Inspired by chubby babies, Baby Max was born!  Check out all the Baby Max goodies

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I had a hankering for chocolate cake and found a quick and dirty one here.  I made a few tweaks, and its yummy!

One Minute Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons Flour
4 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder (if you use hot cocoa mix, adjust your sugar)
1/2 Teaspoon of instant coffee (for added richness)
a few drops of vanilla extract
2 Tablepsoons Vegetable Oil
2 Tablespoons Water
Dash of salt
Mug
Microwave

First, mix dry ingredients and set aside.

Second, mix wet ingredients.  Using fork, mix wet into dry.  Make sure to mix the bottom edges of your mug.

Set your microwave to high and cook for 1 minute (adjust 15 seconds more/less according to your microwave and your preference).  1 minute will make it very gooey.   Don’t cook over 2 minutes (you’ll get a block of coal).

Wallah!  You’re done.  Fresh yummy gooey cake.  Enjoy!

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Starbuck’s is promoting their new frappachino’s by selling them for half price between 3-5pm until 5/16/2010.  If you haven’t had one, you gotta go try one!  And remember, for the lactose intolerant and vegan folks…go soy (all frapps can be made dairy free except Caramel and the Light versions).  Enjoy!

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And the cupcake craze continues.  This design was inspired by a yummy vegan cupcake I recently had. 

So sweet, it’s sure to please any cupcake fan!

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VEGAN BISTEK

I was told the flavoring was “spot on” from my Filipino friend, so I was thrilled.

Ingredients

2 cups of sliced seitan
2 medium size potatos, sliced
1/2 cup cooking oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed, chopped
1 big onion, sliced into rings
1/4 cup of vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1 bay leaf
1 tsp ground black pepper

Heat the oil on medium and when the oil gets hot, fry the potatoes till about half done.  *Some people fry them crispy like french fries, depending on preference. Remove potatoes from pan and set aside. (use paper towel to drain excess oil).

Using the same pan, toss in seitan and brown on all sides for a few minutes.  Next add onion and cook lightly.  Follow with garlic and soy sauce, water and vinegar immediately after to keep garlic from burning.  Add bay leaf, pepper and reduce heat to simmer for about ten minutes.  Then add potatoes. (potatoes can be added earlier if preferred) and simmer for another 10 minutes until sauce thickens.  Serve over hot rice.   Enjoy!

Cooks in 25-30 minutes. Serves 2-3.

(original recipe “VEGETARIAN BISTEK TAGALOG” from 100 pound foodie)

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Seitan aka “wheat meat”

For my first attempt at making a “meat” I went with Vrg.org’s recipe. It’s very chewy, and surprisingly MUCH easier to make than I thought.   I just made a few adjustments to the recipe to add my own twist by adding J&D’s Bacon Salt which has BBQ like smokey flavor and  YES, it’s vegan.

Quick Homemade Gluten – courtesy of vrg.org

ingredients

little nuggets of goodness

(Makes 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds or 2 to 2-1/2 cups)

This is the basic recipe for gluten.

2 cups gluten flour

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoon J&D’s Bacon Salt Peppered flavor

1-1/4 cups water or vegetable stock

3 Tablespoons lite tamari, Braggs liquid amino acids, or soy sauce

1-3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil (optional)

Add garlic powder and J&D’s to flour and stir. Mix liquids together and add to flour mixture all at once. Mix vigorously with a fork. When it forms a stiff dough knead it 10 to 15 times.

Let the dough rest 2 to 5 minutes, then knead it a few more times. Let it rest another 15 minutes before proceeding.

Cut gluten into 6 to 8 pieces and stretch into thin cutlets. Simmer in broth for 30 to 60 minutes.

Broth:

4 cups water

1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce

3-inch piece of kombu (a type of seaweed)

3-4 slices ginger (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring broth to a boil. Add cutlets one at a time. Reduce heat to barely simmer when saucepan is covered. Seitan may be used, refrigerated, or frozen at this point.

Total Calories per 4 oz. Serving: 77

Fat: 0 grams

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Love cupcakes?  You’ll love this

Available now in shirts, sweatshirts, pins, mugs and more!

check it out here – Cupcake Lovers

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(photo courtety of veggieboards.com)

Really?  Really?  A chain restaurant with faux meats that’s not flavored like Kung Pao or General Chickens?  SWEET!

Yes, there are reports all around the country that Chipotle has added a new vegan chicken to their menu called Garden Blend!  I’m so excited.  Although its only been in a few locations in the East Coast till now, there’s new reports that it’s in a few LA locations too.  Now if they just roll it out to my location too…I’ll be sooo happy.

I’m a big fan of their veggie fajita burritos but having alternative options makes life oh so much better.

Info below according to Junglist of Veggieboards.com

Ingredients: Water, Soy Protein, Canadian Wheat Protein (also called vital wheat gluten), Fresh Carrots, Natural Flavors (from plant sources), Pea Protein, Carrot Fiber, Organic Beet Root Fiber, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Yeast Extract, and Sea Salt.

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When I get a hold of my own frapp, I'll upload MY pic then.

So I’m a little excited about this because I’m a self proclaimed coffee junky.  I just heard thru the grapevine that Starbucks is going to roll out a soy-based Frappacino.  Making it a VEGAN frappacino.   YAAY!  Vegan options from anywhere is always a PLUS in my book.

According to LA based vegan blogger quarrygirl.com and gothamist, its going to be served in Starbucks everywhere on May 5th.  They’ve apparently quietly rolled it out in Los Angeles areas that have run out of the old concoctions and also to test it out.  As for calories, I don’t think that info has been released yet, but if its vegan…calories don’t count. (hahaha).  Their regular Tall frapps are about 180 calories, so I’m going to assume it’ll be around the same.  More if you throw on whip (for non-vegans).

Now, vegans and lactose intolerants can unite and have “milk shake”- like sugar laden coffees from almost any street corner of the city.  That really makes me smile.  WoHOOO!

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I love recycling or re-purposing things, it makes me feel as if I’m doing my part.  I recently donated all the leather shoes I no longer wore to a shelter, since I couldn’t (didn’t) wear them anymore, a new home made sure they didn’t go to waste.  However, what about other things…where should they go?   I wondered if the curbside is where everything else needs to go.  Batteries?  Electronics?  Old cell phones?  Packaging peanuts?  Where do they go?

Well, look no further.  Earth911.com is the answer!

Enter your item and zipcode and you’ll get a listing of places you can take it to recycle.

There’s also an article about how to make money with your recycles too.  Now I can feel better about shopping

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