It’s about damn time. A full feature on the vegan community in Grand Rapids. Cheers to all of my friends that landed within the pages of the spread. Want to know what’s going on in veg eats in West Michigan? Check out the March edition of Grand Rapids Magazine to find out how/where you can embrace a cruelty free lifestyle without traveling too far from your front door.
Oh, check it out!
Photos courtesy of Jon Dunn/Kolene Allen, VeganGR.
In honor of my birthday today (36 is the new 26), a vegan cupcake recipe for your nom nom pleasure.
Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
Sift the dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl. Gently add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until just combined.
Scoop out 1/4 C batter into cupcake wrappers.
Bake 350 x 12-16 minutes depending on your oven. My batches all averaged about 15 minutes in a conventional gas oven.
Let cool and frost with your fave vegan frosting or Pillsbury chocolate frosting (both dark and milk chocolate varieties are accidentally vegan).
Thank you to my friends Jon Dunn and Kolene Allen of VeganGR for sharing this recipe with me.
Posted in Baking, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian
Tagged accidentally vegan, birthday, chocolate cupcakes, Jon Dunn, Kolene Allen, PETA, vegan, vegan baking, vegan cupcake, vegan dessert, Vegan GR, vegetarian baking
I’ve been a vegetarian for quite some time now, and I have always had strong feelings about going vegan, as in, I’d really love to and then I start thinking…of cheese, eggs and Greek yogurt.
Confession: I am a dairy whore. The thought of not eating Habanero Mango Cheese from Horrocks ever again frankly makes me nearly faint. Like most things, jumping in to a vegan lifestyle with both feet is so scary, so I will make small changes where possible and hopefully will get there someday.
My friends Kolene (@suckahpunch) and Jon (@jon_dunn) however, have basically jumped in head first. I’m so proud of them. They began a Twitter group Vegan GR (@vegangr) and a website where they scope out vegan friendly restaurants and vendors around GR and basically run around doing good all day long. I’m serious. Case in point, Kolene’s birthday wish is raising money for Carol’s Ferals a non-profit feline organization which performs TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) services in Western Michigan and Jon works for Best Friends Animal Society where he is the wizard behind their online presence. I know, right? You want to hate them, but you cannot help but love these people! I don’t even LIKE cats and I gave to Kolene’s birthday wish. They are compelling people for the case of a vegan lifestyle. Lots of give in those two. They inspire me to try, at least sometimes, to foster a vegan diet and so perhaps with their help, I will kick my dairy habit and become a vegan too.
I’ve posted vegan baked goods on this blog in the past (Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles) from PPK’s Isa Chandra, but this recipe I took from this little cutie named Claire who runs this blog called Vegan Cooking. Check her out and while you are at it, bake a vegan dessert like this one I’m giving to Kolene for her birthday.
Vegan Banana Nut Bread
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Sift together dry ingredients. Stir in nuts, egg replacer, bananas, oil and vanilla. Mix well.
Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 45-60 mins (until knife comes out clean). Cool for 5 mins before removing from pan. Cool on wire rack.
Posted in Baking, Bread, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Make Ahead, Product Review, Recipes, Vegan
Tagged @jon_dunn, @suckahpunch, @VeganGr, baking, banana, banana bread, banana walnut bread recipe, Best Friends Animal Society, bread, Carol's Ferals, claire, create, dairy whore, delish, egg replacement, Flax Seed, flax sprinkles, fruit, greek yogurt, Habanero Mango Cheese, Horrocks, isa chandra moskowitz, Jon, Kolene, Non-Profits, quick bread, recipe, Stober Farms, sweet bread, Twitter, veg, vegan, Vegan GR, vegancooking.com, vegangr.com, vegetarian, walnuts, yum
