Vegan Mofo: Veganize a Family Recipe

I'm taking the easy route for tonight's Vegan Mofo theme of veganizing a family recipe. I didn't have time to cook anything new, but I've already veganized a ton of family recipes in my cookbook, Cookin' Crunk. In fact, I'd say at least one-third of the recipes in the book are vegan versions of the stuff my mama and grandma used to cook.

I thought it'd be fun (and easy) to mention a few of those veganized family dishes. The most important family recipe in Cookin' Crunk is definitely my Mama's Cornbread Dressin' recipe.

In my family, my mama's Thanksgiving (and Christmas) dressin' is legendary. No one makes it as good as she does, even when they're using her recipe! She developed a vegan version back in 2004 after I went vegan, and she makes me a little pan of that over the holidays while everyone else eats the turkey broth version. It's pretty fantastic because it means I don't have to share with anyone, and I get to bring tons of leftovers home! Anyway, her version is in my cookbook, but if you make it, it won't be as good as hers. She works some kind of voodoo into it.

Another old family recipe in the book is the Hungry Jill Casserole — baked beans, biscuits, and vegan cheese baked into a casserole! My mama used to make this all the time when I was a kid. It was actually called Hungry Jack Casserole, and she got the recipe from a box of Hungry Jack biscuits. But I veganized, so I changed it to Hungry Jill.

My Mama's Macaroni & Tomatoes are in the book too! Slow-cooked, stewed tomatoes (cooked down from fresh, juicy, summer tomatoes), olive oil, and pasta. So good! A summer classic.

The Mess O' Greens recipe in Crunk is my version of Granny's famous greens and turnips. Her recipe is naturally vegan, but she doesn't write anything down. So when I asked for the recipe, she said "Oh, just a little bit of oil and a little bit of sugar." You know, a little this, a little that. I had to guess on the amounts, but I think I came pretty close. You can find that recipe here.

Granny helped me develop most of the dessert recipes in Cookin' Crunk, and many are her old family recipes. But the one pie that stands out the most is the Old-Fashioned Coconut Pie. Granny has been making this pie vegan for years, and it's a hit at all of our family gatherings. That's in the book, but the recipe is also posted here.