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.