Collard Green III + Black-Eyed Pea II

The month of February is often associated with Valentine's Day and all things love-related. Regardless of your affection or disdain for this holiday, we can probably all agree that we love food, especially our plant friends.  In honor of plant foods that pair well together, all of our February cartoons will feature plant power couples.

For good luck, we would like to introduce collard greens and black-eyed peas as our first plant power couple. A customary combination enjoyed on New Year's Day in the Southern United States, collard greens and black-eyed peas represent money and eating them can ensure wealth in the new year.  It is never too late to whip up some collard greens and black-eyed peas, so check out this Lucky Stew by Amy Stefani at No Whey No Cow.

Millet II

For lack of a food-related festivity to look forward to in January, we are psyching ourselves up for Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, February 1. With less than one month to plan and prepare a snack spread, we intend to devote our next month to "snack-y" cartoons.

Our "Millet: Business in the front, party in your mouth" cartoon was the fifth cartoon on the site and one of our goofiest cartoons to date. We kind of cringe looking back at our older, more crude cartoons but it is also fun to witness the incremental, organic changes (and, perhaps, maturity?) of this quirky corner of the internet.

Nonetheless, there are so many uses for Millet that we have not yet discussed.  Substitute millet in your favorite rice, quinoa, or grain dish for a nutty surprise. Richa Hingle at Vegan Richa brings millet into savory granola territory with her Sour Cream & Onion Hemp Millet Crunch Snack / Granola recipe.  Perhaps you can whip up this quirky new snack for your Super Bowl spread this weekend!

Cauliflower VII

For lack of a food-related festivity to look forward to in January, we are psyching ourselves up for Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, February 1. With less than one month to plan and prepare a snack spread, we intend to devote our next month to "snack-y" cartoons.

It is time to spice up our snack spread! How about these Cauliflower Buffalo Wings by Lauren Toyota and John Diemer at hot for food? Yes, please, and thank you!

Carrot II

For lack of a food-related festivity to look forward to in January, we are psyching ourselves up for Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, February 1. With less than one month to plan and prepare a snack spread, we intend to devote our next month to "snack-y" cartoons.

Carrots and hummus are the go-to party snack for the veg-heads.  Sure, we love a good veggie platter but we will happily take a break from the rabbit food and indulge in a warm, decadent, savory treat.  Fortunately Sandra of Vegan Sandra always remembers to bring her Carrots in a Blanket to the party.  The vegan (and non-vegan) crowd goes wild!

Fig II

Happy January, folks! For lack of a food-related festivity to look forward to in January, we are psyching ourselves up for Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, February 1. With less than one month to plan and prepare a snack spread, we intend to devote our next month to "snack-y" cartoons.

For our first installment, we would like to introduce you to Figs in a Blanket by Justin Fox Burks and Amy Lawrence of The Chubby Vegetarian.  Fortunately, no little piggies went into these sweet and savory snacks. Please note that you can easily omit or substitute your favorite vegan cheese to make these figgies vegan.  Also note that many commercial crescent rolls are "accidentally vegan."

Happy snacking!

Coconut VI

Eugene Wu is back with our New Year's Eve (Eve) Cartoon!

The holidays are always challenging on the health. Flying (or driving, or walking) across the country to see loved ones, an endless parade of dinners and lunches, the lack of yoga and gym classes, and the parties. Oh the parties! With such a blur of activities, how can one _not_ feel like Coco the Coconut after the deluge of alcoholic beverages, heavy eggnog, and the lack of hydration?

Well praise science! Let it ring from sea to shining sea that Coco can drink its own medicine.

Dehydrated? Grab a pack of coconut saline and dip it in your veins[1].
Feeling hungry? Chew on some rich coconut flesh, because it's not red meat -- it's white.
Low energy? Drink from a fresh coconut stream and enjoy its supply of copper, calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, and zinc[2].
Growing old? Bathe in its wealth of cytokinins and protect yourself from old age and cancer.

Whatever your holiday plans are, stay strong and eat our friend Coco the Coconut, and don't let him go to waste [3].

[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10674546
[2] http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/nutrition-2.pdf
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWSA6vqKPw8

Kale IV

Christmas and kale go together like...um...milk and cookies, pretzels and mustard, and aloo (potatoes) and gobi (cauliflower).  That said, we encourage you to check out this beautiful, Christmas wreath-inspired Kale Christmas Salad by Keri Wise at My Wise Mom.

Asparagus III

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah!  For those of you who wish to honor the holiday without frying (or baking*) up some latkes, consider Aviva Goldfarb's Edible Menorahs as a crunchy, veggie-filled, and festive alternative!

* We have mentioned this before, but we absolutely love this Vegan Baked Latkes recipe by Annie Shannon of Meet the Shannons.

Coconut V

Today's cartoon was inspired by this Coconut Snowflakes recipe by Kate at Real Food RN.  The recipe relies on a single ingredient: coconut butter. Coconut butter, in turn, is composed of only one ingredient: coconut flakes.

Coincidentally we made Homemade Coconut Butter for the first time this past weekend, following these instructions by the famous Angela at Oh She Glows since coconut butter is a crucial ingredient in her Coconut Macaroon Thumbprint Cookies.  Needless to say, the cookies were delicious and we were so proud of ourselves for making our first homemade butter!

Have you tried coconut butter before?

Nutritional Yeast VIII + Kale III

Walking in a vegan winter wonderland of nutritional yeast (snow)flakes and kale trees

Happy December! Here in the Northeastern United States, we are gearing up for winter and the bitter cold that will be keeping us company for quite some time.

Rather than focus on our poor life decisions, we prefer to daydream of warming up with our favorite comfort foods.  Here at Kale Crusaders HQ, we love to munch on nutritional yeast*, kale, pasta, and chickpeas. 

Fortunately Katie at Well Vegan has us covered with her Kale Walnut Pesto Pasta.  Toss some chickpeas on top and then you will achieve the ultimate vegan comfort food quadfecta!

* After an entire month of nutritional yeast cartoons, we couldn't help ourselves.