Kathy Hester's Blog, page 89

4 Solutions to the Pumpkin Spice Controversy

I know, it’s a little to early for me to go all pumpkin crazy on you. There’ssome information circulatingabout a certain coffee chain’s pumpkin spice drinks. I want to give yousome easyveganhomemade alternatives to make sure you’re prepared for pumpkin season when it finally comes around.

I’ve been telling you for years that the Pumpkin Spice syrup at Starbuck’scontains dairy and is not vegan. Another interesting fact is that theirpumpkin spice syrup has no pumpkin in it. There seem to betwo d...

Fran’s Chocolate Chip Brownies

Fran Costigan means business with atag line likeUnapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts for her Vegan Chocolate Cookbook. Make sure you read all the way to the bottom and enter to win a copy of your own!

Fran has detailed instructions plus an intro chapter all about ingredients and equipment. There are chapters with recipes fortruffles, cakes, cookies, bars, pies, puddings, confections and even frozen desserts. The book is filledwith beautiful photos with precise instruction...

Curry Cashew Savory Granola From OATrageous Oatmeals

Photo by Kate Lewis

Granola is one of my favorite things to have on hand for a quick breakfast or snack. I really enjoycreating granola recipes and I made some tasty ones for my new book includingchocolate hazelnutand bourbon pecan. I also branched out into some savory granolas and have fallen in love with those too.

I’m sharing the recipe forCurry Cashew Savory Granola today. I have a few others in the book, but this one is amazing on plain coconut or soy yogurt. I like savory granolas as a sa...

Pomona’s Pectin Book Review and Strawberry-Vanilla Preserves

I want to let you in on a secret – I’m an armchair canner. I curl up on the couch and page through books full of beautiful jams, jellies and pickles. Thenimaginehow it would feel tohave pantry full of goodiesand think about stirring some blueberry jam in my winter oatmeal. Or another scenariothat wearing a vintage apron I’d get that piping loaf of bread out of the oven, then slice it a slather it with vanilla strawberry jam.

Every once in awhile I get out of my chair and do a little canning. U...

Vegan Garlic Herb Avocado Cashew Cream Cheese

I love bagels. There’s not much better than a nice smear on a everything bagel. I really miss the fresh baked bagels Igotin my neighborhood when I lived in Brooklyn. There was a place that sold bagels wholesale, and you could smell the cinnamon raisin ones baking from blocks away.

It felt like you were doing something a littleunderhandedwhen you went through the back door into the huge room of ovens, men and cooling racks.Someone would eventually notice you andtell you what they were baking th...

Oat-chata and a Cookbook and Calphalon Giveaway!

Colleen from Souffle Bombayorganized a blog event aroundcookbooks and her favorite cookware.She wants us all tocelebrate our passion forcooking and the great pairing of Cookbooks&Calphalon. I jumped at the chanceto join her and contribute my newest book, OATrageous Oatmeals to the giveaway.

My first cookbook truly changed my life. I became vegetarian a few weeks before I got it and knew nothing about cooking. This was back in the 80′s when it wasn’t as easy to find quick substitutes or even ve...

Delicious Jams and Chutneys You Need to Try!

I already told you that at the Food and Wine Conference I met some amazing people. Wendy Reed is one of those and makes some of the best jam I’ve ever had. Better yet, you can even order from herEtsy Shop and try itfor yourself.

Wendy wasn’t a sponsor at the conference, but let some of us try some of her jams out of the goodness of her heart. I was not paid or given free product to take home, but these were just too good to keep to myself!

Fresh Apricot, Vanilla Bean and Tuaca Jam

This jam was m...

Pomona’s Pectin Book Review and a Recipe

2014 Food and Wine Conference Recap Part 1

It’s been over a week since I’ve gotten home from the Food and Wine Conference in Orlando. It was a great conference with beyond amazing speakers and I’m looking forward to going again next year!

The conference hotel was the Rosen Shingle Creek and you can see the view from my room below. I didn’t even get up to my room before I ran into somefriends. Itwas a great way to start off the weekend and the whole conference was like that. I saw old friends, got to meet people I only knew online and m...

OATrageous OXO Giveaway and an Oat Congee Recipe

I love OXO tools and I have a kitchen full of their smart tools. I have sets of their bowls, measuring tools, mandoline, cherry pitter and tons more.

I thought you might like some more OXO in your life too, so I asked them to partner with me on an OATrageous Giveaway.

If you are the winner you will get the 11 OXO items pictured above and a copy of my newest book, OATrageous Oatmeals. Please note that the book will ship out separately in September.You can enter by scrolling down to the bottom of...