I agree whole heartedly with the idea of umami as the missing element in so many vegetarian foods. However, I tend to think more in Ayurvedic terms. Ayurveda names 6 tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. All six tastes should be present to make food tasty and satisfying.

Umami to me is a different twist on the same food philosophy. Whatever you call it, that’s what we’re going for in Savvy Vegetarian recipes, and it’s the reason why our recipes often have many more flavoring ingredients than basic ingredients. That doesn’t make them harder or longer to make – it just makes them more tasty!

Fiona states that meat has lots of umami, which raised my eyebrows because it’s been a long time since I thought of meat as food, and I don’t have fond memories. IMHO if anything, meat has way too much umami, so that the taste overwhelms all other tastes.

In fact, plant foods also have lots of umami, but our taste buds aren’t attuned at first to those more subtle flavors. Foods that seem bland now will become more flavorful as your taste buds recover from meat.

Freshness, good cooking and preparation allow the natural good taste of vegetarian foods to shine through, and they only need enough seasoning to enhance and complement their flavors to give them umami. Juicing carrots is a perfect example. Or sprinkling tofu with soy sauce and frying or broiling it.

Complementary combinations of foods also add umami, e.g. rice and beans are tastier together than apart, even before adding seasonings. A little garlic, ginger, cumin and cilantro then make them sublime.

But enough of my blah, blah, blah. Over to Fiona’s great article about UMAMI!

Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

Why Does My Vegetarian Meal Taste So Bland?

For those of you dabbling with or newly committed to a plant based diet, you will probably be having this problem. To me, a lot of vegetarian dishes suffer a lack of flavour that doesn’t seem to be fixed with salt. They taste rather one dimensional. They lack depth or fullness in flavour. To be blunt, they are bland.

This can especially be a problem for new vegetarians and flexitarians and I shall explain why. If it just doesn’t taste as satisfying as you expect, then it’s probably missing that wonderful essence known as umami.

Umami?

Umami is a taste sensation just like sweet, sour, bitter and salty. It is now considered to be the ‘fifth taste’. Most people haven’t heard of it but everyone knows when it is missing. It could also be called savouriness. It is that pleasant and even mouthwatering sensation that lingers on your tongue.

Meat has umami. Lots of it. There are plenty of veg friendly sources of umami, but if you are not aware of putting them in your cooking, that fullness of flavour they add will be missing. Which is why new vegetarians often struggle to hit that moreishness in their meals. With meat you don’t need to try. With vegetarian cooking, a little bit of knowledge goes a long way. It makes you a much more capable and versatile cook.

Vegetarian Sources of Umami

Mushrooms especially shitake, tomatoes, asparagus, celery (cooked), carrot, corn, onion (cooked), potatoes (cooked), soybeans, sweet potatoes, Chinese cabbage, spinach, seaweed, green tea, savoury herbs such as rosemary and thyme, yeast, fermented foods (ie beer, wine, sauerkraut, miso, tempeh, kim chi, soy sauce), aged foods such as cheese and also butter (for vegetarians).

Further Hints for a Rich Depth of Veggy Flavor

Perfume is designed to have bottom, middle and top notes that intermingle and come to the fore at different times. A well balanced recipe will have a complexity of flavours that make the taste feel round, rich and full. There are no ‘gaps’ in the tasting experience. It might help to think of a well rounded dish as having multiple layers of flavourings. One dimensional just doesn’t satisfy.

In practice this means, for instance, that even a simple one or two vegetable soup has a stock made from garlic, onion, celery and carrot, has some herbs such as bay leaf and thyme, a dash of salt and pepper, a slosh of wine and some spice such as a pinch of nutmeg. Or a pasta sauce has plenty of slow cooked onions and mushrooms, garlic, red wine, carrot, tomatoes and a multitude of herbs such as oregano and basil, some salt and perhaps a pinch of chilli.

What I’m trying to illustrate is that to get lots of flavour out, you need to put lots of flavour in!

• Be generous with your herbs.
• Learn to use spices.
• Never use plain water in your soups, stews and sauces. Always use stock or some sort of flavoured liquid.
• Make use of your vege umami sources.

Here’s to tasty vegetarian cooking!

About WhereFishSing:
Artist and long time vegetarian Fiona Morgan is on a blogging mission to show people how easy and tasty plant based food can be with her food-meets-art project. It combines the contemporary approach to vegetarian food as ‘meatless meals’ for everyone (not just hippies), and modern symbolist paintings inspired by the essence of each dish (without a traditional still-life-with-grapes in sight). Check out her website for all the umami filled recipes and artwork and follow the creation of the artvegecookbook.

Message for Savvy Vegetarian:

Question regarding the use of the veggie bouillon cube in vegetarian recipes: Is there some other seasoning option? Bouillon cubes are so full of salt and even the low sodium option isn’t that great for you. Thanks, Ann S.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Hi Ann, I’m so glad you asked! Seasoning vegetarian and vegan recipes with herbs and spices is one of my favorite topics.

Veggie bouillon cubes are used instead of soup stock for convenience in seasoning vegetarian or vegan recipes. You can buy aseptic packs of soup stock but you’ll run into the same problems. By the way, celery has a fair amount of natural sodium, so it’s a good salt substitute.
Mrs. Dash is a spice mix, sodium free, which is available at most groceries, and comes in half a dozen flavors. It’s useful for quickly flavoring any vegetarian recipe, or sprinkling on food at  the table. Spike is another one which comes in an unsalted version, plus Frontier Herbs makes a lot of organic unsalted herb and spice mixes.

You can also get other convenient seasoning mixes, like curries and masalas, Mediterranean herb mixes, poultry seasoning - which can be used in vegetarian recipes such as lentil loaf or vegan stuffing, pumpkin pie spice mix, chili powder, etc. You can also buy dried onion powder and garlic powder. Look for unsalted seasoning mixes and avoid any with “natural flavors” -  which could be MSG, or any other mystery ingredient. If an ingredient isn’t specified, or you can’t pronounce it, it probably isn’t something  you want to eat.

Using your favorite herbs and spices, you can make up and store your own seasoning mixes, for convenient every day use. And it’s very easy to make your own soup stock. Here’s a vegan soup stock recipe you can make in a crockpot. Freeze or fridge what you don’t use.

You can also add flavor to your vegetarian or vegan recipes with fresh or dried herbs (parsley, basil, dill, mint, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, oregano), scallions, ginger slices, minced garlic (heat in oil to mellow the flavor), curry spices like cumin, coriander, gr. fennel, paprika, gr ginger, pepper, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, green cardamom pods, lemon grass.

Other seasoning options are dried kombu (kelp), balsamic vinegar, lemon or lime juice, wine, soy sauce or Braggs liquid aminos, miso. Spices (not herbs) can be heated first, dry roasted or fried in a bit of oil, to bring out the full flavor, and remove any sharp, bitter or raw taste. Many Indian recipes call for frying or roasting herbs and spices, as in this recipe for Carrots & Peas with Cumin

The seasonings that you use in vegetarian or vegan recipes depends on what you’re cooking. For instance, tomato sauce needs seasonings that go well with tomatoes, e.g. basil, oregano, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, a bit of sugar. Some of my favorites for soups are thyme, rosemary, basil, bay leaf, kombu, Braggs liquid aminos, slices of fresh ginger. Without a variety of seasonings,  The Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe, for instance, would be very very boring!

All the best, Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

Vegan Recipe Contest, Recipe of the Month, Best Apple Recipes, 9 Things To Know About Agave

Savor and Share Healthy Vegan Recipe Contest

Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, is holding a recipe contest, and Savvy Vegetarian is one of the judges.  So are Mollie Katzen and Martha Rose Shulman – we’re in good company!

Anyone may enter an original, healthy, vegan recipe. See Savor Recipe Contest Rules

Prizes: Winning entry published on Savvy Vegetarian Recipes, limited edition Savor tote bags, hardcover copies of ‘Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life’ cookbook.

Browse other recipes and vote for your favorites on the Savor Facebook Wall. Enter and Vote

Recipe Of The Month: Black Bean Quesadillas

Want to know how to get your kids to eat beans? Black bean quesadillas are easy to make, kids love them, and they’re packed with nutrition.This is a satisfying vegetarian recipe to serve when you’re busy or tired and the kids are hungry right now! You can have this quesadilla recipe on the table in 20 minutes! And pack the left-overs for lunch.

Ease Into Fall With Our Best Apple Recipes:

Apple Crisp: What kind of apples should you use?
Some people like very tart apples like Granny Smith or Macintosh, others prefer the mellow sweetness of Golden Delicious. For us, Gala apples are just right. We also like to leave the peel on, and add just a tiny bit of sugar – but each to his own apple crisp!

Apple Muffins: This mouth-watering vegan muffin recipe, with the classic cinnamon apple combination, is loved by all, a favorite at brunches, for snacks, or for a quick dessert. They freeze extremely well, if there are any left to freeze! Better make a double batch.

Apple Sauce: It’s always wise to make lots of applesauce and hide it from your family and friends, because it’s addictive. Warning: Applesauce tends to disappear before you can use it in muffins or cakes.

Agave, Good or Bad? 9 Things to Know About Agave Syrup

Whether you’re an agave fan, or you’re leery because it’s “controversial”, and you don’t know who to believe, agave syrup is here to stay, as a low glycemic, vegan, sometimes raw alternative to honey or other sweeteners.

The “agave controversy” limps on, but the only thing we need to worry about is agave syrup becoming so popular that blue agave becomes an endangered species.

Read Agave, Good or Bad? Recently Discovered Truths About Agave Syrup

Question for Savvy Vegetarian:

I was wondering if you have vegetarian recipes you can recommend that we can make a big batch of ahead of time and freeze or store to eat as quick meals when we’re rushed for time? I’m not a big fan of eating the same thing day after day, so vegetarian meals that can be changed up to make new things would also be appreciated.

My husband and I became vegetarian a couple weeks ago. We really appreciate all the delicious recipes and advice! It’s been a real help as we’ve made our transition to a healthier lifestyle. Thanks so much! Sarah P.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Hi Sarah! Many of our vegetarian recipes can be made ahead in big batches and frozen or fridged! That strategy is a big part of my vegetarian meal planning. I absolutely depend on having pre-cooked foods in my fridge for quick vegetarian meals: several kinds of beans, batches of bean soups, mung dhal, dosa mix, cooked brown rice and quinoa, leftover oatmeal, applesauce, etc. You can even make up big batches of dry pancake or muffin mixes. Muffins, quick breads and cookies freeze well too.

Please check out the Savvy Vegetarian soup recipes, grains and bean recipes, where you’ll find the most likely candidates for big batch vegetarian cooking. Vegetarian Chili is a good example. You can also cook beans and grains separately in large batches to freeze or fridge in small containers and use as needed for soups, stews, casseroles and salads.

Making quick vegetarian meals is a lot easier if you have what you need on hand. Keep your fridge and cupboards stocked with basic ingredients you’ll use often.

Here are some examples:

• Canned beans, tomato paste, tomato sauce, olives, coconut milk, veggie bouillon cubes
• Braggs Liquid Aminos or soy sauce, various cooking and salad oils, vinegars and condiments like mayo, mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce, hummus, nut butters, miso
• A full range of herbs and spices you like, and spice mixes like masalas and curry paste. Store in tightly sealed glass jars to keep them fresh.
• For veggies, keep your fridge stocked with carrots and other root veg, green veg like broccoli and kale, celery, yams, sweet potatoes, peppers, potatoes, garlic, onion, squashes, salad fixings, parsley, and frozen veg like peas, beans and corn
• Have a variety of fresh and frozen fruit on hand for snacks, lunches, desserts, smoothies. Don’t forget avocados!
• Various flours and baking supplies like baking powder, baking soda, sugar, dried fruit, salt, etc.
• A variety of raw beans, grains (e.g. rolled oats, quinoa, rice, barley), lentils, nuts and seeds, noodles and pasta
• Packaged tortillas and breads to make sandwiches and wraps
• Eggs and dairy if you eat them, tofu, tempeh, seitan, non-dairy milks, yogurts, sour cream etc

Keep a list of things you need posted on the fridge, and shop once a week to restock your fridge and cupboards.  Running to the store every day is a huge time waster.  Shop local and seasonal for variety and freshness. Fruit and veg in season are often cheapest, and most nutritious. Shop at your local farmers market or join a CSA if possible. Make up possible menus on the fly according to what’s available.

Here are a few examples of quick and easy vegetarian meals you can make using what’s in your fridge & cupboards:

If you have black beans in the cupboard or freezer, and some cooked quinoa on hand, you can quickly make up a big batch of quinoa black bean salad, which you can eat for several meals, or just enough for one meal, as you prefer. Or you can whip up some quinoa black bean stew. Add a tortilla, hummus, guacamole, and you’ve got a satisfying meal.

Make a big batch of mung dhal soup using celery and yam or winter squash. Freeze what you don’t eat in amounts big enough for a meal for both of you. Add rice and steamed veggies or salad for a quick meal. Frozen soups heat up quickly in the microwave or on the stove top.

Make a veggie wrap, burrito, or quesadilla using refried beans, hummus, quacamole, salad fixings, leftover cooked veg, eggs, shredded cheese, sour cream, or whatever you like.

Make a quick veggie stir fry, adding beans, tofu, tempeh or seitan, coconut milk, nuts and seeds or whatever you like and serve sauced or un-sauced over quick cooking noodles or rice.

Thanks for writing! All the best, Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

Calories in cheese and cheese in processed foods are reasons for unexplained weight gain in a vegetarian diet. Cut the cheese for vegetarian weight loss.

A while back we received a letter from a reader who was asking about vegetarian weight loss.  She had experienced unexplained weight gain on her new veggie diet instead of the usual weight loss. Why do some vegetarians experience weight gain instead of healthy weight loss on a vegetarian diet?

Eating less meat and more fruits and vegetables normally allows for weight loss but some vegetarians experience weight gain.  And the core reason is more calories.  Where do these extra calories come from?  Interestingly enough, they come mainly from more dairy, or specifically cheese and butter.

The letter reminded me of when I first went vegetarian. Yep! I started eating a lot more cheese and butter—to the point where my cholesterol went through the roof.  I was concerned about getting enough protein.  But I didn’t know back then what I know now about protein. (See our Protein Report.) So let’s talk about cheese and we’ll cover butter in another blog post.

According to the USDA’s Agriculture Fact Book, in the 1950’s, the average U.S. consumer ate just 7.7 pounds of cheese per year.  In 2004, the average American packed away 31.3 pounds of cheese, a 300% increase. Thirty-one pounds may not sound too bad, but there are over 52,500 calories in cheese and 4000 grams of fat. Once past the lips, this can turn into an extra 15 pounds on the hips.

So are consumers sitting around eating big wedges of cheese? Some are, but two-thirds of cheese is found in processed foods, such as frozen pizzas, sauces, instant pasta meals, bagel spreads, breads, and packaged snack foods. Often, we don’t even know that there’s cheese in our food.

This is actually good news for those who are willing to cut the cheese.  Following a cheese-free diet encourages us to eat more natural and minimally processed foods – like vegetables. This means less chemicals, saturated fats, and hydrogenated oils; three major health hazards in our diets.

Thanks to a growing natural foods market, and the online information explosion, a cheese-less diet has become even easier.
Visit GoDairyFree.org for food label guidance, cheese-free product suggestions, non-dairy recipes, and substitution ideas. Get a copy of Dairy Free Made Easy by Alisa Fleming (read the Savvy Veg review).

For vegetarian weight loss, try eliminating cheese from your diet. Savvy Vegetarian has many delicious dairy-free recipes such as Cream of asparagus and spinach soup and Cashew Cream.

By July Gerstein, courtesy The Daily Green: Interview with Jill Carle, co-author of  ‘College Vegetarian Cooking’

Being vegetarian in college can be difficult, but Jill Carle, 23, wouldn’t know. She’s the author of College Vegetarian Cooking but she’s not vegetarian. She never has been — but her sister and the book’s co-author Megan Carle, 25, is. Still, she knows quite a bit about the trials and tribulations of vegetarian living away from home.

“I have so many friends that are vegetarians that have such a hard time. Finding something healthy and veggie on campus is pretty difficult,” she told The Daily Green in a recent phone interview from the campus of Arizona State University, where she’s pursuing a graduate degree in political science.

Jill and Megan’s book aims to give vegetarians simple yet testy recipes that satisfy vegetarians and meat eaters alike. We spoke to Jill about her book and what college vegetarians can do to stay healthy and happy while in school.

A lot of kids decide to go vegetarian in college. What should they know before they take the plunge?

I think one of the most important things is knowing what’s out there. When my sister became vegetarian in high school one of her friends also did, and for the first two weeks, she only ate pasta and potato chips because she didn’t know what else she could eat.

There are so many things out there for vegetarians, and it really is fun to try different things. So much of the time people think of vegetarianism as limiting your diet, but it’s really not – it opens up your diet to more things that you otherwise would not try.

Because a lot of times kids are eating in the dining hall – what should vegetarian students reach for and what should they avoid?
I know that most dining halls have salad bars and stuff like that, and for some, that’s the extent of their vegetarian food. Most of the time you can get pasta and stuff like that and that’s not such a bad option. The problem with dining halls, pasta is often the only grain they offer for vegetarians.

Another good tip: Remember the first three letters of vegetarian are v-e-g – the same as vegetables. So remember to actually eat vegetables. So much of the time, it’s so easy to say, “okay, I can eat French fries or cheese pizza.” But you have to be more adventurous and that can be really hard, because we think we know what we like even if we’ve never tried it.

What’s the biggest mistake vegetarian college kids make?
I think it’s getting stuck in a rut of eating the same things every day. That makes being vegetarian harder because it limits your options. They think they can only eat salad and ramen and pizza — and that’s too hard. If you know what’s out there, it can be pretty easy.

Any tips and tricks for eating well when living in the dorms?
In a lot of the newer dorms they have kitchens on each floor with a microwave and oven and people can make their own food — though they can still be pretty hard to cook in. Get one basket that you can bring down to the kitchen.

As far as keeping snacks in your dormroom, have a limit on the number of bad-for-you snacks you can have. You can get stuck feeling like “it’s so much easier to eat in my dorm room” than in the dining hall. Have granola bars, yogurt — things that are snacks that you might like but aren’t as bad as they could be.

What’s your absolute favorite go-to recipe in the book?
I just made the stuffed shells yesterday! There’s a great recipe for pasta primavera. One of my favorite things that I really liked was the sloppy joes made with textured vegetable protein. Sloppy Joes are my all-time favorite foods, and I was skeptical about using textured vegetable protein, but I really like them.

You have 15 minutes before class and you’re starving – what do you eat?
I’m a big advocate of making stuff ahead of time and reheating it. I’d reheat something I’ve already made.

Any tips for beginning vegetarians?
Figure out what you like and don’t worry about following a recipe exactly. Figure out what you want to make and how you like to make things. If there’s something you don’t like and another that you do, you can use that instead. Cook the way you like, instead of the way a recipe says.

It’s especially good advice for vegetarians, who are used to adjusting recipes. It’s the same thing for vegans. If there’s something with cheese in it, make it without cheese or with soy cheese. Know that a recipe isn’t a static thing. You can make whatever you really like without it being a big deal.

Check out a few delicious recipes from the book.

SV Blog, Recipe Collections, Holiday Menus, Newsletter, New Look

Since last summer, Savvy Vegetarian has had a new look, an upgraded navigation system, and other technical improvements, to make the site prettier, more accessible, easier to read and faster to load. We’ve been performing SEO miracles on the vegetarian recipe pages to make it easier to find what you’re looking for, and we’ve been busy re-testing recipes, adding pictures (what a concept!), and lots of new recipes. Now we have a largish elf doing SEO updates on the articles. Next the advice section gets a tune-up.
This incarnation of Savvy Vegetarian Blog is brand new. For longer than we’re willing to admit, we’ve wanted to join the 21st C. and switch the original antiquated Savvy Vegetarian Blog to an updated blogging platform with separate categories for advice, cooking, health and news, all integrated with the site.

Now we can quickly & EASILY post veg-related news, health info and cooking tips on the site. We’re still pulling in content from the old SV Blog, and our blogger.com advice blogs, working out the glitches - and we’re happy! Tossing back champagne and dancing in the streets kind of happy!

Vegetarian Recipe Collections: We’re excited about this new direction at Savvy Vegetarian! So far we’ve put our most popular tofu and quinoa recipes into convenient downloadable collections, with more to come.

We love giving the recipe collections to our friends and family. They make special, much appreciated, and economical gifts – always a bonus! And it means they can make the recipes for themselves and have us over, instead of calling and inviting themselves to dinner all the time!

All Your Favorite Tofu Recipes: It’s wonderful to have all our tofu recipes printed out in one attractive recipe booklet, to keep in a neatly labeled folder in the kitchen. Before we had the recipe collections, we were always running to the computer to look up and print out our own vegetarian recipes. Or trying to find recipes in haphazard stacks of stained, tattered and scribbled recipes. We feel so professional now!

Same goes for the quinoa recipe collection. We’ve heard from lots of people that they’d like to eat more quinoa, but don’t know quite what to do with it, or they cooked some quinoa and it turned out badly. It seems that GOOD quinoa recipes aren’t that easy to find, which makes our collection of reliable and delicious quinoa recipes quite nice to have around!

10 Best Vegetarian Holiday Menus is our BIG ebook, at 81 pages. That’s because it has over 50 recipes to go with 10 Menus covering special occasions throughout the year – Traditional Vegetarian and Vegan, Gluten Free, 4th of July, Holiday Lite, Birthdays, Game Days, Valentine’s Day, etc.

Savvy Veg visitors have asking us for some time about our newsletter. NOW you can subscribe! PLUS get 2 free specials reports on Vit. B12 and Vegetarian Protein. You’ll also get our 10 part series on how to go vegetarian, and our free newsletter containing new recipes, advice posts, and tips for healthy vegetarian diet or vegan diet. Subscribe Now!

We now have a ShopSavvy store, where you can buy all the great books we recommend. We’ll be adding other cool veg-friendly stuff soon: cook ware, kitchen ware, t-shirts etc

Future Plans: Any day now we’ll have an RSS feed on the site, and a new site search from Lijit Search. Printable recipes are coming too. They are actally now printable – if you hit the print button on your browser tool bar, you’ll get nothing but the recipe. But we’re planning to take that to the next level, with actual PRINT BUTTONS and nicely formatted ad-free pages. Nutritional info on the recipes is also in the works. Plus, we’re planning to have comment boxes on all the pages on the site. Cooking videos are also coming – sometime in the next year, as soon as our kitchen is set up for it, and we have a video camera!

All these plans involve much time and labors of love. Mostly by us since we work for food. Please be patient – it will all happen! Eventually.

Question For Savvy Vegetarian:

I am not a vegetarian nor is my family. My best friend of 15 years is a vegetarian. She eats eggs and dairy if they are in something–say birthday cake. She also eats cheese. At family meals we are careful to check anything we might cook for hidden animal products, like lard. I regularly cook her a mixture of 15 bean soup with organic brown rice. (She likes to have every thing organic.)

I am worried that when S. eats big dinner type meals, e.g. Thanksgiving, with us she is not getting enough protein. S. doesn’t like black beans and is allergic to soy.

Do you have any suggestions for vegetarian recipes I could try and make for her that would fit in with the preparations of cooking a big family meal? Our family is medium sized and we have birthday dinners and such every month so it would be nice to have something for her. Thanks, M.C.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Dear M.C,

You could make lentil loaf for your friend – it will fit into any family meal. In fact, your non-veg family might like it too!

Our lentil loaf recipe makes 2 loaves, and you could freeze one, or make 4 smaller loaves and freeze 3. You could give your friend any leftovers to take home. Lentil loaf is wonderful fried.

You can make this lentil loaf the day before and keep in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it. As a variation, after it’s cooked, you can spread mashed potatoes on top of the lentil loaf, and brown them, to turn it into shepherd’s pie.

Another recipe is barley bean veggie soup, with kidney & garbanzo beans – very satisfying! It’s a big recipe, but you can half or quarter it, and freeze what you don’t need in friend sized portions.

Same with vegetarian chili – made with kidney beans or red chili beans.

Both these hearty vegetarian recipes are crockpot friendly and easy to downsize. All these recipes have lots of protein, and are complete meals by themselves.

All the best, Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

Occasionally Savvy Vegetarian gets a message telling us that a link doesn’t work, or there’s something wrong with a recipe, or some information needs updating. Believe me, we appreciate it when people care enough to let us know when we mess up! Otherwise, we might take a long time to notice.

But of course, our favorite messages are more like the one we got today from L R:

“I stumbled upon this website about a year ago when I was looking to start eating healthy after being a glutton for the holiday season. The Jamaican Red Bean Soup is what I tried and it was DELICIOUS!

My mom loved it so much that I have to make her a pot this year. I made this again tonight and I’m ready to dig in with some white rice. Healthy, guilt-free, and so delicious. Can’t wait to try the rest of the recipes!”
Nice letters like that always make our day. But when I read L R’s words ‘stumbled upon’, lights flashed, and bells rang! I just had to say:

“Thanks so much for writing, and thanks for your kind words! Speaking of stumbling, have you heard of Stumble Upon? It’s a cool website where you can post about web pages you like, vote on pages that other people like, and so on. That way more people find out about other good stuff – like Jamaican Red Bean Soup!

I’m glad you stumbled across Savvy Vegetarian – stumble it or any of the other vegetarian recipes if you like them – there’s a stumble button on every page of Savvy Vegetarian.”

We won’t go and stumble our own pages – that wouldn’t be ethical. Maybe even suggesting it to you is shameless self-promotion. But what the heck. If you’re a fan of Savvy Vegetarian, Stumble It!