Repost: There's Bacon in my Cupcake!

As some of you may know, I have recently teamed up with some fabulous ladies to form a blog called The Mindful Mavens. It was started as a way to share various vegan lifestyle options available in Ottawa, including food, businesses, events, etc. Click here to learn more about who we are. I recently wrote this post, which is about cupcakes. Look how gorgeous they are!

The two ladies at The Compassionate Rabbit know how to make a good vegan cupcake. Inspired by their pet rabbits, they aim to share love and compassion through delicious vegan treats. Willing to take on a new challenge, they went to their Facebook fans to decide on a new flavor. It just so happens that they chose mine! What was this winning flavor? Well, Maple Bacon of course.

Not only did they succeed on the flavor notes and a great coconut bacon recipe, but they went above

VegFoodFest 2013: Part 3 - Sunday

Well, waking up that morning was not easy. After Day 1 and Day 2 at the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival and a night of eating, drinking and dancing you can imagine my food baby, my hangover and my lack of sleep. That said, I was still so excited and ready to discover more veg-related products and businesses.

It was such a beautiful day, with the sun shining down on Toronto like it was mid-summer. As soon as I got to the festival, I was on the hunt. Thirsty. I wanted either a green juice or smoothie, maybe I'd even try some kombucha! After doing the rounds of booths, I got very discouraged. There were huge lineups at smoothie stands. One of the kombucha vendors were gone, the other one sold out a few minutes before I got there. Sad but hopeful, I tried to find something other than a $3 water from a vending machine. And then I found it. There was a table with man holding a massive knife, beside a box of fresh coconuts. EUREKA! I had never really tried packaged coconut water, and definitely not straight out of the coconut! I watched this talented man strike at the coconut a few times just enough to make a slit to stick in a straw. Well worth the $5 I'd say, and how cool did I look walking around holding a coconut with a straw!

Coco-Berry Oatmeal

My last post was about pancakes. This one is about oatmeal. You can tell I like breakfast foods! Just like pancakes, oatmeal can be customized in limitless ways. Every once in a while I do something crazy with my add-ins and it actually turns out pretty delicious. I've had this huge jug of coconut oil that I've had for months, so I'm always trying to find ways to use it up. When I bought it, I didn't realize it was unrefined. I got a big surprise when I opened it and found out it smells and tastes very coconut-y. It's a good thing I like that flavor!

I've also been playing around with cranberries and goji berries lately, putting them in salads, cereal, trail mix, and most recently oatmeal. I came up with this recipe for some tasty tropical oatmeal. This mix packs a solid blend of nutrients to kick-start your day with protein, carbs, antioxidants, fats, and of course the deliciousness... That counts as a nutrient, right? The best part about this recipe is that the measurements are totally up to you. You can mix and match and add more mix-ins all you want with this, just make sure the oats/water ratio stays proportional.