December 2014

Vegan Versions: Millet Raisin Scones

December 22, 2014

Serendipity is one of my favorite words and experiences. As a word, I love the story Joseph Campbell told  Bill Moyers decades ago about its etymology. It seems there was a family on their way to a place called “saran dweepa” (“the island of silk” now known as Ceylon) who had all kinds of adventures […]

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Vegan Carob Pistachio Dessert “Salami”

December 21, 2014

We vegan cooks like to pride ourselves on how creative it is to be a vegan in the kitchen, recreating traditional standard meals with healthier ingredients. We love to get things to look like “the real thing” too. Some of my favorite treatments of this kind in the vegan blogging world are things like vegan […]

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Golden Vegan Shepherdess Pie

December 18, 2014

  The Winter Solstice is my favorite holiday. There’s so much incipient hope in the turning of our earth back toward the light on the longest night of the year. I also adore that “solstice” literally means “standing still.” As the sun seems to change direction it hangs, seemingly stationary in the sky, for the […]

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Fig and Twig Tea Oatmeal (and Seeing the Porcupine)

December 13, 2014

  Sometimes it’s hard to recognize that something simple, even humble, can be a marker of profound healing. Now that I live farther “out” from downtown, the walk in and back is probably almost two miles. In the winter weather, Romeo and I suit up, and I usually wear my backpack, especially if we’re going […]

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It Takes a Vegan Village to Make an Easy Holiday Meal

December 9, 2014

I was delighted by a recent comment from one of my regular readers who called the prep required for my recipes “leisurely.” I like that word for the slow steps that often go into making my whole food healthy but complex and inviting to taste. My holiday strategy is really just more of the same. […]

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Whole Food Plant-Based Versions: Joe Vanessi’s Special

December 4, 2014

When I was a child, my mother would throw together a week night comfort meal she called “Joe Vanessi’s Special,” a recipe from one of our many Italian friends. It was one of my favorite meals. The smell of it cooking in the square cast iron pan my Italian grandmother gave to my French Canadian […]

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