Vegan Cookbook Challenge

La Dolce Vegan

2011-11-19T11:03:00.000-05:00

There were some bananas that had seen better days on our counter, so I went in search of a banana bread recipe. After flipping through a couple of books, the I opted for the Scrumptious Banana-Nut Bread recipe from La Dolce Vegan. This worked out wonderfully because there was some soon-to-expire silken tofu leftover in the fridge as well. I skipped the walnuts because I'm not a fan.

The recipe was simple to follow, although I found that the bread required cooking longer than the recipe stated. All in all, the final results were pretty dang good. My favorite way to enjoy the bread was toasted with a thin layer of peanut butter.

Vegan Fusion World Cuisine

2010-03-22T20:46:00.002-04:00

A year ago, I visited Portland and Seattle. In Portland I had an amazing raw pizza at Blossoming Lotus. The Vegan Fusion World Cuisine cookbook actually has many of their recipes including a version of this entree.

The raw pizza is a little intensive to make as you need to mix up and dehydrate the crust, then make the nut cheese and lastly prepare the sauce. With some left over Baja Cheese from the tacos last week, I opted use that and save some prep time. The cheese has a green tint in the picture because there is a ton of cilantro in the Baja.

One interesting thing about the crust recipe is they suggest spreading the batter 1/2 inch thick in the dehydrator. My memory of the dish was a very thin crust, so I modified it went with 1/4". This worked well, but next time I will probably cut it down to 1/8". The Live Sauce recipe is delicious and I never would have guessed that some grated beets are a secret ingredient. They probably help make the vibrant red color of the raw sauce. All in all, I was pretty happy with this recipe and am looking forward to trying others from this book which is full of beautiful pictures. Expect about 50% raw vs cooked dishes with this title.

Live Greek Pizza: devoured quickly with the spinach on top!

Ani's Raw Food Kitchen

2010-03-15T21:19:00.002-04:00

While I love raw food, I have difficult time eating a high raw diet in the winter. Now that spring is starting to roll around, this week I'm trying to eat 90% or more raw and it seemed like a good time to break out one of my favorite raw books: Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes.

Tonight I opted for the Baja Raw Burritos. They are filled with a seasoned almond/walnut "meat" and brazil nut cilantro cheeze. Honestly I was expecting to like this recipe, but wasn't planning on being completely wowed. These are amazingly good! Believe me, I can't wait to put together a batch of the leftovers tomorrow.

These are supposed to be rolled up, but I decided to keep the leaf open so you could see the tasty fillings. This one is topped with salsa. Tomorrow I'll add some extras like carrots and tomato slices too.

My photo really doesn't do these justice.

If you don't have the book, there is similar recipe on her website. Though, it is definitely worth buying. Ani introduced me to one of my favorite smoothies that she calls the Pear Frosty. The Mango Lassi and all of the Mylks are really delicious. I'm looking forward to trying another new recipe later in the week!

Vegan Soul Kitchen

2009-11-14T16:17:00.000-05:00

On a trip to Seattle/Portland, a friend and I went to a great soul food restaurant called Hillside Quickies. The food was awesome and it makes me sad that we don't have anything like that in my local area. This is why I was so happy to see Bryant Terry's Vegan Soul Kitchen.

When visiting a friend and her family, we opted to try the Tempeh Stuffed Pepper recipe. Since I wasn't sure they would like tempeh, we ended up subbing burger crumbles. This recipe was flavorful and relatively simple to mix up. It was also a hit with everyone. Next time I'll make it with tempeh.

Our dinner plate with the pepper, corn, and beets

And here is the pan full of peppers

Upcoming: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

1,000 Vegan Recipes

2009-11-02T22:09:00.003-05:00

I've been leafing through this monstrous hardcover book, 1,000 Vegan Recipes, trying to figure out what to make first. It ended being more of an issue of which ingredients needed to be used sooner. My fridge is filled with eggplant from the last CSA share.

Eggplant paprikash was the solution. A required ingredient is sour cream which is also in the book. Two recipes for the price of one.

The sour cream was tangy and simple to make. Just toss a bunch of ingredients in the blender and voila! Paprikash was a bit more involved, but the end product was good.

Unfortunately, try as I might, I'm just not an eggplant fan. No eggplant dish has managed to wow me. Any suggestions from the readers out there?

Upcoming: Vegan Soul Kitchen

Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food

2009-10-18T22:42:00.003-04:00

When I picked up this book at a bargain price with a coupon, I was overwhelmed and couldn't decide what to make first. A very wise friend advised, "Always go for the pie."

The only change I made to this recipe was subbing whole wheat pastry for regular flour in the crust. Let me tell you that the crust turned out beautifully and this pie is amazing. This is my first attempt at sweet potato pie. It reminds me a bit of pumpkin pie which is one of my favorites.

If you haven't picked up Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food, I highly recommend it. The book is chock-full of veganized Southern favorites. I can't wait to try out another recipe!

Upcoming: 1,000 Vegan Recipes

Yellow Rose Recipes

2009-10-04T23:23:00.004-04:00

Next up is Yellow Rose Recipes. Things have been very hectic for me at work and that has meant not much time for cooking or shopping. When I flipped through the book, I picked the first recipe that didn't require any grocery trips.

Here's the Wild Rice Salad. It is a very simple to make, extremely filling and flavorful. I'm looking forward trying out other dishes from Joanna's book.

Of course I changed the recipe a bit, including skipping the salt and doubling the lemon juice. There were no Kalamata olives in my fridge, so I subbed Sicilian green olives. The fresh basil on my counter also seemed like a perfect match as an addition. I'm a fan of this dish which certainly lends itself to customizing!

Vegan Brunch

2009-09-21T01:10:00.008-04:00

Week 4 is of course, Vegan Brunch.In the past I've made the Bakery-Style Berry Muffins with wild blueberries. They were incredibly delicious. Curried Cauliflower Frittata is another recipe I've enjoyed before.

The time I tried Tofu Omelets with Burnt Broccoli filling. This is so creative because Isa uses black sea salt to imitate the taste of egg. Previous attempts at vegan omelets were good, but didn't remind me of the original version at all. These won't fool your friends, but are pretty close and definitely are reminiscent of the omelets I used to eat for breakfast as a vegetarian.

Behold, the omelet! I added some Daiya cheddar to the filling.

Below is a photo of the blueberry muffins from awhile back which never made it onto my regular blog. Apple sauce was subbed in place of half the oil, and they still came out wonderfully.

I actually hiked up a local mountain to pick the wild blueberries for this recipe.

Vegan With A Vengeance

2009-09-07T21:04:00.003-04:00

This week is Vegan with a Vengeance.

On the weekend, I attended a cooking class by Didi Emmons which revolved around corn. They purchased too much, so everyone took home extra ears of corn. (Details on my other blog: Vegchic) Between the class and my CSA share, I had plenty to use up.

Without further ado...

This is the Chipotle Corn and Black Bean Stew with some added zucchini. This was simple to make and the chipotle adds just enough spice. How cool are those purple heirloom carrots from the CSA?

These are corn fritters made and some CSA cherry tomatoes. The jalapeno in the recipe also came from my farm share. This recipe is amazingly quick to whip up and taste great.

Veganomicon

2009-08-26T13:04:00.011-04:00

Vcon makes an appearance here today.

Pistachio Rose Water Cupcakes are one of my absolute favorite recipes from Isa's cupcake book. Of course when Veganomicon arrived, the first thing that caught my eye was the Pistachio Rose Water Cookies. Unfortunately, I never actually got around to baking them.

So last night, I made a batch and here they are:

To be honest, these were a bit of a disappointment. The cupcakes have a lighter flavor that just seems to round out better. These aren't bad, but they are a little overpowering. Maybe it is because I used freshly ground cardamom from my mortar and pestle. These are likely destined for ice cream sandwiches or something else that can mellow them out.

A few weeks back, I made the Seitanic Red and White Bean Jambalaya from Vcon and it totally rocks. Though that recipe won't satisfy your sweet tooth, it is one that I highly recommend.

Week 2 from: Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

Enemy of the Steak

2009-08-23T11:45:00.015-04:00

Once again, the items in my fridge dictated the recipe. Baked Italian Tofu sounded easy and it used up the block of tofu that had been sitting around too long. I also chopped up half a tomato that was languishing next to the tofu in the drawer. Ok, it is hard for me to follow recipe exactly...I sliced up some fresh basil and halved the amount of dry basil listed too.

This dish is ok, but it wouldn't be on my list to make again any time soon. Today for lunch I spiced it up a bit by adding some sliced green olives with Sicilian spices. That definitely made it more memorable.

Week 2 from: Enemy Of The Steak: Vegetarian Recipes To Win Friends And Influence Meat-Eaters.

Vegan Table: Part 2

2009-08-19T12:50:00.004-04:00

This is just a quick post, courtesy of my lunch break at the office.

Next up was Peach and Pecan Muffins, due to a farmer's market purchase of peaches last week. After I started mixing, I noticed the lack of brown sugar in the house. Raw turbinado with molasses was substituted. Because none of the stores nearby had plain or vanilla soy yogurt, raspberry yogurt was another change to the recipe. Regardless of all my changes, these muffins were good and my co-workers enjoyed them!

Last night I also wanted to use up the greens from my CSA share this week, so I made up a batch of the Greens with Sesame Miso Dressing. This was surprisingly simple and with a great mix of flavors (mirin, sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, lemon juice, miso, and soy sauce). In the picture is some red russian kale. Later, I added some lightly steamed mizuna as there was still plenty of dressing left over. The purple/green kale isn't particularly photogenic, but I assure you this is a tasty dish!

Week 1 from The Vegan Table: 200 Unforgettable Recipes for Entertaining Every Guest at Every Occasion.

Vegan Table

2009-08-16T16:32:00.004-04:00

Tonight I picked up veggies from the CSA. There was plenty of zucchini, so with the main ingredient in mind I chose the Zucchini Pancakes. These are quick to mix up and with Old Bay seasoning, I was looking forward to some spice. Unfortunately, I found them to be a little on the bland side. Surprisingly, there wasn't any kind of dip or sauce recommendation with the recipe either.

If I make these again, I'll likely add a some extra Old Bay and some mustard to the mix. Perhaps, I'll whip up a batch of the remoulade from the Tempeh Crab Cakes in Vegan Brunch to spice these up tomorrow.

Week 1 from The Vegan Table: 200 Unforgettable Recipes for Entertaining Every Guest at Every Occasion .