Speed Vegan Spring Giveaway!

So spring has finally sprung! It was 81 degrees in Memphis today, and I suddenly noticed my yard is in major need of mowing. I hate, hate, hate winter, so I'm super-duper excited for spring. I celebrated the equinox with some serious spring cleaning (baseboards, closets, dusting in hidden places I've never even thought to dust). And I also enjoyed this light spring meal of Navy Bean & Swiss Chard Soup from Speed Vegan:

Nothing says "early growing season" like fresh greens, and Swiss chard is one of my faves. I'm also a big fan of white beans, so this soup was the perfect combination. As with all the recipes in Alan Roettinger's Speed Vegan, this dish came together in a matter of minutes.

Lucky for one of y'all, the Book Publishing Company (publisher of Speed Vegan) is letting me give away a copy of Speed Vegan to one lucky reader! See the bottom of this post for details on how to enter. Read my review of Speed Vegan here.

You can't have soup without bread! So this was the perfect opportunity to make Sarah Kramer's Sassy Sandwich Bread, the March recipe in her Go Vegan! 2011 Wall Calendar:

The recipe is accompanied by an adorable parody album cover of the Beastie Boys' "Check Your Head." Instead of Ad-Rock, Mike D, and MCA, the picture features three gansta Sarah Kramer's in toboggans, sneakers, and shades with the words "Yeastie Boys" and "Check Your Bread." Cute, right? The bread, by the way, is absolutely delish! Soft and chewy and perfect topped with a little melted Daiya vegan cheese.

Ok, now for the giveaway details. Leave me a comment about your favorite quick, gourmet-ish meal ideas.

For an extra chance to win, tweet about the giveaway and leave an additional comment letting me know you did. For an extra, extra chance, link back to the contest from Facebook and leave yet another comment to let me know. And finally, for a fourth chance, link back to this contest on your blog (if you have one), and leave yet another comment to fill me in. That's four chances to win!

If you don't have a Blogger account with a listed email, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. Good luck! I'll randomly select one winner on Wednesday night (March 23rd).

She's My Cherry Pie

... cool drink of water, such a sweet surprise. Tastes so good, make a grown (wo)man cry. Sweet cherry pie, yeah. I've had Warrant in my head all day, and now it's in yours. You're welcome.

Why am I stuck on Warrant? Because it's President's Day, the day before
George Washington's birthday. And popular American myth tells us that our first prez chopped down a cherry tree, only to be overridden with guilt later. So he narced himself out to his daddy.

To honor this classic American attempt to encourage honesty, my mom bakes a cherry pie every President's Day. Its a fairly new tradition, I think. I certainly don't remember her doing that when I was a kid. But I've decided to follow in my mama's footsteps and bake a vegan cherry pie every Prez Day. Lucky for me, the recipe o' the month in Sarah Kramer's Go Vegan 2011 wall calendar is for Like a Virgin Cherry Pie:

Yes, that's a Madonna reference. Get it? Cherries, virgins. Kramer's even dressed as Madonna from the Like a Virgin album cover. Here's the real Madonna. Kramer is just as cute.

As for the pie, it was delicious. Old George woulda been proud. I did have to sub cherry pie filling for the fresh cherries in the recipe since they aren't in season here. Because of that, I used too much filling and it overflowed during the first half of baking time. But the coconut/walnut/sugar crumble topping (yes, it's as amazing as it sounds) doesn't go on until the last 30 minutes, so it was no problem to scoop out the overflow. Unfortunately, that did make the outside crust a little messy.

But hey, who cares about a messy pie when it's delicious? I brought this to work, and it was quickly devoured by my co-workers. Happy birthday, Georgey!

Vegan Mofo: Quinoa Queen

According to Sarah Kramer's 2010 Go Vegan wall calendar, I'm the Quinoa Queen for a Day. That's because I made the recipe of the month — Rustic Quinoa & Yam Salad:

November features a kitschy-cute picture of Sarah donning a pageant crown and a big ole bowl of unadorned quinoa nestled in one of Vegan Dish's awesome bowls (By the way, mom and dad ... if you're reading this, a Vegan Dish mug would be a great Xmas gift idea! Hint, hint!) Anyway, Sarah deserves her crown for inventing this yummy salad.

The quinoa is mixed with cooked sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, onions, cilantro, lemon juice, maple syrup, and Bragg's. So, so good. Thankfully, the recipe makes a ton so I have plenty more for leftovers.

A word on "yams": I've never eaten, nor even seen, an actual yam. I've eaten my weight (or more) in sweet taters though. That's all you'll find around here. Yams and sweet potatoes are too totally different tubers. Sweet potatoes are orange or yellow with a brown-ish skin. Yams are purple, white, or red with a dark skin. I've never understood why people confuse the two.

And I'm not totally sure if Sarah intended on her recipe to include sweet potatoes or actual yams. But regardless, it's delicious made with sweet potatoes!

Have you ever eaten a real yam? I want to know what it tastes like....