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Category: 2012

Day-Five-Friday MoFo Round Up!

Day-Five-Friday MoFo Round Up!

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Hello, hello, and happy day-five-Friday, MoFo-land! Jess here, and I’ve spent so much of the past day, our big fifth day in, scouring the internet, clicking and scrolling and being inspired all over the place, while most importantly, bookmarking the posts that make me smile and point at the screen to my girlfriend who’s sitting next to me on the couch. 

First up, I love fall and I love apples and I love cinnamon and I love doughnuts and I love autumn leaves and you get that I’m excited, SO, therefore, check these out from Shannon at Leaves & Flowers and see why:

Just as autumn appropriate are Vegan Crunk’s pumpkin cheddar biscuits on Panda With Cookie for Lisa’s Friday Fun theme. I must say, I’ve enjoyed these biscuits, and I want to enjoy them some more!

Commence cute attack with the playful food posts, this time with a green bell pepper monster, from the mother & daughter duo at Earthy Veg:

Shucks.

Our friend Mary from Nether Ending Story in you guessed it, the Netherlands, nerds out with an adorable build-your-own cookbook idea:

Do it!

Next up, breadsticks and subsequent rustic marinara for dipping from the Unintentional Vegan – because this was one I had to point out to J. Legume because when doesn’t she want breadsticks for dinner? When don’t I? When don’t you?!

Earlier today, fellow round-upper Stephanie aka Lazy Smurf, shared her life-changing video on the following topic, and please, I urge you – CLICK ON THIS LINK (because I’m having an issue embedding it):

*************PSA: Burritos vs. Tacos*************

Tacos. Burritos. Tacos! Burritos! Ah!

And let me add, J. Legume instantly recognized Lazy Smurfy because she’s friends with Dinger and Willow, from this little post…

And bonus: even more tacos – this time, joined by enchiladas – from Vegan Soul Food:

p.s. Food and Blood wants you to know this:

Iron Chef Challenge: #1

Iron Chef Challenge: #1

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Welcome, everyone, to another year of Vegan MoFo Iron Chef!  Katie, who usually hosts this competition, has put her faith in me this month.

Fridays during the month of October will feature Iron Chef Challenges, wherein participants will use the week’s secret ingredient in a unique dish and post a link to the recipe. On Sundays I will do a roundup of the participating blogs’ dishes.

This week I wanted to chose an ingredient that is used in cuisines around the world, is fairly inexpensive, and can be used in a diversity of dishes.  According to Wikipedia, this vegetable has been cultivated since the second millennium BC, so I’m sure there are a few recipes to guide you through this challenge.

A quick review of our few simple rules/guidelines:

1. Whatever you come up with has to be new, nothing from a cookbook or a blog, not something you posted last week that happens to involve the secret ingredient. It’s fine to use a recipe for a jump-off point, but make it your own!
2. Entries are due at 3 pm PST on Sunday.
3. Have fun and be creative!

Let’s not beet around the bush. (Did you guess the secret ingredient just then?)

The secret ingredient is BEETROOT!

Think pickled/steamed/roasted/pureed/boiled/shredded beets, beet greens, beet juice as dye…really beets are quite a diverse vegetable! With their natural sweetness, they lend themselves to both sweet and savory dishes.

To participate, just comment on this entry with the link to your blog post by Sunday, 3 pm PST.

Allez Végétalien Cuisine!
(Disregard the carrots! Although delicious, they are not part of this challenge!)

PS- I apologize for posting this late.  Work gets in the way sometimes.  For this reason, if you don’t get around to posting your links until a little after 3 p.m. on Sunday, I’ll try to still feature your dish in the roundup!  I’ll be posting the challenges earlier in upcoming weeks.

Round-Up: Yes We Can!

Round-Up: Yes We Can!

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I can’t put my finger on why, but over the last few months I’ve become completely enamoured of the idea of canning things. Maybe it’s the danger (get it wrong and you could inflict the plague upon your family!), maybe it’s the promise of preparedness for any situation (no, I won’t share my canned peaches, neighbour who laughed at my zombie contingency plan), or maybe it’s just my deep-seated desire to leave everything behind and join the Country Women’s Association (vegan lamington, ladies?). Whatever the cause, I’ve been super excited to see some Vegan MoFo-ers sharing my enthusiasm for all things fermented and preserved this year. 

Bobbie at The Vegan Crew has got the whole process covered, from picking to preserving, finishing up with some homemade pear-based ‘honey’! Why bother the bees when you can make honey yourself? 

The Picky Vegan offers us a recipe for authentic kimchi, as well as some great recommendations for books about preserving and even the best kinds of jars to use. 

The fermentation gets a little more unexpected at Kohlrabi and Quince, where Kelly is fermenting… hot sauce? I have to try this! 

This apple thokku, or Indian cooked apple chutney, is a perfect candidate for canning- if you can keep yourself from eating it all immediately, that is. Check out Rithika’s great chutney theme at Vegan on the Prowl for some more inspiration! 

Kate at The Spade and Spoon has made a meal in a can with these smoky paprika baked beans (finally, I can enjoy my post-apocalytic dinner without other survivors asking me where I get my protein). 

And if you’re wondering what to do with all this canned food, besides looking at it and congratulating yourself for your self-sufficiency, it’s Tami at Vegan Appetite to the rescue. In addition to some handy tips for canning novices, she’s offering up some recipes using your own preserved produce. First up are these barley, beans and greens-stuffed peppers using home-canned Cajun tomatoes and harissa. 

Cooked too much in a MoFo frenzy? You know what to do! Can it, and enjoy the flavours of MoFo all year round!

Vegan MoFo 2012 – The Complete RSS List

Vegan MoFo 2012 – The Complete RSS List

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We had to keep the bundles in categories this year because Google seems to be limiting the number of subscriptions it will allow in a bundle. However, there are two ways you can create a folder containing all the feeds.

Option 1 is a lot easier, should work with any RSS reader, and as an added bonus, you’ll get the latecomers included in your feed list. Honestly, I’m only including Option 2 because I wrote those instructions out first, before I found a way to share the OPML file. Also, I can have a hard time letting go of something once I’ve started.

Option 1

Download the OPML file containing all the feeds here.

Follow the directions to import the file into your reader here. In Google, you can import the feeds by clicking on the gear icon to go to Reader Settings and following the instructions under the Import/Export tab.

Option 2

  1. In Google Reader, click the gear icon on the right side of your screen and go to Reader Settings.
  2. Click the Subscriptions tab.
  3. Select the “Change Folders” drop down next to any of your 2012 MoFo Feeds.
  4. Click Add New Folder.
  5. Enter your desired name (e.g. 2012 Vegan MoFo).
  6. Then, you’ll need type the name of the MoFo Folder you’d like to add to your complete list into the “Filter by name, folder, or URL” box on the right (e.g. 2012 MoFo Healthy and Whole Foods). You will need to do this for each MoFo folder. The reader just does not seem to like adding a large number of feeds at once.
  7. From here, click on the “select all XXX subscriptions” in the top left of your screen.
  8. In the “More actions…” drop down, select the folder you created in step 5.
  9. Repeat steps 6-8 until all of your feeds are collected in one folder.

…and there you go, all of your 2012 MoFo feeds in one handy folder

Giveaway- Beans, beans, and more beans!

Giveaway- Beans, beans, and more beans!

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And our three randomly selected bean-loving winners are: Veronica, Peggy, and Kalamckala.  Check your email, you three, and congrats!

I’m willing to bet you, faithful Vegan MoFo readers, go through a substantial amount of beans in a month.  Wouldn’t it be great to have several pounds of these nutrient-packed legumes shipped to your front door…for free?!  I mean, if nothing else, it would save you a trip to the grocery store and allow you to spend more time MoFoing.

For the second year in a row we’ve received a great giveaway from the folks at PNW Farmers Coop.  Three lucky people will win three two-pound bags of non-GMO lentils, garbanzo beans, and split peas, sustainably-produced by family farmers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.  That’s enough to last you quite a while, I’d imagine!

If you need bean inspiration, why not turn to your fellow MoFoers?

Two Vegan Ladies cooked up some adorable Lentil Sliders that look both tasty and satisfying.Or how about some Moroccan Pumpkin Hummus, recipe provided by Robin Robertson?


If you’re all about the split peas, perhaps Cupcakes and Kale will inspire you with  her Curried Chana Dal Soup.

To enter, leave a comment below by 4:00 PST 10/3/2012, telling us about your favorite bean or bean dish to prepare.  Be sure to include a valid email address so that we can contact you.  Three winners will be randomly selected and announced an hour (or so!) after the giveaway is closed.  This giveaway is open to folks in the U.S. only.

Giveaway – Earth Balance!

Giveaway – Earth Balance!

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And our winner is, The Radioactive Vegan, who says “I would gladly wrestle James Spader in a vat of most anything.” ME TOO, GIRL. Check your email!

First giveaway of the year, woo! We starting off with a familiar product, but this year we are going to have more books and more international friendly giveaways. I know for a fact that the UKers have a giveaway coming up that I am very, very jealous of.

Our giveaways operate in a simple fashion: we ask a fun question, you answer. If you win, we’ll post it here and email you. Make sure that you leave your email address and that it’s an address you check regularly. If we can’t get a response from you in a timely manner, we will pick another winner. To check if you won, simply come back to this post shortly after the time listed at the bottom (which will vary depending on when each giveaway is posted).

Onward!

I already waxed nostalgic about how Earth Balance saved my early vegan existence last year, so this year i’ll just point out some newer products they have: coconut peanut butter, cinnamon and roasted garlic (not together, ew) coconut butter spreads, and three varities of vegan mayo! The soy nog will also be coming back this year. The Mindful Mayo is pretty good and a little bit cheaper than some other brands, personally I haven’t spotted the flavored spreads in the wild but if you have, let us know how they are!

If you are concerned about palm oil, read Earth Balance’s statement here and keep in mind that the free product coupons are good for ANY product, so you can enter and use them on palm oil-free products if you win.



Today, Earth Balance is offering one lucky winner a bamboo cutting board and a year’s supply of Earth Balance (12 free product coupons)! Just comment here, telling me who you would wrestle in a vat of Earth Balance (keep it PG, folks). This one is open to US and Canada, a winner will be randomly chosen tomorrow morning at 11 am CST.

VeganMoFo 2012 is here!

VeganMoFo 2012 is here!

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Helloooo, MoFo-land! This is Jess, one of your round-uppin’ organizers, and I’m so gosh darn excited to welcome everyone in to the sixth-ever Vegan Month of Food! VeganMoFo VI is here!

Every year, the themes seem to get well, more and more exciting, with unstoppable returning favorites and new folks alike – from folks passionately covering regional cuisines and positively obsessing over new ingredients, to folks busting out day-of-the-week themes, and of course, those bloggers with themes that are downright awe-inspiring, like the now-legendary, two years of vegan gravy from Marti at More Than Tofu-N-Sproutz and the captivating ‘Around the World in Thirty Days‘ from Amey (one of our lovely MoFo organizers) at Vegan Eats & Treats.

Over at VeganMoFo-brainstorming central, the Post Punk Kitchen boards (join us!), we’ve been sharing theme announcements and they include: The Walking Fed, zombie-themed fun at That Pain in the A*s Vegan, all things Canadian over at Cookbook Aficionado, cleaning the cupboards and using all those random ingredients you forget you bought at Cooking the Vegan Books, fall foods from Hot Vegan Chickpeas, mantras & oats at Including Cake, Buffy-themed food at Busted Afternoon (whoa), days of the week including a Go-Go Gadget Monday at Vegan in Brighton (one of our new MoFo organizers!), cooking for kids at The Common or Garden Vegan, more days of the week featuring Lingonberry Tuesdays (!!!!) at NorthernVeg, 30 Days of cooking from Tofu Cookery at Vegan for the Win, Frocktober & vegan food at Meet the Wikos (with Erin, another one of our new organizers), waffles galore at Muffin Topped, and a month of food holiday-celebrating at Noochtastic! are just some of the ideas floating around. Please share yours! I’m trying my first year of day-of-the-week themes myself with something of a spreadsheet ready in advance  as opposed to a more on-the-fly approach. Gosh, how do you guys do it?!

Roasted Carrot Waffles from Day One of MoFo 2012 on Muffin Topped

Reminders & Fun Links

There may seem like a lot to keep up on, but it’s all awesome, so listen up!

Let’s start with the big official 2012 Blogroll & RSS Feed details.

If you’re like me, you’ll get lost – in a good way – on this for hours.  Here are the feed bundles.  This is further divided into: Where in the World, by Language, the United States of Blogging, by Category and the PPK MoFo-ers. Just try and keep up. Really.

If you want to talk MoFo with other MoFo-ers all MoFo day, head over to those Post Punk Kitchen VeganMoFo forum to discuss MoFo-everything in one place. MoFo!

If you want even more and more MoFo (we know you do!), keep up with the official Facebook page, follow the twitter @VeganMoFo with hashtag #VeganMoFo. ALL THE TIME.

Want a banner for your posts and/or website? Go here and make sure to link back.

New for 2012, we have an Instagram! Ooooo. Follow it at @VeganMoFo, and use the same tag so folks can see what you’re up to, #VeganMoFo, on your photos.

We’ll also be debuting one week of Chopped among-st the Iron Chef competitions and other generous giveaways for folks all around the globe – so, stay tuned for rules & prizes!

And hey, if you have questions, please email VeganMoFoBlog [at] gmail.com and an organizer will get back to ya.

Is this your first year? Are you a seasoned MoFo-er? Do you have the best theme ever? Let us know!

 HAPPY MOFO VI!!!!

 

Adding latecomers to the RSS feed – you can do it!

Adding latecomers to the RSS feed – you can do it!

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Every year, we have people who miss the deadline and ask if they can still get in. And as explained in the FAQ, even if we were able to add new blogs to the bundle once it’s been made, we’d have to repost a new link and people would have to re-subscribe to the new bundles. That’s still true, but I finally thought of a very simple solution.

Please only post in this thread if you missed the deadline to sign up!

Step 1: If you missed the deadline, in a comment on this post with your RSS feed link. Not your website URL!
Step 2: Interested parties click on your link, add you to their feed reader on google, and then drag and drop your blog name (in the left hand column) into the VeganMoFo folder. Ta da! This still relies on people adding your blog themselves, but it’s better than a kick in the pants.

I made a poorly cut-and-pasted image in photoshop (featuring Vegan Crunk because I know she missed the deadline) if you don’t know your way around google feed reader.

So there you go! I will tweet this link occasionally over the next week to remind people to come and check for any new additions. I hope this helps!

Also, you may notice that there isn’t one big overall bundle this year – apparently google now limits how many feeds you can put in a bundle, so we had to do it by each category and then ‘everything else’.

Banners and answering a few questions!

Banners and answering a few questions!

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Remember that the deadline to sign up is today! Spread the word as we always have a handful of people who miss the deadline!

(Also you can now follow us on instagram @VeganMoFo, tag your relevant photos with #veganmofo so we can reshare them!)

Finally, here are some banners – you may notice that they are just ones from last year with the year changed. The person who did all of the graphics last year is very sick and so we couldn’t even get the original files from her to easily edit or ask what the font is, so I just had to try and match as best as I could and some of them couldn’t be changed without looking very, very bad. I’m sorry there aren’t more, but if you want to make your own banner the hex code for the orange is #cc6633.






And now some questions that we keep getting asked! Well, mostly this one:

I didn’t get a confirmation email/how do I know my form went through?

If you didn’t get a confirmation email, don’t worry, there is none! The form you fill out simply dumps the information into a google spreadsheet, we don’t even get notified when someone fills it out. And since we don’t require emails, we don’t have an easy way to contact most people.

We started the main blog roll page early so people can check for themselves, it was done on Monday afternoon so if you signed up after that, don’t freak out. We will update it again before we make the bundles, so if you don’t see your blog you will have time to squeeze in. But if you submitted the form and had no issues with the page timing out, there is only about a 0.00000000000001% chance that we did not get your form.

Similarly, some people seem to think that the form is an application to get in. VeganMoFo is a house party, not a club! Everyone who wants to, plays.

We forgot to specify when we updated the FAQ and form this year, but: VeganMoFo means no honey. We’re not interested in sparking a huge debate, but we did get quite a few emails last year complaining about the use of honey. Even if you’re vegan and have no problem eating honey, please keep in mind that a lot of people don’t see it any different than eating things like gelatin or carmine. We are not trying to play Vegan Police or pass judgement of any sort – we are simply responding to an issue that has been pointed out to us.

Finally, if you have any last minute questions don’t hesitate to ask!

Hey You! Sign up for VeganMoFo 2012!

Hey You! Sign up for VeganMoFo 2012!

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It’s less than two mere weeks away!!!!!!

Here’s the sign up form.

Go, go, go! The deadline is September 26, 2012

 

New to MoFo’ig? Want a refresher?

Check out the updated F.A.Q.

More tips & updates, the shiny new 2012 logo, and just perhaps, some 2011 VeganMoFo favorites, to follow soon!

Seriously, start theme-storming and sign up for VeganMoFo, October 2012! We’d love to see you on the fancy blogroll.