March 6, 2022
So they may look more like seals than any Easter-y animal, but they are Vegan Peeps. Using my recipe from last year–which made quite the impression on my Mom, prompting the special birthday request–I made these beauties. If you want the recipe, see the aforementioned link. If you just want Read more…
March 19, 2021
Easter candy was always my favorite. Maybe because my Mom made the best Easter baskets. It was the Cadbury Eggs, which I veganized last year, and Peeps that were my absolute favorite. I knew I’d have to tackle an attempt to recreate these very special treats at some point. Traveling Read more…
September 25, 2020
The next V.V. Nostalgic Classic would be the Charleston Chew, a childhood favorite deep-seeded in my memory–like all of my V.V. Nostalgic Classics (new tag!) Like those other treats, the texture and taste has remained vivid for decades. But more importantly, the associations and related details also pour back. I Read more…
April 4, 2020
I promise I won’t go on and on about how I used to love these when I was a kid, and blah blah blah. Just understand that I do not embark upon such involved recipes for any other reason. But these nostalgic treats are one I’ve wanted to try for Read more…
March 23, 2020
A long time ago when the Earth was green, I tried to veganize one of my most favorite childhood snacks… The Scooter Pie. Oh but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now, to quote my favorite Dylan song. And I really got a handle on making Read more…
March 21, 2020
So when I make marshmallow, I go hard. Because a batch makes a ton–and it better given how labor intensive it is–I had three simultaneous sweet treats going on at once. Marshmallow for my scooter pies (forthcoming as I’ve yet to coat them in chocolate), marshmallow for my s’mores cupcake, Read more…
January 24, 2020
Though I was more a Yankee Doodle dandy, Drake’s being my choice in snack cakes as a child, Little Debbie holds a special place in my heart for her hexagonal twin cakes. The waxy white chocolate giving way to creme-filled yellow layers—pure nostalgia. And now, a vegan version here, from Read more…
April 20, 2019
Easter is like Christmas but with pastels! Well, in a secular sense… Easter used to be one of my favorite holidays as a child. For one, my Mom made thee best easter baskets for us, including two of my all-time favorite confections: Cadbury Cream Eggs and Peeps. She also made Read more…
December 25, 2018
I always bring cake. But this Christmas, I wanted to try a classic, kitschy Americana dish–Ambrosia. But I wanted to do it right. I made sour cream and marshmallow fluff from scratch and followed the traditional additions. I don’t know that my family will be up for the kitsch, sooo Read more…
December 17, 2018
Boy, I’ve been wanting to veganize these for a really long time. Now that I have a pretty reliable marshmallow recipe, this is just the beginning. I’m coming for you, all marshmallow treats… which I suppose isn’t all that many. 😬 Ok, let’s get started. Vegan Marshmallows E Q U I Read more…
June 23, 2018
Rainbow Cookies are one of my favorite sweet treats to make. And’ve come a long way since my first attempt in 2009. I used this wonderful recipe adaptation to make this 6-layer version in celebration of Gay Pride. On the food coloring front, I tried Chefmaster Liqua-Gel food coloring (confirmed vegan on Read more…
March 25, 2018
In my youth, I had a thing for opaque white confections… marshmallow, nougat… To me, these were decadent treats far more alluring than chocolate and the multitude of brightly colored forms of cooked sugar. I knew them by brand names. Marshmallow Fluff and Charleston Chew (Not frozen, unless I’m at Read more…
July 31, 2016
After updating this site’s F.A.Q., I decided I needed to veganize Combos, since no one else had. Much like meat ravioli, this is an untapped market in the vegan world. Using a recipe for hard pretzels and a non-vegan homemade vegan attempt from the world wide web ( here and here ), Read more…
July 12, 2016
I’ve written about these cookies before, a cookie so ingrained in my memory that I can still vividly experience them. From the shuffling through the brown paper grocery bag, as tall as me, in the backseat of my mother’s car to find and be the first to open them; to opening Read more…
September 5, 2015
Cereal was a huge part of my childhood. My siblings and I would race down to the kitchen in the morning to get the “fat spoon” (really the lone soup spoon with the bunch of teaspoons) and eat refill after refill of bright, colorful sugary cereals—mixing them, adding more sugar Read more…
September 7, 2014
In the middle of Back to School chaos, these easy treats are a welcome break. Sure, they’re for my nieces and nephew, but I am going to enjoy a sample of each step, each ingredient. Ingredient 1: Dandies from Chicago Vegan Foods. Ingredient 2, Step 1: Melting the Earth Balance. I’ve Read more…
May 25, 2014
I used to check Sassy out at the library when I was a little girl. I eventually started a subscription once I got a checking account, which was the only way I could pay for mail order records. The magazine had a page at the end called “Eat This,” where musicians or other Read more…
March 3, 2014
I love long Sundays in the kitchen. The afternoon sun streaming in… making a mess… licking the spoon… It’s the best part of the week. Today’s epic recipe, a version of this: Vegan Vanilla Ding Dongs Real ‘black tar’ vanilla bean Very vanilla sheet cake. I could have put this Read more…
July 1, 2013
I’ve always wanted to try the vegan recipe for Swiss Fudge Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. The Stella Doro ones were a favorite of mine when I was a kid. The PPK calls them Starry Fudge Shortbread cookies. The recipe is a bit involved, the kind of cookie recipe you don’t really want to spend your Read more…
November 28, 2010
Deep-fried vegan Twinkies. Deep-fried vegan chocolate bars. Deep-fried vegan cupcakes {not pictured, eaten too soon} The Electrician and his dedicated fryer crisped up a slew of vegan goodies for Deep Fryday, proving that vegans can be greasy and gluttonous too. In my quest to never sacrifice for my eating ethics, Read more…
March 29, 2010
Do you remember these packaged cookies? I sure do. I loved them as a child. My mom used to bring them home from her job. I devoured them slowly, breaking off portions of each of the three cookies’ circumferences. I placed each piece on my tongue, like communion. Years later I Read more…
February 22, 2010
Tall Guy recently hosted a hungry bunch for brunch. Though the theme of this event took on a life of its own, the delicious offerings of food and beverage were the constant. My offering was the pineapple upside-down cake from Vegan Table. This moist and sweet cake’s sugary drippings oozed Read more…
August 24, 2009
Me and my vegan Twinkies… and stained spouse-sweeper, Confederate-inspired belt buckle and undersized jeans. Plenty of cheap beer was a necessity. Here is an extra large “Danish Lager Beer” Southern fried tofu from FoodSparrow with a veganaise aioli. CandyPenny chomping on my Red Lobster bun Tator tots and smart dog Read more…
August 22, 2009
Tapping into my inner low-brow for a White Trash Dinner extravaganza, I kicked up the zing on some vegan Twinkies by piping them with Southern Comfort-infused buttercream! My oh my, how I love me a themed dinner party. With friends busting out the denim cut-offs and mesh hats, crafting appropriate Read more…
August 21, 2009
Had I not wanted to allow for internet searchers to easily find these vegan Red Lobster cheese and garlic biscuits, I would have called these my “Holy Sh*t Motherscratcher Ever-Lovin’ Biscuits”… or some such name that adequately expresses my great excitement about them. Many, like me, have fond memories of Read more…
June 11, 2008
After this recipe incubated in my “inbox” for weeks, it was time to put my unemployed hours to greater use and get crackin’ on it. This messy cookie assembly required the patience of idle weekday hours and itunes at no one-in-my-building-is-home levels. The culmination: a king-sized, slightly fatter vegan version Read more…