If you’re anything like me, you usually start thinking about what you might make for the Fourth of July about two or three weeks ahead of time, and then a day or two before you are solidifying on paper what you really plan to make. This year I plan on relying on old favorites, plus [...] No related posts. Visit NovelEats.com for the rest of this delicious post. Read Full Story

Last month, Matt and I went to California and Oregon to visit family and friends for a much needed two-week vacation. We often wait months and months, me saving up vacation days at work, before going away for an extended amount of time. By the time our vacation has arrived we’re both about to go [...] Related posts:Quinoa with Turnip Greens and Toasted Almonds, and Creamed Turnips Visit NovelEats.com for the rest of this delicious post. Read Full Story

This past weekend Matt, a couple of friends and I went and saw Food, Inc., a film hoping to expose the inner workings and flaws of the food industry. It featured advocates like Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and Joel Salatin, a farmer who runs Polyface Farms in Virginia. No related posts. Visit NovelEats.com for the rest of this delicious post. Read Full Story

A few days ago when I was going through all of my old recipe posts and tagging each with the appropriate ingredients, I soon realized that there was a little bit of a trend going on that I had not really noticed before. I have thought for most of my life that I am not a big one for sweets, but after tagging many of my recipes with the ingredient “sugar”, I realized that I do indeed have a sweet tooth. If anyone has this concept in their minds that a vegan diet is healthy, all they need to do ... Read Full Story

I am so excited to finally share with you the new and improved look for NovelEats.com. This redesign has been a process that has been nearly a year in the making. It started out as a project that I thought would take only days or weeks, but as I soon discovered, things don't always work that way. Luckily for me, I married a technically savvy and resourceful guru who was finally able to figure out a few days ago how to get the content (blog posts and comments) over from my old blog platform, ... Read Full Story

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers. I love it when I see a new Daring Bakers challenge that allows for easy veganizing and gives me a chance to try something truly new. This month's challenge was all about the phyllo dough – you know, that paper-thin (or thinner than paper-thin)... Read Full Story

This is yet another post in my series of how to save money in the kitchen. I haven't priced out how much this costs this time, because this is more about making do with what you have. If you have these few ingredients on hand or others (like grapes or other berries of some kind), it can be very inexpensive to make. Cheers! Last weekend was our first official hot weekend of Spring. It was the kind of weekend where the air was sticky and warm, and where we wished that we had gone ahead and p... Read Full Story

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. As you may know, I've made vegan cheesecake a few times. Every time I've made cheesecake, however, I have never made my own crust. This month's Daring Baker's challenge has given me the motivation and opportunity to make my own crust, which I think turned out great. Related posts:Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate CheesecakeVegan Chocolate CheesecakeVegan Cheesecake Pops ... Read Full Story

I'm not a big fan of winters here in the North East. Unless it snows, it seems kind of pointless to me to have it dip down well below freezing every day, and the process of bundling up is time-consuming. So you can well imagine that I'm so glad that Spring is here. We still get a few chilly days now and then, which means that hot soups are still in season. No related posts. Read Full Story

When we moved into our new apartment we gained a display case for knick knacks, so for the first time in my marriage or our relationship, I broke out The Collection. I'd never really had a good way to display my various rabbits until now – sure I had placed a few pieces here and there. But my husband really had no idea that I was “one of those” until a few weeks ago. You know, like the guy with hubcaps all over his yard or that lady with the zillion Christmas trees all over her house. I'm ... Read Full Story