It’s MiniMofo time again!
In July our theme is: BBQ.
We’d like to see your amazing vegan BBQ efforts. If you’re enjoying some good summer weather, show us what your BBQ-ing in the great outdoors. If you’re not so lucky, show us what you’re grilling up in the comfort of your own kitchen!
As usual, tag us on social media with #MiniMofo and #VeganMofo, or comment on this post, and check back at the end of the month to see our round up.
Can you believe it? It’s the last Friday of MoFo! Have you met your MoFo goals? Exceeded them? Have some, um, room for improvement next year? Regardless, let’s have a toast as we kick off the final weekend of Vegan MoFo 2014.
I can’t think of anything better to celebrate with than this Apple Pie Shrub from Becky at Glue & Glitter. This spiced apple pie soda can be made either with or without rum, depending on your inclinations. If your fall weekend plans involve hitting up the apple orchard, definitely snag a few extras for the applesauce needed for this delightful fall drink.
Need another reason to celebrate? Kari at Bite-sized Thoughts has done the impossible – a vegan lemon meringue pie. I know, I know, I’d always heard that it couldn’t happen, but this picture says it all. Lemon meringue used to be one of my favorite pies. I can hardly wait to welcome it back into my life.
After your sweet tooth has been sated, head over to The Vegan Word where Caitlin has been talking wanderlust hungerlust all month. She’s shown that vegans can eat well anywhere, and today she’s featuring Jojo, the intrepid traveler. Jojo always seems to be heading off on some far-flung adventure, and today she’s spilling the beans on her insider secrets.
Speaking of insider secrets, Lazy Smurf is letting us in on her secret ingredients, and today she’s sharing the merits of miso. For gravy, dressing, vegan cheeses, and these miso glazed Brussels sprouts, miso is a must.
Finally, what would a month of vegan food be without that beloved canister – the Mason jar. It can hold smoothies, iced coffee, dried beans & grains, and oh, yeah, it can be used for canning. Plus, it can be used as a receptacle for layered salads. Bianca waded the waters of the layered salad and tells about it on Vegan Crunk.
This will be my final round-up for this year’s MoFo! It’s been such a blast!
All the best, Cadry
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 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
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!
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Keep it up, folks!!
Hello, MoFo Land! It’s Cadry here from Cadry’s Kitchen.
I have been popping all over the blogosphere, and I can’t believe the mouthwatering stuff on offer. Here are just a few things that caught my eye:
If you started your day with a boring slice of toast or a banana, you may not want to look… Jenna at Good Good Things got her morning off to a rockin’ start with this heavenly tomato and seitan bacon sandwich. So jealous.
I’ve been eagerly following along at Veganopolous, where Faye is giving a play-by-play account on whether or not her kids will eat various meals, often to hilarious results. (They don’t mince words when it comes to their preferences.) On the menu today – Magical Chia Seed Jam from The Oh She Glows Cookbook. Will they eat it? You’ll have to go find out for yourself.
The official beginning of fall is mere days away. Are you ready for the impending barrage of non-stop pumpkin mania? Well, here’s where you need to start – the pumpkin pie smoothie from Allyson Kramer.
How pretty are these tripoline noodles? Even better, they are topped with a butternut squash alfredo sauce made extra creamy by way of cashews. Read all about it at Iheartcrapkitchen.
Jenn at Veggie Inspired Journey spilled the beans on how to make these Black Bean Salsa Burgers & Crispy Potato Rounds. Yes, please.
Finally, if you feel like you’re doing dishes non-stop in the middle of MoFo madness, perhaps it’s time to dig in to dishes you can eat. Ashley at A. Cook In the Making has you covered with this Roasted Garlic and White Bean Soup with Kale.
Happy cooking, and I’ll see you next time!
Oolong Tea! Jalapeño! Fresh Prune Plums! Radish!
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
Mary’s recipe + instructions are right here.
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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.”
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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!
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Channa Masala with Plums, Radish Salad and Oolong Rice, Vegan Needs Sauce A Very Special Marinara Sauce, Monsieur Avocado (The blog’s in French, so GO GO Google Translate if needed)
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
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!
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!:
aka Fraggle food
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:
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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.
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.
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.
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…
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:
Poppies!
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).
The Lazy Smurf breaks down the Hows and Whys on her blog here.
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:
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:
Family-style Taco Joe’s!
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:
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:
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“.
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The thing is, I was just talking about Friends, of all things, with 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:
All right, I’ve got to bring it back to Mihl for one dessert!
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!
I do declare that the seventh annual Vegan Month of Foods is off with a bang! It’s another warm day for Portland, OR and it’s got me thinking salad, cold cider, and well, someone else making my dinner. Namely, a little from each of these postings that caught my eye, thanks to spending a little too much time on the RandoMoFo generator throughout the day.
First things first, some breakfast for dinner with the Adventure Time BACON PANCAKES (that yes, call for caps locks and a catchy little autotune jam) from Paula’s amazing Tree Trunks’ Kitchen project…
Moving on to an epic & Vegan French Quarter Muffalatta Sandwich from the Miss Kitchen Witch blog
And I’m constantly digging Hipster Food’s style (and offerings!). This time, it’s a bruschetta-style play on a fried egg.
Adorable Hamantashen Cupcakes with apricot jam for Purim, thanks to Cupcakery Adventures
With a side of Three B Salad over at Grating for Godot
I like this set up.
Despite the heat I will gladly take a bowl of this In Love with Garlic soup from the folks at Fig and Basil. Make that two and a round of toast.
Add a Bee-yooo-tee-ful Eggplant Lasagna with Cashew Cheese from Luminous Vegans
But let me be honest with myself, and everyone reading this. Since my trip to Austin last winter, my heart made room for tacos, and all the talks and photos already of this Tacocleanse is driving me crazy. Here’s Smurfy’s explanatory post of what exactly is going on in Austin this month.
I mean, who’s not planning on making tacos this week now?!
Keep up the tasty work, MoFos!
Hi everyone! Jess here, popping back in, doing the friendly organizer thing. In preparation for 2013 and deciding on just what my own daily themes will be (I just can’t commit to one, but so remain in awe of bloggers that go all out for a month! Are you? Do leave a comment with your URL so we can follow along!), I went perusing the month that was October 2012: aka VeganMoFo VI.
Here’s a mere smattering from the hundreds of posts that caught my eye from a month that featured a whole lot of warming bowls of soup, biscuits, Halloween cupcakes and winter squash, galore.
First up, Coconut Lime Ice Cream with Vanilla Beetroot Syrup for our Iron Chef Beetroot Challenge courtesy of Flaming Apron.
How inviting does this look!? Clearly, I want in and need to make this Sweet Potato Gnocchi from My Zoetrope, ala Chloe’s Kitchen.
Here’s one from one of the roundups I put together that definitely still stands out: fresh Butternut Squash Doughnuts with Apple Cider Glaze from RansomCakes. Plus, they’re gluten-free, soy free and come with a recipe.
Now, doughnuts aside, I am a sucker for an Italian dessert, and well, swooned over this fancypants dessert plate of Almond Ricotta Tart and Zabaglione Gelato over at MiscDesbris. Recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Nonna’s Italian Kitchen.
When I saw this entry for the Iron Chef Sesame & Potato duo challenge, I instantly wanted to know more (and to try them). Click on over to My Vegan Way for the Sweet Potato Dumplings with Sesame Crunch recipe and more fascinating photos.
Honestly, I’m not one for corndogs, but these Gluten-free, Vegan Corndog Mummies from Fork and Beans are clearly the cutest corndogs you’ve ever seen (Right?!)
Lastly, because I really need to get back to contemplating themes, let’s cleanse our palates with this gorgeous salad of Warm Beets & Blood Orange over at Hipsterfood.
What sticks out in your mind from VeganMoFo 2012?
Haven’t signed up yet? Time is running out!
