Have you missed me???

Well hello there, you've been wondering where I've been haven't you? I've been here, right here in my kitchen all this time. Right here cooking up a storm. Right here where you'd expect me to be, cooking all sorts of things I've been dying to blog about.

So, why the lack of food posting lately, you are no doubt asking yourself.......right? Well, as badly as you want to know where I've been, I've wanted to tell you even more!! Waiting to tell you has surely been slow and brutal torture.

Without further ado, the reason for my absence...................................The Happy Herbivore is developing a cookbook that will be published and available for your purchase in about a year!! OK, you're really confused now, right? All of this build up and excitement over someone else developing a cookbook, crazy, no? So what, right? Well, as a matter of fact, this cookbook truly is exciting for me. Exciting you see, because she's asked me to be a recipe tester for her. Yeah, that's right, me a recipe tester!!! Along with a few others I get a first glimpse and a first taste of the recipes that will be included.

I've been a fan of the Happy Herbivore blog for quite some time now and I finally "met" Lindsay (aka Happy Herbivore) on Twitter a few months ago. Not long after that we became cyber-friends, we learned that we had a lot in common when it comes to our ideas about food and veganism, and shortly after that she approached me to test recipes for a cookbook she was hoping to have published. And now it's official, she's made a deal and the cookbook will hit shelves in just about a year.

This cookbook is going to knock your socks off. Lindsay cooks real food for real people, using real ingredients that you can easily find at any well stocked market. Lindsay's recipes use whole foods, whole grains, and include little to no added fat. It's good food you can feel good about.

So, there you have it. I've been here, right here in my kitchen cooking up a storm. Now that it's official I can finally share with you!!! I'll leave you with just a few photos of what's been cooking in this test kitchen...................

Sloppy Joes

Baked Onion Rings

Chocolate Chip Cookies
(low fat, whole wheat, and all of the flavor of it's full fat cousin)

For more sneak peeks at what the testers have been cooking up, check out the flickr pool.

Adopt A Turkey

Say hello to Rhonda and Hawthorn. These beautiful birdies are the the gobblers we adopted through Farm Sanctuary's Adopt a Turkey Program. This year I let the girls view the pictures and quotes from each of the Turkey's and these were the favorites.

For just $25 you too can Adopt a Turkey and help care for the rescued animals at Farm Sanctuary locations. You can even gift these turkeys. The recipient will receive an adoption certificate with their turkey's name, the sanctuary they reside at, and the personality of their turkey.

According to the USDA more than 45 million turkeys will be cooked and eaten in the United States during Thanksgiving. Help reduce that number, celebrate Thanksgiving the vegan way.


Turkey's that are raised for food are raised under horrible, unnatural conditions, crammed so tightly into their living space that they can hardly move. Because they can't move and are deprived of their natural behavior, the tend to peck one another, leading to a horrific practice of cutting off their beaks with a hot blade, known as debeaking, so they will not be able to peck at one another. These birds are also produced to grow so large that their legs can not carry the weight of their bodies. For more information on how turkeys raised for food are treated visit this link.

Keep your holiday table cruelty free this year. Let your meal celebrating thanks represent your values, create a plant based Thanksgiving, spare a turkey, and donate instead to the cause of offering life to those who have been rescued.

Bean and Bac'n Soup

Right off the bat, I apologize for the terrible picture.....just as I was about to snap a photo and serve dinner the camera battery went dead, so I had to use my iPhone to take the picture. Hence, the bac'n turned out as a large brown blob in the center of a soup bowl.....less than appetizing, I know, but the soup was worth sharing. I'll be making it again, hopefully with a better photo to share.

With that out of the way, time for a confession. When I was an omnivore I loved Campbell's Bean and Bacon soup, LOVED it! This was my attempt at mimicking that. While this soup isn't exactly like Campbell's, it is really good. Because this recipe calls for such a large amount of beans I recommend using dried beans and cooking them in advance.

Bean and Bac'n Soup

2 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 large carrots, peeled and cubed

1 bay leaf

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp liquid smoke

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp celery seed

1 tsp tamari

4 cups good quality veg. stock (I use home made)

4 cups water

8 cups white beans, cooked (Great Norther, Cannellini, or Navy)

2 tsp salt

1 package Fakin' Bacon

In a large soup pot, heat oil. Add onions, carrots and bay leaf and begin to saute. Once veggies are beginning to soften add garlic and saute a few minutes more. Add liquid smoke, celery seed, oregano, and tamari. Stir to combine. Add stock and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, add beans and salt and continue to simmer while you cook the "bacon" according to package directions. When bacon has cooked and cooled, cut or crumble into small pieces and add to soup. Stir to combine.

Who wants a giveaway??? (Winner Announced)

*****October 23, Winner Announced*****

Each entry was assigned a number based on order of comment, and for those of you that blogged or tweeted this contest you were given a double entry.....leaving me a total of 22 entries. Using Random.org lucky number 18 was chosen.......

Sarah (aka @seesaraheat) - Congratulations!!!

How about a giveaway.......everyone likes a giveaway, right?!? I know I do.

I know it's Vegan MoFo, the vegan month of food, but let's face it, veganism is about more than just the food. Veganism is a lifestyle. Cruelty free extends beyond our diet into every aspect of our lives. Food aside, one of the most prevalent places for animal ingredients is in our skin care products.

Today I'm giving away a care package of Sacred Herb Creations vegan skin care products (1 tube of Lip Balm, a bottle of Hand and Body Lotion, and a bar of Handmade Soap). You can read all about Sacred Herb Creations, and their lovely creator Jen here. All you have to do to win a few of these incredible products is just leave a comment here and tell me your favorite vegan skin care products. For a second chance to win, tweet about this contest using @veganyogini so I know, or post about it on your blog and let me know (maximum number of entries 2 per person).

The contest will run from today until next Thursday, October 22. Winner will be announced on Friday October 23. With the weather turning cold the Lip Balm and Lotion will be quite handy, so get commenting and sharing, and win these awesome products today!!

Maple Baked Lentils

This is just a variation of my Sweet and Savory lentils, using maple syrup instead of agave to sweeten. I also left the nutmeg out of this recipe, because my kidlets don't seem to like the flavor of nutmeg in dishes. I love this recipe, because it's warm and comforting, and because all of these ingredients are things I always have on hand, so I can throw it together whenever I am at a loss for what to cook. It also requires dirtying only 2 dishes, and is a meal that comes together largely unattended.

Maple Baked Lentil

1 1/2 cups Puy lentils
3 c. water
1 bouillon cube
1 Bay leaf
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/4 onion, diced
1/2 cup pure maple syrup

Add lentils, water, bouillon cube, and bay leaf to cooking pot. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook until lentils are almost tender, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. Remove lentils from heat, drain, remove bay leaf, and set aside. Combine veggies, lentils, syrup and salt and pepper to taste in a casserole dish. Stir to combine. Cover with foil and cook 30 minutes covered. Remove foil and continue to bake uncovered for 10 more minutes. Cool and serve.

Spaghetti Soup

As soon as I saw this on Happy Herbivore I knew I had to make it. First, I love spaghetti squash. Second, this is exactly how I eat my spaghetti......a lot of sauce, a little spaghetti. This recipe is such a fantastic idea, and such a creative way to use spaghetti squash.

I made the soup according to the recipe, only I left the red pepper flakes out of the cooking process to make this soup more kid friendly. Instead, I added them to the individual bowls for Rob and myself. This soup was definitely a hit, happily consumed by by both parents and kids! The soup was perfect served with some crusty homemade baguette. We had plenty left over for the next day, and I think I liked it even better the second day (as is the case with most soups). I highly recommend this soup, especially if you've got spaghetti lovers in your house.

An added bonus of this soup is that it's quick, easy and cheap to make. With the exception of the squash it was made with all things that I already had on hand.

Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Donuts

It's been raining, and raining, and raining. All of the rain led to some flooding, and due to the flooding the kidlets had an unexpected day off of school. I promised the smallest kidlet earlier this week that I'd make some donuts for breakfast this weekend. Since we were rained in, today seemed like the perfect day to do that. I had some pumpkin puree lurking in my refrigerator that needed to get used up, so decided I'd throw it into the donuts and see what happened.

What happened was the best homemade donuts I've made. They were so good I was declared the "bestest mom in the World".

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Donuts
with Pumpkin Cinnamon Drizzle
makes 10


2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2/3 cup raw sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tbs melted Earth Balance
3 generous Tbs pumpkin puree
1 c. soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 Tbs powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil donut pan and set aside. In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients, including chocolate chips. Whisk to combine well. In a small bowl combine all wet ingredients, plus cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir to combine, then mix into dry ingredients. Spoon batter into donut molds about 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes, until toothpick inserted in donuts comes out clean. Remove from pan to cooling rack and cool completely before adding drizzle.

Once donuts are completely cool, in a small bowl combine powdered sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin puree. Stir briskly with a fork until mixture thickens. Adding up to 1/4 tsp soy milk if necessary. Drizzle over cool donuts.