Thai Curry – Lightsaber
But first, lets talk about 10 reasons I’m glad I became vegan: In recipes. These are recipes I absolutely probably would never have tried before becoming a vegan. Click on the picture for the recipes. These recipes are listed in no particular order. Well, except the numbers are sequential. 😉
1. NO BAKE CRACK BALLS.
Why I wouldn’t have tried these prior to becoming vegan. WTF IS FLAX SEED MEAL?? Seriously, I’m really familiar with it now, but prior to becoming vegan, it simply was not in my home. It should be in every home, vegan or not. It might be in yours.
If you’re not a vegan or vegetarian, do you ever cook with flax seeds? If you ARE, did you have it in your home prior to becoming vegan, vegetarian?
2. Mujaddara. If fancy names intimidate you, call it Spiced Lentils and Rice.
Although I haven’t made it since the first time I cooked it, I freaking dream about this stuff. I don’t know what the hell it is about it, if it’s the sweet spices or if it’s the salty sweet caramelized onions, but the fact of the matter is it was yummy as hell. Ok, technically there isn’t a recipe for this on my blog yet because I haven’t revamped it just yet. But if you have “THE GOOGLES” (as my husband calls it), you’ve got yourself a recipe.
Why I wouldn’t have tried this prior to becoming vegan: Many of the dishes I now make are ethnic, not because I enjoyed ethnic foods, but because you can only eat rice and beans so many ways before you try to branch out into other parts of the world. And lets face it, Americans are not known for their vegetarian cuisine.
What is your favorite ethnic dish?
Lentils and Rice
3. TOFU AND DUMPLINGS
It’s not really “out there” per say. But because I was desperate for a crust, I decided to try dumplings. Since I was trying dumplings, I figured I might as well make a chicken and dumplings kind of thing. And it was amazing.
Why I wouldn’t have tried this prior to going vegan: I made it out of desperation. The only dumplings I’ve ever known were soggy mushy doughy grossness and this was amazing. Also, tofu. Duh.
What is your favorite vegan comfort food recipe?
Dumplings of Awesomeness
4. TAHINI SOY DRESSING
Oh my god can I drink this stuff by the bucket. Well, actually I probably couldn’t cause it’s so stinking creamy and rich and amazing and I want to hump it. I crave the hell out of this stuff. Like, a lot. I eat salads just so I can drench it in this dressing. It’s so muy yum. Topped with bacuns, ugh I seriously could eat this by the boat load.
Why I wouldn’t have tried it prior to becoming vegan: Because I was a ranch dressing purist. A little bit of lettuce with my ranch, cheddar cheese, bacon, and hard boiled eggs.
How do you like your salad?
Tahini Soy Dressing
5. CASHEW CREAM SAUCE
Even if I weren’t vegan, I’d still make this. This shiitake is way yummier than even alfredo, in my opinion. It’s crazy rich, sweet and salty and just amazing. I only make it occasionally due to the fat content, but it’s a hit with everyone, even omnivores.
Why I wouldn’t have made this prior to being vegan? Who needs cashew cream when you’ve got cow cream? Also, who the hell creams a cashew? I do, that’s who.
What is your favorite serve-to-omnivores recipe?
6. FRENCH LENTIL SOUP
Or really anything with lentils. I love lentils. There, I said it. They’re easy to cook, and they fit into anything. Also, leeks. I think I might like leeks more than lentils. Tough call.
Why I wouldn’t have made this recipe prior to becoming vegan: Where’s the beef? Also lentils and leeks, ewwww.
What is your favorite lentil recipe?
French Lentil Soup
7. BLACK BEAN SOUP
Eh, ok so this is a crappy picture and I can’t find my most recent one. To be fair, it’s debatable whether I would have made this, but it’s my favorite recipe so it makes the post.
What is your favorite soup recipe?
8. CHICKPEA CUTLETS
These are great on a boat, or in a moat. I would eat these with a kite, I would eat this in one big bite. Omnivore or not, these are good eats (sorry Alton). Isa (from post punk kitchen) sure got these suckers right! As an entree on a plate, or smooshed between bread and cool veggies… no matter how you serve it, these are awesome.
Not sure why I would want to eat a kite though.
Why I wouldn’t have made them prior to becoming vegan: Vital Wheat Gluten. Had no clue what the stuff was.
What is your faux meat entree recipe?
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9. DILL CARROTS
Yum! Sweet and salty and dilly, these are just amazing. I never would have thought to put dill with sweetener, but it really worked.
Why I wouldn’t have made this prior to becoming vegan: You know who needs to find new and creative ways of eating vegetables? People that primarily eat vegetables. Not carnivores.
What is your favorite vegetable recipe?
Sweet Dill Carrots
10. TOFU LO MEIN
To be perfectly honest, it’s the sauce that makes this recipe amazing. I’ve carried it over into pretty much all of my Asian style cooking. Also the fact that I learned how to seriously fry some tofu in this helped a lot.
The sauce on this is salty, sweet, spicy, savory and sour. It was the moment I finally perfected the stiry-fry sauce. Without fail, if I make baked tofu cubes with this sauce for my foster toddler, he will gobble the hell out of it.
What is your favorite way to prepare tofu?
Crash Test Vegetarian 
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I had flax seed before I became vegan! 🙂 I always knew that it was good for health 😀
My favorite way to prepare tofu is to stir fry it with veggies! But also love to eat it out of the container too 😛
My favorite veggie recipe is steaming broccoli and drizzling olive oil and a little soy sauce on it 🙂 Thank you so much for this opportunity! Victoria
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my favorite lentil preparation is in soup – and I definitely want to try your recipe now (enough sucking up?? :P)
my favorite soup is my mom’s chicken soup. I’m an omnivore, but my sister is vegetarian, so I’ve made it without the chicken and it’s JUST as delicious.
Best way to prepare tofu is in a peanut butter chocolate silken tofu pie – my sister found this recipe a lonnng time ago and we tricked a lot of people into eating tofu with it!
Shared the blog/new facebook page on facebook. I want to post on my blog later and I’ll share there too if I get to! Also – that cashew sauce looks amazing, but cashews are sooo expensive! Nuts.com (one of my favorite sites, btw) has the pieces for 7.99/lb which doesn’t sound bad, but do you have a better resource for them?
My favorite vegetable recipe is plain old roasted vegetables. Throw some cut up potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips in a bowl add italian seasoning. Throw on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees F. Then throw in some chopped onion, mushrooms and grape tomatoes and bake for 10 more minutes.
My favorite soup recipe is peanut potato carrot soup. Before I was vegetarian I found a great chicken peanut soup Rachel Ray recipe. I’ve since adapted it and it’s way better!
I love spinach salad with walnuts and mandarin oranges and homemade raspberry or Asian sesame vinaigrette dressing. I’m not a huge salad fan but I’ll never turn that down.
Reblogged this on KateSpadeGirl and commented:
Another giveaway by a fellow blogger! This one is really neat, light saber chopsticks!
I like you on FB!! 🙂 Thanks for the giveaway!
I subscribe!
I love flax, but I didn’t have it in my home until I became a vegetarian and started trying new foods!
My favorite recipe to serve to omnivores is a chili rubbed sweet potato dish with guacamole on top!
I love my salads full of roasted veggies and nuts! 🙂
Congratulations on the one year anniversary!
Wishing you many more years of yummy cooking and blogging.
Great giveaway!
My favorite meal to make for omnis is a vegan mexican lasagna. Beans, tomatos, peppers, and chilis, all layered with vegan sour cream and cheese, and tortillas. Sure, it’s not the healthiest thing in the world, but it sure is the yummiest!
My favorite ethnic dish to make is chana masala. It’s the easiest thing to make after a long day. So quick and so good!
There’s a great recipe from The Farm cookbook: herb-crusted tofu marsala. It is seriously the best tofu dish I have ever had. Great for a fancy night in, and not that hard either!
Oh this sounds awesome. I’ve been wanting to make tofu marsala!!
Tweeted your giveaway too! https://twitter.com/#!/mostlybliss/status/194229756663832576
I definitely didn’t use flax seeds before going veg. But now I put it in everything! It’s my main egg replacer, and I also put it in my oatmeal, smoothies, and almost all my baked goods.
Congrats on your i year vegan milestone! I love your blog. Thanks for all the great recipies. It motivates me stay on the same path even more! 😉
Thank you so much!
Congrats on your Veganniversary and Blogiversary! 🙂
Liked on facebook! Congrats!
My favorite soup recipe… probably clam chowder!
I like putting tofu in milkshakes to thicken it up
My favorite veggie recipe is carrot cake milkshake- throw a frozen banana, some carrots, milk, cinnamon, and blend!
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