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November is such a great month.  Not only does it mean cooler weather, color changes, and the start of the holiday season, but it also means World Vegan Month!

Vegan MoFo (Month of Food) was founded 5 years ago by Post Punk Kitchen as a vegan version of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  Vegan MoFo’s goal is to have all participants (worldwide) write something every day– recipes, cooking experiences, etc.  This evergrowing blog resulted in 700 posts within the first two days!   Yowza!

Vegan MoFo Celebration!

It’s amazing how much passion and excitement there is for the vegan lifestyle by vegans.  One thing is clear; vegans value tasty food just as much as their fellow meat-eater.  This love for flavorful and interesting dishes was evident by the array of incredible pictures posted to the website.  Vegans just may be among of the most creative bakers and chefs.  It’s amazing what ingredients are used as alternatives to common animal-products (i.e. eggs, butter).

The growing number of vegans in our society and commemorations such as Vegan MoFo reassures me that the lifestyle is totally doable.  I am not currently a vegan, nor am I interested in persuing the lifestyle longterm, but I do think it would be interesting to experiment with and Vegan MoFo seems like the perfect opportunity!

So, in honor of Vegan MoFo, perhaps we should all try to be vegan for a day, week, or even the entire month of November.  What do you think?

Please stay tuned for more vegan recipes and tips throughout the month.  In the meantime, check out Diane’s post on giving up meat cold turkey (no pun intended) and the recipe below to get you started!

Pumpkin and Bean Chili
***Great served with quinoa***

4 cups (or 2 cans) of cooked beans– any combination of Black, Garbanzo, Kidney, Cannellini, etc..
2 cans of diced tomatoes (I always prefer No Added Salt)
1 can 100% pumpkin puree (NOT spiced)
3 garlic cloves
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 summer squash, sliced
~¼ tsp Aleppo pepper
~¼ tsp Cumin
Salt to taste

Sautee onions, garlic, zucchini and summer squash in a >3QT sauce pan.  Add tomatoes, pumpkin, Aleppo pepper, and Cumin.  Simmer until mixture thickens.  Add beans.  Heat through, add more spice if necessary!