Avocado V

In anticipation of Saint Patrick's Day (and just for fun), we've decided to feature only green food cartoons this month!

It is funny how we sometimes discover a new crazy use for a veggie once it becomes available as a commercial snack food.  After reading about many of the exciting new foods on display at the Natural Food Expo West, we discovered that avocado chips were possible.

Intrigued, we had to figure out if there was a way to make these at home.  Fortunately the folks over at Weston Products provided a recipe for dehydrated avocado chips.  Honestly, we really have no idea what to expect.

Disclaimer: We have no affiliations with Yumma Superfoods and Weston Products.  We doubt that they are even aware of our little corner of the internet.

Avocado IV

In anticipation of Saint Patrick's Day (and just for fun), we've decided to feature only green food cartoons this month!

Cooking inspiration comes from many places near and far, including the goofy depths of our brains. Thanks to Lee Khatchadourian at The Vegan Version and her middle-of-the-night stroke of genius, we can all enjoy her Avocatta Lasagna Rolls and bask in the glory of identifying yet another way to sneak more avocado into our mouths meals.  

Peas II

In anticipation of Saint Patrick's Day (and just for fun), we've decided to feature only green food cartoons this month!

We wonder if the folks at Green Pea Cookie will be our friends. We have so much in common--a love of puns, food cartoons, and vegan snacks.  We had never heard of green pea cookies until last month when a few vegan bloggers shared their reviews of this unique snack.

Intrigued and hungry, we looked up some recipes online and found that these green cookies are a popular Chinese New Year treat that are pretty simple to make.  For those of you who want another excuse to add green veggies to your baked goods--this Green Pea Cookie recipe by Swee San at The Sweet Spot is for you!

Disclaimer: We have no affiliation with Green Pea Cookie; although, we do follow each other on Twitter.

Peas

In anticipation of Saint Patrick's Day (and just for fun), we've decided to feature only green food cartoons this month!

We discovered these Vegan Italian Peaballs by Daniella at Pepe Azzurro a few weeks ago and we knew that these peaballs must take center stage during our month of green food cartoons.

We hope you enjoy this literary-inspired, movie-popularized, and Super Mario Brothers-styled cartoon!

Avocado III

In anticipation of Saint Patrick's Day (and just for fun), we've decided to feature only green food cartoons this month!

As you may recall, we love vegan macaroni and cheese but Jackie Sobon of Vegan Yack Attack is the queen of vegan macaroni and cheese, devoting two Vegan MoFos to the vegan macaroni and cheese cause.

Avocado might not be the first cheese substitute that comes to mind but trust us (and more importantly, Jackie) with her Avocado Mac (and cheese) recipe.  It is (kind of) green and (very) delicious!

Chickpea VI + Tahini 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.

We end our month of plant power couples with the greatest love story of all--chickpea and tahini. As you may recall in our Hummus is a Food Group post:

"Hummus" means "chickpea" in both Arabic and Hebrew, and many folks from the Middle East insist that that hummus is, in its purest form, a smooth spread made from chickpeas and tahini.  Hummus lovers outside of the Middle East, on the other hand, sometimes refer to any smooth bean spread (throw in other ingredients! with or without tahini!) as hummus.

Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi share a strong point of view on tahini's major role in hummus, as illustrated in their Basic Hummus recipe from their cookbook, Jerusalem (via Food52). Personally, we would like to thank them for teaching Westerners how to make a proper batch of hummus.

Buckwheat 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.

I would venture to say that we cook up kasha varnishkes (toasted buckwheat and bow-tie noodles) nearly once month here at Kale Crusaders Headquarters. The toasted buckwheat, nearly-burnt onions, starchy noodles, and generous splashes of olive oil make this a satisfying and comforting Eastern European-inspired dish. 

We encourage you to cozy up with a bowl of homemade kasha varnishkes and this Kasha Varnishkes recipe (with the olive oil option) by Olga Massov at Sassy Radish is similar to the informal recipe that we follow.

Rice + Beans

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.

The bond between rice and beans suspends borders, cultures, and kitchens. Across the globe, rice and bean dishes come together with an incredible amount of variety in preparations and spices. We will barely scratch the surface here but, to whet your appetite, here are a few samples of delicious rice and bean dishes from countries around the world:

• Osekihan: Japanese Red Bean Rice by Judy Ung at Bebe Love Okazu
• Punjabi Rajma Masala Recipe (Rajma Chawal) - Spiced Red Kidney Beans Curry recipe by Archana Dosi at Archana's Kitchen
• Coconut Milk Rice and Beans by Caroline at Pickled Plum

Happy (almost) Valentine's Day!

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!