vegan

Monday. I’m sure you looked at the alarm clock this morning, rolled over and put your pillow over your head, begging for 8 more hours of sleep and another day of the weekend. (Or was that just me?) Monday also has another new meaning in Philadelphia: Meatless Mondays. But what does this resolution mean for Philadelphians? What’s the point of eating meat most, some or none of the time?

Pumpkin season is in full swing... pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin beer... it's here! Word is Starbucks is celebrating their 10-year anniversary of the pumpkin latte but I'm still feeling cold beverages during these mild fall days. So I set out to make a cold treat that made use of the glorious orange squash-like fruit. The fact that it's a bit healthier and much lower in sugar than a pumpkin latte is just icing on (the pumpkin) cake. It happens to be vegan but you could un-veganize (creating our own words today) if you wish to use cow's milk. Read on for the recipe!

Love to prepare food at home but hate draining your time? Raw, Quick & Delicious is a great solution for you. I recently tried out a few recipes during a dinner gathering with a friend. Locavore Dinner Party A Twitter match made in heaven happened when I became friends with Kristy, an up-and-coming food blogger. Lucky for us, Kristy loves to cook and I love to eat. Kristy hosted me at her place to discuss KEEN Digital Summit (co-founded by one of my favorite bloggers, Kristin Luna of Camels & Chocolate) which we're psyched to attend in October. (Bonus: I even won a pair of passes to the conference!) This girl doesn't mess around while cooking. Seriously, just look at this Dill-salmon that was the main course along with an asparagus-based purée. Raw, Quick & Delicious: My creations My first experiment was the Salmon side, Green Beans Amandine. A simple recipe consisting of raw almonds, sea salt, green beans, olive oil & lemon juice (I left out the nutritional yeast...) was easy and a great pairing to our meal. (See recipe below!) Find out more about our dinner party and Raw, Quick & Delicious after the jump!

If you follow our Twitter page, you may have seen me praise the newest, bad-ass cafe around. Breezy's Cafe is a local treat located right in Point Breeze. Whether you're in the mood for a vegan, veggie or carnivorous treat, Breezy's Cafe offers a daily variety of sandwiches, salads & sides. Find out more about this Point Breeze's gem, from the background to delicious offerings!

Happy Friday, Green Philly Friends! Hope you got a dose of spring with this warmer weather & the Philadelphia Flower Show last week! It's been a while since a good ol' sustainable link roundup, but there's so damn much going on in Philly & in green-land. Here's some of our favorite links & must-know tips.

St. Patrick’s Day is so close we can taste the green beer. After making your Irish holiday more sustainable, it's time to kick back and relax with a delicious treat. This vegan version of the shamrock smoothie will put those corn-syrup, ridiculously fat-packed shakes to shame. Shameless Shamrock Smoothie:

This salad accomplishes two lovely things: 1. It gets me eating raw greens in the dead of winter when I could easily live off comfort food like vegan hot cocoa and muffins. 2. It satisfies the sweet and salty combo that I adore. Kind of like my greatest treat-love dark chocolate covered pretzels do... only this salad is a bit healthier. I used a spinach base but you can easily mix it up with kale, arugula or any other salad greens. The pomegranate seeds provide a sweet bite balanced by the slightly salty sunflower seeds and crunchy edamame. And the dressing, my friends, is not to be underestimated. This salad dressing is so simple yet flavorful that you might want to make it a salad staple. An added bonus? There's plenty of health benefits going on in this simple dish.

It's dessert season, and today you are in for a treat. These vegan chocolate coconut bars would make a great addition to any holiday menu. Or, you could even gift them to any worthy sweet-tooth in your life. This recipe is reposted from  our guest blogger, the lovely Mara Tyler who runs Cheap & Simple Vegan, and is also the managing editor of Healthy Bitch Daily. I was craving some coconut. And some chocolate. And cookies. The result? Something I don’t even think I can describe well enough to tell you how good they are. They’re like a brownie-cookie bar-gift from heaven. I could eat these for my last meal. Click through for the recipe!

I come from a big family - my parents are both one of eight and I have a zillion cousins (60+) Picture the Irish Catholic/Italian version of the my big fat greek wedding family and you're close to an image of our typical holiday. But, this Thanksgiving marks a first. As we recently moved and aren't a bus trip away from my family anymore my husband and I decided to tackle Thanksgiving on our own. Essentially this means me. He has a lot of good qualities and talents but cooking isn't among them ;) I'm feeling totally liberated and excited at the prospect of being 100% in control of my Thanksgiving feast for the first time in my life. My husband isn't a vegetarian by any means but he'll literally eat anything I put in front of him (alas one of those good qualities I referred to above.) Essentially I have full reign to go crazy with the vegetarian and meatless sides that I consider the best part of the holiday. As a non meat-eater I like the idea of a centerpiece dish - like a tofurky for example - but to be honest I don't go ga ga over faux meats. I find them very hit or miss. And, why does the bird or "bird" get all the attention. anyway? Load me up with side dishes and I'm a happy girl! That said click through for a run down of some of the vegetarian Thanksgiving side recipes that will be making an appearance at our Thanksgiving this year.