RECIPE - Faux Mocha / RESTAURANT REVIEW, Part Deux - Mud Pie Vegan Bakery, Kansas City, MO / Green Acres Market

After getting unpacked and situated in her temporary living quarters, the hedgehogs told April that she was required to drive into the big city and get some chocolate.



She decided that the best place to do that was Mud Pie Vegan Bakery.

Mud Pie Vegan Bakery
1615 W 39th St, Kansas City, MO 64111
Facebook page







Since April didn't get anything chocolate on her last visit to Mud Pie, this time would be different.



April got a Cashew Milk Mocha, Lemon Blueberry Bread, an Eggy Breakfast Burrito (made by KCMO restaurant Fud), and, to satisfy the chocolate craving/requirement, a s'mores cupcake. The was the second time she had got some food from Fud without actually going there (they always seem to be closed when she wants to go out). The burrito was gooey and delicious, the lemon blueberry bread was the perfect level of sweetness with a great flavor, and the s'mores cupcake was the perfect way to get that chocolate fix. The mocha was a great compliment to it all, and April was once again impressed by the milk options - soy milk is standard and *free*, and various other milks are available for a bit extra (like cashew, rice, coconut, almond, and hemp!)

While enjoying the yummy food, Buttercup's sharp eye discovered that the bookshelves on the wall were actually a door. Hedgie said that all doors should also be bookshelves.



On the way back to Leavenworth, April decided to stop in north KCMO and check out Green Acres Market, as she needed to pick up a few groceries (i.e., Hedgehog Bribes).

Green Acres Market
4175 N Mulberry Dr, Kansas City, MO 64116 (Also has locations in Wichita, KS and Jenks, OK)
Facebook page

Green Acres is located in a collection of shops, at the end of a row next door to Sugar Mama's Bakery (but not the one in Austin!) It's a decent-sized store; not too small, and not so big that you get lost. April picked up some organic produce - a couple of pluots (a combination between a plum and an apricot), some lemons, some broccoli, and some sweet potatoes, and also got a couple more heat & eat Indian packet meals and some cocoa powder from the bulk section. Since hearing about The Great Vegan Yogurt Shortage, she was pleased to find a brand new offering -


Quick review - the plain was the only flavor they had. It's not sweet, and the texture is good; not too thick or thin.

She also found a couple of things that looked very tempting, but that she didn't buy (yet!)


This company sells three types of coffee drinks and two varieties of plain almond milk in very cool bottles.


BBQ jackfruit and jackfruit tamales! April will definitely be getting some of this before leaving Kansas.

When she got back home, April decided to try her hand and making an instant iced mocha drink mix for the hot days out at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. While at Green Acres, she had picked up a canister of Cafix, a barley/chicory drink which seemed very similar to Teeccino, except that it was labeled 'instant' (no brewing required!). The Cafix can said to mix with "very hot water", but Hedgie told April to go ahead and try making a small cup with cold. You know; for science.



April went with a 1/1/3/3 ratio - 1 spoon of Cafix, 1 spoon of cocoa powder, 3 spoons of coconut sugar, and 3 spoons of soy milk powder. She then added cold water and stirred well. It didn't all mix up immediately, but it did mix fairly well within 30-45 seconds. The hedgehogs tossed in a few ice cubes. It was good! April tripled the amounts for her giant wooden faire mug, and put the resulting mix in a small container to take with her to faire.

More faux-mocha info - this mixture tastes good hot, too! Also, the Better Than Milk company makes a rice milk powder, but don't use that for a cold faux-mocha; the rice milk powder doesn't blend well in cold water at all (though it's ok in hot, and mixes beautifully in a blender.)

The Hedgehogs Take Pennsic (Slippery Rock, PA)

After the 24 hour drive from Austin to Pennsylvania, April and the hedgehogs finally made it to Pennsic. Pennsic lasts for two weeks - the first week is called "Peace Week", and the second week is called "War Week", since that's when most of the battles are fought. Hedgie and Buttercup are a bit worried about getting anywhere near large armies in heavy plate mail carrying swords (rightly so!), so they have nothing to report on the actual fighting.

They did, however, provide cheering and moral support while April set up her tent.



It's not an authentic canvas pavilion, but it'll do for now. Just big enough for a musician and her hedgehogs.

The next morning, April donned her handmade linen cotehardie (dress) and handmade linen veil, grabbed her instruments (bowed psaltery, bodhran, flute, and pennywhistle) and hedgehogs, and headed out to play music for the masses.



Hedgie and Buttercup would like to credit their extreme cuteness and congeniality as the reason that April made the front page of the Pennsic Independent -



After several hours of playing, Hedgie took Buttercup on a tour of his favorite places. (He's been to Pennsic twice before, but this was Buttercup's first time.) He showed her House Hedgehog (the Latin on the tent translates to "The Hedgehog Can Not Be Buggered At All") -



as well as the TARDIS (which leads into another encampment) -



Pennsic is run by the Coopers (who own the land). The Coopers run the convience store onsite, as well as Penn Market, which moved from the food court to the big barn this year. April was thrilled to notice that Penn Market had a whole section devoted to organic foods -



Each year, Pennsic has a theme. Since this was Pennsic 42, the theme made itself readily apparent -


This sign happily provided by Vogon industries.


The official site medalion. If you can't quite make it out, that's a bowl of flowers that says "Don't Panic".

One of April's favorite places to play and hang out at Pennsic underwent ownership and a name change this year. Kafe Merhaba (formerly Your Inner Vagabond) provides coffee, tea, other drinks, and light snacks in a big shaded tent with tons of straw-stuffed cushions. It's very easy to forget that you're in a tent in a field when you're lounging on cushions and sipping an iced coffee.


Did I mention it was Pennsic 42?


Hedgie and Buttercup meet the Merhaba camel. "We found a camel! Can we keep him?"

This year, the food choices were much fewer than last year. (Here's the menu.) There were some vegan options, but they were a bit out of April's budget - $4 for a small bowl of mixed olives or a small bowl of mixed fruit and nuts. April's favorites this year were the drinks (which they gave her for free after she'd played a set - bonus!) April started out trying a Yemeni espresso with ginger and orange blossom water. It was sweet, perfectly spiced, and delicious!


The hedgehogs beg for coffee. "See? It's just our size!"

April's other favorite drink was an iced chai. When she first got there, they told her they had no non-dairy milk, so she had several chais with no milk at all. On the last day, they proudly told her that they had almond milk, so she was treated to the most amazing drink ever (at least, that was what it seemed like after a long day playing music in the heat!)



One of the other awesome things about Penn Market was that they sold freshly baked bread of all sorts. Each day, there would be day-old bread for half price. On the last day, they offered buy one, get one free on all the remaining bread, so April bought a bread bed for Hedgie and Buttercup.


The hedgehogs get comfy. The dipping oil was given to April free from one of the ladies who worked at Penn Market.

April took down her tent and packed everything up (with the cheering and moral support of the hedgehogs), and prepared to embark on her first trip to Canada!

Mud Pie Vegan Bakery & Coffee House - Kansas City, MO

Mud Pie Vegan Bakery
Facebook Page
1615 W. 39th Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64111
(816) 931-4539
Mon - Fri: 6 am - 9 pm
Sat: 7 am - 9 pm
Sun: 8 am - 7 pm


Yesterday, before my 12 hour drive from Missouri to Texas, I decided to stop at Mud Pie Vegan Bakery, Kansas City's only 100% vegan bakery and coffee house. A warning to all of you who might have problems making decisions - everything in there looks absolutely delicious (and it's all vegan, so that doesn't help narrow anything down!)




Check out all the milk options! Also, soy is standard and free- take *that*, Starbucks!

I ended up getting a vegan cheddar scone, a slice of coffee cake, and an almond milk chai latte. Upon further reflection, this is a bit out of character for me - no chocolate at all?




I liked what I got, but I'm thinking next time I'll pick something chocolate, because it's bound to blow me away. (I'm still dreaming of those mini chocolate bundt cakes...)

Emerald Green Smoothie Pucks

I first heard about smoothie pucks on Pinterest. I thought it was a genius idea - you take whatever you'd like to have in your smoothie, blend it up in your blender with a little liquid, and pour it into muffin tins. Freeze, and you've got perfectly portioned, quick-n-easy smoothie pucks, all ready to be tossed in the blender when you're rushed for time in the morning (or just feeling lazy!)



I've made several batches of these, and they usually don't turn out green (my last batch had lots of berries, and the batch before that had beets, so the red overwhelmed any other color). This batch, however, was destined to be simple. I put half a bunch of curly kale (what was left in the fridge), a whole bunch of spinach, three carrots, and half a head of broccoli (plus an extra stem) into my beloved BlendTec blender with just enough water to make it blend and pour. After freezing in the muffin tins, they became the gorgeous green pucks of goodness you see above.

To make a smoothie, I take one or two pucks, one frozen banana, and about 10 ounces of flax milk, and blend. If I've got dates, I'll sometimes add one for extra sweetness, but this batch really didn't need it. If I don't have flax milk, I'll toss in 1-2 tablespoons of freshly ground flax seed.



Here's the results of my last smoothie puck adventure -


All manner of fruits and veggies!


Pretty purple pucks


Smoothie is imminent!


OK, so I misjudged the size of the glass. It was still good.