The only picture we mananged to get of her smiling. Thanks, Kendal.

Yesterday was Emma’s birthday party and man, was it hot!  Perfect weather, actually, since there was a bit of a breeze.  She seemed to enjoy herself; although, every time I ask her if she had fun, she tells me that it was too tiring.  I agree.  Next year, she seems down for a trip somewhere in lieu of a big party.  The theme was garden/spring/bugs.

I bet you’re all wondering what was on the menu so without further delay, here you go:

Fruit:  pineapple, watermelon, grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe and blueberries (and a special thanks to Nana Sally for contributing the best tasting blueberries I’ve had all year– blueberries are one of Emma’s favorite foods).  I used the top half of a pineapple as the centerpiece of the fruit tray.  Then I cut some melon flowers and put them on skewers into the pineapple.  I used green leaf lettuce around the edge for a little something extra.  Turned out cute.

Snack Tray #1:  cherry tomatoes, edamame, spring rolls with Quick Peanut Sauce from Vegan Lunch Box.

Snack Tray #2:  mini pitas, crackers, baby carrots, bell pepper slices, cucumber slices and falafel.

For the kiddos:  PB&J flowers.  Centers are strawberry and grape halves secured with a toothpick.

Cake:

A cupcake tower of strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, chocolate mint, lemon and coconut.  The cupcakes were topped with fondant ladybugs, butterflies, caterpillars, and flowers.  On top of the tower was a “cake” with a candle for Emma to blow out.  I didn’t have time to make an actual cake, so I used styrofoam and covered it with homemade chocolate fondant.  The decor at the top is all made from gum paste and fondant.  Extra embellishments– i.e. the ladybug spots, etc.– are all done with a vegan royal icing (sub Ener-G Egg Replacer for egg white).

I know all of this looks like it took a long time to prepare, and it did, but the great thing about it is that a lot of it can be done ahead of time.  The faux “cake” I made about two weeks ahead of time.  The fondant decorations for the cupcakes were done about a month ago, as with the decorations for the faux “cake.”  All of the cupcakes have been leftovers from the various batches I’ve made over the last month, except for the chocolate and vanilla ones.  I cut up and arranged all the fruit the day before.  The falafel was cooked the day before and reheated the day of.  Yes, it was a lot of work, but breaking it up into more manageable parts made it much easier.

This past weekend, I was in Sacramento for my 10-year high school reunion and a friend’s baby shower.  I had offered to make cupcakes for the shower and the mama-to-be requested chocolate mint, mocha, lemon and coconut.  I’ve never made coconut cake before, but I figured I could alter my lemon cake recipe slightly to make it coconut.  Guess what?!  It worked!  To make the coconut cake, follow the lemon cake recipe exactly, but sub coconut milk (either light or full fat) for the soy milk and coconut extract for the lemon extract.  You could even add an extra teaspoon of coconut extract to the cake batter, if you wanted to kick the coconut up a notch.  For the buttercream, follow the lemon buttercream recipe exactly, but sub coconut extract for the lemon.  I’ve made this one more time since I made it for this batch of cupcakes, and I think it’s better with an extra 1/2 to full teaspoon of coconut extract.  After frosting, roll in flaked coconut.  All cupcakes were topped with fondant flowers that matched the theme.

I made the cupcake stand following these instructions and covered it in paper that matched the theme of the shower.  The one thing I did not do was glue the paper to the cake boards– I used double stick tape instead to make it less permanent.  To buy all the materials for this project is pretty pricy, but by making it reusable, I’ll get more life out of it.

Since today is Earth Day, I’ve put together a list of 10 easy things you can do to reduce your environmental impact.

1. Eat less meat.  It’s better for you, the animals and the Earth.

A few highlights from the video:

• It takes 12,000 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef compared to just 60 gallons to produce 1 pound of potatoes.
• The average American uses 106 gallons of water per day for domestic needs.  If you eat a quarter-pound hamburger, your daily consumption of water jumps to 3,106 gallons.
• 90% of deforestation is due to beef.  260 million acres of forest has been destroyed to provide cattle with grazing land.  Another acre disappears every 8 seconds.
• Farm animals consume 80% of American corn, 80% of grain and 95% of oats.  If people didn’t eat animals, this food could be fed to those who have none.  “World hunger” would not exist.
• Half of the fresh water in the U.S. is used to grow crops to feed the animals you eat.
• The other half of the fresh water in the U.S. is polluted by the waste of the animals that you eat.
• Your toilet is probably cleaner than the meat you eat.  Wonder why you have to cook it so long?  It’s because it’s covered in poop.  That is disgusting.

2. Invest in Reuseable Produce Bags. I’ve had my eye on these for a while, but have yet to take the plunge.  If everyone used these, think of the number of plastic bags we could eliminate from the landfill.  I always feel guilty tossing plastic produce bags in the trash, so I’m always careful to take them to the recycle bin when I take back all of my other plastic grocery bags.  On a related note, keeping your reusable grocery bags in the car is a great way to always have them when you need them.  I often make unexpected trips to the grocery store and get caught without my reusable ones.  I’m going to make a point to keep them in the car from now on.
3. Only use toilet paper and tissues that are made from recycled paper.  This one may not even occur to most of us but as a user of toilet paper made from recycled paper, I can assure you that it’s not that different from virgin fiber toilet paper.

Seventh Generation, one of the largest recycled producers, estimates that:

• One million trees would be saved if every U.S. household replaced just one 250-count package of virgin fiber napkins with 100 percent recycled ones.
• 544,000 trees would be saved by replacing a 70-sheet roll of virgin fiber paper towels.
• 424,000 trees would be spared by replacing a 500-sheet roll of virgin fiber toilet paper.
• 170,000 trees would be saved by replacing one 175-count box of virgin fiber facial tissue.

4. Buy organic whenever possible.  Organic farms do not use or release harmful pesticides into the environment.  Better for you and the environment.
5. Use green cleaning products/laundry detergent/personal care products.  For cleaning, some baking soda does a good job in the kitchen and bathroom.  Eco-friendly products are also generally cruelty-free (animals are often forced to have the products dripped in their eyes, applied to their shaved skin, or forced to ingest it just so it can be deemed “safe” for the consumer).
6. Change all of your lightbulbs to CFLs.  This one is so easy and with the price of CFLs coming down, you really have no excuse not to.  Don’t forget the lamps!
7. Seal all windows and doors to prevent drafts.
8. Read more.  This means you’ll watch less TV and use less electricity!
9. Be mindful of what you throw into the trash can.  Can a package be broken down and the individual parts recycled?  Take the time to do that.
10. Use both sides of the paper.  Whether writing notes, shopping lists, printing out directions, or kids coloring projects use both sides of the paper before recycling it.

The bento box giveaway closes tonight at midnight (PDT). Get your entries in now!!

I don’t know what happened, but I totally got out of the habit of enjoying fresh juice for breakfast.  *sigh*  As I’ve posted about before, I brought home oodles of citrus from my Dad’s trees and I thought I’d get some good juice out of them this morning.  I also had some broccoli in the fridge that I’ve intended to have for dinner the last several nights, but never got around to it.

+  = 

I used 4 small carrots, a bunch of broccoli with stems, 1 apple, and 2 grapefruit.  It’s amazing how filling this juice is!  And this is a neat tip (thanks, Dad, for telling me about it).  Put a plastic produce bag around the shoot and inside the collection bin of your juicer.  It catches all of the bits that sometimes fly out the back and all you have to do for cleanup is toss out the bag.  Voila!

I’ve been trying hard lately to eat more Raw dishes; salads obviously being the easiest way to accomplish this goal.  I get tired of the same salads with the same dressing.  In fact, I find myself getting tired of salads altogether if I eat them every day.  So, I try to change it up a bit and give each it’s own uniqueness.

A few days ago, I tried this Fennel Orange Kale Salad from Kristen’s Raw.  In place of the hemp oil, I used cold-pressed organic flax oil.  I also didn’t have any kalamata olives, which was SOOOO depressing because I bet they’re awesome in this salad, so I used some cherry tomatoes.  My salad base was a mix of romaine lettuce and chopped kale.  Raw kale in a salad is a bit much for me, so I had to mix it up a bit with some crunchy lettuce.

Yesterday for lunch, I whipped up this salad using romaine lettuce, fennel, raw beets and cherry tomatoes.  I made this Sweet Dijon Dressing to go over it and it was AWESOME!  I found it to be a little thick, so I thinned it out just a tad with a TB or 2 of water.  This dressing is seriously good.  I think I’ll even try a ranch style version using the raw zucchini as a base and incorporating some of the herbs found in ranch dressing.

Today’s lunch was the same salad from yesterday, except I used a box grater to grate some carrot, beets and fennel.  Once I put the dressing on, I squeezed some fresh lemon juice over the top, which really made it super delicious.  I’ll have to remember to do that from now on.  Today, I had my salad with a banana and some coconut water.  Fresh coconut water is so delicious.  If you’ve never tried it, you’re seriously missing out.  I put mine in the fridge right when I bring them home from the store so that the water is nice and cold when I am in the mood for having some.  And, I’ve found that Asian markets have the best prices on coconuts, about 20 cents cheaper than my Whole Foods.  Be sure to buy the young coconuts (they have white all the way around).  The brown ones are older and don’t have the water inside.  Intimated about opening up a fresh coconut?  Here’s a video to help you:

A while back, we had the Walnut, White Bean & Spinach Phyllo Rolls from ED&BV. They were SO good that I thought it would be a great snack to make for Emma’s birthday party, which will be totally vegan. Since the phyllo roll is better suited for a sit-down meal, I thought it would be fun to make the same filling, but use the phyllo appetizer shells instead. That was, until, I was at the store and saw that a box of 15 shells costs over $3! We have about 35 people coming to the party and each person will probably eat a whole tray once they taste how good they are, so we would be spending a small fortune on those pre-made phyllo shells.

It’s not very often that I get an idea that I impress myself with, so I had to share. I took one sheet of phyllo, brushed on a little olive oil, and topped it with another sheet of phyllo. I repeated this process until I had 3 phyllo sheets all piled up and ready to go. I used a cup as a stencil on the phyllo and traced around it with a paring knife. Each stack of phyllo sheets made 6 circles, which I then stuffed into a mini-muffin tin. Bake in a 350 degree oven just until the phyllo is starting to turn golden brown. Remove them from the oven and let them cool. I don’t want to spend the morning of the party making these shells so, as an experiment, I put a few back in the freezer after they had cooled. A few days later, I removed them from the freezer, put them back in the mini-muffin tin and back into a 350 degree oven until they were golden.

I was afraid that baking and refreezing them would make them soggy, but they turned out perfectly crisp! I will probably be making these all weekend in preparation for the party next weekend, but at least we won’t be dumping a whole lotta money on the pre-made ones.