Vegan Mofo is Coming, and I Signed Up!!

Mouthwatering vegan for sure!

I made another recipe from Mouthwatering Vegan. It's a dish I had never heard of, called Tava. According to the description, Tava is a traditional Greek lamb(no) recipe. Well, in this vegan version no one has to be killed for a delicious, hearty dinner. It's basically potatoes, thick slices of tomato, and onion baked with some herbs, veggie stock, and lemon juice. The recipe called for cutting strips of a vegan burger to substitute for the lamb, but I had half a block of tofu that I needed to use, so I cut that into strips. The tofu really soaked up all the juices and became toothsome and delicious. I served mine over some Orzo pasta, and it tasted like summer. I am really loving this book. I need to pry myself away from it so I can make some recipes from my other library books!
I also attempted to make a gluten free, vegan chocolate cake using this recipe. It's okay. I feel like baking is where gluten free is a struggle, at least for me. I've tried a few gluten free cookie and cake recipes, and they just are always a little off. There;s something about the texture of this cake that just doesn't please my tongue, and also I can very faintly taste beans. I don't want to taste beans in my desserts.

The frosting is the best part.

I think from now on I'll leave the gluten free baking up to the professionals, and stick with vegan baking the traditional way. The frosting is really a ganache I made with some vegan white chocolate chips, and a little coconut oil. It really is the best part!
In scarier news, I signed up for Vegan Mofo this year! It's my firs one. Last year I had really just started blogging, and I didn't feel ready. I don't know if I'm ready this year, but I;m going for it. I've learned sometimes you have to jump off that ledge of fear. As I've been reflecting on my life, I can see how many times I've let fear stand in my way. I look so forward to Mofo each year, and I really can't believe I'm going to be partaking! They are doing it a little bit different this year. You can Mofo with twitter, instagram, YouTube, and whatever other platforms exist. They also are having Prompts for each day, such as "veganize a restaurant dish", "recreate a favorite childhood dish", and so on and so forth for thirty days. You get an E-mail reminder of the prompts. I was really looking forward to having a theme that I thought of, but this could be fun too. The rebel in me wants to do it my way of course, but I will try to be well behaved, and follow the prompts. This way is just forcing me to plan ahead a little, not be so spontaneous. Some of the prompts definitely require a little thought. I feel like there has been so much positive attention in the media regarding the vegan or plant based lifestyle, so we have some momentum. It's a really great time to get some more attention, and focus on how amazing vegan food can be! Are you participating in Vegan Mofo this year? If not, are you excited for all the blog reading?