Vegan Digest Blog

It’s not a terrific photo, but this is the last of the Sweet Harvest muffins from Ricki Heller’s cookbook Sweet Freedom.  All dozen got eaten by my family in two days! Even made with lots of spinach (yes spinach!), zucchini, and carrots, these muffins still tasted like a chocolate cupcake to me.  Amazingly delicious!  I cut down on the oil from 1/3 of a cup to a tablespoon and they still came out moist.

Yesterday I made the chocolate chip cookies and they were also fantastic.  Keep an eye out for a Book Review to be posted on the main site soon.

I’m preparing to make the Sweet Harvest muffins from Ricki Heller’s book Sweet Freedom.  Three of the ingredients I did not have and had not bought before.  Spelt flour, oat flour, and Sunflower oil.  Found them all at Whole Foods…

Looking for a tasty and “pretty” vegan main dish instead of turkey this Thanksgiving?  I made this “turkey” style roulade from the Rhymes with Vegan blog last year for a New Year’s party.  What a nice presentation, don’t you think?  And my husband got a kick out of seeing me use the wedding gift meat carver for something useful when it was time to slice it. We hadn’t used it in ages, especially after being vegan for so long now.

One suggestion would be to go ahead and do a trial run of this recipe.  It takes a bit of experimenting to get the right texture.  Adding more wheat gluten and or water has worked for me, when needed.  Every time I make it seems to be a bit different.  Perhaps the humidity?  But practice makes perfect.

photo courtesy of rhymeswithvegan.com

It’s an easy, you can make it ahead of time, and it’s got chocolate.  Sound like a perfect holiday dessert?  It is.

I’ve made this no-bake chocolate pumpkin pie from the Sweet Beet and Green Bean blog several times and I love it. The combination of pumpkin and chocolate was not something that sounded wonderful to me initially.  But Jacqueline is right in that you don’t get the pumpkin flavor immediately, but more of a spice cake type of taste which is so wonderful with the creamy texture  of the filling.

The recipe calls for an Oreo type crust, but I’ve also made it with a traditional graham cracker crust, which I liked just as well.  I thought the graham flavor was nice contrast to the chocolate.  The filling is a  very rich, chocolate, that’s for sure.

The absolute best part about this recipe is that it is no-bake!  I make the day before any party and I really think it tastes better the second day anyway.

photo courtesy of Sweet Beet and Green Bean blog

It’s that time of year and there are lots of varieties of squash now available in your grocery store.  It is always such a beautiful display, but how do you turn these gourds into something delicious?

Coming from someone who has broken two ceramic knifes cutting squash, my first piece of advice is “use a sturdy knife” and a good thick cutting board.  Wood is best.  Typically you peel the squash first if using it for something like soup, but I also live to scoop out the seeds and cook some kind of grain inside the squash.

One of my favorite and really easy squash soup recipes is this Vegan Curried Butternut Squash Soup. Basically squash, onions, curry powder, and veggie broth, the recipe really brings out the sweet flavor of the squash. Give it a try!  It’s great to serve at holiday meals, too.

Our vegan recipe of the day yesterday was The Best Vegan Green Bean Casserole from the Fat Free Vegan Blog. You’ll notice that over the next few weeks we’ll be highlighting holiday recipes. Especially those you can bring to a “non-vegan” home and impress the heck out of them with how delicious vegan recipes are.

I’m the only one in my family who is vegan, so I am always traveling with food. The holidays can make things difficult, especially with the focus on food and eating.  Planning ahead is the key for me.  I always bring one or two dishes to my family gatherings and Thanksgiving is no exception.

I made Fat Free Vegan’s green bean casserole several times and it’s always a hit.  Often, it is more popular than the regular green bean casserole.  Thanks to Susan for the recipe!

A couple of tips:

- Heat your dish right before you go to the meal, if possible.  You don’t want to ask to heat up your dish when you arrive.  There may not be room in the oven.

- Being a serving utensil.  There are never enough!

With my shopping list complete, I’m about to head out to the store for ingredients Can’t wait to try out several of the recipes from this book. Thanks to Ricki Heller for sending Vegan Digest a free copy! Look for a review on the site coming soon.

You can’t beat their $7.99 combination plate. Three entrees, rice, and vegan chapati. Add a vegan samosa for $1.50 and you’re home free. Love this place!

If you think vegan wedding cakes, or just vegan cakes in general, have to be boring, you must see this cake.  I about fell out of my chair.  Isn’t is amazing!  Read the original post on the manifest:vegan blog at http://www.manifestvegan.com/2009/08/vegan-wedding-cake/

Photo courtesy of manifestvegan.com

What’s for lunch? These tasty vegan curried potatoes and onions. Look for the exclusive Vegan Digest recipe coming soon.