Vegan MoFo starts TODAY!

OK, I had to go check my archives to confirm: No, I am not crazy to be surprised to see Vegan Mofo filling my feed reader starting today. For the last several years Vegan MoFo month has been *October*, and while time indeed does fly, it is not actually October yet. They've just moved Vegan MoFo up a month. Which means I missed the call for adding one's blog to the Vegan MoFo blog roll :(

I will try to participate nonetheless, because much as BlogHer's NaBloPoMo re-energizes much of our community to blog, Vegan MoFo does the same for me. Belonging to the #Vegcookbookclub re-energizes me to vegan-cook each month. We've just wrapped up Betty Goes Vegan by Annie and Dan Shannon and we're kicking off cooking from Vegan Indian Cooking by Anupy Singha

 

These exercises may seem artificial, but sometimes a little external encouragement, a little group activity can really help. Just like I stick to my walking regimen because I do so with a friend. The days we don't walk, I just don't self-motivate myself out there!

So, for a little #VeganMoFo food action, here are photos of two Betty Goes Vegan recipes I made this week:

Peach, Plum & Pomegranate Salad:

This was yummy (I used almonds instead of walnuts, which was great). I do think my S.O. had it right though, in that pomegranate seeds are always better in theory than execution. They look awesome and have a nice sweet-tart flavor, but they do add this gritty texture into the dish.

And Easy Jambalaya (with vegan sausage and shrimp):

 

This was easy, spicy, and fed me for three days! Would definitely make again. The book suggests using a brand of "shrimp balls" I've never seen in a store, so I used the vegan prawns that are carried in Whole Foods, and they worked great.

There were a ton more recipes I wanted to try from Betty Goes Vegan, and I'm a little skeptical of my own patience and taste for cooking Indian food...so I may still fit a few more Betty recipes in this month.

So, are you participating in #VeganMoFo and did you make it into the blog roll?