Cookbook, VegNews, and Veg Times cooking challenge (Final week-free choice!)
The idea is to cook at least 3 recipes from each book or website per week. Use the cookbook if you have it, can find it at the library, or have recipes from online, OR find new recipes to try from VN or VT. We'll post our reviews and photos here, and I'll add reviews to cookbook compilation threads or the blog recipe thread.
Thanks to nmpixie for starting this challenge idea! :)
Vegetarian Times vegan recipes can be found here: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/search_recipes/?keywords=&vegan=on (not all VT recipes are vegan)
VegNews is all vegan, and recipes are found within: http://www.vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=2763&catId=2
January 10 - Appetite for Reduction
January 17 - Veganomicon
January 24 - Urban Vegan
January 31 - Vegan with a Vengeance
February 7 - Eat, Drink & Be Vegan
February 14 - FREE choice week - Choose any cookbook. Dessert cookbook will be Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World or other
February 21 - 500 Vegan Recipes
February 28 - American Vegan Kitchen
March 7 - Yellow Rose Recipes
March 14 - Viva Vegan
March 21 - Vegan Brunch
March 28 - Final Week! Free choice - choose any cookbook. Dessert cookbook will be Vegan cookies Invade your Cookie Jar or other.
Thanks for the fun!!!!
Here are the AFR recipes that I found on the PPK:
OMG oven baked onion rings: http://www.theppk.com/2010/10/omg-oven- ... ion-rings/
Miso stirfry with greens and beans: http://www.theppk.com/2010/10/miso-soba ... and-beans/ (the same except brown rice udon noodles are used in AFR)
Quinoa white bean and kale stew: http://www.theppk.com/2010/10/quinoa-wh ... kale-stew/
Caribbean curry black eyed peas and plantains: http://www.theppk.com/2010/09/caribbean ... plantains/
Chickpea piccata: http://www.theppk.com/2010/09/chickpea-picatta/
Edamame pesto with spinach linguine: http://www.theppk.com/2009/10/edamame-p ... manifesto/
Tempeh helper: http://www.theppk.com/2009/08/tempeh-he ... ever-make/
Chipotle chili with sweet potatoes and brussels: http://www.theppk.com/2008/11/chipotle- ... l-sprouts/
Quinoa puttanesca: http://www.theppk.com/2007/11/quinoa-puttanesca/
I am down for week four and week eleven, and will see how many recipes I can google/steal for the other weeks and hit up vegnews/times. Sweet! : )
Ha, I made one recipe last night, so totally started early!!! Even earlier when you think of the weird time travelling involved!
VegNews Mac n Cheese
When I saw the recipe, I thought how on earth could a vegan mac n cheese recipe work without nutritional yeast.....well the answer is amazingly well!! Both N and I really really enjoyed this. It did taste kinda cheesy to me, but don't think it did to N. However, he did really like it and said he would definitely have it again. So yeah not really cheesy, but tangy and a bit salty (in a good way, but I used half the salt called for). Not sure about the recipe serving 6 - I made a half recipe and it was just about enough for me and N with a side of peas and a corn on the cob. I dunno maybe we're just complete pigs.
Oh yeah, I used less margarine than called for and would use less again next time, just to cut back on fat. And I had to add a bit more water (maybe and extra 1/8 cup in the half recipe I made) as it wasn't saucy enough for me and would add even more next time
Will make again for sure.
eta: I will not be taking part in this challenge during half of Feb and half of Mar, as N's parents will be with us for a whole freaking month!!! and they don't like funny/spicy/too vegan food - but it works out to be when I don't have books listed anyways, so it's all good.
This looks like fun. I'm definitely down for the free choice weeks since I can use my raw books.
Yay! I don't know which day I can start this week, since we need to go shopping, but I'm excited.
I tried to find something I could make last night from googling AFR recipes but I didn't manage to find anything that fitted what I've got in the fridge, time constraints, and what the husband felt like eating, but I'll for sure try and get in at least a couple this week.
: )
And do some proper planning before grocery shopping this weekend so I can make it easier to play along next week : )
I'm going to enjoy the challenges, since I'm challenged to use a specific source to try something new, but also to use things I get from my CSA share. Today I used up collards and beets.
Ye'abesha Gomen (Stewed and Sauteed Collards) - I enjoyed these. I totally missed the red pepper flakes and I bet they would have been good. What's unique to me is the addition of ginger which we don't use in the Southern way of cooking collards. I couldn't bring myself to cook them for the entire 30 minutes (which we actually do in the Southern way of cooking) and cooked them about 20.
Mushroom & Cannellini paprikas - Very interesting and tasty. I used baby bellas for the mushrooms. I think 1/2 cup of red wine overpowers the smoked paprika taste, so I'd recommend cutting back and adding maybe a bit more broth. But if you like foods cooked with red wine, then go for it.
Scarlet barley - Loved this. Quick and easy to make, and a good break from the routine of pasta and rice that I usually find myself eating a lot of. For the 2nd serving I served the mushroom dish on top and they were pretty good together (as she suggests).
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs061.snc6/167145_1587649889981_1197836956_31320212_3607568_n.jpg
From AFR,
Lotsa veggies lentil soup - a wonderful soup. there is nothing especially exciting or interesting going on here in terms of flavor, but if you love a basic lentil soup, this is great comforting soup. (my husband isn't crazy about lentil soup like i am, and he thought this was bland). I didn't use the tarragon and instead added some balsamic vinegar and a little mustard. the flavors came together perfectly.
Sweet potato drop biscuits
Not a huge fan of sweet potato, but I'm always trying to like it. I baked mine according to the recipe tip, and 1 largeish sweet potato was just about perfect. I followed the recipe, but used agave for maple and flattened them on the pan just a bit. I like them quite a bit. I love nutmeg, so the flavor is really good, and the texture is light. I think a sweet potato (and nutmeg) lover would be really pleased. I do suggest flattening them if you want them in any certain shape.
Black beans in red velvet mole
I liked this more than I thought I would. I like mole things ok, but usually get tired of it really quickly. I thought there was a really nice balance of flavors here. I had to use fennel seeds for the anise, used regular paprika+drop of liquid smoke, added some salt and pepper, and only used 1 (15 ounce) can black beans. Nice flavor, but probably not something I'd want to make again. P didn't really like it. Had it over brown rice with the sweet potato biscuits.
The picture doesn't look completely appetizing, so I'll leave that out.
From AFR
Surefire seitan - Fail. I'm going to blame my failure at this on the fact I used besan from an Indian grocery..which is chickpea flour, which is what she calls for, but might be a bit grainer than American-style. Or perhaps that the "cold veggie broth" was too cold coming from the fridge? Anyway, I kneeded the crap out of it and it never got elastic, it was moist and delicate after cooking so I decided to bake it for 30 minutes. On top of that the taste was meh to bleh.
Irish stew with potatoes and seitan - I wanted this to be amazing, but it was average. I added the green beans and carrots later than she recommends to maintain the crunch. I probably don't like the taste of beer in cooking, as well as the yucky seitan issue.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1379.snc4/163115_1589054085085_1197836956_31322562_2206271_n.jpg
Curried scrambled tofu with wilted arugula - Had a bunch of arugula from the CSA and was happy to use it in this scrumptious dish. I love curry and it's a natural to be paired with tofu scramble, so I loved this. Of course I used the 3 tablespoons of the 2 to 3 she recommends. She uses so little oil (no complaint) I did have to add a tablespoon or so of water during the scrambling and again when wilting the greens.
I had a minor issue as to what to do with the tablespoon of lemon juice she calls for in the list of ingredients, so I just added it at the very end which makes sense. But being the literal recipe follower that I am, I need specifics. :P
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs043.snc6/167300_1589055765127_1197836956_31322568_1426573_n.jpg
AFR
Portobello pepper steak stew - Scrumptious! I served this on top of a baked potato like she suggests. I wish I didn't forget to add the garlic, oh well. I enjoyed all of the spices and loved the juicy bits of mushroom. No one complained about the 1/2 cup of wine in there.
Shaved brussel sprouts - Ok so slicing up the brussel sprouts definitely takes some time and then you have to slice the garlic. But this was so tasty, I'm glad I tried it! I wouldn't go through the hassle of doing this again though.
Cha Su Bao(VN) http://www.vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=2124&catId=11
Totally failed. I just don't think the directions were specific enough for me. The inside where the seitan mix was never got cooked. It was just raw dough no matter how long I steamed them.
Tangerine Glazed Carrot Cake(VT) http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10123?section=
This was good. I subbed oj for the carrot juice, and it worked well. It needs to be adjusted for high altitude, as it was a bit too moist inside for me. Next time I'll leave out the raisins b/c they are gross.
AFR #3
Garlicky mushrooms and kale
I grated my garlic in because minced garlic never seems to mix in well with kale. I was expecting to just be meh about it, since I've had similar things, but it was good. I also added lots of red pepper flakes (a bit too much). I liked it. I recommend grating the garlic.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs046.snc6/167641_10150364606155533_507120532_16897083_2325611_n.jpg
I made the oven baked onion rings again as well, and still loved them. P had them as well this time, and enjoyed them. This time, I cut the onions too thin, forgot the oil in the crumbs, and added cayenne. Still came out great. Not too difficult, tasty.
eta: Since I got my 3 new AFR in this week, I'm going to try to work in a couple VN or VT for the rest of the week.
you know, I don't think I've ever had an onion ring. I should try those ones!
I don't have Appetite for Reduction so I did a bit of snooping on amazon 'look inside' and last night I made versions of a couple of recipes but not close enough that I would put them down as reviews from the book...
Lettuce wraps with hoison mustard tofu
I just used the sauce from this recipe with a big pan of stir fried veges and it was really good. I don't know why, but I don't usually put mustard with asian flavoured things and we really liked this combo so I'd probably make something like this again.
Curried chickpeas and greens
I only had access to the list of ingredients, not the directions, so I made up what to do with them! I used spinach instead of kale because that's what I had, but otherwise followed the recipe, ingredient-wise. We both really enjoyed this, it was fast and easy to put together and a really great flavour combo. Tomatoes+chickpeas+greens+spices is always a win though.
Caesar salad with eggplant bacon: I made this without the bacon and added other stuff to the salad (onions, chickpeas, and kale is all). I thought it was fantastic, and it tastes even better the next day!
Caesar Chavez Dressing: Fan-freaking-tastic! I love the brine-y-ness the capers give to it. I will be making this often.
Basic Baked Tofu: I had this in a wrap with the unfriended version of Hummus and Friends. I've never had baked tofu before...I really liked it. Will make again.
Bistro Broccoli Chowder: Yum! This was such a satisfying and I loved the slight bite that the parsnips gave to it. It's one of the better broccoli soups that I've had.
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq138/XxDanniDarcyxX/DSCN0724.jpg
AFR #2
Pasta de los Angeles - great combo of flavors! i loved the black beans/ lime / jalapeno in a pasta and will make this one again.
AFR
Green beans with Thai basil - I really enjoyed this but then again, I love Thai basil. I don't like lime juice all that much so I just used 1 tbsp which I'm glad I did because I could still taste the lime.
Thai tofu - Great flavor! I liked the balance of sweet and spice although maybe that's not a correct statement because I'm saying that after I put sriracha over everything. The point is that I think you should make this.
Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits: Meh. These didn't do much for me at all. Maybe I just didn't use enough sweet potato. I might try them again sometime.
Buffalo Tempeh: This was so good! I'm so making it again. Must be I have a low heat tolerance...it was so hot (but so good). Great with the slaw.
Cool Slaw: Yum!!! I had to stop myself from eating all of this up myself. Just so good. I'm not sure what it is...but it's good.
Buffalo Wrap: Very yummy wrap...how couldn't it be though? It has two freaking awesome things in it....
2nd Ave Veggie Korma: I liked this....not QUITE as much as I thought I would, but it's good. I repaced the zucchini with broccoli because I have a thing against zucchini. I just wish it could have been spicier or something. Mum liked it, though.
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq138/XxDanniDarcyxX/DSCN0726.jpg
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq138/XxDanniDarcyxX/DSCN0727.jpg
Ceasar Salad with Eggplant Bacon
Good, the eggplant bacon was too salty and too smoky for me, so maybe I'd tone it down w/ some water next time. Everything went together well. The dressing did taste a bit cashewy to me, so I added more lemon and capers.
Veg News mac and cheese- really creamy and comforting, and not remotely cheesy. So, I think the name is misleading, but I do like it and would make it again. Definitely bake it.
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