today, we baked!

it was like a sign from the heavens. this morning i woke up to this post, by sydney, and she had me right at the title. ya see, penny has recently realized that she can have an opinion on the things she eats, and it's making meal times much more interesting. she still eats really well, but it's like some days i'm the greatest chef she's ever known, and then others, well we'll just say that the dogs are getting their fair share of my cooking as well. so when this recipe boasted health AND yumminess i was right on board with it. and my little sous chef, once she saw that she could nibble on chocolate chips while helping, was definitely on board as well!

we copied the recipe sydney posted, and just made a few little adjustments...

* we didn't have any nuts on hand so we just left them out. kinda sad about that one.

* we kept this recipe vegan by simply leaving out the eggs. since many of the ingredients in the recipe already act as egg replacers it's simply not necessary to add actual eggs.

* we used almond milk instead of cows milk. easy peasy!

i can say that these are indeed a yummy treat. it made 12 regular size muffins, and about 10 mini muffins. i say 'about' because the minis are already gone. yum for sure!

a pizza date with my loves...

saturday we had a little family date to eat some pizza. it doesn't take much to make us 3 happy as little clams. just give us a little sunshine, some delicious nibbles, and no specific plans for a day, and we're good to go! oh, how i wish every day were a saturday...

i think it was especially enjoyable because of the freezing temperatures that kept us cooped up all of last week. i can't wait to see some spring!

a first birthday party

last weekend we had penny's first birthday party. we were waiting until MLK weekend so that some of my family could fly down from NY to be here. it was a great little at home party, with just family and a couple close friends, complete with lots of homemade goodness. i was too busy just enjoying the day to remember to take a bunch of pictures, but here's a few i grabbed with my camera and phone. it was a "love" themed (all vegan) snacks and sweets party, which pretty much happened out of the blue when i fell head over heals for all the adorable valentines day decor out there (seriously target, you're killin' me!) oh, and you best believe these decorations are staying up until AT LEAST february 14th!

vegan ice cream cake

i've had some questions about the making of evan's vegan ice cream birthday cake, so i thought i would just go ahead and share the recipe here. it's really so super easy, it just takes a little bit of patience, and maybe a dash of restraint as it's pretty tough not eating the ice cream as you're making it!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED...

1- spring form cake pan

1- gallon of ice cream, or 2 half gallons if you'd like 2 different flavors

1- package of oreo cookies

1/2 cup vegan butter (i used earth balance)

1- bottle of magic shell, we used the reese's one cause it's super delicious!

1- large ziploc freezer bag

TO MAKE THE CRUST AND MIDDLE LAYER-

put all oreos into the ziploc bag and mash the heck out of them! you want a very crumbly consistency here. the crumbier the better! next melt the butter and dump it over the oreos in a large bowl. mix it all up so that everything is coated. there ya go, the crust is made!

THE ASSEMBLING-

take half of the oreo mixture and press it into the bottom of the spring form pan. try to get it as even as possible. finger tips work best here folks! now stick the pan in the freezer for about 30 mins to harden. while waiting on this, take your ice cream out of the freezer to soften. if you're using 2 different flavors you only need to take one out now.

remove pan from freezer and dump your first flavor of ice cream (or just half of the gallon if you're using a single flavor) over the oreos. spread out as evenly as possible and stick it back in the freezer. freeze for 45 mins to an hour.

remove pan from freezer and dump the rest of the oreo mixture in. spread evenly, and yup, you guessed it, stick it back in the freezer. this time for about 30-40 mins. take your second ice cream flavor out now to start softening.

remove pan from freezer, add your second flavor of ice cream (or the rest of your gallon), and spread evenly. put back in the freezer for 45 mins to an hour.

remove pan from freezer. run a knife all along the inside edge of your pan to release the ice cream from the sides. unlatch your spring form and remove it, while leaving the cake on the bottom piece. grab your bottle of magic shell and get messy! i dripped it all in one direction first, and then crossed in the other direction. i also made sure to get it to drip down the sides too. do this on a large piece of wax paper, or tin foil so that you won't care about it dripping everywhere. then stick it on back in the freezer!

freeze for at least another hour, a minimum of 2 hours is probably best though.

lastly, cut it up and enjoy the heck out of it!

side notes- if you're impatient like me, you can microwave your ice cream for a few seconds to soften it up. this makes for easier spreading if it hasn't softened enough sitting out. i used trader joe's cherry chocolate chip for the bottom layer, and vanilla on the top. this was a delicious combo! i've also done it with the cherry on the bottom and chocolate on the top and that was super yummer too!