Category Archives: Virtual Vegan Potluck Blog

Creamy Potato & Cauliflower Soup

Creamy Potato & Cauliflower Soup

Must be something in the food, cuz once folks go plant-based they get inspired to share what they’re eating and what they’ve learned – and to then want to showcase what all of us other plant-based cooks and bakers are creating!  Case in point is the new site, Our Vegitable, from Danielle at Baking Backwards.  Danielle told me a few months back about this new site she was developing – and it sounded like a fantastic idea.  I couldn’t wait for it to launch.  Like Finding Vegan or Foodgawker, bloggers submit their food photos – but unlike those two sites, Our Vegitable digs a little deeper.  Accepted submissions include a description of the recipe along with a blurb about the author.  A link takes the reader to the source of the recipe, i.e., the blog or website.  The other cool thing Danielle did was to break the submissions down into the following categories:

  • WEEKDAY BREAKFAST
  • WEEKDAY LUNCH
  • WEEKDAY DINNER
  • WEEKDAY SNACK
  • WEEKDAY DESSERT
  • WEEKEND BRUNCH
  • SUNDAY SUPPER
  • WEEKEND DESSERT
  • PRODUCT REVIEW

See what she did there?  It’s a full week of meals!  And, yep, you can even submit product reviews!  Our Vegitable really showcases the recipes and the bloggers who created them.  Just like the other food photo sites, you can pick up a badge to add to your blog that will send your readers straight to your gallery of photos.  Consider this your engraved invitation to submit your recipes!  For the full details on how/where to submit your yummies, go here.  Oh, and this soup here?  I submitted it.

(Have you voted for your favorite dishes from the Virtual Vegan Potluck?  If no, start here!)

Creamy Potato & Cauliflower Soup
Serves 6-8

splash of Bragg Liquid Aminos
splash water or vegetable broth
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large head cauliflower, chopped
ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk (I used soy)
1/4 cup vegan Parmesan-style cheese (I used Go Veggie!)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
green onions, chopped, for garnish
coconut bacon, for garnish

Preheat oven to 450F.  Coat cauliflower with the 1 tsp. olive oil and place in a shallow baking pan.  Bake for about 30 minutes, turning once, until browned and tender.  Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large pot, saute the onions, thyme, smoked paprika, and garlic in the Liquid Aminos and water/broth for about 5 minutes.  Add the potatoes, vegetable broth, water, bay leaf and pepper.  Cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are very tender.  Remove the bay leaf and discard.

While the potatoes cook, put the roasted cauliflower in a blender with the non-dairy milk, vegan Parm, nutritional yeast, and process until very smooth.  Pour this mixture into a large bowl.  Once the potatoes are very tender, carefully blend in batches and pour into the bowl with the cauliflower mixture.  Pour it all back into the pot and gently warm, adjusting the seasonings to taste.

Divide soup into bowls and top with green onions and coconut bacon.

Creamy Potato & Cauliflower Soup

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The Virtual Vegan Potluck Returns on November 16. Sign Up Now!

Virtual Vegan PotluckIf you’re a food blogger (and I know you are), click on over to the Virtual Vegan Potluck website and sign up for the November 16 event.  It’s as easy as pie.  Or soup.  Or bread.  Whatever course strikes your fancy.  There are some new things happening this Potluck, so be sure to read the post about on the VVP site.  Sign-up closes on November 9.

Not sure what the Potluck is?  There’s a handy-dandy video for that here.

Please help spread the word and share on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc.

Okay.  NOW you can go sign up.  GO!

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Are You Experienced (in the Virtual Vegan Potluck)?

are you experienced graphicIf you’ve participated in two or more Virtual Vegan Potlucks and you’d like to lend a hand with the next one, please visit the Virtual Vegan Potluck site for details.

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Virtual Vegan Potluck Update #2: Miscellany

Knives and SpoonsIn case you haven’t already heard, the final Virtual Vegan Potluck participant list is posted in all of its 169-plant-strong glory on the VVP website. It would be understandable if you merely want to gaze upon its glory, but while you’re there, please locate your blog and make sure that I have it in the correct course, in the correct part of the world and that the link works. Believe it or not, I did make a few (ahem) errors. (With extra apologies to the ever-patient, Juicy Dishes. You know what I’m talking about.)

I feel obliged at this point to remind you that you can find most of the info and help you need to prepare your VVP post on the VVP website under the handy-dandy heading How It Works. (Check out Jason’s video.) Granted, “how it works” is rather complicated, but somehow it all comes together and happiness is had by all. Once again, thank you for taking part.

I also want to remind you that when this shindig is all over, you and the millions (it could happen!) of blog readers will have the opportunity to vote for your favorite dishes by selecting the one dish per course that really struck your taste buds’ fancies. A few days post-Potluck I will have a form up on the website that should make voting easy-peasy. The goodies we’re handing out this time are:

A Vegan Cuts Snack Box
A 45-minute vegan lifestyle or career coaching session with JL of JL Goes Vegan
A box of Pomona’s Pectin + five Earth Balance coupons
An Herbivore Clothing Bigger Hearts Tote Bag
A bag of broccoli sprouting seeds from Todd’s Seeds + a VVP t-shirt
A copy of Happy Herbivore Abroad, by Lindsay Nixon
A jar of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil
A copy of Bravo! by Chef Ramses Bravo

Wait! I’m not done yet! There’s still time to enter the Vegan Cuts Snack Box giveaway on the VVP blog. You’ll want to head over there anyway because we’re sharing Mama et de Bebe Hawk’s award-winning dessert recipe (French Silk Pie!) from the November 2012 Virtual Vegan Potluck.

Last but not least, I’m still trawling for votes for Ethical Ocean’s Eat What’s Good vegan recipe challenge. Thank you for your votes – please keep ‘em coming!

Eat What's Good Banner

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Counting Down and a Vegan Cuts Snack Box Giveaway

VVP LogoCounting it down:

  • Today is the last day to sign up for the Virtual Vegan Potluck.  Get off the fence and sign up before midnight tonight!
  • Tomorrow I’ll post the final list of participants on the VVP website.  This is where you’ll find the names of the blogs that come before and after yours in the Potluck.  All of your Potluck questions can be answered here, and if you need some extra assistance with linking, check out Jason’s awesome How To video, available on the How It Works page or here
  • Only five more days until the Potluck!

Eat What's Good Banner

  • Eleven more days to vote for my Mango Sticky Rice Cake at Ethical Ocean’s Eat What’s Good vegan recipe challenge! Remember, you can vote each and every day (I do!)!

Vegan Cuts Snack BoxGiving it away:

  • Visit the Virtual Vegan Potluck blog to enter the Vegan Cuts Snack Box giveaway – or click the link below:

GO!!

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Giveaway: Todd’s Seeds

I’m experiencing some major technical issues with my blog right now – on my computer, mine looks like the first primitive website ever created (or the website I built once for a homework assignment…), and also issues with viewing other people’s (WordPress) blogs which is why I haven’t been making the rounds lately. So far WordPress Support has not been able to help. I’m using my iPad to type this… Keeping my freak-out level as low as I can, but to say I’m feeling frustrated is an understatment, especially in light of the upcoming Virtual Vegan Potluck. Luckily, the VVP site seems to be okay.

And happily, I had the bulk of this post already written…so without further ado, let’s get to some sprouts and a giveaway! I’m really pleased to welcome Todd’s Seeds as a sponsor of the Virtual Vegan Potluck – - and excited to be able to share some beautiful sprouting seeds with one lucky winner. Head over to the VVP blog to enter for your chance to win. In the meantime, enjoy the sprout eye candy:

UPDATE:  Todd just emailed me and asked me to offer to everyone a 20% discount on items purchased from the Sprouting Seeds and Sprouting Supplies categories at Todd’s Seeds.  Just plug in offer vegan at checkout. One discount per person, good through the end of the year.  Thanks, Todd!

Broccoli Sprouts:

Mung Beans

Two Jars, Broccoli Sprouts

Broccoli Sprouts in Hand

Mung Bean Sprouts:

Mung Beans Collage

Mature Mung Beans

Just for fun, here’s some wheatgrass – from start to maturity – also from Todd’s Seeds.

Wheatgrass

And now it’s time to win some seeds!

Enter here!

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Ready, Set, POTLUCK! It’s Time to Sign Up for the Virtual Vegan Potluck, May 2013 Edition

Knives and SpoonsIt’s time to sign-up for the May 11 Potluck!

Head over to the Virtual Vegan Potluck website where the sign-up form is now available – and then dust off your cookbooks, unearth the pots and pans and start cooking!  I’m pleased once again to have the invaluable help and support of the totally Vedged Out Ms. Somer and head Veganaut, Mr. Jason.  And – no Potluck would be complete without our hostess-with-the-mostess, Ms. Lidia of Vegan Bloggers Unite!

I know you don’t need any added incentive to sign up, but I’m going to give it to you any way.  Just as we did in November 2012, we’ll be asking you and your blog readers to vote on their favorite recipes – and we have these prizes to give away to the winners:

Vegan Cuts Snack Box
A 45-minute vegan lifestyle or career coaching session with JL of JL Goes Vegan
A box of Pomona’s Pectin (can you say vegan cheez??) + five Earth Balance coupons
An Herbivore Clothing Bigger Hearts Tote Bag
A bag of broccoli sprouting seeds from Todd’s Seeds + a VVP t-shirt
A copy of Happy Herbivore Abroad, by Lindsay Nixon
A jar of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil
A copy of Bravo! by Chef Ramses Bravo

Whoa – that’s some awesome loot!  And to make this a really big ol’ celebration, we’ve got a giveaway going on RIGHT NOW (through April 17) over at the Virtual Vegan Potluck blog.  Enter to win a jar of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil.  (Sorry international folks, this one’s open only to those of us stateside and in Canada.)  Speaking of giveaways – mark these dates on your calendar:

April 22: thanks to new VVP sponsor, Todd, at Todd’s Seeds, we are giving away a bag of alfalfa sprouting seeds
May 3: thanks to our good friends at Vegan Cuts, we have a yummy Snack Box to give away

If you are planning on signing up for the Potluck, please subscribe to the Virtual Vegan Potluck News blog as this is the best way to stay informed as we prepare for the big event on May 11.  The VVP blog is the place where I will be posting updates and suggestions and it’s also the home of all things Potluck: how to post, when to post and of course, past Potluck participants and links.  Somer, Jason and I won’t be able to email people individually so I’m relying on you to stay up-to-date via the website.  And – please help spread the word to other food bloggers by sharing the event on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and any other social media outlet of which you can think!

Get Connected:
VVP Facebook Page

May 2013 VVP Pinterest Board
VVP Twitter use hashtags #veganpotluck #vvp #virtualveganpotluck
Instagram use hashtags #veganpotluck #vvp #virtualveganpotluck

ENTER HERE TO WIN TROPICAL TRADITIONS COCONUT OIL!

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Virtual Vegan Potluck Happening Worldwide, May 11, 2013

VVP AnnouncementDetails coming soon to the Virtual Vegan Potluck website.  Enter your email address on the News page to receive updates.

Other ways to connect to the Virtual Vegan Potluck:
Facebook
Twitter (use hashtags #veganpotluck #vvp #virtualveganpotluck)
Pinterest
Instagram (use hashtags #veganpotluck #vvp #virtualveganpotluck)

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Dehydrator Love

I don’t have a recipe to share today, just some low-quality, iPhone photos of a raw pizza that kinda rocked my sheltered plant-based planet.  You see, I recently acquired an Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator, an item that had been sitting patiently on my Amazon Wish List for many, many months while I accumulated enough points (freebie!) to hit the Order button.  To many vegans, purchasing a dehydrator produces feelings akin to having a sturdy high-speed blender (there are two camps: the Vitamixers camp and the Blendtecers) gracing their countertop. (For insight into how people feel about owning a high-speed blender, please read this very funny post.)

The pizza pictured below is made from a mish-mash of recipes: the crust is a very slight adaptation of a recipe by Matthew Kenney, one of the gods of raw food cooking.  It is absolutely delicious and stands up as a snack – sans topping – in its own right; the cashew-mushroom sauce is my adaptation of yet another recipe found in the pages of Runner’s World.  I didn’t change it enough to justify including the recipe here.  Again, it’s tasty enough to scoop up on its own, but I’d hold off unless you are trying to gain weight.

Already my dehydrator has opened up a new food world to me and I know I have much left to learn and dry out.  Look out world!

Shameless plug: did you hear that Virtual Vegan Potluck made it onto Post Punk Kitchen’s 100?  Yep, it did!  Please check out the list to see their blurb about the VVP and to visit 99 other awesome sites (including Vegan Richa and Keepin’ It Kind)!

One year ago today: The Vegan Option
One year and one day ago today: Buttermilk Rolls with Flaxseed and Wheat Germ

Whole Raw Pizza

Raw Pizza, cut

Pizza and Fork

Raw Pizza and Fork 2

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Vegan Cuts Sample Box Giveaway on the VVP Blog

Vegan Cuts Snack BoxToday through January 21 you can enter to win a yummy Snack Box from one of the Virtual Vegan Potluck sponsors, Vegan Cuts.  It’s easy – just hop on the Rafflecopter giveaway and go!

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