Adding a crust to a marinated piece of tofu is one of the easiest and fastest ways to take your meal from bland to grand. And it's not just because of the taste or presentation; the word "encrusted" alone can make a meal sound fancier.

Adding crust is good not just because of the "wow" factor; more importantly, it's great because it brings variety to a dish. A crust should, in theory, add a contrasting texture to that of the ingredient that lies inside, and it should provide a different flavor.

You can also use a variety of ingredients to actually create the crust, from nuts to grains to herbs and spices. One not-so-common ingredient is wasabi peas—the addictive sinus-clearing treats.

To create an Asian-inspired tofu dish, first marinate the tofu in a soy sauce blend, then coat with chopped wasabi peas and pan fry. This won't leave you with a perfect crust, like the kind that you would have on faux fried chicken or mock fish sticks—and yes, pieces might fall off, but that's OK with this dish. For a healthier version, you can also try sprinkling the chopped wasabi peas on top of the tofu then baking it in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

Any other recommendations for creating an interesting crust? Please share!

Tapenades are typically based around three main ingredients: olives, capers, and olive oil. You would think these ingredients would be the start of an Italian dish, right? Surprisingly, tapenades are actually of French origin.

Tapenade is a paste or chunky spread made by mixing or pounding the above ingredients. You can throw in additional herbs and spices, as well as additional veggies, if you like.

My tapenade recipe below is made by mixing in jarred roasted red peppers, which are soft and sort of sweet, with the traditional ingredients, plus herbs and lemon juice. The peppers add a little more variety to the flavors and help cut some of the saltiness. Don't get me wrong—I love salt, but 1/2 cup or more of olives can test even my love of sodium.

As you can see, I only pulsed the mixture until just combined, leaving it rather chunky. For a more traditional tapenade, blend until it becomes more of a paste. In my opinion, the only vehicle for the oily, salty spread is a toasted baguette or crostini. Nothing else will do.

A deep-fried crunchy shell is usually the last thing I want to see anywhere near my tacos. Sure, they're good when you want the traditional Americanized taco composed of veggie crumbles cooked in one of those way-too-salty packets of taco seasoning, then topped with lettuce and soy cheese—but when I want a taco with fresher flavors, I have to go with a soft corn tortilla.

To me, fresh corn tortillas are best when toasted over the open flame of my stove until they're just darkened around the edges. And to accompany the fresh casing, I have to go for fresh fillings.

Seitan or tofu is delicious when pan-fried in a little oil, until crispy, and then coated with herbs and spices. And a variety of roasted vegetables add subtle flavor to a taco. I find it works best to slice all of them into thin strips before placing on top of my tortilla.

To cool the heat of the spices on the seitan or tofu, I top my tacos with diced tomatoes, homemade guacamole, cilantro, onion, and lime, but you can try any toppings you'd like.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that the standard taco and a hard shell are bad—they're just usually not my first choice. Enjoy!

Yesterday's post featured Roasted Veggie and "Chicken" Tacos loaded with tons of fresh toppings such as guacamole, diced tomato, lime, cilantro, and red onion. I don't know about you, but I cannot enjoy a Mexican meal, like tacos, without a side of refried beans. They are hands down my favorite Mexican dish. I think I might even swim in a pool of beans if I could—that's how much I love them.

Most grocery stores carry canned vegetarian refried beans (nonveg varieties often contain lard), but if you make them yourself, you'll be in for a treat. You can add more spices and flavor with the homemade variety, and you can completely control the consistency. Most canned refried beans are made to be very, very thick, so I make them at home and thin them out a bit. I like to use faux chicken stock instead of water, to add even more depth to the flavor.

Try this recipe below with pinto beans, or you can make it with black beans instead. My recipe doesn't make much, so if you're cooking for a group, you may need to double or even triple the ingredients.

Coconut milk is a key ingredient in my two favorite Thai dishes—curries and soups. It gives Thai curries their unique creaminess and richness, which are lacking in some curries from other countries. And it gives soups an interesting base—great for vegetarians bored with starting off every soup with just vegetable broth.

A variety of Thai soups can be made with coconut milk (I featured a carrot-coconut soup a while back), but my favorite is the classic coconut milk soup. The milk, made from the meat of the coconut and not the liquid inside, blends perfectly with the light and fresh flavors of lime, lemon grass, and cilantro. You can throw in any veggies you like, as well as tofu, to make a more filling soup that can act as a meal.

Be careful when ordering this soup at restaurants! Many Thai places make theirs with fish sauce. Some Thai restaurants offer a vegan version, but not all, so be sure to ask. Now if only we could get all Thai restaurants to offer a veg version and to stop using those crazy names, like Thaicoon and Thai Me Up (just a couple in my area), we'd be all set.

Green beans are one of the most common veggies in the U.S.—and they are one of the most commonly overlooked by me. Because of their mild flavor and low number of calories, I've assumed that there's, well, just not that much to them. I'll go ahead and admit it—I was wrong.

Green beans pack quite a nutritional punch. They are full of vitamin K, vitamin C, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids, for starters. And in addition to the health factor, they are also a very diverse ingredient. You can smother them in cream of mushroom soup to make the Southern classic green bean casserole, you can enjoy them just steamed and salted, or you can try them in a variety of Asian-inspired dishes.

This recipe is for the popular dish sesame green beans, but with a twist. I like to add in onions and shiitake mushrooms to give a little more variety to the flavors and textures. Enjoy!

Quick—what's the difference between a crimini and a portobello mushroom? If you said only their size, then you are correct. They are the same mushroom, but at different maturity levels. Criminis are the young'uns, and once they grow to a full 4 to 6 inches, they become the more mature portobello.

Portobellos are probably one of the most commonly known mushrooms to vegans and vegetarians. At most events or at most restaurants, if a cook is looking for a meat replacer, he or she reaches for a portobello. This has sorta given me a bad attitude about this type of mushroom because they can cause some people to stay away from making new creative vegetarian dishes. However, I recently gave portobellos another shot and realized that my bad attitude was, well, just that.

When properly prepared—in my opinion, this means not overly marinated or overly cooked—portobellos can have a great meaty texture and earthy, delicious flavor. My recipe for portobello steaks calls for marinating them in an oil, white wine, lemon, and garlic blend for a nice light flavor. You can eat these "steaks" on a bun if you'd like, but I prefer to just eat them plain. This way, you can really taste all of the flavors instead of burying them under a pile of bread and condiments. Enjoy!

And now for something totally unrelated to mushrooms—I've been nominated for a VegNews VeggieAward! Please visit the magazine's site and vote for me in the "Favorite Veg Blog" category. Voting is easy, and there's something in it for you because voters have a chance to win fabulous prize packages, including a New York City Urban Getaway, a Glam Girl Goodie Bag, a Marshmallow Madness Gift Pack, and a Vegan Cookie Smorgasbord.

Please visit VegNews and vote for The VegCooking Blog now!

Chewy and crunchy, healthy yet indulgent—this is why I love oatmeal-raisin cookies. It's not so much about the individual ingredients but the way they work together. You'll even find people who despise oatmeal or raisins on their own but can't resist them when they are rolled up together into the form of a cookie.

The key to making chewy cookies is making sure that you have enough fat and liquid in the recipe and, more importantly, not over-baking! This is crucial. Leaving cookies in the oven too long will leave you with all crunch and no chew. In this recipe, the crunch should come from the oats, not a long baking time that turns cookies into cardboard.

And please note that I'm using the term "healthy" very loosely. These cookies aren't exactly low-fat, low-calorie, or low-anything. They're just not as bad as, say, chocolate-chocolate chip cookies because they do have raisins and oatmeal. You can make them healthier by swapping out some of the white flour for wheat flour and reducing the sugar if you're OK with a cookie that isn't as sweet.

Enjoy!

Today is PETA's 28th birthday, and everyone knows that you can't celebrate a birthday without cake! Thanks to the hard work of PETA members over the last 28 years, it's now easier than ever to find vegan cake—or vegan cookbooks to make your own cake—nationwide. Major grocery stores carry accidentally vegan icing and decorations, all of which make cruelty-free desserts easier to come by than ever before.

Take just a moment to think back (or imagine) the state of vegan cuisine 28 years ago. Were there vegan bakeries in multiple cities across the country? Nope. Did fine dining establishments that serve a 100 percent animal-free menu exist? Nope. Did international fast-food chains offer veggie burgers and faux chicken? Nope.

Vegan cuisine has certainly come along way. Many no longer look at it as weird and boring and instead consider it just another tasty meal-time option. This is because of the hard work of organizations like PETA and our members, who have been pushing the envelope for almost 30 years.

So to celebrate, let's have vegan cupcakes from the bible of vegan cupcake baking, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Of course, I couldn't resist topping them off with a PETA logo and everyone's favorite PETA character, Nugget.

Happy 28th birthday, PETA! And with the continued hard work of our members worldwide, I'm certain we'll be celebrating many more to come.

The end of summer is near, and that means it's time for the new school year. Busy parents who are new to a vegetarian diet may wonder, "What the heck am I going to feed my child?" if easy meals, like deli meat sandwiches, are no longer an option.

The good news is that it's just as easy to whip up delicious—and might I add, healthier—vegetarian lunches.

One foolproof route is using mock meats to replace the real thing in all your favorite recipes. It can be as simple as using faux-meat deli slices on a sandwich, or you can use mock chicken to create a salad, like the mock chicken salad recipe below, that can be eaten with crackers, over a bed of lettuce, or between slices of bread.

Mock meats aren't something you want to serve every day—variety is key to obtaining all the nutrients we need—but they are a great idea for people who are making the transition to a veg diet and for little ones who want to fit in with friends.

If you're in need of more lunch ideas, check out the VegCooking feature "Pack a Lunch With Punch" for easy lunches, and best of all, no recipes required! Also, stay tuned to VegCooking because we will have more back-to-school lunch ideas and a back-to-school contest very soon!

Ever wondered what the leafy vegetable hanging out in your Chinese food is? Well, there's a 99.9 percent chance it's bok choy. But Chinese cabbage (also known as bok choy) isn't used exclusively in Chinese food—it's also quite common in Korean, Thai, and Japanese cuisine.

I'm unaware of bok choy used in any non-Asian dishes, though, which is really quite surprising considering how common greens are worldwide. Why not try bok choy coleslaw, slow-cooked bok choy, or creamed bok choy?

The recipe below can be considered the Thai version of creamed bok choy, which uses coconut milk to achieve the creamy goodness. The chilies in this might make the dish a little too spicy for most, so feel free to reduce the number. Enjoy!

I have three words for you: three-day weekend! Yes, a long holiday weekend is here, and it's one typically celebrated with backyard barbecues and comfort food. Many women, myself included, want the comfort but not the calories that come with these meals.

Luckily, it's easy to take some quintessential guilty pleasures and make them closer to food that is guilt-free. One recipe that is easy to make healthier, without sacrificing flavor, is French fries.

By oven baking French fries, you can still achieve a crunchy exterior and soft interior, but you don't have to use nearly as much oil. I actually find that by baking, you increase the amount of flavor instead of covering it with heavy oil.

Enjoy these with a veggie burger or veggie dogs, or just eat so many that you couldn't possibly put anything else in your mouth. I know exactly how I'll be eating mine—with a kiddie-pool-sized side of ketchup and Vegenaise.

Enjoy!