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VALENTINE SUGAR COOKIES

Whether you love Valentine's Day, or hate it one thing is certain, you'll love these treats! When I lived in NYC my apartment was 2 blocks away from a great vegan bakery. Babycakes was one of my favorite cupcake stops. I love their red velvet cupcakes, pumpkin spice muffins, and chocolate chip cookie sandwiches. They use spelt, soy, and have lots of gluten free choices. I can't afford the shipping that they charge to get it all the way out West but, I have tried a few vegan treat recipes and this one makes the cut.


PERFECT VEGAN SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
This recipe was taken from www.johnandkristie.com. This makes about 36 cookies.

1 cup margarine 3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder
2 whole egg replacements (Ener-G)
1/4 cup tofu cream cheese (Tofutti)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. Stir in the egg replacements and vanilla. Gradually add the flour, baking powder and tofu cream cheese. You may have to use your hands at this point to finish the mixing. Form the dough into a long loaf and wrap in cellophane. Refrigerate for a couple hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the cookie sheets or use a non-stick foil.
3. On a lightly floured surface (we taped down a sheet of non-stick foil to our countertop instead), roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place about 1 inch apart cookie on sheets.
4. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms and edges just start to get light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.




PERFECT VEGAN ICING RECIPE
Each batch is enough to easily coat 24 cookies. We made four batches, one for each color.
2 cups confectioners' sugar 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
6-8 teaspoons of soy milk (Silk Vanilla) Assorted food coloring
4 teaspoons of light corn syrup

Directions:
1. In medium bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and soy milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Add food coloring to desired intensity. Dip cookies and allow to dry overnight.




SCOTCH NATURAL ECO NAIL POLISH


Scotch Naturals’ nail polish is an environmentally friendly way to treat yourself to a manicure or pedicure. The water-based line allows the nail to breathe and helps maintain the health of the nail, it is made without toxic chemicals like ethyl acetate, nitrocellulose, and, butyl acetate, that are found in conventional solvent-based nail polishes. You will start to see healthier stronger nails after each use, and they have 17 great colors to choose from, as well as soy polish remover!

MUSHROOM SPINACH FARFALLE



Ingredients

6 ounces dried farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup sliced portobello or other fresh mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups thinly sliced fresh spinach
1 teaspoon snipped fresh thyme
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic; cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until mushrooms are nearly tender. Stir in spinach, thyme, and pepper; cook 1 minute or until heated through and spinach is slightly wilted. Stir in cooked pasta; toss gently to mix. Sprinkle with cheese. Makes 4 side-dish servings.

Nutrition Facts:

Servings Per Recipe 4,
Calories 219,
Protein (gm) 9,
Carbohydrate (gm) 35,
Fat, total (gm) 5,
Cholesterol (mg) 2,
Saturated fat (gm) 1,
Dietary Fiber, total (gm) 4,
Vitamin C (mg) 6,
Sodium (mg) 86,
Calcium (DV %) 71,

DIY PALLET COFFEE TABLE


When we moved into our new apartment I had found/re-purposed almost everything we needed in the way of furniture- except a coffee table. For us its one of the most important pieces. We use the coffee table as a desk, ottoman, bench, and although we hate to admit it sometimes a dining table. I had seen a few pallets in the industrial part of town and I knew that they would make the perfect coffee table. So here's what we did, and when I say we I mean, I stood by and cheered and did some sanding.



We kept the basic structure of one pallet and used the boards from two to fill in the spaces. Now we couldn't get everything to fit perfectly so we ended up removing all the top boards and re-positioning them to fit along the table. Then I sanded down all of the rough edges.


We reattached some boards to the underside so that we could have little cubbies to hide magazines and remotes. For the legs we used some basic turned legs you can find online or at your nearest hardware store. (but don't forget to buy the metal mounting brackets- like some people we know...) We attached the legs to some 2x4 squares we cut to give the table about 2 more inches in height.


It ended up being pretty heavy, too heavy for me to move alone so we added some casters- you know so I could have dance parties on the weekend and do Pilates. Once it was finished we added one coat of stain to all the legs and the top. A tip when using stain- lighter is better, you can always add multiple coats. We used some leftovers so we added one coat to the unfinished wood and it soaked it up well. Here's how it turned out!


I'd love to see what you can make with pallets, send me some links in the comments section!!

PALLETS, PALLETS, PALLETS

Pallets are a great way to get free wood, and re-use something that was destined for a landfill. I thought I'd share with you some great re-uses for pallets. I have noticed them a lot lately on Pinterest and on blogs around the web. Click here to see me pallet project.

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I built a piece of furniture out of an old pallet and I'll share on Friday. Any guesses on what it is?