I've been on a quest for many years to find a recipe that will make a pecan pie that tastes and looks like those I remember from my childhood. If you've been on a similar search, you probably know that many of the recipes out there lead to watery pies that never set, gooey pies that run over while baking, or a dessert that is way too sweet to be considered edible. Finally though, I've found a recipe that passes the test.

Vegan Pecan Pie

The recipe isn't new—just new to me—and comes from the Post Punk Kitchen forums. Toddx's recipe creates a pie that isn't too chewy or too gooey—it's just right. I won't reprint the recipe here because you should head over to the Post Punk Kitchen and check out the many delicious recipes that are posted on their forums! It's a great resource for long-time vegans and for those new to vegetarian cooking.

Enjoy!

If our recent contest for the ice cream recipe book The Vegan Scoop left you thinking, "Who wants ice cream with jalapeños in it?" or "I prefer alcohol in a cocktail, not in my ice cream, thank you," then we have a new ice cream contest that is perfect for you.

Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love is the kid-friendly ice cream recipe book that has something for everyone. It contains more than 200 recipes for completely dairy-free ice creams and frozen treats that are made from natural ingredients. Sure, there are some gourmet flavors, but the real stars of this cookbook are the traditional ice cream flavors that can be used in pies, cakes, sundaes, shakes, and more!

Now is your chance to win one of five free copies of Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love!

To enter, just tell us which classic ice cream flavor is your favorite and why:

a) Chocolate
b) Vanilla
c) Strawberry
d) Neapolitan
e) Other

The contest ends on July 20, and five winners will be chosen at random by July 24. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!

It's not often that I come across veganized French food in restaurants or stores, which means that if I'm in the mood for the rich cuisine of one of my favorite European countries, I have to make it at home. Cream and wine sauces are easy to alter, and I often do, but what about crêpes?

Vegan Crêpes

Crêpes are very thin, almost paper-like pancakes made from a wheat-flour batter. It's fairly simple to make a veganized version—once you have the technique down. Best of all, though, is that crêpes are diverse. Unlike the pancakes that I'm used to, crêpes can play a sweet or savory starring role in any meal.

Here's a recipe for basic crêpes, but I'd like to know: What's your favorite filling?

I've always had a slight aversion to the typical three-bean salad made with kidney beans, green beans, and wax beans. But it's not the salad's fault. Before this weekend, I had only tried three-bean salads after they had been sitting on a salad bar for who knows how many hours. To give the salad a fair chance, I decided to make my own version this weekend.

Summer Three-Bean Salad

It was built around kidney beans, green beans, and chickpeas. Most versions I've tried use wax beans, but I'm not a huge fan, so I opted for chickpeas instead. The dressing that brought all the ingredients together was typical for a bean salad—apple cider vinegar, sugar, oil, salt, and pepper—and to add a summery lightness to it all, I threw in diced cucumber and chopped parsley. In the end, it was much tastier than the salad-bar version I was used to, and it only takes minutes to make. Enjoy!

Fathers' Day is the perfect time for hearty, no-fuss meals, so why not whip up a "man meal" this Sunday for your dad? You can check out our list of hearty and healthy Father's Day fare, or just try out the recipe I'll be using—Beer-Basted Vegan Brats With Caramelized Onions and Hot Mustard.

Beer-Basted Vegan Brats With Caramelized Onions and Hot Mustard

They're not very complicated, but they're still delicious. Enjoy!

We're looking for the best faux chicken sandwich in North America, and we need your help! As much as I would love to travel the continent to explore the plethora of faux meats on the menus of restaurants, diners, and even fast-food joints, my schedule simply won't allow it. That's where you come in.

Do you know of a local restaurant that serves up a faux chicken sandwich that's to die for? If so, tell us the name of the restaurant and why it's the best by leaving a comment below. We'll use all the information that you give us here to help compile our list of the top faux chicken sandwiches in North America.

Not everyone is lucky enough to live near a restaurant that serves faux chicken sandwiches, but that doesn't mean that you have to miss out on all the delicious flavor. Try store-bought faux chicken, or you can order it from one of the great online vegan grocers.

Thanks for your help!

Relaxing during a warm summer weekend inspires me to eat one thing: barbecue. This past weekend, we fired up the grill at my house and stuck to a strict "no recipe" policy to create a delicious feast full of comfort foods. The "no recipe" policy lets you get a little more creative—and you can taste as you go!—in order to create dishes that are perfect for your taste buds.

Here's a look at what ended up on my table and in my tummy, along with suggestions for how to make them.

Seitan slathered in barbecue sauce can be cooked on the grill in slices, then cut into chunks or shredded to make a hearty sandwich. Make your own barbecue sauce, or use a bottled store-bought product.

Don't forget to leave a few pieces of the seitan unsliced so they can be enjoyed on their own. All you need to make these is seitan and barbecue sauce.

For simple sides, try tossing tomato halves and corn on the cob with a little oil, salt, and pepper. That's all you need.

To make a more complex and carb-heavy side, grill potatoes, onions, and jalapeños. After removing from the grill, dice the onions and jalapeños, mash the potatoes, and mix them all together. The only additional ingredients you'll need to add are salt, pepper, and a little oil.

Enjoy!

Sailing over crystal clear water to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, I was most excited about one thing: the delicious food I would eat during my week-long vacation in Mexico. I had done my research and found that the small island in the state of Quintana Roo offered a variety of options that were mostly targeted at tourists. I wanted nothing to do with that. Who goes to Mexico to eat pasta and pizza anyway?

My food sights were set on one thing—finding delicious vegan Mexican dishes. And to make a long story short, it definitely was not a challenge.

Many of the restaurants on the island featured Mexican food that seemed more like Americanized Mexican, rather than traditional recipes, but it was still delicious. Everywhere we went, fresh guacamole and homemade warm tortillas were served in heaping quantities. Fresh veggies were abundant and diverse. And restaurant staff could easily point me toward meat-free menu options.

Here's a quick peek at some of the food I ate on Isla Mujeres, which not only was a great destination for vegan travelers but also has one of the most beautiful coasts I've ever seen.

Guacamole and corn tortilla chips at Don Chepo.

Nopales tacos served on fresh corn tortillas.

Vegetable fajitas that go beyond just onions and peppers—carrots, nopales, and broccoli were included too.

Nopales fajitas have tart flavors not commonly found in American fajitas.

Organic tofu and vegetables covered with herbs, at Elements of the Island.

Isla Mujeres, Mexico

The temperature is getting warmer outside, and for many folks, that means it's time for fun weekend getaways, which include camping and nights spent sitting around a fire roasting marshmallows and making smores. Fortunately for vegans, the compassionate folks over at Sweet and Sara have created some superb vegan marshmallows that will stand up to your campfire and hot cocoa and are even good when veganizing your favorite rice-crispy-treat recipe without the nasty gelatin found in most marshmallows. Now is your chance to win. VegCooking Blog and PETA Living fans can enter to win a fabulous gift basket of vegan marshmallows!

Sweet and Sara founder Sara Sohn has been vegan for 17 years. A few years back, she decided it had been way too long since she'd had one of her favorite childhood snacks: the rice crispy treat. With no culinary background but a lot of determination (and vegan sweets on the mind), Sara began her quest to create a vegan marshmallow, "the Holy Grail of animal-free sweet treats," and she did it!

With Sweet and Sara's marshmallows, the possibilities are endless. Mix them into vegan brownies for a rocky road effect. Dip them in chocolate fondue. Add them to holiday yams. Sweeten coffee or tea, or simply enjoy them as they are!

Enter to win a fabulous Sweet and Sara gift basket containing vanilla marshmallows, toasted coconut marshmallows, original smores, peanut butter smores, and bark. Just leave a short comment below telling us about the delicious vegan creation you will accent with your marshmallows if you win. One winner will be chosen at random.

The contest ends on June 30, and we'll contact the winners by July 3. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!

by Betsy DiJulio, The Blooming Platter

I would love Southwestern cuisine even if I didn't hail from Texas. But I was born in Dallas, so my love affair began almost at birth. Big D is home to the ultra-luxe Mansion on Turtle Creek, where I've never so much as darkened the door. Nonetheless, this recipe was inspired by the hotel's former longtime executive chef, Dean Fearing. Beginning in the 1980s, he built his reputation on elevating Southwestern cooking to haute cuisine.

When I started craving a soup with a corn tortilla base, I turned to my very stained copy of Fearing's Tortilla Soup recipe, which was published in October 1987. Replacing the chicken stock with veggie stock and omitting the chicken strip and cheese toppings makes the soup vegan. Still, though, I wanted to boost the vitamin quotient and add more flecks of color. Thinking about what fillings I love in burritos and enchiladas, spinach came to mind. And so was born Tortilla-Spinach Soup.

Vegan Tortilla-Spinach Soup

One of the things I love most about Fearing's recipe is the way he thickened it naturally using cooked-down corn tortillas along with onion and tomato purées. So, I tinkered with the ingredients and proportions just a little, but added big handfuls of fresh chopped spinach. And while Fearing strains his soup, I can't imagine removing all that lovely texture, so I leave it just as it is.

Enjoy!

Most of the Chinese meals that I make at home consist of pairing pan-fried tofu with veggies and soy sauce. They're definitely not what I'd call adventurous. But I decided to go out on a limb last night by making one of the many sauces I'm fond of eating in Chinese restaurants: kung pao.

Kung Pao Tofu

Kung pao is a soy- and sesame-based sauce that is thickened with cornstarch. The sauce is made sweet with a touch of brown sugar and spicy with a hint of chili paste and is delicious served over perfect tofu. You can add any combination of veggies that you'd like to the mix, but I decided to keep it simple with just red bell pepper that was only slightly sautéed.

Enjoy!

Raspberry-Jalapeño, Pecan-Apple Danish, and Chocolate Martini Sorbet are just a few of the eye-catching flavor combinations in the brand-new recipe book The Vegan Scoop: 150 Recipes for Dairy-Free Ice Cream That Tastes Better Than the "Real" Thing from the founder of Wheeler's Frozen Dessert Company.

But the recipes are not all that surprising if you're familiar with Wheeler's. The 100 percent vegan ice cream company offers the widest variety of ice cream flavors I've ever seen, and they even offer several "adult" flavors like Bourbon-Chocolate Walnut, Rum-Pecan Caramel, and Banana Daiquiri. Yum!

Now is your chance to bring Wheeler's unique flavors into your own home. We're giving away 10 copies of the company's brand-new ice cream recipe book The Vegan Scoop.

And as an added bonus, Wheeler's has been kind enough to offer a "sneak peek" inside the book—the creator has provided five recipes free of charge. You can get those in PDF form here.

To enter to win, leave a short comment below telling me about your favorite vegan ice cream flavors or toppings. The only rule is that the comment must be about cruelty-free (i.e., vegan) treats. The contest ends on June 16, and 10 winners will be chosen at random by June 23.

Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!

Get ready for Memorial Day weekend by dusting off your grill and planning a menu for your very own backyard barbecue! Not sure where to start? Here is a short overview of VegCooking's guide to vegetarian grilling that will get you started:

•Tips and Tricks: Should you use a spice rub or marinade? And can you even put faux meats on a grill? Check out the VegCooking guide to grilling for a quick overview on vegetarian grilling tips and tricks.

•Product Suggestions: Which veggie burgers and tofu dogs are best when cooked over an open flame? Browse through our suggestions of favorite products to grill and find out.

•Mouthwatering Recipes: Use your grill for BBQ basics like veggie ribs or introduce a little international flavor with dishes like tandori "chicken" kebabs.

•And More!: Yep, there's even more in our guide to grilling. Be sure to check it out for desserts, sides, and marinades too!

On holidays like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, I'm partial to sticking with classic veggie burgers and slaw. What will you be making?

With peas in season, I decided that it's the perfect time to try a simple soup that appeared in a recent issue ofGourmet. The soup—which was easily veganized by using vegetable broth—is made from an interesting combination of both peas and pesto.

Sweet Pea-Pesto Soup

Pairing basil with peas has never occurred to me, but the pleasing combination will surprise even the most die-hard pea-haters. Enjoy!