Saturday, 29 December 2012

A Vegan Affair (part 2)

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So, carrying on from my last post this is my vegan dessert! I also copied it from the same blog as the enchiladas. If you are looking for super healthy vegan recipes then definitely a blog to check out!
ohsheglows.com
So the recipe I used was baked apples with pecans and oatmeal with maple syrup:
http://ohsheglows.com/2012/10/23/baked-apples-stuffed-with-cinnamon-date-pecan-oatmeal/

This isn't my usual type of dessert but I thought I would give it a try. To be honest it is one that heated up in the morning would make a super awesome breakfast! I used red royal gala apples which held up well in the oven. I heard quite a lot of stories of apples going mushy in the oven so if you are thinking of baking apples then check out what apples are best first!

The hardest part of this recipe to be honest is the coring of the apples-I don't have a corer so I had to just use a paring knife, just be careful when you do this!

Apart from the coring all you have to do is mix everything but the apples in a bowl:

 

Pretty gross to look at but it does taste good! 

After this put the apples in a lightly greased baking tray and pack in the mixture into the apples as much as you can- You will have quite a bit extra left so just pour it around the apples.

 Again, not the most appealing for a photo!
And once they come out the oven, the apples should still have a bit of a crunch to them, the oats will be cooked and all the milk will be soaked up!
If you guys have any vegan desserts that you would like to share then feel free as it would be nice to know how to do yummy desserts that are completely vegan!

Labels: 101 things in 1001 days, vegan, vegetarian | 0 comments

Friday, 28 December 2012

A Vegan Affair

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So for my Christmas dinner this year I just had my best friend and her boyfriend over for an evening in. Since he is vegan I decided to do a vegetarian main and dessert. I have never thought much about eating vegan or even vegetarian all of the time so it was something to think about while I was planning on what to make. I ended up making sweet potato enchiladas and I will put my dessert on my next post! The recipe was inspired by a blog which is pretty popular by a lady called Angela who writes vegan recipes and on living healthily and running marathons! Here is a link to her blog:
ohsheglows.com
So the recipe I based mines on was from this link:
http://ohsheglows.com/2011/05/04/vegan-enchiladas-with-cilantro-avocado-cream-sauce-2/

I made it using everything but the yeast, cumin, garlic powder or chilli powder but added coriander, garlic paste, tomato paste and I added extra peppers. Depending on what you have in your spices cupboard and the vege you have in the house the recipe can be very versatile! Here is everything cooking before being put into the wraps:

 
Once I got everything ready to be wrapped I ended up making a complete mess of things- apparantly I am not very neat at making wraps! Luckily once you cover the wraps in more of the sauce and some spring onions you don't notice the messyness!

We had this with the avocado cream sauce-a little bit like guacamole! If I were a vegan, a good guacamole would definitely be what I would live off of! Anyway let me know of any other vegan recipes that you guys have tried- I would like to see what other vegans eat even if I couldn't be a vegan forever!

Labels: 101 things in 1001 days, vegan, vegetarian | 0 comments

Thursday, 27 December 2012

Visiting Cake Boss in New Jersey!

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This was possibly one of the coolest things that I did this summer! I absolutely love watching Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss and since I was staying with a host in New Jersey we went one morning to visit where the magic happens! Since I stayed in New Jersey for a few days I managed to complete one of my list- to visit 3 new states in America!

Since the host, Rio, had a driver’s license from Hoboken New York we got to skip the general line! When we went there was a line of about over 50 people waiting outside and when we went in there was quite a lot of people already in there. Overall it was a nice experience but unfortunately we did not see any of the cast which was very sad! =(  

 

I was nice to see all of the photos of the cast and the family along the walls and of course there was a lot of memorabilia since this show has gotten very popular!

 I got to see the display cakes so that I could see the level that they had and hopefully get inspired so one day my cakes will be displayed!

 

 I bought 4 of their cannolis and 4 lobster tails which I shared with my host! They were sooooo yummy! Very creamy and crispy and I loved them! Something that I wish that I could eat every morning =P

Labels: 101 things in 1001 days, america, cake, cake boss | 0 comments

Wednesday, 26 December 2012

Let’s hear it for New York!

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It has been way too long since my last post and since I am chilling at home for Christmas for a couple of days its time to update! After my trip to North Carolina I ended my summer by going to New York so I could visit a new state and check it off of my 101 in 1001 list. I spent the first 5 days in a hostel with Gosia, a girl that I worked with all summer before couch surfing for another couple of weeks! Although I wasn’t as excited about going to New York as some people might have been, it definitely was an experience! After going to all the tourist places with my friend and once she left I lived with some locals which helped to see New York in a different light =D

Here are just some of the pics that I snapped whilst there!

 If you go to the right places, it really is a lovely place to visit with a lot of scenery. I would for sure go again although one tip I would suggest is make sure you bring enough spending money! Even just wandering about you feel your pockets getting lighter!

Labels: 101 things in 1001 days, america | 1 comments

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Culture in North Carlina!

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This is my last post from OBX and very long overdue!

I actually managed to get a bit of culture while in the Outer Banks! Before leaving I managed to take a trip out to the Kitty Hawk Wright Brothers, with a guy who I worked with this summer called Max, which is where the first flight took place! Since I am writing about this on a plane it was quite interesting to see how the Wright brothers managed to actually achieve this! 

Max and I also took a trip out to the aquarium which was super cool! I haven’t been to a zoo or an aquarium in so long so it was a really nice treat to go to one. Although we were unable to swim with the sharks or the crocodiles, we could touch the sting rays which felt really strange. All in all a nice day out :D

Labels: 101 things in 1001 days, america | 0 comments

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

15th Anniversary for Mum's Boss!

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At the end of October I finally got my first paid cake job! My mum’s boss was celebrating her company’s 15^th year and they asked me to do the cake which of course I was so excited to do! I was left to my own ideas about what to do with the cake but my mum gave me some ideas to go with which would relate to the company. The company is a counseling company so my mum thought it would be fun to incorporate different faces of emotion in it so I decided that I would try cake pops for the first time!

I made the cake pops a couple of times prior to the event just so that I could get a feel for how to make them and how to decorate them but this was the first time making them so I actually managed to cross two things off of my list! As well as the cake pops I made a cake to go along with it with the company’s logo on it, the leaf. I decorated the cake pops and the cake with food colouring.

Normally I would use vodka with this to dip the brush into and this will help to dry the colouring faster and the vodka will evaporate however since I didn’t have any at the time because I made this at my mum’s house instead of mine, it was a lot harder to dry but a night in the fridge did solve that!.

So, the cake pops were made out of chocolate cake, mixed with a cream cheese vanilla buttercream and dipped in white chocolate. Then the actual cake I made was a lot plainer- a vanilla cake with a vanilla cream cheese buttercream again and covered with some marshmallow fondant.

Me with my mum's boss!

Overall I was pretty happy with these cakes. There were some things that I wish I was better at doing as I am not too artistic the faces could have been better and my fondant I had some problems with! But the client did like it and I even got my photo in the local paper! =D

My mum is on the right and the 2 other ladies and man are her work mates!

Labels: 101 things in 1001 days, anniversary, cake, cake pops | 0 comments