If you’re looking for new raw food recipes to include in your vegan diet OR if your family is interested in replacing meat with a vegan alternative for a meal or two a week, today’s recipe is for you! In fact, I made a video to walk you through this super simple and delicious recipe that will win over your entire family. No tofu or beans in this recipe, either, which makes it more surprising and fun.
Vegan Walnut Tacos – Video Post (keep reading for detailed recipe)
Taco “Meat”:
1-1/2 c raw walnuts, ground in food processor
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
3/4 teaspoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons nama shoyu soy sauce or braggs
pinch cayenne, optional
After grinding walnuts in food processor to a meat like texture add seasonings and process again, then add soy sauce and process final time.
(recipe via SparkPeople)
Vegan Cashew Sour Cream
1 C. (120 g) raw cashews
1 lemon
1 t. (2 g) sea salt
(recipe via RecipeRenovator.com)
Soak raw cashews in water for at least an hour. Drain and blend with lemon juice and salt.
Drain the soaked cashews and put them into your blender with the juice from the lemon and the salt.
I recently had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower for a very special mom-to-be. You may have caught a glimpse of the most recent pink + green cupcake tower I was creating for sweet N in my recent video and post. Today I’m sharing a few photos from the shower. I’m planning on creating a video post with a tutorial on the tissue paper puffs and cupcake towers.
If you’re planning a baby shower for a girlfriend, I have a few ideas that may inspire you as you plan away!
1. Alphabet Sugar Cookies (with Letterpress Cookie Cutters). I stumbled across the most adorable sugar cookie letterpress kit in downtown Charleston at Robot Candy Company. Though I don’t see the kit in their online store, I found the same kit here.
Here are photos of the cookies we created, topped in gel frosting to match the party’s color scheme.
These sugar cookies were well worth the time! I picked the cookie cutter kit up in downtown Charleston.
Here’s a closer look at the “letter pressed” cookie kit by a company called Fred.
An action shot taken late in the evening as we created the letter cookies (sorry for the bad lighting)
2. DIY Cupcake Tower. I am a huge fan of making my own cupcake towers. In fact, I wrote a detailed tutorial here on how to tackle this fun project. The main challenge with the glass towers I’ve made time and again is they can be difficult to transport. As long as you can get them to their destination the night before and bring an extra tube of E-6000 glue, you can always do a re-glue the night before and be set for the party. This time around, I didn’t want to worry with that and had a bit of a commute. So, I purchased a simple white tower from Jo-Ann Fabrics with a 50% off coupon and spent my time decking it out in pink and green as seen below. This tower is easy to take apart, wipe clean and reuse.
You’ve seen the cupcake towers. I added more handmade bows and flourishes but this is the best photo.
3. Homemade cupcakes. Your gorgeous towers will need beautiful cupcakes to adorn them! Instead of opting for store-bought, if you have the time, try your hand at making your own. The wonderful thing about making your own is you can customize them to fit the party decor perfectly. Plus, you can avoid things like high fructose corn syrup and unnecessary preservatives. We topped our cupcakes with homemade sugar cookies, made using a special attachment in a floral shape.
Here’s a photo of the cupcakes on their way to the shower. We topped them with handmade sugar cookies and frosted them to look like flowers.
iPhone photo of the tower and cupcakes at the shower…better photo to come in future post.
4. The beloved tissue paper pom! If you haven’t seen these fun and easy-to-make tissue paper puffs before, you’ve gotta give them a try! For this shower, I made 10 or so big puffs and we used every single one. Pink and green goodness, so chic and so inexpensive. Here’s a video tutorial if you want to give them a try. I’m also making my own video tutorial on these soon.
Tissue paper puff decor and handmade fabric banners in red and green
5. Handmade fabric buntings. I selected fabric in pink and green with a variety of patterns (plus some vintage quilt fabric with white bunnies) and simply cut into triangle shape, then hot glued to a ribbon. I wanted to sew this particular project but time got the best of me. Here’s a tutorial on sewing your own fabric bunting.
And for a gift idea, a handmade, no-sew fleece baby blanket! I made mine a little differently than the tutorials you’ll find online (mine is a total of 8 squares in a quilt-like pattern) but you can customize however you’d like! Video coming soon on this project as well. In the meantime, here’s an example.
My gift to mom and baby…a future post in the works with details on this no-sew quilt.
I hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed being a part of the baby shower for one of my dearest, sweetest friends. I love you, N!
We’re on a bit of a popsicle kick over here, of the homemade variety. You may have already caught a glimpse of my pretty popsicle maker in my pink-themed video (see :31 second mark in video here). The beauty of making your own popsicles at home is that you know what is going into your body! It’s quite easy to reduce or eliminate processed sugar when making these delicious treats and the recipe ideas are endless.
Here is my video on making healthy, vegan popsicles at home…you’ll never go back once you make the switch! Keep reading for recipes and even a stainless steel option when you’re ready to purchase your own.
So far, we’ve made the following vegan popsicles (each makes 6 popsicles)
Banana + Strawberry Pops (1.5 bananas, 1 cup strawberries and ½ cup coconut milk blended in the mixer and then poured into the molds)
Orange + Banana Pops (1.5 bananas, 2 oranges and ½ cup almond milk blended in the mixer and then poured into the molds)
Grapefruit Pops (Super simple, just juice whole grapefruits and pour into molds or if you’re short on time, use 100% ruby red grapefruit juice)
Very Berry Yogurt Pops (1 cup blueberries, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup vegan yogurt blended in the mixer and then poured into the molds)
Pineapple + Orange + Lime Pops (1 cup pineapple, 2 oranges, squeeze of ½ lime, ½ cup coconut milk)
I came across a popsicle mold at a recent trip to the craft store and with a mobile coupon it was just $5. Part impulse buy, part something that’s been on my list of items to research and invest in. Since we’ve been really focusing on being more eco-friendly in our home, I was a little disappointed in myself for not researching a popsicle stick mold that wasn’t made of plastic. Especially with the dangers of BPA, avoiding plastic when possible is something we are trying to be more conscious about. So, I have a better option to share with you that is safer for your family and better for the planet.
Stainless Steel Popsicle Mold (link here)
A bit more of an investment up-front (around $35), but you don’t have to worry about cracked plastic or BPA. Note: you’ll want to buy the reusable bamboo popsicle sticks to go with this set.
Of course you’ll want to keep your freezer stocked with healthy popsicles so when cravings hit, you have something healthy to reach for.
Quick Pop Maker (link here)
I couldn’t help but notice this Quick Pop Maker as well (under $50). It allows you to make popsicles in 7 minutes, which seems pretty fantastic. Can you imagine the fun if you have young children at home? The molds are made of nonstick cast-aluminum but the sticks and unit itself are plastic…something to keep in mind if you’re avoiding buying plastic.
With the amount of popsicles you will be making and the fun activity to enjoy with kids, I wouldn’t hesitate much to invest in either of these options.
BPA free Popsicle Maker (link here)
If budget is tight but you’re excited about getting started, there is also a BPA free option you may enjoy for under $10 here. These are go-gurt style, but so much healthier!
Inspired to wear the color pink, mostly in softer hues
Creating pink jewelry with natural stones
Drawn to pink in everyday items (even for the kitchen)
Crafting in pink for an upcoming baby shower (cupcake tower fun)
Coming across pink in unexpected places (like this blog post by Alisa)
The color pink represents compassion, nurturing and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing. Pink can signify good health, being ‘in the pink’, and success as in ‘everything’s rosy’. The color pink represents the sweetness and innocence of the child in all of us. It is the color of uncomplicated emotions, inexperience and naiveté. (source)
In celebration of compassion and self-love, I’m happy to announce a necklace giveaway! I created this necklace in my sweet friend Kelly’s studio. We talked about big dreams and living in the moment as I created it. The beads are from downtown Charleston and include rose quartz, clear quartz, freshwater pearls and other natural stones.
The necklace!
Enter the Giveaway: If you’d like to be entered in the giveaway for a chance to win, there are a few ways to enter! Remember, you only have to do one of the following below, but are welcome to do all four.
Leave a comment below so that I know you’ve been here.
Like my Facebook page with a post on my wall so I know you’re there for the giveaway.
Follow me on Twitter (and send me a quick tweet so I can count your entry, @lauracatherineo).
Here is my video (also below) all about PINK and the necklace giveaway. Warning: I say pink far too much. I didn’t realize it until after, but as my sister said, the topic is pink so it’s allowed! The drawing will be held on May 17, 2013. Must be 18 and US resident to enter.
I'm a marketing professional/graphic designer living in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. I'm on a creative journey towards living an inspired life and hope you'll come along with me as we find beauty together. I'm also vlogging my healthy efforts throughout 2013 in the hopes of losing weight and gaining more awareness. Thanks for stopping by!
