Today is the first day of 2008’s VeganMoFo (Vegan Month Of Food)! For those who don’t know, it’s an entire month of focused vegan foodies working diligently to generate as much vegan food related blog info as possible. Our goal as participants is to write 5 days a week for the month of October. This will be a stretch for me because we appear to have entered our busy season at work (it was slow to come this year but come it did).

This year’s VeganMoFo also creates a nice long lead up to Halloween. My absolute favorite holiday. Honestly, if all the other holidays took a holiday, I’d be fine with 31 days of wickedness.

To kick off this month, let me reach into my deep and unorganized trick or treat bag and see what I’ve got to offer you for this very special day….ah yes, here we go:

Julia’s Savory Okara Chickpea Patties, No. 12

  • 1 batch of okara from soy milk machine, about 1.5 cups wet
  • 1 regular can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
  • 1 T. garlic powder
  • 1 T. onion powder
  • 1 to 2 t. ground fennel (DH doesn’t like things too savory so I season on the lesser side)
  • 1 to 2 t. ground sage (ditto on the DH here too, if you like savory, add more, if not, add less)
  • 1 cup cornmeal, approximately
  • dash of salt
  1. Blend everything together in a food processor until mucky or the processor begs for mercy.
  2. Heat oil in a skillet on medium high.
  3. Spoon mounds into skillet and flatten with spoon to make patties. Brown on both sides, medium brown, not that wimpy tan color but not like coffee colored either. Be brave but not crazy. The centers will not be done but they will be nicely browned.
  4. Lay all on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 425°F for 15 to 20 minutes to cook through. The goal is not to brown them more, just to bake them through.

Serve warm on fresh morning biscuits or cool and store for lunches (don’t pack these warm in a sealed container, they’ll get squishy, cool first then seal). I particularly like them on a biscuit with a dab of vegan mayo, a slice of tomato and a sprinkle of dried basil. Tall to bite but awesome.

And now my little kiddies, here’s a creepy Halloween website sure to thrill you with many creepy ideas, or maybe just gross you out. Have fun: PumpkinRot