Veggie Conquest

Veggie Conquest 4 was amazing! The chefs did fantastic! The volunteers were on it and the judges were wonderful!

In our biggest give-away yet, all our attendees got a packet of MATCH meat alternative to take home and cook with!

We got to try Crazy Camel Dessert Hummus (it is really tasty) and Raw IceCream Company’s line of vegan raw ice cream!

Big thanks to all of the tasters, judges and volunteers, and especially the chefs.

Here are the winners:

First place
Michelle Barton
Tiny Tater Nori Roll

Click here for the recipe!

Second Place and Tasters choice
Jessica Gunter
Sweet Potato Cigars with Plum Sauce

Click here for the recipe!

Third Place
Kathy Cho
Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

Honorable Mention

Jenn Lynskey
Loaded Baked Potato Perogi

Sherri Cohen
Papas Rellenas Al Horno

Jessie Mee
Curried Mash Canapés with Tamarind and Cilantro Chutneys

Jasmin from ourhenhouse.com made a really great video about VC4! Check it out…

Our Hen House on Veggie Conquest from jasmin singer on Vimeo.

We are so happy to have the very talented Michael Parrish DuDell to emcee Veggie Conquest on Sunday!

Michael is the senior editor for Ecorazzi.com, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of VegDaily.com and a contributor for the Huffington Post and Crazy Sexy Life.

Michael is filling in for our regular emcee, Joshua Katcher, who has important business this weekend. Thanks, Michael! See you all on Sunday!

Potatoes!!

All chefs will make an appetizer featuring potatoes!

So many kinds of potatoes are available… from sweet potatoes to fingerling potatoes… and thousands of different ways to prepare them. Potatoes are versatile and delicious! Good luck, chefs!

If you are attending the event, check your inbox for details!

See you on Sunday the 25th!!

We are so happy to have the ultimate foodie on our panel of judges for VC4. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Patrick Kwan!

Patrick writes about food and restaurants for SuperVegan, New York City’s premier vegan blog and restaurant guide. He is an accomplished vegan cook and well-regarded expert on NYC’s vegetarian restaurants. His March ‘06 article in Satya magazine profiling some of the city’s best veggie bets is still widely referenced and proudly displayed by restaurants in their windows. Over the years, he has served as a taste-tester and recipe-tester for dozens of vegan restaurants and companies.

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE Donuts! I think this is a great idea!
Let’s sell this event out to encourage Brooklyn Kitchen Labs (and Gavin Pherson) to have more vegan cooking classes!

Where: The Brooklyn Kitchen Labs, 100 Frost St. in Williamsburg
When: Thursday, April 15th, 6:30 pm
Cost: $50

Come join Gavin Pherson, owner and executive chef of the underground, vegan fine dining company Hole & Corner, as we patch the gaping hole in your culinary repertoire with…what else? Perfectly delicate, Vegan Donuts! You will learn how to customize your donuts with a neigh-sacrilegious array of succulent fillings, glazes, and toppings from both the sweet and the savory canon, and we’ll invite your personal creative touch along for the ride. In this class we will also learn to make several donut-friendly accouterments, including Cashew Coffee Cheesecake, to help convert the simple, noble donut into a stately dessert.

Feel free to bring any animal-free topping or filling-related fantasy ingredients your sweet mind may desire.

You can sign up online at The Brooklyn Kitchen Labs website.

Come and join us at the Veggie Prom at 8 p.m. Friday, May 14, in Park Slope!! Tickets are on sale NOW! $10 advance, $15 at the door.

Kick off Veggie Pride Parade weekend!

Drinks, dancing, and free vegan desserts! It’s going to be a blast!

Come as a couple or solo… creative prom attire encouraged!

Click on the flyer to buy tickets and learn more about Veggie Prom!

I am so happy to announce the next Veggie Conquest! VC4 will be at  5 p.m. Sunday, April 25.

Tickets will be on sale at 10 a.m. EST this Tuesday, March 23. As most of you know, these tickets go fast! VC3 sold out in record time… so please don’t wait to buy your tickets, because they will be gone! You can buy your tickets here.

We have found a wonderful venue that is eco-minded and cute too! The venue is Green Spaces in Chinatown. It is easy to get to from any train.

New and exciting things

VC4 is going to be one to remember! We are very fortunate to have MATCH vegan meats as a sponsor. MATCH is a gourmet-quality vegan protein, beloved by restaurants nationwide, that is now available in New York City stores to buy for your own kitchen. MATCH comes in five flavors: Breakfast “Sausage”, Ground “Pork”, Ground “Beef”, “Crab” and Italian “Sausage”. Each provides the taste, texture and nutrition of meat without the saturated fats, cholesterol, hormones, antibiotics or cruelty! MATCH can be used in all your family recipes and can even please the adamant meat lover in your life. It can be purchased at all D’Agostino grocery stores in NYC.

You will get to taste MATCH for yourself at VC4 during the second course, prepared by volunteers!

MATCH also has a very exciting surprise for the attendees. Trust me, you will NOT want to miss this!!

With MATCH’s sponsorship, we are able to do new and exciting things! Now we will give all competing chefs $25 when they show up at VC with their competing dish. This will encourage chefs to take risks and splurge even more on fantastic ingredients! All chefs may also bring a guest for free to help cheer them along (and help carry food too!). Chefs, after you sign up, we’ll email you to ask who your guest will be. If you are interested in competing, check out the “How it Works” page on our website.

More exciting news

The kind people at Crazy Camel Dessert Hummus are sending all of their flavors (all 6!) for everyone to try. I am so excited to try these!

Once again, the talented and gorgeous Joshua Katcher (www.thediscerningbrute.com) will be our emcee for the night and DJ Lil Ray will be providing us with the tunes! YAY!

Find out more about VC4

You can subscribe to our blog and follow us on Twitter or Facebook to learn more news about VC4, including our really really exciting judges (to be revealed very soon)!

Can’t wait to see you all there!

Want to sharpen your skill in the kitchen before the next Veggie Conquest?

Want to know what to cook for your non-vegan friends to have them begging for more?

NYC,  you have the chance to be taught some cooking tricks and techniques by the “vegan famous” Joshua Katcher himself!

Joshua is Veggie Conquest’s emcee, although we first got to know him as a judge at VC1 and by reading his amazing blog. That’s how we all know that Joshua knows what he is talking about when it comes to food (and fashion)! He is a fabulous cook and an all around swell guy!

Join Joshua on Saturday, March 13, from 10:00 am until 12:00 pm at Jivamukti Tea Cafe for an interactive cooking workshop where he will be cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner! Make sure to bring your questions. There will be lots of opportunity for Q and A!

The class is $75.  Sign up here on Jivamukti’s website (under the special events tab on the top right).

Sarah Gross and her rescue, Mocha Photo by: Jessica Mahady

Eating Chocolate can now help save animals! Check out the new Brooklyn based vegan and kosher chocolate company called Rescue Chocolate. Not only are their chocolates OMG-good, every single purchase helps to rescue animals. I had the opportunity to ask the lovely and very sweet Sarah Gross, president of Rescue Chocolate, a few questions. She has some VERY exciting new flavors to reveal!

VC: Tell everyone a little about about Rescue Chocolate.

SG: Rescue Chocolate is an all-vegan chocolate company founded with the mission of saving homeless pets. We donate all net proceeds to animal rescue organizations, and each flavor highlights a specific homeless pet issue to spread awareness about these problems and suggest ways to fix them!

VC: How did you come up with the idea of Rescue Chocolate?

SG: I have been deep into the dark/vegan chocolate world as a side hobby for the last several years. Trying every dairy-free brand and flavor I could get my hands on! So I felt qualified to judge a good chocolate and decide on the very best flavors. The way we treat animals has always been very important to me. I’ve been volunteering at animal shelters since I was 9 years old, and I’ve been vegan for over 10 years. To do something meaningful for animals on a large scale has always been what I’ve felt I am meant to do.

VC: What is your history with chocolate?

SG: In addition to tasting all the vegan chocolate that comes before me [wink wink], I have worked at a raw organic chocolate company, Gnosis Chocolate, for over a year. I developed a flavor there, Fleur De Sel, which is now a permanent fixture of the Gnosis line.

Rescue Chocolate's Peanut Butter Pit Bull

VC: Right now your chocolate flavors are Pick Me Pepper, Peanut Butter Pitbull and Bow Wow Bon Bons. Do you have any more flavors planned?

SG: Foster-rific Peppermint is coming in a few days!! Shortly after, we are unveiling a (vegan!) cream-filled Easter egg!! Hold onto your socks.

VC: WHOA! I am very excited! Pre-vegan days, I would get really excited about the cream filled eggs around Easter… They were my favorites!

VC: You sell your Chocolate in pet stores and other non conventional places to buy chocolate… Why did you choose to sell in these places?

SG: These are definitely untapped chocolate markets. But to me, it just makes sense for a pet owner to get a little treat for her- or himself as she/he purchases pet treats. Often one is frazzled by the time they get to a pet store, and chocolate is a perfect release for this feeling.

VC: There is a list on your website (rescuechocolate.com) of all the places that sell Rescue Chocolate in New York City. Where can people who don’t live in New York City get their hands on these wonderful chocolates?

SG: You can order online at RescueChocolate.com. In San Diego, find us at the store All Vegan. And of course, if you know of a store that RC would be perfect for, tell the owner that you want them to carry Rescue Chocolate! We are gratefully expanding to more and more places with your help!

VC: 100% of the net profits from your chocolates go to animal rescue. There are so many wonderful animal rescue organizations out there, how do you choose who to give to? And who are you giving to?

SG: For January and February 2010 all net proceeds are being donated to the Animal Relief Coalition to Haiti. This was in response to the horrific damage caused by last month’s earthquake. It is a group that we felt needed the funds most at this time. Next month, we will be donating to the United Animal Nations, a group with international relief efforts as well, doing very important work. It is our goal to choose groups that we can ensure the money will go directly to the programs that it will impact the most.

VC: Anything else we should know about Rescue Chocolate?

SG: We are open to all wholesale inquiries and would love to get as many rescue organizations carrying Rescue Chocolate as possible. Not only will rescue groups be able to use it as a fundraiser, but they will be educating the public in a fun (and YUMMY) way.  Also, we love to cater parties!

VC: Yumm vegan chocolate party!

Source: Gone Pie

One of our friends, Gone Pie Vegan Bakery, has a new product for this holiday season… vegan crystallized ginger! This can be a hard thing for vegans to find, because of the unknown source of the sugar used in commercial brands. Coupled with Gone Pie’s chocolate frosting, this could make a great gift!

If you are attending VC3, you will be able to taste the crystallized ginger for yourself… Gone Pie will provide samples!!!

Gone Pie makes ordering really easy and can ship anywhere near or far!

You can find out more about Gone Pie and the ginger here.