The Dazzle Dry formula is also Vegan and Non-Toxic.

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If you want to have a totally handmade holiday, now is the time to get started. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be posting about recycled gifts and giftwrap you can make yourself and great handmade finds for sale!

When my pal Jes from Cupcake Punk posted about making her own apple butter, I just new this was the perfect holiday food gift! We’re all about mason jars full of tasty treats around the holidays, and you know we’re into canning around here, so this seemed just perfect! Not only is apple butter a crowd pleaser, but since apples are in season right now, you can probably find local ones pretty easily!

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While I’ve yet to be convinced that National Sandwich Day wasn’t created to sell more sliced bread, the holiday is still a good excuse to make a sandwich for dinner tonight - or any night for that matter. Sandwiches can be much more than your basic peanut butter and jelly. When done right, a sandwich can be a simple, healthy, and elegant meal.

Here are my top sandwich choices from the Eat.Drink.Better archive:

• Meatless Monday: 8 Meat-Free Sandwich Ideas

• Meatless Monday: Berry Compote, Tofu Pesto Sandwiches, and Pasta With Chickpeas

• A Beefy (yet Beefless) Burger with Black Beans

For more ideas, visit:

• Smitten Kitchen’s Sandwich Archive

• Sandwiches, from Vietnam to South Carolina

• Scanwiches

To test your sandwich knowledge, take this quiz.

(Image courtesy of andso at flickr under a Creative Commons license)

Fall crops – from butternuts to beets – require taking out the big sharp knives, the cutting boards, and usually can’t go from garden to plate in ten minutes or less. (Case in point: the yummy, yet rather complex, Beet Burger recipe I wrote about last week). But there’s a reason for that: these types of fall vegetables are meant to store and be savored through the winter months, particularly here in through our Wisconsin winters. Tougher skins and harder insides hold up to seasonal and local eating booty through our lean Midwest growing months, providing the opportunity to still eat fresh year round.

Consider this Roasted Root Vegetable recipe my point of entry into the winter cooking season. Cooked in olive oil with some simple seasonings, this recipe showcases the distinct, hearty flavors of root vegetables. Potato recipes get temporarily bumped off the breakfast plate at Inn Serendipity this time of year as this flavorful, unusual recipe prompts folks to rethink their assumptions about rutabagas and other roots.

Roasted Root Vegetables (Vegan)

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Do you know about PhytoEstrogens?  PhytoEstrogens are called “dietary estrogens“, because they come from food sources, such as soybeans. They are often promoted for consumption in menopausal women for bone density, but there is concern that over exposure to PhytoEstrogens increases the risk of breast cancer and causes fertility issues.  Original Sprout explains:

Working as estrogen mimics, phytoestrogens may either have the same effects as estrogen or block estrogen’s effects. Which effect the phytoestrogen produces can depend on the dose of the phytoestrogen. The phytoestrogen can act like estrogen at low doses but block estrogen at high doses. Estrogen activates a family of proteins called estrogen receptors. Recent studies have shown that phytoestrogens interact more with some members of the estrogen receptor family, but more information is needed about how these receptors work, especially in breast cancer. Finally, phytoestrogens acting as estrogen mimics may affect the production and/or the breakdown of estrogen by the body, as well as the levels of estrogen carried in the bloodstream.

Phytoestrogens - acting differently from estrogen - may affect communication pathways between cells, prevent the formation of blood vessels to tumors or alter processes involved in the processing of DNA for cell multiplication. Which of these effects occur is unknown. It is very possible that more than one of them may be working. Also, the effects in various parts of the body may be different. from Phytoestrogens and Breast Cancer.

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Going Meatless on Mondays doesn’t have to mean deprivation of all your favorite foods. By making some simple changes to recipes, you can easily swap out the animal products for vegan options. Here is a simple veganized muffin recipe, so you can start your Meatless Monday off with delicious, healthy, energizing and decadent baked good.

Tibetan Goji Berries are regarded in Tibet as the “Fruit of Longevity and Well Being”. Goji berries have been traditionally regarded as a food that offers your body longevity, strength-building, and sexual potency. Goji’s are a complete protein source and a low calorie snack that strengthens your immune system, increases energy and helps to curb cravings. It has one of the highest antioxidant contents in all food, which helps to fight free radicals, keeping you young and vibrant. Goji’s contain 18 amino acids, vitamin C, beta-carotene, 20 rare trace minerals, vitamin B1, B2 and B6 and vitamin E.

In honor of this Meatless Monday, let’s boost our energy, keep ourselves looking and feeling young and chow down on some delicious vegan, anti-aging muffins.

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A couple of weeks ago, Rachel did an awesome writeup of wine pairings for vegetarian meals. Why not really get your veg on and make sure your wine pairing is vegetarian, too?

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If you are thinking about going vegetarian, here is a list of things that should help you to actually do it,… and to stick to it once you’ve started.

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I am calling this “Homemade Indian Yum Yum” because it is full of spices often used in India, but it isn’t actually based on any specific Indian dish.

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After six weeks of grueling, scientific research, here is my favorite flavor and the runner-up:

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This is going to be the last week for this challenge. Next week, I’ll do a wrap up and pick a favorite!

While staring at the frozen foods, I realized that despite reviewing vegan ice creams for weeks and weeks, I’d somehow managed to not pick a soy-based brand the entire time! Let’s be honest here: part of that was intentional. I’m not a fan of that soy aftertaste, especially in desserts. Still, in the name of science, it felt like the right thing to do, so I grabbed a pint of Soy Delicious green tea ice cream. This is a soy-based brand made by Turtle Mountain: the same folks who produce the Purely Decadent coconut-based ice creams. It’s gluten free and the label touts that it’s “fruit sweetened.” Here’s how it stacked up:

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If you are starting to feel inspired to create some simple, affordable, tasty meals from locally available seasonal food, but are a bit clueless how to begin, Lisa Jervis‘ new book, Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating, may provide just the help that you need.

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This week’s pick was a suggestion from my pal Rachael who works at the local co-op. It turns out they carry Living Harvest’s Tempt, a hemp-based ice cream. Hemp! I was pretty excited to try this one. Hemp is really excellent for you. It’s packed with essential fatty acids and all nine amino acids. On top of the superfood base, this ice cream is soy- and gluten- free, too! I felt pretty good about myself when I picked out a pint of chocolate fudge Tempt and served up a generous bowl after dinner. So what’s the scoop?

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This substitute is made from almonds and cashews, so its out for those with nut allergies.  I feel blessed that among all our food issues, nuts do not pose an issue (I don’t know what we’d do if my GF girl couldn’t have peanut butter or almond butter, she eats it by the spoonful!). Some of our favorite uses for MimicCreme are ice cream, french toast and cream of mushroom soup.

Here’s our favorite recipe made with MimicCreme (adapted from an Alton Brown recipe):

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This week I tried Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss, another coconut-based ice cream, on a suggestion from commenter Hungry Hungry Veganos. Coconut Bliss is soy- and gluten-free, and they use some fair trade ingredients. We used to get coconut ice cream from time to time when I was growing up, so feeling a bit nostalgic, I picked up a pint of their Naked Coconut variety to try it out.

So, let’s see how it stacks up!

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Homemade Mocha Espresso Frozen Blended Drink

Place in blender:

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 Grains and beans are a truly remarkable way to add protein to a meat and dairy free diet. Quinoa (pictured in a field above) has nine grams of protein. Tempeh is a vegan food that has 41 grams of protein in a cup. Sometimes it is made from cultured organic soybeans, water, organic barley, organic brown rice, and organic millet, like this lightlife tempeh. Here are more grain facts:

• Quinoa (shown growing in the image above) has 9 grams of protein
• Bulgur, cooked into cup has 6
• Brown rice, cooked into a cup has 5

Sunflower seeds make great additions to salads. 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds (pictured below) has six grams of protein.

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Do you ever have an insatiable craving for a delicious, summery burger — but don’t want the autolyzed yeast extract and soy protein isolates contained in many commercial veggie patties? There’s no need to go without!  You can make your own grain-free version using just a handful of healthy ingredients. Organic french lentils and fresh portobello mushrooms combine to make a nutritious, mouthwatering vegan burger.

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