The book is out! Watch the video for more info. In short, you can grab it now, but it’d be awesome if you can wait a week until September 16th, the official release date!

Thank you so much, all of you! Your support made this happen! I hope you enjoy the book.

Wow. There are 542 people in the running so far for free apple butter. I was only going to give away three jars (so that I could have some, and I could give some to my friends), but given the interest I’m going to give out my whole stockpile of jars so that as many people as possible can have a chance to win. So I’m upping the number of winners to six! I can’t wait to find out who will get them! There is still time to comment on that entry and win.

Speaking of free stuff!

Do you have an iPhone or iPod Touch? I don’t, but if you do, you’re in luck. A really neat company called mediumbold has developed an iPhone application for VYY recipes! Now you can get all my recipes right on your phone, with photos, a powerful search function, and the ability to mark your favorite recipes to keep them handy. The application comes with the 70 most recent recipes I’ve posted, and will be updated shortly to contain every single recipe on the site. Check it out!

VeganYumYum Mobile – FREE and bee-you-tee-ful!

And hey, do you like Etsy.com? I do!

I’ve written an article for Etsy! I’m their “featured buyer” for the Etsy Handmade Blog, so go check out some fun, unique, handmade goodies that I’ve found over on Etsy, and get a head start on your holiday shopping. Here’s one of the featured items:

My Article for the Etsy.com Handmade Blog.

So yeah! Neat, huh? I’ll be back early next week with a brand new recipe for you all, and the winners of the apple butter contest. Enjoy your weekend, and happy cooking!

The ever-awesome VegNews has nominated me for their 2008 VegNews Veggie Awards! Thanks, guys! Unlike the Bloggy Awards, the Veggie Awards are decided by readers.  That means you!

If you like VeganYumYum, go ahead and vote for me! If you complete at least 50% of the survey (read: you don’t have to take the whole thing to vote for me), you can be eligible for some awesome prizes, the grand prize being a NYC veggie getaway–including airfare!

So vote for me and possibly win cool prizes! Yay voting!

In other news, do you have Twitter? I do! If you’re wondering what I’m eating, or when I’m going to post my next update, or if you want to see sneak peeks of my upcoming posts, you should follow me on Twitter.com. If you don’t want to join up for Twitter, you can always see my current status by checking the right-hand column of my website.

I’m going to get back to playing with these awesome red currants I picked up at Whole Foods the other day.  I’m thinking rosemary, figs, and black peppercorns as my flavor palate.   I don’t know, the final dish could be gross, but they sure do look pretty together, don’t they?

PS – You can grab the large or original size of this photo over on flickr if you’re looking for a new desktop background.   : )

Here’s the clip for those who missed the show. Can you tell how nervous I was? Enjoy!

Martha Stewart has invited me to be a guest on her knitwear show on February 25th! I’ll be teaching how to make the decorations for the knit night cupcakes I made back in June.

I’m really excited (and really nervous!) but I’m sure it will be a blast. Don’t forget to tune in to the Martha Stewart Show at 10 am on Monday, February 25th!

I’ve got to get back to preparing for the show. I’m up to my eyebrows in marzipan! I leave for New York tomorrow, so there won’t be any blog updates until late this week. Wish me luck!

This week my publisher and I had some disagreements we could not work out. The result is I will not be publishing with Herbivore, and therefore the book will not be available for the holidays like I had so hoped it would be.

I cannot tell you how sorry I am that the book is going to be delayed. I’m super upset that this didn’t work out; this wasn’t an easy decision for me to make since I want my book published as much as anyone. To have it happen this late in the game is especially depressing.

You all have been such wonderful supporters of me, and I can’t thank you enough for that. Without you there wouldn’t be a book at all. Rest assured that I am actively searching out a new publisher, and I will work as hard as I can to get the book out as soon as possible.

The kicker is that this especially affects the people who have already pre-ordered a book–the very people who are most excited to about it. If you’re one of those people I can do nothing but offer my utmost apologies, and assure you that you will be refunded 100%.

If you purchased a book, Herbivore will refund you automatically. You do not need to contact them in order to receive your refund.

Again, I’m really, really sorry about all this. Believe me when I say I’m trying my best to get the book back on track.

I will be at the Boston Vegetarian Festival on October 20th, giving out free stuff! Come and say hello, and I’ll give you a FREE mini-cookbook which is 12 pages long and features three recipes from my upcoming book. There will also be free buttons and stickers for the masses. I’d love love love to meet you and give you fun, free stuff!

Look for me at/next to the Herbivore table! I will be the short-haired blonde woman looking slightly embarrassed and smiling nervously.

You should also come to the festival to get a copy of Isa and Terry’s new book, Veganomicon. I was a tester for this book, and it’s totally awesome. Everyone needs a copy of it. Last I checked, everyone includes you, so get your butt to the festival!

I really hope to see you there! It would be so neat to meet you.

Oh, I also just updated my About page–it now contains information about my book and links to other places on the internet that mention me, my recipes, or my book. That part is mostly for my mom, though. Have a good weekend!

Well hello there!

I do apologize for my absence, but I have a good excuse. I’ve finished the manuscript for my cookbook! We hope to have the book available for pre-order November 1st, and to start shipping December 1st. Hooray!

This also means I’ll be able to focus on the blog again. To celebrate all this wonderful news, I thought I’d share a recipe that will be in the book. Who doesn’t like blueberry waffles?

These waffles are great, but I especially like making waffles because they freeze so well. Having a waffle just out of the iron is a wonderful experience, but for me, it’s equally as wonderful to be able to go from sleepy pillow-creased face to homemade waffle breakfast in less than five minutes, just by popping some frozen waffles in the toaster.

When I created this recipe I was out of maple syrup, so I concocted a lemon icing to go with the waffles. It’s a super tasty way to enjoy them, but you can never go wrong with maple syrup in my opinion.

Edited to add: These work as pancakes, too! Thanks for reminding me, Esme!

Fresh Blueberry Waffles with Lemon Icing
Makes 10 Waffles

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Tbs Sugar

1 Container Blueberry Soy Yogurt (Scant 2/3 Cup)
1 1/3 Cup Soy Milk
5 Tbs Water
1/3 Cup Oil

1 Cup Fresh Blueberries (*see note about using frozen)
Spray Oil for the waffle iron

*If using frozen blueberries, keep them in the freezer until the last second. Reserve 1-2 Tbs of your dry mixture. When you’re ready to add the blueberries, take them out of the freezer, measure them and mix them with the reserved dry mixture. Then fold them into your mixed batter in NO MORE than three (3!!) folds. This will prevent your batter from turning a gray-purple color.

Preheat your waffle iron.

Mix all the dry ingredients together well with a whisk. In another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together. Combine wet and dry, then gently fold in berries.

Spray your waffle iron with a little bit of oil and make a test waffle. In my waffle maker, 1/2 cup of batter is perfect for a single waffle, and they cook for 10 minutes. Follow the instructions or your preferred directions for your waffle maker. This recipe makes 10 waffles if each waffle uses 1/2 cup of batter.

Lemon Icing
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Lemon Juice
Zest of 1/2 Lemon
2-4 Tbs Soy Milk

Mix in a blender until smooth. You can do it without a blender if you feel like sifting your powdered sugar to make sure there are no lumps.

It’s really a shame about summer being so hot. All of this wonderful produce available–my refrigerator is bursting at the bolts with our CSA veggies–and no desire to cook! The thought of turning a gas burner on makes me wince, and I’d rather just pretend I don’t own an oven.

We’ve been getting particularly beautiful tomatoes from Red Fire Farm. I have a confession, though. I’m not a huge fan of raw tomatoes. I tend to eat around them. They get picked out of sandwiches halfway through and blatantly ignored in salads. I discovered that cooking them, even just slightly, makes a world of difference.

I LOVE slightly cooked tomatoes! They are the perfect sandwich filler.

And slightly cooked anything is good in this heat. This is a light, summery sandwich I made for lunch. It’s quick, easy, tasty, and takes advantage of the enormous amounts of summer tomatoes and basil we have at our disposal. I’ve spread the sourdough with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, which is really one of the best vegan cheese products out there.

Tomato Basil Sandwiches
Makes 1 Sammich

2-3 Roma Tomatoes, sliced lengthwise 1/4″ thick
1 Generous Pinch Salt
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1-2 Pinches Dried Italian Herbs
1 Splash Balsamic Vinegar

2 Slices Sourdough
Tofutti Cream Cheese
4-5 Basil Leaves
Black Pepper

Heat a skillet over medium heat with oil and herbs. Once hot, add tomatoes in one layer. Give the pan a little shake and flip the tomatoes about. Add salt. Once they are beginning to soften, but not falling apart, add a splash of balsamic vinegar while shaking the pan. Turn off heat. This process should only take a few minutes.

Spread your bread with tofutti, add chopped basil and pepper. Place tomatoes on top of that. Grill sandwich with a weight on top. If you’re not grilling, simply toast the bread first, then add tofutti and tomatoes. Enjoy! I’m going to go clean out my freezer so I can crawl inside it.

PS – I’m incredibly flattered to have been nominated in the 2007 VegNews Veggie Awards!! If you’re feeling so inclined, pop over and vote for me in the food blog category. Thanks!!

I’m getting really excited about my upcoming cookbook. Herbivore will be publishing it, which is fantastic, and we hope to have it in people’s hands by November 15th of this year. You will be able to order it direct from Herbivore, on Amazon, and a few other places as well.

It’s going to be great!

Here’s a sneak peek of some of the recipes that will be in the book:

Sheera – An Indian Cream of Wheat

Aloo Matar

Delicata Squash stuffed with Cherry Almond Apple Couscous

Sugar and Spice Snap Peas

Velvety Vegetable Soup

Strawberry Rambutan Boba Tea

I’m really happy about all the recipes so far, but I must say, I’m a little overly excited about the boba tea. All the commercially available mixes I’ve found are not vegan (they contain “non-dairy” creamers contianing, you guessed it, dairy). I’ve figured out a way to make a boba tea powder you can mix up at home in bulk. Yippee! Boba tea for everyone!

I also wanted to give a quick shout-out to my 70+ testers who are helping me make sure the recipes work. You guys rock, I wouldn’t be able to do this without you! Thanks!