Gelatin-Free Skittles

At my school, today one of my vegetarian friends told me Skittles went gelatin and gluten free. I couldn't believe so I told him to buy ones and I read it myself and ate a few [I'm not a candy sucker] They can be safe to eat for vegans. But still one thing: MARS test on animals. If they decided to eliminate the nasty gelatin of the Skittles, we can send letters or emails or even call the company and ask them to stop testing their stuff on animals. We can say that we are happy they eliminated the gelatin of the Skittles, and that's a good thing, but they still test them on inoffensive animals. That we would like them to stop doing that. OK, that would be great, though it's not a healthy food because of the hydrogenated oils and that stuff, but a few pieces in a while wouldn't be that bad. ;)

That would be nice if Starburst go gelatin free too, if they haven't yet :)
Though we have MAMBA Fruit Chews, which are great.

I am a vegan baker! [+ banana nut muffins recipe]

Yes :)
I can now consider myself a pro vegan baker [lolz, j/k] x) -I've been baking
vegan cupcakes for looong time, even created few recipes myself, yay!
I have now a mini bakery business. I bake vegan muffins and
cupcakes and sell them to a health food store here in my town and to
my neighbor, that he owns a cafe. This is working really good for me,
and I am earning more experience everyday, because in the future
I want to open a vegan restaurant/cafe....I know I'll do it! I am also finding
more places to sell my muffins.

I love baking, and cooking, and that stuff and I was making cupcakes and muffins
for me and my family and my mom gave me the idea to bake and sell. The idea got big,
now I have people ordering me dozens of cupcakes and muffins. Even non-vegan people!

I think this is one way to show people that a vegan lifestyle doesn't need to
sacrifice taste or food likes! and maybe they'll be thinking on going vegan, who knows! ;)

I will also start baking cupcakes for birthdays soon!
So if you are in my area [Puerto Rico], and are vegan [or not, whatever] and want cupcakes
for a birthday, or just because you want them, be sure to contact me.

VEGAN BANANA NUT MUFFINS
-These are perfect for breakfast-
Makes 12

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup+4 tbsp turbinado sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 bananas
1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup soy, rice or almond milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mash the banana really well or put them on the blender and blend until no lumps [small lumps are OK] In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flax seed and walnuts. In a small bowl combine the mashed bananas, oil, the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones and mix together until "just mixed". Spoon into oiled muffins pan (or into paper liners in the muffin pan) and bake for 15-20 minutes.

*These are really great for breakfast, like when you're in a hurry and can't prepare a big breakfast. Also great for putting on your kid's lunchbox for school, or just for a snack ;)

Wild Woods Organic Probiotic Soymilk

OK, so this is more like a soy yogurt smoothie or something like that. Tastes really really good. I just bought one bottle yesterday [vanilla] and tried it, it was good! I am going for a few more to keep on my fridge. The live cultures on it are dairy free and vegan. They come in 2 more flavors: blueberry & pomegranate. So when you go to the grocery store or the health food store or whatever, check them out, I really recommend :)

Finally I found vegan croutons

Finally. I've always loved salads and I always used to add some croutons to my salads, I like them. But when I became vegan, all the croutons on the market seemed to have milk products on them. That really sucks, and I hate when I see something I might like that says: Contains: Milk, or eggs or whatever animal product it is. But now I can say...there is everything vegan, you just have to wait or try to find it. LOL. I was like all this time I've been vegan trying to find vegan croutons. And few weeks ago I went to Wal*mart Superstore and started looking at some croutons...there was a brand that everyone of them had milk on them...but at the back there were these Melissa's [Good Life Foods] Garden Herb Organic Croutons. I read the ingredients and found no animals on it, I smiled :), but I read them like 3 times more. Even when I came here I read them again. LOL but yes they're vegan and organic. YAY for me!
Oh, and they really taste good.

More pasta...

I've been cooking many pasta dishes these days, though I'm not a really big fan of pasta, I do like it. And I don't cook pasta dishes so often, but I wanted to make some, and improve myself in pasta cooking, lol. Oh and also if you want to eat more vegetables, pasta dishes are a great thing to put vegetables on. I think most vegetables (if no, all) can be used to cook pasta.

So the other day I made the "Pasta with roasted vegetables and olives" from the Vegan Express cookbook.
This thing is amazing, you should buy the book, NOW! It does have lots of express recipes, and all of them are so easy to prepare. If you make a recipe, and serve, it may look like you passed all day in the kitchen preparing it, but hell no, that was fast & easy (shh that's the secret, don't tell your guests).

For this recipe I used spiral pasta, sun dried tomatoes, eggplant, red onion, red bell pepper, broccoli, kalamata olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar & I don't remember what else, but you got the idea, right? Eat lots of veggies with lots of flavor, that even omnivores will enjoy. I know that because I called my cousin and her husband to come home and try them...they loved it! "It is not so salty, but damn tasty", my cousin said. Even her 13 and 10 year old son & daughter ate them. So this can be kid friendly too if you know how to do it.

Lo mein

This is the first time I cook Lo Mein and it was great. It's also really simple & quick to do.

The other day I bought 1 pack of wide Lo Mein noodles, and followed a little the recipe that was on the back of the package. I added other vegetables that wasn't there, and added half water, half vegetable broth & a pinch of salt to boil, for the noodles for more flavor, but you can use only water and salt if you want to, if you don't have veggie broth in hand.

Ingredients:
-water, or half water, half veggie broth [enough to cover the noodles]
- 1 package of wide Lo Mein noodles
-pinch of salt

-few tbsp peanut oil
-few tbsp olive oil or stir fry oil
-Broccoli
-Red Bell Pepper, cut into strips
-Celery, cut small and finely, best
-Some of the Morningstar Farms chickn' style s strips, cut into small-medium cubes
-cayenne pepper powder
-onion powder
-a little more salt to taste
-ground black pepper
-garlic powder


Ok, now you're going to start boiling the noodles in the water with veggie broth [if using] and the pinch of salt for 5 minutes.
Cut the chickn' strips into cubes and season with the spices, black pepper & salt, to taste.
While boiling the noodles, saute the vegetables [you can use a wok or a big frying pan] and the seasoned strips in the oil for few minutes until ready.
When the noodles are done, add them to the wok or frying pan with the veggies and they're ready when lightly golden browned.
That's all.

Enjoy.

Some Grocery shopping

Yesterday I went to a Wal*Mart Superstore and bought some stuff I need for a recipe that later will be posting here. I don't know if you're like me, but I love grocery shopping! I enjoy looking for fresh veggies and stuff and new things to try on recipes, etc. I enjoy looking every aisle...for real. I enjoy grocery shopping the same I enjoy shopping at the mall or looking at magazines at Borders or reading books. :) I bought some organic celery, frozen corn, sweet peas and other stuff for quick meals for when I'm in a hurry or something.

Today I went to Freshmart with my mom and bought another stuff [on the picture]

I bought those Morning Star Farm vegan chikn' strips, scallions, red curry paste, orange citrus sauce, organic kalamata olives, whole wheat bread, dates with coconut, So Delicious coconut milk yogurts, peanut oil,white Basmati rice & a small bowl of fresh fruits my mom and I ate on the road to home..lol :)

I'm going to make the "Pasta with roasted vegetables and Olives" from the Vegan Express Cookbook and will post the recipe and my picture here later.

:)