Vegan Tomato Mozzarella Caprese

Katherine sent in this submission of "a vegan spin on a classic summer dish: tomato mozzarella caprese. In the picture is fresh-picked basil from my herb garden and tomatoes from the farmer’s market, along with "Buffalo Mostarella" from Jo Stepaniak’s The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook.

"Everything is dusted with salt and pepper and drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar. It was delicious! I love the "cheez" swaps in Jo’s book!"

Grape Kabobs

Here's a great (or should I say grape? hee hee) submission from Sheri at Vegan Family Inc.:

"These are photos of our new fave summer treat...frozen grape-kabobs!

"To make: Wash grapes, and thread them onto bamboo skewers (I buy these at the dollar store in a pack of 100). Lay the skewers on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for several hours or overnight. That's it!



"My kids made these by themselves, and were super-excited to have them for breakfast. Such a fun food!"

Thanks, Sheri! My grapevines are loaded with ripe grapes right now, so I may have to give this a try!

Rice Bowl and Restaurant Recommendation

Here's another pretty picture from Natalie: "This rice bowl is my adaptation of the wonderful dishes served at Fresh Restaurants in Toronto. It has a bed of brown rice topped with satay tofu steaks (vegan, purchased at grocery store), avocado, tomatoes, chickpeas and a wedge of lemon. The dressing is Sesame Miso Sauce (also vegan) from the book Fresh at Homeby Ruth Brown and Jennifer Houston, the owner and head chef respectively of the Toronto restaurants.

"If you're ever in Toronto, be sure to check out one of several Fresh restaurants - they're just wonderful. I lived in Canada for three years, and ate at Fresh whenever I could. Now that I'm back home in Australia, I try my best to recreate their beautiful food and juices - thank goodness for cookbooks!"

Quinoa Salad

Here's one from Natalie, who writes, "This quinoa salad is my own recipe, just the cooked grains, tomatoes, cucumber, snow peas and chickpeas (maybe 'garbanzo beans' for you guys?) dressed with olive oil and lemon juice - yum!"

Whole Wheat Gnocchi

Well, it must be Gnocchi Week -- two separate gnocchi submissions in two days!

Jackie writes, "This is a photo of some home-made whole wheat gnocchi over sauteed greens. We love to make things from scratch whenever possible, especially things like gnocchi that are so expensive to get at a restaurant and so easy to make at home! Hope you like it!"

Beet Gnocchi

Vegan, gluten-free Beet Gnocchi with Raw Cashew Pesto Cream, sent in by Selene at Veganlicious!

Pocket Pie

Sweet Karoline sent this picture in: "I made a white bean, mushroom, spinach, and broccoli pocket pie. Not only was it a lot of fun to make, it helped me use up a ton of random containers of veggies and beans that I always have hanging out in my fridge!"

Beet Hummus

Laura writes, "I recently made this beet hummus, and I just thought it was such a beautiful color and full of healthy things. I based it off of this recipe.

A Delicious Sandwich

From Heather in Virginia: "Ezekiel sprout bread, hummus, feta cheese, avocado and tomato. Better than any sandwich with meat on it!"

My favorite vegan substitute for feta cheese is salty kalamata olives.

Okra and Lima Bean Masala

Okra and Lima Bean Masala is one of my favorite dishes from SusanV's FatFree Vegan Kitchen. I've made this several times for a fast, healthy supper -- it's so easy using frozen chopped okra and canned tomatoes. Susan tells me, "I think you may be the first person to mention that they've tried the lima bean masala! I'm so glad you like it. I'm a big fan of lima beans and like to put them to non-traditional uses."

Thanks for a wonderful blog, SusanV!