Support Handmade: Tami Noyes of Vegan Appetite

Vegan Appetite is one of those blogs I read back in the day, when there were only about 10 vegan blogs floating around and it was an outright event when new posts went up. It wasn’t until some time later that I got to know the author, Tami Noyes, through forums and facebookeries. She is a delightful person and I’m pleased to have some of her cookbooks in my collection.

Her first, American Vegan Kitchen, came out in 2010. It contains my favorite muffin recipe that I have ever made, the delicious Cinnacrunch Muffins. You should buy the book for this recipe alone, but wait! There’s more! You’ll also get a great burger bun recipe, the cheesecake pictured on the cover, the All American Incrdiburgers, and many more!

Tami Noyes has also published a few books co-authored with the amazing Ms. Celine Steen, among them Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day.

The chickpea shawarma is a must and I loved the beet barley burgers. And you don’t have to make just sandwiches. There are recipes for various meats, spreads, and toppings that can be used however you like. I highly recommend the bierocks if you love you some rye bread and sauerkraut.

You can buy any of her cookbooks over at Herbivore and keep the small business love rolling. And check out Tami’s blog now for a preview of their upcoming Great Vegan Protein Book and a giveaway!

Vegan Finger Foods Review Now With Cookies

I recently got the new Vegan Finger Foods from my local public library and tried out a few dishes. The book is by the fabulous duo of Tami Noyes of Vegan Appetite and Celine Steen from Have Cake Will Travel. They are two of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of meeting through the internet.

The first recipe I tried were the buckeye balls and they don’t disappoint. Buckeye balls never disappoint. These are slightly different than my usual recipe with the addition of cinnamon and it added a little something extra. I took a bunch up to my friend Amy at Herbivore and she noticed the cinnamon as soon as she tried one. Excellent.

I also chose two vegetable dishes, the small plate Brussels sprouts and the green beans jalfrezi, pictured above. The Brussels were good, but I thought the green beans were the star. Next time I would add more tomato because that really made the dish for me. I’d also like to increase the saucy part to cook lentils in, because I think that would make an excellent addition and create a one pot meal. We had leftovers and they were equally good the next day. This is the perfect season for this dish, as tomatoes and green beans are popping up in your garden or local farmers market.

My final recipe was the chocolate orange cookies which I made for a bake sale to benefit the Out To Pasture animal sanctuary. These are good! The orange is very subtle, which I enjoyed as I don’t like a heavy chocolate/fruit flavor combo. The base was quite nice and I thought they made an excellent, light summer cookie.

Vegan Finger Foods is filled with Celine’s lovely photography. There are a number of dishes I would probably never make as is (panda is not cutting out cute cucumber cups to stuff) but there’s no reason some can’t be easily modified if you don’t need a party friendly appetizer. And if you do need that fancy presentation, this book has it ready for you. There’s a wait list for Vegan Finger Foods at my library so I had to return it but I’m looking forward to checking it out again and trying the corn fritters with tomato thyme sauce and more desserts. Celine has a way with cookies and panda does love cookies.

Full disclosure! This book was not provided by the publisher and I received no compensation for my review.