Happy Vegan Runner

No recipe in this post, just news from a very happy runner- I did the Big Sur marathon yesterday, and it was awesome!! I was very pleased to run faster than I thought I would, and even better, to have felt great the entire race! I kept thinking, "wait, this is a marathon, I shouldn't feel this good" - but I did! The views were simply incredible, the entire race course was just awesome. Picture starting off among giant redwoods at Big Sur, running by fields of cute little cows and rolling green mountains, and then out along Highway 1 along amazing California coastline- just breathtaking. I wrote a little bit more about our weekend away here. Tomorrow, we're off to Mexico to celebrate and relax some more. For more on my vegan marathon eats, read on...

Easy Soba Noodle Stir-Fry- and a BIG weekend!

Sometimes work takes over life. It happens. This week has also been thrown off a little by what's going on this weekend- more on that later...  While I usually have pretty good work-life balance, that's not always the case. But that's when quick, healthy meals are the perfect option. This one, which comes from my sister-in-law, is one of those meals, and it features an ingredient I totally love: soba noodles. They rock. Buy some, throw 'em together with some veggies, and you have yourself one yummy little meal. 

Birthday Cake!

This week was my husband's birthday- so you know what that means- birthday cake! I made a double-layer vanilla cake with strawberry and chocolate ganache filling and strawberry frosting. Yep, that's right. Total mmmm.

Sweet Potato Everything Burgers

I've been traveling for work and it's been crazy busy, so just a quick post... had to try my own version of Happy Healthy Life's sweet potato burgers. I added more veggies and they were completely satisfying, delicious, and a snap to throw together- even for the busy working types!

White chocolate truffles and friends/Vegan Dinner Party 5

I'm a strong believer in being there for your friends. And when one of my friends was recently dumped, I thought what better way to temporarily heal wounds then with chocolate... and cocktails ;-) So this Friday night was filled with girlfriends, truffles, brownie bites, and a little bit of booze too. Perfect opportunity to try my hand at SMBP's boozey black & white truffles.

Coconut Heaven Brownies

This recipe is so easy, but has such a wow-factor. You'll be basking in baker heaven in almost no time...

Vegan French Toast with Date Compote

The past few weekends we've been having pumpkin waffles for our Sunday brunch, but this weekend I decided to mix it up. French toast time! This was actually my first-ever vegan batch of french toast, but it was a delicious snap. Made for a great Easter Sunday brunch!

Beer Cupcakes!

This idea came through Pinterest: Blue Moon cupcakes with a light, airy frosting. Since the original recipe, from Miss Make, wasn't vegan, I altered things quite a bit, but man on man what a great idea! These cupcakes are light and fluffy, with a hint of that Hefeweizen wheat flavor, paired perfectly with orange. Mmmmmmmmm Blue Moon, sweetened and in cupcake form.

Vegan White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

I love white chocolate. In my pre-vegan days, it was definitely my favorite type of chocolate. Now, I've developed more of a taste for dark and semi-sweet chocolate, but when I heard about these vegan white chocolate chips on Amazon, you bet your vegan butt I was ordering 'em. And since you have to order them in batches, I am now the happy owner of 3 bags of these suckers. When they arrived, I had to hold back from tearing into a bag to see what they tasted like. But it wasn't long after that I was coming up with a recipe to use them in.

Roasted Sweet Apples and Brussels Sprouts

This dish was 100% inspired by the above ingredients. I saw this giant bushel of these beautiful and cute little lady apples, right next to this big box of fresh, perfectly green Brussels sprouts at the grocery store, and that was it. I got both ingredients and decided they needed to be eaten together.