It’s been a week, and I’m back for another round of Sunday goodies. And goodies you had on your minds! Loads of you must have felt that sweets are where Sunday’s at, and I’m happy to highlight your preferences.
Those of you who posted your MoFo Chopped entries, or decided to actually eat something on the savory side today, will find these luscious offerings appealing.
Let’s get to it!
Up first is Mimi’s Fairy Cakes. She presents a Carrot Cake that I’m pretty sure is raw, but my Google Translate decided to act all uppity and not work today, so I’m just using my strong intuitive powers to surmise this. You decide:
Vegan Chai was up to no good, via another blogger, when she baked up a batch of these amazingly wonderful looking S’Mores Cookies. Even Jojo found them delectable!
Cooking with Some Help created Cashew Lemon Bars with Date Crust. Three of my fave ingredients: cashew. lemon. date. I’ll have some drop-shipped please!
If these treats aren’t enough, take a look at Mammi’sLingonberry Pie. Oh man! Not only is this beautiful, with it’s gorgeous hue, but it looks so delicious. Sour berries, a sweet crust. I have to make this! A little interesting bit to note is that she calls for soy yogurt or oat yogurt. I haven’t even heard of oat yogurt!
And because the best sweets are the ones that help a great cause, Suzie V Homemaker is applauded not just for her Baked Donut Holes, but for making them for a bake sale to help the animal advocacy she works.
Finally, although I realize that some parts of the world are basking in cool luxury, San Diego is experiencing its hottest weather of the YEAR. YEAR, folks! Let’s empathize with us poor Californians and gaze longingly at this colorful, and I am sure spectacular, frozen treat from Artistic Vegan, Blueberry Nicecream. With two ingredients, it is perfectly doable!
Keep posting for MoFo! You are almost halfway there! I’ll catch you next week, enjoying cooler fall weather, I hope!
Hello, Vegan MoFo land! This is Cadry from Cadry’s Kitchen.
I’m so excited to do my first round-up with you on this blustery Saturday. This is the first weekend that really feels like fall. It’s the kind of day that warrants boots and a hoody, and it totally has me craving cozy food that makes me feel all warm inside.
First up – Lentil a Roni. Linda from The Lentil Institution (sounds very official!) made this creamy pasta dish from Isa Does It. Cashew cream is blended through the tomato-based pasta sauce at the end, giving a full-bodied mouth feel that sounds heavenly!
Over at The Judgmental Vegan, Rachel fried up a batch of the Puerto Rican appetizer, Sorullitos de Maiz, which she describes as deep-fried cornbread dipped in salsa roja. Yes, please.
Shaheen, a Welsh blogger at Allotment 2 Kitchen, made this mouthwatering family-sized tamale dish. This tamale pie is packed with beans, tomatoes, onions, and garlic and then topped with pretty polenta flowers. It looks like a big crowd pleaser for family get togethers.
In the dessert realm, Liane at VGNGF made this swoon-worthy Chocolate Cream & Vanilla Fluff. With dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and smooth hazelnut butter as ingredients, I might have to find a bigger glass that would accommodate me swimming in it.
Sarah at I’m Vegan, and No, I’m Not Starving embraced the fall-like weather with apple cider donuts. (Is there a better way to welcome autumn? Short answer: No.) Using pressed cider from a local orchard, she made these gluten-free donuts that sound just delightful.
Finally, London blogger, Clem, over at The Vegan Cookie Fairy made these delectable Gluten-free Almond and Chocolate Fudge Mini Cakes. For Vegan MoFo she’s adapting recipes from her first baking book, Chocolat: Fondre de Plaisir by Camille and Nathalie Le Foll. This fallen cake is crackled along the top and gooey in the center, meaning it’s pretty much chocolate perfection.
How expensive are plane tickets to the UK? Note to self: check that STAT.
Howdy friends! This unplanned Friday round up is coming at you from late Saturday morning in England but it contains Friday’s posts so that still counts right?
If you know me at all you know that I am pretty obsessed with vegan chesse, if a new one comes out over here I’m trying it. If a new one comes out somewhere else I’ll obsess over wanting to try it until I can eventually get my grubby mitts on it. Hence this round up coming to you from the letter C!
I’m not sure which shredded cheese fellow MoFo volunteer Zsu used here in her Premium Patty Melt but gosh darn, it looks epic. I would like someone to make me one of these asap please!
As a huge Parks & Rec fan I have been excitedly devouring Easy Vegan‘s Carb’s and Rec theme and this French Fry Pizza with a side of ranch / ridiculous Calzone post made my mouth water. Want! Go to the blog for melty-cheesy inside shots!
This next hand held snack is what my dreams are made of! Veganopoulous‘s Ham Cheese Stromboli are made with Daiya and they look like super cheesy, carby perfection to me.
Someone who strayed away from store bought cheese was the blogger behind Avilia’s Way who whipped up some cashew cheese for this delicious looking cheesy pasta dish. You can totally google translate the recipe if you’d like to make this and don’t speak the language!
Next up is another home made cheese from Suzie V Homemaker who used her garlic and Italian herb mozzarella to whip up an amazing looking pizza. Go check it out!
It’s definitely poor MoFo form to rep’ your own posts but if it wasn’t meant to be your round up does it count? I hope not! And I hope y’all are as excited about this vegan cheese and wine party (but really, it was all about the cheese. I don’t even like wine!) as I was. These fancy schmancy cheese sticks had two kinds of VioLife cheese, gherkins, pickled onions and two kinds of olives! You can read more about it on vegan.in.brighton.
Last but by no means least Loz from In Rad Taste made this delicous looking pizza that I’m wishing I had in front of me right now. It’s topped with TVP chunks, olives, sundried tomatoes and an unspecified vegan cheese. Let us know what it is Loz!
That’s it for this belated Friday round up, stick with us over the weekend as we have giveaways, more round ups and did you see last night’s Chopped post? Ridiculous! I hope loads of you are up for the challenge! Jalapeños, radishes and … nuh uh, I’m not telling! You’ll have to check this post to find out!
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.
Hey there! This is Jojo here, I’ve been on holiday in Austin, Tx for the last 12 days which has meant I’ve had far less time to peruse blogs than is usual for me during VeganMoFo. The lure of taco trucks, friends and the sun all conspired to drag me away from my smart phone. Austin’s beautiful, y’all. I can’t wait for Vida Vegan Con next May! Now I’m home in foggy, chilly Brighton (okay, it’s 17 degrees which isn’t bad but it makes a big change from the beautiful 34 degree weather I’ve been experiencing these past couple of weeks) and I woke up excited and immediately rushed downstairs, fired up my laptop and opened my reader ready to peruse your blogs and get some serious catching up done.
I love our Where in the World page and I often browse new blogs by picking a country and reading and commenting on all of the blogs on the list. Perhaps it’s inspired by my love of travel. I think it’s a super fun way to mix it up. Today I picked England because it’s nice to be home.
The first post that caught my eye today was this one from Faster, Pussycat! Run! Run! This is a totally new to me blog and these Hazelnut Cocoa Balls are right up my street.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love pancakes and these ones from The Grumpy Sailor look amazing. My US pal’s might find covering pancakes in jam (or, as they say, jelly) a little odd but seriously, just try it! This is how I ate scotch pancakes growing up and trust me when I say I will definitely be trying out this recipe. Look how fluffy they look.
Every Thursday Sal from Alien on Toast is veganising Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals and today she took on his Thai Chicken Laksa subbing in Realeat Chick’n and leaving out the fish sauce. I love that she’s timing these meals to see how close they come to Jamie’s 15 minute plan!
The ladies from To Happy Vegans went to a fancy schmancy vegan pop up dinner at Asparagism together and I have all of my fingers crossed that it returns to London asap. I really, really want to go. The pea shoot salad looked beautiful, the lentil parcel sounded fantastic but it’s this polenta dish that got me all excited. I’m a recent polenta convert and I have no idea what took me so long. Polenta’s delicious especially if it’s battered or coated in something yummy and then fried.
This Harry Potter inspired French onion soup comes from the aptly named Miss Kitchen Witch. I hardly ever make soup but this one’s tempting me for sure and I love the theme.
Next up is Welsh Girl Eats who caught my eye with her Plum and Pear Coconut Crumble. I really, really love crumble and one of the things I find exciting about autumn and winter is that it’s crumble season. I usually go for apple but I would certainly be up for throwing some plums in there.
Last but by no means least is a post that popped up whist I was writing this round up and I just had to include it. Eat to Inspire posted this delicious looking burger from Cafe Kino in Bristol which was the spot where my husband and I ate lunch just before he proposed to me five years ago almost to the day. Ah, memories.
Happy MoFoing everyone. I can’t wait to read more of your posts tomorrow!
Wednesday Roundup: Instagram Gallery & Chopped Returns This Weekend!
It’s a two part roundup! Pardon my late night update if you’re in North America like me, and good morning to everyone in Europe! I was busy enjoying a late night dinner of kale, sweet potato & black bean tempeh tacos with a good friend, and welcoming early September’s near evening cool here in Portland. I have been impatiently waiting all summer for this, but I certainly didn’t forget about my rounduppin’ today, don’t you worry. Now, have you forgotten about VeganMoFo? Is it the mid-week day off? That’s okay! Look, I ask because after 15+ click-throughs on RandoMoFo.com, I only saw one mere update from earlier today. I saw a lot of lovely posts, no doubt, but there was so much more happening over on the Instagram hashtag! That’s definitely worth talking about, and equally enjoyable to get lost wandering through in the #veganmofo and #veganmofo2014 (they both work for our purposes, feel free to go with one or the other!)
1) With all my ranting down, let’s take a break from our regular roundup and try this out, because I’ve been searching for so long for an Instagram hashtag-taker, gallery-maker that doesn’t blow. This one comes from Instagme.com and I’ve highlighted a few rows of recently tagged photos. Click on ’em for more and to explore! You can also make a slideshow, OoOOoOOoo.
#VEGANMOFO Instagram gallery:
2) Moving on, I wanted to give a big heads up to your shopping lists that you just may wan to consider some flexibility this weekend if you’re feeling adventurous and enjoy some fun competition, because CHOPPED: VEGANMOFO Edition returns this Friday, September 12th!
And to give you a little edge and one less item to pick up on Friday morning when the lineup is debuted, I’m gonna break my normal NO SPOILERZZZZZ lifestyle and sneak one of the four ingredients into the conversation: jalapeños!
Image source: laweekly.com
We’ll see you back here Friday morning for the rules, the remaining 3 mandatory(ish) ingredients, your judges and a very special and particularly seasonally-enjoyable prize from our good friends at Chicago Vegan Foods!
The pendant is a 1.25 inch copper disc with a hammered texture and stamped with the word vegan. A smaller brass star is attached with a stamped letter v. It’s been fired to give a patina that shows off the hammer marks and makes the letters pop. It’s a perfect way to make a subtle vegan statement and start a conversation about your veganism. It would also make a wonderful gift for the proud vegan in your life.
Susmitha has a number of hammered and stamped metal pendants, necklaces, and earrings in her shop, along with some polymer clay creations like the strawberry gateaux earrings pictured below. She will be doing a local giveaway on her own blog, Veganosaurus, so watch her sites for updates on that later this month!
To enter to win the vegan superstar pendant, you just need to leave a comment below telling us about your favorite type of vegan cake. We’ll select a winner at 8 am PDT on September 13th. This giveaway is open internationally (with the exceptions of China, Mexico, and Italy). You’ve got 48 hours to enter! One entry per person please.
Looking for entrant charj to please email us or check your inbox!
THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED
Today starts the second week of Vegan MoFo! And that means our second week of giveaways starts with a great offer from Field Roast!
If you were watching twitter a few months ago you probably saw a lot of vegan action happening at Expo West. And if you saw vegans tweeting about Expo West, you saw that Field Roast was sampling two new products: their Apple Maple Breakfast Sausages and the Hand Formed Burgers. And attendees were going crazy for these products!
The hand formed burgers have been making a splash here on the west coast. They’ve started popping up in grocery stores but are also available at a number of sports stadiums, along with the Field Roast franks. These sturdy burgers, built from barley, fresh carrots and celery, are perfect for the grill. They have a great meaty texture and hold up well while cooking. Take them to your fall work barbeque and finally enjoy a juicy burger with your co-workers.
We are happy to be giving away a gift pack that includes a free coupon for a pack of burgers and a Field Roast t-shirt to 5 different winners! To enter, you just need to leave a comment below about your favorite burger toppings for a Field Roast burger. We’ll select a five winners at 8 am PDT on September 9. This giveaway is open to US residents only. You’ve got 24 hours to enter! One entry per person please.
This is Zsu coming to you from San Diego via the great global MoFo land.
I’ll be your guide to all things MoFo on Sundays, so sit back, relax, grab a cool drink (it’s hot here in Cali) and read on.
Today’s MoFo is dedicated to all first-time MoFo-ers. Without new voices and blogs, MoFo wouldn’t be able to get bigger and better, so a great big vegan thanks to all of you.
There are over 150 new MoFo-ers this year! That is quite a lot of blogs to look through, but worth the computer getting all hot and bothered on my lap. Check here for all the new blogs.
Let’s get to the round-up:
First up is Anzia from Peace, Love, Be Vegan. She is a 10-year-old girl who is blogging about her protein intake, to lay to rest all the misinformation floating around about vegan kids not getting their proper nutrition. Go Anzia! Good on you! Great seeing vegan kids knowing what’s what.
Now I bring you a complete day of meals, including late-night munchy madness.
Breaking your fast with a fluffy Chocolate Chip Pancake with Bananas and Cinnamon from The Vegan Squid is something my kids would love..if only I made breakfast. But since I don’t, I’ll send them this link so they can make it themselves.
Lunch time calls for some really easy to make vegan sushi, and The Fruit Life makes it extra simple to roll one up.
What’s better than an appetizer before dinner, or a late-afternoon snack? Rock My Vegan Socks brings us a fantastic looking bruschetta. This is my opportunity to let you know that she also hosts Healthy Vegan Fridays linky party. I’d love to see you there next Friday.
For our main, Soy Division‘s Mushroom Lentil Shepherd’s Pie looks like it’ll fit the bill!
Not only because these are absolutely adorable, but because I love bread with my mains, Rosie’s Vegan Kitchen baked up these Seeded Flower Pot Bread. Squeel! So cute!
For dessert, Crispy Rolls with Berry Cream! Gorgeous! These are over at Kuechengelueste. Google translate folks!
And finally, here is a link to Mac and Cheese Waffle Burgers, to satiate any late-night cravings. It is a vlog on Maximum Salad. I couldn’t grab an image, so just trust me on this; you want to see it.
In case you haven’t noticed, my images are not doing justice to the actual images on the individual blogs since I am having to jimmy rig the image upload to Word Press. I’ll have it all worked out by next week.
Happy Sunday! We have another exciting giveaway for you today! Joni Marie Newman is offering up her new book Going Vegan, co-authored with Gerrie Lynn Adams.
This is an excellent book for anyone interested in a vegan diet, or who is trying to incorporate more vegan recipes into their meal planning. Joni and Gerrie talk about choosing veganism from an animal rights perspective as well as environmental and health aspects. They also give ideas for meal planning, helpful to both new and old vegans.
If you know Joni’s other books, then you know there will be plenty of amazing recipes. Grilled citrus cauliflower steaks? Super stacked veggie burgers? Crispy toaster waffles? They’re all here with beautiful photos that will make it difficult to decide where to dive in first. I’m a huge fan of Joni’s Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet, so I recommend starting with veggie burgers (just look at that photo!), but you also can’t go wrong with amaretto cupcakes or sweet and smoky tempeh strips.
We are so happy that Joni is personally offering 2 copies of Going Vegan to 2 different winners! To enter, you just need to leave a comment below about your favorite Joni recipe or book. We’ll select 2 winners at 8 am PDT on September 9th. This giveaway is open internationally! You’ve got 48 hours to enter! One entry per person please.
Next up is 
