VeganMoFo

Hello MoFos!  I hope everybody had a wonderfully spectacular Saturday.  Today’s roundup has no particular theme but tons of droolworthy posts and a bit of awesome ideas.

Lately I find myself obsessed with pantries.  I like to see what people keep in theirs and how they store spices and whatnot.  I often get ideas this way (about organization, storing, and essentials).  Today I realized that I need to up my flour game because Jessy has a bazillion gluten free flours in her pantry!  Share what you keep in yours over at her blog, HappyVeganFace.

We all know a pantry isn’t a pantry without all the items.  So, Joni from Just the Food tells us where we can get all the good stuff for cheap!

Good deals are nothing to frown upon.  This time of year brings out my supreme love of sweet potatoes because they are super cheap and very delicious.  It looks like I’m not alone.  Brittany whipped up a sweet potato and broccoli salad while Sam documented her first time in the world of sweet potater makin’.  Gotta love the fall.

As the weather changes, it seems like many are turning to comfort foods.  Ever feel like cooking with the Sopranos?  How about making perfect macaroni?  Or is your thing maybe some raw pasta in under 5 minutes?  Whatever comforts you, there is plenty to go around.  Oh, and I’d totally love to live in this mac n’ cheeze.  Please gaze upon it in all its glory:

The two most interesting things I saw today were definitely scrambled polenta and mini s’mores.  That’s right: a polenta scramble with mushrooms and shallots.  See how Mandee did it over at CupcakeKitteh.  And as a lover of all miniature things, I really want to make these adorable little s’mores.  They’re made with Annie’s Bunny Grahams!

Such a lovely ending to a lazy Saturday.  Week 2 and we’re still going strong.  Keep it up, y’all!

Posted by Mo

It’s the weekend! Maybe you have a little time to pop some brownies into the oven. MoFo’ers have been baking up batches all week. Scratch and Sniff muses on her grandmother and brownies and her grandmother’s brownies. Vegan Thyme bakes up one of my favorite combos: Chocolate Ginger Brownies, from Robin Robertson’s new cookbook.

There’s an amazing looking recipe for Raw Fudge Brownies at the end of this dinner party post at Soap & Chocolate. And yet another Raw Brownie recipe at Fashion Peace.

Chocolate not your thing? Think blondes have more fun? How about these White Chocolate Peanut Butter Blondies at Bjorked Off. Or a very cool idea for Snickerdoodle Blondies at Flour Riot.

Can’t wait to see what youse bake up over the weekend!

Posted By Isa

Right now, I stand at the top of the MoFo mountain.  As of the start of this roundup, I’ve caught up on every single blog entry.  Phew.  Y’all were making me majorly hungry.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how knowledgeable you MoFos are.  I’ve gotten so many tips on things recently from ways to use baking soda to washing my produce right when I get it home from the store.

Kelly G. from EasyVegan blogged about 1, 001 ways to eat oatmeal.  So many ideas!  Oatmeal is no longer the thing to settle for.  And say you want to spice up your oatmeal or any meal for that matter(chuckle)…Dianne has some wonderful tips on what to do with spices.  She also gets major points for the best blog title of the day.

Hey, maybe you can put some of those spices in your vegan emergency kit.  Whaaat?  Don’t have one yet?  Well, visit VeganSoapBox and check it out.  You never know when you’ll need a good bouillon cube.  Speaking of emergencies, there’s a pumpkin shortage!  So don’t be surprised if they are all out of the good ol’ canned stuff at your grocery store.  Kristin from Beans And Greens wants you to know that it isn’t so hard to make your own puree.  Check out these pumpkin guts:

You can’t get that from a can.  You know what you can get from a can?  Calcium, depending on its source.  Check out Eat. Run. Do Yoga.’s information on calcium in a vegan diet.

Ooh!  I almost forgot the treats, with all this wonderful information flying around.  Are you in the mood for some banana split bread or banana coconut ice cream?  Tahini cookies?  Maybe you’re feeling something a bit more savory.  You should take a look at Mittenmachen’s roasted chickpeas and try not to drool.

Well, that’s the end of this roundup.  One week of VeganMoFo is done!  I’ll raise my invisi- glass to more future awesomeness.  Now, show me your pantries!!!

Posted by Mo

This morning I effed up my microwave oatmeal. Twice. It just kind of erupted all over the place, as only oatmeal can do (twice.) As I cleaned it off the cats I got to thinking about today’s roundup subject – projects – and what takes kitchen time from regular old cooking, into the project zone.

You definitely are in project territory when you need a special device for your food, like a ravioli cutter. Full disclosure, I have never really made my own ravioli, although I have cheated and used wanton wrappers. This Mushroom Garlic Tofu Ravioli from the aptly titled Cute and Delicious looks exactly that.

The Airy Way has got a lot going on. This recipe for kushidango has got all the classic elements of a project: adorable tchotchkes, moon-related activity, and skewers.

Sometimes a project happens because you’re entertaining, and need a fabulous edible conversation piece. Add to that a little internet buzz and born is this gigantor cheeseball that kittee adapted from the Vegetarian Times vegan cheese article a few months ago.

Speaking of internet buzz, you remember when everyone was talking about the NY Times no-knead bread on that one internet forum? Of course you do, because someone posts a link to it every single day. In all the excitement, they don’t even bother to search for an already existing thread even though there are at least 20. Well, maybe it’s about time you made the bread, like Hell Yeah It’s Vegan did.

Maybe you’ve got a sweet tooth and can be lured into the kitchen with the promise of a candy thermometer and toffee? The New Vegan Table has got the project for you.

And sometimes the best kind of project is the simplest. Harken back to a gentler time; lemonade on the porch, tofu roast in the wood burning stove and ma’s lattice top pie cooling on the window sill. I tend to lazy-out and go the crumb top route, but I think a lattice top builds character.

Now would be a great time to dip your toes into the wonderful world of jam making (but please don’t dip your toes into the jam!) Mocking The Meat is a canning newbie and look at what a great job she did!

Or if you want all the goodness of homemade jam but don’t want to be the home that makes it, cheat and check out tahinitoo’s canning giveaway.

I love before and afters. The ones with a disheveled graying frizzhead that turns into a gussied up bombshell are fun, but even funner is a look into a blogger’s inner turmoil via their spice cabinet. Spoiler: she emerges victorious.

And how about a digital project? Really cute recipe cards that you can download! Take Messy Vegetarian Cook’s project and turn it into your own.

Last but not least, a super cool project that might be helpful for all us mofo-ers. Vegan Dojo has created a fun way to sift through MoFo posts. You can see what’s new, what people are loving on, and who’s been keeping busy.

Happy MoFoing, everyone! I’ve been having a great time reading everyone’s posts. You’re doing a bang-up job. Do you have any projects planned for the weekend?

Posted by Isa

This roundup is brought to you by allergy medication! Lucky for this roundupper, there was no shortage of delicious MoFo posts today, so you, dear reader, will experience no shortage of awesome today.

First up, Vegan Guinnea Pig takes time out of her insanely busy schedule to whip up some fantastic looking chickpea cheeze. Cheap, easy, and scrumptious looking – see?

Mihl over at Seitan is My Motor should be sending me money for a new keyboard after I drooled all over my current one looking at her pumpkin bread and dreaming of making it into french toast. Sigh. Kim at C’est La Vegan is turning Fail into Forking Delicious. Having wrestled extensively with vegan brownies myself, her post was particularly inspiring to me… to combine brownies and ice cream! Woo!

On the thrifty side of things, the Carnal Vegan is challenging herself using up the weird stuff in her pantry by staging a full on Pantry Raid. Meanwhile, Bonnie over at Eating With The Rabbits is helping those of us in parts of the world that aren’t the Netherlands save dough by giving us a speculaas spice mix recipe so that we can make our own damn cookies for once! The nice lady at Food Snobbery Is My Hobbery is keeping it real and sharing a recipe for preserved limes, and really, what kitchen couldn’t use more homemade preserved  limes?

Finally, Joni at Just the Food provides us with an informative post on an alternative to the evaporated cane juice us vegan baking types tend to consume at alarming rates.

All in all, a great day for Vegan MoFo – see you next week!

It’s no secret I’m kinda fastidious about presentation and food photography. Maybe even a bit of a snob. Which is why I’m not only impressed but slightly overwhelmed by the number of people participating in this year’s MoFo making dishes that not only sound lovely but look pretty freakin’ beautiful. Soup and fried foods, for example, are often hard to make as aesthetically pleasing as they are tasty, but SmarterFitter has managed both with lovely photos of borscht and potato pancakes. Also check out today’s post about the equally easy-on-the-eyes, and no doubt the palate, besan burgers. Definitely going on my list of things to try.

Yesterday, Swell Vegan rounded up a hard day of apple and berry picking with this gorgeous homemade pizza, topped with chopped veggies from the CSA stash.

And few things, really, can beat a well-crafted cupcake. Lisa, the eponymous blogger behind the Lisa’s Thoughts blog, gives us a peek at these adorable gravestone cupcakes from New Jersey’s Sweet Avenue Bake Shop:

Finally, if moving pictures are more your thing, I would be totally remiss not to mention this short animation that Jenny from Herbivore Dinosaur put together especially for Vegan MoFo. So here’s to another week of MoFo awesome times. See you around the Internets, mofoers!

Posted by H-Dog

If I see the word “Autumn” on a menu I automatically know what I’ll be ordering. Autumn pancakes, autumn salad, autumn stew, you name it, I am a sucker for that word. So this morning’s round up is going to be all kinds of Autumnal.

My Zoetrope has beautiful photos from the Union Square Farmer’s Market. Who can resist crates of apples? And here’s more gorgeousness from Peace By Pastries from the Kansas City Farmer’s Market, don’t you just love a little wagon full of produce? Cardomom and Cast Iron visits Pike Place Farrmer’s Market in Seattle and gives us shots of chilis and squash blossoms.

You want recipes? We got recipes! Red Beets & Rock-N-Roll not only has a very autumn blog title, but also throws one of my favorite dishes  into the mix in this Autumn Massaman Curry.

Very Vegan Holiday pulls no punches with Autumn Soup, Salad AND Pasta. And since we all will have bags and bags of pears and apples we don’t know what to do with, The Elizavegan Page gives us a recipe for Pureed Fruit Pancakes. You’ll notice a theme developing; everyone loves stuffing squash into squash. Towards Ahimsa makes his pumpkin into a very simple but certainly delicious Pumpkin Soup.

What are you cooking up this autumn?

Posted by Isa

It’s Friday!  I get to pick out the stuff that popped me in the face today.  I’m not sure how to rodeo tie so many blogs, so I think I’m gonna stick with one of the basics, something we can all understand–geometry.

First off, has anyone checked out Rayray’s rectangular ants on a log with kabocha squash?  Celery has never been my favorite part about these standards, I think using steamed squash as the peanut butter carrier is pure genius.  This post really hurt my head when I saw it, so smart.

Urban Girl Scout’s round Oatgurt, y’heard.  Seriously, I bet you’ve never had anything like this before, she also gets extra kittee points for making it herself and for having the foresight to pre-soak.  I applaud you lady.

Home Sweet Vegan Home‘s wildly and wonderful super vibrant square rainbow cookies.  You can’t post something like this without the recipe, it breaks hearts.

Vegan Victuals deconstructs Daiya cheese, which is sorta the opposite of geometry, so I’m including it.  Sweet cassava–  first bubble tea balls and now this.  Who’s a great little tuber boober?  That’s right, you are  little cassava root!

Circle shaped homemade corn crusted empanada pizza  layered with thick slices of potato by Bicycle Bread.    Why is there no one in my life to fill this void?  I have needs.  I want to eat circles.

Cafe Karma shoves the Food Network into the Veganizer (c) and comes out with triangular slices of baked Angelhair pasta pie.  No Giada di Laurentiises were harmed in the making of this blog post.

I do realize that I used a round food thing and a circular food thing.  In geometry, round and circular could mean two different things, at least in this case they do.  Besides I looked at several hundred posts searching for an ellipse, and could not locate one.  Stretch that round oatgurt out, and the need is met.

I’ve gotten a few emails from folks who want to know how they can maximize the Vegan MoFo.  I’ve also heard from several people who are going vegan for the first time this month, and from others who have never blogged before.  If you’re seasoned and zesty with the MoFo, why not adopt a blog or blogger or ten and give ’em your full support.   It can be as easy and quick as a single comment on their blog everyday.  Find some newbsterites and comment bomb!

MoFo Maintenance Update:  please make sure to check that your blog’s feed is working on the MoFo RSS feed that’s been setup on Bloglines and that you are linked to the master list if you are MoFoing (so folks can find you easily).  Also, if you don’t like Bloglines, you can export the list into another reader, just scroll to the bottom and clink on the “export” link.  Since I was long ago outnumbered by your masses, I trust if you have a problem you’ll send me an email.  Thanks beanie weanie mofu patooties.

After reading all these posts, I wish I had one of Your Vegan Mom’s Cranberry Margaritas!

xo kittee