Author: Jasmine Briones

The Easiest Way to Open & Clean A Pumpkin: The Coco Jack!Soooo this happened.The Coco Jack crew figured out that  you can easily open up a pumpkin AND scoop out the pulp with The Coco Jack and scoop! When I tried it out, I had it all done in about 2-3 minutes, and it saved me a lot of mess. My family and I have a huge pumpkin carving party every year at my home, and the last few years I have dreaded carving because of the very task of cleaning the dang pumpkins! My hands turn orange, it gets all up in my nails, and all over my clothes no matter how hard I try to avoid it. I don't know if I am doing something wrong, but regardless, it is a challenge for me. This is going to be perfect for pumpkin carving party this year, and it also inspired me to prepare more recipes with fresh pumpkin!

You can use the code "sweetsimple" for a discount at checkout ❤️

Here is a short clip of me opening the coconut, and also a fun video The Coco Jack put together with a few different ways to utilize this method!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuIoVVb6Ik4[/embed]

Halloween Oreo Cat Cupcakes26Cupcakes + cats? Count me in. I grew up with oreo cupcake cats every halloween, it was our Briones family holiday tradition. So much so that everyone at school would expect it at our yearly celebrations, and boy did we make sure to always deliver ;) The source of this recipe? A good old Nabisco Oreo Box from when I was about 2 years old. Really, this started about 20 years ago, it's really hard to believe. Unfortunately, we misplaced the original recipe cutout that my mom had saved all of these years, but the memory is so vivid in my mind that it was no longer needed to recreate this treat. The original recipe used a prepackaged frosting and cupcake mix, artificial orange stuffed oreos, candy corn, licorice, jelly beans and, well, very unhealthy ingredients. But you guys know me, I had to healthy this up before sharing. Using my homemade healthy oreos, vegan chocolate cupcake + chocolate avocado frosting recipes, homemade candy corn and dried fruit, I successfully made it happen. Halloween Oreo Cat Cupcakes50Th

I am going to try and share my upcoming visits to the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market in case you're not already following me on YouTube (check it out for more!). One of the most frequently asked questions I get in comments and emails is that regarding saving money or living on a budget as a high carb and/or high raw vegan. Good news! I have some very helpful information, especially to those of you who live in Los Angeles, or near it :) Check out this blog post for FAQs, advice, examples, photos + more!WholesaleOct 16Date: October 16, 2015 Total: $79

Chris / Conscious Chris came into town last month for 10 days, so of course we had to make our way through LA and hit up as many restaurants + activities possible. With a seemingly never-ending plethora of vegan food in Los Angeles, these 10 days did not make a dent in what is available to try, but we definitely hit up quite a few spots. Luckily, Chris will be moving to LA mid-October, so we have time to get to what we missed. I'm sharing with you all a bit of my personal experience each day of his trip, not only as a reference for you, but also as a personal reflection for me on one of the best week's I think I've ever had. Reliving it here with you all is bringing nothing but a smile to my face :)

What To Do & Eat In Los Angeles | Vegan Adventures w/ Conscious Chris + Two $100 Visa GIVEAWAYS!+ A GIVEAWAY!

Chris and I included in our adventure was 5 of the Top 52 #Vegforward Restaurants in the US: Gracias Madre, Plant Food & Wine, Sage Organic Bistro, Crossroads and Cafe Gratitude. We want to give YOU a chance to try out some of these restaurants near you. We have teamed up with Open Table to offer a $100 Visa Gift Card to 2 lucky winners (one on my page, one on his) so you can get your grub on!

gluten free healthy vegan oreosI have been hearing much debate about this topic, but most have claimed that oreos are in fact actually already vegan. For the sake of this blog post, I decided to take a look around to confirm this. Peta UK and Huffington Post, two I would deem as reputable sources of information, both included this fact in their 44 Accidentally Vegan Snack Foods and 12 Surprising Vegan Foods posts, respectively. However, Oreo UK states in their FAQ page that "oreo is not suitable for vegans as they have the cross contact of milk." I could not find a statement from the US branch of the company but I did see that oreos contain palm oil, and that was a red flag to turn away. Regardless if they are or not, in the end, we shouldn't be eating this 'food'. Just take a look at the ingredients: sugar, unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, high oleic canola and palm oil), cocoa, high fructose corn syrup, leavening, cornstarch, salt, soy lecithin, vanillin (artificial flavor) and chocolate. Hell to the no thank you. Healthy Vegan Oreos {gluten-free}My ingredients are not only simple, but also contain whole food ingredients, stuff that you can pronounce, identify, and benefit from consuming.