It’s my 7-year Blogiversary & Vegan LEO: Carrot Lox, Tofu Scramble & Onions

You guys! I have been writing this blog for 7 years. 7 years! I can hardly believe it. I have grown so much as a cook, writer and photographer. Thank you so much for being here, for connecting with me, and most importantly, for cooking my recipes. It means the world to me. Truly. And for my blogiversary, I have made some changes. Have you noticed?

First, my new logo. I love it! The vegetables evoke the cute little vegetable tiles I have in my kitchen. I put those tiles up about 20 years ago and they are still here! They are kind of kitchy but back then I thought they were the epitome of beautiful kitchen design. I still love them and so they were my inspiration. The font is clean and prominence of the word “vegan” really expresses my message.

I have a new menu across the top of the homepage. First, there is a more in-depth “About Me’ page. I also relabeled and categorized the last year’s worth of recipes that you can pick from the drop down menu. I also have a Cookbook Review section (aka Book Reports) and a How-To section. I kept the Vegan Education tab because there are great books and films out there that do a great job of discussing all the reasons to go vegan – for our health, for the health and welfare of the animals, and that of the plant.

Inside of each new recipe (and some old ones too) you will find a new recipe maker widget. It is designed to make the recipes a little easier to read. And there is a cool print button too to make it easy to, well you know, print!

Now as to the content of the blog, I am still coming up with new ideas after all of these years. I have learned to love new ingredients like chipotles in adobo and Mexican oregano. I love turning anything into a taco, and, I love cooking my own recipes (see Cooking the Blog posts) and remaking my own recipes with new and/or easier methods (see Recipe Redux posts.)

I get asked all the time about how I come up with new recipes. Well, besides my own brain, what I have on hand in the kitchen, or what looks good at the store, I get inspired to veganize recipes I see on cooking shows like The Chew or Rachael Ray or to make a recipe from a vegan cookbook (there are so many out there these days as you can see from all of my book reports) and then make it my own way, either tweaking the method or interchanging one ingredient for another. Feel free to do that with my recipes too! To me this whole cooking thing is about creativity and improvisation.

Which brings me to this post. For this year’s anniversary, I offer you Vegan L.E.O. You know lox, eggs and onions? It’s a total New York/Jewish thing. If you don’t know it, let me introduce you it now!

L.E.O was something we ate after the holidays whenever my Dad picked up lox. Of course, I don’t eat eggs or lox anymore, but I do make my own carrot lox and tofu scramble is my go to for that eggy substitute, so this dish is reminiscent of my childhood and totally fun to eat. It’s easy and delicious!

Notes:

• Press the tofu for as long as you have time for.
• Use kala namak, known as black salt, for that eggy, sulfuric flavor. Or use a pinch of sea salt.