I remember participating last year, my first ever vegan community contribution, with much anxiety but what a difference a year can make. Once I received the email from the talented (and wildly patient) host Annie from An Unrefined Vegan about this year’s winter VVP I instantly signed up, loving this round’s feature ingredient: citrus.

 Last year for VVP, I lived in a super cramped basement apartment so my photography was almost awful (don’t look really!) unless I wanted to strap on my boots and take everything outside in -30 degrees. Cooking for my site consumed all of my countertop surface every single time. Thankfully Mark and I have moved up and out of the basement into a super cramped above ground apartment but thankfully with a lot of natural light pouring in. The kitchen (almost) always remains covered with post-it notes with recipe ideas, legal paper with ingredients lists and of course, dirty dishes. There are plenty of things to hate about blogging, especially a recipe blog: the recipes that don’t work out that you REALLY wanted them to (my first idea of this year’s VVP was a total bust), the loads of dirty dishes from an unsuccessful recipe and plenty of ho-hum dinners.

 This recipe is inspired by a particular ho-hum takeout dinner that I bought a few weeks ago. I was Christmas shopping, sweating profusely in my thick winter coat (I firmly believe malls should have a coat check around the holidays), carrying around heavy bags and insanely hungry. What is it about malls that make me so hungry?? I stopped by a “healthier” food court place, wishing I had packed something in my purse. The description of the order (A vegan citrus-sesame tofu noodle bowl) sounded pretty good, it was gluten-free and my hunger was screaming at me. When I got it however it was not nearly as good as it sounded: a generous amount of overcooked rice noodles, spongy tofu, a few shreds of carrots dressed with a greasy sauce. How did I just pay $9 for this? I am not one to send food back since it is exactly what I ordered but it did take a lot of Sriracha to make this dish remotely edible. This is my vow to never again purchase such crappy takeout.

 Making food at home does take longer but it is almost crazy how inexpensive it is compared to eating out and I think we could all save a little moolah around this time of year. This bowl is the dish I wish I had on that shopping day: plenty of wholesome raw veggies with a flavourful sesame-citrus sauce. All you need to eat a large bowl of veggies in the winter is a really good sauce. This one is nutty, citrusy and a teeny bit spicy. If you aren’t a fan of spice, feel free to omit the pinch of chili flakes and go easy on the spice for the tofu.

 Citrus being in season adds some vibrancy to these otherwise grey snowy days and I am so glad it was chosen as the feature ingredient. This dish features two citrus fruits: lime and mandarin orange. If you can’t find mandarin oranges, regular oranges work just fine. The vegetables chosen for the bowl can be substituted for whatever you like as well as the zucchini noodles- if you are feeling chilly, you can get them a light steam or replace them with buckwheat noodles (not all buckwheat noodles are gluten-free so check the label).

 Now I am going to make myself a huge mug of tea to sit down and read all of the blog posts and citrus recipes for this year’s VVP. A big thanks to Annie for hosting as well as the mentors for this event: Poppy, Keely, Angela and Sarah. When I first starting blogging, I thought it was mostly competitive but I quickly realized it is about community, support and events like these to bring bloggers together and be inspired by one another.

 To check out the next blog, click on the icon below. Girl Eats Greens is next up on the VVP blog trail! Happy eating

 To go back to the previous blog, click on the icon below. Art, Health, & Happiness is showing the citrus some love!

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