Baked Eggplant Parmesan

This is an easy vegan baked eggplant "parm" (I didn't have vegan parmesan so I used mozzarella instead). Much healthier than a fried version.

What you will need:
1 large eggplant
1/2 cup soy milk
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 jar marinara sauce
3/4 cup vegan mozzarella shreds
salt

1. Slice eggplant in 3/4" slices, layer in a strainer in a single layer and sprinkle with salt. Lay a plate or casserole dish on top of the eggplant. This will draw extra moisture out of the eggplant. Let drain for an hour or so. Remove slices from strainer, and pat with a dry paper towel.

2. Preheat oven to 400°. Put soy milk & bread crumbs on 2 separate plates. Dip each side of a piece of eggplant in the soy milk and then breadcrumbs and place on a lined cookie sheet. Repeat with all pieces.

3. Bake for 5-6 minutes on each side.

4. Pour half of the marinara into a casserole dish, layer on the eggplant, cover with the rest of the sauce then sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Quick & Easy Nachos

I came home from work on my lunch break yesterday and I was STARVING, so I took a quick inventory of what I had on hand and whipped up this super easy dish! I'm not going to put measurements on these because you can make as little or as much as you want.

What you will need:
Tortilla chips
Vegan Cheese
Black Beans
Salsa
Avocado

1. Preheat oven to 375° and line a baking sheet with foil.

2. Spread out your chips and sprinkle with vegan cheese and black beans (I use Trader Joe's Cuban black bean because they have chilies and onions in them and are the bomb!). Bake in oven for about 10 minutes, keep your eyes on it so your chips don't burn.

3. Once cheese is melty, remove from oven, sprinkle with salsa and layer on sliced avocado.

4. Stuff your face with this incredibly delicious meal.

Vegans Can Throw a Party!

Last Friday night my husband and I threw our first party since moving to LA (and in all honesty, our first party in about 5 years). I never had much luck with being a party host, or maybe I'm just too critical of myself, but needless to say I was stressing a bit for the past week or so. The theme of our party was Ugly Sweaters, so everyone was supposed to come in the ugliest sweater they could find.

I wanted to make sure there was enough food for everyone to munch on and even though none of my friends in attendance are vegan, I wasn't planning on serving anything that wasn't. Being that we were just having snacks, it was pretty easy to do: chips, salsa, guac, etc. I did want to make a couple of special items though to nonchalantly show that vegan party food could be yummy too!

Let me go back for a minute to around Christmas time, when I discovered the most wonderful invention ever known to man: cookie butter (speculoos). Trader Joe's had their version and I was lucky enough to score a jar before the entire company sold out of it. I was hooked at first bite. I knew immediately that I needed to make a cupcake frosting out of it.

Fast forward back to present day. For the party I decided to make mini Golden Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the mix to give them a little added spice to compliment the cookie butter frosting. Then I used the peanut buttercream frosting recipe from the same book but substituted cookie butter for peanut butter. It turned out AWESOME, but it tasted a lot like maple so I think next time I'll leave out the molasses. The combo was still amazing and everyone loved them!


The next little surprise up my sleeve was vegan jello shots! I found a recipe online, but I wasn't happy with how they turned out, so I tweaked it until they came out exactly how I wanted them. I'll post the recipe separately in a few days, so keep your eyes out! They were a definite hit.


The last vegan bowl of yum we served was what my good friend Lynn called "puppy chow". For those not in the know (which was me until Friday), it's basically rice Chex, chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar all melted and tossed together to create a delicious flavorgasm. She was nice enough to use my bag of vegan chocolate chips so I could enjoy it as well.


Now on to the fun party pics! Here I am with my dog Henry Goose Bustamonte:


"My sweater is uglier!" "No, MINE is!"


Work it!


Good times had by all!


Girls just wanna have fun!


And the winner of the ugliest sweater was this gem - hideous indeed!


It is hanging in our living room and my husband insists on leaving it there until our 2nd Annual Ugly Sweater Party....I'm not so sure about that!

Overall it was a super fun night filled with amazing friends, good tunes and delicious vegan snacks! ROCK ON!