Purple Hello Kitty Birthday Cake

Think you can't have a fancy vegan birthday cake? Think again. If you have the time to create a non-vegan one, it will take no longer to do a vegan one.

My daughter LOVES hello kitty, and was thrilled to have that theme for her party. Since purple and pink are her favorite colors (in that order), the castle cake's primary colors were chosen for me.

The cake is covered with fondant. Vegan fondant does exist, and is readily available. The kind which I prefer is Satin Ice. I like that it says directly on their web page "Fondant contains no animal derived ingredients." I've also heard the Wilton version is vegan as well, but that it doesn't taste as good.

If you are still coming up short, I found a recipe over at "Live.Learn.Love.Eat" for vegan marshmallow fondant which sounds delicious. I can't wait to try it!

Don't forget to enter the Vegan Mofo contest this week for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Vegan Essentials!

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Maple Icing

One of my goals with this blog, is to demonstrate how easy it is to bake without eggs and dairy products. And really, why not? No cholesterol or cruelty involved in making your food. Better for your health, the environment, and your conscience.

Before going vegan over a decade ago, I played around with vegan baking. It was a basic requirement for me to move forward with choosing this lifestyle. Lucky for me, baking vegan is just as easy and delicious.

Typically I bake from scratch, but hoped to help provide an easy resource for people who want a fast, simple, home baked treat. These are tasty without incing, but WAY better with it.

Using the Betty Crocker Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix, I simply altered the instructions slightly to veganize them.

Directions:

1/2 cup vegan margarine (I recommend Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)

2 Tbsp. water

1 tsp. ground flax mixed vigorously with 2 Tbsp. water

Follow directions on package for baking.

Maple Frosting

1 - 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (depending on desired thickness)

2-3 Tbsp. almond, soy or coconut milk

1 tsp. maple extract or flavoring

Wisk almond/soy/coconut milk and extract into sugar until all lumps are gone. Dip cookies in frosting or paint it on using a pastry brush. These were sprinkled with cinnamon, which was delicious!

Don't forget to go and enter the Mofo contest this week for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Vegan Essentials!

Vegan MOFO Giveaway Vegan Essentials $25 Gift Certificate

Vegan Essentials was so gracious to provide a $25 gift certificate to giveaway for vegan MOFO. My family orders from their site all the time. Right now they are the only carrier of the infamous Cheezly. If you haven't tried this cheese yet, you REALLY need to. It tastes good all on its own. You heard me: we.eat.it.right.out.of.the.package. End Cheezly rant.

Vegan Essentials carries all sorts of vegan items: food, sweets, clothing, shoes, personal care products, books, household items, etc. Enter this Vegan MOFO giveaway for your chance to win your own little shopping spree! The winner will be announced Saturday, October 8th.

Here is how you enter: 

1) First subscribe to this blog, i.e. must be a blog follower to win

2) Write into the comments which product you would like to buy or try if you won the $25 gift certificate.

3) For an extra entry into the contest, like Growing Up Veg on FB, follow me on tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/tumblelog/veganmomma), and twitter (@Vegan_Momma)

Contest is over! Congratulations, you are the lucky winner winner is:  Bitt!

Vegan Mofo 2011 Giveaways!

This year I wanted to pay-it-forward, and decided to do a few give-a-ways. They'll be happening each week, so stop in often to enter.

There will be cook books, Go Max Go candy bars, Eli's Earth Bars, $25 Gift Certificate from Vegan Essentials, Dandies marshmallows, Lieber's butterscotch chips, and a vegan children's book. If you are interested in participating, look for more details soon. I'll be giving away one treat and book each week.

In the meantime, check out the loot below!

Vegan Mofo 2011 Get Ready for a Vegan Blogging Storm!

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. Vegan Mofo is almost upon us! What the heck is Vegan Mofo you say? It stands for Vegan Month of Food. Instead of trying to give you the full run down, I'll simply send y'all on over to Vegan Mofo headquarters.

They've got a sign-up sheet, if you plan to participate. There is a handy dandy FAQ if you still need more info. The only requirement is that all your blogs include vegan content. The goal is to blog five days a week, which breaks down to about twenty times a month.

So if you haven't signed up yet, get your tail on over to the site, because the deadline is tomorrow!

Pecan Butter Frosting on "Butter" Cupcake

As I've shared before, I hark from Georgia. The fresh pecans from down there just can't be beat. I am lucky enough to have family who ship them to us sometimes.

The pecan frosting for this recipe was from scratch, and the cake was from a box. We had recently had my aunt and cousins up to visit, so I made these for dessert one night.

Veganizing box cake recipes is actually relatively simple. For this one, I substituted the eggs in the recipe with apple sauce, used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks for the butter. Lastly, I added a tablespoon of vinegar to help the cake rise.

Here is the break down for a vegan version of Duncan Hines Butter Golden Cake. 

2/3 cup water

2/3 cup applesauce

1 Tsbp. vinegar

1/2 cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks

Other than the couple of changes to the ingredients, follow the directions on the box for cooking times, etc. See below for the pecan butter frosting recipe.

Pecan Butter Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks

3/4 cup pecan butter (follow link to previous recipe)

3-4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla or maple flavoring

2-3 Tbsp. soy or almond milk

Cream together the margarine and pecan butter. Slowly mix in powdered sugar and almond milk, alternating between the two. Once mixed well, beat for about five minutes until frosting is nice and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar or soy milk to obtained desired texture.

Pre-school Season Vegan Snack Time

It is that time of year again, and the kids start pre-school tomorrow. It will be Elliott's second year and Evelyn's first. They always have a snack in the mornings and it is provided by the parents on a rotating schedule. I always send vegan options like hemp, soy, or almond milk and vegan cheese crackers.

If you are interested in some guidelines for what worked for our family communicating about vegan options, see our list/instructions below.

How does your school do it? What does your family do for snack time and treats at school?

List of Vegan Snacks He/She Can Eat

• Fruit (fresh and dried)
• Veggies
• Graham Crackers
• Teddy Grahams
• Pretzels
• Stauffer’s and Barnum and Bailey’s Animal Crackers
• Cheerios, Kix, Life, Chex Cereal
• Veggie Booty
• Earth’s Best Organic Smiley Snacks
• Wheat Thins (All kinds EXCLUDING Parmesan Basil, Cream Cheese & Chives, Ranch)
• Triscuits (All kinds EXCLUDING Parmesan Garlic and Quattro Formaggio
• Soy or Coconut Yogurt
• Hummus
• Stacy’s Pita Chips (All kinds EXCLUDING Parmesan Garlic)
• Stacy’s Bagel Bites
• Ritz Crackers 
• Sesame Sticks
• Trader Joe’s Bagel Chips: Whole Wheat, Everything, or Sea Salt
• Popcorn (Without butter or cheese)
• Lundberg Organic Brown Rice Cakes
• Pita Chips: Cinnamon & Sugar, w/Sea Salt, w/ Sesame Seeds
• Pirate’s Veggie Booty
•  Eco Planet’s Pretzel Crackers and Cheddar Non-Dairy Crackers
• Annie’s Bunny Fruit Snacks
• Applesauce

Non-Vegan Item’s He/She Should Not Eat

• Any meat, chicken, fish products
• Dairy Products (Cheese, yogurt, milk, cottage cheese)
• Eggs
• Pepperidge Farm Fish Crackers (all kinds contain dairy)
• Gelatin

Helpful Hint: at the end of all ingredient lists manufacturers are required to list if common allergens in the product. This includes milk, milk products, and eggs. (see red arrow in example picture below).

Note: We DO eat products labeled like the label on the right, where the product was manufactured or may contain trace amounts of milk or eggs.