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Author: jess sconé

Portland farmers market obsessed crazy cat lady with a penchant for pickling, DIY mixology and SE Asian curries. My sporadic personal blog is over at sconejess.com
This Saturday: “MoFo” on Instagram & You Could Win Miyoko’s Homemade Vegan Pantry!

This Saturday: “MoFo” on Instagram & You Could Win Miyoko’s Homemade Vegan Pantry!

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!

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.

 

Your Daily VeganMoFo Ideas!

Your Daily VeganMoFo Ideas!

Hi folks! Jess here, digging into beautiful day-before MoFo madness, so let me say….Hello, hello, MoooooFoooooo!!

This post is full of daily ideas to keep you inspired, all month long!

Keep in mind: You don’t HAVE to use these, you can certainly blog & post about whatever you like (the more vegan food the better, of course). Personally, I’ll be shocked if I get shake up a blog post or two up, so it’s all the ease and regularity of Instagram (er, @jdfunks & over at @veganironchef) for me! And lots and lots of others!mofo15tomato

These are ideas to inspire and keep the creative juices (and your blender) flowing throughout September.

What’s going on for VeganMoFo2015: The idea is to shoot for 30 posts over the month of September and you can do them all on your blog, all on Instagram or all over the vegan blogosphere or the world-wide VEGAN web. Whatever floats your boat. Pin other mofos that inspire you! SnapChat your vegan secret ingredients! Periscope your kitchen! YouTube recreating a childhood meal with your grandma and treasure it forever. Endlessly discuss things on the PPK. Tag your friends on Facebook to join the fun. Twitter your #veganmofo anxieties. Tumblr EVERYTHING!

Remember that these are guidelines and open to your own interpretation!

THE LIST:

1 Rise and Shine! It’s MoFo time! Tell us about your breakfast.
2 Recreate a meal from your childhood.
3 Quick, easy and delicious.
4 Tell us about a weird food combo that you love.
5 Best sandwich ever.
6 Re-create a restaurant meal.
7 Make / eat some thing inspired by a book or film.
8 Reach out! Make a new vegan friend & tell us about it.
9 Most retro recipe.
10 Something blue.
11 Focus on a nutrient
12 Tell us about your favourite cookbook!
13 It’s kitchen tour time!
14 Share something vegan (and delicious, duh!) with a non-vegan.
15 OMG, Barack Obama is coming over because he knows you make awesome vegan food! What are you going to make?
16 What’s your favorite late summer food?
17 Make (or eat!) a traditional local dish.
18 Honor a human or non human animal who inspires your veganism.
19 Lunch on the go.
20 Veganize an old family recipe.
21 What three endless food supplies would you take if you were going to be stranded on an island? (Imagine your nutritional needs have been met, these are a bonus!)
22 Make a dish using all seasonal produce.
23Autumn equinox eats.
24 What [insert well known person] would eat if they were vegan.
25 Share your favorite cuisine.
26 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?
27 Favorite herb or spice?
28 Tacos VS Burritos. Where do you stand on this important issue?
29 What would you bring on a vegan road trip?
30 Fusion Challenge!

Stay tuned to this blog for news, semi-regular roundups and our social media accounts below for more and more and more and more!

VeganMoFo on Facebook
RSVP to our month-long FB event + invite your friends:
@VeganMoFo on Twitter
And yeah, baby, our @veganmofo Instagram, where we’ll do our bestest to post about prompts as much as we can.

Tag us and we just may repost! HASHTAGS: #VGNMF15 #VEGANMOFO

So sticky/favorite/screencap or even print or write down this list!

We’ll have it pinned to the top of this VeganMoFo HQ blog all month long.

Spread the word: 2015 VeganMoFo Media Alert for ya!

Spread the word: 2015 VeganMoFo Media Alert for ya!

 mofo15corn

Hello, MoFos! We’ve prepared an official Vegan MoFo 2015 Media Alert for you to share, if you like. This is a way to get a quick summary of what’s in store to local and international (and internet!) press sources. Links & instructions below.

Here’s what to do:

  1. First things first, sign on up for VeganMoFo 2015!
  2. Think & go Google search: What are the local media avenues in my community (state, country, district, town, county, area, favorite blogs, online news sources, etc.)? Is there an alt weekly? Is there a monthly, city-wide cultural magazine and/or website? Where do you see local food & dining news? For example, in Portland, OR, I’d send this to Eater PDX (and there are a ton of Eater sites out there!), Willamette Week, Portland Mercury, Oregonian FoodDay, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Portland Monthly Magazine and a bunch of my favorite culinary-focused blogs. Plus, the huge local vegetarian outreach group, Northwest Veg, other vegan-friendly events that have caught my eye, and maybe, The Kitchn, Serious Eats, and so on. If you’ve been involved with media outlets/events, who are your contacts? Do you have friends that work in PR? Are they relevant and could they help get the word out? Do they like vegan cookies?  Is there a VegFest? Basically, find out their contact email/fax (right?! You can totally send faxes for free online these days in case you actually want to do that). Take note that there is typically a contact specifically *for* media alerts and press releases and calendar info with the bigger outlets. Go cover your ground and spread the word!
  3. Edit and download a personalized or general copy of the official VeganMoFo Media Alert, as linked below.
  4. Save the (ideally revised) Media Alert as a PDF with a clearly marked file name, for example “Media Advisory: VeganMo, The Vegan Month of Food Writing Returns September 2015″
  5. Next, copy/paste the Media Alert content into the actual email message from title down. I like to do this, it doubles your chances of being read. At the top, if I know who it’s going to well, I’ll often include a little note in a different font and color and sign it, like “Hey Darleen, I’d love for you to take a look at this news! I’ve got a whole month of xxx in store and daily updates! Let me know if you would like more information or photos for a story” (or something a little less lame then that, but I hope you get the point).
  6. Make sure you’ve attached a copy of the Media Alert PDF (or Word Doc or whatever you prefer) to the email itself.
  7. Press send and let that baby fly, preferably one at a time, but one big blind BCC can do in a pinch (sorry, old college marketing professors, it’s 2015 and I’m busy!)

And here’s how to do it! There are two versions of our shiny, official Media Alert all ready to go below:

OPTION 1) We’ve got the official Media Alert ready to be personalized right this way and copied below. It is super important to make sure you personalize the red area! 

OPTION 2) Here’s a straightforward Media Alert to share as is.

Go, go MoFo!

 

MEDIA ALERT ?? MEDIA ALERT ?? MEDIA ALERT
Ninth Annual Vegan Month of Food aka “VeganMoFo” returns  September 2015

WHAT

The ninth Annual Vegan Month of Food (aka “VeganMoFo”) returns for another month-long culinary affair, encouraging daily posts beginning September 1, 2015, and bigger + brighter engagements via Instagram updates and daily creative prompts at VeganMoFo HQ (veganmofo.com).

WHO

This worldwide event features participants hailing from over 22 countries, who pledge to post about vegan food on a near daily basis throughout the entire month of September. VeganMoFo’s evolution has seen it expand beyond the realm of blogs to encompass all social media platforms: Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, and beyond. These food writers ,professional and home cooks will write about what they eat and what they cook, all with the intention of showcasing the wide and delicious world of vegan food.

[YOUR NAME] OF [YOUR BLOG/SITE/HANDLE] IS A [LOCATION]-BASED BLOGGER/WRITER/AUTHOR/WHATEVER  JOINING IN FOR THEIR [HOW MANY YEARS?] VEGANMOFO, AND FOCUSING ON [NAME PROJECTS, PLANS, PROPOSED UPDATES].

WHEN + WHERE

This internet-based September 1-30, 2015, across hundreds of blogs and social media accounts around the globe.

Weekly blog and Instagram roundups will be be housed at VeganMoFo International HQ (veganmofo.com) and updated on the official Instagram, @veganmofo. The official website also offers writing guides and post ideas, an RSS feed, blogs by category, an F.A.Q., sign up and 2015 badges.

FOLLOW ALONG // HASHTAGS: #VEGANMOFO + #VGNMF15

ABOUT VEGAN MOFO!

VeganMoFo is a grassroots event that evolved from an international community of vegans who love to cook, and are passionate about sharing their love of vegan food with the rest of the world. The idea was first created by famed vegan chef, cookbook author and Modern Love chef/owner Isa Chandra Moskowitz of The Post Punk Kitchen (theppk.com).
Representatives of VeganMoFo HQ are available for more information about VeganMoFo, recipes, photographs, and interview requests.

Announcing the VeganMoFo 2014 Chopped! Champion!

Announcing the VeganMoFo 2014 Chopped! Champion!

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:

You can check out all their photos and more on our Chopped! Contestant! Roundup!

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!

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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

 

 

Thursday Rounduppin’

Thursday Rounduppin’

Hello, hello, you lovely VeganMoFo-ers!!! Jess popping in with an assortment of RandoMoFo.com picks and some bonus Instagram selections from my regular hashtag-clicking-sprees. You know how it goes. I started today’s roundup early this morning while “working from home”, aka seriously enjoying the double Rosies on The View and eating a plum muffin for breakfast. Pleasant stuff.

First up, via Instagram #VeganMoFo wandering, we have Shannon the @anotherhungryvegan hitting up Watercourse Foods in Denver for Buffalo & Memphis BBQ Cauliflower Wings. I want in on this and continue to be content with this saucy, battered cauliflower craze!

Another Instagrammer, Cassie @veganinsanity, serves up a hearty bowl of Smokey Barbeque Chili I can practically smell from here! Yum.

Well, it’s rainy in Portland once again (ba da bum, the season has be-gun) and these Sunshine Pancakes from Green Gourmet Giraffe are helping put a smile on my face and mood. So charming.

Speaking of Portland, this happened around the corner from my apartment and my cats are feeling left out, because dang, yum. Joni’s Seitan Burgers up on Panda with Cookie. They’re George approved. That’s really all you need to know.

What did you do today? Because Beetroot Massacre went for a 3 hour hike and then threw together this satisfying Tempeh Stir Fry with Black Bean Sauce:

I love beer-y, cheesy happenings and now want to try out this Velvet Beer Sauce from Down the Rabbit Hole. It’s time to get my hands on some lactic acid, ASAP.

Back to Instagram hopping, because it’s just so easy to get lost in, we have Stephanie @neatnnutritous with a seriously appetizing dish of Smoky Peppers, Creamy Cashews & Crisp Squash:

Our last featured MoFo-er for today is Babette, who’s baked up some bomb looking Very Vanilla Raisin bread over at Vegan in Montreal. What a perfect breakfast!

Keep it up, folks!! 

Chopped! Contestant! Roundup!

Chopped! Contestant! Roundup!

Oolong Tea! Jalapeño! Fresh Prune Plums! Radish

Image via RubberCowGirl.com

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!

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

Mary’s recipe + instructions are right here.

 

Dumpling Soup with Radish & Radish Leaves, served with Jalapeño, Plum Chutney and Spiced Lentil-filled Dumpling, Eating with the Rabbits

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 Sushi, Veganista Mama Assam Tofu, with braised radishes topped with Jalapeno, Assam, Plum sauce, Hasta La Vegan

Plum & Radish Tart with a savory Jalapeno, Oolong Tea, and Apricot Preserve Glaze, Bedazzled Vegan

Bedazzled has my favorite quote so far: Voila! The finished product was edible!” Score!

Channa Masala with Plums, Radish Salad and Oolong Rice, Vegan Needs Sauce 15051981937_4333cefc2e_z (1)   A Very Special Marinara Sauce, Monsieur Avocado (The blog’s in French, so GO GO Google Translate if needed)

Plum and Jalapeño Glazed Tempeh with Picked Radishes and Butternut Squash Purée (plenty of oolong in there too, I just couldn’t fit it into the tile), The Picky Vegan

Oolong Banh Mi Burger, Zsu’s Vegan Pantry 

Mexican Hot Lips Cake, The Mess in Messenger

Radish cakes with Prune Sauce, Kohlrabi and Quince

Barley Paella with Grilled Tofu & Fresh Plum Salsa, Cadry’s Kitchen

Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squash in an Oolong-Plum-Red Wine Reduction with Jalapeno-Apple Radish, Rubber Cowgirl

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.

Stay tuned for the big reveal, our Judge’s Choice of Chopped! Champion!, and let us know what’s piqued your interest!

Ready, Set….Chopped! VeganMoFo2014 Edition!!!

Ready, Set….Chopped! VeganMoFo2014 Edition!!!

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!:

  1. Jalapeño!
  2. Radish!
  3. Oolong Tea!
  4. Fresh Prune Plums! (I’ll explain more below)
Jalapeño! Image source: Laweekly.com
Jalapeño! Image source: Laweekly.com
Radish! Image source: Muranakafarm.com
Radish! Image source: Muranakafarm.com

aka Fraggle food

Oolong Tea! Image source: Satyatea.com
Oolong Tea! Image source: Satyatea.com
Fresh prune plums! Image source: my hand.
Fresh prune plums! Image source: my hand and the farmers market.

Yes, fresh! Curious? Read more about Italian prune plums here. They’re really plums!!!

 

*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.

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!

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!

 

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.

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!

Super important stuff! Your entry must contain 3 things:

  1. The title of your dish
  2. A picture of your dish (you can have more than one pic)
  3. 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.
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.

 

P.S. Isa also gets credit for writing the rules! Duh.

Wednesday Roundup: Instagram Gallery & Chopped Returns This Weekend!

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
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!

VeganMoFo 2014: RoundUp #1!

VeganMoFo 2014: RoundUp #1!

Happy very first day of VeganMoFo 2014!

Personally, I’m currently representing the contingent of enthusiastic MoFoers who are scrambling and sorting through their photo archives to not only get some sort of welcome post up on their lapsed blog, but rethinking their theme and getting a wee bit overwhelmed wandering through the greatness that is RandoMoFo.com. However, I urge anyone else in this camp to take a take breath with me, plan something delicious from an underused cookbook for dinner, and most importantly, remember that vegan blogging and everything else that the Vegan Month Food stands for is supposed to be FUN!

And to everyone out there with an amazing theme and shiny merch ready (half-joking here) to go, keep it up! Seriously, I’m already in awe, browsing the blogs today. BUT, enough about me, let’s all get inspired from a tour of some highlights of Day #1 so far:

First up, here’s a striking guide to homemade Vegan Kimchi over on Veganlina

Next up, we have Vegan Rissoles, veganized Welsh croquettes from Rosie’s Vegan Kitchen aka Vegan-in-Wales, who’s spending the month doing just that: revamping Welsch classics with a vegan touch.

Because there’s always time for salad, here’s Danielle Joe’s Arugula-Pear Salad with Chocolate Vinegarette...how lovely!

For something heartier, I’m pretty stoked about this Vegan Burgers & Books theme in store from MucVeg.com:

With that, I cheer you this Vegan Alcoholic Girl Scout Cookie Milkshake(!!!) reblogged onto the Fuck Yeah Vegan Ice Cream! tumblr, and remind you (and me!) to split your time between writing your own fab posts and visiting others’, because that’s the magic of VeganMoFo.

 Enjoy!!

P.S. And remember, you can join in on Instagram and Twitter simply be adding the #VeganMoFo and #VeganMoFo2014 hashtags for folks to explore!

Looking Back at 2013 VeganMoFo Faves

Looking Back at 2013 VeganMoFo Faves

Hi everyone! With the start of the annual Vegan Month of Food aka VeganMoFo  just over a mere week away, I wanted to take this time to reflect on some of our own favorites from 2013.

via Teeny Tiny Tantrums on Etsy (We heart Kelly! You can buy this!)
via Teeny Tiny Tantrums on Etsy (We heart Kelly! You can probably buy this!)

Reading other vegan blogs and being struck by other people’s designs, creations, skills, writing and most importantly, being awed by their vegan culinary endeavors and purchases (all the UK vegan cheese never fails to get to my heart), is such a swell way to draw inspiration for your own projects and bloggin’ shenanigans. It’s an ever-growing, ever-impressive community that’s constantly changing and doing more and more (again, especially with vegan cheese, hello Miyoko-effect <3!).

 

Let’s dig right in…

Franzbroetchen, Seitan is My Motor

One of the most mentioned by my organizer colleagues was the month of jaw-dropping classic German desserts by Mihl at Seitan is my Motor. There were so many bakery-case starring pastries and detailed recipes that you should have a go at!

Here’s a couple more to pique your fancy, trust me:

Slice of Apfelkuchen, Seitan is my Motor

Poppies!

Try out some Tschechischer, Seitan is My Motor

Now, if you’ve been paying attention to the vegan internets this past year, it should come as no surprise that the newsworthy, tortilla-stockpiling TACO CLEANSE out of Austin, TX not only tops my own list of memories from 2013, but everyone else’s at VeganMoFo-land.

Tacos, people. Tacos. Sandwiches are so dumb (IMO, at the moment).

Maria’s Tacos on Taco Cleanse Day 27, Lazy Smurf

The Lazy Smurf breaks down the Hows and Whys on her blog here.

via Lazy Smurf

Now, I’m not really one for leisurely math, but TACO CLEANSE + all their new vegan food carts (including taco carts, of course) + Capital City + Sweet Ritual pretty much cemented Austin’s status as THE VEGAN CITY TO VISIT IN THE USA…AND BEYOND. What other vegan city in the USA is this exciting right now?!

Vegan diners & bloggers from all across Austin (and again, beyond, in honor of this delicious cultural phenomenon) took part in the TACO CLEANSE, which naturally thought to include dessert:

Chocolate Taco special at Sweet Ritual, via Rabbit Food Grocery

As someone who’s liked Austin’s vegan taco scene so much they’ve pushed to help move a certain Vida Vegan Con there for 2015, wanting the TACO CLEANSE to return is an understatement. It’s a way of life, right?

Speaking of Mexican goodness, Cadry of Cadry’s Kitchen took us “Back in Thyme” all month long for an always-creative look back at cooking in her own life, often giving a revamped take on some of her all-time favorite food memories and dishes, including these Puffy Nachos:

Puffy Nachos & Spicy Black Beans, Cadry’s Kitchen

Family-style Taco Joe’s!

Jeremy’s Taco Joe’s, via Vegan Eats & Treats

I can’t quite let tacos go yet…

Another wonderful VeganMoFo spirit comes our friend and fellow organizer Amey. Last year, she took a Noshtalgiac look on her blog, Vegan Eats & Treats!, with drawings, heartfelt stories and just as many appetizing creations. The two featured here come from the tale of family-style Taco Joe’s:

via Vegan Eats & Treats

Okay, another one of my favorite personalities in the vegan community lately is Randi of Laughfrodisiac. She had the charm and zest to do a whole month of Veganizing Friends recipes, I kid you not. One of the most memorable of the month, for both Randi and her readers, was Rachel’s monstrous English Trifle:

Rachel’s English Trifle, via Laughfrodisiac

From the blog: “My main theme for VeganMoFo 2013 is to veganize some of the dishes featured on one of my all-time favorite TV shows, “Friends”. As those of you not living under rocks should know, Monica was a professional chef, so we have some interesting & fancy dishes coming up in the next few weeks. However, I had to start  not with one of Monica’s amazing creations, but with perhaps the most famous dish of the ten years of the series’ run…and perhaps the most famous TV dish of all time (yes I went there): Rachel’s English Trifle, or the Thanksgiving Cockup“.

!!

The thing is, I was just talking about Friends, of all thingswith another vegan pal last night, who I really need to point that way.  Read all about it and get the recipe here!

Moving on, because I’m currently inside a chilled coffee shop, regretting my choice of iced coffee and wishing I had a mug of coffee and these to dip in from Veg-Am:

Apple Butter-Filled Donut Holes, via Veg-Am

All right, I’ve got to bring it back to Mihl for one dessert!

Nougatringe, via Seitan is my Motor

So, keep in mind: If you’re looking for inspiration & great reads, just spend some time checking out the ‘VeganMoFo’ tags on any of these blogs!

And hey, you’ve got three little days left to officially sign up and participate in whatever form you like. See ya there!