Vegan "Snickers"!!

I've been neglectful of this blog lately (sorry!) but have been writing more for our House Party blog. But, I just made an awesome creation I had to share. First of all, let me explain that Snickers has pretty much been my favorite candy bar and once I became vegan a few months ago, I may have cheated once or twice to eat a Snickers (that hungry? why wait? slogan got me!)

The GOOD news is that I just whipped together a super quick "Snickers"-like treat that satisfies the chocolaty/sweet/salty/chewy bliss of a Snickers.

Ingredients:

• 2 medjool dates (3 if you want to be naughty!)
• handful of chopped nuts (I used cashews in this case but peanuts would be closer to an actual Snickers)
• handful of dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Trader Joe's)

Instructions:

1. Slit the dates lengthwise (but don't cut all the way through, just enough to open it up).
2. Remove the pit and the little hard thing at the end.
3. Fill each date with chopped nuts (push them into the walls of the dates if you can) and pinch it closed (it's ok if some nuts are falling out)
4. Melt the chocolate in a ramekin if you have one or any small microwave safe dish or mug (30 sec, stir, then 30 more sec)
5. Dunk the dates in the melted chocolate.
6. Eat OR wrap in saran wrap and pop into the freezer, then let it thaw just a little when you're ready to eat it.

Yummy! This pretty much made my night. :)

Happy Friday! Let me know how you like it. Sorry no original pics right now, but I'll try to update later (for now, it should turn out looking kind of like this pic below, courtesy of imperialgardens.com. It's not that pretty but it sure tastes good! Oh, they're gluten-free too.

Happy New Year, Bring on 2012!

It's a new year and we all know what that means - time for resolutions! I like to look at it more as goals, and lots of them. It's OK if you don't completely reach them by midnight on 12/31/12 - as long as you give it your best and stay positive throughout the year, and accomplish SOMETHING you can be proud of, I think that's the most rewarding. So instead of making resolutions "that are meant to be broken", make goals that are meant to be striven for (pretty sure striven isn't a word, but it is now!)


Anywho, with that said, one of my goals is to pick up photography. I plan to invest in a decent camera, the kind that makes even poop look fantastic with all it's fancy filters and special lighting settings etc. My dad's main hobby was photography and I'm thinking it could be in our family genes. And YOU will reap the benefits. Sorry to say I've been relying mostly on my iphone camera (NO flash!) for most of my posts so far, which partly explains my lack of posting. Once I get a pro-grade camera, my pics will look more like THIS quality:

I want to post things I'm proud of! So, bear with me in the meantime with my juvenile cell phone pics and lower grade Canon powershot pics. In the meantime, hopefully you can enjoy the content even though it's not as pretty as I'd like it to be...yet.


With that said, another one of my resolutions is getting to bed earlier! I've been a night owl all my life but it wears down on me sometimes. Good night and sweet dreams :)

Merry Christmas 2011!

It's that time of year when a little bit of magic is in the air. It's been unseasonably warm in the northeast aside from the freak snowstorm we got Halloween weekend. My presents are wrapped, the stockings are hung, and now it's just time to enjoy the weekend and week of R&R! In the meantime, for anyone who's doing some last minute scrambling to get those presents under the tree, here are some pretty, eco-friendly gift wrapping ideas...now that's something to smile about! (numbers match pictures underneath from left to right. *Hint: a paper shredder comes in handy!):

1. box with junk mail shreds and wrapped the bottom inch with silver bag I cut off from top of gift bag I took from white elephant at work
2. Regifted box (has logo on front from vendor, covered it up and whited out the to section). After shredding some colorful magazine pages, I literally just picked up a handful from the bag, bunched it, then wrapped this wirey bow around it and around the box.
3. This is an OJ container one of my roomies put into the recycling, Simply Orange I think. I took the label off, which left a sticky residue, so I just sprinkled some gold glitter I had and voila. Inserted paper shreds and gift inside, then used some wire I had on hand along with a paper tag from Trader Joe's bag.
4. For this small gift (stationery) I took a yellow shopping bag, slipped the box inside and strategically wrapped the bag around it, tied/taped and fluffed the handle, added a little colorful wire and used a tea bag as a gift tag and to add more color (my grandma likes tea so worked well).
5. I reused a silver gift bag from a white elephant at work, then wove a snowflake out of paper shreds (got the inspiration from pinterest)
6. I love taking clear food containers and upcycling them into gift containers. In this case, it was a salad - I used colorful magazine shreds, inserted the gift, wrapped a bow around (bunched up paper shreds attached to red wire ribbon) and voila! Oh, the red xmas tree gift tag is from a tag that came on my champion sports bras - I just cut part of the bottom off and the sides to shape the tree.
7. I used an empty candy cane joe joe box, added bow and done!
8. I kept the box from my iphone last summer because it's sturdy and thought I should keep it in case I ever had any issues with the phone and needed to send it back under warranty. So I really just tied some ribbon around with a candy cane and done!
9. This is one of my fave combos - I love the juxtaposition of the black/white newspaper against the colorful magazine shreds. The newspaper folded nicely and sheets were a good size.
10. This was a large pretzel container - we got through 1 of these per day at work. It's better to reuse first before recycling. Just add magazine shreds with the gift, cut out a shape for the tag on top, tape it and done! It's like a "gift capsule"
11. "Souper Gift" - This is by far my favorite. I got my inspiration from pinterest. Just take a pop tab soup can (get Campbell's, I tried progresso and bottom didn't work, also tried Amy's with no luck). Open it from the bottom (leave about 1 inch still attached) and eat the soup or save for later, rinse it out/dry, insert gift, then either glue or tape the lid back on (I taped it). Add a bow (I made this one out of construction paper) and done! It will be fun to see my brother's reaction. Also, inside is a clue on where to find his much larger gift, which is a jacket hanging in the closet nearby. This saves on wrapping paper and is more fun because it's a mini scavenger hunt!
12. This was a clear blue tooth container I had saved and just inserted an envelope and shreds.
13. This was a clear basil container I had saved. Just add shreds and some clear red celophane if you want (play around with twisting it for a rose-like effect) and done.
14. Reuse tins and other gift boxes you receive throughout the season (this happy holidays box had brownies in it, received as a gift)
15. Cut up Trader Joe's bags and also add a pretty bow that you make out of magazines for a pop of color

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love your feedback and feel free to share any of your ideas with me too. Happy Holidays! :)

I Love the Holidays!

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted! Been pretty busy lately with the end of my broomball and field hockey games coming up soon and lots of birthday celebrations. Anywho, while stores of have been shoving Christmas down our throats before Halloween was even here, I'm now *ready* and in full planning mode! 

My favorite part of the holidays aside from finding special gifts for people and enjoying friends/family/traditions is creative/eco-friendly gift wrapping! Each gift is like a work of art. Here is one of my faves from last year, feel free to steal it :)

Directions:

Get candy canes, decorate your tree with them, then pull up the inside layer, insert gift, then fold it back down and weave some ribbon for a little festivity. Then fold some tissue paper and wrap around, tuck in a candy cane, and tada!

Enjoy :)

Rockin' Nails

So, I stopped at CVS last night with Steve to pick up some last minute things for Halloween. I stumbled on this awesome multi-colored confetti nail polish - couldn't resist. I think it will go well with my rock star costume, yes? I used bright orange with black crackle over it last week.

Wanted a change, so here it is (I call it "Party in the Night" cuz with all that sparkling confetti, it's like a party in the midnight sky :) And with that said, time for bed!)...

What do you think? It's O.P.I. in Yoga-ta Get This Blue! with Milani Jewel FX layered on top. So fun!

Warm, Hearty Fall Lunch!

I just made a super yummy lunch that is perfect for fall! 

"Fall into Healthy Stew"

Ingredients:

Precooked wheat bulgar (about 1 cup)

Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Soup (about 1 cup)

Frozen brussels sprouts (5-6)

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/3 C. Bob's Red Mill Nutritional Yeast flakes (doesn't need to be exact)

Dash of Salt, Pepper, and Cayenne Pepper

Cook the brussels sprouts in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes. Add the soup to the bulgar and mix everything together except the oil and nutritional yeast. Microwave for 2-3 minutes. Then add the nutritional yeast and EVOO (stir well). Top it off with a cup of Silk Original Almond Milk, warmed up for about 2 minutes and topped off with cinnamon. Yummy!

Let me know how you like it :)

What's for Dinner?

I made this not too long ago. It's is a mish mash of stuff I threw together (newly vegetarian/pseudo vegan) - 

1. Wheat bulgar with Lil sea salt/lemon pepper and raw red bell pepper, Lil cilantro 

2. Lentils with shitake mushrooms, baby portabello mushrooms, onion, Lil veg broth, Lil evoo and s&p 

3. "dessert" - sweet potato with drizzle coconut oil, dollop of tahini, sprinkle of unsweetened shredded coconut, cinnamon. 

4. Sit down and eat. Deelish!