Having about 30 people, only part of my large family, visit for Christmas brought back memories of the city we're all from—New Orleans. I know I've said it before, but it's nearly impossible to think of the city and not think of food. Cajun and Creole classics typically come to mind first, but there is one New Orleans original recipe with an Italian influence—the Muffuletta.

The often-massive sandwich consists of four main elements and can easily be veganized: a variety of deli slices, cheese, round Italian bread (if you can find it), and, most importantly, the olive salad. The salad is usually made from olives, capers, carrots, celery, and garlic, which combine to create the unique flavor and potent smell of the sandwich.

Unless you want to anger a ragin' Cajun, the sandwich should be served at room temperature. WhatsCookingAmerica.net makes it clear that "it is considered blasphemy to heat the sandwich." For more info on the correct way to prepare the sandwich and to learn about the sandwich's history, check out GumboPages.com or Colorpro.com, to name just a couple.

And I want them now! Sure, you can find Oreos everywhere, and many store-brand cookies are vegan, but sometimes you want that extra-special cookie. Well, you're in luck because finding great vegan cookies is now a cinch.

Here are some of my favorite brands:

•Liz Lovely: My favorite is the soft chocolate chip "Cowgirl Cookie."

•Alternative Baking Company: This was the first brand of pre-made vegan cookies I ever tried, and it's still a favorite to this day. "Explosive Espresso Chip" is hands down my favorite.

•Uncle Eddie's Vegan Cookies: I've got to recommend the "Oatmeal Chocolate Chip." Are you guys seeing a pattern here?

•Lucy's: These low-calorie crispy cookies can be purchased in a 12-pack sampler.

•Nana's: Who can resist a dessert called "Nana's Fudgy Wudgy Cookie Bars"? You have to try one.

•Sun Flour Vegan Cookies: The delicious and filling "Banana Nut" cookie is practically a meal in itself.

As I said, there's no need to worry about how you're going to get your hands on these delicious treats—which I must admit are listed in order of preference. You can find these online, at health-food stores, and at some major grocery stores, such as Whole Foods. And if you have tips on where to find other yummy, pre-made vegan cookies, please share in a comment below!

I asked my friend Corey to write a post about a quick and easy recipe for us, and she whipped up this delicious black-bean soup. Here ya go!

There are some days when you just don't have 30 minutes to prepare dinner and a fast, hearty meal seems hard to come by unless it is from a restaurant. This quick black-bean soup was a spur-of-the-moment, "what do I have in the pantry?" idea that needed to be ready in less than 20 minutes. With only a handful of ingredients, chances are you'll have most of these in your pantry.

The bold garlic and red-pepper flavors are warming, which makes this soup perfect for a cold evening. If you're feeling fancy, top the soup off with toasted tortilla strips, cilantro, and green olives. Sour Supreme and hot sauce also pair nicely.

Like many others, I too have a slight addiction to Chinese takeout. And when my craving hits, only the saltiest and greasiest takeout will do. But there are other times when I'm craving Chinese food and looking for something slightly different. Instead of yearning for the comfort of fast food, I'm seeking more depth from the flavors of my favorite ingredients—a task more easily accomplished if I make the meal at home.

One easy-to-make, and often-used, recipe is my garlic-ginger tofu stir-fry. The sauce contains a few of my favorite ingredients—peppers, garlic, ginger, and soy—and is just thick enough to coat and stick to the ingredients without becoming too gooey. Don't get me wrong—I love the gooey, oily goodness that you sometimes find in fast-food dishes, but this recipe is meant to be a little lighter.

Of course, you can throw in any veggies you'd like and serve over your favorite rice or noodles. Get crazy with it.

Robin Robertson—a former restaurant chef and the author of one of my favorite vegan cookbooks, Vegan Planet—is kind enough to answer monthly questions here on VegCooking.com about all things vegan. Yep, she is the "vegan chef" of our "Ask the Vegan Chef" section, and she answers the questions that you submit. Topics cover baking, meat alternatives and other products, health, young vegans, and more.

You're in luck, because we have a little sneak peek of Robin's new round of "vegan chef" questions, and we're posting part one today. Be sure to check back for part two as well as for info about and reviews of Robin's exciting new cookbook, Vegan Fire & Spice.

Ask the Vegan Chef, Part 1
Answers by Robin Robertson

Q. I am a new vegan and have a couple of questions about products. Are sugar-free maple syrup, Bisquick, and Smart Balance vegan? Thanks!

A. You're in luck: According to the Smart Balance Web site, its "Certified Organic" Smart Balance is 100 percent vegan (the lactic acid it contains is derived from beets). Bisquick is also vegan—as long as you don't add eggs or dairy products to the mix! As for sugar-free maple syrup, I couldn't find any brands that weren't vegan, but as with any product, it's always a good idea to read the label first. PETA has a great factsheet on hidden animal ingredients so that you know what to look for.

Q. I have high blood pressure and have to watch my sodium intake. A lot of the veggie dinners on the market are full of sodium. Are there any frozen veggie dinners available that are quick to fix and low in sodium?

A. That's a tough one, since most processed products and meals tend to be high in sodium. Here's an idea that can be economical and lets you control the sodium: Make your own! Pick a day when you have a few hours to devote to cooking. Get some meal-sized containers that you can either pop in the oven or microwave, depending on your preference. Then get cooking: Choose three recipes that you enjoy that freeze well (one-dish meals such as stews and chili are great for that), and then cook a large batch and portion them for the coming weeks. You can also make a big pot of rice or other grain and portion it into containers. Grains freeze well and defrost quickly. To speed things along, you can place frozen rice in a colander and run it under hot water in the kitchen sink.

Q. I am about four weeks into my vegan lifestyle but have concerns about eating out. On this Web site, I found good info on various restaurants, but you do not say anything about the buns. I thought that most buns, bagels, and breads are made with eggs or butter. And what about pastas?

A. Although there are certainly exceptions, many breads, rolls, and pastas are actually made without eggs or butter, especially French or Italian-type breads as well as flatbreads and bagels. The predominant exception is "flavored" breads or bagels, which may contain cheese, etc. Dried pastas are generally vegan, while "fresh" pasta usually is not. One way to give yourself peace of mind is to call a restaurant before you visit it (try not to call during the lunch or dinner rush) and ask to speak with a manager whom you can ask about the products the restaurant uses. This is much less of a hassle than just showing up at a place unprepared.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret for a good recipe that looks and tastes harder to make than it is—Panko-Encrusted Dijon Seitan. I am a firm believer that panko breadcrumbs make most recipes somehow seem fancier than they really are. I bet the light and crisp crumbs would turn even a plain hunk of tofu into a mouthwatering treat—OK, that is a bit of a stretch, but they do add a lot to the simplest of dishes.

My seitan was served over a parsnip purée with roasted red potatoes and garlic on the side—also very easy to make—but will go with almost any veggies you like. Enjoy.

Saturday trips to the farmers' market are both the highlight of my week and a leading source of stress. This is because half of East Atlanta also had the same idea as me, and you're left battling it out over an inch of room in front of the piles of bok choy and basil.

Lack of space is the only bad part of the trip. The best is seeing rows and rows of fresh, and often unknown, produce that inspires you to create recipes on the fly. The peppers-stuffed-with-pasta recipe below is clearly one of those.

The use of orzo as the filling is not a stretch, really. The small rice-shaped pasta combines well with the other ingredients to make a salad-like stuffing, and when cooked inside the pepper, the orzo absorbs some of the pepper's flavor. It does sound odd at first to combine Italian and South American flavors, but they work surprisingly well together.

The one tip I will provide for the recipe below is to add the chipotle powder to the tofu mixture gradually. If you can't take the heat, don't start by adding the full half tablespoon. Start with less and add more to taste. If you love sweating during meals, add a tablespoon—or two.

We're a couple of weeks into the new year, and if you're anything like me, you've already blown your resolution. But that's OK, because "if at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again."

If your resolution was to lose weight, then you're in luck. PETA is having a contest to give away copies of Skinny Bitch and Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, which will help you recommit to that resolution of yours.

The contest says that the Skinny Bitch in the Kitch cookbook offers "vegan recipes for every craving—desserts, 'bitchin' breakfasts,' and 'PMS (Pissy Mood Snacks).'" And the authors, Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, say the book offers "Kick-Ass Recipes for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Cooking Crap (and Start Looking Hot!)." Sounds like a fun way both to keep this year's resolution and try out vegan recipes—how can you resist?

My resolution this year is top secret—I'll never tell—but if you made a food-related resolution this year, please share. Oh, and enter the contest!

The Proggy Awards—PETA's annual awards for animal-friendly achievement—were announced recently, and I must admit that I couldn't agree more about the decision to name Gourmet the most progressive food magazine of the year.

You may remember that many months ago, I was singing praises about Gourmet for some of the same reasons it won the Proggy—a monthly vegetarian column and articles on animal welfare. No, I did not rig the Proggy Awards and name my favorite magazine as the winner. Gourmet won fair and square because it's leading the way by regularly including vegetarian issues in mainstream food media.

Read about all the Proggy Award winners here, including Wolfgang Puck, Burger King, and Robin Robertson, to name just a few. And if Gourmet and Wolfgang aren't your style, check out peta2's Libby Awards, loaded with awards for best cookies, ice cream, junk food, and more.

An easy way to brighten up dreary winter days, when even the Dirty South is seeing snow and ice, is by tricking your taste buds into thinking you're in a tropical location. And the taste of mango, sweet onion, peppers, and fresh herbs are the perfect ingredients to do just that.

I can't take credit for creating this delicious pepper "beef" and mango salad. The recipe and picture were given to me by a chef I know, who would rather remain unnamed, but I couldn't resist sharing it here. Enjoy.

Unfortunately, I won't be at any Mardi Gras parades this year. Maybe I'll host my own at-home party by pulling out my stash of beads, plastic cups, and doubloons and then assembling my krewe—two cats and my boyfriend—and yelling "throw me something, mister" at each of them. Maybe not…

I am, however, going to keep with the tradition of celebrating Mardi Gras with a king cake—the brioche-and-cinnamon-roll-like cake that is covered with icing and multicolored sugar and has a plastic baby hidden inside. I know, it sounds kind of crazy, but it's delicious and worth the effort.

You can find multiple sources online that discuss the history of and traditions surrounding the cake, so I'll avoid that here because the recipe is quite long. Enjoy the cake and the party, and laissez les bons temps rouler!

Not sure of the difference between tofu and tempeh? Need to know how to make vegan versions of your family's favorite recipes? Worried about how a vegan diet will affect your health?

Luckily, chef and author Robin Robertson kindly answers questions just like these, right here on VegCooking.com, in the monthly column titled "Ask the Vegan Chef." If you have a question for Robin, browse past questions and answers here, where you can also submit your own questions.

As promised, this is part two of the sneak peek at Robin's answers to your latest questions.

Ask the Vegan Chef, Part 2
Answers by Robin Robertson

Q. I am working on redoing our vegetarian options on our plated menu here at the Hynes Convention Center. I want to start using vegan meats. I have a bunch of recipes for the basic vegan meats, but they all call for veggie beef broth or veggie fish stock, etc. What I can't find is how to make the veggie meat broths. Any info you could give me would be of great help. Thank you.

A. A good rich homemade vegetable stock can be used to add great flavor to recipes—you might try that first and see if you don't agree. If you really want a more "meaty" flavor, you could add one of the following products to your broth (available in natural food stores or online): Vegex Beefy Flavoring, Vogue VegeBase Vegetable Broth Mix, or Vogue Reduced Sodium Instant Vegetarian Chicken Base. Here's one site that sells these products: www.healthy-eating.com.

Q. I've tried to go vegetarian many times but don't seem to have the "intestinal fortitude" for it. Let's just say, all those beans and tofu do not agree with me. How can I become vegetarian without spending the day in the bathroom, popping Tums every hour, and burping every three minutes? Can it happen with a gradual adjustment? Is there a bean out there that's easier to digest? Or a way to cook them that would be easier on my system? I really want to stop eating meat, but it sure makes life uncomfortable! Any input would be appreciated.

A. Here are some things that can help: Soak dried beans in water for eight hours or overnight, and then discard the soaking water before cooking. After soaking, drain the beans and cook them in fresh water. Be sure to cook the beans until they're very soft, because this will make them more digestible. Adding the dried sea vegetable kombu or the herb epazote to a pot of beans is believed to help make them more digestible. Just add 2 teaspoons dried epazote or a 2-inch strip of kombu to the pot before cooking the beans. Begin eating beans just a few times a week until your body gets used to digesting them. Soon, you should be able to eat them more often. Some beans are said to be easier to digest than others. Among the most digestible are adzuki, black-eyed peas, and lentils. If all else fails, use a digestive enzyme product to make beans easier to digest. These products are generally taken as a tablet or sprinkled on cooked beans before eating them.

Q. This Christmas, I was given a Lodge cast-iron Dutch oven to use at my campsite. It came with a cookbook with all sorts of chicken, beef, etc., recipes. My daughter is vegan, and I try to stay as close to her diet as possible. Where can I find vegan recipes for cooking over my campfire?

A. Check out this VegCooking.com feature: "Cooking With Fire". There are also some cookbooks that can help, such as The Vegetarian Grill by Andrea Chesman. You also might enjoy some of the quick-and-easy recipes for cooking with nonperishable food in Apocalypse Chow: How to Eat Well When the Power Goes Out by Jon Robertson (and for which I wrote the recipes).

The best balsamic vinegar, and some would argue the only true balsamic, comes from the northern region of Italy. Unfermented white grape juice is boiled down to produce the must, which is further reduced and then aged in wooden barrels. The result is a complex vinegar with a sweet and fruity taste, dark color, and syrupy consistency. What I've just described is very different from what you'll find in the average supermarket.

Most supermarkets carry only commercial-grade balsamic, which is mixed with red wine vinegar. It's not as sweet, lighter in color, and thinner. Unfortunately, finding the real deal may not be easy for you. If you're at the store, check the ingredients for the percentage of must; only the true balsamic is 100 percent must, with no vinegar. But driving all over town in search of good vinegar might not be the best approach. Try ordering from sites such as Olive Nation that offer a variety of vinegars aged up to 50 years and costing up to $200!

I am not saying you need to spend that much on a good balsamic—you don't—but splurging just a little can be worth it. The rich complexity of the vinegar makes it perfect for drizzling on ripe strawberries or soy ice cream, and it can even be sipped on its own.

If the creamy texture is what you miss about eating dairy products, one easy way to satisfy your craving is by using puréed white beans. They won't taste like dairy, but they do have a similar texture with certain preparations and can be just as satisfying.

Here are a few good recipes I found online that whiz white beans into creamy goodness. Epicurvegan offers a recipe for White Bean Garlic Cream Sauce that would be perfect over fettuccine noodles. Orangette displays a beautiful picture of Dreamy White Beans, shares the easy recipe, and, yes, even apologizes for the name. And White Bean and Arugula Tortellini is on display at Vegan Visitor.

My personal favorite is to make a creamy soup out of white beans, but I mix it up a little by only blending half of the soup at the end. You're left with the silkiness of the puréed beans and the heartiness of the whole ones—a delicious combination.

You can also use potatoes or rice to achieve creaminess without dairy, if beans aren't for you. Also note that any soup can achieve an extra smoothness when put through the beast of a machine that is a Vita-Mix and then through a fine-mesh strainer.

The Food Network and Rachael Ray cleverly explain the name of pasta puttanesca as follows: "This sauce is named for ladies of the night. They would place pots of it in their windows to tempt men into the bordellos. I like it because it's spicy, fast, and easy (…no disrespect to the ladies)."

If that description wasn't intriguing enough, then maybe reading over the list of ingredients for our vegan version will be—kalamata olives, capers, red pepper flakes, slivers of garlic, basil, and brine. And if you don't like it as spicy as a "lady of the night," tone it down by reducing the amount of red pepper in the sauce.

With so many varieties to choose from, it is hard to know which peppercorn is right for you. Now, I know this is keeping many of you awake at night, so I've created a quick guide that covers the basics.

•Black pepper is from the unripe berries of the pepper plant. They are cooked and then dried, turning them into the shriveled berries used worldwide. The bite of black pepper is suitable for seasoning in most foods.

•White pepper is the seed of the ripened fruit. The fruit is soaked in water, and then the flesh is removed to obtain the seed. White pepper is a little milder than black pepper and is commonly used in light-colored dishes such as mashed potatoes, white sauces, or light-colored soups.

•Green pepper is also made from the unripe berries. They are packed in brine or freeze-dried to maintain the green color. Because it's milder than black and white pepper, use green pepper in dishes that require less kick.

•The rare pink peppercorn is the ripe red pepper berry. It isn't a true peppercorn but makes a great complement to a peppercorn blend.

Now that you know the basics, make sure your pepper maintains peak flavor by storing it in an airtight container in a dark location. Also, to achieve optimum flavor, freshly grind your peppercorns using a peppermill.

The first time I moved away, I naively thought that I'd find all that Athens, Georgia, had to offer, but on a much larger scale, in bigger cities—I was wrong. I've moved to several cities over the last 10 years, and not one comes close to matching that certain something that can be found only in Athens.

No, it's not just the PBR that gives it spirit. It's the small town, the sense of community, the music, the musicians, the school, the night swimming, the late-night dance parties, the local coffee companies, the late-night dance parties at local coffee companies, and so on. Any place with this much soul and creativity is bound to have delicious food as well, and Athens does.

The Grit is an institution in the Athens food scene, and The New Yorker says it has a "reputation as the indie-rock Moosewood." Ask almost anyone who has been to the mostly musician-staffed restaurant and they will tell you that the Golden Bowl is the must-order item. Cubes of tofu are sautéed until chewy and then coated with generous amounts of nutritional yeast and soy sauce. The double-fried goodness is then served over a scoop of brown rice, and you can add sautéed veggies to the mix if you like. This recipe has been tested hundreds of times by my man, who was a cook at The Grit, so I can vouch that it's a good one. Enjoy.