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I don't know anything about vegan cooking what's something easy to prepare?

New Year's Jumpstart

Fran Costigan - New Year's Jumpstart

Recorded

This event was on January 6, 2026

Start 2026 on a sweet note. Join Chef Fran Costigan, Rouxbe Director of Vegan Pastry for a January deep-dive into the essential building blocks of vegan desserts. She’ll explore the flavors, functions, and best uses of different flours, sweeteners, cocoa, and chocolate and more, so you can bake smarter and tastier ight from the first whisk of the New Year!. Perfect for beginners and seasoned bakers alike, this session will reset your confidence, refresh your skills, and inspire delicious desserts all year long.

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Question

Kevin Johnson

I don't know anything about vegan cooking what's something easy to prepare?

Answer

Well, soup, I love soups and you, you have any vegetables that you have in your fridge, you can add beans to that. And if you're not right now cooking your own beans, buy some unsalted organic beans in the market and drain the can, rinse the beans and add those onions and carrots and celery and lots of spices. And then you can have a chunky vegetable bean soup or you can puree part of it if you want something that's quick cooking from scratch. There's always lentil soup and salads are wonderful and a salad doesn't have to be only lettuces. And I mean, I love salad and I eat big tubs of salad, but you can really amp them up with protein by adding things like tofu, Tempe and beans and as many vegetables as you can put into them. So I would say those are super, super, super easy meals that you can have oatmeal for breakfast, I make, I batch cook it in my instant pot and then just take some out in the morning and reheat it with a little soy milk usually. Um, but oatmeal cooks very quickly and then adds some nuts to it. Some blueberries you can add some ground flax seeds and you'll be really good to go. Easy as can be. Thank you for the question and good luck. This could be the year for you to learn something about vegan cooking. We have wonderful, wonderful courses available at Rouxbe.

Fran Costigan

Director of Vegan Pastry

FranCostigan.com

Fran Costigan is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Trained at the New York Restaurant School and Natural Gourmet Institute, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 20 years ago. A lifelong chocoholic and long time vegan, Fran’s latest book, Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy Free Desserts, (Running Press 2013) is for all who madly, deeply love chocolate desserts, whether or not dietary considerations are an issue. Her previous cookbook, More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally (Book Publishing Company 2006) is the basis of the Costigan Vegan Baking Boot Camp Intensive®. For more information, www.francostigan.com.