Gluten-Free Recipes

These recipes have gluten-free options or can be made gluten-free if all ingredients are gluten-free. Always check labels carefully and when in doubt contact the manufacturer.

Pimento Cheese-Style Hummus

June 14, 2013
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Years ago, I was making red pepper hummus at my parents’ house when my mother asked for a taste. “Hmmm,” she said. “It’s sort of like pimento cheese.” Now, I don’t know if that was a good thing to her or not; we’d never had pimento cheese in the house when I was growing up, [...]

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The Jackson Bowl with Vegan Comeback Sauce

June 3, 2013
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What makes a dish a local specialty? I’ve spent a lot of time mulling over that question since I returned home from a hectic, nerve-wracking (to this introvert), and ultimately exhilarating trip to Portland and Vida Vegan Con last week. (Big confession: I took almost no photos. See the end of this post for links [...]

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3-Minute Chickpea Salad

May 15, 2013
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A quick search of this blog will prove that I adore chickpea salad. As of today, I’ve posted six of them. I love being able to take a can of chickpeas, mash it up and have a quick sandwich filling or salad topping. And as my days get more and more hectic, my chickpea salads [...]

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Cheesy Cauliflower Sauce

May 5, 2013
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One of the questions I’m frequently asked about following an oil-free diet is “What do I use on baked potatoes or steamed vegetables or grits if I don’t eat butter or margarine?” Sometimes I mention salsa or mushroom gravy or the sauce from my Mac and Cheeze as options, but from now on, I’ll point [...]

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Superfoods Soup

April 24, 2013
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Here’s a soup for those times when you want something light in calories but filling and nutritious and quick. You wouldn’t think that such a simple soup could taste so delicious, but superfoods are “super” in more ways than one! I’ve called this “Superfoods Soup” because it contains 4 of the 6 foods that Dr. [...]

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Zucchini “Noodles” with Sesame-Peanut Sauce

April 19, 2013
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It’s been a week full of tragedy and fear. My heart aches for the families of everyone hurt or killed in Boston and Texas, and my reaction to everything that’s happened (and continues to happen) is to plant myself in front of the news in search of the answers to “What?” and “Why?” It’s not [...]

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Chickpea Flour Omelets with Asparagus

April 11, 2013
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Even though I’m not a breakfast eater and I don’t eat eggs, I love omelets. Tofu omelets, that is. I can eat them morning, noon, or night; plain or stuffed with as many veggies as they can hold. My Vegan Omelette for One and all my “Eggless Eggs” recipes are, to me, the definition of [...]

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Lentil and Cauliflower Rice Tacos

April 4, 2013
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Welcome to the latest edition of Cauliflower Magic Tricks! In today’s exciting episode, our hero will enter a food processor as an ordinary head of cauliflower only to emerge as…RICE! And then that rice will, through the use of culinary arts, be transformed into a delicious, spicy, low-calorie filling for tacos.

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Roasted Asparagus Salad with Chickpeas and Potatoes

March 25, 2013
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To the lady in the red blouse shopping at The Fresh Market last Thursday: Please forgive me for scaring you. I was that crazy woman with the rain-frizzled hair who startled you by yelling “Yes!” over your shoulder as you were bagging your asparagus. I’m really not that dangerous. Ask anybody (well, maybe not the [...]

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Minty Raw Pea and Spinach Soup

March 20, 2013
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As you can see, I’m ready for spring, so ready that I made this almost florescently green soup and ate it cold. If it’s possible to will a spring into springing by eating springtime foods, this minty soup should do the trick. With sweet green peas and fragrant mint, it just tastes like spring. I [...]

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Ajvar (Roasted Red Pepper and Eggplant Relish)

March 8, 2013
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Someone once wrote that every good novel must contain at least one recipe. Although I wouldn’t go quite that far, I agree that food can be a window into a novel’s world and its characters’ culture. I always pay particular attention to what characters are eating, especially when a book is set in another part [...]

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Orange-Sesame Coleslaw

February 28, 2013
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I often go back and remake some of my old recipes, and when the original photo is really bad (as are most of my early ones), I take a new photo. Sometimes, however, I go a little bit further and change up the recipe so that it fits my current tastes. That’s what happened to [...]

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Hummus-Crusted Cauliflower Steaks

February 21, 2013
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Let me say right off the bat that this is more of an idea than a recipe. Lately, cauliflower steaks are everywhere. I can’t seem to pick up a food magazine or check out a blog without running into them. They’re the new “other white meat.” So I figured I needed to try them. And [...]

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Smoky Apple Baked Beans

February 14, 2013
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Happy Valentine’s Day! I know that on this day of love, I’m supposed to offer you a rich, sugary indulgence or at least a romantic dinner for two with aphrodisiac potential, but what, dear reader, do I have in store for you instead? The lowly and much-maligned bean. But wait, could there be any more [...]

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Healthy Hash Brown Casserole

February 7, 2013
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I wish I had a cute story behind this not-so-cute dish, but the truth is that I saw a hash brown casserole recipe online and wanted to fat-free veganize it. So I did. I threw out all the butter, the cheese, the sour cream, the cream of chicken-parts soup, as well as the corn flakes [...]

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Gluten-Free “Meatball” Mix

January 31, 2013
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I’ve been obsessed the last couple of weeks with coming up with a gluten-free mix that I could keep on-hand to make quick “meatballs” for spaghetti and sandwiches. I don’t know what got me started on this quixotic mission, but the result is that I’ve made so many balls in the last few days that [...]

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Vegan Cabbage Rolls

January 23, 2013
Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Last week two people wrote to me on the same day asking for a recipe for cabbage rolls, and since I’d never made them before, I decided to take that as a sign. I’m always on the lookout for dishes that I haven’t yet cooked, and besides, cabbage is one of the few green vegetables [...]

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Swiss Chard with Crisp Apples

January 15, 2013
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Before I get to today’s recipe, I have some exciting news: Yesterday I was quoted in an article called “How to Go Vegan” in the New York Times Well column. I was thrilled to have the chance to share my ideas with a wider audience, and I hope that those of you who are trying [...]

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Korean-Inspired Black-eyed Peas and Kale Bowl

January 7, 2013
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I’m seven days late in saying this, but Happy New Year! Coincidentally, I’m 2 days early in wishing myself a Happy Blogging Anniversary. That’s right, on January 9 this blog will be 7 years old. I wish I had something profound to say about that, but frankly, I ran out of wise words on my [...]

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Caribbean Pineapple Black Beans and Oven-Fried Plantains

December 13, 2012
Caribbean Pineapple Black Beans

I know we’re in the “holiday season” when most people are looking for holiday recipes (see mine here), but I wanted to send you on a brief vacation to the tropics with a couple of easy recipes guaranteed warm up your winter meals with a bit of summer sun.

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Two Healthy Vegan Nogs: Chia Nog and Banana Nog

December 9, 2012
Chia Nog

I’m certain that if we didn’t have a kid in the house, my husband and I would never put up a Christmas tree or take the time to stake out the herd of electric reindeer that blazes across our front yard every December. But when you’re a small family, the youngest member sets the traditions, [...]

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Tunisian-Inspired Chickpea and Potato Salad

November 28, 2012
Tunisian-Inspired Chickpea and Potato Salad

Though I love the tastes of Thanksgiving–gravies and dressings cozy with the flavors of sage and thyme–once the big day is over, I feel the need to shock my palate with seasonings and spices that would have made a pilgrim flush a bright Christmas red. So as I was thumbing through the November issue of [...]

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Vegan Southern-Style Cornbread Dressing

November 19, 2012
Southern-Style Cornbread Dressing

I recently realized that I’ve never posted the one dish that we had every Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was growing up–Cornbread Dressing. That’s mainly because I’ve always counted on my mother to make it. Even after I became vegetarian, my mother would set aside part of the dressing before she added the giblets or [...]

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Lentil Soup with Coriander and Cumin

November 12, 2012
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Is there a word for when the wind sends the autumn leaves swirling in the driveway, orange blurring with gold, like calico cats chasing their tails? Well, there should be. Though it was unusually warm, yesterday looked like the classic fall day, leaves both bright and brown raining down, revealing the gray bones of the [...]

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Easy Red Beans and Rice

November 4, 2012
Easy Red Beans and Rice

As a Louisiana girl, I consider slow-cooked red beans and rice part of my cultural heritage, as much a part of my childhood as climbing too high in the live oak trees and eating watermelon at the picnic table in the back yard. I know from experience that it takes all day to make good [...]

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Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate

October 20, 2012
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Welcome to Weekend Quickies–quick recipes that won’t cut into your weekend relaxation time. Today’s ridiculously easy recipe is brought to you courtesy of my last recipe, Mary’s Pumpkin Walnut Muffins, and more particularly by the half cup of pumpkin that is left over from a 15-ounce can after you make that recipe. Here’s a delicious [...]

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Broccoli Slaw Stir-Fry with Tofu

October 12, 2012
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Packaged broccoli slaw is a healthy convenience food. Packed with fiber and vitamins, it can be used instead of cabbage to make a great slaw or tossed into green salads for added crunch. But did you know you can cook it? You can, and it makes the fastest stir-fry you’ve ever had.

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Massaged Kale Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Pumpkin Seed Dressing

October 7, 2012
Massaged Kale Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Pumpkin Seed Dressing

When it comes to kale, I always seem to be lagging behind the cool kids. Though I’m crazy about kale in soups and casseroles and skillet dinners, I haven’t loved the more trendy ways of eating it. I was one of the last food bloggers to try kale chips, and when I did, I was [...]

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Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

September 24, 2012
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Black-eyed peas have such a distinctive flavor that they may seem like an odd base for hummus, but I was so intrigued by a recipe for Black-Eyed Pea Hummus in our local paper that I decided to give it a whirl. I totally ignored the recipe, of course (it contained 2 cups of olive oil [...]

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Savory Lentil-Mushroom Burgers

September 12, 2012
Savory Lentil-Mushroom Burgers

I had a craving for a burger burger. Not a beet burger, or a falafel burger, or a black bean burger, or a curried eggplant burger–just a plain old burger that I could put on a bun with ketchup and pickles and not have the flavors clash or my daughter give me that look that [...]

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Gluten-Free Raspberry Corn Muffins

September 7, 2012
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As a Southerner, I’m morally opposed to sweet cornbread. Where I grew up, cornbread is for sopping up the pot liquor from a mess of collard or turnip greens. It’s moist on the inside and has a crispy crust from being baked in a cast iron skillet. It is not the cake-like confection that passes [...]

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No-Bake Vegan Strawberry Pie

August 20, 2012
No-Bake Vegan Strawberry Pie

My mother’s strawberry pie is the one dish I remember from my childhood with so much love that I’ve never tried to veganize it for fear of messing it up. The recipe is simple–spread a layer of sweetened cream cheese in a pie crust and pour over it a layer of strawberries in a cornstarch [...]

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Berbere-Spiced Red Lentil Hummus

July 30, 2012
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Some couples read love poems to each other; my husband and I read restaurant menus. One of our favorite parts of planning a vacation is figuring out where we are going to eat. I like to ask my facebook followers for recommendations while my husband likes to use Google. We come up with a big [...]

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Layered Salad with Black Beans and Mango-Cucumber Salsa

July 24, 2012
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Ever since I was a child, one of the highlights of summer is the arrival of fresh mangoes. When I was growing up in the 60′s and 70′s, mangoes weren’t available in the local A&P or Piggly Wiggly. They were a rare treat that we enjoyed only after a visit to or from our Florida [...]

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Curried Rice Salad with Black Chickpeas and Mango

July 17, 2012
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Have you ever gotten excited about a new food only to try it and wind up disappointed or, even worse, hating it? I finally got around to trying black chickpeas last week, and I’m sorry to say that I was disappointed and my family was even less impressed. My husband, who likes almost everything, just [...]

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Hibiscus-Blueberry Cooler

July 11, 2012
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I was cleaning out the pantry yesterday morning and found a packet marked “Jamaica” that I could barely remember purchasing. (I tend to buy food items that I’m unfamiliar with and then stick them in the closet until I forget why I bought them.) I read the back–”Jamaica is the Spanish name for Hibiscus Pods, [...]

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Carrot Cake Bars

July 2, 2012
Carrot Cake Bars

I love getting recipe ideas from readers! Next to traveling and dining at vegan restaurants, it’s my favorite way to discover new foods. So I was thrilled to receive an email recently from Sharon Starr in San Francisco asking me to figure out the recipe for Whole Foods’ Vegan Carrot Spice Cake, which she described [...]

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Curried Chickpeas and Kale

June 11, 2012
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There’s nothing like being left alone for the weekend to make someone who “loves to cook” lose all desire to operate a stove. My husband and daughter ran off to New Orleans this past weekend, and though you’d think I would seize the opportunity to cook dishes that I like that they don’t, the ugly [...]

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Old Fashioned (Tofu) Chicken Salad

June 6, 2012
Tofu Chicken Salad

It’s chicken salad the way my mom used to make it–but with no chicken, mayo, or hard-boiled eggs. So maybe it’s not exactly my mom’s chicken salad, but it’s close enough to satisfy my craving for something savory and crunchy to put between two slices of bread.

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Nava’s Three Potato Salad with Arugula

May 28, 2012
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Just in time for summer and all things green and leafy, Nava Atlas has a new greens cookbook out, entitled, appropriately, Wild About Greens. Before I start to rave all over this book, I must reveal my bias and tell you that this is the third cookbook that I’ve photographed for Nava. I shot the [...]

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Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu

May 21, 2012
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There’s a new Thai restaurant in town, and the first couple of times I ate there I had mixed feelings. While it was so much better than the other local Thai restaurant, I wasn’t quite satisfied with its take on dishes that I’ve liked in Thai places in other parts of the country. (This is [...]

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Swiss Chard with White Beans and Job’s Tears

May 10, 2012
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I first went in search of Job’s tears a couple of years ago when a reader recommended it as a gluten-free replacement for barley. After striking out at the local natural foods store, I thought for sure I’d be able to buy some on the internet, but a Google shopping search pointed me to a [...]

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Chocolate-Cherry Ice Dream

May 3, 2012
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Warmer weather has arrived, bringing with it my craving for ice cream, which seems to go into remission over the winter but comes back with a vengeance when the temp goes over 80. I don’t own an ice cream maker, and I when I get near the vegan ice cream section of the grocery store, [...]

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Dreena’s No-fu Love Loaf

April 26, 2012
Dreena's No-fu Love Loaf

I’ve been looking for a great lentil loaf recipe, and finally I’ve found one! Unfortunately, I can’t claim credit for this delicious dish. That goes to Dreena Burton and her new book, Let Them Eat Vegan!: 200 Deliciously Satisfying Plant-Powered Recipes for the Whole Family. Fortunately, Dreena and her publishers have given me permission to [...]

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Tofu-Cashew Mayonnaise

April 19, 2012
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So much depends upon mayo. If you think that’s an exaggeration, try eating a dry sandwich or a tempeh salad with nothing but lemon juice to moisten it. For omnivores, the solution is easy: Grab a jar of egg-based mayonnaise off any supermarket shelf. For vegans, it’s a little more difficult; oil-based Vegenaise* and soy-based [...]

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Jackfruit “Crab” Cakes

April 11, 2012
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I’ve been experimenting off and on with young green jackfruit ever since I heard of jackfruit carnitas. Harvested before it has a chance to become sweet, green jackfruit “shreds” as it cooks until it has an uncanny resemblance to pulled pork. It doesn’t have much flavor itself, which makes it ideal for soaking up the [...]

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Spicy Apple-Walnut Salad with Fat-Free Balsamic-Raisin Dressing

March 28, 2012
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There’s an unwritten rule of food blogging that says, “When you don’t have anything else to write about, blog your lunch.” Or at least that’s been my formerly unwritten rule, and it’s served me well because it’s led me to create some of my favorite lunches: Balsamic-Glazed Chickpeas and Mustard Greens, Hot Skillet Salad, and [...]

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Hummus in the Blender

March 12, 2012
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Always travel with hummus. That’s my advice to new vegans and to anyone trying to eat healthy on the road. Having hummus in a small cooler saved us last month when my family went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. With the streets and streetcars closed for parades, we were limited to restaurants we could [...]

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Burritos with Spanish Rice and Black Beans

March 5, 2012
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A Facebook friend asked me recently if I had a list of my favorite recipes, and I was sorry to say that I didn’t. But what a good idea! Or so I thought, until I started to name all the recipes I considered favorites and found that the list would be so long that it [...]

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Javanese-Inspired “Chicken” Soup (Vegan Soto Ayam)

February 27, 2012
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I haven’t properly been teaching my daughter to cook. Or at least that’s how I felt after reading an article in the New York Times about a mother who has her 10- and 14-year-old sons cook dinner on their own once a week. When I read the article a few weeks ago, my first, defensive [...]

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