Tagged: Vegan Dessert

Put It In Your Mouth:
Manhattan Milkshake

January 25, 2013 Written by Marie

While the rest of the US is socked in with snow and frigid temperatures, we here in Austin have the rough task of bearing 80 degree sunny, spring-like days. The perfect cure: a frosty vegan Manhattan milkshake! A combination of my two favorite food groups, cocktails and dessert, this boozy Manhattan milkshake is a crowd pleaser.

Vegan Manhattan Milkshake (serves 6):

12 ice cubes
1 fl. oz. sweet vermouth
6 fl. oz. whiskey or bourbon
1 1/2 cups plain vegan creamer
1 pint vegan vanilla ice cream, frozen solid
1 tbsp. grenadine
2 tsp. orange or angostura bitters
maraschino cherries for garnish (preferably Tillen Farms Brand)

Directions: In a blender, add ice cubes, sweet vermouth, whiskey/bourbon, creamer, ice cream, grenadine and bitters; blend until smooth . Pour into 6 old-fashioned glasses; garnish each with a cherry. Modified from SELF Magazine’s recipe.

A Fall Pumpkin Treat and a Bake Sale for SARA Animal Sanctuary

October 16, 2012 Written by Carrie

Who doesn’t love the fall? The leaves begin to turn deep orange and red colors. Sweaters make their way out of the bottom drawer and onto our shoulders to keep us warm during nippy evening strolls with our dogs (also wearing sweaters) through Central Park — wait — this is not the New York of When Harry Met Sally and You’ve Got Mail. This is Austin, and our Zilker Park is still recovering from the throngs of people treading all over it for the Austin City Limits music festival. Yes, this is Austin, where pretty falls days are scattered between “unseasonably” warm days. What do we do in Austin to remind ourselves (and our dogs) that it is indeed Fall? We go to vegan bake sales, buy pumpkin-laced goods, and raise money for SARA Animal Sanctuary in Seguin!

Austin blogger Lazy Smurf recently reported that SARA Animal Sanctuary has fallen on hard times and particularly needs help paying their electric bill. Ms. Smurf has organized a vegan bake sale to benefit SARA Animal Sanctuary this Sunday October 21 at Counter Culture. If you can not attend the actual sale on Sunday then you can still sign up to donate baked goods and make plans with Ms. Smurf for a Friday or Saturday drop off. Alternatively, you can simply make a direct donation to SARA Animal Sanctuary. However you decide to help, please join the facebook event and invite all of your friends. Volunteers from the sanctuary will be present to answer questions, and Counter Culture will feature live music from Ken Atkins and the Honky Tonk Kind to entertain you during their popular weekend brunch. All in all, Lazy Smurf and Counter Culture have put together a pretty neat event for an awesome cause. And just to remind myself that is indeed fall, I plan to contribute something made with delicious pumpkin.

Obviously, I have been in a pumpkin mood tonight, so I took action and made the tempting cake you see pictured at the top of the page. To read about my experience making a vegan version of the pumpkin poke cake from the Something Swanky blog, click through to the next page.

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Grown Up Fruit Cup

July 2, 2012 Written by Marie

One of our awesome readers suggested that we check out Mister FruitCup – so we did just that. (Thank you, and keep those suggestions coming!) Initially, I was skeptical that anything called a fruit cup could be amazing, but I was so glad to be proven wrong.

Mister FruitCup’s menu is full of fresh and inventive creations, with add-ins and sauces that elevate a fruit cup into a full-blown meal. They have options like seeds and nuts, fresh herbs and original sauces, and some vegan friendly substitutions, like agave and a vegan whipped cream! We tried a Sez Ah U Sesame and a Rainbow Cup (sans sprinkles). The first cup came with watermelon, honeydew, basil, jalapeño, lime, sesame seed and sea salt. The second cup came with pineapple, watermelon, bananas, strawberries and whipped cream. Both were intensely flavorful, with one a bit more savory, the other sweet, and perfect as dessert. They are great for families, after a jog at Lady Bird Lake, or as a snack or dessert on a hot summer day. Their menu changes seasonally, and they’re always looking for suggestions, so let them know what you’d like to see.

Because they love their vegan customers, Mister FruitCup is offering 20% off for our readers during the month of July – just mention that you saw them on Red Hot Vegans!

Their trailer is located at 415 Jessie St, in a new food truck lot tucked behind Thom’s Market on Barton Springs Road. It’s in the same lot as Ice Cream Social (vegan friendly sorbets)! They’re open Wednesday through Sunday, and there is limited street parking available.

Note: For our journalistic integrity (we haz it!), we want to mention that we got our fruit cups for free (blogging is awesome), but we totally would have paid for them, and can’t wait to go back!

Counter Culture Soft Opening!!!

April 26, 2012 Written by Marie

Counter Culture’s soft opening is this week! It’s cash only, the staff is still being trained, and some menu items are not available yet, but WOW, it’s awesome!

Their menu has a bunch of raw, gluten free, soy free and Engine 2 Diet approved items all clearly marked. I have no such restrictions, so I plan on working my way through the whole menu. I loved everything I tried, but my two favorites so far are the spicy baked artichoke dip, and the quiche. I could do a face plant into a bowl of artichoke dip, it’s that good. They also had a couple slices of cake available from Capital City Bakery, that were insane! I can’t wait until the full dessert menu is available.

Counter Culture will be open Thursday through Sunday this week, from 5pm to 10pm, at 2337 East Cesar Chavez at Clara. Remember that it’s a soft opening, and it’s CASH ONLY until they get their internet working (my husband forgot and had to hike four blocks to find a working ATM) – so be patient until they get all the kinks worked out. Let’s all give a warm welcome to the newest (and raddest), all-vegan brick and mortar restaurant in Austin!

Vegan Hard Packed Ice Cream in Austin!

April 6, 2012 Written by Marie

Don’t get me wrong. I love our vegan soft serve options in Austin, but sometimes a girl wants something a little harder. Lick on South Lamar definitely fills that craving.

After a successful meet up at Wasota African Cuisine with the Vegetarian Network of Austin, I had a hankering for something sweet, so I moved myself (and a few others from the meet up) on over to Lick.

The storefront is tucked away from the street, and the sign for it is small, so a couple of people in our party drove right past it. If you’re not sure where it is, keep an eye out for the sign for horseshoe lounge, and turn in there. Once we all found our way, we were so glad we did.

They normally have two vegan ice cream flavors – “spicy coconut & peanut” and “coconut, peanut butter & chocolate swirl”. Both are vegan, even though only one of the signs has the word “vegan” printed on it. Beware: there is also a third dairy-free flavor that is not vegan (contains eggs). Both flavors were amazing, and even though both contained coconut and peanuts, their tastes were surprisingly distinct.

The prices for a cup of hard packed vegan goodness are decent, starting at $3.39 for a small (two scoops – pictured above), $4.19 for a medium (3 scoops), and $4.99 for a large (4 scoops). Each serving comes in a compostable cup with a compostable spoon, which is awesome – especially since you’ll probably be taking your ice cream to go. The store is pretty tiny, so unless you want to huddle with your friends on a selection of vintage milking stools, you’ll want to hightail it out of this ice cream shop to enjoy your treat. Lick is also great for an after dinner dessert spot, as the shop is open till 10pm Sun-Thu, and 11:30pm on Fri and Sat, so go get your ice cream on!

Rabbit Food Grocery Hops Into Town

April 4, 2012 Written by Carrie

Do you ever find yourself perusing the online offerings of one of your favorite online vegan retailers and wishing for your own local vegan grocery store, where you could walk the aisles and shop at your leisure? With their online vegan store that provides free delivery to local pickup spots, Rabbit Food Grocery is well on the way to turning that dream into a reality. (Especially with their record day of sales at Texas Veg Fest!) We are lucky to have so many vegan-friendly grocery stores in town. But a 100% vegan, brick-and-mortar grocery store, owned and operated by vegans, would provide our community with the opportunity to sample the many diverse products that we currently only drool over in the back pages of Veg News Magazine. Such a store would allow us to keep our dollars in the vegan community, supporting cruelty free living at every step. And just imagine the benefits to the animals of providing a tactile browsing environment to the vegan-curious.

Jessica and Gabriel

Jessica Morris and Gabriel Figueroa officially opened Rabbit Food Grocery for business on January 16. Currently, the majority of their sales come from the local pickup orders. They partner with vegan-friendly eateries who host their pickups and benefit from the increased traffic. Rabbit Food customers can look forward to grabbing a meal at Conscious Cravings, or the soon to be reopened Counter Culture. If you pick up your order, only to realize that you forgot to order a chocolate-covered dillo, never fear: the genius Pop-Up Shop comes to the rescue. You can look forward to browsing the Pop-Up Shop when you pick up your order; it’s a unique opportunity to get a closeup look at new or unfamiliar products. A word to the wise: they can only bring a small sample to the Pop-Up Shops, so be proactive and place your order online beforehand. You don’t want to miss out on Sheese or Match Meat!

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The Best/Worst Thing Ever

March 1, 2012 Written by Brittany

Sweet Ritual Sundae — S'more Sundae from Sweet Ritual

I often joke that having access to so many vegan dessert options in Austin is the best/worst thing ever. The best part is that I can purchase vegan donuts, soft serve, and cupcakes whenever I want. The worst part is that I can purchase vegan donuts, soft serve, and cupcakes whenever I want.

Lucky for you, today I’m leaning towards best thing ever and therefore I share with you…

The Guide to Vegan Treats in Austin:

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