What Vegans Eat

I'd hoped to kick-start a periodic vegan cookbook review feature on My Face Is on Fire but have been too swamped at the office to follow up with the vegan bloggers and food-lovers who'd volunteered to submit occasional reviews several weeks ago. In the interim, here's an update on what some of my favourite vegan food blogs have been offering up over the past few weeks:

The VeganDad blog's writer's home must be smelling wonderful this month given his recent posts for Ethiopian Sweet Potato Stew and Ethiopian Lentils. I've never cooked Ethiopian before, but am intrigued by the use of garlic with cinnamon in these two recipes, along with all of the other wonderful spices called for in either.

Speaking of the aroma of spices filling a kitchen: I can just imagine how scrumptious it must have been to just stand beside the stove while Sinead over at Kitchen Dancing prepared her Parsnip Perfection soup with its ginger, cumin, chipotle chilies and lime. (While you're at it, do check out her blowtorched Green Tea and Almond Crême Brulée recipe from a week and a half ago.)

My friend Thomas has been visiting me from Pennsylvania this past week and a half, and just yesterday we were discussing "cheesecake" and I was telling him about how I used to make a killer chocolate tofu cheesecake. Maybe I should test this cinnamon-y Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe posted by Ed recently at his Eating Consciously blog over the next few days.

Speaking of pumpkins, Vegancognito's Batgirl offered up a recipe last weekend for her chili cook-off contest winning Pumpkin Mole Chili w/Chipotle Creme and Homemade Cornbread Croutons that also calls for--cinnamon! She describes the chili as "spicy, smoky, rich, deep, and complex" which seems like a dead-on description just from reading its ingredients.

Have you ever thought that vegan cooking's too complicated? Have you found yourself having a hard time knocking your kitchen "know-how" out of the box to play with new seasonings and to try different things? Just keep your eye on vegan cooking blogs like these (see the numerous ones listed off to the right of the screen in the "Vegan Cooking and Nutrition" links list) and I guarantee that you'll soon find yourself wondering what you've been missing.

Going vegan is easy. Not only is it ultimately the delicious thing to do, but most importantly, it's the right thing to do.

Because Vegans Love to Eat, Too

A popular misconception about veganism is that food options become limited. If anything, becoming vegan taught me that I'd had no idea of the actual variety of foods available to me and of the multitude of ways in which they can be seasoned and prepared. I taught myself most of what I know about cooking while reading vegan cookbooks cover to cover and while lurking in recipe forums in online communities; these days I'm still studying cookbooks, but tend to pick up so many new ideas and tips on many of the wonderfully well-written vegan food blogs out there. I'm trying to get into the habit of providing a regular update of the dishes and cooking tips that catch my eye on those vegan food blogs I follow. I think that learning how to prepare food you love is probably one of the most important things you can do for yourself as a vegan. Plus, becoming a good cook provides you with a valuable tool for vegan outreach, where you can teach others around you that absolutely delicious meals need not involve animal exploitation.

So?

Anna, over at Carrot and Potato Time, posted a recipe for a Basic Vegan Chili for crock pots a few weeks ago that included a tip on using kombu seaweed to bring about "a general reduction in, ehm, digestive distress (gas!) associated with beans". Her recipe was of interest to me since I was recently given a crock pot and have just started experimenting with it. I picked up a copy of Robin Robertson's Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker while in Philly and look forward to sharing the outcome of recipes I try from it.

A recipe that could easily be adapted for slow cookers is the one for Smokey Corn Chowder posted by Claire at Chez Cayenne just a few days ago. It's adapted from a recipe by Deborah Madison. I love corn chowder more than just about anything in the world--honestly! I hope to try this recipe out soon if I can find some smoked Spanish paprika in one of my local stores.

Last week, Ms. Veganorama at Yummy Vegan Dinners posted a recipe for Vegan Burger Patties, with credit for the recipe given to Bryanna Clark Grogan. I'm a sucker for a good veggie burger recipe and this recipe is neat because it's not your typical crumbly bean / grain burger, but is more of a burger-burger substitute, using gluten flour, chickpea flour and oats for texture and to bind the patties.

And by the way, if you haven't done so already, bookmark and read this blog: Vegan Mafia. From product and restaurant reviews to food photos and recipe ideas, Ms. Rock covers it all delightedly and delightfully!

Speaking of cookbooks: Along with the aforementioned Robin Robertson book, I also picked up Nava Atlas' Vegan Express and Bryant Terry's Vegan Soul Kitchen in Philly recently. I look forward to trying out some recipes from each of those and sharing the results here in future posts. (Note: You can find some sample recipes from Bryant's book by clicking on the links in this April 8 blog post.)