What Vegans Eat

It feels as if I just finished writing up January's short highlight of some of my favourite vegan food blogs--February has been zipping right by! So, on with it, I guess:

Anna over at Carrot and Potato Time just blogged about her experience making almond milk. I really, really have to try this for myself, soon since it seems so easy to make. Many don't realize that almond milk has been enjoyed for hundreds of years, its origins easily traced back to the Middle Ages, when refrigerators were a luxury only enjoyed by time-travelers.

Speaking of milks: Mihl at Seitan Is My Motor recently posted a recipe for a delicious-sounding Carrot-Coconut Soup w/Lime. It's described as "creamy, spicy, fruity and slightly sour" and looks absolutely beautiful, to boot!

Speaking of carrots (and beautiful dishes): Sinead at kitchen dancing shared a recipe for a Multicoloured Carrot Pilaf that sounds as delightfully complex tasting as the aforementioned soup. I always love her descriptions of how she goes about assembling her vegan culinary concoctions.

For a quick dessert or just a snack to satisfy a sweet tooth, how about a couple of the Banana-Maple Oatmeal Cookies from SusanV's FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog?

Go forth and cook up some good vegan eats!

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.)

Vegan Recipes in the Blogosphere

I was going to post a couple of vegan recipes that have ended up on mainstream media websites this week surrounding Earth Day, but after finding a couple of scrumptious sounding ones for soup (Minestrone and African Yam and Peanut, to be precise) on the Winnipeg Free Press' site, I got sidetracked by a couple of recent posts from vegan food bloggers I follow and decided to throw out a few kudos:

Jessy over at happyveganface (a vegan food blog I adore) recently posted about Snobby Joes -- one of my favourite recipes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Veganomicon. I raved about them, myself, a while back, lover of lentils that I am. The original recipe can be found here on the Post Punk Kitchen website.

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Melissa at The Papaya Chronicles recently posted about the type of meal I enjoy throwing together often, myself, when I don't particularly feel like cooking but don't want to junk out. She threw an assortment of raw vegetables, seasoned and baked flour tortillas and fruit on some trays and served them up with her favourite hummus recipe (one I've since tried and loved).

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Over at Carrot and Potato Time, Anna's been writing quite a bit about her recent experiments with baking with sourdough starter. This is something I've been meaning to try out myself for quite a while with my own trusty bread machine. For those who are uninitiated, her posts will surely be more than helpful (and her photos will leave you eager to get some baking of your own done, pronto).