Here’s the deal: Vegan masterchef and cheese revolutionaryMiyoko Schinner has a new cookbook out, The Homemade Vegan Pantry, (with a foreward by VeganMoFo creator Isa Chandra youknowtherest) and it’s AMAZING. You’ll learn how to make your own (vegan, duh) butter. Bread. Pork. Fishsticks. Sauces. Crèmes. More artisan vegan cheeses. Classics from around the globe. It goes on and on. I’m telling you, even the straightforward refrigerator pizza dough has changed my kitchen ways, and I don’t have the time to start raving about the seitans. This cookbook is everything you’ve contemplated making, or *should* totally make, and the inspiration and push to make ’em in your very own kitchen!
Which bring me to why we’re both here right now: VeganMoFo is doing a cookbook giveaway!!
When: Saturday, September 26, 2015 Theme: It’s cold and rainy and there’s a snow drift outside your door! What are you going to make using the ingredients you have? Rules: This contest is happening on Instagram. You’ll need to use your own account, or your BFF’s with their permission, in order to win. You also HAVE to use the hashtag #itsrainingmiyoko on your original post and thematic meal by 11:59pm PST on September 26 in order for it to be counted. It wouldn’t hurt to tag us, @veganmofo, too.
Miyoko will then peruse the entries, pick a winner, and you’ll be notified ON your Instagram entry, so make sure to pay attention. We’ll then hook up with her generous publisher, who will mail your fabulous prize.
If you don’t have Instagram, you can download it here. It’s fun stuff.
It’s time to announce the winner of this year’s VeganMoFo Chopped! competition! Our contestants showed up for a vibrant, well-rounded entree round with Oolong tea, fresh prune plums, spicy jalapeños and every Fraggle’s favorite, the hot-headed radish.
Here’s a listing of our fab contestants and their variety of exciting submissions, in random order:
Here we go! After much deliberation on who really got creative and elevated their ingredients, plus much discussion on presentation, perceived taste and the use of those mighty ingredients, our judges (Julia Legume, Dan Reed & Chelsea Hoshi) came to a decision!
Without further adieu, our new VeganMoFo Chopped! Champion is….Emily of the Vegan Needs Sauce tumblr and her Channa Masala with Plums, Radish Salad and Oolong Rice!
Our 2014 Winner! Vegan Needs Sauce’s Channa Masala with Plums, Radish Salad and Oolong Rice
Our judges agreed that incorporating all these flavors into a channa masala, which is a dish they already enjoy, was super special, intriguing and seemed quite balanced in terms of flavor combinations, bonus fresh herbs and that lovely tea-infused rice!
Emily wins a special sweet prize from our friends at Chicago Vegan Foods, a Vegan Iron Chef tshirt to show her vegan cookin’ pride, and the coveted title of VEGANMOFO! CHOPPED! CHAMPION!
More from Emily on her dish:
“So when they announced the ingredients for the Vegan MoFo Chopped! basket, I knew I had to give it a shot. They are: radish, oolong tea, fresh prune plums, and jalapeno. It took me a little time to mull it over (look, I won’t do well on the real “Chopped”), but I decided to look to Indian cooking for inspiration and make channa masala with some plums in the spicy tomato sauce base, radish salad, and basmati rice cooked with oolong tea.”
Love it!
Big ups to Chicago Vegan Foods for donating! Check out their new mini Dandies for your autumn treats and upcoming hot cocoa rounds!
Thanks to everyone for entering!!
Pssst, Emily, please leave a comment or tweet to us with your email address, so we can connect ya with CVF and send that shirt! – jess
Today, I’m featuring our 2014 Chopped! VeganMoFo Edition contestants!You all seriously rocked this collection of intriguing, hand-picked ingredients and showed us flavor combinations we never thought possible. Thanks for all the hard work and showing your kitchen skills!Your panel of esteemed vegan culinary obsessed judges, J. Legume, Dan Reed, and Chelsea Hoshi, along the spirit of VeganMoFo,are heatedly discussing the results and their consequent new cravings, so stay tuned for who’s being declared our new Chopped! Champion! and prize delivery info from our sweet friends at Chicago Vegan Foods later this week!–
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You can read more about the ingredients and rules at:Ready, Set…Chopped! VeganMoFo 2014 Edition!!!The official entries are below, in random order. Click on the links to read descriptions and cooking methods behind the dishes. Enjoy!–
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Oolong Marinated Tofu with Plum Chutney and Pickled Apples and Radishes, @marylangmt on Instagram
It’s true, this contestant had some tweaks, just like on the show itself, but I still enjoy the presentation and these quotes a bunch: “Isn’t VeganMoFo the best? ” “So, yeah, this was far from perfect. BUT! The actual soup tasted pretty good, considering, and I never would’ve come up with this combination on my own. All in all, I’m happy with the result.”
Sweet Heat Tacos, Veganista Mama (Another creative submission from Veganista Mama!) Thanks to everyone who joined us for this eye-opening and tastebud-pushing competition! I hope they’ve gotten folks thinking differently about all of these lovely flavors and foods.
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Stay tuned for the big reveal, our Judge’s Choice of Chopped! Champion!,and let us know what’s piqued your interest!
Thanks for entering this edition of Chopped! for VeganMoFo!
The contests is now closed and we’ll have the judges weigh in with their decisions later this week!!!
Hi everybody! Jess here, and I’m taking over Chopped! for VeganMoFo 2014!
Photo property of Isa. And Kirby.
I spent four weeks this summer cat-sitting at my sister’s in Brooklyn, watching some fairly fancy cable, glued to the Food Network, and catching up on what seemed like 2 years’ worth of episodes, so I feel like that makes me right for the job. Plus, I’ve got a little thing – a penchant, if you will – for putting an obsessive, vegan-spin on culinary competitions for my own personal amusement (and you know, large audiences! the good of the world! community! and the future of veganism!! and Isa! ) And most importantly, I have two of the ingredients below in my own kitchen. Right now, being all inspirational and stuff. Adorn your aprons! Down to business!This Chopped! VeganMoFo Edition stars four ingredients I think are swell. Let’s get started.Your four ingredients* for this round!:
Oolong Tea! Image source: Satyatea.comFresh prune plums! Image source: my hand and the farmers market.
Yes, fresh! Curious? Read more about Italian prune plums here. They’re really plums!!!
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*Okay, okay, if you can’t track down prune plums or oolong tea (what?!) this weekend, just get close enough with purple plums and black tea, or whatever, if you must! But it’s like on the actual series Chopped!, if you miss an ingredient, you could still win, but we’re gonna take it into account.
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Your mission: Create a dinner-appropriate entree plate utilizing all four ingredients as little or as much as you want. You can also use any other items in your pantry. And unlike the television competition, you can make one plate. Or two. Or three. Or forty. Totally up to you, your dinner company and your appetites!
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The rules: You must use from-scratch, vegan ingredients to the best of your ability (if it’s covered in packaged vegan cheeze and made out of trademarked faux-meat products, sorry but you won’t win.) Submissions will be judged on perceived taste, creative use of the mystery ingredients and presentation. The photograph is important, so if you’re not a professional photographer, use natural light where you can, feel free to use a real camera or fancy smartphone, and remember, flash on food photos is rarely appealing. There is no time requirement besides getting it in by the deadline below, so take all the time you need. This competition and the prizes are open to everyone, everywhere!
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Here’s how to enter (please read carefully):On Sunday, September 14 at 12pm EST/9am PST, you can begin to post your entries in the comments of this thread. Please don’t post before then because a) you don’t want your ideas stolen, do you? and b) it makes it harder to go through when entries are interspersed with questions and other comments. Your link, including at least your rough recipe and a photo, can be posted anywhere, so long as it’s public and everyone can see it (your blog, your friend’s blog, Instagram, Facebook, your mom’s Tumblr, FlickR, etc.) All entries must be in by 2pm EST/11am PST, on Monday, September 15th.
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If you’re posting on social media, you can use the tag #VeganMoFoChopped to represent!
And please make sure when you leave your comment, that a valid email is used so that you can be contacted if you win. Along with a panel of special vegan judges from across the internet and the spirit of VeganMoFo (aka the organizers in a top secret thread), I’ll announce the winner by mid-week!
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Super important stuff! Your entry must contain 3 things:
The title of your dish
A picture of your dish (you can have more than one pic)
A description of your method/ at least a rough recipe.
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Please mention all ingredients used, not just the four mystery ingredients. Describe what you did as best you can so that people can recreate it if they like! A recipe would be ideal, but not totally necessary.
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Our VeganMofo Chopped! Champion will receive:
~Oodles of fame, glory & the 2014 Chopped! VeganMoFo title
~A sweet prize pack from Chicago Vegan Foods
~Limited edition Vegan Iron Chef tshirt! I know, wrong show riff, but my connections only go so far sometimes.
Psssst. Mini Dandies are here! Dessert is served.
If you need a little inspiration, check out these past PPK & VeganMoFo Chopped! competitions: 2012 Brunch Chopped!2012 Dessert Chopped! And if you have no idea what Chopped! is, then you can read about it here on the official site, and watch a few episodes (warning: lots of animal products, sometimes pretty gruesome looking ones, and occasionally vegan goodies like chia, vegan lobster and even vegan chefs represented!) You can also watch it on Hulu.
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P.S. Isa also gets credit for writing the rules! Duh.
Here’s the deal: Vegan masterchef and cheese revolutionary Miyoko Schinner has a new cookbook out, The Homemade Vegan Pantry, (with a foreward by VeganMoFo creator Isa Chandra youknowtherest) and it’s AMAZING. You’ll learn how to make your own (vegan, duh) butter. Bread. Pork. Fishsticks. Sauces. Crèmes. More artisan vegan cheeses. Classics from around the globe. It goes on and on. I’m telling you, even the straightforward refrigerator pizza dough has changed my kitchen ways, and I don’t have the time to start raving about the seitans. This cookbook is everything you’ve contemplated making, or *should* totally make, and the inspiration and push to make ’em in your very own kitchen!
Mary’s recipe + instructions are 
Bedazzled has my favorite quote so far: “
Thanks to everyone who joined us for this eye-opening and tastebud-pushing competition! I hope they’ve gotten folks thinking differently about all of these lovely flavors and foods.
