My Second Vegan Bake Sale

Saturday, April 21st, was the day of our second bake sale for World Wide Vegan Bake Sale for 2012. Last year's was such a great success, we naturally had high hopes for this year, and we were not disappointed! Amber and I spent Thursday AND Friday baking in preparation, up to our ears in flour and sugar (hence no teaser posts). We whipped up chocolate chip cookies, wheat-free chocolate chip cookies, no-kill puppy chow, not-so-mad cowboy cookies, lemon-blueberry muffins, peanut butter blondies with peanuts and PB blondies with chocolate, raspberry chocolate chip blondies, and apple-pretzel cookies. As an after thought, we whipped up three dozen savory biscuits: pizza, cheddar-jalapeno, and cheddar-garlic, all using Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet cheeses. We were barely opened for business and we had quite a crowd. It was about two hours before we could get everything labeled and get our literature/freebie table set up! We were off to a phenomenal start, but that resulted in me not getting pictures of every single thing we had. Here are the goodies that Amber and I made.

Peanut butter blondies recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I love this recipe. It's simple, only requires one bowl, and at the end you get to mash the "batter" (more like a dough) with your hands. It's an easy, fool-proof recipe that everyone LOVES. As mentioned above, we made one batch with crushed peanuts on top, and another batch with chocolate chips.

We followed the wheat-free chocolate chip cookie recipe from Veganomicon, making our own oat flour by whirring some oats in the Magic Bullet. Easy! The whole recipe is easy and the results are AMAZING. I loved the toothsome texture. They're ever-so-slightly crumblier than a classic chocolate chip cookie.

Lemon Blueberry muffin recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. These smelled AMAZING as they were baking, and we were amazed with how beautiful they turned out. I said they looked like coffee shop muffins. Eat your hearts out, Starbucks!

Raspberry chocolate chip blondies from Vegan With a Vengeance

Here's what was left of the pizza rolls and cheesy biscuits by the time I could take pictures. These were the first items on our tables to sell-out! They FLEW outta there!

Our cookie platter, featuring classic chocolate chip cookies, cowboy cookies, and apple-pretzel cookies, plus some chocolate cupcakes that someone donated (and we whipped up an amazing peanut butter frosting for them).

We used Rice Chex for the no-kill puppy chow, making it another gluten-free option. I use this recipe here, using Earth Balance in place of butter. Lisa spent her Friday night baking up a storm, too. Here's what she brought to our delicious, colorful table:

Pecan pie! This was a hit last year and was a hit again this year!

These amazing peanut butter bars, reminiscent of a Reese's cup. Lisa used crunchy PB, so it had an added, fun texture. Also, wheat-free! These were amazing and crazy-indulgent!

And THEN, she went and made baklava. Like a baller. Fo real. The baklava really Wowed a lot of people! Lisa also made brownies, but I never got a picture of them. More donations came in from friends and fellow volunteers/activists.

These mini cheesecake bites (made by Myriam) were a HUGE hit! Made with Follow Your Heart cream cheese and tucked into little phyllo dough cups, most people bought one and promptly put them in their mouth. For several people, this was their first time having vegan cheesecake, and they LOVED it!

We also received some lovely chocolate and strawberry cupcakes, both with cream cheese frosting (made by Kim)...

energy cookies (Gasp! Something healthy!), made by Maria

Jojo donated cute kitty cookies

and some AMAZING peanut butter fudge (my personal favorite of all the items on our bake sale tables)

and Lorelei brought some cinnamon rolls that went FAST! She also brought a loaf of sweet cinnamon bread and some mini baguettes.

We also sold Throwback sodas, but we kept forgetting about them, therefore they didn't sell very fast.

We had plenty of information on TNR (Trap Neuter Return), spay & neuter, and the Save 90 movement in Hillsborough County, as well as vegan recipes, veg starter kits, and stickers (Thanks for hooking us up, Action for Animals!). And then, a crazy storm rolled in and we got hit with the sideways rain. Thankfully we still had a couple of friends hanging out with us, so we had three extra helpers as we carried our baked goods into Mojo, cleared off the tables, and set them on their sides, like barricades from the rain. It was a mad rush and my pants were soaked from the knees down. Danny and Melanie were super accommodating and let us set up shop on a table in the center of the store. There was a band playing, so it was very loud and we couldn't hear or talk to people very easily, plus there were a lot of shoppers digging through stacks of records, so it wasn't the best place for our bake sale.

Within an hour, though, the rain let up and we were back outside on the sidewalk. We were able to consolidate all of our goods and literature onto less tables.

We hung out until long past dark. After 13 hours, we gave the remaining baked goods to Mojo to sell in their cafe and continue to collect donations on our behalf. During the 13 hours we were there, we raised... (drum roll, please.) $915!!!! And every penny of that goes toward spay & neuter surgeries and medical care for stray/feral/homeless cats! We had so much fun sharing delicious vegan baked goods, hanging out with our friends, and chatting with new friends. Thank you to Mojo for hosting us again, and thank you to EVERYONE who supported our bake sale! Special thanks to Florida Voices for Animals and Silverback Peace Group for sponsoring our event and providing literature materials.

Did you participate in World Wide Vegan Bake Sale 2012? Where did you host it and where did your funds go? Tell me all about it!

Linky-Dinks & What-Nots

Happy Friday everyone!

The weekend is here! Before I get into some fun and interesting links, I have to make two local announcements.

1. Any Tampa folks here attending the Save 90 conference tomorrow, Saturday the 14th? If you want to get involved in making Hillsborough County animal shelters no-kill, please attend this free conference tomorrow at Hillsborough Community College on South Dale Mabry Highway. 1pm. It's free to attend and all the info can be found HERE.

2. One week later, on Saturday, April 21st, I'll be at the badass vegan bake sale at Mojo Books & Music in Tampa, peddling cruelty-baked goods for a worthy cause: spay & neuter and medical care for stray and feral cats. This is part of World Wide Vegan Bake Sale, and also part of Mojo's World Record Store Day celebration. If you're in the Tampa area, come on by between record stores and Earth Day celebrations for some sweet treats!

Now onto the links and other random stuff for the rest of yas!

Have you had the chia kombucha from Synergy yet? I didn't expect it to be so AWESOME! I knew that chia seeds gel when they get moist, but with the kombucha, the result is like Jell-O. Drinkable Jell-O that's good for you and doesn't contain random animal parts. I tried the Cherry Chia and LOVED IT.

These "mini peanut butter cups in a jar" by Oh She Glows look AHH-MAZING and I can't wait to make 'em! (No stove required!)

I enjoyed this little post by Just a Titch about making things happen for yourself. From that post: "And the thing about making things happen for yourself is that once you do it a little, you want to do it more."

We all know about the Dirty Dozen when it comes to fruits and veggies, but have you seen the Dirty Dozen for cosmetics? Check it out here.

Gainesville, Florida is so surprisingly vegan-friendly. You've read my posts about G-ville before, and I'm ready for another visit after learning they've opened a new vegan and gluten-free-friendly cupcake shop! Check out Sarkara Sweets Cafe.

via Ecorazzi - 20 Bands That Care About the Environment

via Our Hen House - Got vegan or animal rights books collecting dust on the shelf? Pass 'em on to make a greater impact.

via VegNews - big thanks to my blogger buddy Amber at Almost Vegan for giving Kansas City the vegan shout-out it deserves!

For all my wanderlusters -

Help Wanted

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's post is about two different events that could use some support.

First up, the first annual Connecticut Veg Fest (for which I've been tele-volunteering) is happening on April 28th and 29th at the Hartford Convention Center. The festival is still accepting applications for sponsors and vendors, as well as accepting donations for their huge raffle. They are also in great need of VOLUNTEERS! If you can contribute in any way, check out their website and Facebook page, and please spread the word about the event. (Once their Facebook page reaches 200 fans, they'll be doing a random giveaway!)

The other event is an online event. An online vegan bake sale, to be exact. The folks behind the Peace To All Creatures zine is hosting a charity bake sale on March 18th & 19th, with all profits being split between four animal charities: Animal Coalition of Tampa, Darlynn's Darlins (which I've blogged about HERE), Dogs for the Deaf, and Friends of Arlington Animal Services. How does the online bake sale work? Refer to THIS POST HERE. This online bake sale is seeking BAKERS to donate vegan baked goods for the bake sale. Spreading the word will also help make this bake sale successful.

Thank you for spreading the word!

Tasty Tips & Tid Bits from the Vegan Bake Sale

Last Saturday, I participated in my first vegan bake sale. It was an awesome experience and even though it was my first time working a vegan bake sale, I learned a few things for next time. Since vegan bake sale season is in full swing right now, I thought I'd share my thoughts with others as they prepare for their vegan bake sale in their neck of the world.

* Advertise! Spread the word. Use blogs, Facebook, Twitter, whatever to get the word out. Hang fliers on community bulletin boards at churches, schools, health food stores, yoga centers, etc. Host your bake sale in conjunction with another event (which worked well for last weekend's bake sale). Hang up signs around the area of the actual event. Bring sidewalk chalk and spread the word at ground level, as well.
(Amber did a great job with the flyer)

* Recruit! Get help and ask for donations. I'm still amazed at the outpour of vegan baked good love that came to the bake sale. I was worried that we wouldn't have enough offerings, and we ended up with PLENTY!

* Variety! Have a little something for everyone, especially the gluten-free and sugar-free folks. We had two gluten-free options at our booth. The next VBS I work at, I'm going to focus more on gluten-free, as well as making something without white sugar, as we heard that request several times at the sale. Consider providing some raw options, as well.

* Presentation! Presentation is everything at a bake sale. Make sure everything is clearly labeled. Bring different colors and styles of serving dishes to add some funky style to the table. It never hurts to bring extra tables so the baked goods are nicely spread out, not piled on top of each other.

* Be Prepared! Hand sanitizer, gloves, paper towels, napkins, paper lunch bags, paper plates, disinfectant wipes, serving utensils... bring it all. And don't forget your camera!

* Information! Bring vegan cookbooks and magazines for display. Lay out a few stacks of leaflets. Offer some freebies (stickers, buttons, etc). We had several people pick up a magazine or flip through a book while they ate their baked goods or while they were waiting for the live music to start.

* Smile, smile, smile! Be a happy vegan! Let people ask questions, but don't be pushy or scary about veganism. Let the delicious vegan baked goods bring home the point and then back it up if you see fit. Vegan bake sales = tasty activism!

What are your tips for Vegan Bake Sale success? What lessons have you learned?

My First Vegan Bake Sale

Hold on to your hats and sweet teeth -- here come the pictures you've been waiting for: Pictures from Saturday's vegan bake sale, where 100% of the profits went to spay/neuter for feral/stray cats. It was held at Mojo Books & Music as part of their Record Store Day celebration.

Here's the table at set-up, before more food donations came rolling in.

Here's what I brought to the table: No-Kill Puppy Chow

(I later had to add a note that read "For Humans," as it caused some confusion.)

And fudgy peanut butter blondies with crushed nuts and chocolate chips

These were (understandably) popular.

And finally, the show-stopper, PMS Cookies: peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips AND potato chips. (Who says you can't have it all?!)

YEAH! I received hugs and high-fives for these!

It took a lot of willpower to keep my hands off of Joan's Not-so-Mad-Cowboy Cookies.

Amber donated some great stuff, too, including whoopie pies of both the peanut butter AND vanilla variety (that I apparently failed to photograph), PB cocoa puff squares

and cupcakes!

We had a beautiful chocolate-coconut cake selling by the slice

as well as a pecan pie (this was made my Lisa, who was told by one visitor that it was "the best pie she's ever had!")

We had blueberry and coconut-banana muffins, which were popular with our early morning crowd.

One very thoughtful volunteer, who is admittedly not a baker, purchased and donated a few different cookies from this etsy store.

And the donations kept on coming.

gingerbread cake with cinnamon-coffee glaze

More trickled in throughout the 9 hours we were in business, but I kind of forgot about my camera. I met some really delightful people, vegans and veg-curious, and chatted with them all. We met people from around the Bay area, from other cities and states, and even from other countries! Our tables were set up near the open mic stage and when I hollered out requests for songs about veganism and/or cats, we received some very sweet (and funny!) little ditties! The staff at Mojo couldn't have possibly been any more kind and welcoming. We caught a little music, we got to make lots of ball/neuter jokes, we laughed a LOT, and just had a really great day of activism. After 9 hours, we packed up and the staff at the coffee bar offered to take what was left and continue selling them and collecting donations. When we left, we had almost $500. The grand, final total: $610! That's 60 spay/neuter surgeries!

Obviously, the bake sale was a HUGE success and all the volunteers and I had an awesome time. Thank you to EVERYONE who stopped by, who donated, who sang for us, who helped and supported us and the stray kitties!