ZOMBIE CATS EATING PLANTS!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Vegan MoFo, Pre-K Style!

Today I volunteered with the pre-kindergarden kids at a local elementary school as part

of their Community Helpers Program. I made about six dozen pumpkin shaped sugar cookies and four different colors of icing at home, all vegan of course. I also picked up some chocolate chips, gum drops, raisins, and different colored sprinkles to decorate

the cookies with.

There were three tables of children, so I gave each table four different colors of icing in piping bags, a bowl of raisins, chocolate chips, gum drops, and some sprinkles. I gave each child one large pumpkin cookie and three small ones. I showed them a quick example of how to use the piping bag and then let them go to town with their own creativity. The teachers and I supervised the process and help pass the piping bags and sprinkles around. Surprisingly there wasn't any fighting over supplies. The kids shared everything, helped each other out, and had a blast. I was very impressed at how well behaved they were.

I'm not sure about the proper etiquette of posting pictures of children online without their parents permission, so to be safe, I just put black bars to hide their identity. It kinda makes me laugh, like it's a collage of pre-k criminals. ;)

Vegan MoFo Pre-Kindergarden Style!

This little girl told me in great detail what she is going to be for Halloween, a Spider Witch!

In case you are wondering what a Spider Witch is, "she is a very scary witch who has a very scary pet spider that crawls up her arm... very very scary and spooky!"

This kid cracked me up with all the icing on his face.

Vegan Sugar Cookies are kid approved!

Icing... nom, nom, nom

I made a cookie collage of some of their work.

It makes me smile and wonder what my cookies would have looked like at this age, I'm thinking they would have been a beautiful disaster, just like these!

My favorite part of the day was when the kids surprised me with drawings of cats that they made for me for my birthday, which is Sunday. It totally made my day, the drawings are so cute. I can't wait to share them with you, but I need some time to scan them all, so hopefully I'll have them up for yall to see in a day or two.

Today was definitely a day to remember. :)

Have you ever done food projects with children?

And hey, while you're here, why not follow me... I'll follow you back. =D

Monday, October 3, 2011

Vegan MoFo, Orlando Style!

Loukas and I decided to celebrate the first day of Vegan MoFo by eating our way through Orlando on Saturday before attending Zombietoberfest. We opted for dessert first, because hey, it's dessert!, and when you live in a small, not so vegan friendly town like we do, the only time you ever really get to eat dessert is when you make it yourself and there was no time for that, we had zombies to see!

We decided to try out Raphsodic Cooperative Company, which is a cute little vegan bakery filled with vintage furniture, local art, and lots of yummy fresh baked goodies. The menu changes every day, and popular flavors go fast, so call ahead and get there early if you have your heart set on something in particular.

I chose a vanilla cupcake filled with apricot jam, topped with chocolate icing and a "Deez Balls" (hehe), which are peanut butter filled chocolate balls. The Deez Ball made it's way home with me and then ended up in Loukas' belly instead of mine. I could tell by the noming sounds going on in the kitchen that I missed out greatly on the Deez Ball. :/

Loukas chose 2 different "Sammies", chocolate chip and gingersnap. He shared his chocolate chip cookie sammie with me, and it was goood. My photography skills failed me on the pictures of the sammies. They were all burry. :( I really need to practice the art of food photography.

See how cute the place is!

Some other noms for your viewing pleasure!

Even Gluten Free noms!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Next stop Ethos Vegan Kitchen, our favorite place to eat when in Orlando.

They serve hearty, home style vegan food Monday-Saturday and then offer a Vegan Brunch on Sundays.

I had the What's the Dilly, Philly?!

Which is one of their speciality sandwiches. It contains sautéed marinated seitan with onions, red and green peppers, mozzarella cheese, and veganaise. I get this almost every time I go there and I haven't been disappointed yet.

Loukas had the A Fungus Among Us.

This sandwich contains a grilled marinated portabella mushroom with lettuce, tomato, roasted red peppers, and veganaise.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

With our bellies full we made our way to Zombietoberfest, where we had a good time running from zombies, laughing at zombies, looking at art, watching old zombie movies on the big screen outside, listening to live music, and checking out all of the vendors. It was a awesome day filled with food and fun. But again my photography skills failed me... I can not for the life of me take pictures at night. :/

Did you do anything fun over the weekend?

~Amber

Saturday, October 1, 2011

There's a Vegan in my MOFO!

YAY! It's officially here, October that is, the most awesome month of them all, and for many reasons...

1. It's my birthday month! weeeeee!... and yes, even though my birthday is on the 9th, I claim the whole month. :)
2. It's Vegan MoFo month! drooool...
3. Pumpkins! I love me some pumpkins.
4. Time for our yearly trip to Savannah, GA... my favorite place in the universe. <3
5. HALLOWEENY TIME!!!

So let's get to it! Let the MoFoing begin. I'm going to start by giving you a super duper fast and easy, but crazy ooey gooey yummy recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow Croissants. That was a mouth full. :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow Croissants

Oh Yeah!

Unroll your favorite *vegan* refrigerated crescent rolls

onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Pillsbury Original Crescent Rolls are vegan and work great.

Spread on some peanut butter. Sprinkle on some *vegan* chocolate chips and marshmallows. I used Sweet & Sara's Vegan Mini Marshmallows because I had them on hand, but you could use the regular sized ones and cut them down or use Dandies Vegan Marshmallows, which are also a favorite of mine.

Lightly press down the chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Slowly roll the crescents up.

Put them in the oven at 375 degrees until they are golden brown and bubbly.

About 10 minutes *ish*

Attempt to wait for them to cool off.

Stuff them in your mouth while reciting nom, nom, nom.

Run outside and hide the rest of them in your tree house, if you don not have a tree house, promptly build one... because this is going to be a long month of MoFo goodness. :)

What did you make today?

~Amber

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Veganize the Waitress Pies

My friend Pj, over at Vegan CineGrub posted a contest a few weeks ago, asking people to nominate their favorite movies that they wanted to see her blog about and make movie inspired menus from. The nominations would then be voted on and the winner would have their movie chosen and receive a piece of art inspired by the movie, made by PJ herself.

It took me all of 3 seconds to nominate the movie Waitress. I absolutely love this movie and have been wanting to veganize some of the pie creations from it for some time now. So imagine my excitement when I found out that my movie won. Weeeeeee! Yummy vegan pies here I come! To make it more exciting, if that's even possible, Pj and I decided to BOTH veganize a pie and BOTH do blog posts about them. :)

For those of you who havent seen the movie Waitress, I highly recommend it. It stars the beautiful and talented Keri Russell (who I faithfully watched on Felicity when I was young), Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Adrienne Shelly, and Andy Griffith. :) It follows a young woman named Jenna, who is stuck in a marriage with a husband she hates, pregnant with a child she wants to hide from him, and works as a waitress in a small town diner for a boss who is an ass. The only way she finds relief is by day dreaming and artistically creating pies which she names things such as "I Don't Want Earl's Baby Pie", "I Hate My Husband Pie", "Pregnant Miserable Self Pitting Loser Pie", Falling in Love Pie, and so forth... and by planning to win a pie making contest so she can leave her husband.

I don't think it's possible to watch this movie without wanting to make a pie... or three. So without further ado, I bring to you my interpretation of Jenna's Marshmallow Mermaid Pie, which does stray quite a bit from the original recipe that is posted online, but my first marshmallow filled test pie failed miserably... and well, vegan marshmallows aren't cheap, so I came up with what I think is a yummy easy to make vegan version that most people can handle. But don't you worry, I will try to master a veganized version of the original recipe again one day when I have more money to blow. I also have a sneak peak of Pjs version of the Falling in Love Pie. All Veganized of course. :)

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

Said to be "Biblically Good".

My Vegan Marshmallow Mermaid Pie Recipe

*Note: There is some prep work involved. Please read before starting. :)

Crust

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine 2 cups graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup toasted coconut flakes, and 1/2 cup pecans in a food processor to finely chop and mix together. Put the graham cracker/coconut/pecan mixture into a bowl with about 1/2 cup melted vegan margarine or butter and mix well. Press to bottom and side of a pie pan. Bake for about 10 minutes or until browned to your liking. Set aside.

Filling

*Refrigerate 1 can of Coconut milk over night.

*Put mixing bowl in freezer for a few hours or over night.

Open the chilled can of coconut milk and drain out the liquid part into a bowl. (save the liquid for another use or drink it!) Scrape out the solid or "fat" part of the coconut milk left behind into your cold mixing bowl. Mix until creamy. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and continue mixing until fluffy. Add 1 container of vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti brand) and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and continue mixing until well combined and fluffy. Grate a small portion of a vegan dark chocolate bar into the mixture and continue to beat until well combined. (I only used 1 of the squares of the chocolate bar) Pour mixture into the prepared pie crust.

Topping

Decorate with vegan marshmallows (I used cut up Dandies!) and any other of the following:

rainbow sprinkles, vegan white chocolate chips (if you are lucky enough to find them), and/or maraschino cherries.

Refrigerate or freeze (It's pretty awesome frozen)

I topped mine with cut up marshmallows, rainbow sprinkles and then served the slices with Soyatoo Whipped Topping and cherries.

Eat and be happy! :)

Pjs Falling in Love Pie!

Find the recipe on her blog, Vegan CineGrub

Have you seen the movie Waitress?

Did you like it?

Has it inspired you to make one of Jenna's pies or create your own pie?

I really enjoyed this little pie venture and I don't see it as being over yet, so come back and visit me again soon to see what other pies I have come up with. Or drop me a line and tell me what you made. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, July 29, 2011

The Critter Place NEEDS YOUR HELP!

The Critter Place is a private sanctuary, located in Weeki Wachee, FL that provides a safe haven for neglected, abandoned, and abused animals.

For the past 23 years they have taken in animals in need without question, but now do to a recent job layoff, the fourth one in the past three years, The Critter Place desperately needs your help to continue to care for the animals that call this beloved sanctuary their home.

Because I strongly believe in the work that The Critter Place is doing for these animals in need, I have started a Chip In with a goal to raise $500 for them. Every little bit helps, and the animal appreciate it more than you know.

These animals have been through far to much in their lives to have to loose their home now. Please open up your heart, and show these animals that some people really do care by donating to The Critter Place today.

The animals Thank You. :)