Vegan Recipes and Plant Based Cooking

I had the best sandwich I've had in years this morning. It moved me so much that I was compelled to photograph it in the hopes that a visual image would somehow guarantee I could taste sometthing that good again. It was a vegetarian sandwich. But it was entirely transcendent. I can't see how anyone could not love it. The combination of textures, flavors and spices were such that I found myself wishing I could go back in time and eat it all over again. Only slower. Even if you eat meat and enjoy consuming it you need to explore the concept of bean sandwiches. They make much better sandwiches than cold cuts. You also need to try replacing your mayo or mustaard with hummus. Even if you choose to build your sandwich using meat products you won't regret swapping out your usual condiments for this wonderous concoction. It's the world's most perfect condiment. And it comes in an array of variations to please every individual. It's healtheir with lesss fat, more w...

I recently did a price comparison on vegetarian eating versus meat eating. My mom and I went to the supermarket together and we each bought the foods we wanted to eat. I got a bag of dry lentils for $1.45. She got a tub of turkey cold cut for $2.68. My immediate savings: $1.23. But it's also of note that the bag of lentils will provide roughly 10-12 servings and will not go bad for several years. While the tub of cold cut will only provide about 4-6 servings and will go bad in about a week. I got two cans of beans. One of black and one of garbanzo at $0.83 each. She got a package of perdue breaded chicken cutlets at $2.98. My initial savings: $1.32. Beyond just the dollar outlay, she got 4 servings of chicken. I got about 8 servings of beans. I purchased two bags of store brand frozen vegetables at $1.68 each. One bag of 16 ounces of peas and one of broccoli. She opted for a package of turkey sausage at $3.99 for 16 ounces. I only saved 63 cents over her purchase, however I cam...

There has always been a lot of debate over what is actually vegetarian. Various cheeses may contain animal enzymes derived from the stomachs of those slaughtered. It certainly doesn't sound vegetarian when I write it out that way. And I would love to see all cheese made form vegetable enzymes instead. It certainly brings the vegan ideal closer to home. No ambiguity there. Milk is animal. So doesn't matter what the enzyme source. Milk bad. The funny thing is sugar isn't really technically vegetarian. It's usually filtered using animal bone char. And while anyone can buy sugar in the raw, it's a lot harder to avoid sugar as an ingredient in prepared foods. I don't know too many vegetarians who don't eat boxed cereals or pre-made breads. Both of which contain sugar, apart from other questionable ingredients. Our current society makes it pretty impossible to truly avoid animal cruelty. We can limit the damage we may or may not do, but we really can't e...

Here's a sweet and tart salad addition that will interest peach lovers or anyone with a sweet tooth. When faced with an aging peach that no one wanted I decided to cook it and make a sweet and succulent addition to my usual salad lunch. I decided to leave the skin on the peach because I just so happen to be a fan of fruit and vegetable skins. That's the way nature made it and that's the way I want to eat it. This is really simple and easy. I just sliced the peach in small chunks and cooked it in a fairly hot frying pan. Just to lightly brown and caramelize it. Then I added some balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing and cooked it 30 second to a 1 minute longer. Removed from pan and seasoned with salt and black pepper. I'm not really a big fan of fruit. It's a little too sweet for my taste. But this made a great out of the ordinary addition to my usual salads. The balsamic peaches added a sweet and tart element and helped to dress the salad. They also offered ...