Making dinner healthier, one slow cooker at a time.
From the Pantry Pot Pie (Photo by Bill Bettencourt, Property of Fair Winds Press)
Mark your calendars and join me this Tuesday at the Regulator! I’ll be bringing snacks ; )
The Regulator (An Independent Bookstore)
Tuesday , January 31, 2012
7 to 8 pm
720 9th St Durham, NC 27705
Join us for a warm wintertime snack with Durham blogger and cookbook author Kathy Hester who will discuss and sign copies of her new book The Vegan Slow Cooker.
Looking for a few tips and tricks to make this year your tastiest? Or maybe you’re just aspiring to cook at home and save a few bucks. Here are my classes, demos, and tasty book signings that are scheduled so far this year. The first two require a sign up, so go ahead and let them know you are coming. I promise we’ll have fun.
Most of them are free and you can ask me questions about slow cooking and eating vegan at any of them!
Vegan Pledge program – free
Saturday, January 14, 2012 (1 to 4 pm)
E-mail for more info and location information wells.chrism@gmail.com
Chapel Hill, NC
I’ll be talking about vegan cooking, give some tips and tricks and make some yummy food for everyone to try. I’ll have my book available for purchase and will also be signing books.
Cooking Class at Savory Spice Shop – $15
January 18, 2012 at 6 pm
Join me at Savory Spice Shop in Raleigh, NC
for a Vegan cooking Class/Demo.Call (919) 900-8291 to reserve a space.
Lafayette Village
8470 Honeycutt Road (just south of 540 facing Falls of Neuse Road)
Suite 108
Raleigh, NC 27615Twitter: @SavoryRaleigh
Follow them on Facebook: SavorySpiceShopRaleigh
The Regulator (An Independent Bookstore)
Tuesday , January 31, 2012
7 to 8 pm
720 9th St Durham, NC 27705
Join us for a warm wintertime snack with Durham blogger and cookbook author Kathy Hester who will discuss and sign copies of her new book The Vegan Slow Cooker. Hester will provide a demonstration of her delicious slow cooker recipes and samples.
Southwest Regional Library Culinary Book Club (Open to the public and free)
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
7 pm to 8 pm
3605 Shannon Road Durham, NC 27707
I will discuss my cookbook, The Vegan Slow Cooker at the Southwest Regional Library Culinary Book Club. There will be lots of tips and tricks and a few recipes too!
You can meet Cheryl at most classes too!
I’m so excited that so many of you have already bought my book and that it’s still the most wished for vegetarian book on amazon!
(Pictured above is the book on my iPad. The photos look awesome on it.)
One of the things I would like this Holiday season is that people who can’t afford to get a copy would have access to it at their local library. Many of the meals are budget-conscious and it’s much cheaper to make bouillon and seitan from scratch. Also just cooking in a slow cooker helps me spend less money by making it easier to have dinner ready everyday.
You’ll enter this giveaway by requesting my book at your local library. The details are below. It shouldn’t take long to do and you may be able to do it from your computer depending on how plugged-in your library is.
This giveaway will last for the rest of December, so the winner will be chosen on January 1, 2012.
To enter the contest:
A signed copy of The Vegan Slow Cooker and a brand new slow cooker (I will post a pic later) will mailed directly to you if you win the giveaway. If you already have a copy of my book I will send it to your library instead at your request! (If you and your library already have it I can send it to a library that does not have a copy.) It’s a win-win for everyone.
12/6/2011 – You can also get extra entries by doing one or more of the following. You must add an additional comment for each one you do to get an additional entry!
Update: If your library rocks (as so many do) and already has the book and/or e-book on order, still leave me the name city/state of your library and you will still be entered. I’d love it if you would tell me how many copies are there or on order too and how many holds/reserves are already in for the book.
Good luck!
Tofu Bouillabaisse (Photo by Bill Bettencourt, Property of Fair Winds Press)
Here’s another teaser from The Vegan Slow Cooker. It comes out October 1.
Stews are the perfect way to start using your slow cooker while you are away at work. They need the least attention and shouldn’t over cook if you come home a little late.
However, if you are going to be very late or find that your slow cooker runs particularly hot add an extra 1/2 to 1 cup of liquid to make sure it doesn’t burn. Typically, I do this the first time I cook a dish and then gauge from the result how much liquid I’ll use in the future.
Chapter 4
Steamy Stews and Curries that Save the Day
1. Soy Chorizo Black Bean Stew
2. White Bean and Kale Stew
3. Asian-Style Winter Stew
4. Veggie Gumbo with Cheater Roux
5. Mojito Pinto Beans
6. Cheater Chili
7. Tofu Bouillabaisse
8. Chinese-Style Eggplant in Garlic Sauce
9. Hard Cider and Cabbage Stew
10. Thai Red Curry Tofu and Veggies
11. Caribbean Mango Black Beans
12. Not-My-Grandmother’s Beefy Stew
13. Sweet Potato and Chard Dal
14. Chana Saag (Indian Greens with
Chickpeas)
15. Baigan Bharta (Eggplant Curry)
16. Easy Veggie Chickpea Biryani
17. Butter Chick’n
Chana Saag (Indian Greens with Chickpeas) (Photo by Bill Bettencourt, Property of Fair Winds Press)
Hot and Sour Soup (Photo by Bill Bettencourt, Property of Fair Winds Press)
Here’s another teaser from The Vegan Slow Cooker. It’s available for pre-order, but it doesn’t come out until October 1.
Soups are amazing. Ranging from light, brothy soups to a hearty Hungarian Mushroom Soup that’s thick and rich with cashew cream. No matter what the season, there’s a soup that’s perfect for it. Summer wants chilled soups, Spring and Fall want to celebrate the local harvest, and Winter just would like to keep warm.
I seem to want soup all the time. If I’m sick I want Hot and Sour Soup or Smoked Tofu and Stars. If I’ve found some great veggies at the market I want to make a soup that features them. I could spend all winter eating soup and fresh-baked bread, but Cheryl won’t hear of it!
Chapter 3
Simmering Soups That Cook While You’re Away
1. Golden Borscht
2. Herbed Carrot and Baby Turnip Soup
3. Creamy Corn Chowder
4. Summer Squash Bisque
5. Asparagus Tarragon Soup
6. Spring Minestrone with Pesto Parmesan
7. Sweet Potato White Bean Soup
8. Cauliflower and Celery Root Bisque
9. Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup
10. Hungarian Mushroom Soup
11. Asian Tofu Soup
12. Tortilla Soup
13. Hot and Sour Soup
14. Split Pea and Apple Soup
15. Delicata Squash and Pear Soup
16. Turbodog Root Veggie Soup
17. Split Pea and Lentil Soup
18. Smoked Tofu and Stars Soup
19. What’s in the Freezer? Veggie Soup
20. Creamy Potato Soup
21. Citrus Black Bean Soup
Smoked Tofu and Stars Soup (Photo by Bill Bettencourt, Property of Fair Winds Press)
Citrus Rum BBQ Sauce (Photo by Bill Bettencourt, Property of Fair Winds Press)
I want to give you a little teaser from The Vegan Slow Cooker since the book doesn’t come out until October 1. It’s available for pre-order, but my publisher doesn’t have the look inside the book feature turned on yet. Hopefully this will get you as excited as I am about the launch!
This staples chapter is one of my favorites. You save so much money by cooking the things you use everyday from scratch right in your slow cooker. Plus you know exactly what went in them including how much salt!
I can’t begin to tell you how much money I saved when I was writing the book because of these recipes. Canned beans cost 3 to 6 times what dry beans cost, and wheat gluten flour is so much cheaper than ready-made gluten at the store.
I still try to take one day a month to make up a few batches and freeze them.
Chapter 2
Staples You’ll Want to Know: Make Your Own Bouillon, Seitan, sauces, and More
1. Dry Beans from Scratch (1 1/2 quart recipe on blog)
2. Perfectly Easy Everyday Brown Rice
3. Chickeny Bouillon
4. Beefy Bouillon
5. Chick’n Seitan
6. Beefy Seitan
7. Apple Sage Sausage (with gluten-free alternative)
8. Tea-Scented Tofu
9. Preserve-the-Harvest Diced Tomatoes
10. Beyond-Easy Baked Potatoes
11. All-Occasion Roasted Garlic
12. Citrus Rum BBQ Sauce
13. Balsamic Onion Marmalade
14. Homemade Smoky Ketchup
15. Fall Harvest Fruit Butter
16. Perfect Pumpkin Purée
17. Brandied Cranberry Sauce
Fall Harvest Butter (Photo by Bill Bettencourt, Property of Fair Winds Press)
I’m so excited I could just bust! I’ve finally gotten to see the quotes for my upcoming book, The Vegan Slow Cooker, and they are better than I would have dared to imagine.
And if that wasn’t enough excitement, I will be teaching a class called Going Vegan at this year’s Creative Connection in St. Paul, MN. (A new class description will be up soon.) Please pass this on to any of your crafty friends that may be interested in attending.
The Quotes:
“This book might just revolutionize vegan cooking! Kathy Hester’s recipes are ridiculously fast and easy, unbelievably delicious, and believe it or not—cheap. Bravo, Kathy!”
–Kathy Freston, New York Times best-selling author of Veganist
“ Kathy’s stellar recipes and straightforward instructions will have you creating hot, fresh, gourmet meals in just minutes a day. No more slaving away in the kitchen. With The Vegan Slow Cooker, you’ll be eating like a queen with just the flip of a switch!”
—Rory Freedman, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Skinny Bitch
“ The health advantages of a plant-strong diet are compelling and well proven. But preparing yummy meals that are wholesome can be time consuming. That’s where this book comes in. Slow cookers can be huge labor and time savers, if you know how to use them. This is the book that will show you how.”
—John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution, The New Good Life, Diet for a New America, and other bestsellers
I just want to thank you all for helping make my recipes better and easier to use by all your comments and questions.
Here’s another oatmeal to bring out the kid in you. I have a crazy oatmeal theme in mind for next week, so stay tuned for more oatmeal madness.
I’m not sure if you know that regular marshmallows are not vegan yet, but I have to break the news. They have gelatin and aren’t even vegetarian. However Sweet and Sarah have an amazing variety of vegan marshmallows that are super tasty. If they aren’t in your area yet you can order from them directly.
Yesterday I found out that my upcoming book, The Vegan Slowcooker, is on Amazon and available for pre-order already! Of course that called for a celebration. A few friends and I went out to my favorite wine bar that serves local food – 6 Plates. They don’t always have vegan food on the menu, but they are always happy to help you veganize something. After a couple of glasses of wine and a delicious flat bread topped with a lentils, beets, and arugula, and topped with a lemon-champagne vinaigrette I had just enough energy to make some oatmeal.
I promise more dinner recipes are on the way as soon as I actually cook them. On my plan is a ginger, garlic mushroom soup that’s perfect when you have a cold, and another lasagna with lots of greens. Hopefully the weekend will be kind and I’ll the recipes for you next week.
If you’re as excited about the book as I am you can click like it at Amazon or add it to your wish list.
Slow Cooker Vegan S’mores Oatmeal
2 to 3 servings
**This recipe uses a smaller slow cooker that’s 1 1/2 to 2 quarts
s’mores topping:
(or if you want to be more moderate – you can use less but still equal parts of each)
The night before: Spray your crock with some oil to help with clean up later. Add oats, vanilla and milk. Cook on low over night (7 to 9 hours).
In the morning: Stir your oatmeal well. It may seem watery at the top but if stirred it should become a more uniform consistency. Put a big scoop of the smores topping on and mix it in to melt the chocolate and marshmallows.
**See Page Link on Menu Bar to get to Slow Cooker Oatmeal FAQS
The Virtual Vegan Potluck is over, but the virtual feast lives on!