thought it wasn't hot enough so he added cayenne which really made it much better.

I made about a dozen huge rolls and dipped them in the sunflower sauce and a sweet chili sauce. We inhaled them with some fresh lemon and mint water too.  Now all I need is a Tofutti Cutie to make my cold meal complete.

Coconut + Lime = Heaven

It's funny how your taste buds change as you get older. When I was younger I wouldn't touch anything with lemon or lime, especially baked goods. I didn't think they had any place in something sweet. Nowadays I can't get enough citrus in my life. I used to get pissed when a waitress would bring me a glass of water that already had lemon in it but nowadays I always add either lemon slices or fresh squeezed lemon juice to it. If I don't have lemon, lime goes in as a substitute. Ever since I got some Coconut Lemon Liz Lovely cookies to sample and review for xgfx.org my feelings towards citrus in baked goods have changed. In the semi-recent past I have made Coconut Citrus Glitter cookies at least twice, devoured a vegan lime coconut cake that my old boss made for my birthday and most recently was a batch of Coconut Lime Cupcakes I whipped up from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. 

Out of all the cupcakes I have made so far from this book, these are my favorite. I can't wait to keep exploring the awesomeness that is citrus!

So Far This Summer

 I really can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've posted. Talk about slacking! Truth is I was really busy at the end of May and beginning of June and after that I just got lazy. This is just a quick post to let you know I am alive and well and still cooking and to show some photos of what I have been up to so far this summer. Check back for a post on some fabulous Coconut Lime cupcakes I made as well as a review and giveaway of Go Max Go candy bars! I am starting a new job tomorrow with long hours and a lot of weekends so my summer is pretty much over. But starting this new job is a HUGE step in the direction that I want my life to go in... I am no longer a cubicle drone, I am starting training tomorrow as the restaurant manager at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the Boston area!

Just another day in Boston hanging out with Mr. T and Link

And Ben Franklin!

Lots of Lemon Drops!

My birthday!

Oh hey Uncle Sam, I didn't see you there on your tiny bike

Making salsa

Birthday Feast!

Vegan S'mores. With Speculoos!

Camping in my backyard

One man band

Boston, you're my home

Zombies take over Boston!

Mimosas with my Sissy!

Silliness in Provincetown

Taking a break from our secret Soviet life

Sister Day in matching skirts!

Gizmo's first subway

Gizmo and her cousin Barley romping.

Gizmo nomming on a vegan puppy treat

Gizmo and her bff

Father(right) and Son(left)

The original love of my life

That's all for now folks! I'll be back soon!

Polenta, Beans, Cashew Cream and Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes!

I meant to write this post last week. Oops.

I wasn't intending to make a Mexican type meal for Cinco de Mayo last week but it ended up happening. The night before I had started a pot of polenta and simmered and mashed some black beans but by the time I was done I wasn't hungry anymore so I stuck them in the fridge and decided to wait.

I had never made polenta before so I didn't really know what to expect. I took a cup of cornmeal and threw it in some boiling water with some cumin, chipotle powder, cayenne and garlic and simmered it for about 15 minutes. I then put it in an 8x8 pan to set up in the fridge so I could slice and fry it. I started frying them in oil in a skillet but it wasn't working out very well so I busted out the electric counter top skillet and sprayed with a little canola. Other than the slight malfunction I ran into when I was trying to run it at the same time as the microwave on the same outlet and tripped the fuse it went really easily. They crisped up on the outside much better than they were turning out on the stove.

I also had a huge can of black beans that I cooked up with tons of  sauteed garlic, onion and cumin. After letting them simmer for awhile I took about half and gave them a whirl in the food processor to mash them up into more of a refried bean consistency.

The beans and polenta would have been an awesome dinner as is but I took it up another level with a cashew cream sauce. I had about a cup of cashews that had been soaking overnight,  I whipped them up in the VitaMix with some water, salt, lime juice, lime zest and cilantro. It did come out a little thinner than I would have liked but it's my own fault, I added a little too much water but it came out great either way. Lime and cilantro both have such fresh bold flavors and once they are combined with the creamy coolness of the cashews you are left with a refreshing cream sauce perfect for topping any sort of Mexican or Latin inspired dish.

I even found the motivation to make dessert and wanted to keep with the Cinco de Mayo theme so I decided on Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes complete with cayenne pepper! I have never tried a chocolate cupcake with cayenne and never thought I would make them either but I am so glad I did. I used a basic vegan chocolate cupcake recipe and added some cinnamon, nutmeg and almost a teaspoon of cayenne. Topped only with powdered sugar and cocoa powder they look like an innocent little treat and at first bite they taste that way too. Give it a second and you can taste and feel the spice coming through. They aren't spicy in the way that you will start sweating or feel like your tongue is burning, its more like a gentle kick to your taste buds.

Need some xgfx awesomeness in your life?

If you haven't had a chance to check out the shiny new Gluten Free Vegan site, xgfx, you need to click over there as quickly as your little fingers can take you! The site was created by Allyson of Manifest Vegan, Kittee of Cake Maker to the Stars and last but not least Jessy of happyveganface. They are a badass trio!

Isn't it just the sweetest little site you've ever seen?!  You can find recipes, tips on getting rid of gluten, a blog, tutorials and some pretty fantastic product reviews. The product reviews are written by a lovely lineup of vegan ladies, some gluten free, some not. The best part is, I get to be a part of it all! Wooooooot!!!!

Seriously! I wrote my first product review for the site and it posted today! I got to nom on some deeeeelicious Liz Lovely Gluten Free cookies and write a post on whether I loved them, liked them or just hated them! I'm super stoked to announce that I LOVED them! You can read that review here. 

I don't know why you are still here.. Get your butt over the xgfx.org and start drooling over all the yummy pictures! I am so excited to be a part of this and to learn more about gluten free nomming!

VegNews - Cheap and Deceitful.

It's been just about a month since my last post, I fail at blogging lately. I wish I was coming to you with some yummy noms but sadly I am here writing about "MeatGate 2011"

If you are a vegan and spend any time on the interwebs here in our little veganverse I am sure you have heard about how the always fantastic Quarry Girl brought to light the fact the VegNews has been using stock photos in their magazine. Stock photos, no big deal right? Well when they are photoshopping rib bones out of a hunk of meat to make you think you are looking at vegan spare ribs, that's a little fucked up...

VegNews supposedly prides themselves on being an ethical magazine and has only used these photos due to expenses. Bull shit. There has been talk that people who worked for VN voiced their concerns over using these non-vegan images and were promptly let go. Coincidence? There are tons and tons of vegan blogs and a lot of them have A-MA-ZING food photog skills and I am willing to bet that the majority of them would have been more than happy to test out a recipe and provide magazine worthy photos in exchange for a little cash or even just some credit or advertising. On iStockphoto a search for 'vegan' brings up 235 pages of images. Another site, canstockphoto, has over 9,000 images labeled 'vegan'. Sure, they aren't all great but there are vegan images out there. And soon thanks to the badass couple who run Food For Lovers we will have vegan stock photo where users upload their 100% vegan photos for the rest of the veganverse to use so long as they give the photographer credit. How friggen awesome is that?!

Not only was VegNews making us all think these were their own photos taken in-house but when they were called out on it they were deleting people's comments and brushing off the entire situation. Until they posted this laughable response. No apology, no remorse and no mention of if/how they are going to take steps to change how they use their photos. I have read HUNDREDS of responses all over the web on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, PPK and on VegNews and it seems like the majority of vegans are pissed and don't want anything to do with VN anymore. There are some though who sympathize with VN and are not upset, shocked, pissed or any other adjective I can use to describe how the vegan community is feeling and are choosing to stay loyal to the publication. To each their own but I am with the majority on this one.

How do you feel about MeatGate?

Cookbook Challenge Week 10 - Viva Vegan - Creamy Potato Soup with Avocado and Brazilian Braised Kale

Another week, another book! This time it is Viva Vegan!

I've been so sick all week I have not had any energy to cook anything. I did however force myself to make this soup the other night and even though I should have been in bed resting it was totally worth making the trip to the grocery store and actually doing something other than heating a frozen Tofutti Pizza(which are friggen amazing by the way). From start to finish this meal took me much longer than it should have but I was pretty slow moving thanks to the exhaustion this cold has graced me with. On a normal night this would be a pretty quick and easy meal, the longest part actually being cooking the potatoes in the broth but it's only 30 minutes and it's inactive time so you can prep other things or relax on the couch.

This soup consists of garlic, onion, cumin, veggie broth, potatoes, vegan sour cream and a few other things I am probably forgetting(I am too lazy to go get the book) and is topped with a fresh little mix of onion and cilantro tossed with lime juice. I used lime and lemon because I was feeling frisky! Actually, I think I was mid-fever so I grabbed a lemon and started juicing it before I realized it wasn't a lime but, who cares. That little topping is then topped with diced avocado. The crunch and tang of the onion/citrus mix really goes so well with the mild creamy texture of the avocados. When those two are mixed with the soup, watch out because it's a friggen party in your mouth. No joke. I will be honest though, I couldn't find ripe enough avocados so I had to microwave mine to soften it(gasp!).

I have a HUGE love/hate relationship with cooked greens. It's mostly hate. I always try to give them a shot and most of the time I just don't like them. Fresh raw greens, I will eat the shit out of them, but as soon as they are cooked they get all wilty and I just can't stomach the texture. The one green I have had the most success with cooked though is kale. I don't cook it very often but I do enjoy it almost all of the times I have had it. It is extremely good for you and much heartier than something like cooked spinach(blech!). I went with the Brazilian Braised Kale recipe which uses liquid smoke. I like the dish but honestly think I would almost be able to say I loved it had I left out the liquid smoke. It was still pretty good and all I really cared about was getting something healthy in me.

I am still sick but am going to try my best to summon the energy to cook at least one more meal from this book before weeks end. There are so many excellent recipes that I am looking forward to trying.