Recent Vegan Eats and Photos from Late May in NYC

June 4, 2019 by Katherine Baker 1 Comment

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you, internet friends! Going to do a mini photo/brain dump with some recent vegan eats now that I’m home in Milwaukee for the summer after a very stressful move where literally everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. As the struggle bus was REALLY bumpy last week, a lot of the random snacks I ate escaped my phone’s camera because documenting my protein bars and other random snacks for the blog was the last thing on my mind. Yay good times! These eats pick up where this post left off. I will be recapping my sister’s bridal shower desserts in a future post. I am also working on a vegan Q&A that will be live soon so check back later this week if you’re interested!

And here’s a fun twist: the first person to comment the correct number of times Millie is in this post will get a surprise from me! Now onto the post:

Brunch at ABCV:

Backing up to being back in NYC/Jersey City a couple weeks ago: here is a lovely brunch I had at ABCV with my mom. After going to ABCV for dinner the previous week, I wanted to try their brunch, so the very night I dined there I made a reservation for the following Saturday for brunch.

Verdict: delicious. I would say, though, that I think ABCV shines brighter at dinner, at least based on the two meals I had. Anyways, I had the Vegan Eikorn pancake, which had some strawberries and bananas baked in, some tangy raspberry powder on top, and came with the cutest little beaker of maple syrup and a scoop of coconut cream that melted all over the top. YUM. I love pancakes. These were very good pancakes. They had the texture of a very fluffy thick pancake/muffin that was magical. For $18 though…I thought I’d maybe get more than one.

I also shared the avocado lettuce cups again and had some of my mom’s dosa. I am feeling inspired to up my pancake game, make those lettuce cups, and try my hand at dosa making!

After dining at ABCV, we went to Union Square Green Market and walked around. I hadn’t been in years and it was honestly really nice! I used to live on Union Square my sophomore year at NYU and went all the time. It truly is one of the most magical farmer’s markets.

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Easy No-Bake Vegan Banana Cream Pie

May 5, 2019 by Katherine Baker 1 Comment

Can you believe that before March 21, 2019, I had never ever laid my mouth on a piece of banana cream pie? Me either! Which is why, when I realized in early March that I had never before had banana cream pie, I set out to make my own! An Easy No-Bake Vegan Banana Cream Pie to be exact.

I made this Easy No-Bake Vegan Banana Cream Pie to celebrate a belated Pi Day with my pals Kari and Lauren. We gathered over spring break for pie, conversation, and a cute baby. It was so enjoyable to connect over scrumptious food. That’s what life’s about after all, isn’t it?

Now, I know this recipe is delayed. I honestly forgot I drafted it last month. I meant to re-take photos, but have been overwhelmed with school, and haven’t gotten around to re-shooting the recipe. I didn’t make this pie the prettiest the first time as I had no intention of snapping photos. However, it ended up turning out positively scrummy and several people asked me for the recipe after I included it in this round-up. So here we are.

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My Favorite Easy Vegan Dessert Recipes

April 12, 2019 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Hello everyone! It’s Thursday night and he fire alarm just went off which meant me + Millie got to hang out with all of our building neighbors in our pajamas while the fire people cleared up the situation. Anyways, thanks to our 10:00pm adventure, I am now fully of energy and in the mood to whip up an easy vegan dessert recipe! I’ve been working on a couple new ones, but while I’m working out all the kinks, I thought I’d share a roundup of my favorite easy vegan dessert recipes from this blog. I hope you enjoy!

…and if you’re hungry for more, check out my ebook, 40 Easy Vegan Desserts, from way back in the day! #shamelessselfpromo

Vegan Levain Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Lucious as can be! Make these beauties with this delicious recipe.

Sunflower Seed Butter Salted Caramel Date Truffles

Probably my all-time favorite easy no-bake snack or sweet treat. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…something about sun butter and date paste together is so magical. Recipe is here.

Vegan Samoas (Caramel DeLite Style) Girl Scout Cookies

These beauties are a take on the original and are made with date caramel. Give them a whirl!

Giant No-Bake Peanut Butter Cup

No explanation needed. Find the details here.

Homemade Vegan LoftHouse Style Frosted Cookies

So fluffy and soft and pretty! Cookie + frosting recipe here.

Vegan Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

…honestly, need I say more? These things are insane(ly delicious). Get the recipe here.

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Wholesome Vegan Carrot Cake with Vegan Cream Cheese Almond Frosting

January 28, 2019 by Katherine Baker 3 Comments

Carrot cake! Vegan carrot cake! Also known as my favorite dessert on the planet (tied with Van Leeuwen vegan ice cream).

My favorite non-homemade carrot cake is from Peacefood cafe (which I ate last weekend!). If you like carrot cake and you’re ever in New York City, go to Peacefood and order their glorious carrot cake, even if you’re not vegan. I promise you, it is life-changing.

This year, I had Peacefood carrot cake the day after my birthday, but I also wanted to make myself a cake for the actual day.

While thinking about my cake, I actually got curious about the origins of carrot cake, and did a little bit of googling. According to Wikipedia, the origins of carrot cake are widely disputed, but most food historians believe carrot cake was somewhat inspired from Medieval carrot puddings eaten in Europe. During the Middle Ages, when sugar became scarce, people began using carrots as a substitute for sugar.

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Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake with Chocolate Buttercream (And How to Veganize A Non-Vegan Cake Recipe)

September 8, 2018 by Katherine Baker 2 Comments

Do you ever just feel the need to eat deliciously rich, Bruce Bogtrotter-worthy chocolate cake? Because I do. That’s where this Vegan Chocolate Cake with Vegan Chocolate Buttercream comes in.

One thing a lot people don’t realize about vegan baking is that it’s actually quite easy to veganize a lot of “conventional” recipes with a few simple swaps.

Non-dairy milk for regular milk, vegan butter in place of butter, and an egg replacement (1/4 cup applesauce or canned pumpkin, 1 tablespoon chia seed or ground flax + 3 tablespoons of water, or 1/4 cup silk tofu, to name a few) for the egg, whipped aquafaba for egg whites, etc, and viola! You’ve veganized your desired “conventional” baked good.

Now, it may take a couple of attempts to figure out which replacements you like best, and/or which ones work best for your old favorite “conventional” recipes, but it’s truly not as scary as it sounds, and experimenting in the kitchen, though it can lead to some epic fails, can also lead to exciting new and wonderful creations of your own.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Bites

August 12, 2018 by Katherine Baker 3 Comments

I love a salty sweet treat. And these peanut butter chocolate pretzel bites are the epitome of a salty, sweet crunchy creamy dream snack.

Bonus: they couldn’t be similar to make. If you can make cereal, you can probably make these delightful nibbly desserts.

All you need is pretzels, peanut (or your other favorite nut) butter, chocolate chips, and some salt. And the only fancy equipment you need a microwave, microwave-safe bowl, and a refrigerator or freezer. Now let’s get into it.

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Homemade Pistachio Butter

August 3, 2018 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

For years and years, I’ve wanted to make pistachio butter.

Honestly. This idea has been on my mind since probably 2010. As a nut butter lover, I’ve always wanted to make pistachio butter, which is noticeably lacking from most grocery stores. And when you do find it, it’s noticeably much more expensive than most other nut butters.

So I’ve wanted to DIY pistachio butter since my undergrad days. Why did I never pull the trigger, you ask? Well, probably because I only had a $12 Food Network brand mini food processor and a very dull blender inherited from grandmother to work with.

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Easy Raw Vegan Cheesecake for 2

July 27, 2018 by Katherine Baker 4 Comments

All my life I’ve dreamed of a working blender or food processor. And thanks to Amazon Prime day, my dream has become a reality at last, and I can now part ways with my $12 Food Network brand mini food processor from Kohl’s circa 2009. This major upgrade has helped bring me (and you) this incredibly easy raw vegan cheesecake.

Now. Raw cheesecake is something I’ve wanted to make for…oh I don’t know basically forever. But my old mini food processor was so small, dull, and crappy, that it could barely dice a ripe banana.

I’ve dreamt about making raw cheesecakes and smooth hummus and nut butters for years but never had the right equipment to properly execute these desires.

Enter new Ninja blender. Enter happiness. And freedom and inspiration to make ALL OF THE THINGS. Stay tuned!

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Nut Butter-Stuffed Chocolate-Dipped Dates

July 17, 2018 by Katherine Baker 3 Comments

These nut butter-stuffed, chocolate-dipped dates are like a 14/10 on the amazing scale. 5 Ingredients. No fancy equipment or oven required. Insanely delicious sweet treat.

All you gotta do is crack open some dates, de-pit them, slather their insides with nut butter, squash a whole nut in there (optional, but recommended), dip in some melted chocolate, and finish with sea salt.

A short chill sesh in the freezer later, you have a treat that’s chewy, crunchy, creamy, salty, sweet, and chocolatey. It hits every desirable snack element in one swoop.

Honestly, the result is far better than it has any right to be. It tastes like a snickers but without any artificialness or sugar overload. They’re actually kind of like a lazy version of my favorite-ever Sunbutter Caramel Date Truffles with Sea Salt.

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Some Vegan Memorial Day Recipes

May 28, 2018 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Happy Memorial Day! It occurred to me recently that I’ve never done a recipe round-up post, so I thought I’d take this holiday opportunity to do one. So here are some Vegan Memorial Day Recipes to bring to a BBQ!

Also, dog parents, be sure to watch your little ones during fire works if they aren’t fanss of them (Millie flips out and tries to hide).

Let me know if you try any of these Vegan Memorial Day recipes and let me know whatcha thing! HMU on insta or twitter.

1. Black Rice Beet Veggie Burgers

With rich umami flavors from black rice, sweetened up with beets, these veggie burgers are an eye-catching main dish.

2. Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

My favorite side ever. Serve with guac, hummus, or almond butter!

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