Vegan Related Blogs

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

Go pumpkins!

[Val]

Lee,
I looove those pumpkin muffins!!! :D
Right now our store on base is out of canned pumpkin but I know, fresh pumpkin will be just as good if not even better probably!
Thank you for agreeing on pumpkin! Same goes to you, too, Betsy! :) I appreciate it! You girls are very kind and considerate!!!

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

Val, of course we don't want to leave you out! That defeats the purpose. We are a group of fantabulous vegan cooks and we're going to do it together!

[Val]

Aww thank you, Lee!!! You're too sweet! xx

[Betsy]

Val wrote: "Lee,
I looove those pumpkin muffins!!! :D
Right now our store on base is out of canned pumpkin but I know, fresh pumpkin will be just as good if not even better probably!
Thank you for agreeing on..."

Back at 'cha, Val! Hey, let us know how fresh pumpkin works. You may know this, but I've read that you should press and drain fresh pumpkin puree for no more than two hours (due to possible spoilage) over the sink at room temp before using it in recipes, as it has a higher moisture content.

[Val]

Betsy,
thank you for the hint! I'd have had to look it up actually how to use fresh pumpkin as I've only used it for soup so far and I never thought about the higher moisture content! ;)

[Betsy]

Val wrote: "Betsy,
thank you for the hint! I'd have had to look it up actually how to use fresh pumpkin as I've only used it for soup so far and I never thought about the higher moisture content! ;)"

Exactly! It doesn't matter in soup; but baking is a little finicky. Still, it was my first love!

[Val]

I'm excited! ^_^
So we're all planning to have the meal ready on Oct. 15th, Saturday, was that the time line?

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

Yup. Although you can make the meal anytime you want and just post on that date. I'm feeling guilty because I didn't post today. Eeek, pressure! Already falling behind on Mofo! I have no clue what I'm going to do tomorrow.

[Val]

Ok, good. I'll have to find a good pumpkin recipe (not soup! LOL) and plan accordingly with my grocery shopping list.
I don't think I ever subscribed to your blog, Lee, did I? *eek* I'll have to look right away!!
I hear you though on feeling the pressure! ;) I feel the same. [Now off to bed with you!!! LOL]

[Val]

Never mind, yes, I have subscribed to your blog! ;) I just didn't remember your blog name anymore.. I get so many blog e-mails these days! lol

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

I might do something with butternut squash tomorrow. I have two here.

Val, I think you're following my blog.

[Farrah]

new post at www.carrottopvegan.com. we are in Williamsburg and having a blast finding vegan options. We are happy to find one of the taverns has a vegetarian dish of roasted veggies over polenta but I have to ask the chef is there is any butter in the polenta.

[Cassie]

Betsy wrote: "Lee wrote: "Oh yeah! I'd love a food photography book. Let us know if it's good."

This link is EXCELLENT, you guys: http://veganyumyum.com/2008/09/food-p...

The quick and d..."

This is great! Thank you!!

[Cassie]

Lee wrote: "I'm up for doing pumpkins instead of parsnips I love those pumpkin muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock. They're amazing!
..."

YES! I loooove those muffins!! When I saw pumpkins listed in this thread they were the first thing I thought of ;)

This will be exciting! I definitely need to experiment more with pumpkin, so this works for me.

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

Great! I'm glad everyone happy about pumpkins.

[Val]

Stupid question, but are you all using fresh pumpkin, right? We only have humongous pumpkins left at the store it seems.. They're easily 18 lbs! *eek* I'm not sure if I can handle such a huge amount of pumpkin! LOL
Does one of you know if I could freeze half of it once it's baked/cooked or better just raw???

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

Val, it's not a stupid question. I might be using canned pumpkin depending on what I decide to do and time considerations.

[Val]

Thanks, Lee!
I have a few recipes in mind already but I'll really have to see as an 18 lb pumpkin is a LOT! *lol*

I did Isa's Pumpkin oatmeal cookies though, they're nice! :) (I have yet to take pics of them.. I better hurry before they're gone by my family! ;) )

[Cassie]

Val wrote: "Thanks, Lee!
I have a few recipes in mind already but I'll really have to see as an 18 lb pumpkin is a LOT! *lol*

I did Isa's Pumpkin oatmeal cookies though, they're nice! :) (I have yet to take p..."

Ooo, those sound great! I will have to try those!

[Val]

Cassie,
they're really easy and very yummy! (My picky eater son didn't like them though :(.. but therefore he liked my 1st try of a vegan tofu cheesecake the other day, so I have to be happy! LOL)

[Cassie]

Val, you're awesome :)

Just want to say that I'm really happy I found this thread! I think we have something special here ;)

There's just something great about MoFo this year. It might just be that I'm more involved with it this year. It's funny because a couple of weeks ago I really thought I was done with blogging for good.

[Val]

Thanks, Cassie! :)
I'm very happy about this thread/group in general too!! :D

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

We rock! And Mofo is quite inspiring. I haven't had time to read through all the blogs but the few I've taken a look at are great! So many creative people out there and then you get me making sandwiches Haha!

[Farrah]

I am so excited about our pumpkin multi-blog. I have been thinking about so many recipes to make. I think I am going to use both canned pumpkin and fresh pumpkin. I have a couple of recipes in mind I want to try this week. My poor husband is going to turn orange soon from all the pumpkin! LOL

I will definitely post links to anyone's blog who is participating if you would be ok with that.

[Farrah]

I'm up for doing another too, if this one goes well which I am sure it will. Val you should pick the ingredient though since you are more limited to selection than us. I was thinking what were some ingredients from Italy that were every day items. Fava Beans? Or we could do a standard dish, like Pasta E Fagiole and make it our own with the ingredients we have. Just a thought...

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

That's a great idea Farrah! I'll post links to all our group members doing our pumpkin mofo challenge.

I'd be willing to do another one too as long as there's a bit of time in between. We only shop once a week. And Val should definitely suggest the ingredient if she wants to participate.

[Cassie]

Yay! I'd definitely be up for more. Are we all posting on the 15th or just by the 15th? I'll definitely post links to the other blogs too ;)

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

Well, I think it would be fun if we all scheduled our posts on the 15th. You could always make your dish before and have the post ready to go. But if you all have other ideas - let us know!

[Farrah]

I agree Lee, all posting on the 15th is fun. I kind of hinted at it on my blog. I am working on the recipes for Saturday. They have to be good though since I am having a group of about 12! eekk..

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

I'm terrible at entertaining large groups. I never time things right and it always gets delayed and I get all flustered and distracted with people in my kitchen. I hope everything goes well for you Farrah!

[Farrah]

Thanks Lee...I have gotten better with the timing thing but I agree...it is not easy. I have an open floor plan so my kitchen, dining room and family room are all one large room. So everyone can see the mess I make lol and it irks me. I like the open space, but it has its disadvantages lol.

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

I like those types of floor plans too but it does make everything more visible! No hiding your mess!

[Farrah]

My sister in law has this beautiful 19th century farmhouse and although there a lot of rooms, they are smaller and each has a door. There is a separate dining room, living room, family room and the kitchen is hidden in the back of the house. When we go there for Thanksgiving, I always enjoy that we can sit in the living room having appetizers and drinks and not see all the pots and pans and crazy cooking going on.

Ok...I am off to mofo blog. When I signed up for it I thought it would be so easy, but it isn't. It's fun but it is a lot of work. LOL. It is good prep though because I am doing nanowrimo (national novel writing month) next month and that is even crazier! Although...I am thinking I will easily write about 50k+ words through the blog.

[Val]

Hi girls,
I'm so sorry, I totally slacked checking in here! *blush* I have Murphy's Law going on in my life here a bit starting with a broken car (which we just bought used a few months ago and might be a big expense to fix now) and other things..

While I'm not officially MoFoing, I try to blog daily and agree with you all, it really is hard! Not to mention trying to read all those blogs out there every day!..

I'm up for posting on the 15th, too, and would love to link back to all of your blogs!
I probably won't be doing any other ingredient cooking challenge right now, I'm sorry! I just have too much going on right now (my husband might be gone to Germany to get operated soon, we'll find out within the next days, hopefully) and I feel a bit stressed out.. I'm just not 'fully there' with my head, if you know what I mean?

Farrah,
that being said, I appreciate your thoughtfulness though of having let me chose the other ingredient!

Emszy,
welcome to the group! :) I see you're living in Frankfurt a.M. right now? I'm a German National living with my American husband & kids in Sicily, Italy, right now. How long have you been in Germany and how much longer will you be there?
I look forward to reading your blog!
Your random pick of a recipe from a cookbook sounds great! I'm addicted to buying cookbooks too and wish I could buy them ALL! But for now I really must learn first on how to use the ones I actually have! ;)
I'm thinking of using 1 cook book each week and try to make at least 3-4 recipes out of it, depending on the ingredients. (I've put myself on a weekly budget)

[Val]

PS: I've won an 'award' today from another blogger and paid it forward by nominating some of you! You can read all about it on my blog! :)

[Lisa]

Hi, Emszy. Welcome to the group.

I don't blog at all so I admire and appreciate those who do. I'll check out your blog.

[Cassie]

Farrah ~ I'm impressed too! Good luck! That is a nice design, but it can definitely be overwhelming to have people so near ;) Your sister-in-law's place sounds nice too.

It's awesome that you are so dedicated this month! Since I wasn't officially signed up anyway I decided not to stress over posting every day, but at least I'm picking up on my blog again.

I'm going to try nanowrimo this year too! I've never done it before, but I'm hoping it will push me to start making more time to write.

Lee ~ I get flustered too. We had a vegan potluck last summer and I was a little frantic, running behind, so I took a quick shot of whiskey...haha. It did help though.

I've really never hosted a dinner party. We will have a couple or so over from time to time, but other than that usually just potluck style.

I think posting as a group on Saturday sounds great!

[Val]

Emszy,
sounds great! Do you and your husband speak German? :)
I've always wanted to see Australia.. but like you said, it's so far away!..

I'm looking forward to hearing about the cook books you might randomly pick! :)

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

Hi Emszy, it's lovely to have you with us. I'll check your blog too! I love your challenge idea. Last year I did something similar every week but was not so systematic about it. I just made something new every week and blogged about it. It's great fun!

I must say I probably shouldn't have committed myself to Mofo this year because of other things going on in my life but I'll keep trying to post if not every day.

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

I do look forward to our Pumpkin surprises though! I can't wait to see what everyone makes.

[Lee, Unrepentant Eggplant Addict]

Your blog is really pretty Emszy, I was just taking a look at it!

[Val]

Emszy wrote: "Unfortunately I don't speak German (trying to learn but it's a slow process!). My husband is Polish but moved to Germany when he was little so grew up here and speaks fluent German. He moved to Aus..."
Ah yes, he would have the advantage then, huh? ;)

[Cassie]

Welcome Emszy! You're challenge does sound like a great idea! Are you just assigning the cookbooks at random or the recipes too?

The food on your blog looks fantastic!

[Hilda]

Welcome to the group Emszy. I'm also Australian and have been to Germany, if you're ever near Heidelberg, Stuttgart or Karlsruhe there's a vegan restaurant near these cities that I highly recommend: http://www.sehnsuchtskueche.de/index_... eating there inspired some of the recipes in my cookbook Triumph of the Lentil: Soy-Free Vegan Wholefoods for all Appetites

[Betsy]

Val wrote: "PS: I've won an 'award' today from another blogger and paid it forward by nominating some of you! You can read all about it on my blog! :)"

And a well-deserved award at that!

[Betsy]

Emszy wrote: "Hi all, I am new to this group and have a blog called Vegan Gourmet Caravan (http://gourmetcaravan.blogspot.com/)

I haven't updated it much lately and am not participating in Mofo this year. Blogg..."

Emzy! Welcome from me too! You'll love it here with, as Farrah calls as, The GoodReads Gals.

I just visited your wonderful blog and added it to my blogroll. I'd like to invite you over to check out my blog at www.TheBloomingPlatter.com.

Cheers!

[Val]

Hilda wrote: "Welcome to the group Emszy. I'm also Australian and have been to Germany, if you're ever near Heidelberg, Stuttgart or Karlsruhe there's a vegan restaurant near these cities that I highly recommen..."
Ohh.. good to know! :)

[Val]

Betsy wrote: "Val wrote: "PS: I've won an 'award' today from another blogger and paid it forward by nominating some of you! You can read all about it on my blog! :)"

And a well-deserved award at that!"
Aww thank you, Betsy! :) I appreciate that!

[Cassie]

Hey! Could everyone post on here when your entry is up? That way we are sure not to miss any :) Mine will be up in a few minutes and I will update to add your links as they come up!