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Month: October 2017

Will’s Vegan Shoes Giveaway!

Will’s Vegan Shoes Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to our winners, @mrs.spaetzle and Not Fun at Parties.

It’s the last day of VeganMoFo, and you’re probably ready to put your feet up and have a break! Not so fast, though – we have a giveaway that will have you up and about and strutting your stuff on the street!

Will’s Vegan Shoes is an amazing ethical fashion brand that’s been around since 2012.  Their mission statement is to produce fashionable footwear that harms neither animals nor people in the process. Over on their website you can find a huge range of shoes for men, women and children, along with accessories like belts, wallets and stylish satchels.

 

Will has been kind enough to offer gift cards to two lucky winners – €100 to a European resident, and $100US for someone from the rest of the world!

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is tell us:  what has been your highlight of VeganMoFo 2017?  It could be a new blogger you’ve discovered (tell us who it is!), an Instagrammer who brightens your day, one particular recipe you can’t wait to try, a theme you’ve really enjoyed following, a daily prompt that you loved…anything you like!

Leave us a comment either here on the blog or over on the Instagram post and tell us your VeganMoFo 2017 highlight. We will choose a winner at random. Of course, this giveaway is open internationally but only to registered VeganMoFo participants.  It will close at midnight Pacific Daylight Time.

Good luck!

Veganomicon Giveaway!

Veganomicon Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to our winner, Accidentally Meatless.

2007 was a busy year for vegan goddess Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  Not only did she launch the first ever VeganMoFo, but she also released one of the greatest cookbooks of all time, Veganomicon, co-written with fellow vegan hero Terry Hope Romero.

Isa and Terry have marked the latter anniversary by releasing the Veganomicon 10th Anniversary Edition (published by Da Capo Press).  The new edition has updated some of the classic recipes you already know and love, along with 25 completely new dishes!

 

The kind people at Da Capo Press have donated one copy of Veganomicon 10th Anniversary Edition for one of our lucky participants!

All you have to do is answer this question here on the blog or on Instagram:  what’s your favourite Isa and/or Terry recipe?  This competition is only open to registered VeganMoFo participants in the USA and Canada.  It will close at midnight Pacific Daylight Time.

Good luck!

Robin le Riche Giveaway!

Robin le Riche Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED!

The vegan community is not short of some amazing creators – both in food, as we’ve seen through VeganMoFo, and in art! Robin Le Riche is one of those vegan artists, creating cartoons with vegan, feminist, and anti-fascist messages. Based in Norfolk in the UK, his work features well known cartoon characters such as Barbie, the Ninja Turtles, Pokemon and Care Bears!

We’re lucky enough to have a bundle of some of Robin le Riche’s goodies to giveaway to one happy winner.

If you’d like to win this amazing prize, just answer this question: What cartoon character do you think should go vegan?

You can answer either here or on Instagram. We will choose a winner at random. Competition is open to registered VeganMoFo participants and is international. It will close at midnight Pacific Daylight Time. 

Crazy Rumors Giveaway!

Crazy Rumors Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to our winners:  @veganfeastcatering, @j.k.fizz, @jennxvegan, Not Fun at Parties, and Veg Charlotte!

It’s almost winter, which means it’s more important than ever to moisturise.  We’re here to help with our latest giveaway that will keep your lips perfectly soft, and pretty darn delicious too!  If you’ve never used Crazy Rumors lip balms before, you are definitely in for a treat!

Crazy Rumors was started by Edie and Brian Himmel back in 2003 when they realised that they couldn’t find any fun, flavoursome lip balms that were made with natural vegan ingredients.  They swiftly set about changing that, and have now developed a massive range of creative flavours!  You can learn more about their story here, and explore their full range on their website too.

Edie and Brian have kindly donated five pairs of Crazy Rumors lip balms, each one heading out to a different lucky winner!  And brace yourself, there are some incredible flavours:

  • Sweet and spicy:  Ginger Ale and Bee My Honey
  • Ice cream 1: Orange Creamsicle and Raspberry Sherbet
  • Ice cream 2: Mint Chocolate and Banana Split
  • Hot drinks:  Spiced Chai and Hot Cocoa
  • Sweet treats:  Chocolate Strawberry and Candy Corn

If you’d like to win, just comment here on this post or on Instagram to let us know which pair you would most like to win!  (Please note we can’t guarantee that you’ll get your top choice, but we’ll do our best!)  We’ll pick the five winners at random.  This giveaway is open internationally to registered VeganMoFo participants, and it will close at midnight Pacific Daylight Time.

Vegan MoFo 2017 Week Three Roundup

Vegan MoFo 2017 Week Three Roundup

Hello, hello hello! Week three of Vegan MoFo was all about ingredient challenges! Here’s a look back at some of the posts that caught my eye this week.

October 16th – Survival food

Tracy’s living cookbook

Not gonna lie, when I saw the Zombie Apocalypse Cheesy Potato Enchilada Casserole Tracy made, I did a little squee. It looks absolutely delicious and is made from mostly pantry staples and freezer food. Bring on the impending doom, I’m going to Tracy’s for dinner.

October 17th – Let’s get boozy!
Go vegga

Kelly made this warming Spiked Maple Molasses drink with aquafaba whipped cream! I don’t know about you but this looks like the perfect Autumnal evening drink. Mmmmm, maple.


Ichiban vegan

Jess made a Boozy Apple Pie Sundae and it looks incredible. If you fancy making this homemade bourbon vanilla ice cream with hard cider wet walnuts, have a mooch on Jess’s blog for the recipe.

 

October 18th – Chocolate

One raw bite

Alexa and Jennifer over at One raw bite made a chocolate sauerkraut cake! I’m all for including more sauerkraut in my diet and if that can be done by eating cake, everyone’s a winner. Check out the origins of the cake and the recipe on their blog.

Kittens gone lentil

Susan has researched into truly fair trade chocolate and has been reviewing some beautiful looking vegan bars featured on the Food Empowerment Project’s chocolate list. Take a look at her blog post and read more about the Food Empowerment Project here.

 

October 19th – Five ingredients or fewer

Two Happy Rabbits

What a gorgeous dish Graeme and Cally made for today’s challenge, they even made their own pasta from scratch. Check out their recipe for Homemade Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Chili, and try not to drool.

Vegan tho

Natalie made a vegan version of a childhood favourite dinner, Corned Beans Hash. This version using refried beans instead of corned beef looks so much nicer than the original, I’m adding this to my list of MoFo recipes to make on a cold, rainy day.

 

October 20th – Deconstructed dish
@ladyfunk25
Angie took apart the ingredients for a banh mi and made a cracking salad. Just look at the grill marks on that tofu! Nom!

@vegansneedsauce

Emily made a gorgeous ‘unstuffed’ stuffed pepper: a beet ball atop a grilled slice of bell pepper with fresh herb gravy and a smear of roasted cauliflower puree. How delicious does that sound? And it looks impressive, too!

October 21st – Potato

Gonna go walk the dogs

Janet lives in California so has access to great produce all year round, as demonstrated in her Four Seasons Buddha Bowl, featuring slow roasted potatoes. Look at those beautiful colours! How dreamy does her Grilled Peach Tahini Sauce sound?

http://gonnagowalkthedogs.typepad.com/.a/6a0133f45fbb46970b01b8d2b6b8ca970c-800wi

@Elephantasticvegan

Bianca’s easy vegan gnocchi ticks all the boxes, a simple yet elegant dish that looks so delicious. A great use of the humble potato.

@raisinsecte

This potato sauerkraut soup with sausage crumbles is right up my street! Who else fancies a bowl of this beautiful soup?

 

October 22nd – Unconventional grains

@vegfullife
Kristy made a wheat berry salad with some lovely summery flavours, a nice change from a pasta salad and great to make in advance for meal prep.

Fake meat and true love

I’ll admit that I’d never heard of the grain Sarra and Mike used in their Italian wedding soup; triticale. They found this relatively unheard of grain at a farmer’s market, and enjoyed their soup with some rad looking ham & cheese buttermilk biscuits. What a perfect dinner! Save some for me next time, ok?

That’s all from me for this week, looking forward to seeing everyone’s posts for the final week of Vegan MoFo 2017!

The Goose and Rabbit Giveaway!

The Goose and Rabbit Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to our winner, @jennxvegan!

What do you carry your shopping around in? Whatever it is, I bet it isn’t as cute as this tote bag! First you need the bag, then you have the perfect excuse to go out and fill it up with all the vegan goodies you can find! It’s a great talking point too – do your bit for vegan activism and spread the word for us. So, we’re giving you a chance to win this lovely bag – just read below!

The Goose and Rabbit is a great Etsy shop where you can find pins, stickers, T-shirts…and totes!  There are three totes to choose from, each emblazoned with a vegan-friendly slogan.

We’re giving away this cute ‘Stop eating babies’ bag thanks to the lovely Roisin from The Goose and Rabbit!

If you would like to win, all you have to do is comment here on the blog or on our Instagram post and answer this question:  what vegan slogan would you most like to see on a bag?  (You can get ideas from The Goose and Rabbit’s Etsy page!)  This competition is open to registered VeganMoFo participants internationally – you’re all welcome to get involved!  The competition closes at midnight Pacific Daylight Time.

 

 

 

 

Moo Free Giveaway!

Moo Free Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to our winners Coastal Vegan, Justbloggs vegan and Vegan tho.

It’s chocolate day! We know you’ve all been eagerly anticipating this day – although do you really need an excuse to eat chocolate? Vegan chocolate comes in many forms, and is no longer confined to very dark blends – there are some excellent milk and white varieties out there too that are completely vegan! Enough talking about chocolate though – we’d like to give you the opportunity to win some!

 

Have you heard of Moo Free?  They make some of the best chocolate going, and all of it is vegan!  Moo Free chocolate is all made from rice milk, and comes in various flavours and forms.  Flavourwise, we’re talking banana, cranberry and hazelnut, mint, orange and honeycomb, and of course just plain “milk” chocolate.  And you can get seasonal treats like Easter Eggs, Christmas selection boxes and advent calendars alongside all-year-round Mini Moos (small bars for those who can restrain themselves) and larger 100g bars. You can peruse their whole range here!

 

The good people of Moo Free are giving three lucky winners a 100g hazelnut nibs bar!

To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is post something chocolate related on one of your registered VeganMoFo social media accounts/blog today!  We’ll choose a winner at random.  The competition is only open to registered VeganMoFo participants in the UK and closes at midnight BST.  Good luck!

VeganMoFo 2017 Week Two RoundUp!

VeganMoFo 2017 Week Two RoundUp!

This week, our theme was “Behind the Scenes” which has been brilliant because really, we’re all nosy at heart, and we’ve loved seeing the background behind all your food!

October 9th – Go Go Gadget! 

@moth.spit

We’re starting with Ene, who made mustard with a hand blender! Now isn’t that ingenious? Creating food from scratch is very satisfying, and I bet this tastes really good.

One Raw Bite

Jennifer shared her very pretty looking cocktail shaker (but made sure to reassure us that it isn’t actually her most used gadget!). Go and check out her blog, where she has a recipe for a cherry cocktail that sounds oh so good.

@crumbs.and.caramel

Crumbs and Caramel have some amazing looking desserts on their instagram – have you had a chance to check them out yet? This banoffee pie is from Isa & Terry’s Vegan Pie in the Sky cookbook, so you could even make it yourself if you wanted! (Or make it for me…please?)

October 10th – Secret Ingredient

Just Bloggs

Here we have a history of one of the most innovative recent vegan discoveries – aquafaba! Now, this is one that really gets people talking (especially non-vegans). It’s certainly pretty magical though – who would have imagined that vegan meringues could be this easy?

@ladyfunk25

Angie’s secret ingredient is avocado…in a smoothie! It sounds strange when you first hear it, but actually makes a lot of sense. I mean, avocados are lovely and creamy, right? Apparently it gives the bowl a lovely rice pudding texture – this is one to try.

KZ Cakes

KZ’s tomato soup with grilled cheese looks so lovely and warming and comforting! It sounds like just the meal you want to cheer you up on a cold, grey day.

October 11th – Kitchen Tour

Two Happy Rabbits

Just look at this outdoor kitchen! If you’re ever considering travelling and taking a portable kitchen, definitely read this blog post for advice. And whilst you’re there, check out all their other meals and marvel at how they were created outdoors!

Little Vegan Eats

Okay, so this kitchen looks pretty much straight out of a magazine. Hands up who is jealous? Maybe it’s the most beautiful kitchen I have ever seen.

@pennyrakau

Penny posted a shelfie…get it…shelfie…selfie….ha ha! with her cookbooks. How many do you recognise? How many do you own?

 

October 12th – Grocery Store Tips and Tricks

Gonna Go Walk the Dogs

Here we have some great advice – find a farmers market with local produce! If you’re lucky, you’ll have a farmers market nearby with produce as beautiful as this. Just have a look at those amazing carrots!

@steffers_the_gnome

Steph offers advice for anyone travelling – if you fly with Alaska, you can get a vegan picnic pack on the plane! That’s great, for an industry that’s still pretty behind with vegan options. I’d eat this, for sure.

@the_bearded_vegan

On his own theme, The Bearded Vegan cooked up loaded nachos with quinoa, kamut, black beans, Daiya cheeze sauce, and loads more. My mouth is watering just looking at this photo!

October 13th – Sell Yourself

@rosamiex

Rosie would sell pizza, such as this pictured vegan meat feast pizza – featuring homemade soy chicken, chorizo sausage, and lots of cheese! Who says vegans miss out? I’m missing out on this pizza right now though.

@mosolyoga

I think this idea sounds really, really delicious. Sweet vegan snack balls in a recycled paper box, with flavours suitable for adults and children. And they’re so pretty too!

@filthyrichvegan

Filthy Rich already “sell themselves”, ah, so to speak, and took the opportunity to share their vegan muffins! Don’t you think these flavours look really tasty?

October 14th – Repurposing Food

Seitan Beats Your Meat

Now, how comforting does this recipe sound? Tofu noodle soup in homemade bread bowls. The bowls are best a few days old so they hold up to the soup better, which means they’re great for any bread you have leftover!

VeganHaHa

Continuing on the bread theme, we have a classic dessert here – bread and butter pudding! If you’ve never had it before, you should definitely try it! Sure, it sounds a little strange in principle, but it’s so good in reality.

Herbivore’s Heaven

Jenny has been spending VeganMoFo talking about being vegan in Italy (don’t you wish you had a months worth of Italian food to write about?!) and today has some really special gelato on her blog! Actually, keep checking out her posts because there has been a lot of special gelato so far this month.

October 15th – Spicy!

Ichiban Vegan

Would you look at the colours on this? That’s what you get when you combine sweet potatoes with some lovely spices like turmeric, smoked paprika, and more. Check out Jess’ blog for the recipe, and a funny cat too!

Vegansk For Alle

It might not be spicy, but it sure is good. This mississippi mud pie has an oreo biscuit base and a lovely creamy topping (just look at it!).

@masalavegan

With an instagram name of “Masala Vegan”, you’d be expecting lots from their spices, after all, how else would you make masala? And you’re not going to be disappointed. A proper spice tray, full of whole spices – it’s beautiful isn’t it?

 

The Cruelty Free Shop Giveaway!

The Cruelty Free Shop Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to our winner @zuckerbaby.1!

Our Australian MoFo’ers probably need no introduction to The Cruelty Free Shop. You can find them in Melboure, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane, as well as online.  The shop was started  back in 2001 when Jessica Bailey wanted to make going vegan easier for people by doing all the label-reading and research herself and providing a nice easy one-stop online shop for the Australian vegan community.  In 2012 she opened the first of their supermarkets in Sydney, and stores in three other cities soon followed.

Not only do they sell a huge range of vegan food, but you can also get your hands on health and beauty products, clothes and accessories,books, and the beloved Vegan Mystery Box!  Oh, and their Christmas stock is already in too!

The lovely team at The Cruelty Free Shop have donated a $50 voucher to one lucky winner!

To win the voucher, you just need to comment on this blog post or over on Instagram and tell us:  what would be the first thing in your shopping basket if you won?  We’ll choose a winner at random. This competition is only open to registered VeganMoFo participants in Australia.  The competition closes at midnight Greenwich Mean Time.  Good luck!

Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen Giveaway!

Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to our winner, Accidentally Meatless.

Richa Hingle is a cookery star. With a bestselling book, Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen, under her belt, and hundreds more recipes on her blog, she’s become known as one of the best vegan bloggers out there. And did you know she participated in VeganMoFo herself for many years? You can find her VeganMoFo posts here!


Richa recently released her new book, Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen, which you can find details of where to purchase it here on her blog. In celebration of that, we’re teaming up with the book’s publishers, Vegan Heritage Press, to give one lucky VeganMoFo participant the chance to win a copy! We’ve also got an interview with Richa herself to share with you. For competition details, see the end of this post.

First things first, welcome back to VeganMoFo, Richa! You participated in VeganMoFo for a few years in the early 2010s, do you have good memories of the event?

Absolutely! I had so much fun getting creative through the month, participating in the Chopped Challenge, and meeting so many bloggers. Its so great to find people who are vegan, and who cook amazing vegan food.

Your first book, Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen, was a huge success. Did you ever dream of being a cookbook author when you were younger?

I might have thought of writing fiction book but never a cookbook. I used to spend some time in the kitchen with mom in high school, when I felt like it and would mess up her recipes by adding my own spin. She would then make back up meals just in case  .

Do you have a favourite recipe, out of the ones you’ve published on your blog and in your books?

This is so hard to choose. I mean there are over a 1000 recipes now between the blog and the 2 books. It depends on the day, the amount of work I want to do and so on.

With food blogging, I often am cooking for the blog and trying out new stuff, so in general on an off day when I cook with leisure or if hubbs is cooking, we prefer simple Indian meals. Some Butter Tofu, Chard and peas and creamy sauce, Pasanda sauce with veggies, Rajma or Pindi Chole. On the weekend, I make a batch of my mozzarella (in the book) to make a margherita or top any other pizza. I have also been using Baharat and berbere blends in various new ways and loving the broccoli Baharat casserole from the book.

What would be your advice for someone looking to start cooking Indian food?

Buy my first book! Don’t be intimidated by Indian food. It is probably easy for me to say that, but Indian food has amazing options and so much is easily vegan or veganizable. The spices and preparation might be intimidating at first. But just pick up one recipe at a time, for which you have most of the ingredients and spices and go with it. Try it once, twice, thrice. It is just the initial hurdle of ingredients and newness. Once you start cooking some Indian dishes, its easy to get a hang of the style, timings, the spices needed and so on. The dish can always be adjusted during cooking.

Also, don’t let one recipe make your decision of whether you like Indian food or not. There are also many spices and flavors that make up a dish and one of them might not be to your liking. Or it could be just the wrong recipe. There are several different sub cuisines in Indian cuisine using very different textures and flavors, so you can hopefully find one that you love.

Your latest book, Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen, has several chapters with different kinds of meals and cuisines. Which was your favourite chapter to work on?

Another tough one. I had fun making Burgers and Pizzas and the favorite was the Buffalo and Firecracker and the Masala Chapters. Spice + Heat! The buffalo chickpea pizza, Pecan lentil burgers, Baharat chickpea burgers, the deep dish pizza, lentil balls in butter sauce, firecracker crunchy salad…

You have so many recipes! How do you go about getting inspiration for them?

It is mostly organic. Someone will request a recipe that I haven’t put on the blog and I put my spin to it. I try new things at restaurants and something will pique my interest and I note the flavors and textures to make a similar thing, or just an idea of using the flavor combination or technique elsewhere. Sometimes the inspiration is seasonal, and I have this amazing produce or an amazing new spice that I should use in some ways and I will look up ideas on the web or make variations of my existing recipes. For me, it is easier to experiment with ethnic cuisines than everyday American meal options. The Burgers, Alfredo, desserts tend to be the ones that get a lot more searches on the web. So I look for inspiration from popular recipes and make my version of them as well.

What are your plans for the future? More cookbooks? Or would you like to go down the Isa Chandra route and open a restaurant?

Restaurants aren’t something I can do with my physical limitations. If anyone wants to open one with my recipes, then go for it. Cookbooks and blog are keeping me busy for now.

Fans of your instagram will have seen your stories featuring your dog. Tell us a little bit about him!

Chewie is a very loving dog who we adopted from a rescue many years ago when he was 3. He is 12 now, has slowed down and has opinions about everything. He loves to sleep, eat, sleep, cuddle and repeat. He is one of the reasons we went vegan. He has so much personality and so much love(and orders these days) to give.

Do you have any vegan heroes – people who’ve inspired you along your blogging and cookbook writing journey?

I have several people I look up do in different ways. People like Eileen Weintraub and Erika Abrams, who work with rescues and sanctuaries in India with a complex set of problems for animals there. People like Gene Baur who work in the field here and spread the message of the choices we need to make. My husband who constantly encourages me to put in my best at what I love to do. Blog readers who write to me about their journeys into eating more plants and eliminating animals from their plates. People who look at the current issues and problems in an open and clear way and work to find solutions and actions. Animals who survive after the many different ordeals thrown their way. I also take inspiration from great food, chefs, authors and bloggers, such as Terry Hope Romero, Miyoko Schinner, Isa Chandra.

Thanks so much to Richa for doing this interview! 

 

Win a copy of Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen! 

We’re giving you the chance to win a copy of Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen by Richa Hingle.  Author of Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen and former VeganMoFo participant, Richa has put together a book packed full of flavoursome dishes like one-pot peanut butter noodles, chickpea chilaquiles and (brace yourselves) samosa-stuffed French toast.  Wow!

For your chance at winning, leave a comment either here on our Instagram post telling us:  What would the theme of your cookbook be?  We’ll choose a winner at random.  This giveaway is only open to participants in the USA who are registered for VeganMoFo.  Participants are allowed to enter all five giveaways this week, you don’t need to limit yourself to one.  The competition closes at midnight Pacific Daylight Time.  Good luck!