Many of us are thankful for animals every day and choose not to include them on our plates each day of the year. Around the holidays, however, we are given the extra opportunity to let our compassion shine through via tasty vegan recipes that inspire our loved ones to extend their circle of compassion too.

Green Bean Casserole

One of the nicest (and sneakiest) ways that you can show others how fantastic vegan food is, is to offer to prepare the Thanksgiving meal—or at least some of it. The following are the top five recipe cheats that help to veganize many a traditional holiday dish:

1) Vegetable broth. If your family tends to use chicken stock for everything, vegetable broth is a simple substitution that costs about the same and comes in boxes or cubes and can act just like chicken broth.

2) Vegan margarine is the perfect substitute for cholesterol-laden butter. Just use it exactly the same as you would butter in all your cooking.

3) Plain soy milk. For recipes that call for milk, you can just use the exact same amount of soy milk to replace the milk.

4) Silken tofu. You might not expect your Uncle Bill to enjoy tofu, but hidden inside a pumpkin pie, it just might not seem so scary after all.

5) Just make a vegan green bean casserole. This isn't an ingredient per se, but it is a secret weapon that helps to ensure a magical Thanksgiving dining experience for all. Woo them with this veganized recipe for the classic holiday dish.

For even more ideas on creating your compassionate holiday feast, check out these recipes and also this list of items of more instant versions (like premade gravy) at your local grocery store. Don't forget to include a yummy faux turkey to complete your masterpiece!

Posted by Mylie from PETA Living

The season of eating is rapidly approaching, and if you have a lot of cooking and baking planned this year, make plans now to do something better for animals and your body: Dump the dairy.

Thinking of baking up a batch of cookies for your sweet Aunt Sue? Instead of traditional butter-laden bites, give her the gift of no cholesterol instead! Replacing the dairy in your favorite recipes is easy. There is no fumbling around with complicated concoctions, and you don't need to throw out all your favorite recipes or anything. You just need to clean up their act with a little vegan inspiration:

•Try substituting plain soy milk for recipes that call for milk. You can just use the exact same amount of soymilk to replace the milk that it calls for.

•If it's buttermilk that you need, simply add one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to one cup plain soymilk. The result will be a thicker, sour type soymilk.

•To replace butter, try a healthy nonhydrogenated style spread. Just use it exactly the same as you would butter.

•To replace eggs, you can use things that you might already have on hand, like soft tofu or mashed potatoes. Check out this list of simple egg replacements.

Easy peasy, right? Now that you are ready to veganize your baking, need more inspiration? Search for recipes here!

Posted by Mylie from PETA Living

Watching Chef Tal cook a vegan celery root soup on a recent episode of Oprah reminded me that you don't need heavy cream or milk to give soup a luxurious creamy texture. Cooking vegetables or beans in a broth or water and then blending at a high speed will actually do the trick.

With a hefty bunch of asparagus sitting in my refrigerator over the weekend, I decided to make a cream of asparagus soup.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

You start by sautéing onions and asparagus in vegan margarine, and then you add broth and bring it to a simmer. The next step—blending all the ingredients—is what creates the smooth texture, but I also like to add just a little unsweetened soy milk to make it extra creamy.

A touch of lemon and cayenne in the soup add tartness and spice that help balance out the strong asparagus flavor. And because of that full flavor, I must warn you that this recipe is strictly for asparagus lovers. Enjoy!

Vegan meats have been popping up on menus around the country, even at restaurants that are known for serving dishes with animal ingredients. With so many options out there, we decided to find out which are the best. Today we're bringing you the best vegan meatballs—made from ingredients like tofu or veggies, not the flesh of dead animals—served at restaurants across the U.S. So who has the best? The winner is …

Ike's Place, San Francisco, California: The runners-up come from all corners of the country, but Ike's has the best vegan meatballs in America. For a sandwich shop that isn't even all vegetarian, Ike's has a huge vegan menu, including two vegan meatball favorites: the Vegan Meatless Mike and the Not So Sloppy Ike.

And the runners-up and their winning dishes are:

•The Greenery Raw Food Café, Encinitas, California: Veggie-walnut meatballs served on zucchini noodles with marinara sauce

•Gianna's Grille, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: "Haastile" Meatball Sub, with sautéed onions, green peppers, and mushrooms

•Caravan of Dreams, New York City: "Live Love Boat," featuring savory almond-Brazil nut meatballs served with sliced tomatoes on a Napa cabbage leaf boat with mango chutney and marinara

•Twisted Tree Café, Asbury Park, New Jersey: Baked tofu meatball wrap served with tomato sauce and vegan cheese

•Buddha Hut, Worcester, Massachusetts: Italian meatball soup

•Portobello Vegan Trattoria, Portland, Oregon: Spaghetti and meatballs

•The Breakroom Café, Oakland, California: Homemade vegan meatballs served on a French panini and topped with vegan mozzarella, upon request

•Spiral Diner & Bakery, Dallas, Texas: "Sketti n' Meatballs" made with tasty soy meatballs, served on spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce and topped with pine nuts and pesto

•One World Café, Baltimore, Maryland: Vegan meatball sub sandwich

Did we leave your favorite vegan meatball spot off the list? Tell us about it by leaving a comment below!

To thank PETA's hardworking interns, we often fill them up with free vegan food—lots of free food. With Halloween right around the corner, we decided to thank our current team with a haunting Halloween cupcake party, hosted by Mylie.

Everyone had a chance to decorate their own masterpieces, as you can see here:

Haunting Halloween Cupcakes

To help you host your own cupcake party, I've compiled a few of my favorite recipes for the cake and icing. You can mix and match the cupcakes with different types of icing using these recipes or go the easy route and use store-bought icing.

Cupcakes

•Chocolate Stout

•Basic Vanilla

•Horchata

Icing

•Easy Chocolate

•Creepy 'Cream Cheese'

•Fluffy 'Buttercream'

And if you're in need of decoration inspiration, check out these ghosts, spiders, mummies, and skeletons. Happy Halloween!

Many people, myself included, are guilty of using food as merely a vehicle for condiments. If you're known to use a tablespoonful of ketchup per fry, then, yes, I'm talking about you. One of the most addicting condiments (OK, some say it's more of a sauce) is gravy.

Pan-Seared Seitan With Mushroom Gravy

Mushroom gravy can easily be made using the margarine, vegetables, and herbs that are left over after pan-searing seitan—and this method will result in more flavorful gravy.

The key to getting the gravy right is to make a roux out of margarine and flour, cooking until it begins to brown. Then slowly add vegetable broth and additional seasonings to taste.

The pan-seared seitan is delicious, but the gravy is definitely the star of the show. Enjoy!

I'm not sure where the tradition comes from, but in Louisiana, Mondays are reserved for red beans and rice. The dish is a Creole staple in my home state—and for good reason. The beans are simmered for hours until they reach an almost creamy consistency, and the combination of vegan Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, and a touch of spice gives this simple dish a complex flavor.

Louisiana Red Beans and Rice

The longer you cook your pot of beans, the creamier the outcome, but no matter what consistency you achieve, the beans are perfect served over a heaping scoop of white rice and a big piece of crusty French bread. Enjoy!

Flipping through the pages of a classic by M.F.K. Fisher or James Beard—or even a recent issue of Gourmet—might be an upsetting experience for some vegans. It can be easy to feel left out if you focus more on what you won't eat than what you will—but I don't have that problem.

Immersing myself in the gourmet food world, regardless of whether I'd eat the items mentioned, is always enjoyable, and that's partly because I'm holding out hope that plant-based cuisine will one day be a bigger part of that world. I think that day is finally here.

For the first time ever, a vegan chef will cook an animal-free meal at the James Beard House in New York City.

The James Beard Award
Picasa/Creative Commons

Chef Rich Landau, co-owner and chef of Horizons, a vegan restaurant in Philadelphia, has the honor of creating the first cruelty-free meal at the James Beard House on November 3. Tickets are available to the public and can be ordered online.

James Beard was known for turning American food into a cohesive and gourmet cuisine. Finally, vegan recipes will be recognized as a significant part of it when Chef Landau takes advantage of this prestigious opportunity.

Landau says, "It has always been my mission to create interesting and delicious food that just so happens to be vegan," and I can't wait to see what he cooks up at the culinary mecca. If you are lucky enough to attend the event, please let me know what you think!

Anyone who has a soft spot for sauerkraut, relish, or even kimchi will certainly be a fan of chow chow. It's a Southern condiment (not just a dog) that's often used on greens and beans.

Black eyed peas topped with chow chow

Chow chow can be made from a variety of bases, such as tomatoes or a combination of peppers, but the most common main ingredient is shredded cabbage. Most recipes call for canning the condiment, which comes in sweet and spicy varieties, but that seems just a bit too complicated for me.

The chow chow recipe I use is one of the few "canning-free" options I've found, and it comes from a barbecue cookbook at SeriousEats.com.

Enjoy!

Remember when Oprah went vegan for three weeks? To make her transition to a vegan diet as delicious as it was healthy, she had vegan chef Tal Ronnen whip up all her meat-free meals—and now you can have Chef Tal in your kitchen. How? By entering to win his new cookbook!

In The Conscious Cook, Chef Tal, who also catered Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's vegan wedding and prepared the first vegan dinner at the U.S. Senate, offers a diverse menu that goes far beyond veggie burgers and pasta. Recipes include Pine Nut and Basil-Seared Gardein Chicken With "Lobster" Mushroom Beurre Blanc and Artichoke and Oyster Mushroom Rockefeller, just to name a couple.

Head on over to PETA.org now through October 30 to enter the contest!

New York City is known for great restaurants, and vegetarian restaurants are no exception. You could borough-hop for a week and never eat at the same place twice if you didn't want to. And one of the restaurants that you might find yourself revisiting is Chef Amanda Cohen's Dirt Candy, where the focus is on vegetables—and where everything on the menu is available as vegan or vegetarian.

I'm happy to announce that Amanda has been named "Chef of the Month" for October and has given us a little insight to her food background and philosophy. Check out our Q&A; with Amanda below, and be sure not to miss her recipes at the end of the post.

Chef of the Month: Amanda Cohen

Where did you train to become a chef?
The Natural Gourmet.

What type of cuisine do you focus on?
Well, I've cooked vegetarian, vegan, raw, and meat, but Dirt Candy is where I get to do what I love: vegetarian cooking.

Do you have a favorite cooking method?
My philosophy is: whatever works. Everything at Dirt Candy comes in a vegan and a non-vegan version, and I really like skipping back and forth between vegan and vegetarian cooking. Vegan cooking is challenging in a way that's a lot of fun. It wakes your brain up. And I actually think that the Orange Tofu we serve is better vegan (we use coconut milk in the sauce instead of butter).

What are your favorite ingredients to work with?
Right now, what I'm really into are potatoes. And even though beet season is wrapping up, I'll probably stay obsessed with them until the year's last beet is pulled up out of the dirt.

What are the most important elements in cooking great vegetarian cuisine?
Vegetarian food should be about what you can eat, not what you can't. Aping the "protein, sauce, side of veg" format of the standard meat dish just reminds omnivorous diners of what they're not eating, and it doesn't do justice to vegetables, fruits, grains, and all the other fun stuff we get to play with. To me, breaking the "meat replacement" mold is the most important element in cooking great vegetarian food.

What is the key to getting meat-eaters to enjoy vegetarian food?
One of the things I'm most proud of is how many committed carnivores have been dragged into Dirt Candy against their will by friends or significant others and have come up to me afterwards and said how much they loved it. I think the key is that you have to have fun, but you also have to take it seriously. You have to have fun because that's what eating out is about. The more fun you have in the kitchen, the more fun your customers are going to have. On the other hand, you have to take what you do seriously. You have to be able to cook as well as any classically trained French chef, and you have to be willing to have your food compared to restaurants that "cheat" by putting bacon on everything.

What, in your opinion, does the future of plant-based cuisine hold?
I think the challenge to all of us is that we have to be better. Vegetarian chefs are like the Ginger Rogers to the omnivore chef's Fred Astaire: Our job is harder because we have to do everything they do, only backwards and in high heels. We have to work twice as hard for half the respect. Despite this, we desperately need to engage with the mainstream food world, because it's not enough to preach to the choir anymore. Chefs and owners, myself included, need to step up our game. We need to become the 4.0 GPA overachievers of food.

And there is a huge opportunity here. Most omnivore chefs would rather spend their time playing with pork belly and offal because that's the kind of "rock and roll" cooking the food press currently celebrates. Vegetables are considered unworthy of their attention. Which means that young, hungry chefs who want to make a mark and who are really passionate about vegetables have a wide-open field in which to play. Vegetables are like the Wild West of cooking right now—there are no rules. Every day in my kitchen I feel like I'm on the best downhill plunge of the coolest roller coaster ever built.

In your opinion, what vegetarian dish or type of food is most frequently prepared poorly and why?
I think dishes with some kind of meat replacement like seitan or tempeh or mock meat usually wind up tasting pretty boring because they often use a mishmash of techniques and unpleasant-to-work-with products. And that's really too bad. Mock meats come out of the Chinese temple cooking tradition, and when you have Chinese vegetarian food done right it's mind-blowingly good.

If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only eat one kind of ethnic food, what would it be?
Indian. It has the world's oldest and best vegetarian food tradition, and it's one of the world's greatest cuisines to boot—and to my shame I know too little about it.

Can you give us one great cooking tip for aspiring vegetarian chefs?
If you're aspiring to work in a professional kitchen, work on your technique. Find the toughest, busiest restaurant you can and get a job on their line. Show up for work every day. Stay for at least a year. By the time your year is up, you'll either realize that working in a professional kitchen isn't for you and you'll move on to something that makes you happier, or you'll be on your way to having an indestructible technique that'll make you a ninja master in the kitchen.

For the home cook: fearless experimentation. Find the ethnic grocery stores in your neighborhood and buy copies of Linda Bladholm's The Asian Grocery Store Demystified. She's got one for Asian grocery stores, one for Indian grocery stores, and one for Mexican grocery stores. Take the books with you when you shop. Buy things you've never tried. There are so many awesome vegetarian traditions around the world that you can steal from, you'll never get bored. Then get one good knife (and learn how to sharpen it), one good pan, and the world will be your oyster (mushroom).

What are some ingredients that you recommend vegetarians and vegans have in their kitchens to cook with?
Splurge on good oils. Truffle oil, almond oil, hazelnut oil, or pistachio oil are all really nice ways to finish off a dish. You can drizzle them over just about anything, cooked or raw, and they add an extra, savory dimension.

Recipes

•Sweet Carrot Risotto

•Carrot Dumplings

•Carrot Ribbons

Many northerners have been shocked, and somewhat horrified, to find that many southerners actually love the taste and texture of boiled peanuts. My fiancé is one of them. He says that the texture was the hardest—or rather, softest—thing for him to warm up to. But he, like many, eventually came around. I, on the other hand, was raised on the salty snack by my dad. Boiled peanuts have always been one of his favorite foods and he is one of the few people I know who actually make his own at home, so it was inevitable that I, too, would love them.

During the summer in the South, you can find many stands along the side of the road that offer boiled peanuts by the bag, and they most commonly come in two varieties—plain and Cajun. Plain boiled peanuts are great on their own when cooked very well done and with gobs of salt, but Cajun peanuts are really where it's at.

Boiling the peanuts with Cajun seasoning (I recommend Zatarain's Crab & Shrimp Boil, but you can experiment with others) for hours really infuses the flavor, and the extra red pepper flakes kick up the heat. You can always omit the red pepper if you'd like. The result of the long cook time is a soft peanut with a texture similar to a cooked bean and loaded with spicy Cajun flavor. And with each peanut you crack open, you may find a small amount of the briny, spicy juice inside as special treat.

Amy is out this week, but that doesn't mean that the mouthwatering recipes on the blog will stop. We'll be featuring a "best of" series for the next week, highlighting some of the VegCooking blog's most popular posts from the last two years. Enjoy!

New Orleans is famous for many reasons: the architecture of the French Quarter, the destruction done by Hurricane Katrina, the massive party known as Mardi Gras, the historic plantations, the unstoppable Saints, and the Cajun and Creole cuisine native to the region.

Because I was born there, the city looks a little different to me. My New Orleans looks more like this: levees to roll down, sno-balls on a hot day, humidity that you could eat with a spoon, visits with my mamère and papère, powdered sugar storms from biting into a beignet, and huge pots of jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans and rice on my mom's stove. I see New Awlins as a full-flavored city with just a hint of crazy in the air—I'm pretty sure that comes from the humidity.

When I found out that my friend Christine's birthday party would be today, I jumped at the chance to make gumbo for the event in order to celebrate her Cajun heritage and mine. The delicious gumbo recipe was supplied by Christine's own Cajun mama.

It starts out like any Cajun dish, with a dark roux and the holy trinity—onion, bell pepper, and celery—as the base. If you're from New Orleans, these are two things you are born knowing how to make. You simmer these in water, vegetable stock, okra, "chicken" strips, and spices, and then serve over white rice. The result is a deep, rich flavor with just enough spice. Just like New Orleans.

Happy birthday, Christine! And for more on vegan Cajun, check out this great resource.

Amy is out this week, but that doesn't mean that the mouthwatering recipes on the blog will stop. We'll be featuring a "best of" series for the next week, highlighting some of the VegCooking blog's most popular posts from the last two years. Enjoy!

Tofu might seem unfamiliar to many new vegetarians and nonvegetarians, but the good news is that when properly prepared, tofu can be delicious. And by "properly," I mean cooking the tofu my favorite way—pan-frying it until it's golden and chewy.

Perfect Tofu

To achieve this, you can freeze your tofu overnight, and let it thaw before cooking it for a short amount of time. But if you're not one for planning ahead, then your tofu must be cooked for a long time to reach the chewy stage. There's simply no way around it. I often see recipes that call for tofu to be cooked for just a few minutes, but if you do that, you'll probably be left with a very soft texture.

The only other requirement for perfect tofu is to finish off the pan-fried soy protein with a splash of soy sauce. It's a great first layer of flavor that can easily be built upon.

Enjoy!

Amy is out this week, but that doesn't mean that the mouthwatering recipes on the blog will stop. We'll be featuring a "best of" series for the next week, highlighting some of the VegCooking blog's most popular posts from the last two years. Enjoy!

Today's potato recipe is sort of a Spanish variation of home fries. The potatoes are boiled until just tender—not too mushy or falling apart—then pan-fried with spices until nice and crispy.

Most home fries recipes I've seen contain just a few basic ingredients, like salt, pepper, oil, garlic, and onions, but this one uses other ingredients that are more common to Spanish cuisine—paprika, parsley, and turmeric. OK, saffron is technically the ingredient common to Spanish cuisine, and turmeric is just an inexpensive way to cheat.

The spices in this recipe give it a little more kick than most home fries, and the parsley adds unexpected freshness. Don't worry, though—the comfort of your typical home fries isn't lost. It still comes through because of the deliciously crispy and seasoned skin on the potatoes. Enjoy!

Amy is out this week, but that doesn't mean that the mouthwatering recipes on the blog will stop. We'll be featuring a "best of" series for the next week, highlighting some of the VegCooking blog's most popular posts from the last two years. Enjoy!

After a long honeymoon filled with eating food that was far from healthy, I find myself still on a junk-food kick. I decided that I needed to start eating some vegetables again—but that they should be prepared in a way that is still almost sinful. That's how I stumbled upon this recipe for spinach and artichoke dip.

Sure, the name sounds healthy, but when you add a cup of vegan mayo and cheese to any veggies, you certainly cancel out almost all health benefits from the main ingredients. But, that shouldn't scare you away from making this delicious dip every once in a while. It's wonderful—and easy—as an occasional appetizer that can be eaten in small portions.

I visited Savannah on my honeymoon and saw the line formed outside Paula Deen's restaurant—no matter what time it was, night or day—and I'm certain this recipe would make the queen of Southern cuisine proud! Enjoy.

A recent visit from my grandma reminded me just how much I miss the days of visiting her house often and indulging in her homemade meals. Her food was always Southern, always rich, and always delicious. During her recent visit, I found that just because I'm now vegan doesn't mean I have to miss out on her cooking.

Southern-Style Tomato Gravy

Tomatoes are practically taking over gardens at the moment, and my grandma came over armed with a bucket full—literally. In-season tomatoes can be best if eaten plain with just a sprinkling of salt, but when you have an entire bucket to eat your way through, plain just won't do.

My grandma used several of the tomatoes to whip up an accidentally vegan tomato gravy that is made from a simple roux and herbs. This "gravy" is on the borderline of being a sauce, so it can be enjoyed on biscuits, toast, or even pasta.

Here's to hoping that she visits again before tomato season has passed. Enjoy!

A goodbye-to-summer barbecue wouldn't be complete without a scoop of cold soy ice cream. The bowl I dug into yesterday at a friend's house was cold and sweet but also had a surprising finish that caught me off guard—spice.

Homemade Chocolate Spice Ice Cream

The homemade ice cream was created using a combination of soy milk, tofu, sweeteners, and cayenne pepper, which were blended and then cooled using an ice-cream maker. The small amount of cayenne went a long way, so if you're not a fan of too much heat, use less.

And remember, if you do go for the full amount of spice and your mouth feels like it's on fire, don't reach for another bite to cool you off. I learned that the hard way.

Enjoy!

Jennifer McCann put vegan-food blogging on the map with her popular blog, Vegan Lunch Box, which features healthy school lunches packed in a "too cute" fashion. Now, supermom McCann is back and ready to give vegan lunch boxes everywhere a little international flavor, thanks to her new book, Vegan Lunch Box Around the World: 125 Easy, International Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love!

Recipes in McCann's new book include Japanese tiger bento box, Caribbean beans and rice, and even Russian tea cakes. Now is your chance to sample these recipes and more, because we're giving away three free copies of Vegan Lunch Box Around the World!

To enter, fill out the short form below by September 30. Three winners will be chosen at random and notified by October 7. Good luck!

Sorry! The contest has ended. Please check back often for more cookbook contests on the VegCooking blog.