One of the best jobs I ever had was when I worked in an Italian restaurant. I was in med school and I desperately needed money for food and expenses. My father had just passed away and I was over my head in loans. When not studying, I spent a lot of my free time […]
A couple of years ago, I was perusing Vegan quotes and sayings to share with people on a discussion board. One day I was looking for something light-hearted (there are some really funny Vegan jokes and riddles) and I found this poem. I instantly loved it and looked up the author. That’s how I learned […]
There are so many things you don’t understand or appreciate about your family until you are older and can see them from a different, wiser perspective. I’ve been thinking a lot about my mother lately. Probably it’s because Mother’s Day is coming up and I miss my mother terribly. And because I am always thinking […]
When I was single, I used to eat whatever and whenever I wanted. Since I had no one else to think about, I didn’t worry about meal planning. I rarely cooked; to tell the truth, I really didn’t know how. There were a few recipes that I had picked up from my mother but mostly, […]
March was a record-setting month of posting recipes for me. I posted 7 Extreme Vegan Makeovers; 8 if you let me count the one I wrote in March but posted on April 1st. It felt like I was on a roll and I was having so much fun posting recipes and getting positive feedback including that […]
It is Passover and there is no better time to think about going Vegan. Well, any time is a good time to think about going Vegan but Passover is all about persecution, slavery and leading those oppressed out of bondage. Yet as people all over the world sit down to retell the story of the […]
Every year at the end of the Spring semester, my colleagues and I would attend the commencement ceremony for our College. Graduation is always held at Madison Square Garden with the marquee congratulating our students, the College’s name up there alongside those of celebrities and athletes. We find, press and then dress up in our […]
Lately, I’ve been making a lot of comfort foods. Comfort foods for me do not involve sweets or chocolate or bread or pasta. No, for me, comfort food means fried and crunchy. The timing couldn’t be worse for my sudden need for comfort foods. Spring is here. The weather is s-l-o-w-l-y getting warmer and soon […]
“Oh my G-d! Oh My G-d! OH MY G-D!!!!!” Tom repeatedly cried out last night. I don’t think I have ever seen a look of such pleasure, such passion, such hunger, such rapture on Tom’s face. His eyes were wide with fascination, his mouth wet with desire. “OH MY G-D!” he exclaimed. And then he […]
It’s Purim and even though I am baking-challenged, I decided to try and make Hamentashen. And not just any Hamentashen: Vegan and gluten-free Hamentashen. Purim has always been my favorite Jewish holiday. It’s one of the few happy holidays and as I recall, the only one where you get to sit in the synagogue and […]
Today is St. Patrick’s Day and I supposed that meant I should cook something green. But I eat green food every single day so I decided to celebrate by trying a green food I’ve never eaten before. Okra. I had never tried okra although I’ve wanted to. But it looks strange and I had no idea what […]
You say azuki beans, I say adzuki beans. Or Aduki beans, or asuki beans or Tiensen red beans or red Oriental beans or feijao beans or red chori. Call them whatever you want but add them to your shopping list. These small, reddish-brown, rounded beans are delicious and so good for you. They have a […]
Lately I’ve had a lot of cravings for Chinese food. I miss going to my favorite places and getting takeout. I miss the cartons (and what’s happened to those lately? Too many plastic tupperware containers. That SO takes away from the Chinese food experience), the chopsticks, the fotune cookies. I even miss the dozen packets […]
One of my favorite recipes is my “Chicken-Fried Steak/Buffalo Wings” edition which is a double-dipped hot sauce battered seitan cutlet served over a carrot and celery salad and topped with Vegan Bleu Cheese http://thevword.net/2009/11/extreme-vegan-makeover-chicken-fried/ But I’ve been gluten-free for two months (today) and so I’ve had to renounce seitan. It’s not that I’m gluten-intolerant. Not […]
When you think of Chinese food, I would bet one of the last ingredients you would ever think of would be mayonnaise. I know that’s true for me. But that’s exactly the ingredient that is in this recipe for Kung Pao Tofu. I wish I could take the credit for this successful culinary matchmaking but […]
Snow, snow, snow. It feels like it’s been snowing forever. Everywhere I look, all I see is white. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty but personally, I’m hoping Phil the Groundhog was right and that spring will be soon upon us. This weather just demands foods that are warm, filling and comforting. It is definitely […]
If there are any perks to being sick, one might be getting breakfast in bed. I have trouble sleeping and then it takes me awhile to get going in the morning, but Tom is always up early – reading, working on his classes, etc. When I finally wake up, Tom comes into the bedroom to greet […]
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful…” but this soup is so delightful! The ground is covered in snow and it’s so cold outside. Of course, that doesn’t stop Benny from going out and playing in the snow. All decked out in his new (and expensive) snowsuit and his Pawz booties, Benny loves jumping in the […]
Maybe it’s the holidays. Maybe it’s the weather – there is over 2 feet of snow outside. Maybe it’s all the diet commercials on TV (I can be oppositional that way). I don’t know what it is but lately, I’ve been HUNGRY and craving foods that are definitely NOT diet-friendly. Now that doesn’t mean I’ve […]
This past Thanksgiving was my first time making my own cranberry sauce. Growing up, we always had the kind that came out of the can and jiggled on the plate. This is a very simple recipe and it takes hardly any time at all to prepare. It is very tart so if you like your […]
It happened right before I became Vegan. Literally, just a few months before I committed to a cruelty-free lifestyle. I discovered that I loved spinach artichoke dip. Tom and I traveled back to Wilmington, North Carolina – the place we eloped to – for our one-year wedding anniversary in 2008. We had become vegetarians the previous […]
After all the latkes I made for Chanukah (over 8 lbs. of potatoes, 5 zucchini, 2 yellow squash and a bunch of carrots worth), I didn’t want to even look at anything fried or made with potatoes for awhile. But that took away one of my favorite treats: french fries. Searching through the pantry for […]
Tonight is the first night of Chanukah. One of the best things about Chanukah is that the holiday requires you to eat fried food so there is no way to feel any guilt over indulging a bit. After all, the holiday is all about oil. Still, I use safflower oil which is a healthy oil, filled […]
A couple of weeks ago, Tom and I were both sick with really bad colds. When Tom gets sick, a long nap always makes him feel really better. While he was sleeping, I took advantage of the time to make him a surprise – something he hasn’t had since we became Vegan – macaroni […]
