Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Icing and Chocolate Ganache from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The BEST cupcake I've ever eaten. Not too sweet and minty delicious. We were all pining for seconds!! Make these ASAP!!

Garden Party Anyone??

This post has absolutely nothing to do with vegan food, or even with food for that matter. But, I've stumbled upon this sewing blog, thanks Jenny!! Anyway, this lady makes these absolutely fantastic little girls clothes, then she GIVES THEM AWAY........yes, I said GIVES THEM AWAY. I know, I had to read over her blog several times, just to be sure that was the case. Anyway this Garden Party Frock is one of the cutest things I've seen, and being that I have two little girls, I'd get a lot of use out of it, if by some lucky chance I was the winner.

If you've got a little girl, or even if you know a little girl, you must check out her site and see her clothes. They are beyond beautiful, and so unlike anything you can get at the stores. After seeing how cute her clothes are I'll warn you, you are likely to see a few more of these posts in the future as I tempt my luck!!!

Vegan Indianapolis

photo from salon.com

So, I know that I said the weekends were going to be when I do most of my cooking now that school has started. Here we are, a weekend has passed, and I've yet to post a dish. As it turns out, I didn't cook this weekend. We took a short trip up to Indianapolis to see Bill Maher. I've really been missing Real Time this summer, so it was great to see Maher again. And, it reminded me that his movie Religulous is due out soon (which I can't wait to see). In addition to Bill's intelligent, witty and liberal take on politics and his humorous and thought provoking views on world religion, Bill is on the board of PETA, an animal rights activist, and not at all shy about telling the American people that they are fat and unhealthy because of their addiction to a meat based diet!! Go Bill!!! Oh yes, I can't forget the hilarious aside to this story.........as we left the theater there were a group of people (probably 40 or so) standing on the sidewalk, holding candles, and singing hymns, praying to save our souls. Apparently Bill Maher has very few friends in the religious circle!!

Vegan eating in Indy isn't really as easy as I thought it would be. There isn't even one 100% vegetarian restaurant in the entire city. Plus, being that we were staying downtown and the show was downtown we, of course, wanted to eat downtown. Our best shot at getting vegan food downtown was PF Chang's. With the vegetarian lettuce wraps, and the coconut curry vegetables, it was a very satisfying vegan meal. For breakfast the next day we drove to The Abbey, which is the one restaurant/cafe in Indy that features vegetarian/vegan options. Here we had some incredibly good vegan pancakes smothered with the freshest, sweetest berries I've had in quite some time. This little place is definitely a gem in Indy's dining scene. I can't wait to go back and try some of their lunch/dinner options which all sounded incredible!!

Maple Dijon Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

Tonight's dinner was just thrown together using a lot of our CSA veggies from this week, and it turned out superbly. It was a bit more fancy version of the pasta salad I blogged about before, and served warm.

This time I started by roasting 2 large red peppers. Roasting peppers is so simple, and it makes them taste so delicious. For those of you who might not know the best way to roast a pepper, this is a pretty good tutorial.

After the peppers had roasted, I tossed 1 pint of grape tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes (until they were beginning to burst). While the tomatoes were roasting I also had 4 cloves of garlic roasting (in the skins, drizzled in EVOO and wrapped in aluminum foil).

On the stove I sauteed 2 small zucchini, sliced and 2 small summer squash, sliced with about 1/2 of a large red onion, also sliced. While sauteing and roasting the veggies I cooked about 8 oz of whole wheat penne. Once everything was roasted, sauteed and cooked, I tossed it all together (except the garlic) in a large bowl and drizzled it with a maple dijon vinaigrette.

Rob declare this dish delicious, and we both went back for a second helping. It's really quick and easy to make and a great way to retain the fresh flavors of your summer veggies.

Maple Dijon Vinaigrette

1 Tbs Dijon Mustard

2 Tbs Maple Syrup

2 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 cloves roasted garlic, smashed into a paste

Combine all ingredients except oil in a small bowl. Whisk to combine, then slowly add olive oil while whisking, until emulsified.