world vegetarian day

Happy World Vegetarian Day everyone! October is the best month of the year, and it's not just because of Halloween, and pumpkin flavored everything. October is also Vegetarian Awareness month, Vegan Mofo, and to top it off, it all begins today with World Vegetarian Day! Did you celebrate today? Enjoy any meat-free adventures?

There's lots of animal-free fun coming up this month & I can't wait! :)

harry potter & the deathly hallows cookies

I love Harry Potter. Yep, I said it. I'm a total Harry Potter NERD. Binge-book reading, midnight movie openings, and collecting various wizarding paraphernalia- I've done it all, and now I can't believe the final movie in the series is here so soon. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, officially hit theaters today, which meant that it was definitely an occasion to celebrate. Since Julie and I snagged tickets to the midnight showing, we properly celebrated yesterday with themed t-shirts, and a big batch of deathly hallows cookies.

For the cookie, I used the vanilla almond sugar cookie recipe from Bake at 350, and for the icing, I prepared a basic buttercream from an old-school Betty Crocker recipe I found in my parents' house.

I collected my recipes and ingredients, and when I was ready, I cut the cookie dough into triangle shapes using a cardboard template that I made. After baking and cooling, I frosted each triangle with the buttercream frosting, and then added the detail with black icing that I purchased at Michaels. I tried putting a decorating tip directly on the tube, but of course, the coupler didn't fit, and I had a giant black icing explosion all over the counter. I also tried putting the icing directly onto the cookie, but it was way too much black, and it looked horrendous. Finally, I put the black icing into a squeeze bottle with a little water, and that was perfect! Easy to handle, the right consistency, and just the ideal thickness for the black lines I wanted.

I have A LOT to learn about dessert decorating, but more than anything, I was just excited to do something special for the big day.

They're not perfect, but they tasted great, and everyone at the office loved them! It was just the thing to get everyone in the wizarding spirit :)

After a full day at the office getting completely cracked out on sugar cookies, it was finally time to grab some dinner and get in line at the theater. Julie and I arrived at 9:30 pm, and there were already TONS of people there!

The feeling in the theater was astounding. There were great costumes everywhere, and you could feel the positive, anxious, energy floating in the air. Someone told me that at our theater alone, there were supposed to be over 4500 people in attendance! It was phenomenal. Finally, after much waiting and great anticipation, we filed into our seats and the movie began! Yayyy!

It was a fantastic night, and even though I was completely exhausted today, it was totally worth it. A great movie, and an even better book- it's truly been a magical journey. If you're a Harry Potter fan like me, I highly recommend you read this beautiful article from NPR, it elegantly sums up so much of how I'm feeling right now. The movies may be over, but it's definitely not the end. Whatever comes next, you better believe I'm making cookies for it! :)

rainbow cupcakes & carrot cake cookies

Where do I begin? Between Father's Day, PRIDE, and Westword Music Fest, I don't know where I found the time to whip up such delicious sweets, but somehow I made it work :)

Friday night, I got together with some friends to make rainbow cupcakes, and properly kick off Pride weekend with dinner, dessert, and drinks. I was nervous to make the technicolor sweets, but I'm actually really proud of the outcome!

Stuff you need: 1. A box of white cake mix 2. White frosting 3. Food Coloring 4.Rainbow sprinkles

Start by making the cake batter according to the back of the box. When all the ingredients are mixed together properly, divide the batter into 4 separate bowls, and dye each bowl with a different color. Grease a muffin pan, and pour dollops of each color batter into every hole. Once again, follow the package for baking times, and when they're properly cooked, swirl on some frosting and top with rainbow sprinkles. For how phenomenal they turned out, they were actually quite easy, and fun, to make!

This was also my first time using a decorating bag with an icing tip, and I think they turned out great! Now all I need to do is practice, practice, practice, and hopefully I'll be making beautiful treats in no time! See how happy I am with my rainbow cakes? Yayy!

After a rowdy time at X bar, a day of great local music, and the Pride parade this morning, it was finally time to tackle my Father's Day gift! But first, did I mention I saw Mondo at the Pride parade?! He's one of my all-time favorite designers from Project Runway, and I just about peed my pants when I saw him this morning. *Insert squeals here* OMG MONDO I LOVE YOU!!

Anyway, back to baking. One of my Pop's favorite treats is carrot cake- it also happens to be the cake that my parents had at their wedding. I knew I had to do something special, so I went to Tasteologie, and found this great looking recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies. I followed the instructions as written for both cookie and icing, and let me tell you, they turned out so so good. My crappy phone camera does these cookies no justice. You'll just have to trust me- these babies are outstanding!

My Dad loved them! He said that eating just one of these cookies, was like devoring a giant triple layer slice of a great carrot cake. They're soft, decadent and the flavors are perfection. If you have a carrot cake fanatic in your family, I highly recommend you try these out.

Well it was a wonderful, crazy weekend filled with great people, great food, and great music. I love that this weekend was all about celebrating local music, equality, and fantastic dads- 3 of my favorite things! Happy PRIDE & Happy Father's Day!♥

street food eats & mother's day treats

Happy Mother's Day out there to everyone! Normally I can find the cutest, most perfect thing to get my mom, but this year the holiday snuck up on me, and a jam-packed weekend kept me extra busy.

Yesterday I checked out the Horseshoe flea and craft market with some friends, hoping to find the perfect thing for mom. While there were tons of fantastic vintage and handmade goods, I didn't quite find the right thing. I did, however, find the Seabirds food truck from Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race. They're filming season 2, and I'm really excited I got to dine at the vegan truck!

The avocado tacos were good, the fries were really good, and the jerk jackfruit sliders were phenomenal. I don't know what jackfruit is, but if it tastes that good all the time, I want more of it, and I want it now! Unfortunately, we waited in line for around an hour and a half, which was seriously lame, but I'm still glad I could support them in their food truck race! Yay vegan street food!

And now, on a very NON-vegan note, I just wanted to share the Mother's Day gift I made for my mom. The inspiration came from the Real Mom Kitchen, and I must say, the outcome was far better than I anticipated.

I made my mom half a dozen mini cheesecakes (it's one of her favorite treats) with strawberry, chocolate, or caramel and pecan toppings. I pretty much followed the recipe, except for the Nilla Wafer crust. For my version, I finely crushed up about 10 Nilla Wafers and mixed them up with 2 tablespoons of melted butter. I then pressed the mixture into the bottom of the muffin tins, and baked them at 375 degrees for 5 minutes.

From there, I poured in the batter, and baked them for 20 minutes. When they looked ready, I popped them in the fridge overnight, and decked them out with various toppings this morning before giving them to my mom. I opted for drizzled chocolate, caramel sauce with pecans, and fresh strawberries soaked in a simple sugar solution (thanks to Chef Troy).

The recipe was surprisingly easy, and the outcome was perfect! The flavor was right on- just like a store bought cheesecake- and they're so cute and elegant looking, no one would believe I made them myself. Add a bottle of merlot and a little card, and that's an indulgent gift, indeed :) Happy Mother's Day, Mama! I ♥ you!

easter festivities

A Happy Easter to everyone binge-eating jelly beans and dying Easter eggs today. I may be 24, but nothing makes me happier than pretending I'm 5, and painting silly things on eggs once a year.

I come from a large Catholic family, so Easter is always a big deal. This large family, mind you, is not vegetarian, and we always have the traditional Honey Baked Ham. Minus the meat, there's always tons of great food and way too much candy. In fact, here's a great list of vegan candy from PETA. I had no idea that a lot of my favorites were vegan! Total score.

Also, for my family celebration today, I brought a citrus quinoa salad that I found at Tall Green Grass. It's a pretty tasty dish, but definitely needed some tweaking. I doubled it, cooked the quinoa in vegetable broth, added another 1/2 lemon of juice, a little more siracha, and a pinch of salt for serving. Otherwise, I was pleased to introduce a large number of my family members to quinoa, since they had no idea what it was. I think they liked it too :)

On a crafty note, I wanted to pass along a super cute sewing pattern I found last week. My Grandma is in the hospital right now, and since she couldn't make it to the Easter celebration, I thought I'd bring a little Easter to her. The pattern and tutorial are here at Craft Gossip. I'm a total novice when it comes to sewing, but it was a moderately easy project that only took me a few hours to do during one of my late night spurts of energy.

I always find projects to start, but rarely finish them, so I'm really excited that I actually finished this little guy and he turned out great to boot. Most importantly though, my Grandma loved him, and it totally brightened her day.

It was a delicious day, but a long and busy one as well. It's time to eat some left over quinoa and a few more jelly beans before bed. Happy Easter! ♥

vaffeldagen

If your Friday was anything like mine, it probably included excessive amounts of drinking and waffles. Waffles you say? Of course! For those of us who are not up-to-date on our random holidays, yesterday was Vaffeldagen! In Sweden, March 25th started out as a celebration for the virgin annunciation- the day Mary found out she was preggers with baby Jesus. However, Varfrudagen (Our Lady Day) sounded way too close to Vaffeldagen, and it stuck! Thus, March 25th is Waffle Day. Note: this is the only thing I learned from my vikings class in college.

So, yesterday I filled my meals with waffles in various forms. For breakfast, I had whole wheat waffles covered with apples and strawberries- SUPER tasty and healthy. My lunch was an ode to chicken and waffles- a Morningstar Farms chik patty with some more whole wheat waffles and a little stone ground mustard on the side- also delicious.

For all my waffle needs, I usually use Krusteaz wheat and honey pancake mix. You measure it out, add water, stir it up, and throw it in the waffle maker. It's super easy, and the results are always fluffy breakfast perfection.

Even though my waffle streak was broken with a plate of fried pickles and some Mexican food, my first 2 meals were a total success! More importantly, I had way too much fun planning out special recipes in celebration of a fun holiday. I definitely plan to do it more often!

valentines

Happy Valentine's Day! Today I'd just like to share a few things that I'm loving right now:

First and foremost, big kudos to Qdoba today. If you haven't done it yet, find a participating store, grab a friend, and get to kissing for some free food! It's no candlelight Chick-fil-a dinner, but hey, it's still pretty spectacular. I'm pleased to say I took advantage of this delightful offer with my boyfriend tonight. Best V-Day meal ever.

Also, I'm absolutely obsessed with these free downloadable Valentines from Samantha Hahn. I spent far too much time this morning, downloading them, and e-mailing them to my friends! I thought my 3D hologram dinosaur valentines were pretty cool, but I adore these.

I also adore the phenomenal candies from fahrenheit goods. My boyfriend got me orange and olive oil caramels from this store and they are ridiculously delicious! Everything there is handmade with natural ingredients, and I love that it's locally made too- yay Denver! He couldn't have picked out a better gift for me. I just hope that he liked the nutella bacon that I made for him. Who knew a veggie-enthusiast and a carnivore could get along so well :)

Finally, my parents sent me this article a few days ago from the Denver Post. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has recently acknowledged how beneficial a plant-based vegetarian or vegan diet can be for you!

"The new guidelines devote two full pages to vegetarian and vegan diets and the health benefits of following these eating patterns. They point out that these diets provide nutritional advantages and reduce obesity, heart disease and overall mortality."

I love it! Articles like this provide more information and better awareness, which will hopefully some day lead to healthier, happier people all over! A healthy, happy Valentine's Day to you & your loved ones! :)