swell giveaway!

When A-K, of the swell vegan blog, put out a zine, I just knew I had to have a copy. I mean, you've seen her blog, right? She makes the most beautiful and healthy recipes. I've had the Swell zine for a few months now, and have loved all the recipes I've tried from it. I share a love of spicy foods with A-K, and so have loved the chipotle black bean tahini dip, the spicy tahini stew, and the lentil bolognese. Well, as far as I'm concerned, you can never go wrong with chipotle chilis, tahini, or lentils, so I might be biased! This little zine is packed with 15 inventive recipes, including some interesting, not-too-sweet desserts- you have to try Great Aunt Betty's Oatmeal Bundt Cake!

I've decided to give one of these zines away, so if you'd like a chance to win one, just leave a comment in this post. I will announce a winner Wednesday morning, 9 December 2009. Spread the word... and good luck!

swell giveaway!

5 cookbooks in 5 days, 4: 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes

We are on a roll! Tonight we have the 4th installment of this week's 5 cookbook reviews. When I heard that The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek of the nom! nom! nom! blog was coming out, I knew that I would have to get my hands on it. Why? Because Kris was the author of The Damn Tasty! Vegan Baking Guide. Those of you that were lucky enough to get your hands already know how good the recipes in that book were. That book is no longer in print, but fear not! Some of its best recipes are included in the new book.

If you've spent more than 5 minutes with me, you've heard me go on and on about THE banana bread recipe. It's the best one ever. I've tried a couple of other ones, only to come back to this- it makes a perfect, moist, flavorful banana bread and you won't believe how simple the ingredients are. It's also adaptable- I switch up the flours and add in crazy ingredients all the time, and it's never failed.


Here's another amazing recipe from the book- Boston Creme Pie! I never imagined I'd be able to make this fancy treat at home, but this recipe is awesome and it'll make you see that it is quite do-able.


This week I decided to make carrot cake. Don't laugh- my cake decorating skills are not that great!


But you can see from this inside shot that this cake is too good to care about my shoddy frosting job. A delicious spicy cake with carrots, raisins, nuts, and plenty of cream cheese frosting. It's so good. I'm not ashamed to admit that Daiku and I have been having slices of this for breakfast for the last couple of days...

Some helpful features of 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes:

• very thorough ingredient and substitution guides
• a huge range of recipes from sweet to savory, simple to fancy
• a guide to let you know exactly how difficult each recipe is, in addition to tips on how to increase efficiency while baking
  

Don't miss out- this is a reference guide that you'll go back to again and again! Except for THE banana bread- you'll memorize that one pretty quickly...

Check out this week's previous cookbook reviews:

11/16 - 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman
11/17 - The Urban Vegan by Dynise Balcavage
11/18 - Potluck Mania by Joanna Vaught

And stay tuned for my final review tomorrow:

11/20- Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

5 cookbooks in 5 days, 4: 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes

5 cookbooks in 5 days, 3: Potluck Mania

Tonight's cookbook up for review is actually a zine, Potluck Mania: Issue #1 Baby, It's Cold Outside. But it's bigger than most zines, and comes with a load of recipes that have been thoroughly tested and vetted to be really good. So really what's going on is that you have the depth and quality of a full-blown cookbook, for the price of a zine. Win-win.

It comes to you courtesy of Joanna Vaught, who you may recognize from her first cookbook, Yellow Rose Recipes. Much like YRR, this zine is full of recipes that reflect Joanna's southern roots. However, these dishes all have a little twist that takes them from good to extraordinary. You will be impressed with the quality of these recipes- taste, texture, and balance, it's all here. Here are some of my favorite dishes from the zine:

corn muffins- these have the perfect texture, and a delicate topping that kicks them up a notch


ginger maple tempeh strips- perfect balance of sweet, smoky, and awesome.


coconut sweet potatoes- just when I thought my love of sweet potatoes couldn't go any farther


last, but not least, we have us a crazy little breakfast treat that some friends and I invented one day. Before I go any farther, let me just say that Joanna is NOT responsible for this monstrosity! Her recipe is for these excellent breakfast sausages. We just happened to take those innocent sausages and... cook and wrap them in pancakes and top with maple syrup and whipped cream. I'm in no way saying you are obligated to do these with these sweet breakfast sausages, just... putting it out there.

Check out Monday's cookbook review, 500 Vegan Recipes
Check out Tuesday's cookbook review, The Urban Vegan

and stay tuned for review #4, tomorrow!

5 cookbooks in 5 days, 3: Potluck Mania

5 cookbooks in 5 days, 2: The Urban Vegan

Welcome to the 2nd installment of this week's 5-part cookbook review series! As I mentioned last night, I will be reviewing a new vegan cookbook (and 1 zine!) every day of this week. Tonight, I have The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine, by Dynise Balcavage of the Urban Vegan blog.

True story: Urban Vegan was the 2nd vegan blog I discovered, way back in the summer of 2006, and it was one of my main inspirations to start this blog. As anyone who reads her work knew, it wasn't if, but when Dynise would come out with a cookbook. I love the way she distills the essence of urbanity into her recipes- diverse, edgy, cosmopolitan, unexpected, but ultimately, homey. If like me, you are an urban person at heart (whether or not you live in a metropolis like Philadelphia), you have to pick up this book. What I love is how the recipes are inspired by Dynise's travels to all corners of the world, but somehow fit together very nicely. Check out some of my favorite recipes:


alternative granola - Peruvian influence, a use I'd never imagined for quinoa!


spätzle- you don't need any special tools for this Central European comfort food


chickpea paprikash- daiku's favorite recipe from the book- the paprika taste is so deep and rich, it'll blow your mind


Havana beans and rice- a little taste of Cuba, right in your kitchen


punka pie- I never even liked pumpkin pie before this!


blue mosque ayran- a refreshing and minty drink from the Middle East, perfect for hot summer days

crème brûlée - yes, you heard me!


tiramisu- oh man, possibly my favorite recipe from this book. boozy and decadent and coffee-y- wow!


portobello burger- so simple, yet so good


Here's the tiramisu that Luciana and I made for our recent Halloween party. We called it "fetalmisu"- get it? Ok, even if fetus humor isn't your thing, you have got to get your hands on this book!

Stay tuned for installments 3, 4, and 5. In the meantime, check out my first cookbook review from last night, 500 Vegan Recipes.

5 cookbooks in 5 days, 2: The Urban Vegan

5 cookbooks in 5 days, 1: 500 Vegan Recipes

It's such an exciting time! Those of you who are cookbook addicts, and I dare say that's more than a few of you, might be aware that a ton of new vegan cookbooks have been published recently. This week, I've decided to give a few of these books some love- so I've decided to do a series called 5 cookbooks in 5 days, one each day until Friday.

The schedule will be as follows:
Mon (today!) - 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman
Tue - The Urban Vegan by Dynise Balcavage
Wed - Potluck Mania by Joanna Vaught
Thur - The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek
Fri- Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Just a quick note to let you know that I know all of these authors, I have tested recipes for most of these books, and as a result have received free copies of some of them. I won't lie to you, I'm going to highlight what's good about these books! However, I think you'll agree that there just isn't much bad to say about any of them.

On to today's book!

500 Vegan Recipes is brought to you by the lovely and prolific bloggers Celine (of Have Cake Will Travel) and Joni (of Just the Food). Just as its name implies, this is a big book, and has an encyclopedic selection of recipes for every meal, mood, and occasion. The book gives lots of background on ingredients and techniques, enough to give beginners the knowledge to begin and more advanced cooks confidence to experiment. The recipes, however, are anything but basic- both Celine and Joni are creative enough to write truly enticing and unusual recipes. A broccoli salad with candied nuts? It's good! A muffin made from a cookie? It's possible!

Here are some of my favorite recipes:



Cannellini All'Italiana (hearty, stick-to-your-ribs, lip-smacking yet oh-so-simple to make)



Homemade bacon bits (much better than the overpriced chemical stuff at the store!)



Braised brussels sprouts and apples (so simple, but so good)



"That" broccoli salad (a perfect old-school blend of healthy and decadent, savory and sweet)



Agave bread (a wholesome bread with a light and delicate taste)



Mole bread (a wonderful complex bread with cocoa and spices)



Mexican hot mocha (a hot and comforting drink- with a kick)

5 cookbooks in 5 days, 1: 500 Vegan Recipes

a debate of great importance

sometimes, you think you know someone. you think you know them well. and then you find that you have deep, fundamental differences. this is how I felt when I found out that some of my closest friends ... (gah. it's so hard to even write about this)... DON'T like raisins. poor, sweet, delicious, nutritious raisins. nature's candy. a huge part of any trail mix. sigh.

but this gets even more personal when this irrational aversion to raisins messes with the childhood tradition known as ants on a log. (most Americans are familiar with this treat: celery sticks filled with peanut butter and topped with raisin "ants").

Here's me and Pandacookie battling over whether to go with TRADITIONAL, COMFORTING, HONEST ants on a log or blaspheming them by excluding raisins in lieu of chocolate. (um, thereby turning this nutritious and innocent snack into a den of caloric inequity). But I digress. Being the diplomatic vegans that we were, we made both.

What do YOU think? Please vote! The future of humanity depends on this!

celery, PB, and...

• raisin! obviously
• chocolate! duh

View Results
Create a Blog Poll

a debate of great importance

jojo visits!

Ok, ok, I promised cute animals, so I'll start with the post that will give you all the cute critters you can handle! Back in May, Daiku and I were so happy to have a visit from Jojo. She and I met when we visited Brighton back in November, a meet-up I wrote about here. When Jojo decided to come visit New York, I decided to try and lure her up to Syracuse with milkshakes. It worked!



The first night, I decided to go for a home-cooked comfort meal of mac&cheese with cut-up hot dogs. (New Farm mac&cheese recipe). As you can see, we tried to "health up" the meal with some peas and tomatoes.



Of course, no trip to Syracuse is complete without a visit (or 2) to Strong Hearts Cafe. Above, you have Jojo's chocolate/mint cupcake- how gorgeous is that?



Milkshakes, of course.



A favorite of both of us, the Egg Trick Muffin. This little sandwich is so savory and satisfying- a nutritional yeasty tofu egg, melted Teese mozarella, and sausage, all on a toasted english muffin. Yum.



One of my new favorites from the Strong Hearts menu- on the outside it looks like a huge but innocent stack of french toast.



Only to reveal peanut butter, jelly, and bananas hidden on the inside! So good, and enough for 2 people, seriously.

We took a road trip to Farm Sanctuary. We saw lots of cute animals there! But wait, just a little more food first, ok?



We went to ABC Cafe in Ithaca, where Jojo and Daiku ordered veggie burgers, above.



I went for the tempeh arizona sandwich, grilled marinated tempeh topped with heaps of avocado and a fabulous lemon-tahini sauce.



Somehow, we managed to save room for dessert! Above, you have Jojo's brownie, full of yummy walnuts. It was dense and fudgey, and she prefers a more cake-like brownie... which means yours truly scored a bunch of leftovers! ;-)



Daiku and I shared this gigantic slice of carrot cake. It was so moist and full of carrots and raisins, and the frosting was a pleasant surprise- coconutty and sticky and mmmmm.

All in all, Jojo and I got to enjoy several days of vegan heaven- and Daiku and I miss her! Ok, if you've read this far, you deserve some animal photos as a reward! Here are some of the residents of Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen. Enjoy!

jojo visits!