Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies (Vegan)
Everyone has their favorite cookies and one of mine is an oatmeal cookie. Years ago, the recipe on the back of the cylinder-type container of Old-Fashioned Quaker Oats was the go-to recipe for oatmeal cookies. Back then, the recipe called for butter, refined sugar, eggs, all-purpose flour, and a scant amount of oats (about a half cup if I remember correctly). Raisins added a chewy sweetness to the cookies which most people either loved or hated (I don’t know too many people on the fence about oatmeal cookies or raisins). Read more 
Vegan Dining Options in Asheville, NC (Part 7)
Asheville’s vibrant restaurant scene is often compared to Portland, Oregon’s (often referred to its sister city) but its not because both cities have numerous vegan restaurants. Instead both cities are known for being incredibly tolerant and accommodating to diners preferences. Plant-based options are available at most restaurants even when the menu doesn’t list a vegan option.
There are many fine, casual, southern, Mexican, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Thai, Chinese, and Indian restaurants in Asheville. Here’s just a few that offer some great vegan dining options: Read more
Dr-Cow Raw Chocolate Bricks
One of the great benefits of following a plant-based diet is enjoying dark chocolate whose subtle differences in taste, texture, and aroma become more pronounced over time. Acquiring a taste for dark chocolate evolves but once you’ve come to appreciate the purity and intensity of dark chocolate, you’ll never want to eat milk chocolate ever again. The difference is really that striking.
Dr-Cow, a small storefront in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn is known for making organic, raw, dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, and soy-free food products, especially tree nut cheese, granola, biscotti, crackers, desserts, and chocolates. Read more
Chocolate Pecan Bars
Chocolate Pecan Bars are rich, moist, crunchy dark chocolate nutty bars that will remind you of a chocolate pecan pie (without the corn syrup) although my daughter says these gooey treats taste like cookie/candy bars. In fact, these bars were born of a “disastrous” mistake made when I added too many pecans to a chocolate pecan pie recipe with the idea that more is better. Read more
John Kelly Dark Chocolate Bars
Our solid chocolate bars are a testament to our belief that the best chocolate can only be achieved with a dedication to artisanal techniques and attention to detail.That’s why each bar is packaged in a beautifully designed box. And each bar is made with fair trade chocolate and all-natural ingredients. They are all non-GMO, soy free and gluten-free.
John Kelly Chocolates of fudge bar fame has branched out into some seriously good dark chocolate bars in four dairy-free varieties: Read more
Lagusta’s Luscious Heathen Toffee
People who follow a plant-based diet may be considered heathens – people who do not follow or belong to a widely held belief or faith – of a different sort because they don’t subscribe to the standard American diet (SAD) – a diet with a heavy emphasis on animal products and highly processed foods.
But being plant-based doesn’t mean you have to give up favorite treats because there are some incredible alternatives out there. Take toffee – a crunchy, rich candy typically made with butter, sugar, almonds, chocolate, and salt – a holiday favorite (although I used to eat toffee all year long). Without butter, how could toffee possibly be toffee? Read more
The 8 Best Vegan Websites and Cookbooks
Whether you’re new to or know your way around vegan cooking and baking, there are several websites and cookbooks that offer all sorts of alternatives to the traditional American diet. Ingredients, time, complexity, taste, and appearance are the five aspects by which I judge a cookbook or website and these eight are simply the best.
When I first started making vegan dishes, I often consulted three sites and their corresponding cookbooks, all of which are excellent for the novice vegan baker/cook: Read more
Vivi Chocolate
What Love Tastes Like…Simply Chocolate
Back in 2006, Barbara Yeager was in an herbal apothecary store in Seattle, Washington when she noticed a jar of cacao nibs (cacao beans that have been roasted at a low temperature, separated from their husks, and broken into tiny pieces). After she tasted the nibs, she understood why people are really into chocolate: because cacao nibs taste like chocolate without the sweetness. It was love at first bite. Read more
“Vegan Chocolate”
If someone told you a chocolate dessert could be unapologetically luscious, decadent and dairy-free, would you believe her? Fran Costigan, author, baking instructor, and vegan chocolate extraordinaire said just that and I really wanted to believe her but I had my doubts because most vegan chocolate desserts don’t taste as rich and scrumptious as those made with butter, cream, and eggs. How could they? Butter, like chocolate makes nearly everything taste better. But they can, and they do in a new cookbook called Vegan Chocolate. Read more
Sunspire Coconut Bars
Sunspire is one of the few companies with a reputation for making rich and delicious chocolate products that contain no refined sugars or artificial additives of any kind. A collection of chocolate confections – chips, powders, chocolate covered fruit and nuts, and bars – are organic, free-trade certified, dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, and/or vegan. Two of my favorite products are the Coconut Bar and the Coconut Almond Bar – the health conscious consumer’s answer to the Mounds and Almond Joy bars – only better. Read more
