Vegan Shepherd's Pie

I'm aware St. Patrick's Day is over, but you can save up this recipe for next year! Or you can just make it any time because it is delicious. It's also really quick and doesn't require too much prep work, so it's perfect for those days/nights when you don't have much time/energy, which for me is basically every night. And then if that all isn't enough, it's also pretty good for you, depending on the fake meat and vegetables you use and how much butter and nutritional yeast you put on the mashed potatoes.

I'm giving you the ingredients I used to make it, but you can use whatever. Use whatever vegetables you want, whatever meat substitute (Bocca crumbles, tempeh, tofu, TVP), and make the mashed potatoes however you like! Go crazy!

Raspberry Coconut Cake and Lemon Butter Cream Frosting

Little E's birthday was in January, it is now March. If my calculations are correct, that means it's taken me 2 months to post pictures of her birthday cake. I think I deserve an award, maybe something like, the "Best Blogger Ever." Quality over quantity people, that's my motto, and let me tell you, this is some quality stuff right here. Coconut, lemon butter cream, homemade raspberry preserves, fresh raspberries, and all vegan. Nothing better. Except maybe Almond Milk Ice Cream. Have you guys tried that stuff? Delicious.

Berry Cake Filling

Look familiar? A few days ago it was my boyfriend's birthday, which I wrote about on this little blog of mine as well as posted quite a few pictures, including the outside of the above raspberry cake. Well, as promised, I am now posting a picture of the middle of the cake and am giving you the recipe for the berry filling. The cake and icing recipe is pretty much* the same as the red velvet cupcakes I posted a few months ago, but the berry filling is a new addition. I used the same recipe for both cakes, they only differed in the type of berry. They were pretty straightforward; for the raspberry cake I used only frozen raspberries, for the blackberry and strawberry cake I used frozen raspberries and fresh blackberries.

*I say "pretty much" because there were actually two slight alterations: 1) I didn't have red food coloring so it just became a chocolate cake, and 2) I added a bit of shortening to the frosting (about 2 tablespoons) to make it a bit more manageable, since cream cheese frostings have a tendency to melt quickly and not hold their shape when decorating with them.

My New Favorite

It's official, my new favorite food blog is My New Roots by Sarah Britton, a nutritionist and vegetarian chef. I haven't tried any of her recipes yet, but I've saved basically every single one I've seen so far to try later, and I've already gone through about ten pages. Some of her recipes are raw (such as a cashew "cheese"cake, which is the first picture below), some are vegan, and all are vegetarian. I'm not going to lie, raw+vegetarian/vegan can often mean gross, but take one look at her blog, or some of the pictures I've posted below and I guarantee it will only be seconds before your mouth starts to water. Not only do her recipes sound amazing and are her photos beautiful, but her posts are entertaining and funny! I think in the food world, Sarah Britton would be considered a triple threat. So if you haven't already, go check out her blog! And stay tuned here, as I plan on trying some of her recipes in the very near future...I really can't wait to try that cashew cake!

All of the following photos are from My New Roots:

Birthday Breakfast: Vegan Crepes

These crepes are more of dessert crepes than just breakfast crepes. But it was a birthday breakfast, so it seemed acceptable to pile almond milk ice cream and chocolate syrup on top of the already sweetened crepes. Of course that decadence is optional and the crepes are equally as delicious simply wrapped around assorted fruits.

Happy March!

Spring cannot come soon enough.