After recently finding vegan jello at Outpost Co-Op (then noticing it at Whole Foods and now Woodman’s, too…) I immediately started daydreaming of making jello with fruit in it- something I’ve had as a kid, but not since I went vegan. Then I randomly realized something- I don’t think I’ve ever had a jello shot before. And since I’m vegan, I guess I never really thought about having one either.

Now, I know I could probably get all homemade about it and make my own vegan gelatin somehow using xanthan gum, guar gum, and/or agar flakes/powder. But even if I do that, I don’t think most other people want to spend the time on it. I’ve found vegan jello at three local stores now, so just look or call around. If you really can’t find it, you can always order it online.

So, I had never made jello shots before… in fact, I’ve never made jello! I started by looking up directions online and learned that basically, you replace half of the water with alcohol. So I tried that with vodka. Disgusting. Ew. Yuck. Gross. Straight into the garbage.

I really had no interest in making jello shots ever again. I just tried to write it off in my head as something the omnivores can happily keep to themselves. Maybe the non-vegan jello tastes better with alcohol or something, I have no idea.

It wasn’t rocket science or anything, but it took some trial and error to find a combination that actually tasted good.  Here is my favorite so far…..

Once you try this recipe, you will never try another. There will be no reason to ever try another recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie again- this one is the best!

(Try topping this pie, fresh out of the oven, with my 40-Calorie Vanilla Bean Ice Cream! I also recommend trying the So Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Creams- yum! )

My dad has been making this my whole life. And his Grandma made this recipe before that…

You’re going to want to make more than one of these. They freeze wonderfully and you’ll want to try to keep one on hand for when you have guests. I imagine you’ll become sort of famous to your friends and family when they try this pie… well, my dad has anyway. He’s known for having a few of the best recipes: his potato salad, lasagna, and this pie. And lucky for me, this Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie is accidentally vegan!

If I were able to hand out a sample of this vegan strawberry-rhubarb pie to one million people today, I’d have at least one million new blog readers by tomorrow.

That’s not exactly possible for me though, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. ;)

My dad has been using this recipe for as long as I can remember and everyone always makes such a big deal about how great his pie crust is!

Is this the healthiest pie crust in the world? …. No. And it certainly isn’t the most unhealthy pie crust in the world, either (lard…. ew). I do have healthy pie crust recipes that I will post another day. This, however, is my go-to pie crust recipe when I’m going to be sharing it and want to impress. It is dessert, after all…

The price is great, but my favorite thing about this soup mix is that it has 22% of the recommended daily value of iron! That’s really high for iron!

In fact, London recently had her 3-year checkup. Her pediatrician had blood work done to test her nutrition levels out of curiosity because London is vegan. One of the things they tested for, and which the doctor seemed concerned about with her being vegan, was iron. I’m happy to say that her blood work results came back great and everything was normal! If you’re vegan and/or raising a vegan kid, try your best to read nutrition labels and make sure you’re getting a lot of vitamins.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the United States, and the leading cause of anemia. So, it’s not only vegans who need to make sure they get enough iron! Although it’s a common nutritional deficiency, it’s a serious one. Iron does a lot for your body, including helping muscles to store and use oxygen.

I rely on lentils for a good portion of our iron. The 1.5 pound bags of Bob’s Red Mill Lentils at my local grocery store are $5-6 each, making this about half that price! Lentils alone only have 15% of the DV for iron per serving. With this soup mix having 22%, not only are you saving money but you get more bang-for-your-buck nutritionally! YAY

Bob’s Red Mill Soup Mix, Veggie, 28-Ounce Units (Pack of 4) - $13.96

- Choose “Subscribe & Save” for 15% off + free shipping

= $11.87
($2.97 per bag!)

• Natural vegetable soup mix
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How to cancel Subscribe & Save
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Are You Raising a Vegan Child/Children?…

Are you raising your child/children vegan? Does their pediatrician seem extra-concerned about their diet?

London’s pediatrician seems unfamiliar with a vegan diet and always orders extra blood work to monitor her nutrition levels. At first I was slightly offended, but now I’m happy that she does the extra tests. London has always checked out 100% healthy and I believe that she will help to change her Dr.’s initial assumption that vegans are malnourished.

I’d love to hear your experience with pediatricians and raising vegan kids!

I can’t even tell you how thankful I am for everyone’s help in reaching my goal of 500 “likes” on my Facebook page! Really, THANK YOU ALL for all of your help!

In return, I’m sending four readers a box of homemade cookies- made with ♥ from ME

You probably already “liked” my Facebook page if you’re reading this, so just click “Do It!” on the entry form below. Then click “Enter” to add your name to the drawing.

I started this website about 3 1/2 months ago. I used to post on Facebook everyday about what I was cooking and I got asked for recipes a lot. The main reason for starting this blog was to have all of my recipes organized and in one place where I could share them with anyone who was interested. I wasn’t even sure if anyone would look at my blog when I started it, but the response so far has been amazing! In the process, I’ve gotten to know a few other amazing vegan bloggers and I’ve found many wonderful blogs to add to my RSS feed.

At first, I wondered what I got myself into. Trying to make this website look the way I wanted it to was frustrating and confusing… and I almost gave up before I even started. I couldn’t be happier with the turn-out though, and all the stuff I’ve already learned and people I’ve gotten to know in the process.

I wish I could bake you all cookies!

Just know that I am sincerely thankful for your support and motivation with this blog. This is my small way of showing my appreciation. ♥

The drawing will be open through Friday, May 18th, at which point 4 readers will randomly be chosen using Rafflecopter. I’ll email the winners and you will have all weekend through Monday, May 21st to respond back with your mailing address. Then I’ll send all of the cookies out on Tuesday. Good luck!

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These are perfect for serving to vegan-skeptical guests!

I got this idea from my dad… he’s made these for me on several occasions. Lucky me.

The only thing I changed is that he just used cream cheese for the filling. I added the dairy-free milk to make the cream cheese “fluffier” instead of just thick cream cheese that gets stuck to the top of your mouth- know what I mean? I also added the chives, onion powder, and garlic powder just to add a little extra flavor. You could certainly use only cream cheese and they still taste great!

Seriously….. go make these now!

You’ll thank me for the peer pressure later.

Make sure you have people around to help you eat them though, or you’ll end up eating all of them yourself. Guaranteed.

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Have you ever tried serving a vegan meal for a group of non-vegans?

Sunday was London’s 3rd birthday party. Every year, we have a party for her and invite all of our friends and family. And, every year, I wonder what to serve for food. I don’t want to get too health-freak on the non-vegan guests like I might at home… so foods like my healthy no-bake peanut butter cookies are out of the question. I want to make vegan versions of common foods that are served at get-togethers; nothing too crazy that’s going to make it seem like you have to be a tree-hugging health-freak hippie in order to be vegan.

So, for her first birthday I set up a taco bar. Make-your-own tacos.

For her second birthday, I made giant sub sandwiches and cut them up like you would get from subway.. but I used lightlife vegan deli “meat.”

This year, I served this Cranberry-Walnut Chik’n Salad on whole wheat buns (okay, a little bit of health-freakiness slipped in there… lol. WW4Lyfe). Unfortunately, I forgot to add the celery. I think it’s really necessary in this recipe… so try not to leave it out like I did!

I also made:

Vegan Taco Dip served with Garden of Eatin’ Blue corn and Multi-grain tortilla chips
Classic Pasta Salad with homemade Italian Dressing
Fruit Pizza
A veggie tray with Vegan Ranch Dressing
Mashed potatoes with Imagine Wild Mushroom Gravy
Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick’n

… and a vegan Yo Gabba Gabba cake, made by Compassionate Cake!

I had one happy little Birthday Girl!  :)

Okay, okay… I know you came here for a recipe, but instead I went on and on about London and the food at her party. What can I say? My daughter & food = two of my favorite things! lol  Here you go:

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The short answer to my question is YES. I need this!

Here’s my problem: I don’t like wrapping my tofu in paper towels and stacking books and cans on top of it to get the water out. It’s a hassle, a mess, and not very environmentally friendly. Any recipe that I need to get the water out of the tofu for, I just squeeze it with paper towels and then go on with the recipe. I don’t even get a quarter of the amount of water out of the tofu doing it that way as I can with the TofuXpress. Until I tried the TofuXpress, I had no idea how much of a difference it made when using tofu!

You put the block of tofu into the press and it squeezes out more water than you even knew was in it. Now the tofu is about half the size it was before and it isn’t full of water. This makes it easy to crumble to use in tofu scrambles or my recipe for Tofu Ricotta. Recently, I have been trying out different marinades and the pressed tofu just absorbs it all! Before I used the TofuXpress, my blocks of tofu were mostly filled with water instead of flavor.

In the past, I’ve made tofu jerky in the dehydrator. I never seemed to get enough flavor on the insides so I would end up making more paste-like marinades that I could brush over it again once the tofu was dehydrated. I just love how the flavors all soak into the inside of the tofu now and I’ve been making some delicious flavored tofu jerky.

The TofuXpress comes with a lid (which is attached to the bottom- love that!) so that once you are done pressing your tofu, you can leave it right in the press and add your flavors/marinade and cover it. I’m always happy about using as few dishes as possible.

If you ever cook with tofu, I’d say that the TofuXpress is a necessity. It’s one of those things that you don’t know you need until you try it and think “WOW… How have I lived without this for so long?!”

Check out this product demo video on how to use the TofuXpress.

My overall thoughts on the TofuXpress is that I love it and can no longer live without it. It’s easy to clean, easy to use, and if mine ever breaks (it actually seems very well-made though, so hopefully it’ll never break ), I will definitely replace it.

The TofuXpress is available for sale on their website or on Amazon!

TofuXpress GIVEAWAY!

I know you’ll find the TofuXpress as useful as I do, so I am happy to say that one reader will win a TofuXpress of their own! This giveaway is only open to US residents.

You can earn multiple entries for this giveaway. Be sure to come back and enter again tomorrow for a better chance at winning. I will be contacting the winner by email, so double check that you typed the correct email address. Enter below-

(Read the instructions carefully for each entry. If you click “enter” but don’t follow the instructions, that entry will be disqualified.)

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I stayed at my Aunt and Uncle’s house last weekend and we had sweet potato fries for a midnight snack. They turned out amazing so I came home to recreate the spice blend and to write it down this time!

The corn starch is used to get the outsides of the potatoes nice and crispy, while keeping the insides soft and not-dried-out.

If you don’t like your fries to be a little spicy, you can leave out the crushed red peppers and the cayenne pepper.

If you like to dip your fries, try dipping them in this Vegan Ranch Dressing! Personally, I just love all the flavors in these fries and although I dipped a few in a ranch dressing, I love them as they are!

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These garlic-y potato rounds are so easy to make! Just wash your potatoes really well, slice them, sprinkle with flavor, and bake.

They smell yummy while they’re baking, they taste amazing, everyone loves them… and they’ve got a lot of vitamins and minerals. Check out those nutrition facts!

If you don’t have Daiya or don’t use it- they still taste good without the “cheese”! I usually make half of the pan with Daiya and half without. The nutrition facts include the “cheese” for this recipe.

View Nutrition Facts