Today is a big day. It's the last day of Vegan MoFo. It's time to announce the winner of Quick-Fix Vegan in my latest giveaway. And it's Halloween~and you know what that means: another edible Jack O'Lantern!

This time, the Jack O' Lantern was made by topping a bowl of black bean chili with some mashed sweet potatoes. Easy to do and so much fun to eat. If you've never had sweet potatoes with a spicy-hot chili, you won't believe how good it is. I put extra chipotles in this chili so it is super-spicy. And the creamy sweet potatoes are the perfect way to tame that heat.

When I was making the chili, I reserved about a half cup of the cooked black beans so I'd have them to make Jack's face. After placing the beans for the facial features, I had some beans left, so I arranged them on top of the chili, around the edge of the sweet potatoes to help the Jack O'Lantern pop a bit. Jack's little green stem is a piece of Italian pole bean.  Almost too cute to eat, huh?

Okay, so here's the announcement you've all been waiting for. The winner of a copy of my new cookbook Quick-Fix Vegan -- chosen at random via Random.org -- is comment # 41 by Panda With Cookie!! Congrats, Panda with Cookie! Please e-mail me with your mailing address and I'll get Quick-Fix Vegan in the mail to you.

As another Vegan MoFo comes to a close, I'm happy to know that some new subscribers found their way to my blog. From what I hear, some people read the MoFo posts in alphabetical order, so maybe next year I'll change my blog name from "Vegan Planet" to "AA Aardvark." What do you think?

Have a safe Halloween everyone, and please, if you have any outdoor kitties, please bring them inside. 

Here's a closing shot of my favorite baby cardinal that lives in our butterfly bush.  Her name is Wallflower:

Labels: contest winner, Halloween chili recipe, Quick-Fix Vegan, Vegan MoFo