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Month: August 2013

The blogrolls are going up as we type!

The blogrolls are going up as we type!

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If you look to your right (or if you click through to the blog from your reader and THEN look to your right), you will see links to the 2013 blogs by various categories BUT BEFORE YOU LEAVE THIS PAGE, PLEASE READ THESE POINTS:

1. We will have an OPML file for you to download, which works the way the google bundles did, of every blog. But we are waiting until after people can check the master list for their names, because once we have the OPML file and let you guys download it, we can’t do anything about missing blogs and it makes us sad. If you prefer this method of MoFo browsing, you may have to wait until tomorrow to get the file.

2. Mary is working hard right now at getting every list up, so if you check out a category you know you signed up for, please check back tomorrow before frantically emailing us about it because she may just have not gotten to it yet. If your blog is not up by the start of MoFo tomorrow, then let us know. As you can imagine, this involves a lot of copying/pasting/typing/methodical checking. But we know you guys are chomping at the bit so if you want to start browsing blogs to add to your reader, go ahead and start looking at the lists.

3. The big list will come last, for now we are concentrating on getting up things by category.

4. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments, tweet them, or ask on facebook and someone will get back to you ASAP!

Official Daily Themes & Blogging Prompts.

Official Daily Themes & Blogging Prompts.

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Hey y’all! Can you believe it’s only a week until Vegan MoFo 2013 begins? Colour me excited! (I’m British, that ‘u’ is staying, get used to it!)

I was lucky enough to attend Vida Vegan Con in Portland this spring and one of my favourite classes was the Vegan MoFo workshop run by fellow volunteers Kittee, Amey & Mo. I loved the tips these MoFo veterans shared for getting involved in and surviving Vegan MoFo. For a lot of us the idea that MoFo has to be about elaborate cooking projects is enough to stop us signing up and I don’t mind admitting that I’ve suffered from MoFo Burnout™ on more than one occasion. But, never fear, our ideas are here! During the workshop we brainstormed fun daily themes that you guys can use all of, some of, or, y’know, none of. It’s up to you! The official Vegan MoFo 2013 Daily Themes are…

Mac-and-Cheese Monday – This is pretty self explanatory and a theme I’m personally running with

TV Tuesday – Eat and Watch, cook a meal featured in your favourite movie or TV show.

Work With it Wednesday – Focussing on a food you don’t love and learning to love, or at least tolerate, it.

Thankful Thursday – Focussing on the positive and giving to others. Maybe you could bake some cookies to thank a friend, teacher or neighbour?

Freaky Friday – Trade with a fellow blogger for the day.

Retro Saturday – Dress up and veganise your favourite retro dishes.

Sleepy Sundays – Your favourite breakfast, brunch and lazin’ in bed snacks. This is another one that I’ll definitely be taking part in!

I’d also like to share ALL of the brainstorming ideas we came up with in the workshop so that you too can laugh about Bathtub Tuesday or run with Fry-day!

Monday – Mock Meat Monday, Mom’s Meals, Metal Monday, Munchie Monday, Muffin Monday, Manic Monday.

Tuesday – Taco Tuesday, Bathtub Tuesday, Tomato Tuesday.

Wednesday – White Flour Wednesday.

Thursday – Thirsty Thursday, Thursday Treats.

Friday – Fry-day, Fruity Friday, Far-mar Friday, Farty Friday (yes, we are adults), Fermented Friday, Fave Film Friday.

Saturday – Sprouty Saturday, Sautéed Saturday, Sausage Saturday, Spousal Saturday, Saucy Saturday.

Sunday – Sweetie Sunday, Sundae, Soul Food Sunday, Sassy Sunday, Spicy Sunday, Small Town Sunday, Special Sunday.

The awesome Erika at Sews Before Bros wrote a great summary of the workshop right here if you’d like to read more about it.

 

This year the MoFo team (with a little help from our Twitter followers) have also come up with 30 blogging prompts that you can use if you’re dealing with a case of writer’s block. Again you can use some, all, or none of these.

  • Your Origin Story (what led you to become vegan?)
  • Share your first experience cooking with tofu.
  • A food / ingredient you didn’t used to like but now you do, how did the transition happen? (Mine is pickles, Isa’s is Celery!)
  • Five vegan foods you cannot live without.
  • Five kitchen utensils or gadgets you cannot live without.
  • What was your first vegan cookbook?
  • Pick a historical figure and discuss what you might cook for them.
  • Tell us about a herb you use in a unique way.
  • Take us on a (pictoral or video) tour of your kitchen.
  • What’s your newest foodie discovery and how did you discover it?
  • Your vegan heroines / heroes.
  • Is there something you do in the kitchen that you know you’re not supposed to (knives in the dishwasher, soap on cast iron etc)
  • Hidden vegan gems in your town, city or village.
  • Veganise a local speciality / food that’s popular in your area.
  • Veganise a family recipe.
  • What’s the best vegan meal you’ve ever eaten?
  • Describe your fantasy meal, money and time are not an issue!
  • What’s your favourite accidentally vegan product?
  • How do you feel about leftovers?
  • Your top five vegan products (including clothing, cleaning supplies, make up, shoes, soap, whatever)
  • Your five favourite cookbooks.
  • Your top five store cupboard essentials?
  • Post a picture of a cat!
  • What’s the first vegan meal you ever cooked from scratch?
  • When is the last time someone cooked for you and what did they make?
  • Do a cookbook challenge! Throw cookbook names into a hat, use a random number generator to pick a page and make whatever comes up.
  • Your favourite vegan food pairings (Yes, we kinda pinched this one from Vegetarian Times!)
  • Talk about your favourite place to buy vegetables.
  • Your ultimate cooking playlist.
  • What’s your killer dish when you’re cooking for non-vegans?

 

If you haven’t signed up for MoFo yet I hope that these prompts might inspire you to do so – you have until August 28th! The sign up form’s right here. Go on, you know you want to!

If you have signed up but are already freaking out about how much work it’s going to be hopefully this post will help you chill out a bit! We understand that it can be hard, or downright impossible, to keep up with cooking project after elaborate cooking project for a whole month because we MoFo too. Hopefully the daily MoFo Workshop themes, and prompt questions alongside Katie’s post about MoFoing On The Go will make it all seem considerably less daunting and more fun. Roll on September!

VeganMoFo On The Go

VeganMoFo On The Go

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Every year, we hear people say, “Oh, i’d love to participate but i’ll be out of town for a week or two and won’t be able to post.” So here a few ways that you can keep your blog full of content, even if all you have on you is a smart phone. I have an android phone and use wordpress, so those are the apps I have experience with and will be referencing.

1. Did you know that youtube channels have their own RSS feeds? It’s entirely possible to participate in VeganMoFo without typing a single word! If you’re more of a talker than a blogger, vlogging for the month is a great option. The address for a youtube account RSS feed is: https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/users/YourUserName/uploads (obviously, put your youtube username in place of ‘YourUserName’). Most smart phones take pretty good video quality, just remember to turn your phone. If you just want to supplement your normal blogging content with videos, you can just embed the video into a blog post. The youtube app on your phone has a ‘share’ feature that will send it right to your wordpress app, if you use wordpress.

You can make cooking videos, show your recent vegan grocery purchases, do a video restaurant review, product reviews, or just vlog about food in general. We’re going to have a list of blogging prompts up soon that can also be used as vlogging ideas.

2. Instagram! Via the instagram app, you have the option to share your photos directly with tumblr, but after you take a photo you can also click the three dots underneath it ‘…’ and one of the options is to copy the photo url, which you can then paste into your wordpress app. If you plan on relying on instagram for blog content, make sure you read up on some tips to get the best food photos you possibly can with your camera phone.

3. You can also write some posts in advance and set them to automatically publish when you’re going to be gone. There’s no rule that says you have to write your posts on the day you publish them! Even if you won’t be out of town during part of VeganMoFo, having a few pre-written posts for days when you feel too burned out to blog are a good idea.

If you have any other suggestions for traveling MoFoers, please feel free to leave a comment! And keep in mind that the cut-off for sign-ups is August 28th, we need a few days to get the blog list together.

Some 2012 Favorites

Some 2012 Favorites

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Hi everyone! Jess here, popping back in, doing the friendly organizer thing. In preparation for 2013 and deciding on just what my own daily themes will be (I just can’t commit to one, but so remain in awe of bloggers that go all out for a month! Are you? Do leave a comment with your URL so we can follow along!), I went perusing the month that was October 2012: aka VeganMoFo VI. 

Here’s a mere smattering from the hundreds of posts that caught my eye from a month that featured a whole lot of warming bowls of soup, biscuits, Halloween cupcakes and winter squash, galore.

First up, Coconut Lime Ice Cream with Vanilla Beetroot Syrup for our Iron Chef Beetroot Challenge courtesy of Flaming Apron.

How inviting does this look!? Clearly, I want in and need to make this Sweet Potato Gnocchi from My Zoetrope, ala Chloe’s Kitchen.

Here’s one from one of the roundups I put together that definitely still stands out: fresh Butternut Squash Doughnuts with Apple Cider Glaze from RansomCakes. Plus, they’re gluten-free, soy free and come with a recipe.

Now, doughnuts aside, I am a sucker for an Italian dessert, and well, swooned over this fancypants dessert plate of Almond Ricotta Tart and Zabaglione Gelato over at MiscDesbris. Recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Nonna’s Italian Kitchen.

When I saw this entry for the Iron Chef Sesame & Potato duo challenge, I instantly wanted to know more (and to try them). Click on over to My Vegan Way for the Sweet Potato Dumplings with Sesame Crunch recipe and more fascinating photos.

Honestly, I’m not one for corndogs, but these Gluten-free, Vegan Corndog Mummies from Fork and Beans are clearly the cutest corndogs you’ve ever seen (Right?!)

Lastly, because I really need to get back to contemplating themes, let’s cleanse our palates with this gorgeous salad of Warm Beets & Blood Orange over at Hipsterfood.

What sticks out in your mind from VeganMoFo 2012?

Coming soon: VeganMoFo VII banners, theme suggestions, giveaway news & the blogrolls!

Haven’t signed up yet? Time is running out!

2013 VeganMoFo Signup has arrived!

2013 VeganMoFo Signup has arrived!

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And…thanks to the hundreds and hundreds of folks who signed up! Even if you didn’t, you can totally post away and hashtag #VeganMoFo all you like. Enjoy!

VeganMoFo returns: Break out the snacks

Well, well, well. Who’s getting ready to blog about nooch for an entire month? Or at least enjoy a whole lot of B12 and popcorn while trying (and eating fortified nutritional yeast, of course)?

That’s right…VeganMoFo 2013 Signup is here!

And whether your theme is in the works or not (or about nooch, or you’re simply being fueled by noochy popcorn), you can sign up right now!

Simply read the following instructions on the official form and fill out as best as you can.
It’s right here. This is the signup!

And please remember, all are welcome to join in, but all content must be vegan (which means no meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, eggs or honey)!

Questions? You can read the all-purpose VeganMoFo F.A.Q. right here.

Stay tuned to this blog, VeganMoFo central, as well as the VeganMoFo Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and VeganMoFo room on the PPK boards for news & inspiration, RSS Feed files, categorized blogrolls, contests, the rumored return of the MoFies (!!), and the snazzy new 2013 logos and banners for your own blogs.

#VeganMoFo, baby!

Keep in mind….the deadline to sign up is August 28th, 2013.

See you all September 1st!

Really Big News: VeganMoFo Returns September 2013!

Really Big News: VeganMoFo Returns September 2013!

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Hello, hello! In case you haven’t heard, VeganMoFo is coming at ya this very September…next month!

That’s right, you now have just under a month to get brainstorming and restock your spices and take part in the one and only vegan blogging extravaganza that is the Vegan Month of Food.

I saw this mug at a thrift store the other day and you know what, Garfield’s right: It’s not pretty, it’s pretty fantastic. And VeganMoFo clearly calls for vegan lasagana.

So, start thinking themes (or not, because that’s totally a fun un-theme) stay tuned right here, the VeganMoFo facebook, Instagram, Twitter and VeganMoFo room on the PPK boards for the official blog signup, RSS Feed files, contests, and the snazzy new 2013 logos and banners for your own blogs.  And hashtag, of course.

More to come!  

Happy blogging mania ahead!