A few years ago, I had a grand plan to build a database of recipes that cross-referenced a ton of food allergies and dietary restrictions – so you’d know exactly what you could make for that dinner party to which you invited a vegan, someone with celiac disease, and someone who was allergic to nuts and legumes (for example). Although I’m pretty good at handling those situations in my actual life, the site turned out to be way more than I could handle, so that fell by the wayside (although as some of you know, I’m working on a scaled-down version that’s about being vegan without consuming soy).

[MUSIC TANGENT! I must go here when the word "wayside" occurs.]

Anyway, because of our current financial situation, I haven’t been entertaining guests lately – so when a friend of my son’s who was allergic to nuts and chocolate visited yesterday, I was WAY out of practice and all the treats I’d made contained one or the other – usually just a little almond milk, but THAT’S ENOUGH.

The kids were hungry and I had to act fast – plus it was the last day before our weekly grocery shop and I was out of a lot of stuff. So naturally, I turned to Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook. This hefty tome by two of my favorite cookbook authors, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, seems to have the answer to every question you might ever need to ask. I’ve had it for seven years and I’m still running across brilliant-sounding recipes I swear I’ve never seen before. It may actually be magic.

Plus, doesn’t that title make you feel firmly supported by a powerful yet cruelty-free force?

It came through in a big way; the book opened right to Jelly Donut Cupcakes (recipe online here). I used the rice milk option and made six with cherry preserves and six with apricot, since that was what I had on hand, and they came out AMAZINGLY GOOD – the cherry ones in particular were magical.

Happy children! No trips to the emergency room! That’s really all I can expect out of a Saturday afternoon.