Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Holiday Helpers! Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake



Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake
This moist cake is not overly sweet, and therefore, I find it perfectly appropriate to eat for breakfast!

Monday, November 27, 2017

Holiday Helpers! Sweet and Sour Bean Balls


One of my favorite things about the holidays is the food. From appetizers to the main event to dessert to cocktails, I love celebrating with vegan food!

These sweet and sour bean balls are a great appetizer during the cold holiday months. Poke in a toothpick and your ready to go!

Friday, November 24, 2017

Holiday Helpers! Bar Nuts

Bar Nuts! From Vegan Food Gifts (Fairwinds Press)
Bar Nuts
These nuts are pretty addictive. I love them during the holiday season. I try to keep a bowl out on the table whenever I have folks over. If you are a DIY gifter, I recommend making a few batches of these and packing them up in reusable jars with cute ties and tags.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Holiday Helpers! Herb Crusted Coconut Chevre


Herb Crusted Coconut Chevre from Going Vegan (Front and Center: Smoky with Dill, Top: Smoky with Black Pepper, Right: Smoky with Paprika, Chipotle, Parsley and Smoked Salt) With this batch I made mini Chevres and wrapped them individually so that I could give them away to friends at work. I wrapped each chevre in waxed paper.
Every holiday get together deserves a yummy cheese plate! This one is nut-free and uses coconut flour. Get creative with your herbs and spices. I share a few of my favorite combos below, but there is no limit to what you can do here...

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Holiday Helpers! Roasted Butternut Squash with Fennel


Check out this super easy, super tasty, super seasonal side dish to add to your holiday table!

Roasted Butternut Squash with Fennel
Such a simple list of ingredients! And when you have great ingredients, it's best

Monday, November 20, 2017

Holiday Helpers! Easy Vegan Cheese Ball


This purty little gal was originally featured in The Complete Guide to Even More Vegan Food Substitutions. (Fairwinds Press, 2015) by me and Celine Steen. But I have been making a variation of this ball since way back in 2006 when we were working on 500 Vegan Recipes. What can I say? I love balls!

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Smoky Pub Cheese



Smoky Pub Cheese from 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman (Fairwinds Press)

Smoky Pub Cheese
Have you been craving a vegan cheese that isn't made by blending cashews (or other nuts) and then having to wait a week (or more) while it funk-tifies? Yeah, that artisan vegan cheese making is best left to the professionals if you ask me! I like my homemade vegan cheese fast and easy!  And it seriously doesn't get easier than this. If you follow the microwave instructions you could be on the couch binging season 2 of Stranger Things in two minutes!

Friday, November 3, 2017

Eating Vegan on a Budget in a Food Desert Part 2: 7-Elempanadas

"7-Elempanadas" made with only ingredients available at 7-Eleven in North Long Beach.

Welcome to North Long Beach, California.  Northtown (aka Northside, Norf Norf, or Uptown) is a community of 17 diverse and colorful neighborhoods, and filled with about 93,000 diverse and colorful residents.*

Monday, October 30, 2017

3rd Annual SoCal VegFest Cooking Demo: The Monte Cristina


The Monte Cristina from Vegans Go Nuts! by Joni Marie Newman and Celine Steen
Last weekend was the 3rd Annual SoCal VegFest held at the OC Fairgrounds. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of vegans, vegetarians, and veg-curious folks filled the humongous venue and enjoyed a weekend of learning, shopping, music, community, and of course, eating!

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Eating Vegan on a Budget in a Food Desert Part 1: Roasted Potato Tacos with Radish Pico

Roasted Potato Tacos with Radish Pico
First let me explain how I ended up living in a food desert. I grew up a few miles down the road from where I am currently living in a typical suburban neighborhood. A standard three bedroom house in a post-war tract of homes built in the late '40s and early '50s. Lakewood, California. I grew up in a middle class family. My parents were divorced by the time I was four years old, and I visited my

Friday, October 13, 2017

Peanut Butter French Toast Dippers with Peanut Butter Maple Pecan Dipping Sauce

It's getting to be that time of year, even in sunny Southern California, where it's still tipping the therm at over 80 during the day. But mornings and evenings are indeed starting to get chilly, and the fall flavors of maple and pecan just feel right. This recipe originally appeared in Celine and my newest book, Vegans Go Nuts! (Now available wherever books are sold.)



Peanut Butter French Toast Dippers with Peanut Butter Maple Pecan Dipping Sauce
*Soy Free
*Quick and Easy

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Bold Flavored Vegan Cooking by Celine Steen (Plus a Giveaway!)

Squash Blossom Pizza from Bold Flavored Vegan Cooking (page 63)
by Celine Steen. Photograph by: Celine Steen

I have never been so excited to do a cookbook review then I am to do this one. Celine Steen of Have Cake Will Travel fame is a long time dear friend and co-conspirator in the vegan cookbook scene. Her and I go way back to when we penned 500 Vegan Recipes together in 2008, and then went on to write several more cookbooks together. Even when we weren't partnering up to write, I still made sure to have her gorgeous food photography grace the pages of a few of my solo efforts. It's fair to say I had VERY high hopes for this tome.

Nothing could make my heart swoon more than flipping through the pages of Celine's solo debut, Bold Flavored Vegan Cooking! From the cover, to the font, to the photos, and, of course, the recipes...just everything about this cookbook makes me squee!

Make sure to read all the way to the bottom of this post to enter for a chance to win a copy of Bold Flavored Vegan Cooking for yourself!

Friday, September 29, 2017

Southern Style BBQ Pecans over Garlicky Greens and Quick and Dirty Rice



Last weekend at the first ever Plant Fest at Tanaka Farms, I got to do the thing I love doing best! Teach non-vegans how to cook vegan foods that taste great! Foods that have a familiar flavor, don't have any "weird" ingredients, made with everyday home cooking tools, with ingredients you can find at any grocery store, won't break the bank, and won't keep you in the kitchen all day.

And sometimes you just have a go-to recipe that multi-tasks. For me, it's the BBQ Pecans from the Texas Hold 'Ems recipe in Vegans Go Nuts! These sassy little nuts go so well in so many dishes, from tacos, to bowls, to sandwiches, to burritos...you get the idea. So I decided to bring these bad girls back for another run. This time with some ridiculously easy Garlicky Greens, and a Quick and Dirty Rice that is a play on the Cajun Red Beans and Rice recipe from Vegan Food Gifts.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Summer Grilling with Lightlife Smart Dogs!



It's very rare that I agree to do a sponsored post here on Just the Food. So rare, in fact, that this is the first one I have done in ten-plus years of blogging! Sure, I have received sample products and cookbooks to review over the years, but I have never done a completely sponsored post. Why? Because, for me, I have to REALLY be in love with a product for me to partner with them. When I was contacted by Lightlife Foods to participate in their summer grilling series featuring Smart Dogs, how could I say no?

I absolutely love summertime in the LBC. In sunny Southern California, and especially in Long Beach, summer means barbecue, hanging out with friends outdoors, and parties in the park. I barely cook inside, at all, from the minute the time change gives us longer days, in our house, we are all about the grill. So when Lightlife offered to send me a mini grill, tools, a cooler, condiments and enough moolah to grab all the Smart Dogs we would need to get through the entire summer...we were STOKED!

Friday, July 21, 2017

Three Salads that Won't Make You Sad

I know. I know. Salads aren't exactly something vegans tend to get excited about. Especially because we are so often left with iceburg lettuce and a squeeze of lemon juice at restaurants that don't have any other options on the table. But these salads are not sad! I promise! And with it being so hot outside lately, it's super nice not to have to actually cook dinner.




Friday, July 14, 2017

Fire Roasted Corn and Pepper Relish



You know what? Summer is my favorite season. Mostly, because I can do most of my cooking outdoors. Burgers, dogs, CORN, peppers, even watermelon tastes great on the grill. This relish is perfect to make alongside whatever else you happen to be grilling. It tastes great on its own with tortilla chips for dipping...but where it really shines is piled high up on top of your favorite veggie dog or burger!

Monday, June 26, 2017

Award Winning Vegan Buffalo Mac and Cheese


This past Sunday, I had the honor of being one of nine chef's competing in the first annual Mac Down LA! It was a super fun and super hot day in Pasadena, but the energy was on point! A few hundred folks came out to sample and vote for their favorite vegan mac and cheese...and there was some fierce competition. All of this, of course, for a good cause.

Sponsored by Vegan Outreach, the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, The Shumei America National Center in Pasadena, and hosted by Gwenna Hunter of Vegans of LA.


Monday, May 1, 2017

Vegan 'Surf and Turf' Taco Plate

'Surf" Tacos made with seaweed infused rice, dilly tartar sauce, and radish relish.

This weekend I had the privilege and honor to do a cooking demo and prepare lunch for 300 dedicated community activists at the Crisis in the Oceans event which led up to the People's March on Climate Change in Irvine, California. Speakers included Jonathan Balcombe, Kate Mackey, and Gene Bauer! What an honor to be feeding these fine folks!

Monday, April 3, 2017

Carving Board Vegan Pastrami (I promise it's not meat!)


Oh, Pastrami! You are SO SALTY and savory and fatty and just a tad sweet and taste magnificent with a big thick smear of deli mustard and provolone on toasty sourdough. My husband and I used to travel far and wide for a giant pastrami sandwich in our pre-vegan days, and the both of us really had a hankering for nostalgia.

We set out to recreate this old favorite at home using seitan and traditional pastrami spices. It had to juicy. It had to be tangy. It had to have that peppered crust. And...it had to have that signature pink marbling. After all, we eat with our eyes first, and this had to look as authentic as possible. We wanted it to be like those artisan carving board sandwiches you see on all the food shows. You know, the ones they serve up at all the hipster gastro pubs.

Except ours, well, ours had to be vegan.


2012 Copyright/Permissions/Disclaimers

All recipes written by me, Joni Marie Newman, unless otherwise noted. Please feel free to refer to or link back to any of my recipes, but please ask for permission, and remember to give credit when reprinting recipes in their entirety. I do provide links to affiliate programs (such as Amazon) in which I receive a small commission for items purchased. I do not provide paid reviews. All reviews done on products or books are of my own unsolicited opinion. On occasion I may receive a book or product to review. I will note when this is the case, but rest assured, it will not affect the authenticity of my review. Thanks!--Joni