i went vegan in 1998 and have never looked back! being vegan has lent more shine to my life than any other choice i’ve made. my personal evolution would have been way different had i not chosen to lead a more compassionate lifestyle. i also don’t know if i would’ve learned to enjoy cooking so much! shortly after becoming vegan, i moved to chicago for my job and was traveling 3 weeks out of the month. needless to say, vegan options were not nearly as accessible as they are now, especially in the midwest. so, i learned to cook. not that i hadn’t cooked before, but i felt the need to get more creative. i stocked up on vegan cookbooks & followed the recipes. they were great resources but i found that i learned way more from the fantastic cooks(vegan and not) i encountered in my life. really learning to use spices was a huge food changer for me! these days i am focused more & more on healthier options that are tasty. i have so much more to learn, which is why i love to spend my free time cooking up a storm in my teeny tiny brooklyn kitchen. thanks for checking out my blog…hope to share lots of yummy ideas with you!
shine on, angela
the great vegan caper 
I agree with you – spicing food in the right way makes all the difference! In my town vegan options for food are also limited, so I spend my free time coming up with creative recipes and flavourful combinations. To so many a vegan diet is such a foreign concept that they simply cannot appreciate, or attempt to cater to, anybody that chooses to live this way. I always laugh when, after telling somebody that I am a vegan, their eyes expand to twice their usual size and they exclaim ‘but what do you eat?! No cheese? No meat? No milk? I would DIE!’
luckily, i only lived in chicago for 2 years…and these days it’s a lot more vegan friendly there than it was back then! and to those who are shocked by your lifestyle choices, tell them why you do it…and make them some delicious food! 🙂
thanks so much for stopping by & liking my post.. I couldn’t agree with you more.. spice is the spice of life 🙂 even my meat eater friends declare that meat is more about texture & that spices make a big difference.. growing up in india with primarilhy vegan foods, I’m always surprised when I;m asked how I manage for foods, there are sooo many choices and options, that I could never ever get bored with vegan, & vegetarian cooking. Hope to read more of your posts & hope you visit my blog again soon for more spicy recipes ..charu
i feel the same–how can you get bored when the vegan possibilites are endless?! thanks so much for following me & i can’t wait to check out more of your recipes 🙂
So glad you stopped by- now we can check out your blog! It looks great. I love brussel sprouts so your current post made me happy 🙂
yay! thank you right back!
Hey Angela! Thanks for following my blog! I wanted to check out your blog and say, “Hi”. I cook a lot more since going vegan too. Cooking used to mean nuking frozen food, but not anymore. I’ve only been vegan for a year, and I’ve got a lot to learn about cooking. I’m going to start following your blog too. I’m sure I can learn a lot from you! Celeste:)
yay! congrats on your year of being vegan! i hope you continue to learn & blossom as a chef! thanks so much for following 🙂
What a treat to have a great writer and an adventurous vegan following my blog. I returned the favor because a) I am always learning from people; b) enjoyed your writing style; c) How could I not follow a blog called “The Vegan Caper”? Thank you for stopping by. Keep writing.
thanks janet! did you ever see “the great muppet caper”? i loved that movie as a kid & somehow it popped into my head when i was thinking of something to call my adventures in cooking. plus, capers are also a yummy little flower buds so i thought it was fitting. thanks so much for your sweet words & for following my adventures!
thanks for following my blog, angela, but I do want to caution you that you may see things that vegans don’t eat every so often. *wink*
by the way, brussels sprouts are the new “carrots”, for 2013.
best,
stash
thanks for the warning! 🙂 brussels sprouts for president!!
Thanks so much for reading and following my blog because doing so has led me to your blog and THANK GOODNESS because I am….shall we say “cooking challenged”? 🙂 I might be the only person that almost cut his finger off cutting tofu for goodness sake. I LOVE the recipes I saw and I shall keep returning for your cooking guidance.
haha! just keep trying recipes & eventually you’ll get better! we’ve all been at the beginners place. oh, and careful with the sharp instruments! thanks for checking out my blog!
Thanks for following my blog! I’m following yours now too. It’s funny, I always liked cooking but now that I don’t eat meat, I absolutely love cooking! The other day, I was trying to remember what I used to cook when I was cooking with meat, and I couldn’t remember. Probably because I mostly ate at fast food joints or restaurants, and wasn’t cooking much. Being vegan/vegetarian has definitely been a game changer for me too!
thanks! i think an awareness of what you are consuming automatically makes you care more about it. p.s. your dog & kitty are so cute!
Thank you! They are my heart!
I am so glad you started following me! I can’t wait to try some of your recipes!! xoxo
yay!! thanks!
Thanks for the follow! I hope we can swap recipes!!
yes! and thank you for visiting my blog! 🙂
You have a lovely blog here! I am not a vegan but do cook, eat & bake vegan 5x/week & I also blog about it!
Many greetings from a foodie from Belgium! 🙂
thanks sophie! hope to share recipes with you! 🙂
Hi there, thanks so much for following the Sunshine Scrapbook! I feel silly not having made through even two weeks of attempting to go vegetarian (let along vegan!), but I do intend to try again. I’m sure if I wean myself off meat slowly it’ll be easier than quitting cold turkey (if you’ll excuse the pun) 🙂
Angela – Thanks so much for visiting my site and following my blog. It means a lot to me and I’m excited to connect with another health enthusiast, vegan, food-loving, blogger!
Your recipes look absolutely wonderful. The split pea soup looks divine – it reminds me of my mom because she always cooks split pea soup for some reason. AND, your kitty is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E. So small and cute and itty bittty! Love!
thanks janina! i’m excited to try some of your recipes! and yes, pablito is really adorable…i got him the day after he had one of his back legs amputated at around 12 weeks old. and despite having had no human contact, he was extremely cuddly & friendly. i think he’s about 9 months now…a mischievous little guy, but still a sweetie 🙂 i’ll have to write a post about his full story sometime!
Angela,
Thank you for visiting my site and following my blog! I had such a great time browsing through your amazing recipes – I have been looking for a good vegan split pea soup recipe! I couldn’t agree more about the shine that compassionate and healthy eating brings to your life.
I’m excited to keep up with everything you’re cooking in that Brooklyn kitchen!
Thanks,
Kristin
Angela, with kids having more allergies and food sensitivies, I’m finding that I’m having to bring vegan snacks as classroom snacks. This is in addition to the nut-free environment mandate for increasing numbers of schools. So, I’m really looking forward to your posts. If you are ever in the Atlanta area, look me up, friend! ~Silvia
Hi Angela, Thanks for stopping by ritaLOVEStoWRITE and a special thanks for following! I hope you find more recipes and biographies on the block that peak your interest! If you have any good vegan muffin recipes you are willing to share let me know! Cheers, Rita
Thanks so much for following my blog Angela! Your recipes look DELICIOUS and very accessible to make as well. Excited to try and taste. 🙂
Hi Angela!
Nice to meet you in the blogosphere! Especially, a fellow compassionista!!
I must confess, I’m more into fashion than food! I am slightly kitchen impaired and just hate making a mess in there so I leave it nice and clean and I don’t use the stove very often (I have never used my oven in three years). We bought a new one and I would hate to mess it up! 😉
I am a vegan, and mostly eat raw, because it’s sooooo easy; almonds, cashews and walnuts for breakfast and a bowl of sliced bananas with blueberries, half a grapefruit. Mashed avocado (with or without diced tomatoes) on wholewheat toast for lunch, an apple, dragon fruit and strawberry smoothie. Alfalfa sprouts in a peanut butter sandwich, tomato and cucumber on rye. The delicious variety of fruits and veggies, and nuts and grains are endless and I love them in their naked state! 😉
I must say– you are really tempting me to try these recipes!! Great blog!! I’m following!!
❤ carmen
Thanks for stopping by and following our blog! Great to find more and more people adopting vegan lifestyle and sharing their knowledge and experience (:
Happy Blogging!
Hi! Thanks for the like on my new blog! Just getting the swing of things! I am a new blogger, and new to creating plant-based recipes and vegan alternatives! I am going to follow yours, looks like you got a lot of experience in this arena and some great recipes!!! 😉
I’m so happy that you started following my blog because now I’m following yours and I’m absolutely addicted. I’ve been thinking a lot about trying to go vegan, or mostly vegan, but I don’t know where to start! Cultural and social hurdles make even vegetarianism seem impossible here in France and even back home, with my Latin American family/culture (even though I live in California, land of vegan-friendly folks… my family is certainly not quite as understanding or as flexible as others). Do you have any advice for a vegan-wannabe in trying to overcome these hurdles??
Thanks! And awesome blog!!!
Hi Angela! Thank you for following my blog, uberdish! I’ve got a passion for cooking vegan meals too! I’ve been vegetarian for my whole life, much to the dismay of my meat loving family. Last spring, I was lucky enough to visit Manhattan and attend the event, “The Seed: A Vegan Experience”. The speakers (Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Brendan Brazier, Jazmine Singer, just to name a few) changed my views. After that, I decided to no longer bring dairy, meat or eggs in the house. So now my whole family, including my 2 pre-teen girls, are vegan. It was an adjustment, but we’re doing amazing. We’re also a gluten-free family.
I look forward to reading more of your posts. 🙂
Angela Meredith Fuchs