Easter

Sorry about the late post. I made some sugar free yellow cupcake with left over vegan chocolate icing from my birthday cupcakes. I decorated them with some edible Easter grass (Target), Dove Dark Chocolate Eggs, and Reese Pieces eggs. Everyone loved them. I made them specially for my boyfriend since his favorite is yellow cake with chocolate icing and his favorite candy is Reeses. ^.^ I also helped with brunch after church. I made a spinach egg roll. That turned out...ok. I'm a perfectionist so if it's not perfect, I'm not happy with it. Everyone liked the taste, and it was good, I just didn't like how it looked. The rolling didn't go so well and it kind of fell apart. Oh well, food is suppose to taste good and it did so I guess I didn't do too badly. I also made buttermilk biscuits for the first time =) They turned out a little small since I didn't have a biscuit cutter and used a drinking glass instead. They were very tasty though.
The Easter bunny was very good to me this year (yes he still visits me). I got some baking stuff which always makes my day. Didn't get my Easter egg hunt due to the fact that we couldn't find the box with the eggs in them. Oh well, I still have an IOU when we find them! Hope everyone had a blessed and fun Easter and didn't eat too many chocolate bunnies or peeps!
I also made an awesome pizza over my long weekend. I had made one before but without a pizza pan so it didn't turn out as nice. This is the best pizza I've ever eaten. It's not greasy or anything. It's mushrooms, mozerella and goat cheese, with some parsley sprinkled on top and a few other things tossed in for flavor. The best part though, is the wheat crust! It's amazing! My boyfriend and I think I should just make some bread stick out of it next time lol I might do that next time I make some pasta. Yummy!

Birthday!

Today is my birthday! And what better way to spend it than in the kitchen ^.^ I made some cupcakes this morning instead of a cake (not a big cake eater). My mom was surprised when I told her I wanted to make my own birthday cupcakes AND cook my birthday dinner. lol I don't mind, I love cooking and baking so I'm still having fun on my b-day. I made Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Chocolate Kahlua Buttercream Frosting. I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs have cake, will travel. The frosting turned out really well! I made one with Kahlua and one just plain chocolate for those weird people who don't like kahlua. The plain chocolate one turned out very creamy and smooth because of the milk where as the kahlua one wasn't shiny and a bit thicker. No one will ever know they are vegan *sinister laugh*
I just made dinner for everyone and they loved it of course. I am trying to teach my brother portion sizes so he was a bit disappointed when there were no seconds. He'll be ok, there's still cupcakes and he doesn't need seconds anyway. I made some Flounder with seafood seasoning on the stove. I served it over a bed of white rice with broccoli on the side. I love broccoli :) I originally was going to serve the fish with a sauce from my Cooking Light magazine. When I finished the sauce though, it tasted like butter...I'm not a big butter person and decided to just toss it out and stick to the seasoning. Granished with scallions and a little bit of soy sauce for the rice. Yum!
Everyone ate my cupcakes and I waited till they had already started to tell them they were vegan. They still loved them, even my boyfriend who ate one of each. He has a bit of a sweet tooth. They were very good and pound-cakey. I would definitely make them again. I had a great birthday and thank everyone for my presents and b-day wishes!

Pita Bowl!

I think it'll be the next big thing :P I was making Pitas yesterday and for some reason my second batch got a bit dark and harder than they should have. I wasn't about to throw them away because the bottoms where still soft and all but one was still usable. I cut the hard part of the burnt one off and filled it with lettuce, cheese, and chicken salad. I was pretty good. I just picked it up and took bites out of it. ^.^ Very Nummy.

Going Green?

I am seriously considering going vegan... Most days out of the week at least. I love sushi way too much to go 100% veg. I have been browsing around and I know I wouldn't mind the food, it all looks and sounds delicious. My problem is the price of the groceries I would have to buy. I am a college student who can't find a job and I don't have a stove or oven either. I'm hoping maybe someone will comment and let me know what they think.
I would not be going vegan because I think eating animals is wrong, that's what they are there for. That and being cute of course. Don't worry PITA people, I only eat the ugly ones (chicken and fish). I would be going veg for health reasons. My stomach has become very sensitive for some reason and I think that maybe changing over to a more plant based diet might help. We shall see. I'm going to go check out Whole Foods and Lowes Foods tomorrow to see about how much their vegetarian foods are. I already drink Light Silk and eat tofu every now and then but that's about as far as I've ever gone. I know they aren't that much more expensive than regular products but I've seen other things that are kind of pricey.
Another of my big concerns is even being able to FIND some of this stuff. I don't know how many times I've had a recipe and gone in search of the ingredients just to have to people at the grocery store look at me like I'm stupid. Living in North Carolina is hard for those of us who don't wish to eat everything fried. I'm hoping when I move to a bigger city this fall that there will be more choice as far as groceries and restaurants. Wish me luck and any comments or advise would be greatly appreciated!