I’m getting ready to update the links on my sidebar to the right.  If you blog and would like your blog linked to from my blog, leave me a comment here.  If your blog has not been updated in, say, the last 6 months, I will be deleting my link to you.  Sorry!

Criteria for me to link to you:

(1) if I currently link to you and you still blog, no need to do anything.  I’m only deleting links to blogs that have been inactive for 6 months or more.

(2) your blog does not have to be vegan or even vegetarian, but does have to offer some recipes that are veg*n (or that can easily be made vegan or vegetarian).

(3) your blog/website can be about anything related to veganism– animal rights, vegan recipes for your pets, vegan cosmetics/sweaters, whatever.

(4) you must link back to me once I’ve linked to you.  Hey, it is a two-way street, y’know?!    If you already link to me, I probably don’t know it, so leave me a comment here and I’ll reciprocate.

I subscribe to several e-newsletters, my favorite of which is probably the one from VegNews Magazine.  It’s monthly (I think) and it usually includes a yummy recipe!  Their website also has TONS of free recipes on it.  You can sign up for the free e-newsletter by filling in your email address on the right sidebar.  Here are a few of the recipes that I’ve gotten that sound good (although I have yet to try any of them).  No, I don’t cook much these days. 

Chocolate Chili

Serves 4 to 6

What you need:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 carrot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, grated
4 cups cooked or 3 (15.5-ounce) cans beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup strong coffee
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

What you do:

1. In a large pot over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add onion, carrots, and garlic. Cover and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, sugar, salt, and pepper. Add tomatoes, chipotles, and chocolate, and stir until well blended.

3. Add beans, water, and coffee, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until chili thickens and flavors have time to develop, about 45 minutes. Add a little more liquid if chili becomes too thick. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds before serving.

Homemade Tortillas

Serves 4

What you need:

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

What you do:

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and let stand for 20 minutes.

2. Form dough into a ball, then place onto lightly floured countertop. Divide into 1-inch balls. Flatten each ball into a round, and, with a rolling pin, roll out lightly on one side.

3. Over high heat, place cast-iron skillet. Cook tortillas in ungreased skillet for 2 to 3 minutes, then flip once and cook other side until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Serve warm.

Cashew Fondue

Serves 4

What you need:

1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups raw cashews
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup filtered water

What you do:

1. In a food processor, pulverize garlic and salt. Add cashews and process until finely ground.

2. Add lemon juice and mix well. Slowly add water one tablespoon at a time until a smooth, creamy consistency is reached. Serve with fresh veggies, cubed bread, or thinly sliced apples.

I’ve been busy with other things and haven’t been cooking.  Therefore, I don’t have much to blog about.  I still want to keep my blog going until I can carve out more time to dedicate to it and I thought offering guest blog spots would be a good idea to make that happen.  If you’re interested in writing a post for me, send me an email (see sidebar at right for address).

Acceptable topics:  recipes/cooking, shopping tips, animal welfare, vegan diet and climate change, vegan diet and health, or any interesting news articles that you come across related to any of these topics.  If you have an idea for a post topic not related to any of these ideas, send me an email!  Any takers?!??!

If you already run your own blog, you can reuse a post from your blog so long as it fits here.  Of course, I will make it super obvious that I didn’t write the post by putting in big bold letters who did and I’ll link to your blog, if applicable.

Only a few days left to get your entries in! I know you’re super creative and can come up with a great business name for me. Who wouldn’t want to win 2 dozen cupcakes (or cake mix and fondant decor if you aren’t local)?!

It’s official… I’m in the cake business.  It’s become a fun hobby of mine, so I thought I’d take the plunge and make it a side business.  If you live here in the Bay Area, please consider ordering some delicious cakes from me.  I’ll even let you do a taste test before placing your actual order.

I’m so super excited!!  My boobies took first prize in the Nippular Cookbook Contest.  I win 3 awesome cookbooks and I’m so jazzed!

I got a coupon today from Planet Organics.  It looks to be a company (here in the Bay Area) that delivers locally grown, organic groceries to your home.  You go to their website, complete your order, then it comes to your house.

Are there any other Bay Area peeps out there who use this service?  I have to admit that I’m not super impressed just by looking at their website.  Things seem really expensive, even for organic.  Like $5.30 for a bunch of beets.  $4.75 for a pint of strawberries.  This seems awfully high to me.

Not Exactly Bento is giving away some free bento gear!  For a chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post here.  The contest closes very soon (March 20 @ 8 pm to be exact), so get those comments in!

If you don’t happen to win this bento set, maybe you can win the one that I will be giving away in April. 

The durian is the fruit of trees from the genus Durio belonging to the Bombacaceae. Widely known and revered in Southeast Asia as the “King of Fruits”, the fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on the species.

The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Regarded by some as fragrant, others as overpowering and offensive, the smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust. The odour has led to the fruit’s banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia.

The durian, native to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, has been known to the western world for about 600 years. The British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace famously described its flesh as “a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds” in the 19th century. The flesh can be consumed at various stages of ripeness, and is used to flavour a wide variety of savoury and sweet edibles in Southeast Asian cuisines. The seeds can also be eaten when cooked. The name durian comes from the Malay word duri (thorn) with suffix -an.

There are 30 recognised Durio species, at least nine of which produce edible fruit. Durio zibethinus is the only species available in the international market: other species are sold in their local regions. There are hundreds of durian cultivars; most of them have a common name and a code number starting with “D”. Many consumers express preferences for specific cultivars, which fetch higher prices in the market.

I used to watch shows like Bizarre Foods and No Reservations all the time.  Every time the hosts were in Asian countries, they always had durians.  The host of Bizarre Foods, a man who will eat the grossest of gross things, spit out durian– a seemingly harmless fruit.

I was totally fascinated and have wanted to try durians ever since I saw it featured on these shows.  My chance to try it came this weekend when we were in Sacramento spending Tofurkey Day with the family.  My hubby and I found some at an Asian market and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to finally try it.

First, the smell.  When you cut into the durian, the smell is horrible.  My dad and Matt couldn’t smell it at all, but my mom and I could.  The smell is very faint, but gross.  The best way to describe it is a stinky fart smell covered up by the aroma of a lit match.  There is definitely a sulfurous funk.

Splitting the durian open reveals a gooey, light yellow inside that is soft like a custard.  The taste is nothing like I’ve ever had before.  It is disgusting!  The only way I can describe the taste is this:  if I were to assign a flavor to a gross, sulfurous-smelling fart, it would be durian fruit.  Why people eat this is beyond me, but I’m happy to have had the chance to finally try it.  Interested in seeing me take a bite?  Check out the video:

This is pretty funny.  You have to watch until almost the very end to get the soy milk reference…