Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman: Cookin' and Bloggin'

Apple Pecan Pie that needs to be sent to me please.

Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman are the dynamic duo behind 500 Vegan Recipes,  The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions and most recently Hearty Vegan. Celine is the mastermind that blogs about jam over at Have Cake Will Travel while Joni throws down a mean veggie burger at Just the Food. They are two most delightful people who I am thrilled to be featuring here.

VOTM: You’ve just had you third collaborative cookbook, Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites, released. How do you work together to create the recipes?  Do you plan it out or do you each just start working and see what you create?

We usually draw a summary of what dishes we feel the book should absolutely offer, and work from there. It would be easier if we lived closer together to work on at least a few recipes, but it’s usually more like every woman for herself. That’s where email comes in handy.

VOTM: Do you have a background in food?  You are both bloggers turned famous cookbook authors and I was curious if this was the direction you had hoped to move in or if the blogging and cooking were hobbies that became more.

Pink pucker

Celine: I don’t. I just love food so much, I’m one of those people who thinks about the next meal even when she’s busy chewing on the current one. I personally never planned on writing a cookbook, typing up stuff on the web was (and still is) a way to connect with like-minded folks and to force myself to cook more from scratch rather than go for convenience food.

Joni: I’m self taught.  I do work in the food service industry, which has taught me a lot, but I have no formal training.  Just lots of trial and error in my humble little kitchen.

VOTM: How did the two of you meet and decide to work together?

Celine: The web is a wonderful thing! We were reading each others blogs and one day, Joni asked me if I would take the pictures for her burger book project (now a professionally published book, yay!), and we became fast friends after that. She’s one admirable, fantastic woman and I’m lucky to have her in my life. I’m so mushy.

Joni: Celine is a modest chica.  I hounded her for ages to take pictures for the burger book.  I feared she might report me for stalking!  I followed her blog, and loved not only her pictures, but her wit and writing style…oh, did I mention her recipes?  I was super honored when she asked me to partner with her on 500 Vegan Recipes.  And, yes, the web IS a wonderful thing.

Orange Chipotle Wings from Hearty Vegan

VOTM: Can you tell me a bit about projects you are working on separately?

Joni:  Throwing around a few ideas, but nothing real concrete.  I would love to take a bit of a break and spend some time spreading the word on the books we currently have out.  Do some demos, signings, and all that jazz.

Celine: I’m working on improving in the photography department and doing a few freelance photo jobs. There might be a new cookbook project coming up, but it’s all hush-hush for now. So I’ll hush. Which is no mean feat for me.

VOTM: Joni, you’ve published 2 cookbooks on your own.  How different is that process?

Joni: I can honestly say it’s much better with a partner…and lucky for me, Celine did the photos for the burger book.  It’s just so nice to have someone to bounce ideas off.  Someone who will be honest with you, and be a second set of eyes (and tastebuds!)  When I wrote Cozy Inside, I did it just for fun, and I get a real kick out of the fact that people bought it!  And that every now and again, people still do!  Of course, I still stand by the recipes, but geez, we’ve come a long way.  Cozy was written on Powerpoint, for crying out loud.  HA!

VOTM: Celine, do you do all the photos for the books?

Celine: I do. It’s such a different process than shooting just for fun (aka without specific requirements), but it’s fun while being a huge adjustment. I’m working on improving and feeling as (moderately) comfortable with the results that appear in books as I am with those I put up on the site.

VOTM: How much input do you get into the design of the book?  I haven’t seen Hearty Vegan yet, but I found Vegan Subs to have a very distinctive look.

Tofu Jerky

Celine: Not much. We’ve been lucky to be offered nifty designs by talented folks though, so no complaints here. Okay, so maybe my inner control freak occasionally wishes a few minor things would be changed, but I’m trying to cut down on nitpicking. It’s not good for what ails ya.

Joni:  I’m with Celine…I have had to bite my tongue a few times, but there are a slew of talented folks who work on our projects who do a great job.  That let’s us relax and just worry about the food.

VOTM: Since you are both long time bloggers and vegan community stalwarts, you’ve seen a lot of changes in the vegan blog scene.  How is it different now than when you started?

Joni:  The sheer numbers are mind boggling!  I can’t keep up with everyone anymore but I try.  It really, truly is an exciting time to be a vegan.  So much free information and recipes at our fingertips.  It’s also really cool to be able to “chat” with other vegans all over the world, and occasionally get to meet them in person.  I can’t get enough, really.

Celine: What Joni said. I’m also impressed by the high quality of most of these vegan food (and not food) blogs. It would take more than the measly 24 hours the day offers to be able to read them all. We need to start asking for blog-reading vacation time at work.

You can find that apple pecan pie recipe at Have Cake Will Travel.

About these ads