And On the Third Day, God said, " Let there be vegan cookies!"

Always a good way to start off the holidays is by getting out the cookbooks and marking which pictures look like you could just eat them right off of the page. Ok, so maybe this is something that I just do all the time, but still I love any excuse to bake up something new...even if they do turn into melty globs of burnt sugary goodness:: cough :::maple pecan drops :: cough.

Thanks to Colleen and her wonderful cookbook, The Joy of Vegan Baking, (you can not go wrong with any recipe in this book) Anna and I were able to create a little mini mecca in Anna's kitchen the other night. Since she is the new Susie Homemaker in training, she jumped at the idea of whipping out batches of tasty treats to send to her co-workers, along with her fiances co-workers and family. Super sweet right?? I know, she's awesome. So what was going to fill those nicely stacked metal tins laddened with Christmas cheer? Well after a little bit of debate we decided on Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies, Organic Peanut Butter Cookies, and Strawberry Oat Bars. They were originally raspberry, but hey when you have a jar of organic strawberry preserves just sittin' there, one's not going to pass it up.

So for the gift that keeps on giving and giving:

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies
(recipe borrowed from "The Joy of Vegan Baking")

1 1/2 tsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer

2 Tbsp. warm water

3/4 cup non-dairy butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.) In a small bowl, use a fork to whip the egg replacer powder & water together until it's thick & creamy. Set aside.

3.) Cream the butter & sugars together by hand or with an electric hand mixer at high speed. Beat in the egg replacer mixture & the vanilla & peppermint extracts.

4.) In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, & salt. Add this to the butter mixture along with the chocolate chips. Stir until combined, but do not over-stir.

5.) Drop the cookie batter by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

6.) Bake the cookies for 10 -12 mins., or until the edges begin to harden. Although they might not appear completely done, the cookies will continue to cook after they're removed from the oven.

7.) After removing them from the oven, immediately take the cookies off of the cooking sheet & place them on a wire rack to cool.

8.) Repeat steps 5 - 7 for the remaining cookies.

As for the Peanut Butter ones, well I found this recipe from Recipezaar and it sounded wonderful with the almond butter added to the peanut, next time it is a must try with various nut butters !

Chewy, Buttery Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies  

1/3 cup peanut butter

 1/3 cup almond butter 

1/3 cup margarine (I know Susan, I know..)

2/3 cup brown sugar 

1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Substitute 

2 tablespoons water 

2 tablespoons soymilk 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

3/4 cup all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Mix water and egg replacer together in a small bowl, set aside.
2. In big mixing bowl cream together peanut butter, almond butter, sugar and margarine.
3. Mix in soy milk, egg replacer and vanilla.
4. Sift in flour and baking powder into mixture. Add in salt.
5. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto lightly greased cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 8 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned, but center is still a bit soft, as it will harden as cookies cool.

Okay so now while you are running out to the store to get the supplies, unless you are super cool and have all the ingredients at home already, I will post pictures up laters. So enjoy!and good night! oh yeah, and have a "Kickass Cupcakes" New Years!!!

Chai Cupcakes and Broad Ripple Brew Pub

Merry late Chenmas to everyone! I hope you all got what you wanted and more. Christmas time always seems to be a very jolly time, but always really stressful too. So that is also partly the reason why I haven't written about things that have happened too recently. I did want to talk about some wonderful baking adventures that I went on with Abby a little while back. Taking out the old Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and whipping up some Chai Raspberry Cupcakes were most delectable. 

Since Absola is always on the go, it's sometimes hard for her to actually have enough time to come over and make some vegan goodies. We were able to decide on a good time and we thought it'd be appropriate to turn one of our favorite drinks from Starbucks into a cupcake. Chai and raspberry might not sound too good, but trust us, it is amazing. Brandon is usually the judge of what is good or not, and he successfully ate about half the batch in one sitting. So proud. 

Abs has all of the good frosting decorating tips so the baby cakes turned out very nice. All swirley twirley and beautiful. Good enough to wear as a dress, if I do say so myself.
With bellies full of sugar it was only appropriate that we then met our friends down at the Broad Ripple Brew Pub.  Abs wasn't able to go so I made sure to order some extras and eat it in memory of her absence. 

The BRBP has a lot of nice vegan options. My friend Anna and I split some vegan's Shepard Pie and hearty veg friendly Sloppy Joe. The sloppy little sandwich was a vegan’s delight. Pair it with some nice fried little beets and carrot chips and a girl is going to be a happy girl for the rest of the evening. There was also a "Susie's Beer" on the menu that sparked some attention, so Justin and Brandon thought that would be fitting to order some of those. Since I am not a big beer fan, I passed and nursed on the lemon water. Jealous, right? I know, I live life to the fullest. 

So if you're in Indy and you are looking for some good vegan options, head over to the Brew Pub, but maybe not on a Friday or Saturday night, cause you could be with the not-so-cool crowd and you might be sitting next to the Abercrombie wearing, backward hat-tool that would shout random crude comments about a lame-o game or something, and that would be a total buzz kill.

1.. 2...3 ! Sisters Cafe

Down in the heart of Broad Ripple lies an old Victorian house that has been renovated into a quaint little vegan restaurant. It seems more like it should be a B&B with it's wrap around porch and bright colored paint job, yet who would have thunk it that it would hold such amazing delights.

I have ventured down to 3 Sisters Cafe a couple of times, always kind of waiting to be disappointed, since something in Indianapolis surely can not taste as good as other places like, oh I don't know, The Chicago Diner, or Pure Luck, however, this little gem holds it's own. Yesterday, my awesome friend Absola (yeah it's Abby, but come on, for her personality you need a more "unique" name) met me for some late afternoon eating at the Cafe where we decided it was necessary to split a few things. Both of us trying to branch out and try new items on the menu, Abs got the Portobello Sandwich and I ordered the Three Way Salad.

The Portobello isn't like any normal mushroom sandwich. They had taken several kinds of mushrooms, mainly portobello, and pureed them with bread crumbs and some tasty herbs and spices. Then they grilled the nice little patties and placed it on a big ol' wheat bun with the standard lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions. As a side she had the red skinned potato salad.
Yeah, I was taking half of that thank you.


When my nice little innocent salad came out, I was greeted by a plate that was about half the size of the table! The thing was seriously huge. Trust me though, I was not complaining. The nice assortment of greens was topped with warm grilled pineapple, and not that canned crap. Grilled tofu, sliced and grilled almonds with avocados and edamame. Honey lime vinaigrette was the dressing of choice. Abs partook in that adventure as well. Considering we were not able to finish our meals, one could easily state that we were well served. The food was amazing, service is usually pretty friendly and on top of things, however, yesterday I think was a bit of a crap day for our waitress.


After having some amazing food with superior company, Abs and I walked on down to the Girly Chic Boutique. If you have not been into this shop, you MUST go.. not only for the clothing, but for the style of the store. The shop owner was completely inspired by Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. Pretty much a funfetti cupcake threw up and created a second version of Eden. The place has the feel of a vintage rescue squad going in and decorating the place with random objects of yesteryear and creating a really welcoming and fun enviornment. All of this eye-candy can make two girls very thirsty.
Monon Coffee Shop it was.

Once done meandering thru the rows of tulle and hand crocheted flower hats and shirts, we picked up some black board special vanilla soy spiced lattes. The nice thing about the Monon Coffee Shop is that, unlike some over abundant coffee stores, these drinks are actually still made with hand-poured and timed shots, so the flavor is a lot more delectable than that of, oh say, Starbucks.

So kiddies, the moral of the story is: go to 3 Sisters AFTER buying some nice tulle skirts from Girly Chic (we still want to feel good about ourselves while we're in the dressing room), and then head over to the Monon to pick up some truly "hand-crafted" specialty drinks.

Another Chicago Classic: The Bleeding Heart Bakery

While reading through various cupcake blogs, like Bake and Destroy, Cupcakes Take the Cake, and Cake Spy, all of these awesome writers, seemed to have the same conclusion when they wrote about this little bakery on the west side of Chicago. The Bleeding Heart Bakery is "by far the best bakery in Chicago!", "A gem to find on an accident! Absolutely one of the best! "and "Michelle is a sugar wizard!", or so claim fellow Yelpers online. With over 300 people willing to go online and take the time to write in their two cents, that bakery must have made some kind of impact on them!

For people with any kind of concern for what they put in their bodies, yet still have that strong sweet tooth, this place is for you. "Local, Sustainable-Punk Rock Pastry!" is the description that Michelle and Velentin Garcia so appropriately came up with for their store. With a love of punk rock and all things organic, they use all organic, local, and sustainable ingredients to create these classic pastries. Though all the items are not completely vegan, they do make many allergy friendly and dietary friendly options.

So what better way to celebrate anniversaries and Halloween, than to visit a place that Sid and Nancy would call "home"? After eating at the Chicago Diner, Brandon and I thought we needed some dessert, so we walked over to The Bleeding Heart to try some of their fall specialty cupcakes. The shop was pretty amazing looking on the outside. All neon green and hot pink, with various colored font, highlighting this "organic bakery". Stepping inside, I knew I had found home. The tables were all shaped like funky artsy style cupcakes, there were proudly displayed cakes from various pasts, and even chocolates shaped like baby guns, how sweet, right? The girl behind the counter quickly and GENUINELY greeted us, a rarity I feel. I asked if I was allowed to take photos, trying to avoid situations like ones before, and she said that I could. So I started snapping. After a few photos though, Michelle came out and said I couldn't take any. Oh well.
How was a girl to decide on what to get when there were so many options that all looked like something I would be willing to die for? I went with the pumpkin and chocolate ganache cupcake, along with a brown sugar frosting and maple cupcake. The pumpkin one came with a nice little plastic black rat on top. I think that is what lured me in.
Both cupcakes were good, they definitely were not the best though. I think the only thing that was really good was the brown sugar frosting on the one. For the most part, I think the idea and the store itself were amazing. Maybe I just came on a bad day and they were sitting out for too long, since they seemed rather dry. However, that is definitely not going to stop me from trying others in the future!

Chicago Diner, Meat Free Since '83!

A couple of years ago, when Brandon and I first decided to wise up and start doing the whole vegan thing, we went on a mad hunt to find all of the most kick ass vegan places that we could. Since we were in Indianapolis, our choices were pretty limited. We had The Abbey or Three Sisters and that was about it. Never turning down an opportunity for a road trip, we decided that we would make a venture up the great land of Chicago and check out this little place called The Chicago Diner.

The Veggie Diner was established in 1983 and is pretty much an all vegan restaurant. When the owners began to create this little joint their goal was to create a welcoming atmosphere, where one can get a big helping of "comfort food", but without the meat and guilt. They serve breakfast, lunch, and diner, and all items on the menu are things that most Americans are use to. There are things like, The Radical Reuben, BBQ Fib Rib Sandwich, Gyros, Black Bean Burger, Hummus Wraps, Biscuits and Gravy, French Toast, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, and the best of all, the dessert menu. Ranging from Monster (Chocolate Chocolate Chip) cookies and Chai Spice scones, to decadent Cocoa Mousse and Cookies & Cream cakes, Oh! but wait! they also have a nice selection of "milk"shakes using only the best and locally produced, Chicago Soy Dairy (luckily for me I can find the Cookie Dough flavor at my local Whole Foods).

Now at the Diner, I am sucker when it comes to the Black Bean Burger:Homemade burger, melted cheeze, lettuce, tomato, onion & creole mustard on a toasted harvest roll- add avocado with a nice side of ssweeeeett potato fries and you, my friend, will be in heaven too. B usually ops for the BBQ Fib Rib Sandwich: Hand carved seitan “ribs” in BBQ sauce topped with chopped lettuce, onions & tomato slices on a toasted hoagie bun, add some pesto veggies and we usually swap half way through.

(the vegan hot chocolate)

On our last trip up to the Diner, we went to celebrate our 5 year anniversary, so we were not holding back. Not eating a few meals before hand to make sure that we could make our mother's proud by the food we would consume. We started with a new item that they just added to their menu for this fall season, FRIED RAVIOLI !

(the amazing fried ravioli!)

Black bean-cilantro raviolis with Guajillo sauce & sour cream. These Utopian like crunchy raviolis with black bean paste inside paired perfectly with the Guajillo sauce. Score 1 for us. Next I decided to go out on a limb and try another new item, the Shawarma. I couldn't really pronounce it right, but I am sure the guy appreciated my efforts. This new entree was created with hummus, sliced gyro style seasoned seitan, fried cauliflower tossed in tahini sauce (right? you're drooling now aren't you?), on a toasted whole grain ciabatta & spicy harrisa. The weirdest combination I have ever scene on a menu, but it was fantastico too. Brandon stuck with the tried and true fib rib, and splurged with the vegan hot chocolate and soy whip. It was a very satisfying trip to the diner. Funny how seven hours in a car can be worth it when you are eating at this dive.

Rum Raisin? Must be Tofurky Day!

Happy late Tofurky day everyone! As with most vegetarians and vegans, Thanksgiving is usually not one of my favorite "holidays" nor even a day that I wish existed. However, I am always glad to know that there is a day out there that I am able to excuse myself from work and make a full hearted attempt to see how much food my body is capable of holding.

This year was no exception. With my family, my mom is a vegetarian so at least I do have her on my side, and for the rest of them, I believe that they are getting better at accepting my snide remarks and scornful glances at them when they start to talk about the turkey or after picking up their third piece of bird carcass, yet, they are pretty supportive, and so every year there is more and more veg friendly options at the dinner table.


So in my attempt to over load my body, I had a bountiful array of food to chose from. Sweet potatoes, Quorn, veg egg rolls, lo-mien, fried rice,(my aunt if originally from Taiwan so I definitely had the hook-up there!) cranberry sauce, an astounding Humpty Dumpty cake (thanks to my artistic sister), broccoli salad, every fruit and vegetable that was grown in the good ol' Midwest, and of course, my contribution: Vegan Rum Raisin Cupcakes.


Recently, every night before bed, I find myself rereading the cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Now you know that the book is going to be good when it is named Cookbook Of The Year by VegNews magazine. There had been a handful of recipes that I thought that I wanted to make for this special occasion and so I had my lovely fiance decide for me. Instantly he chose the rum raisin ones. As tempting as it was to make them Red Rum Raisin Cupcakes, I restrained and made it a little more family fun oriented.



This is truly one of the best cookbooks for a vegan that I have seen. All of the recipes are uber easy and fun to make and each one you can make them a little bit more healthy for you if you are trying to have your ass not grow AS fast.

Since I am the biggest procrastinator when it comes to the holidays, I was one of the several people at the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving trying to get my cornstarch and confectioners sugar, along with some artificial rum flavoring. After squeezing my way through the baking goods aisles (so thankful I didn't eat the cakes before hand) I checked out and went home to start bakin'.

Some sifting here, some mixing there, and creating a special big cupcake for Brandon, the babies were finished and ready for some rum glazing.

The glaze turned out really nicely, it was pretty much like butterscotch on top, and that was underneath the rum butter cream frosting! I didn't have any frosting tips on hand so I had to resort to using a plastic bag in order to do the piping, but considering there were no cupcakes left after 10 minutes of them sitting on the table, I felt that they were a success...or maybe they all just thought that they had real rum in them and it was be a less obvious way of getting crunk. (pictures are to come shortly)

Vanilla Bake Shop, Martha's Preference When on the West Coast

A nice black and white photo of a happy couple, smiling. The girl is holding a mod looking cake while wearing a nice matching mod dress. The cake is in color of course. Now, that is a nice opening picture for a cupcake website. Makes me think that if I continue eating these cakes, I too can be a pretty blond girl smiling with Ken. SWEET!

While researching cupcake shops, who better to reference than the queen herself. On Martha's website she listed her favorite places to have a sweet treat, and what the cake was when she got there. Well lucky for me there were lots of places in LA to choose from. Vanilla Bake Shop, was started by Amy and Jeremy Berman, and then named after their favorite flavor (really? vanilla? snore). The cakes are all baked from scratch with a big influence from contemporary design and taste, so atleast that is a little more exciting.

When my mom came into town, I decided now would be a good time to go try out the Santa Monica based bakery. It was also her birthday, so a double whammy as to why we needed to go.

The exterior is very clean and contemporary looking. I really like the feel of the place, well, until I was greeted by an angry teenage girl that I think had been struggling with not eating the cakes herself. When I started to get my camera out to ask if I could take a picture she instantly yelled at me as if I wouldn't have been able to hear her from across the street. I quickly told her the cupcakes of choice so I could get the hell out of there and eat my sugar in the presence of awesome people.

Key Lime: Yellow Butter Cake, Key Lime filling, Creamy Vanilla Frosting, Graham Cracker Crust Crumbles; Meyer Lemon Raspberry: Yellow Butter Cake, Lemon Curd Center, Vanilla Bean Frosting & Raspberries(Martha's Choice); and then the classic Southern Red Velvet: Southern Red Velvet Cake, Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting.



We stood outside to eat these little pieces of art, and by far Martha was right. The raspberry with the lemon was amazing. I loved the tartness of the sweet cake and it was paired so well together with the light coating of sugar crystals on the top. The Key Lime was also incredible (I have a thing for sour things) it tasted like a little cake version of the pie. Then the true test was the red velvet and they nailed it. No box recipe here, nothing but sweetness (and a sea mammal that needed to head further west back towards the water..)

Here's Johnny!

Last winter, Brandon and I went to Boston to visit one of the coolest girls ever. While we were there, we let Raina know that our mission was to seek out one: totally rad vegan joints, and two: breath taking cupcake bakeries. She gladly obliged.
On our second day in Boston, we went down to Newbury Street in search of some Betsy Johnson and Marc Jacobs. Feeling poor and overwhelmed, we knew that it was time for a cupcake break and that there was this "Johnny's Cupcake" not too far from where we were.

The website looked cool, so they must have unique little cakes in there, right? However, I didn't really look at the website too intensely. Fat free? Sugar Free? Cholesterol Free? How did they do that?? Easy. They only make T-Shirts and buttons. No baking going on here, only some shirts still hot from the "oven".

Brandon was a little disappointed, mainly because he was thinking that this was going to be the place where he buys a cupcake and places my ring on top. Awesome fiance right?! Unfortunately that moment had to be postponed till later that day.

Buttons and stickers that had fun colored cupcakes and cross-bones on them? I knew this was going to be a new brand that I would wear proudly. I was so excited that I did invest in a couple little trinkets to take home and show off.

Now, moving out to LA, I was so happy to see that they had made another home for Johnny out on Melrose.
Inside this little gem had a wall that was lined with retro colored "ovens" that would randomly open and close letting a little steam out. Towards the back of the store, where the staff room would be was a ginormous oven, who's doors would open for the staff members to go back to the back. Can they install these in residential projects?

I knew I wanted a shirt that was unique to that location so I found a black shirt that had an old styled oven on the front with "CA" and "LA" printed on the design as well.
Could a tattoo of this cute little icon label be in the works? I would not be surprised.

What Happens When a Child Names a Store?

Your cupcake shop will be called "Yummy". Not that that is such a bad name, it is just well, a name a 5 year old boy would name a cupcake shop if he could, and he did. When owners, Tiffini Soforenko, Brogan Faye and Nik Soforenko decided to open a little store in Burbank they certainly were on the right track to making people happy everyday. For a year they baked only for special events, yet they had so many clients asking if there was an “everyday” location to go to. So they opened Yummy Cupcakes' first retail store on Magnolia in Burbank, California.

Now it is not always a good thing when there is a delicious little cupcake shop on walking distance from the apartment. Since it was a 5 mile trek round trip, I figured two cupcakes per person would be well deserved. Brandon and I headed up towards the northern part of the valley one afternoon and I was instantly greeted by bright pink "curtains"with a big cupcake sign, a baker in the window making the little morsels, and lots and lots of cupcakes paraphernalia.

Yummy's offers various vegan options, they now have 43 flavor combinations on the vegan Full Menu. Everything from offering Red Velvet vegan cupcakes to Arnold Palmer's (yes a cupcake version, not the beverage) every Monday and Friday. Vegan cupcakes are available in two sizes...Classic & Mini, so I was delighted in trying the Chocolate / Chocolate: Chocolate cupcake topped with vegan chocolate buttercream, Monkey Love: Chocolate cupcake frosted with a fresh vegan banana buttercream with walnuts folded in, and Banana Cream Pie : Banana cupcake centered with fresh banana puree, topped with a whipped cream frosting, sprinkled with
graham cracker crumbs.


Eating a pound of sugar while walking in 85 degree heat is not the smartest thing to do, but it was well worth the momentary breakdown.
There were always phone orders coming in and people walking out with dozens of little cakes, so I am not in fear of this company going out of business any time soon, and I definitely was a frequent consumer of these yummy little cupcakes.

California Vegan, Straight to the Point

Down in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd there is a tasty little store appropriately named California Vegan. It is usually one of the first places that pops up when you type in "vegan" onto Yelp or Google Search so it was only a matter of time before we headed down there.

After walking up a little sweat from Hollywood Blvd to Sunset (no one in LA walks), I felt I deserved a good reward.

In every store front there is a rating as to how clean the restaurant is and most every place gets an A, however, this place had about a B-, so we were a little nervous..better just split a sandwich.

Pretty much all of the specialty items were faux meat products, and I am a sucker for some fo' chicken sandwich. So "Chicken" sandwich it was. Topped with tomato, lettuce and Veganaise I was quite pleased, yet anything that you smother with Veganaise is pretty much guaranteed an A+ in my book. The sandwich was also served with a basket of really fresh homemade tasting fries that was in a basket the size of my head. Dear Lord, they know what makes a girl happy! Pour some cookie dough batter on top and I would have gone into my own happy little coma. Since they didn't, though, California Vegan was nothing that I would most likely fight traffic for to eat again. I did enjoy the bright orange boothes- that was a fun experience I suppose.

Not Just for the Birds

Looking for a nice little vegan goody here in LA is not too hard to do with such an abundance of forward thinking bakeries and shops. Finding one that won't leave you stuck in a 2 hour traffic mess is a different story. Luckily for me I learned about a little cake shop down in Silver Lake that had vegan cupcakes everyday of the week.

What use to be an old upholstery shop is now Lark Cake Shop, a cute and very welcoming store front. The shop looks like a vintage furniture store meets a happy little tea cozy. All of the sofas and chairs were mismatching and reminded me of something I would see at a long lost aunts house. The cookie jars were clear glass and over sized to display the plate sized cookies. Each perfectly labeled with an old typewriter font. The cupcakes were displayed in their own case with hand written labels for each perfectly crafted dessert. The cakes were all artistically designed, yet simple and appealing.

Lark carries two types of vegan cupcakes, Vegan Chocolate Orange Cupcake: Vanilla vegan yellow cake with orange pudding filing, topped with orange marmalade and chocolate ganache along with the winner of my heart that day, Boston Banana Vegan Cupcake: Banana cake filled with a slice of banana surrounded by vegan pastry cream topped with vegan white chocolate icing.
Since my heart will probably always be in Boston (yes, the grass is always greener, but I do really love a place with history and well read residents...) I opted for the Boston Banana. When it was served, I was given the delicate morsel on a little old antique plate. Another thing that is totally rad about this place is that they try to minimize their environmental footprint by using only compostable cups, boxes, utensils and straws. Extra points!

The little cake tasted like homemade banana bread, but with a softened, somewhat wet banana inside...I'll leave it at that. The icing tasted like hardened white chocolate. All-in-all very tasty cake, but I could have lived with maybe a softer frosting.

Ch'en Ch'en, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more...

When looking for new places to go in a new city it can become a little daunting. What area is safe? What should I order when I get there? How much? How's the traffic? Will my complexion look okay in the artificial lighting? You know, the normal worries about going to a new place. Well luckily for me, my friend Abby has a friend who was working out here and so we decided to meet up and go dig into some scrumptious brunch.

Sam (Ab's friend) is a pretty cool cat. He's been doing the whole LA thing for awhile now, and being mister outgoing, he knows his way around the city pretty well so I was leaving it up to him to decide on where to rendezvous. "Brunch at Auntie Em's? They have some really good cupcakes there..." Yeah, sold. I wasn't sure if he knew that cupcakes were my enthralling past time and that I have dedicated several hours to cupcake porn or if this place just had good cupcakes plain and simple. Either way I was excited.

After putting on my looser fitting pants, B and I headed over to Eagle Rock where this little joint resided. It seemed like a pretty fun area and an even awesomer interior, complete with plastic cherry motif table tops and handmade cake and cupcake stained glass pieces (yes, I did inquire about how I could get one of these made for me).



After ordering the ACS sandwich (Avocado, Cucumber, and Sprouts) I was ready for the goods. There were a couple of options to chose from, Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, Chocolate with Chocolate Frosting, Coconut with Cream Cheese Frosting and rolled in Coconut, Carrot with Cream Cheese Frosting (Available in small, medium and large sizes). Now I know that to see if a cupcake joint is legit or not I should have opted for the red velvet, but I love trying the more rare little cakes. So the coconut one had a new home to go to tonight.

OH MY GOD! This was by far the best little morsel that I have ever eaten! Perfect cake to icing ratio. Wonderful coconutty taste all mixed into the white cake batter with some slightly sweetened cream cheese frosting. I am going back in the very near future.

Pure Luck...to Find Such Amazingness!

Living in LA, you have a lot of options when it comes to eating vegan. Typing into Google to see where to go, I'm able to find at least a couple dozen of places to open my wallet and expand my waistband. So where's a girl to start?! Thankfully Yelp had a listing for Pure Luck, a tiny little, well, hole in the wall, down by the Los Angeles College.
Over 350 people wrote up reviews about how delicious this place was and the the jackfruit sandwiches were a must. 350 reviews? That's impressive for a place that doesn't even have it's sign in it's entirety still in place outside.
When I went down here, I was still pretty new to the city so I was a little skeptical about the neighborhood. However, shortly after stepping foot into this veggie joint, all doubt was faded. The atmosphere was so warm and welcoming and it felt like we were just at someones lake house having a little get-together. Atmosphere can only get a place so far though, the real question is - how's the food?! (sweetbeetandgreenbean)

Brandon took the leap and got the pulled jackfruit BBQ sandwich, BBQ Jackfruit “pulled-pork” with pickles, onions and vegan mayo on a rustic roll. To add to this deliciousness, we added some fresh made lemonade and some rosemary fries.

Myself? Well, I am a sucker for pesto and so any chance to eat it and not feel guilty is such a pure pleasure for me. Tofu pesto sandwich. Grilled Tofu and fresh basil-spinach pesto on a rustic roll, with romaine and onions and vegan mayo AND sweet potato fries. Hellz yeah! This was worth the 2,200 mile drive. Guilt of finishing every bite on my plate? HA! I could have gone for round two.