To personalize the books, I visited my favorite local stationery shop and found these sticky notes that were just perfect for the job.  On each of them it says, “Make it.”  Then I included little notes about the recipes I’ve tried – what I liked, what I changed, what I added, and omitted.  I also included ideas about what to serve it with, what I thought my friend might enjoy since I know her palate, and what I thought she could skip.  Then I stuck the sticky notes on each of the recipes I’d tried.

Next, I put together a package that included some specialty products I thought she might not already have in her pantry but that would be necessary for making some of the dishes.

• Soy Curls for Smoky Curls from Vegan Diner
• Vital wheat gluten for Vegan Diner’s seitan recipes
• Garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour for AFR’s falafel and Vegan Diner’s seitan recipes
• Nutritional yeast for Vegan Diner’s cheese, gravy, and seitan recipes and AFR’s Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce
• Smoked paprika for Vegan Diner’s Smoky Potato Scramble, Jambalaya, Quick and Hearty Chili, Quinoa Burgers, Great Smoky Mountain Cheeze

I also included a little sauce dish that I made in my pottery class.  It’s just the right size for holding dipping sauces.

My friend said she enjoyed reading through the books and checking out my little notes.  I like thinking that in a way we’ll be cooking together.  She can add her own notes and scribbles, and she can fill me in on some new favorites (since there are still loads of recipes that I haven’t made from each of the books).  It’s a gift that’s also a conversation starter.

I’ll be back soon with more recipes using spicy black beans for my series on making several dishes from one core component.

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For the baker…

Give your favorite baker a copy of the film Stranger Than Fiction.  In this movie Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell, discovers that his mundane and ordinary life as an IRS agent is actually being scripted by an author who is known for offing her main characters.  My favorite scene in this far-fetched story involves Crick trying to woo a local baker, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.  Instead of bringing her flowers, he brings her several bags of different varieties of flours.  Talk about knowing your audience!

Put the DVD in a mixing bowl or pretty pie pan with a copy of Joy of Vegan Baking or Vegan Pie in the Sky.  Then package them with a lovely bouquet of flours (whole wheat, oat, teff, chickpea, and rice!).

For the greasy spoon-lover…

There’s something quintessentially American about diners.  Those greasy spoons epitomize comfort food with their pies, waffles, over-sized sandwiches, mashed potatoes and gravy, and of course, a side of ranch.  In the spirit of diners, give the gift of a diner movie like When Harry Met Sally.  For those who prefer TV, reach for a season of Gilmore Girls with its cozy Luke’s Diner or Seinfeld with its regular coffee shop.

Then surprise your diner-loving pal with Vegan Diner and pair it with a big jar of nutritional yeast flakes or vital wheat gluten for making seitan loaves.  Include a donut pan, waffle maker, or a (wheat) meat slicer (if you’re feeling extra generous) for making thin deli slices for Hasson’s amazing reuben.

For the travel enthusiast…

For those who have their carry-on luggage down to a science, embrace their wanderlust with movies that have a theme of travel.  Might I suggest Sideways, about two men going on a road trip through California’s wine country, Up in the Air about a man whose job is to travel the country firing people, or Forgetting Sarah Marshall about a man who travels to Hawaii to detox from his recent break-up, only to realize that he’s vacationing at the same resort as his ex and her new boyfriend.

Pair these travel shows with exotic flavors that are sure to have your recipient checking the internet for good travel deals:

Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian Food zine, joined with teff flour, Soy Curls and a cast iron skillet for making injera bread.

Viva Vegan combined with a tortilla press, microplane zester for making garlicky Latin Baked tofu, an empanada maker, a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, or corn husks for putting together some tasty tamales.

Other spicy ideas?  Put together a present of pretty dipping plates with salsa, hot spicy mustard, tamari, and/or sriracha.

For the health conscious…

Inspire the health conscious-curious on your list with Forks Over Knives (reviewed here) or Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, a movie about a man who travels across the country juicing for 30 days and talking to people he meets along the way about their ideas of health.

Then make them a starter kit with 30 Day Vegan Challenge, a Tofu Xpress, an immersion blender, a pretty salad bowl from a local artisan, a jar of grains, and/or dried beans.

Or set them in motion for green smoothies aplenty with Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen, a gift card to their local grocery store or co-op, a glass straw, a spiralizer for making zucchini noodles, a glass water bottle, or a jar of raw cashews.  If you’re feeling especially generous how about a juicer, dehydrator, or Vitamix?  (Oh, and Santa, if you have an extra dehydrator or Vitamix in that sleigh of yours, I’ll gladly take them off your hands…)

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After years of buying chamomile at high prices in specialty tea shops, I wised up and looked for them in the bulk tea and spice section of my local co-op.  The dried flowers cost very little, but what they return in terms of taste and a deep, relaxing sleep is priceless.

My mom surprised me this month with the lavender sedative bath from one of my favorite companies, 100% Pure.  The intoxicating scent of lavender fills the room with its earthy smell.  It comes in a brown, glass bottle reminiscent of an apothecary.  The ingredients include sake, lavender oil, and a couple of other essential oils.  It’s made in the USA, gluten-free, and their products are never tested on animals.  The lavender bath is just lovely for sinking into as it feels soft on the skin without being overly oily like some bath oils.

Is there anything better than a hot bath, soothing drink, and a night cap of cozy slippers?  I intend to find out…  It’s been such a treat seeing the wonderful creativity in posts across the blogosphere.  I’ll be back soon with more videos, more writings, and more meals to come.  Thank you to the Vegan MoFo team for coordinating another successful MoFo.  Now go relax for a while.  You deserve it.

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Watch this episode of The Vegan Test and discover how to figure out if that wine snob browsing, sniffing, and tasting his way through the wine shop* is vegan.  It’s not always obvious.  Sometimes you have to look for those subtle cues.  Or do as The Vegan Test suggests, and ask him to host a wine and cheese night!  (If you’re from Australia, you might recognize the inspiration behind my husband’s costume and attitude.  He’s doing his best impersonation of Matt Preston.)

After you’re done watching, come back and enter my last Vegan MoFo giveaway to earn coupons for two free containers of We Can’t Say It’s Cheese, which makes a guest cameo in this video.  (The coupons are good for their cheddar spread, cheddar sauce, mexi cheddar, hickory cheddar, or sour cream.)  If I could only eat one plant-based cheese for the rest of time and eternity, it would be their Hickory Cheddar.  It’s gluten-free, soy-free, free of hydrogenated oils, and made from whole grain oatmeal.  (How cool is it that the first ingredient is whole grain oatmeal?  You would never know it from the taste of it.)  The consistency is similar to a beautifully spreadable cream cheese with a rich cheddar flavor and undertones of hickory.  It’s great spread on crackers, as a dip with carrots, used in a sandwich, or serve it with dolmas, olives, pickles, and wine and have a night of nibbles.

Thanks to Wayfare for donating coupons for the giveaway.  To enter, leave a comment below.  Make sure I have a way to reach you – by email or blog.  The contest is open to U.S. residents and ends November 6, 2011 at 11:59 pm.  The winner will be chosen at random and announced on November 7th.  Good luck!  The contest has ended.  I’ll announce the winner later today!

*A big thank you to Melissa Larson and José Reyes at Vineria Wine Shop for letting us shoot at your store!  Melissa and José are fellow vegans, and their store, in addition to having plenty of lovely things to drink, has lots of vegan specialty products.  It’s a great resource for the area!

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I’ve enjoyed discovering new blogs, checking out the goings-on at blogs I follow year around, and keeping track of the themes at various blogs like Get Sconed, where blogger extraordinaire, Jess, is featuring hilarious guest posts by a variety of companion animals.  Amey at Vegan Eats and Treats did one of my favorite MoFo series last year, and she is at it again this year, using up the more obscure spices in her cupboards, making adorable illustrations to go with the spices of the day, and showing off some new dishes.   PJ at Vegan Cine Grub has been making meals based on scary movies, and I must confess I was heartily amused when she made pea soup for The Exorcist.  A bold move to make a meal that’s based on the vomit of a possessed character!  Awesome!

Adorable cereal bowls from Vegan Dish

Berry bowl from Vessels and Wares

My favorite ceramic artist, Jeanette Zeis, has been offering a 15% discount at her store, Vegan Dish during this month with the code “veganmofo”.  I used the opportunity to snatch up a couple of cereal bowls that had been on my Etsy wishlist.  Up to this point, I’d only had one of Jeanette’s pieces, a mug that is my favorite for morning coffee.  I love her bright use of color, how pleasing her mugs and bowls feel in the hands, and the way her designs have a femininity and playfulness about them.  While I was at it, I scooped up a sweet berry bowl from her Vessels and Wares site, where she’ll be having a sale at the end of November.  Every time I open my cupboards and see her work, I’m filled with a tinge of joy.

One of my favorite parts of MoFo is hosting giveaways and putting myself in the running on other people’s blogs.  As a long-time lover of good mail, it tickles me pink to win some vegan goodness or send packages out to others.  So much better than bills, advertisements, and catalogues!  Someone who clearly must feel the same way is Bobbie over at The Vegan Crew, who has been doing an overflowing amount of giveaways on her blog.  I was lucky enough to win, count them, four jars of Nacho Mom’s queso!  Spoiler: They are delicious!  I’ve enjoyed the bean-tastic VooDoo Queso and spicy Fire Roasted Queso.  It’s great that they have such natural ingredients.  Love that!  Over at Vegan Conversion Challenge, I won six bags of Soy Curls!  I should be well-stocked for future BLT’s from Vegan Diner and to finally try my hand at Courico Tacos from Vegan Brunch.

Here on my blog, I’ve had the best time with my husband making a silent film parody series called The Vegan Test.  (Above is episode three out of seven videos we’ve made this month.)  Each video is a minute or less and highlights various vegan quirks.  I know that my non-vegan friends have cocked their heads, not quite getting things like, “Why do vegans take pictures of their meals before they eat them or scour over every label?” and “Who is Rip Esselstyn?” and “Why would you want to eat cheeseless pizza or throw flaxseed at passing cars?”  When my husband and I are sitting at the kitchen table editing the videos and cackling, I know we’ve at least reached two members of our target audience!

As I tie up the loose ends on my second Vegan MoFo, it feels great to hit refresh on www.randomofo.com and find blog after blog of other people cooking up plant-based fare and loving it.  It’s been a delightful October!

What have been your favorite parts of MoFo on your own and other blogs? 

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You can tell a lot about a person by what they wear for Halloween.  Do they go for the quirky and obscure or the tried and true?  What you may not have realized is that you can also tell from one’s costume if or if not he’s vegan!  Lucky for you, the Vegan Test is around to explain it all.  (This short spoof is definitely for a niche audience, but it had me laughing until it hurts.  I hope it does the same for you!  Is that mean?)

In related news, I’ve used our friend the random number generator for the Forks Over Knives DVD giveaway and landed at #1 – Valerie Passanno!  Congrats, Valerie!  I’ll contact you for your address.  To everyone else, I highly recommend buying Forks Over Knives for yourself and your loved ones if you haven’t seen it yet.  And don’t be too sad, I’ll have one more giveaway before the end of MoFo!

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I few months ago I was at a dinner party making conversation with a lovely older couple.  As we chatted over our plates from the potluck, talk turned to what was not on mine – meat, dairy, eggs, and cheese.  They asked the usual questions that come up in these situations like, “Vegan?  So do you eat fish?”  Then the wife concluded to me that she couldn’t go vegan, because her father had raised cattle.

I live in Iowa.  A high percentage of people that I talk with at any dinner party probably have family members, living or dead, who are or were in animal agriculture at some level.  This justification – that because we had family members who did it, we have to do it too – is not altogether unusual.  It’s interesting to look at, because it’s not attached with a particular religious ideology or cultural identity.  Yet, it seems like the people claiming they have to continue in a behavior because of the behaviors of a family member feel that it is a completely logical conclusion.

That’s not how I see it.  In fact, when I look back at my own life, I don’t think even my own behavior at one point means I have to continue with that behavior throughout my lifetime.  How many of us look back at things we did or things we said and think, “I wish I’d made different choices.  I wish I’d done things differently.”  If we can look at our own histories and change based on new information, why shouldn’t we do the same thing when we look at our familial histories?  We are not prisoners to our histories.  Every day we get new information and we can use that to empower us to make new and better choices.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell at his childhood farm

This is something that resonated with me when I watched Forks Over Knives.  The two men who are the centerpiece of the film, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, grew up on farms; one of the farms was a dairy and the other a cattle farm.  In fact, when Campbell, a nutritional scientist from Cornell University, began his research if any bias was there, it was towards the healthfulness of animal protein.  It was only through his research that he discovered that the proteins and casein in animal foods are the precursor to many diseases of affluence (i.e. certain types of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes).  That these two men have animal agriculture in their histories I think takes away some of the defensiveness from your average moviegoer.

Forks Over Knives traces the work of Campbell and Esselstyn and how it brought them to the conclusion that adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet can help in the prevention, and in many cases reversal, of certain degenerative diseases and some cancers. This interesting and inspiring documentary also highlights the lifestyle changes of people who reversed their own sickness with a change to a plant-based diet.  When I adopted a plant-based diet six years ago, Dr. Campbell’s book, The China Study, was a major inspiration and motivator to me.  I know this film will be a boost to people who may not crack open his 300 page book.

While so many in our country and around the world turn to prescription medicines and invasive surgeries to solve health issues, this film looks at the ways that we can heal ourselves through the foods we choose and the foods we shun.  Instead of reaching for drugs that offer a host of negative side effects, we can reach for fruits and vegetables whose side effects are only positive.

I encourage you to read Roger Ebert’s review of the film and to check it out for yourself at the Forks Over Knives site.  It’s also available on Netflix and ITunes.

The giveaway has ended!  Congrats to the winner, Valerie Passanno!  I contacted the folks at Forks Over Knives about offering a DVD for a giveaway, and they were generous enough to agree.  To enter, just leave a comment below.  Make sure I have a way to contact you, either with a linked blog and/or email address.  The contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada and ends Sunday, October 23^rd at 11:59 pm CST.  A winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday, October 24th.

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While there are lots of meltable non-dairy cheeses on the market, when it comes to pizza 9 times out of 10, I prefer mine cheeseless.  When it’s just crust and sauce, the toppings pop in the mouth.  I can pick up the flavors of pineapple, onions, olives, sauerkraut, jalapenos, or whatever vegetables are dressing my pizza pie; there’s nothing to mask their flavors.  This is something of an anomaly to people who think that cheese is to pizza what It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is to Halloween, what traffic is to the 405, and what nutritional yeast is to popcorn  – a basic necessity.

So over the years of ordering, eating, and offering cheeseless pizza I’ve noticed there are some consistent truths.  First, no one ever wants to order cheeseless pizza, and two, no matter how much your order, there is never enough.  I’ve noticed a few other things about cheeseless pizza, which have been documented in the above short and funny newsreel called The Three Stages of Cheeseless Pizza.  You’ve heard of the five stages of grief?  Well, this is like that, but with marinara.  Have a slice, and I’ll be back soon with more of The Vegan Test!

The winner of the giveaway for Julie Hasson’s fantastic cookbook, The Vegan Diner, is commenter #22 Karmalily!  Contact me with your address, and I’ll send the book your way!

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“I’d like mine with no ghee, no egg wash, no fish sauce, no chicken broth, no lard…”  Yes, there are many ways for a server to know if her customers are vegan.  Episode Five offers up just one more way…

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My black and white silent film series from the 1920′s is back, and I hope you’ll find this episode the bee’s knees!  This hotsy-totsy chapter looks at that time in a chap’s life when he’s lookin’ for a doll who thinks kale is the cat’s pajamas.

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