Tuesday, January 25, 2011

What Vegans Eat: Ask the Bloggers!

I thought I'd try something different with January's monthly "What Vegans Eat" post. Instead of sifting through some of the recipes my favourite vegan food bloggers' have shared most recently, I thought I'd ask them to chime in to tell me of the recipes they've posted on their blogs are favourites -- either their own, or their readers'. I figured, who best to talk up these great recipes than the people who shared them in the first place? Since I wanted to get this out today, rather than email each blogger individually, I just asked on Twitter and Facebook and ended up thrilled at the positive response to my request. In fact, I'm so thrilled with it that I hope to have a second round next month to highlight others' blogs, as well.
My first respondent was veganf who writes Disposable Aardvarks Inc. She said: "My hummus and AJ's pumpkin muffins are very popular, and my two series on winter soups too. Our personal family favourite is the Yummiest of Yummy Tofu Dinners. And the zucchini brownies are always wipes out at potlucks. The kale sunflower burgers, and purple crunchy cabbage (pictured above) are probably the most popular healthiest dishes". While you're visiting her blog, check out the convenient recipe index she has and the gorgeous photos of all of the bento meals she prepares for her family and the stories she weaves in about them.Claire from Chez Cayenne told me that her recipe for Black Bean Chili has been a hit, receiving over 3400 Stumbles on StumbleUpon. Her delicious looking recipe for Grilled Corn Salsa (pictured above) is the one for which she's received most hits via Google. Her Veggie Loaf and Sangria Verde recipes are ones which have received very positive feedback, as well. Many of the recipes at Chez Cayenne meander into spicy territory, so if you're not afraid to treat your taste buds accordingly, do bookmark it for its wonderful recipes. And even if you are spice-aversive, there's plenty there to please every palate.

A recipe for Cashew Ricotta Lasagna was one of the more popular ones from rants & recipes suggested to me by blogger trktos. Some of her own personal favourites which she makes the most, herself, include her recipes for: Chili, Spinach Soup, Pumpkin Soup, Butter 'Milk' Biscuits, Brown Sauce, Bulgur Wheat 'Sausage' and Banana Bread. After my own failed attempt to make banana bread over the holidays, I look forward to trying her recipe. Check out the many other recipes she has featured when you're done looking through the ones posted here!

I'm always glad when my friend Anna updates
her Carrot and Potato Time blog. One of her favourite recipes from it is one for Tortilla Soup she'd posted two years ago. Topped with a drizzle of lime, some avocado slices and some cilantro, I suspect that this could become a favourite of mine, as well.
A blog I've discovered recently through the big ol' world of Twitter is The Vegan Version. Lee Khatchadourian-Reese, its writer, shared with me that her own personal favourite is her recipe for Butternut Squash Ravioli with Mushroom Walnut Sauce (pictured above). A close runner-up is her Porcini Mushroom Stroganoff; in her original blog post, she wrote that "once this dish begins to simmer the aroma is just wonderful".

Abby Bean divulged two of the most popular recipes from A Soy Bean: Her colourful Rainbow Cookies and her Fluffernutter. Her personal favourites, however, include her Daiya-laden White Pizza and her sushi-inspired Peanut Avocado Unroll. If you live in the Pennsylvania/New York area, you'll also want to read through the numerous useful restaurant and bakery reviews she features on her blog.

Although not a food blogger as much as an animal advocacy multitasker, Barbara DeGrande's beautiful website does in
deed offer up a fair share of recipes. She picked her Orange Chocolate Chip Scones as her favourite to pass on for my post. I've tried these and they were absolutely delicious!
Meg (from the aptly named Meg's Cooking Addiction) shared three of her favourite recipes with me. The most recent is one which caught my eye a few days ago and which I intend to try out this weekend -- Garlic Naan. Another she passed on is for her Garlicky White Bean Soup w/Basil, which she says is "probably the best soup I've ever made". Always a sucker for a new soup recipe (albeit unable to find cannelini beans at my own somewhat lame local grocery store), I tried an adaptation of this recipe using baby lima beans instead and it was indeed very, very tasty! The third of her three favourite recipes? Coconut Cupcakes (pictured above)!

Speaking of coconut, the two recipes I was told have received the most rave reviews over on the Quantum Vegan site are the
Potato Leek Soup w/Coconut Milk, as well as one for Vegan Peanut Blossoms (which without even having tried them, I think should be considered as an altogether separate food group).

Leinana Two Moons told me that Vegan Good Things' most popular post by far was one for Coconut Bacon. Yep, you heard me right -- coconut bacon. I am so very intrigued by this and hope to swing by the local health food store when it's open tomorrow to pick up some flaked organic coconut to try this out.

More? Do I have more? You bet...

The three recipes suggested to me by
Daily Vegan Eats were Lumpia, Cheesy Herb-Garlic Lava Potatoes (you'll definitely get your habanero fix with them!) and the very red Blood Salad.

Amanda from Amanda Eats shared her two favourites: First you have Baby Vanilla French Toast w/Agave Nectar (drool!) and her incredibly simple to make Chorizo Lasagna.
Last, but certainly not least, Jenn from Cookin' Vegan sent me some links this morning to some of her favourite recipes from her blog. Let your jaw drop now. Seriously. She suggested her Fuji Apple and Fresh Fennel Bisque followed by Grilled Vegetable, Orzo and Kale Salad (pictured above) and Better Than Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

I've no doubt that the recipes which have been passed on to me to share with you by these 13 fabulous food bloggers will prove how wide a diversity of vegan dishes are available to tantalize you and the lucky folks you may end up feeding on your travels. Some of them are quick and simple to throw together, while others are more complex and require some extra care. They range from the fresh and healthy to absolutely decadent, sometimes touching upon a bit of both. What's amazing is that this is just a tiny sample of the innumerable vegan recipes available on the internet via food blogs alone. They're sometimes brought to you by people who are either like most of us and who stumble across perfect combinations through the limited trial-and-error experimentation allowed when on a busy schedule; other times, they're offered up by those who've made playing in their kitchens a real hobby -- or who've even managed to eke out a living from it.

The bottom line, however, is that you need not go hungry as a vegan for lack of ideas. The right recipe for you is out there: Go find it!


(Please note that My Face Is on Fire does not necessarily condone or endorse any views which may be held by the above-mentioned bloggers.)

16 comments:

Wendy A.M. Prosser said...

I can't understand why people would want to eat animal products, when there are so many delicious-looking vegan dishes around!

JL Goes Vegan said...

Great looking food in this post! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Claire said...

This is awesome, Mylène. I found some really great stuff here. Thanks for including mine!

Abby Bean said...

Thanks, Mylene; what a great idea for a post. I'm going to check out all of these recipes!

ms. veganorama said...

I really need to get cooking on my blog again! This post is inspiring and might be what gets me back on track.

Question though since you included a recipe with truffles, what's your thought on using truffles and truffle products? I did a bit of research a few years ago and all available truffles were still being found by trained dogs or pigs so I was never comfortable buying them or the oils. Unless things have changed?

M said...

Thanks, everyone, for your feedback.

ms. veganorama, which of the recipes uses truffles?

The Compassionate Hedonist said...

Here is my favorite dish that I have veganized from eggs and cheese and people were dying over it.

http://thecompassionatehedonist1.blogspot.com/2010/12/food-of-goths.html

I am a truffle lover worshipper and eater. At the last truffle festival I went to I bought my truffles from a truffle "hunter" who has a rescue dog that loves truffles. the dog was never "trained" Truffle dogs are bred and cost about €7000. I would not support that. I met the dog as well. She was a super happy and loved dog. My dogs also love truffles, but I don't live near truffle fields.

The Compassionate Hedonist said...

I am also proud to say that I was asked to contribute to a benefit cook book for a donkey rescue in Greece and I told them I would only do it if it was an animal ingredient free book, stating it didn't make sense to have a benefit for animals while using animals, and they agreed!! :)

The Compassionate Hedonist said...

BTW ms. vegaorama. I studied food and wine for 2 years. truffle oils do not contain truffles, they are synthetic, so if you can use them. Turffles do not perserve well, so they use aromaa derived from the truffle.

Anonymous said...

Mmmm, what a roundup! Makes me wish there were more nights in a week so I had time to cook all this good food. Thanks for the shout-out!

ms. veganorama said...

Mylene, it was there yesterday, I swear. It was a truffled something or other. Did you edit the post?

The Compassionate Hedonist, Good to know about truffle oils! As for truffles themselves it's just not something I can support even with a rescued dog but I'm not here to debate the issue.

M said...

ms. v: I removed the link this morning before leaving for work, hoping to do some research on the topic. It seems that it's complicated. Most truffle oil does indeed contain a synthetic substance to provide an essence of truffles. However, some truffle oils do actually contain truffles. The problem is that many lovers of "haute cuisine" look down their noses at the use of "fake" truffle flavouring, so manufacturers are less than forthcoming about their product not containing actual truffles. Basically, the last thing they want to do is flat out admit that their product is 100% truffle-free. So it's a bit tricky to get a straight answer and apparently sometimes tricky to get explicitly accurate labeling on the bottles. At least that's what I've been reading and hearing from others so far. I dunno. I've never used the stuff, myself.

ms. veganorama said...

Okay so I wasn't going crazy!

Thanks for your research. I think that I'll just stay away from truffle anything as I've always done. Never had it, not going to miss it.

Back on the topic of your post, my most popular hit postings are for kimchi and the holy trinity mac and cheese:

http://vegandinners.blogspot.com/2008/05/cabbage-kimchi.html

http://vegandinners.blogspot.com/2008/06/holy-trinity-mac.html

The Vegan Version said...

Wow! That is some fine looking food! Thanks for the shout out. Like you I am so happy to have connected to a world of awesome food bloggers, yourself included!

The Compassionate Hedonist said...

I will never stay away from a truffle. Truffles are the loves of my life.


Truffles do not need dogs or pigs to be found. Most dogs love truffles.


Also, there are cultivated truffles nowadays. They are pretty good and are cultivated without dogs or pigs.

M said...

They may not *need* dogs or pigs to be found, but the point is that dogs and pigs are sometimes used to find them. So unless one knows without a doubt from the provider that the truffles at hand were not found via animal exploitation, then one can only err on the side of caution.