Monica - Café Con Monica

Three on Thursday!

May 24, 2018

Another Thursday post of Favorites thanks to Steph @ Not Entirely Perfect

Keeping it short & sweet because school is killing me…

1. The smell of babies fresh off a nap

2. When a student finally “gets it” and they are so excited

3. Snuggles w/thenewguy while I read a book

Comes to mind every Thursday

Guys…school & work are killing me. No seriously they are. I spent all my time last week working on a project for just one of my classes. 1 of THEM! My brain hurts. So since I was basically completely MIA last week I will give a kind of life update in photos!

There has been a lot of food…because you all know how much I love that. But really we are still eating out mainly on weekends and cooking during the week but we did a lot of repeat meals last couple weeks so not a lot of photos of that.

Some Sushi @ Union Sushi & BBQ

Donuts from @Somethin’ Sweet Donuts

Friday night Ceviche, Enchiladas & Steak Quesadilla @ Estrella Negra

Delicious Fried Chicken Breakfast @ Honey Butter Fried Chicken

…..I eat a lot.

Some family time with my two favorites!! My mom & Sis for Mother’s Day!

A great night out for a meetup that started with Bowling and ended up at a bar dancing till 2 am…

A wine fest in Lincoln Park in the cold rain!!

And I think that is about it. I’m back to homework and catching up on everyone’s blog posts from last week!!

Cooking Adventures: Vegan Brownies!

May 15, 2018

I told you back in February about these amazing vegan brownies that Thenewguy made for my sister when she was just starting out with her vegan adventure. I recently decided to make them myself for a meetup sweets exchage so I wanted to share with you guys!!

Ingredients:

2 C. Flour (He used Whole Wheat I used regular, doesn’t matter)

2 C. Granulated Sugar (white or unrefined)

3/4 C. Unsweetend Cocoa Powder

1 Tsp. Salt

1 Tsp. Baking Powder

1 C. Mashed Banana (make sure they are ripe)

1/4 C. Milk (We used Chocolate Ripple Milk, but almond would be fine)

1/4 C. Canola Oil

1 Tsp. Vanilla

1 C. Dairy Free Chocolate Chips(optional)

1/2 C. Nuts(optional)

Preheat oven to 350°, lightly oil a 9×13 dish

1. In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a smaller bowl mix banana, milk, canola oil and vanilla

3. Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until combined. (THIS IS HARD. It does not mix like a normal brownie batter so don’t be deterred)

4. Fold in Chocolate chips & nuts if you want to add them

5. Pour into pan and bake 25-35 minutes (usually takes 28-30 for me)

ENJOY!

Nevermind that they are vegan they taste great and everyone who has had them loves them before I tell them they have no milk or eggs!

Again..I am terrible at remembering to take photos so this is all I have!

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