Six days after my thirty-sixth birthday, I was up before dawn to drink coffee and settle in to my day of work in my pajamas, like I did every morning. Thirty-five was the year I tried to find a new job but didn’t. Thirty-five was the year most of my friends moved to other cities all over the world. Thirty-five was the year we tried to have a baby but didn’t. But thirty-five was also the year we threw ourselves into an ambitious project that was getting more attention than I had ever imagined possible.
Our little blog had been featured in Maclean’s and on Jezebel.com and a bunch of other websites. The Virginian-Pilot had even done a human-interest story about us that was on the cover of the food section. We were getting emails from literary agents and publishers who wanted to work with us. I kept hearing that things in our lives were about to change… but yet there I was, up before dawn, sitting down at my computer to watch hours of horrific animal-abuse footage online and trying to track down the IP addresses of the people who uploaded it so I could pester YouTube and the proper authorities and hopefully bring people to justice.
My career as an activist was a far cry from where it had been a few years previously, when I traveled around the world advocating for fur-free fashion. I went to New York, Paris, and London for Fashion Weeks and worked with celebrities and famous designers. I wore nice clothes! But I’d traded in those days for domestic bliss with the love of my life and my best friend—and a new job that was decidedly less glamorous. It was hard watching my friends and former peers in the movement moving past me professionally, but in the end I knew that I was truly happy for the first time in my life.
This brings us back to my life as an online cruelty caseworker… but first I needed to type up “Come & Get It! Our Top 15 Favorite Vegan Recipes for Picnic & BBQ Season!” for the blog. Dan had already left for work at his own busy, important, glamorous job in the animal rights movement—and it was just me and the cats, writing our blog post for the day. If it were any other day, this would be the best half hour I’d have until Dan came home that night. But it wasn’t any other day.
On May 27, 2011, I logged on to Blogger and noticed that five thousand people had visited our blog that morning. That wasn’t that weird for us… after we’d posted for the day and we had our lunchtime traffic rush. But it was really early, and the little bar on our analytics page was still rising. So I followed the link back to where all this traffic was coming from.
There we were, listed second in the “What We’re Reading” section of the New York Times Diner’s Journal blog. The next half hour is still a little bit of a blur. I know I sent Dan an email and asked him to log on to chat. Then I believe our chat went like this:
DAN: Good morning!
ME: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/- what-were-reading-192/
DAN: Holy s--t!
From there, a lot of things happened quickly. We got connected with a lovely, amazing literary agent. She hooked us up with a clever, supportive publisher. We signed a book deal. I quit my job. And just like that, I was a Really Real Professional Writer Person, working on a cookbook that was going to help make it easier for people to become and stay vegan. This was the career I always wanted—something that made the world a better place for animals, didn’t give me nightmares or break my heart every day, and made me feel like I had something unique and valuable to contribute to the world. And I didn’t have to give up finally being happy to get it.
But even before all this, being inspired by the icon that is Betty Crocker did more than just give me a creative outlet. It gave me a way to explore and share with the world more than twenty years of vegan cooking, culinary adventures, and experiments. I wasn’t classically trained in Paris like Julia Child. Dan and I were just two normal people who are madly in love and who started an ambitious cooking project while working demanding full-time jobs and had a test kitchen about the size of a bathtub. We aren’t millionaires, and we have only so much room in our fridge and pantry—so we have to shop and cook smart. You’re probably no different.
You don’t want to invest a lot of time and money hunting down rare and exotic ingredients, and then use them only once. This book uses a lot of the same ingredients for a wide variety of recipes, so if you’re newly vegan and investing in these products for the first time, you’ll end up with a fully functioning pantry, rather than a kitchen cluttered with one-hit wonders. This chapter highlights some of the basic ingredients and tools every person who wants to cook like Betty Crocker needs to not just make the recipes in this book, but also quickly whip up any creative five-course vegan meal.
These are some of the basic ingredients you’ll be using; others can be found in “A Field Guide to Mock Meats” here, “The Evolution of Vegan Cheese” here, “Egg Replacers” here, “Thanksgiving” here, and a few other spots throughout the book.
If you’re not fortunate enough to live near a Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, or decent health food store, you can always order these things online. Oftentimes you can even buy them in bulk and save on shipping. It’s also nice to support local vegan businesses, such as Food Fight! in Portland, Oregon, and Pangea Vegan Store in Rockville, Maryland, so Google their websites if you need to order any of these ingredients online.
All the ingredients we use in this book are, of course, vegan. But there are two things to keep in mind. One: some products come in different varieties, like Bisquick mix; there are vegan and nonvegan versions; we obviously recommend using the vegan versions. Two: sometimes products change their formulations, and something that used to be vegan isn’t anymore. The day that happens is a tragic day. So just make sure to double-check the label if you’re buying something for the first time.
Agar-Agar I hesitate to tell you that this wonder-product is made from seaweed—but it is. So if you’re worried I’m pushing Frankenfoods on you, well, this one isn’t one of them. It’s a vegan “gelatin” that, once you get the hang of it, will make you believe in miracles.
Agave Nectar I’ll be the first to admit that one of the most frustrating parts of being vegan is trying to make products with weird and icky names sound as delicious as they are (read: Tofurky). Agave nectar is not one of those. To me, agave nectar sounds like something British hummingbirds enjoy with their tea. This natural sweetener actually comes from Mexican cacti and is one of our favorite ways to replace both honey and sugar.
Almond Milk I love it in coffee, smoothies, and baked goods. It’s not as easy to bake with and doesn’t behave quite like soy milk, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a great way to diversify your diet.
Applesauce Whether you love chickens or you’re just trying to eat healthier, replacing eggs with applesauce is a great way to do both. We use it in our recipes as much as possible because it’s an ingredient you can find in every grocery store. Heck, you can find it at some gas stations. So no matter where you live, vegan baking is possible.
Arrowroot This might sound like something from a witch’s brew, but really it’s a wonderful light powder used for thickening a sauce or for binding in baked goods.
Better Than Bouillon Not all of these bouillons are vegan, but they do have a faux beef and faux chicken broth that are. They also are fat-, MSG-, and GMO-free and contain a third less sodium than other bouillons. We can’t recommend this product enough and suggest you locate a jar of it as soon as you finish reading this.
Bisquick Mix Yes, several Bisquick mix varieties are vegan, and they’ll save you time and money. At this point I’m going to refer you to the incredibly well-written story behind Bisquick mix, “We’ve Got a Mix for That,” here.
Bragg’s Liquid Aminos What is this brown number that looks and tastes quite a bit like soy sauce? It’s a liquid protein concentrate, derived from healthy non-GMO soybeans, that contains the sixteen naturally occurring essential and nonessential amino acids. We use it all the time to replace salt and to add a rich “beefy” flavor to soups, sauces, and just about everything. Cows all over the world want you to combine this with liquid smoke and a Gardein veggie burger and serve it to your not-yet-vegan friends and family ASAP.
Coconut Milk Using coconut milk to replace heavy cream is one of the oldest tricks in the vegan-baking playbook and still one of the very best.
Earth Balance There are a lot of vegan “buttery” spreads and shortenings to choose from, but Earth Balance is hands down our favorite. Their margarine is the best, both for baking and on toast. It won’t just make you forget about butter, it’ll make you wonder why it even exists to begin with! For those who are trying to avoid palm oil because of the deforestation and the hunting of orangutans, Earth Balance should not be a problem. Thirty percent of their palm oil comes from Brazil, where orangutans are not native and the Brazilian palm industry does not adversely impact their well-being. The remaining 70 percent of their palm oil comes from peninsular Malaysia, which is also not a native orangutan habitat, from farmers who are all members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). I encourage you to check out their website to learn more about this group, which is working to bring sustainable and animal-friendly farming back into this industry.
Ener-G Egg Replacer This combination of starches and leavening agents can be used instead of eggs to bind your baked goods. We often use it in a recipe in its original powder form, rather than mixing it with water per the instructions on the package.
Flaxseeds They don’t just contain protein and fiber. Flaxseeds are one of the richest sources of alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid that protects against heart disease and stroke. Flaxseeds are also great for replacing eggs in baked goods. You’ll want to buy your flaxseeds whole and grind them into a fine powder in a coffee grinder.
Liquid Smoke Once you’ve had mock meat cooked with liquid smoke, you’ll never go back. Most liquid smoke isn’t a synthetic chemical city; it’s made by liquefying the flavor of real wood smoke using steam.
Miso A lot of us have had it as soup, but it can also make a great sauce or marinade. There are several different kinds. Maybe I’m crazy, but it was fun figuring out which one I like best. Enjoy your taste testing!
Nutritional Yeast This will quickly become one of your favorite pantry items despite its terrible name. These nutty and savory flakes can add a “cheesy” flavor to almost anything and are a great source of B vitamins (something vegans need to make sure we get enough of).
Seaweed or Sea Kelp Dried sea vegetables such as nori, dulse, and wakame have a unique sea-salty flavor or brininess that when added to a sauce, soup, or marinade can help replace seafood in your diet. They’re also excellent sources of iron and vitamin C.
Silk Soy Coffee Creamer This a creamier, thicker version of soy milk that you can use to replace heavier creams when you want to avoid any trace of coconut flavor or when you’re cooking for someone with allergies.
Tahini This sauce is made from ground sesame seeds and has a lovely nutty flavor that you’re going to fall in love with, both as a condiment and as an ingredient.
Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning Julia Child was convinced that she must be secretly French because of her innate love for the food and culture. This is how I feel about Cajun and Creole food. I adore veganizing it all, and although personally I like to create my own spice blends, Tony Chachere’s products offer a way to skip several steps, save a few dollars, and add kick by the teaspoon.
Vegan Worcestershire Sauce Worcestershire sauce is one of the world’s most beloved cooking ingredients, but sadly it contains anchovies in its original form. There are a few fish-free versions of this popular sauce on the market today that you can use in your sauces and stews, including the Wizard’s and Annie’s (no relation).
Vegenaise Invented in the seventies, Vegenaise is one of the founding fathers of vegan products. It can replace mayonnaise in any recipe, sandwich, or burger. I’ve heard a lot of people say that even though they never liked real mayo, they can’t get enough Vegenaise.
This is our collection of all-star kitchen tools that have recurring roles throughout this book, and a few random gadgets you might have been wondering about. We’ve included some tips for how to use and care for some of these old friends. There might even be a few new friends in here that you could give a good home.
Blender I’m pretty sure we all know that blenders liquefy and mix ingredients. They’re the star of any margarita party or fast-paced morning. Every day, my husband makes me a smoothie while he watches The Daily Show from the night before on his laptop. To learn more about this, check out “The Smoothie Renaissance” here. Even the best blenders aren’t terribly expensive and are well worth the money. It’s an investment in a multipurpose tool that can even take the place of a full-fledged food processor.
Bread Knife A bread knife has a serrated blade that’s ideal for cutting through bagels and bread crusts. You’ll get a much cleaner slice with a bread knife than with any other, and you won’t end up shredding your bread or looking at a pile of crumbs when you’re done.
Casserole Dish This covered or uncovered cookware is great for baking and serving food straight from the oven. These dishes can be made of glass or oven-safe ceramics. We have a few different kinds and have used each and every one of them. If you like lasagnas, enchiladas, and macaroni and cheese, you need a casserole dish.
Cast-Iron Grill Pan Imagine a cast-iron skillet with raised ridges to create grill marks on vegetables, tofu, and mock meat. We use ours all the time, and not just because it’s pretty—well, mostly because it’s pretty—but also because unlike those meatier eaters, vegans don’t have to worry about draining saturated fat from their mock meats.
Cast-Iron Skillet We use our cast-iron skillet every day for everything. I’ve used it to make tofu scramble and veggie burgers. I’ve even baked a cake in it. The key is having a well-seasoned skillet; once you reach the point where your foods glide right off, you’ll never go back to those Teflon monstrosities again. A well-seasoned cast-iron pan will only get better with age and will last a lifetime. If you don’t own a cast-iron skillet, it’s well worth the time and money to invest in one. If you’ve had bad experiences with cast-iron skillets in the past, it probably came down to one of two things: you were cooking at a heat that was too high or your skillet wasn’t seasoned yet.
Not sure how to season your skillet? It’s actually a pretty easy, but long-term, project. You’re creating a coating of baked-on oil that will act like a nonstick surface and protect your skillet from getting rusted or messing up your favorite food. Between each use preheat the oven too 400°F, rub a little olive oil on your skillet in a thin coating, and let it soak in a little. If your skillet is glistening, you’ve used too much. Bake your skillet for 5 minutes. Turn your oven off and let your skillet cool in the oven. Do this the first five times you use your skillet. If your skillet smokes, that’s okay. You also might notice that your skillet is discolored, but it will only stay like that until you start using it regularly. The more you use your skillet, the more your seasoning will bake in and create that smooth surface you’re hoping for.
Chef’s Knife There’s a saying that a chef is only as good as her knife. Some prefer a lighter knife that flits through the air like the sword of Inigo Montoya avenging his father. Others like to wield their knives like a Viking pillaging the shores. Which is best for you is something you have to figure out for yourself. What I can tell you is when you stock your kitchen, make sure you have a good chef’s knife. They’re typically around 9 inches long, with a curved side for rocking the blade while you chop. The other side is a flat ridge, so you can place your hand there to guide your cuts or use the dull side to move food around on your cutting board without damaging the blade.
Dutch Oven This huge lidded pot that holds a few quarts of soup will soon become your favorite go-to pot. I won’t bore you to death with the history of Dutch ovens no matter how fascinating I may find it, but I will say this about these modern-day cauldrons: if you take care of them, they will last forever. We have an enameled Dutch oven, which does have some downsides. For example, you shouldn’t use it for deep-frying. But the upside is that you don’t need to season an enameled Dutch oven like you do a cast-iron skillet.
Electric Mixer Once upon a time, I was a woman who randomly fought back against technology. I loved carbonated water, long-lasting lipstick, and flying in airplanes—but when it came to investing in an electric handheld mixer, I never saw the point, especially since I had Dan and a variety of medieval instruments including potato mashers and whisks to blend my frostings, batters, and doughs. Who needed electricity and lightning-fast speed when I had good old-fashioned manpower?
Well, as it turns out, I did. Once I opened our home to this little modern wonder, our lives—and our cupcakes—were forever changed. Our mixer has multiple speeds and attachments and is so versatile I use it for everything. I can’t recommend enough getting one with dough hook attachments. That dough is sticky stuff, and if you use any other attachment, it’ll crawl right up into your little friend and make a huge mess. Baking your own bread can be one of the most gratifying moments in a chef’s life, and this tool will help make that happen!
Flavor Injector This is probably the craziest looking of all the toys. Okay, it’s a giant syringe that might give you nightmares. It’s made for people who aren’t happy just eating meat—they need to inject things into the meat. But I love my reappropriated flavor injector. We originally got it to make our Vegan Fried Eggs (see here), but since then we’ve gotten all Paula Deeny with it and injected marinades into Tofurkys and A.1. steak sauce into veggie burgers. It’s taken our mock meat dishes to a whole new level.
Food Processor I owe my love of food processors to my college roommate Libbe. She had this little handheld number we used to make walnut pesto about once a week. When she moved out and took it with her, I found it hard to go back to prepping things by hand. When I became a proper person with my own kitchen, I invested in a real, grown-up-size food processor and started pureeing and shredding like a crazed food tornado. We made vegan ricotta for manicottis. We shredded potatoes for latkes and hash browns without tearing up our knuckles. We made vegan cheesecakes, all kinds of sauces, and pie fillings. What can’t a food processor do? Algebra. That’s it.
Frosting Gun/Cookie Press Think about all those little clues that give away an amateur chef: cookies that aren’t perfectly smooth and round, cupcakes topped with lopsided clumps of frosting. Investing in a good frosting gun can turn any baked treat into the polished vision that you imagined. It will take practice to get those high peaks of frosting, but in the end you actually get more than just an aesthetic boost to your food. Properly formed cookies bake better, and you’ll be able to do even fancier things, like fill pastries and make your own birthday cake sugar rosettes. If I had to boil it down to two words: game changer.
Graters I’ve had my grater for so long, I’m not sure I can even tell you where it came from. If I had to guess, I’d say our grater is more than ten years old and has lived in St. Louis, Seattle, Atlanta, D.C., Norfolk, and now New York City. I’d also guess that a month hasn’t gone by when I haven’t used it in one way or another for soups, salads, or my personal favorite—grating citrus peel! They call it “zest” for a reason, ya know. We use grated citrus peel a lot and think that once you start, you will too.
Immersion Blender My friend Anjali is a talented chef and incredibly crafty. At her wedding, while we were setting up all the wonderful DIY details she had spent a year perfecting, I heard my fun but sort of quiet friend actually squeal, “Soup!” She had just opened an early wedding present from her sister—an immersion blender. These handy portable blenders liquefy and mix ingredients inside the pot your soup or sauce is cooking in—while it cooks! No more ladling soup into your food processor or blender to puree; fewer mixing bowls and tools to clean. Some of them are powerful enough to grind coffee or chop ingredients such as parsley and garlic. My only word of warning: if your Dutch oven or soup pot is enameled, be careful to not nick or scratch the inside.
Mandoline No, we’re not talking about the little Italian guitar-like instruments you hear on Belle and Sebastian albums. These incredibly sharp and slightly dangerous tools can shred and slice any firm vegetable, fruit, or vegan cheese (or fingers) into uniformly sized and shaped pieces in a ridiculously short amount of time. We love making our own potato chips and recommend investing in a mandoline if you do too.
Paring Knife While the chef’s knife might get all the glory, it’s the brave little paring knife that does a lot of your dirty work. This small knife will core apples, pull seeds out of avocados, cut gross brown spots off potatoes and bananas, and perform all kinds of other mundane but important tasks.
Pastry Blender This crazy thing might look more like a gladiator weapon, but this kitchen tool has probably been around since there were gladiators. You can use this tool to mix solid fat (shortening or margarine) into flour to make batters and dough for breads and pastries. Though many people just use food processors now for this, I really prefer using the handheld pastry blender—there aren’t as many things to clean up afterward.
Pizza Stone If geeky food had a mascot, it would be pizza: “cheesy,” cheap, delivered to your door or pulled out of the freezer. You’d be hard-pressed to find a food that requires less interaction with other people and yet provides so much deliciousness. But whether you’re defrosting a cheat pizza or making one from scratch, you need a pizza stone. This flat piece of stone or ceramic evenly distributes heat to pizzas and other baked goods in a way that mimics those brick or masonry ovens you see in pizzerias. The porous nature of a pizza stone absorbs excess moisture in your dough and gives you a crisp crust—and when you’re dealing with vegan cheese, it’s really important to have your oven as dry as it can be.
Rice Cooker Has there ever been a more polarizing kitchen tool? For some, the stovetop method of 2 cups water to 1 cup rice is so magical that the mere mention of owning a rice cooker is like suggesting you fry doughnuts in a microwave. But there are secret tricks to making perfect stovetop rice, and that alone has been enough to discourage people from even trying. I mean, there’s a whole section of the grocery store full of instant rice so that people don’t have to even attempt the stovetop method. The bad news is that instant rice is pretty processed stuff, and not nearly as good for you as the real thing.
That’s where the rice cooker comes in. It’ll cut down your prep time for a meal by giving you one less step to worry about. Just follow the instructions that come with it, add the correct ratio of water to rice, put the lid on, and flip a switch. It’ll let you know when your rice is done, and if you plan it right, you’ll have fresh rice ready just as your vegetables are tender or your taco shells are crisp.
Silicone Bakeware This miracle bakeware comes in bright, cheery colors; is nonstick without using shortening, oils, or sprays; and is safe for the oven and freezer. Of course nothing is perfect, and you really need to read the instructions that come with it to see how hot your new friends can get and how best to clean them.
Springform Pan This round, deep pan looks more steampunk than June Cleaver and is one of the cleverest little soldiers in our arsenal. It’s made of a disk and a removable ring that clamp together to create your new favorite cheesecake pan. After your dessert has set, just release the side and gently remove it to reveal your masterpiece.
Waffle Iron There are a lot of different waffle irons out there. Some are intended for children’s food and make cute animals and heart shapes. Some are downright ladylike, with their tight hospital corners and little wells for syrup. I can’t stress enough that when it comes to investing in a waffle iron, you need to make sure it has a nonstick surface. It doesn’t just make preparing the waffles easier; it makes cleaning up afterward much faster. It’s up to you to figure out what kind of waffles you want in your life, but trust me when I say this: everyone loves waffles.
Whoopie Pie Pan You don’t need a whoopie pie pan to make whoopie pies, but it helps. Having one of these inexpensive pans will help guarantee that you end up with an even amount of equally sized cookies to build your pies.
Wok Before I fell in love with my cast-iron skillet, there was our faithful wok. Now, that may seem odd, since most people use their woks only for stir-frying. But with a little research, you can find tips on how to use your wok for steaming, deep-frying, braising, stewing, smoking, even making sauces.
But being a superwoman in life and in the kitchen is more than just having the right pans and a shopping list. It’s about finding a sustainable way to live a more compassionate life. That’s why in this book, we have recipes for all skill levels and for a variety of different lifestyles. Some recipes take a lot of prep and maybe a little practice, but most are actually pretty easy and quick. If you can use a blender and boil water, you can make a lot of these recipes. You really can. Just don’t forget the most important part—have fun! Whether you’re going meatless only one day a week or are a lifelong vegan, being vegan doesn’t have to be a chore or involve sacrifice. These recipes will help you enjoy dishes you grew up with while making a lifestyle choice that’s not just better for you but better for the environment and of course the animals.