The Liebster Award + 11 Rockin’ Plant-Based Blogs

I’m thrilled for you to meet two awesome bloggers, Heather at Gluten-Free Cat and Adria at Healthy Vegas Vegan. Both of them nominated Veggie Quest for a Liebster Award (more on that in a bit), but first, I want you to get to know them (and their blogs):

Gluten-Free Cat
Not only does Heather post fabulous plant-powered recipes (many of them raw!) at Gluten-Free Cat, but she also hosts one of my all-time favorite blog hops, Raw Foods Thursdays. Whenever I visit, I swear I can feel Heather’s positive energy right through my computer screen, and I always leave her blog a little happier than when I got there. (Not to mention inspired to make something delicious!)

Here’s just a small sample of the awesomeness on her site:

Raw curried cashew chard wraps

Raw chocolate crunch cookies

Healthy Vegas Vegan
Adria has fabulous recipes plus a treasure trove of information on eating a high-raw vegan diet on her gorgeous blog. From posts on cultivating glowing health to fabulous raw marinara, there’s all kinds of good stuff on Healthy Vegas Vegan:

Raw squash pasta with chunky raw marinara

All raw food all week: A week’s worth of raw, low-fat vegan food

The Liebster Award
Now that you know them, you can imagine how honored I was when both of these fabulous bloggers nominated me for a Liebster Award!

What’s that, you ask?

The Liebster Award is designed to bring some much-deserved recognition to blogs with smaller followings. Once bloggers are nominated, they then pass the award on to other blogs. The end result? We all get to meet some up-and-coming bloggers while sharing some of our very favorite blogs. Win-win!

After receiving the nomination, the blogger must:

• Acknowledge the nominating blogger;
• Share 11 random facts about yourself;
• Answer 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you;
• List 11 bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers (as best as you can tell based on the info provided!). They should be bloggers that you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love!
• Post 11 questions for the bloggers that you nominated to answer (you cannot nominate the blogger that nominated you); and
• Let all of the bloggers know that they’ve been nominated.

Here goes:

11 Random facts about me

1. Even though I live in suburbia, I’m a country girl at heart. In fact, Jeff and I plan on moving to a farm within 5 years.
2. One of the many nicknames I have for my Boston Terrier is “Stinky Monster.” (If you have a Boston, you know exactly what I’m talking about, and from which end it emanates.)
   

   Moi? Stinky?

3. I mowed my own lawn for the first time yesterday. Not only did I get a great workout, but my lawn looks stellar and I feel ridiculously empowered. 
4. I’m a cumin fanatic. I’ll put it on almost anything.
5. The Cow, by Texas artist Roz, is the first piece of art Jeff and I bought together. Cow hangs over my desk and never fails to make me smile! I especially love the insouciant, devil-may-care ‘tude this bovine sports.
   
6. Raw bananas give me a stomachache, yet I absolutely love them.
7. I went to medical school for 3 weeks. I quickly learned in anatomy lab that, while I wanted to help people get healthy, I did not have the stomach for poking or prodding or cutting. Needless to say, I much prefer writing and nutrition!
8. My favorite place in the world is sitting on an Adirondack chair on the deck of a beach house overlooking the Currituck sound. There’s nothing like grabbing a hot cup of coffee, barefooting out to the deck, and chatting with my family as cool morning breezes begin to stir over the water. Heaven on earth.
9. I. Love. Horses. Always have, always will.
10. My superpower is ridiculously sensitive hearing. I can hear the “silent” whine of electronics, a mosquito buzzing from across the room, you name it.
11. I routinely overbuy on groceries. I choose to blame it on my DNA, because my mom’s the exact same way. But there’s just something about having a stocked pantry and fridge that makes me happy! (Also one of the reasons I seriously love produce auctions.)

Since I got double blog-love, I’m going to answer Heather’s questions, because she notified me first.
 
Answers to Heather’s Questions

1. When and why did you start blogging? In November 2010, after a health scare made me completely reconsider the way I was eating. You can read all about it in my very first post.
2. What is one goal that you’ve always wanted to reach but you still haven’t? Moving to a farm.
3. What’s one restaurant where you will eat some day? Elizabeth’s Gone Raw, which offers an ever-changing, six-course vegan tasting menu every Friday in a gorgeous row house in DC. Hint, hint, Jeff! 😉  
4. Who is your most memorable pet and why? I could never choose. They have all been amazing in their own way.
5. If you had a choice between a gift of money or an experience what would you choose? The money, so I could buy the experience! Specifically, I’d buy a sweet little mare and attend a Buck Brannaman clinic. I did some natural horsemanship work in a riding lesson once, and communicating with a horse in its own language felt incredible.

6. Beach or mountain vacation? Beach. No contest.
7. What snack is your guilty pleasure? Fast and easy vegan cocoa: almond milk + stevia + cocoa powder. Yum!
8. If left alone for 2 hours, all chores and work done, what would we find you doing? Three-way tie: reading, blogging, or cooking.
9. Which couple has the most inspiring love story? Maybe I’m a pragmatist, but I think the most inspiring love stories are the everyday ones—of people loving each other when it’s easy and when it’s tough, when they’re blissfully happy and when they’re completely ticked at each other. In which case I know a lot of inspiring love stories—my own included.
10. If you could visit any place where would you go? The Galapagos Islands. I’d love to see all the unique species that helped shape the way we understand the natural world.
11. What is the most unexpected event of your life so far? Overcoming a seemingly insurmountable fear of flying. For you fearful fliers out there, here’s what helped: (1) hearing the story of the Gimli Glider, a commercial airliner that landed safely with no working engines, (2) reading Flying Without Fear, and (3) a good stiff drink. I made my maiden voyage without panicking (in a blizzard, no less!), and since then I’ve flown all over the place. Who knew?
    

    via WikiMedia Commons

11 Questions for the nominees 

1. What do you like most about blogging?
2. What do you like least about blogging?
3. What’s your favorite recipe from your blog, and why?
4. What kitchen appliance can you not live without?
5. What’s your go-to herb/spice when something needs a little more flavor?
6. How do you save time in the kitchen?
7. If you could only keep one cookbook from your collection, which one would it be?
8. You just won $5 million in the lottery. (After taxes, no less!) What are you going to do with all that money?
9. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would it be?
10. When you’re feeling blue, what’s one thing you can always count on to lift your spirits?
11. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

The nominees: 11 plant-based blogs I love
Now, for the nominees! Some of these plant-based blogs stick to whole foods (nutritarian) and some don’t, but all have tasty recipes and great writing, so check them out! To the nominees: I can’t always tell how many followers a blog has, so if I’ve nominated you and you have loads of followers, please don’t be offended! I just really like your blog. 🙂

Here they are, in reverse alpha order to keep things fresh:

Vanishing Veggie
Rugrat Chow – A Wholesome PBJ!
Rock My Vegan Socks
RI Nutrition Housecalls
Plant-Based Cooking
Nutritarian Aussie Girl
NutriDude   
The Imperfect Nutritarian
Helyn’s Healthy Kitchen
Hello, Veggy!
Food = Health
The Collegiate Vegan 

Now, 3 Questions for YOU, reader! (1) What’s your favorite snack? (2) Your favorite way to save time in the kitchen? (3) A random fact about you?