recently, tia’s bakery hooked me up with a lovely lot of samples…and after being bummed out by some gluten-free food in the past, i was pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed their goods. they gave me a box of each of their cookie varieties—peanut butter, almond tea, and oatmeal raisin—all of which were delicious. the almond tea was my favorite, with a very unique and nutty flavor.

tia’s also supplied me with a box of vegan macaroons, which were absolutely awesome. these bite-sized balls are like yummy vegan crack rocks made of coconuts, dates, and agave. once i started, i couldn’t stop eating ‘em.

now keep in mind, tia’s bakery does not make insanely decadent desserts, but scrumptious treats that taste great and light at the same time. these are the kind of healthful snacks i could eat a ton of and be satisfied, but never feel guilty. with a low calorie count, and pure simple ingredients that you can not only pronounce, but have used in a sentence, there is no reason not to make them a regular indulgence. i can’t wait to go get more of tia’s goods…especially the almond cookies and macaroons! oh, and they also make VEGAN CAROB TRUFFLES which i haven’t tried but sound so good.

and for those of you who can’t eat gluten, i can imagine these sweets are a godsend!

tia’s bakery products are available at wholefoods, santa monica co-opportunity, erewhon, rainbow acres, follow your heart, locali, earth bar and pc greens. yum time.

about a year ago, los angeles was buzzing with the news of amazing vegan twinkies that tasted way better than the real thing. these twinkies were so popular, not only did they get rave reviews from the vegan blogs, but also the non-vegan foodie blogs, as well as the LA times! however these fluffy, delicious, cream-filled vegan twinkies disappeared completely earlier this year when the bakery that made them decided to take a break.

well now it’s with much excitement that i announce to you, the original LA vegan twinkies are back! that’s right, starting today no whey vegan bakery will be accepting private orders for a short time through their website. if you never got a chance to try these amazing baked goods, now is the time.

and it’s not just normal twinkies no whey specializes in! the bakery offers a whole slew of vegan desserts ranging from cookies and pies to galettes and specialty twinkies including chocolate, red velvet, corn bread & lemon poppyseed! i’ve had the chance to try the red velvet and chocolate flavors, both of which were decadent and amazing.

being a chocolate lover at heart, the chocolate flavor is by far my favorite. the cake is so moist and filled with the thickest, fudgy-est frosting ever.

my other all-time favorite dessert from no whey are the pinwheel cookies. the baker behind no whey, jennshaggy, adapted an old family recipe to make these delicious bite-sized cookies that are crunchy, sugary, and buttery all at the same time. yumz.

so vegans in los angeles, i can’t urge you enough to get some twinkies (and other stuff too) from no whey bakery while they accepting orders. these goods will only be available for a limited time. if you have never eaten a no whey vegan twinkie, you are missing out on one of the great things in life.

check out the no whey website
their mouthwatering menu
and also jennshaggy’s recipe blog!

now let’s eat some TWINKIES.

i’ve got good news, los angeles! it is with great pleasure that i announce there is yet another vegan baker on the scene, and i can vouch for the goods. sugar plum vegan is bakery from sacramento that was selling treats to the local whole foods and co-op up there. lucky for us, they recently moved to LA and are in the process of getting food available in stores around town.

assorted treats from the sugar plum vegan bakery

over the weekend, i was fortunate enough to sample several of sugar plum vegan’s creations, and they were all excellent. pictured above, starting at the back with the cookie and going clockwise, we have the peanut butter creamie, an orange goji scone, a cinnamon bun, a sticky bun, gluten-free carrot cake, the entertainer, and in the middle is a red velvet cupcake.

sugar plum vegan peanut butter creamie

the peanut butter creamie was one of my favorite things i tried from sugar plum vegan. the sweet sandwich was made of two chocolate chip, chocolate dipped cookies with peanut butter frosting in the middle. this thing was rich and decadent, and didn’t taste vegan at all. the soft cookies and smooth chocolate went great with the thick and creamy frosting. five stars.

sugar plum vegan sticky bun

my other favorite treat was the sticky bun, a delicious breakfast pastry with a caramel nut topping. the bun was filled up with gooey sugary goodness, and the nuts on top were so sweet, they tasted like candy. once i took a bite of this thing, i couldn’t stop.

all the other sugar plum baked goods i tried were great as well—the cupcakes were moist and flavorful, the cinnamon bun was soft and covered in delicious frosting, and the goji scone was perfectly fruity. oh, and the gluten-free carrot cake didn’t taste gluten-free…or vegan for that matter.

for info on how to order these goodies for yourself, contact sugar plum vegan through their website. and starting today, you can also find some of sugar plum vegan’s goods for sale at locali. melissa sugar, the baker behind all this, tells me locali will be offering the following items: the entertainer cupcake (a chocolate cupcake with cream cheese filling), gluten free carrot cake, sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, and gluten free/soy free pumpkin chocolate chip walnut muffins.

so try some sugar plum vegan stuff when you have a chance, it’s all really tasty. damn, we are getting spoiled in los angeles with all these talented vegan bakers popping up!

sugar plum vegan
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Hey everyone!  The past three days I have been eating my Spinach-Mushroom Lasagna that I made! 

I made it on Tuesday and it’s delicious!  So I started making a tomato sauce for the lasagna but it ended up wrong.  I wanted to make an Italian sauce with onions, carrots and celery.  My dad who owns a pizzeria makes this all the time.  The problem with mine was when I pureed it it turned orange!  I think the problem was because I didn’t puree the carrots and celery in the beginning of the cooking process.  I tried to fix the sauce by putting some jarred tomato sauce that I found in the fridge.  Not reading the ingredients, I poured the jarred tomato sauce to my orange tomato sauce in hopes of making it redder.  Bad idea the jarred tomato sauce had cheese in it!!!!  I was so upset when I did this!  I didn’t know weather to eat it or throw it out.  I hate throwing out food and I almost never do but I didn’t want to feel guilty eating a sauce with dairy in it so sadly I threw it out.  I felt so bad because I had spent about one and a half hours cooking the sauce and it went wrong!  

Luckily I had some vegan jarred tomato sauce in the fridge.  I almost never use jarred tomato sauce for lasagna.  I thought my lasagna turn out bad with the jarred tomato sauce but thankfully it turned out really good!  Now lets talk about the filling I used for it.  I used the awesome Cashew Ricotta from Veganomicon!  This is so so good!  I would have liked it a bit more richer tasting like I made it before but the problem was that I used a bigger amount of tofu and didn’t add more cashews.   When it cooked it firmed up just like dairy ricotta.  It’s amazing!  My filling also consited of spinach and mushrooms.  I made a four layer lasagna and baked it for about an hour.  Now I have been eating lasagna since Tuesday.  After I finish writing this post I am going to freeze it so I can have a quick dinner when I don’t feel like making something. 

I also made some Sweet Potato Blondies from Isa and Terry’s upcoming cookie book!  These were really tasty and really gooey! 

Well that’s about it.