VeganMoFo

Hi MoFoland! Let’s get to the point: today’s round up features photos from the blogs that blew my mind with Crazy Awesome veganness.

First up, it’s no surprise that we have my fellow MoFo organizer and PPKer, Mo of Mo Betta Vegan, with her “Meat”Cake.

Just look at the layers and colors in this masterpiece!!!!!!!!!

Next up, we have Épinards au Jambon, or Spinach with “Ham”, from Affectionknit on The Vegan Version, because her plating style is crazy adorable:

This is one of countless blogs I’m glad MoFo has brought into my life.

The next one is from The Betty Crocker Project on Meet the Shannons. Crazy good looking & sounding Baked Mac & Scheese & Daiya Cups. Totally food porn that jumps off the screen and I want on my desk for lunch.

Moving along, we have Chocolate Covered Katie and her crazy coconut oil roasted “candy”, aka brussel sprouts, from her post I Ate Candy for Dinner. You confront those scared of vegetables, Katie!

Frozen mango chunks are one of my favorite snacks ever, so Christie’s ca-ra-zy frozen and raw recreation of a Mango Weiss Bar on Follow Your Bliss really caught my eye:

This news on Doug’s Cooking Blog about Allston Cafe in Boston closing (formerly Herrell’s) was just crazy sad. Ah, college memories.

In happier, vibrant news, the Jamaican BLTS on Vegan, Today! are indeed, crazy awesome, I’m sure:

Kudos on the toasting job!! And addition of sprouts!!

Holiday “Ham” Test Run from Vegan in the Sun. Seriously, Taymer, Seriously! This just may be the epitome of crazy awesome.

Finally, we have Binklesworth’s recent NYC visit on Adventures in Veganism, because I’m crazy jealous of their vegan ice cream choices of Peaches & Cream, Cardamom Pistachio and Maple Walnut at Stogo:

Happy Friday MoFos! If I missed your crazy awesome post today, you should totally leave a comment.

<3 jess

The weather outside’s delightful, and the fire is nonexistent.  Sipping tea while I catch up with y’all.  Must be fall!  Must be fall!  Must be Fall!

Apologies for the jingle, but these are words that actually came into my head.  I am on a weather high because this was the second day in a row that my air conditioner was off.  Wooo!  All I want to do is curl up on the couch with my dogs and watch dvds.  So, this roundup is brought to you by things-I’d-like-to-eat-while-having-Buffy-marathons.  I suppose I’ll move over on the couch so you can come too.

I can’t think crisp weather without thinking chili.  Jes over at Your Mom’s a Vegan (fabulous name, by the way) has some served up just the way I like it…with avocado!  Not to play favorites or anything, but she’s doing amazing things with acorn squash as well!

The only thing that could rival chili on a day like today is some good lookin’ shepherd’s pie.  Check out the one over at Wiecej Yofu.  It’s in Polish, but there is an English version of the recipe.  Seriously…check out the yumminess:

If you’re not down with making savory pies and chili has too much spice, why not have a little spaghetti?  Vegan Today is making some and promised a bit for everybody…and it’s covered in nooch*!  What, what?!

All this savory needs a little sweet.  Am I right?  Well, Vegan Whore has been baking up a storm and has a review (and pictures!) for The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur.  If cookies aren’t your thing, seriously check out the fluffy gingerbread scones that Julia’s making over at Snarky Vegan.  She’s even got some beer and cheddar Bisquick biscuits, yo.  Of course, you have to wash down the sugar with even more sugar.  Did you know there are places in the world that still have access to Vitasoy’s peppermint chocolate soymilk?  My heart sank a bit when I saw the proof over at Thoughtful Vittles.

To soften the blow, I offer you this most delectable dish from Nicole at Mmm Mmm Vegan.  It’s this creamy pasta sauce with rotini, broccoli, leeks, kalamatas, and a whole bunch of awesome!

Finally, I leave you with a most awesome documentation of a visit to Free Soul Caffé.  Wok on the Wildside shows all the great goodies a person can get at this strictly vegan establishment.  It all looks great, but I’d kill to live in this sandwich.

Happy Thursday to all!  Keep up the good work!

mo

*or nutritional yeast to all you noobs

I’ve seen so many wonderful and creative dishes come of out the kitchens of Vegan MoFo participants. However, lots of you are also showing us how easy it is to stay vegan while traveling and eating out around town.

The Hungry Vegan Traveler grabs some delicious looking Thai food at The Smiling Elephant in Nashville, TN. Over at Adventures in Veganism, they head to newly opened V-Note in NYC, and dine on some gourmet vegan food, including fair trade chocolate fondue that I’d love to dip into.

Cara at Kids Playing with Skulls enjoys a corn dog with tater tots for the very first time at Hungry Tiger Too in Portland. At Végétalien à Paris they visit Bob’s Kitchen, a popular vegetarian lunch spot, and dine on mango-filled sushi, salads, sandwiches, and smoothies.

Vegan Stephen orders a yummy Daiya covered pie from Escape from New York Pizza in San Francisco which he enjoys while watching the Walking Dead. Bianca at Vegan Crunk shows us that it is even possible to eat well while at sea. Tofu with Hearts of Palm–I’ve never seen that combo at any restaurant I’ve visited!

Vegannifer shows us around some of her favorite places in Columbus, Ohio, and eats and amazing fig and rice pudding empanada, heads to the Rad Dog lunch cart for a chili dog, and then swings by Pattycake Bakery to wash it all down with some pastries.

Jojo of Vegan In Brighton, shows us around Edinburgh, Scotland for several days, and includes a visit to Henderson’s Vegetarian restaurant. She and Nick have a beautiful meal, including these flapjacks with chocolate sauce.

Finally, we have Melisser, The Urban Housewife, who is spending most of MoFo on the road, touring the East Coast of the U.S. and promoting her book, The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life. Melisser visited several spots in DC, including Soul Vegetarian, one my favorite places to get an amazingly creamy mac n’ cheeze. Melisser is heading to Philly tomorrow, and then to other cities, so be sure to check and see if she’ll be in your town next.

See y’all next time!

I’ve been feeling a little homesick lately, so this MoFo round up is an homage to missing things.

First up is the place I’m missing…Brooklyn! I lived there for for most of my life. I can remember a time when the only vegetarian restaurant in the borough’s most popular entree was plain lentils and rice. Oh how times have changed! Vegan à Montreal reviews Boneshakers, an establishment I’ve yet to visit. I’ll make sure to change that next time around. Oh, and if you don’t speak French, here’s the English translation in convenient link form.

If you grew up in Brooklyn, surely you’ve eaten mandelbrot, which is essentially Jewish almond biscotti. It means “almond bread” and it’s often called mandel bread in bakeries. This Vegan House veganizes her grammy’s recipe with glamorous results.

Most people don’t think of Brooklyn as being right by the ocean, but it is! I was a beach baby, hanging out at Brighton Beach almost daily, or in my teen years, nightly. I miss being able to take a short walk to the ocean, so Not A Rabbit‘s cute ocean tableau in teacups eases that heartache. These are all edible cupcakes!

Windy City Vegan covers a food that she’s been missing, packaged vegan mac & cheese. Joni to the rescue with a fabulous looking mix you can make yourself.

And last but not least, VeganMoFo roundupper AndyDufresne has a really fun theme this MoFo, “Veganizing Family Recipes.” What a fun idea and just a perfect anecdote for homesickness! Check out In My Vegan Life for the recipes. Today’s is Dad’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Bon Bons.

Happy MoFoing!

Some folks think we must cease to use our hands as eating utensils upon reaching a certain age.  Well, Vegan MoFo is here to prove you can never be too old to eat with your hands. Here’s a post dedicated to what some call “finger food,” but I just refer to as “yum.”

Ahh Ethiopian cuisine.  All that flavorful vegetable goodness, waiting to be sopped up by spongy injera.  I guess I have Ethiopian food on the mind lately and it appears that other MoFo-ers do too!  Just take a look at the yummy dishes Busy Vegan Mama has been cooking up, not without a little trial and error.

It may be a few days old, but this post, aptly titled “The Incredible Injera Adventure” by Vegan Cookbook Critic is so excellent that I wanted to share it as well.  Check out the wonderful step-by-step photos of the injera making process!

If you’re looking to embark on your first Ethiopian culinary adventure, MoFo’s very own Kittee has a great zine chock full of recipes that are sure to have you smiling as you stuff atar allecha-sodden injera into your mouth.

MoFo Blogger over at Vegan Today has recreated a classic finger food, Ants on a Log, with some scrumptious sounding fillings including “Garlicky Cilantro Hummus with Kalamata Olives.”  Yes, please!

Vegan in Brighton, who’s dedicating her posting to a cookbook challenge this week, also delved into the art of finger food creation, by baking up a batch of Sparkled Ginger Cookies from Vegan With a Vengeance.  I love her method for deciding which new recipes to try!  Also, I love cookies.

Now go eat with your hands, people!  Just don’t get any food on your keyboard.

What a corker of a week this first week of MoFo 2010 has been.
It’s been so much fun discovering new vegan bloggers as well as catching up with old friends, and this year the MoFo’ers are ROCKING! There has been no end of vegan awesomeness to feast my eyes on and we have kicked off the MoFo fantastically.
You have all successfully had me salivating over my keyboard and sniffing my monitor (and sometimes even licking the monitor, but I don’t advise this at all) and I have bookmarked sooooo many recipes that I’m gonna be eating like a vegan princess for a very long time.
YAY!
Here’s a few snippity gibbets that caught my eye today.

Look at these delightful little Cranberry Chocolate Tartelettes that Mihl has been making.

Rose is on a Random Vegan Road Trip for MoFo which is such a cool idea. She’s been to Bolivia so far and currently she is “in” Florida recreating fancy restaurant meals.
Just look at this!

Vegan Eats and Treats is also gallivanting round the globe with her Around the World in 30 Days theme and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!
Today she’s in Haiti and has been making Haitian Banana-Lime VooDoo Tofu!

Doesn’t the name alone ROCK! She’s a fab artist as well so do yourselves a favour and head on over there.

I can not resist Falafels. Who can right? If you want me to love you forever then ya just gotta make me some Falafels and the adorable pomidorinka can make me Falafels any day.

Megan from Down Home Vegan can also make me some soup.

And just as I was about to conclude today’s round up with some witty hilarity; this little beauty popped up in my reader.

This was always a favourite of mine back in the day and I’m so happy to see it in all it’s glorious vegan splendour courtesy of Megan.

HURRAH FOR VEGAN MOFO!

xx