Birthday Party!!!! (which means birthday cake!!!) and other random stuff...

So here is my birthday cake!!! i wanted more polka dots, but i ran out of black, so my cake looks like it has black chicken pox lol.





here it is with the candle... make a wish!








here it is cut open.










This is one of the five batches of mini cupcakes that i made this weekend. XD








and lastly i made Tiramisu cupcakes!!! in a record time (1 hr) from start to finish, scratch to fridge!







yea so after all of the cupcakes and vegetarian burritos from chipotle, i am stuffed and sick of food .... ugh. haha i will be eating less processed foods this week, thats for sure.

Super long post. Fortune Cookies, Dinners, Gluten Free Marshmallow Brownies, Earth Day (cake)!

How to make fortune cookies:
1. After placing fortune in cookie, fold over.





2. Using thumb, push center of cookie inwards.









3. Voila!











Here is a very yummy meat analogue: soy chik'n. it comes in a package from the asian grocery. i guess its like bean curd thats been rolled tightly to form many layers that are meant to represent chicken meat.

YUMMY PASTA!! This was a random pasta sauce that i made with onions, tomatoes, garlic, spices, and what have you. it was really good with the simmered chickpeas.

These are gluten free marshmallow brownies! my friend's little brother is a celiac who is also allergic to eggs, nuts, and dairy products (just think, if he went vegetarian, he would automatically be vegan!) So anyways, i made him vegan gluten free brownies with a rosette of ricemellow creme on top. when i gave it to him, his eyes lit up and he was like "i've never had a real brownie before! mmmmm!" and then his friends were like "ooohh can i have some?" so he shared with his friends and then this one kid says "they're just like my mom's brownies!" i have gotten vegan foods into omni kids!!


Last, but most certainly not least is this lovely earth cake. i used a betty crocker bake and fill pan so that it would be domed. under the very super messy facade lies a white cake with a chocolate pudding filling. yumm!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

Good news. Bad news. evil brother has tricked me.

So here's the good news. i discovered my new favorite place in the world!!! it is called HEALTH FOODS UNLIMITED!!! i've known about for who knows how long (because of their really obnoxious commercials that i heard pre-vegan days) but yesterday was my first time in there! and now im wondering " WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!?!" haha. but that's not all! they even have an organic coffee and pastries cafe in the middle of the store! WITH VEGAN PASTRIES!!! i would have totally gotten a pic except for i didn't think of bringing my camera with me. among their selections were chocolate babycakes (which were definitely not baby-sized; i would say 6 oz., vanilla babycakes, raspberry bars of some sort, and a plethora of other goodies. so yea! moving on to the bad news.....

yesterday i was enjoying my meal of vegan chili with House Tofu Shirataki Noodles when my brother, who was eating wendy's c****** nuggets says, "you know there's meat in that, right?" and i'm thinking "uhhh no there's not!" and he smiles devilishly as he says " i put a piece of c****** in there!" so i get really mad and don't eat the rest of my dinner. but don't worry! i made up the calories later when i dug into my new carton of SO DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE VELVET!!! it was pretty good.


end of vent.

MUAHAHA! evil me has tricked her brother!

So this morning I woke up at 6 just because I couldn't sleep. i hate not being able to sleep later than 6. dumb biological clock. -_- oh well. I guess it's alright, because I MADE FRENCH TOAST! AND SCRAMBLED TOFU! and then i presented it on a pretty plate for my mother :) and my brother :) (my dad is out of town and out of luck hehe)

my mom didn't know that the scramble was tofu until she tasted it. haha. but i guess my brother is less of a food snob. read on.....


I waited till my brother was done eating before I asked him if there was anything wrong with breakfast. he said no. AND THEN I SAID HIS BREAKFAST WAS VEGAN!!! and he was like "so were those fake eggs?" i had to laugh before telling him to guess what it was. he couldn't tell what it was so I was kind and told him that it was tofu, to his bewilderment :)

lol. so in the tofu scramble, there were onions and tofu. i used cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, thyme, rosemary, black pepper, salt and curry powder for the seasonings (curry powder was mostly for color) . mom's breakfast included a side of fresh strawberries and soymilk. she liked it a lot as did my brother :)

Mission accomplished.

Veganized fruit tarts, Vegan baby shower, Vegan Cupcakes take over my Classmates!!

Here is my fruit tart before veganism:

Here they are after! they are every bit as delicious, if not better.

Vegan rubber ducky cake for the baby shower! I used the basic vanilla cupcake recipe from VCTOTW.

My Vegan potato bread!!

These are vegan bao tze that i made. basically a steamed bun with a filling of shiitake mushrooms, rice vermicelli, green onions, bamboo, and sesame oil.

This was a really yummy salad made by the hostess. Salad greens with assorted fruits (strawberries, mandarin oranges, blackberries, etc) dressed in a light, tangy balsamic vinaigrette.

These were vegan sugar cookies, made in the form of treble clefs and eighth notes because the mommy-to-be is very musically talented (she plays harp for the local orchestra)

This is a confection made from sweet rice flour combined with sweet potato and powdered sugar, rolled into little balls, and fried. they kinda remind me of mochi.

This is the inside of a mantou that i made with the leftover bao dough. i used white whole wheat to make these.

These are mini cupcakes that i made with the leftover cake batter. my friends were like "Oh, they are sooooo gooood!! u have to make these again!! they are my favorite!!! etc." haha. then i let one of my vegetarian friends try one. she instinctively asked me "and these are vegan? wow." haha...

So i'm glad that i have one non-ignorant friend. yesterday in history class, my other friends were like "don't you need milk to survive?" or like "you're vegan?? what do you eat?" "Oh yeah, i've heard of veganism; it's really dangerous" "yea, i went vegan for a day. (what did u have?) i just had fruit and vegetables. i think i would die if i went vegan!" ARGHHHH!!!! o well. i guess i must still love them. they are my friends after all.

Oh yeah, at the baby shower, no one had negative comments about the food. in fact, i got marriage proposals! haha. only one was actually from a guy; the rest were from their parents or what have you. one lady, who has a son that is 3 years younger than me was like, "oh if only my son were older i would tell him to go after you" (creepy much?) and then this other lady, who has a son roughly 10 years older than me was like, "oh if only you were a bit older, i would tell my son to go after you. but it doesn't matter because in 10 years, age won't make a difference" (hmmmmm.. i don't even know this guy!!! T_T ) and then another lady was like "if only i had a son...... (you finish the sentence)" so yea . and then later, after i told him, my longtime friend was like "will u marry me?" so yea. all in all an interesting experience to say the least :)

Almost disaster.

so yesterday i was at a friends house. and she is. so. not. vegan. or even close to being vegetarian or even pescatarian. so i was a bit worried and brought along some seitan jerky and snack bars. I DIDN'T NEED THEM!!!! YAY!!!! although i was looking forward to trying some of that LUNA bar...
o well.
so i was going to have dinner at home but then my friend calls and tells me that we are going to be eating out. (insert mild heart attack) so i got to my friend's house to have her inform me that we were going to a mongolian grill which definitely did not sound veg - friendly. so i went (what am i supposed to do?) and discovered........... TOFU!!!! and i was like MY LIFE IS SAVED!!! so yea and they even had brown rice!!! (besides tofu, my bowl also contained edamame, bean sprouts, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, green onions, garlic, jalapeños, soy sauce, and a shiitake mushroom sauce. it was better than i thought it would be.
hohum. on to the next food dilemma: breakfast. so i asked my friend what we were having for breakfast and she says bacon, eggs, milk, and fruit. AHHHHH!!!! are you kidding!!!!! so i whipped out my handy-dandy VWaV and made pancakes (fewf) . o btw do u guys find it weird that i brought soy milk in a thermos and didn't tell my friends that it was the "secret ingredient" to the pancakes? and that i had Earth Balance with me? just wondering because i felt kind of stupid getting the EB out of my bag, lol.

don't forget. tomorrow is the baby shower!

VEGANIZED POTATO BREAD!!!

here we go!
before















.....AFTER!!!















appearance: i think it looks pretty similar, don't you? i know, i know. my vegan ones are whole wheat. i just can't bring myself to eat white bread when i know it could be whole wheat!

texture: both similar (from what i remember), whole wheat has the "grainy" feel (not a bad thing though! i like it)

flavor: whole wheat has "wheaty" taste but its not lacking anything.

overall: PASS!! so excited that i can make my bread and eat it too!



P.S. i'm catering for a baby shower Sunday; stay tuned! this isn't the first baby shower that i've catered for but most definitely the first vegan one!