Vegan Blueberry Cupcakes

I made these awhile back for Independence Day (sorry there are no pictures, I guess I accidentally deleted them, but they were iced with red, white, and blue icing and patriotic sprinkles!). Half the batch was blueberry, and the other half was blueberry chocolate chip! They were delicious; everyone in my boyfriend's giant family loved them and didn't know or care that they were vegan.

Booberry Cupcakes!

1/2 c vegan butter (or I used Crisco, because it's cheaper and tastes the same)
1 1/4 c sugar
1/4 c applesauce
1/4 c soy yogurt (whatever flavor you want, you won't notice the taste)
2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c soymilk
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c blueberries
1/2 c chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter/Crisco and sugar.
2. Add applesauce and yogurt.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients.
4. Add dry ingredients to the wet, stir until just combined.
5. In a separate bowl, mash 1/2 c of the blueberries. Add the mashed boobers and the whole boobers to your batter.
6. Fill cupcake tins to 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 25-30 mins. Let completely cool before you frost!

Innertube Fanny Pack

This is how I made a fanny pack out of used bike tubes. This is not necessarily how you should make it, because I just made it up as I went, but here's what happened:






1: Get some tools. Sewing machine with black thread, scissors, a black plastic buckle, a 7" black zipper, and maybe some pins.



2. Cut eight 10" strips from the tubes. (You'll get 7 of them from one of the tubes, cut the last from the second tube and set the rest of it aside-- you'll need it later.)




3. Cut the tubes open.



4. Sew 4 of the tubes together. It can be a pain in the ass getting a pin through rubber, so I used masking tape to hold them together. Just be careful not to sew over the masking tape, as it will make it hard to take it off.


5. Draw a half circle on a piece of paper. Cut it out. Lay it on top of your new "rubber fabric." This is going to be your template. Cut around it, leaving a half inch border. This will be the back of the fannypack. (NOTE: What used to be the outside of the tube is the front of the fabric, and the powdery side is in back of the fabric. Keep this in mind for later.)

6. Sew two of the 10" strips together. These will make up the lower front portion of the fanny pack. The last strip is for the upper front portion.

7. After this you can pretty much figure it out right? Sew your three sections together in the appropriate places, making sure to sew them inside out so you can flip them right side out later (Remember making pillows in home ec? It's just like that.) Trim off the excess so it's a semicircle again. You're almost done!

8. After you've flipped it right side out, sew the zipper into the slit. I tried to do this on the machine but it was a pain in the ass, so I hand sewed it. Now you have a fanny pack! Just attach the rest of the second intertube to the back of it (I used a staple gun to do this because it's impossible to get a needle through 4 layers of rubber. Just be sure to bend the staples down so you don't poke yourself. You can even put electrical tape over the staples so no one can see them.). Finally, attach your plastic buckle to the strap and you're all through.