Vegetarian Times, an Upcoming Book, Sweet Treats via Mail, & Europe!

What a whirlwind life has been lately & this post will likely confirm that! Some of you have noticed I was featured in the March issue of Vegetarian Times, for the "Ask A Chef" column! The piece takes my Sugar Beat Sweets skills & uses them to answer questions about making the perfect vegan frosting for cakes, cupcakes, and other goodies. Check it out if you get a chance! The photo was taken by my friend Kelly Peloza from Seitan Beats Your Meat & the upcoming book, The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur!

So, speaking of books.. I'm in the process of writing a book! It's currently titled, "The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life" & will be published by Skyhorse Publishing. The book is not just for vegan girls, but anyone who's interested in a cruelty free lifestyle, & contains recipes & tips for DIY living. In addition to the basic who-what-where-when-why of veganism, it also gives out crucial tips like what to feed non-vegans, the best vegan beauty products, travel tips, plus has illustrations by Michelle from My Zoetrope, & an assortment of recipes & crafty projects from a Who's Who of awesome vegan ladies! Needless to say, I'm very excited!

I need a few recipes testers! I've been crafting up recipes like crazy & I need a few people to test them out for me. Testers must be willing to make at least half of the recipes between now & June, although the majority of them are available for testing now. Recipes are not the focus of the book, so it's a fairly small amount to test. The book is for people of all skill levels in the kitchen, so there's everything from simple vegetable preparations to full dinner feasts.  For your time, you'll receive a copy of the book & my undying affection! If interested, please email me at melisser AT theurbanhousewife.com. I'm all set, thanks!

My mailbox has been full of sweet treats recently. First, a surprise came from VeggieGirl a few weeks ago in the form of Tortüz, a confection by Futters Nut Butters! I love all things caramel, so these sweet and delicious caramel & dark chocolate covered pecans went fast in my house! Futter's has quite a selection of vegan goodies, I want to check out some of their spreads & brittle next.

We all know I love donuts, from videos to blog posts to recipes, I write about donuts whenever possible, so when Larsen Bakery in Racine, WI offered to send me donuts to try, how could I say no?! Little did I know I was in for a major treat that not only included 18 donuts in 3 varieties with 2 types of frosting, but also 2 of their Apple Kringles! Thank goodness I had friends in town from Canada to share with & a potluck to attend, that's a lot of pastries!

We started with the donuts, which were Regular ring donuts, Bavarian Creme filled, & Raspberry Jelly filled with the option of vanilla or chocolate frosting provided in containers. After refreshing them in the oven for a few minutes, then spreading the frosting on, we were all transported back to our favorite childhood donut shops! While the oven refreshing is essential, the result is downright delicious & they're most certainly on my Top 5 Vegan Donuts list! In the future, I would likely refresh them, then spread the frosting on & pop them back in the oven for a few seconds to make it nice & melty, as the frosting seemed a bit thick to me. Seriously though, they're tasty, easily accessible on VeganEssentials, reasonably priced, & there's even a sampler pack available!

Next up, we tried the Kringle, a flaky, filled Danish pastry, that's shaped in a ring. Once again, we refreshed it in the oven & it was great! These basically taste like a, individual danish with flaky layers, but it's filled with flavor instead, & has a nice white glaze on top. I opted for the Apple flavor, which I enjoyed, but there's also Cherry, Raspberry, Pecan, & Almond available from VeganEssentials. Being a baker myself, I was skeptical to try these pastries, but I'm happy to say, they passed my test & I wouldn't turn them down if given the chance to eat them again!

My next adventure is coming up at the end of this month, as we're off to Europe! This time I'll be checking out Edinburgh, Vienna, London, & Brighton. Yes, 2 new places, & 2 familiar places that are favorite cities of mine. I'll be seeing bands play, meeting up with lots of lovely friends, including my German BFF Marijke, browsing markets, & of course, eating! I have a few group meet-ups planned, so please get in touch if you'd like to join us or want to make dining or activity suggestions!

That's all the news that's fit to print! Look out for next week, when I'll have a tasty giveaway!