These easy sesame noodles have a nutty tahini and peanut butter sauce along with sesame oil and ginger for a tangy Asian flavor. Add a few diced veggies if you like, such as broccoli or snow peas or toss in some tofu to make it more of a full meal, if you're craving some protein. I added some red bell pepper and a handful of extra scallions to the mix. Super yummy!

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Baked tofu is one of the simplest ways to prepare tofu, and makes an easy and quick protein boosting snack, salad topper, or an addition to a stir-fry, noodle or rice dish when prepared with diced tofu. Or, slice your tofu into triangles or slabs, and eat your baked tofu as an entree. Just whisk a few ingredients together, marinate for an hour or two and bake! Baked tofu is easy to make using a variety of dressings, sauces or marinades. Try using your favorite barbecue sauce or salad dressing, or, try one of these nine easy baked tofu dishes.

Each of these baked tofu recipes is low-fat, low-carb, vegetarian and vegan, and of course, high in protein, as well.

Pictured: Lemon Basil Baked Tofu

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This is a basic recipe for a vegan tofu lasagna. With a ricotta-like filling made with tofu and layered with spinach, this basic tofu lasagna is oil-free, making it very low in fat, as well as healthy and of course, delicious. I usually add a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast to the tofu filling to make my vegan lasagnas a bit more cheesy, but then again, I like to add nutritional yeast to just about everything! You could also smother the top of this lasagna with a layer of vegan cheese if you miss cheese.

If you like this vegan lasagna recipe, you might also want to scroll through these other vegetarian and vegan lasagna recipes.

If you've ever had a sweet and sour dish at a Chinese restaurant and wondered how they made it, this recipe is for you! This easy sweet and sour tofu with veggies will have your family thinking you picked up Chinese take-out! Steam some rice to go along with the sauce, or try it over cooked noodles. If you like sweet and sour tofu, you might also want to try this recipe for sweet and sour tempeh.

See also: More vegetarian Chinese food recipes

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It's a small world. Renowned vegan chef and cookbook author Tal Ronnen (also known as Oprah's personal chef during her 21-day vegan experiment) and I once worked for the same company. But, as fate would have it, I never actually met him, as he was never in the office. He was always out and about at food conventions, or working with his fellow superstar celebrity chefs to help them develop their vegetarian and vegan menu items. What a busy man! He also catered Ellen DeGeneres' vegan wedding, and, well, you know how I feel about Ellen!

Knowing what his usual schedule is like, I can't imagine how he managed to find the time to create such an amazing new vegan cookbook. And just in time for the holidays, too! With such beautiful classy photos in a hardback edition, this one would make a great gift book. Check out my review to see why I am in love with this new cookbook. Also, try out one of Tal's gourmet recipes for fingerling potatoes with crisped dulse

I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hang on to it though, as I've been having trouble keeping it out of the hands of my omnivorous friends who keep asking to borrow it so they can salivate over the sensuously enticing photos. A fellow About.com writer (and omnivore) Donna also reviewed this cookbook, and gave it a fabulous review! Read her review here.

And if all that doesn't whet your curiosity or your appetite: Oprah endorses it. Nuff said.

Related links:

Cookbook Review: The Conscious Cook, by Tal Ronnen

Shop Online for The Conscious Cook

Sample Recipe: Fingerling Potatoes with Crisped Dulse

Another About.com review, from the perspective of an omnivore

Hello, my name is Jolinda, and I am addicted to coffee. Oh sure, I've quit for periods of months, even years, but I just really love the stuff. I don't want to quit! Is it really any surprise then, that one of my favorite fall rituals is ordering a pumpkin pie latte just as soon as they begin appearing on cafe menus?

It's really a testament to the mighty orange squash that it actually goes well with coffee. To it's credit, pumpkin goes well with so many foods. While we all love it in pies, pumpkin also appears in cookies, muffins, breads, cakes and soups. In Thailand, it's cooked with sugar syrup and stuffed with an egg custard for a sweet dessert or snack.

So, without further adieu, in celebration of everyone's favorite squash (and, well, Halloween), here are the best pumpkin recipes ever.

Link: Favorite Vegetarian and Vegan Pumpkin Recipes
See also: Thai pumpkin custard

Pumpkin risotto - why not? It may not be a traditional Italian recipe, but the addition of pumpkin to a vegetarian risotto adds a creamy texture in place of the cheese, making this recipe vegan and much lower in fat than other risotto recipes. Omit the wine, if you prefer, and perhaps add a bit of garlic or sage.

I've also made this recipe using acorn squash instead of pumpkin, and it turned out great! Why not try it with butternut squash, and leave a comment to let me know how it is? Doesn't that freshly cracked pepper just look perfect?

Bookmark this recipe and come back to it in a couple weeks, as this vegan pumpkin risotto would also be an excellent entree to add to your vegetarian Thanksgiving menu.

Sometimes when people ask me what "vegan" means when looking at the vegan tattoo on my arm, I reply that I come from the "Planet Veega". Yes, it's corny, but it's a great joke, and really, some people do still envision vegans as some sort of secret society.

Well, we're no secret society, but we sure do have some secrets. Especially when it comes to food and cooking. I'm about to let you all in on one of them. It has to do with one impossibly amazing thing you can do with pumpkin. Vegan or not, here it is: a vegan pumpkin secret. We vegans do have some secrets about a few other things, too, but I can't tell you all of them!

Incidentally, when I tell that joke about coming from the "Planet Veega", people usually laugh, and then of course I explain what vegan really means. I did tell it once, however, and received a worried stare in response as the questioner slowly backed away, believing me to be genuinely crazy. Ah, well, win some, lose some!

Happy birthday to me! My birthday is coming up soon! Being a bit shy, I won't say when it is, but let's just say I'll be over another hill before Halloween hits. My usual birthday ritual is to eat two of my favorite totally indulgent foods: vegan cheesecake and either a fettucine alfredo or good old fashioned vegan macaroni and cheese (hey, you're never too old for mac and cheese, right?). But this year, I think I'm going to forgo the usual cheesecake for this vegan yellow cake. The last time I made it, I added strawberries and it was just too good to be true.

Susan and her husband Sanjay are new vegetarians who were "inspired" to try out my mushroom veggie burger recipe and wrote about it in on their blog VegFoodings. Susan and Sanjay each take turns reviewing recipes and posting what they each thought, and what they might do differently next time. With both of them blogging, it's kind of like two blogs in one! I love that they added avocados to their burgers too, because as you all probably know by now, I am a huge avocado fan!

Their review and suggestions? Susan said the burger "satisfied my craving and had an interesting blend of flavors," but they also offered some tips to make it even better:

We think that freezing the patties overnight prior to use might make them hold up better. Also, a combination of different types of beans and possibly some whole wheat flour might add some more interesting flavors and make them more solid.

Thanks, Susan and Sanjay! Happy cooking and happy eating!

Photo by Susan of VegFoodings.blogspot.com