Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

To celebrate running a good race in the JASR 5K yesterday, I made Mint Chocolate Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They're my favorite!

The cupcake is the basic chocolate cupcake batter with 1 teaspoon of mint extract mixed in. I tried a plain cupcake and it was heavenly--extremely moist and just melted in my mouth.

The frosting also has mint extract, with some green food coloring mixed in. You add a spiral of frosting to the cupcake.

Last, I made the quick melty ganache and spooned it on top.

I'd just spooned the ganache on here, but it hardens once you put them in the fridge to set. So delicious--the perfect race celebration treat!

Vegan Blondies

Recently I finished my freezer stash of my leftover Christmas cookies. So while at Whole Foods last week, I picked up a vegan cookie and considered buying it. But it was not soft and not very appealing, plus was $1.69. I knew I could cook up a whole batch of cookies for less than, so I broke out Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and made the blondies.

Oh my! They are absolutely delicious. They have the taste of a great chocolate chip cookie with the ooey-gooey goodness of a brownie. You can get the recipe here.

Vegan Love for Burgatory

This was my second time at Burgatory, and I loved it just as much as the first time. You'd think a burger restaurant wouldn't be a good vegan restaurant option, and granted there is only one vegan option on the menu. But it's so good, it's enough.

We started with the Hole 'Mole as an appetizer, which was a substantial bowl of house-made guacamole with a nice kick and tortilla chips. I got the Herb's Grape Refresher as a cocktail, which was a delicious and refreshing blend of vodka, grapes, and basil.

The Phat Patti's Veggie Burger is made with mushrooms, lentils, cashews, and cracked wheat. It comes on a whole-wheat bun with arugula, tomato, and guacamole. I swapped the cheese it came with for vegan cheddar cheese. The burger is huge, very filling (I ate less than half), and extremely delicious. Because the house-made chips are cooked in the same oil as chicken (thanks to the bartender for letting me know!) I got a mixed green salad as a side that came with an absolutely delicious house-made red wine vinaigrette dressing.

Another option would be to start with the veggie burger and customize it with different toppings. There are a number of good vegan options.

I drooled over the milkshakes on the menu (Caramel Pretzel! Coffee and Donuts!), but even if they were vegan I wouldn't have gotten one. They must be a million calories. No thanks.

As far as vegan veggie burgers go in Pittsburgh, Burgatory has one of if not the best. (I also love the one at Brillobox...I'll need to try theirs again to compare.)