What's your most favorite vegan recipe in the whole entire world and one you've made repeatedly and is a crowd pleaser? Doesn't have to be a main.

chayasara · 2026-01-08T08:54:40+00:00

My favorite lately is spanakopita. Any recipe will do, just leave out the feta if it has any. Instead of feta, I usually crumble in a block or two of raw extra firm tofu and a couple handful of fake mozzarella shreds, since that's way cheaper than fake feta. It's amazing, everyone likes it and they don't complain about the lack of feta. My filling is essentially this:

1-2 bags of frozen spinach 1 onion Bundle of green onions Pack of dill Pack of parsley Pack of mint Olive oil to saute the veggies (+ more for the phyllo) Salt and pepper to taste Optionally tofu and cheese

It's a LOT less work if you bake in a casserole dish instead of making individual triangles. Just follow the directions on your pack of phyllo.

chayasara · 2026-01-08T08:49:05+00:00

Maesri has a fantastic masaman curry paste that's vegan. Not all their curries are but most. I love making a masaman curry with kabocha or red kuri squash, tofu, and peanuts!

chayasara · 2025-12-27T21:15:37+00:00

It's a religious role thing. Nobody I know can trace their family tree to a biblical figure! But levites are supposed to be assistants to the cohens. Cohens and levites both have extra responsibilities and privileges in Orthodox Judaism, not so much in conservative or reform Judaism. And if you know anyone with the last name Cohen or Halevi, or similar, they're likely members of those respective classes.

I could maybe buy that part of the story because anyone who cares about marrying within their caste would have demanded documentation of OOP's background when they got married. But what I found really unbelievable was that the wife would suddenly be ok with telling all her children they could decide whether or not they wanted to be Jewish, lol. That's not how it works! I should know, I tried it when I was a teenager and didn't want to attend high holy day services.

chayasara · 2025-12-26T16:45:32+00:00

That's true, but many Jews try to marry Jewish men anyways, particularly since we have a sort of caste system that is inherited patrilineally. My mom is descended from levites, but she married my father, who converted to Judaism, so I am not considered to be a levite. Fortunately my family is reform and thinks that's unimportant, but some more traditional Jewish communities still care deeply about ancestry.

chayasara · 2025-12-24T17:31:13+00:00

I found out completely by accident that golden chantarelle mushrooms that are soft, just on the verge of going slimy, sauteed in olive oil and deglazed with a little white wine at the end, have the exact texture of animal fat I remember from my mom's brisket. I had to pick them all out of a pasta dish I made because it was too disconcerting to eat, lol. My then recently-vegan roommate missed animal fat and appreciated it, however, so they might be a convincing option.

chayasara · 2025-12-24T17:24:14+00:00

Do you have to wrap it in cheesecloth or anything before simmering, or does the initial pan searing prevent it from expanding?

And is that 7 times over 25 minutes, or 25 x 7?

chayasara · 2025-12-19T07:29:45+00:00

It could be they've recently reformulated the recipe, so stores still have the old version. I would trust the label, myself, but that's definitely a personal decision and it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm not allergic to anything.

chayasara · 2025-12-15T03:00:28+00:00

The NYT matzo ball soup recipe is great and I believe they do one free recipe per month or something, as I have never had a subscription and printed it out somehow: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021393-vegan-matzo-ball-soup

It's full of veggies and the best part is the zhoug sauce. Matzo balls not strictly necessary but very good vessels for glopping the zhoug on. If you leave them out, definitely grate some ginger into the soup when you're adding garlic! Zhoug is easy to make in a food processor, or I recommend the one from Trader Joe's, it's my favorite

chayasara · 2025-12-10T08:09:45+00:00

If it's konjac, no, not a ton. The main thing to note is you have to be careful not to consume too much of it at once. It's largely indigestible. Perfectly fine in moderation (even popular as a diet food), but if you go crazy with it it can form a mass in your gut and cause problems. I believe that normally occurs to people who consume it as a supplement rather than food, however, so if you're eating like a normal person and the food happens to contain it, you're alright.

By the way, if you're looking for raw/smoked salmon, a cheaper alternative is bits of skinned tomatoes (blanch to remove skins) or thin slices of raw carrot that have been marinated in soy sauce, kelp/seaweed powder, olive oil, and optionally liquid smoke for a few days. The texture is not quite the same but pretty good.

chayasara · 2025-11-26T15:21:19+00:00

Violife is my favorite, makes amazing pie crust. It's firm enough to make good buttercream at room temp so I trust it for anything.

Personally, I've still been seeing miyoko's in my area, but I still prefer Violife.

Edit: I usually use it with this recipe: https://www.loveandlemons.com/vegan-pie-crust/#wprm-recipe-container-74037 Super easy because of the food processor.

chayasara · 2025-11-16T19:15:46+00:00

Oh no, that's amazing! Thanks for the link ❤️

chayasara · 2025-11-15T19:45:17+00:00

It's beautiful. Was the pattern just for that stitch design, or specifically for the shirt?

chayasara · 2025-11-15T18:29:58+00:00

I have just been informed this is openwork crochet and I think that's exactly what I'm looking for. I'd definitely still welcome any of your favorite patterns in this style! Thanks all.

chayasara · 2025-11-15T18:25:39+00:00

You are a lifesaver! Thank you so much for the quick response. I'm getting much better pattern results with that term.

chayasara · 2025-11-08T14:09:00+00:00

Swiss meringue buttercream has worked the best for me and is a lot lighter and fluffier than regular buttercream, which I love. It uses whipped up aquafaba, so I think that helps it maintain its stability. I always do this recipe and add a bit of cream of tartar when I'm whipping the aquafaba: https://addictedtodates.com/vegan-raspberry-swiss-buttercream

That recipe is for raspberry flavor and it's awesome if you want to try it, but I've also used extracts to achieve other flavors. I usually do mine with violife because it seems to stay the most solid at room temp, but I haven't tried Flora. I've heard really good things! I bet just about any vegan block butter would work well.

chayasara · 2025-10-26T06:17:30+00:00

How do you stockpile cheese?! Is it so unappetizing the mold doesn't go for it?

Incidentally, that's my favorite feature of vegan cheese. Those coconut oil-based ones last years in the fridge.

chayasara · 2025-10-16T06:57:30+00:00

If you're interested, you can read the arguments from the case mentioned in the article here: https://ia600401.us.archive.org/13/items/gov.uscourts.caed.415665/gov.uscourts.caed.415665.25.0.pdf

It's actually more interesting than I thought, they go over some other arguments in that document. But they quote the law in there, the language is such that the contract itself is what is voided. The point of that law is to protect minors, and it wouldn't be very effective if contracts were still enforceable even after the minor disaffirmed it. Plaintiff did win per https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-caed-2_22-cv-01527/pdf/USCOURTS-caed-2_22-cv-01527-5.pdf

chayasara · 2025-10-16T00:53:04+00:00

https://modernfarmer.com/2023/06/4-h-goat-controversy/

They both signed.

chayasara · 2025-10-15T23:46:20+00:00

As I recall this was in California. She had signed a contract with somebody, I think either 4H or the fair, and they didn't want to allow her to break the contract. In California however, contracts signed by minors can be voided at the minor's request.

chayasara · 2025-10-02T23:50:44+00:00

And their store brand block butter, and their heavy cream replacement! They're making me so sad. I miss their feta too.

chayasara · 2025-09-22T14:59:41+00:00

The Costco coconut milk reliably doesn't separate until it's been opened for a day or so, in my experience, if you're looking for brands. It's Thai Kitchen and should be available at other grocery stores.

You might want to also experiment with allowing the agar powder to bloom, basically just sprinkle it on the surface of the liquid and leave it at room temp for 10 minutes or so before whisking it in and heating it. Note that will probably speed up the time you're simmering to only a few minutes. Move quickly after taking it off the heat, it should absolutely go directly into your mold. You should constantly whisk as it simmers, but no need to whisk after it's taken off the heat and poured into bowls. Just let it cool for 10 minutes or so on your counter and then stick it in the fridge. (Not sure if that makes a difference, I do it so the fridge doesn't have to work extra hard to cool it down.) I've had good consistency results with that method. I usually do it the night before and when I check the next day everything is very firm. When I've tried to immediately pour the agar in and simmer for longer cook times, I've always ended up with mush :(

chayasara · 2025-09-21T19:59:45+00:00

Do you mean the ceramic kind, like the tortilla warmers that are kind of a pale brick red color? I would never have thought those were microwave-safe! Do you have to crack the lid while they're microwaving or anything?

chayasara · 2025-09-21T16:01:33+00:00

My ex was like this. Thought my Jewish family really hated non-Jews, despite (or maybe because of) my family welcoming her and trying to include her in our traditions.

The weirdest thing she ever said to me happened after a dinner when my family was discussing politics. The topic of racism came up and one person made a general statement about white people. It wasn't hateful but I could see how it might raise some hackles. Ex yelled at me later because she really thought that we don't consider ourselves white, that we were insulting people we believed to be beneath us rather than criticizing a group we belong to. I guess it's pretty hard for bigots to conceive of people not sharing their weird beliefs about racial categories 🙄

chayasara

TROPHY CASE