Recipes in your inbox

There are so many different ways to get vegan recipes these days. The easiest is to just search Google. Sometimes you want an endorsed recipe, so you ask your social networks. Maybe you follow some blogs for ideas, subscribe to magazines, buy cookbooks. There’s also the good old fashioned email newsletter subscription. Emailed recipes usually take advantage of in season ingredients which makes it easy to go back and find a group of Thanksgiving appropriate recipes in your email archive, for example. If you hate the idea of more stuff in your inbox, move along now. That’s all this post is about. But if you’re always looking for new recipe ideas and don’t mind a bit of mail, here are a few options:

The Vegan Culinary Experience: This is my favorite. It’s a monthly pdf magazine with articles, interviews, reviews and a ton of recipes that follow a theme each issue. July’s is The Hot & Spicy issue [pdf]. Ancho Vanilla Coffee, Plantains with Chile Ginger Sauce, Sundried Tomato Jalapeño Poppers, Torture Chili and more ranging in spice from mild to eat at your own risk. So many butthurt opportunities here. And the recipes are always interesting. Subscribe here.

Meatout Mondays: This is an oldie but a goodie. I think I’ve been subscribed forever. Every Monday you get a recipe and usually a product review and an article. These recipes are usually pretty easy to prepare and made of easy to find ingredients. Some recent issues included recipes for Southern Sweet Tea Salad, Berry Tapioca Parfaits, Cosmic Cashew Kale, Citrus Tofu & Pineapple, etc. Sign up here.

VegKitchen Recipe of the Week: Cookbook author Nava Atlas shares a recipe a week with links to many more archived on her website. Some recipes from the summer issues: Cool As A Cucumber Soup, Black Bean Tostadas, Composed Quinoa Salad Platter, Israeli Couscous Summer Pilaf, Spanish Vegetable Stew, etc. Subscribe here.

Vegetarian Times: You don’t have to subscribe to the magazine to get recipe emails from Vegetarian Times. They have a Dairy Free & Vegan Recipe of the Week email but I’m actually signed up for the My Vegetarian Times newsletter which is kind of a digest with links to multiple recipes. They have a few subscription options so just choose what makes sense for you. Sign up here.

VegNews Recipe Club: Get a weekly recipe from VegNews. And you may want to sign up for their monthly newsletter. It seems to contain different recipes. Recent recipes: Spinach Thyme Soup, Mango Coconut Sorbet, Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce, Garden-Fresh Ratatouille, Pear & Fig Tart, etc. Find the newsletter sign up in the navigation on the right side of the site.

On my food to do list

Jeni’s comment on my previous post about her to do list gave me an idea for a VeganMoFo post. First of all, how do you guys keep track of the food inspiration you get from other blogs and websites? I keep up with blogs using Google Reader to subscribe to their posts. So when I see something I want to make, I just star it. Then I can go back and look at my starred items later for inspiration. If it is something on a website, but not blogged, I’ll bookmark it. Eventually, I try to put all of those into MacGourmet recipe software. Try.

So that brings me to the post idea. What is languishing in my starred items list in Google Reader? No, I’m not going to post them all. But let’s see what kind of things are hanging out in there:

Sweet Potato Falafel with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce: Sweet potatoes are so tasty, cheap and healthy that I’m always looking for new ways to use them. These would probably freeze up well for quick meal options.

Chilli Tofu with Beans and Bok Choy: This doesn’t look like your average stir-fry. That little bit of tamarind is going to give it a nice sour note.

Samosa Soup: It’s officially soup season and this one sounds amazing. Who can’t use another potato soup variation?

Seitan Chorizo Crumbles:  If you don’t have a local source for veggie chorizo or you just want to save a few bucks, make your own!

Sweet Potato Pugliese Bread: Have you got a bit of leftover sweet potato? Make some bread!

Tunisian Spicy Breads (Touarits):  Wouldn’t these make an amazing appetizer? Just replace the egg with your favorite egg substitute and it’s vegan.

Frosted Orange Cream Cupcakes: It’s always a good idea to have gluten free recipes on hand should you need them.

African Peanut Soup with Red Beans:  I love a whole meal in a bowl. This soup has got you covered nutritionally.

That’s a good start. I probably could have had a long post just on sweet potato recipes I’d saved. Maybe I’ll do one of these a week with everything I’ve got saved up.

A nice surprise

Yesterday, I got my November issue of Gourmet in the mail. I think I got the subscription for free on some offer at amazon.com. Usually there’s only a recipe here and there that is naturally vegan and maybe a couple more that might be worth veganizing. So it was really nice to be flipping through and find a whole vegetarian Thanksgiving menu spread. What’s even better, is that when I looked it up at their site, they actually have 3 vegetarian menus online! Okay, not vegan, but still, most of the recipes are pretty easily veganized. Seriously, you’ve got to check out the pumpkin stuffed with vegetable stew on the website. How impressive would that look as a centerpiece?

Stuff cooked but not documented

Over the past few weeks I’ve been really bad about taking pictures of food. There are various reasons: laziness, forgetfulness, ugly food, repeats, and so on. Anyway, here’s a list of stuff I’ve cooked lately but haven’t blogged:

  •  Mole Posole: This is one of those recipes I go back to again and again. It’s easy and made up of mostly pantry food. And it tastes amazing. By “prepared mole sauce” they mean the paste you normally find in that jar you can’t re-close rather than the aseptic box of sauce I used on the enchilada stack.
  • Rice Vermicelli with Soya Mince & Peas: This is from A Vegan Taste of Thailand. Another one that’s pretty quick and easy and I make on a regular basis. It’s basically rice noodles, tvp, peas and thai red curry sauce. 
  • Cumin Lime Tofu with smashed sweet potatoes & broccoli: The tofu came from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. It tasted wonderful but was a little bit too juicy. I probably could have cooked a bit longer to dry it out more, but I was hungry. As leftovers, it seemed to dry out a bit more and be about perfect. 
  • Gemelli with Asparagus and Pine Nuts: Another book I keep going back to for easy, tasty recipes is Vegan Italiano. This one was a perfect use of new spring asparagus. And what is it about toasted pine nuts that totally makes my mouth water? 
  • Savory Vegetable Pot Pie: This one is another go to recipe and comes from The Candle Cafe Cookbook. Use chicken style seitan instead of tofu and even picky omnis will enjoy it. 
  • Linguine with Broccoli Sauce and Garlic: This one is also from Vegan Italiano. It came out a touch dry so I ended up adding a bit more olive oil at the end. Still tasty and easy.
  • Three-Bean Chili with Chive-Flecked Cornmeal Dumplings: Seriously, how can this be bad? From Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker. I love coming home to dinner all ready and waiting. Okay, I did still have to make the dumplings, but it was mostly all ready.