African Peanut Stew

I am flush with new cookbooks lately.  Must be a fall thing.

Anyway, it was a cloudy, rainy day in Denver today, which means it was a good day for soup!

Took this one for a spin from Oh She Glows by Angela Liddon.

Quite delicious.  Part of me thought that this would be better with coconut milk in it, but honestly, it didn't need it.  And a whole lot less fat.  It's very hearty and we will have soup leftovers for several days.  Plus, I have some leftover rice from Chinese takeout that will be a great addition to this soup.  The house smells all nice and cozy tonight, too.

Recipe here.

BKT Salad

I made the BKT (Bacon, Kale, and Tomato) salad from Salad Samurai tonight.  I don't know how this recipe could go wrong with these ingredients and I was right.  So tasty!  The significant other may find no dinner waiting when she gets home, as I am highly tempted to help myself to another giant portion.  Kale and tomato from the garden.

Recipe and better pics can be found here.

New cookbook day!

Cookies!

My friend Micha just moved to Miami Beach for a fantastic opportunity.  While I miss her presence in Denver, a Miami care package came my way yesterday!  The owner of ginnybakes is a client of her new employer.

I haven't heard of this brand before so I'm not sure if they are available locally.  But I will tell you that they are delicious!  These are dreamy vegan delight, which is a vanilla coconut combo.  They remind me of a subtle molasses/gingersnap cookie.  Tasty, vegan, and gluten-free?  Usually it's a "pick two" scenario when it comes to those attributes.  I'm looking forward to tasting the other varieties.  If you find these around, give 'em a try.

BBQ Pineapple Pizza

LOVE this pizza!  It's kind of a pain in the butt to make, what with the pre-baking of the tofu and caramelizing onions, but it's worth the time.  In a pinch, you could saute the tofu and just soften the onions and it would still be delicious.  I also added a little Daiya mozz but it's also great without it.

BBQ Pineapple Pizza
(Chloe’s Kitchen, Chloe Coscarelli)

serves 4

Ingredients:

1 14-ounce package extra-firm tofu, drained
2 cups barbecue sauce
3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing
2 large onions, sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-1 1/2 lbs. pizza dough
1 cup diced pineapple
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a small baking sheet.

Press the tofu between paper towels, with something heavy on top, for about 30 minutes (changing the paper towels as necessary). After pressing, cut the tofu into 1/2″ cubes. In a bowl, toss tofu with 1 cup barbecue sauce until each cube is coated. Place in one layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, turning the tofu a couple of times with a spatula. Remove from oven and set aside. Turn heat up to 450 degrees F.

In a large skillet, heat 3 tbsp oil and saute onions over medium heat until tender and caramelized, about 20-30 min. Season generously with salt and pepper and set aside.

Stretch pizza dough into a rectangle and fit it into the prepared baking sheet. Spoon remaining 1 cup barbecue sauce onto the pizza dough and spread, leaving a 3/4″ border along the sides. You may not want to use all of the sauce, just enough to coat the dough. On top of the sauce, layer the tofu, caramelized onions, pineapple, and cilantro. Brush the edges of the crust with olive oil. Bake for about 15-20 min., rotating midway, until the crust is slightly browned or golden. Let cool, slice, and devour!

Junk food report

Leahey Mac and Cheese, good!  Not quite like the fluorescent yellow of Kraft, but nice and creamy.  Not something I'll eat all that often, but it'll be nice to have on hand for those nights when I'm short on time and/or energy.

Earth Balance Mac and Cheese.

This one is more like the Kraft that we (used to) know and love.  Satisfying in a retro, comforting kind of way.  Not a huge portion and I could easily have eaten the whole box myself.  But, let's face it; I am an American, and thus am used to eating enormous portions of food.  I was expected to share, and fortunately avoided food shaming myself on this occasion.

However, in a head-to-head comparison, I'll take the Leahey.  It was richer and creamier and had a less processed taste to it.  Less plasticky, shall we say.  Don't get me wrong, I would not turn away the Earth Balance were it placed in front of me.  And as far as cost, honestly, I can't remember what I paid for either one of them.  I'd be happy to both of these in the pantry when I get home from a 12-hour workday, but I'd reach for the Leahey first.

Tater Tot Casserole

I am always on the lookout for ways to incorporate tater tots into my daily life.  Thus, when I ran across Zsu Dever's Everyday Vegan Eats and saw that it had a tater tot casserole recipe, well, add another cookbook to the pile.

This book is newly published and I can't find the recipe posted anywhere online, so this pic and write-up will have to suffice.  And, to add insult to injury, the library does not have this book, so I was forced to purchase it sight unseen.  I'm happy with it so far and have several recipes in the queue to try.  The recipes are comforting, straightforward and not too complicated.

But, really, how bad could a recipe be that features tater tots?  I liked it well enough, but I'm not convinced on the soy curls.  I still have that old tater tot casserole recipe stuck in my head and my taste buds--you know the one with hamburger, cream of mushroom soup and tater tots.  While I don't miss the hamburger or crave it at all, I kept trying to think of something besides the soy curls that I'd want in this casserole.  The soy curls were fine, don't get me wrong, but they just weren't quite right.  I know for sure that I wouldn't use burger crumbles because I don't like them in much of anything.  Mushrooms would definitely be great in this..  Maybe green beans.  But I'll experiment and see what I can come up with.

I had this for breakfast this morning, if that tells you anything.

Vegans have junk food, too

My haul today from Nooch:

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), my take today was limited by the cargo carrying capacity of my bike bag.  But I think this will hold me for at least a few days.  Will let you know the verdict on those Tofurky Pockets.  I don't think I've ever had a regular hot pocket, so my opinion may be for naught, but that's true of most of my opinions.

Oh, and I definitely have a plan for the Soy Whip.  Will fill you in on that as it develops, as well.

Time flies

My 6th Veganversary went by with nary a mention.  I was just thinking about it and couldn't remember the year I started, but I thought it was 2009.  Turns out it was 2008!  Yes, the post is from 2009, I didn't start blogging until July of that year.  

Times have changed, for sure.  There are now so many great vegan options out there, more vegan cookbooks than a person can possibly read or own, more products, and more overall awareness.  All of these things are very good.

And, after 6 years, I've very much settled into a vegan diet.  I can't imagine going back, although a person can never say never.  Some sort of apocalypse, who knows.

Anyway, I made some chocolate chip cookies today and they were wonderful.  Further evidence that vegan food is damn good.  From Vegan Diner.

Video and recipe here.

Still cooking, still eating

Still taking lousy pictures of tasty food.  However, lately it has just been too much damn effort to post the pictures and write about them.  I will do my best to backtrack and catch up.

While I'm still enamored with Isa Does It and am now going back for round two of fave recipes, I've had a diversion or two in the midst of the Isa love.  For example, Vegan Pizza!  I've had pizza at least once a week (well, twice, since my pizza dough recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas), but I am not complaining.  Such a perfect food.

Anyway, nothing earth-shattering in the Vegan Pizza book, but they are solid recipes.  I'm not one to do a whole lot of experimenting in the kitchen, which is why following recipes has such appeal to me.  I'm a compulsive rule-follower, plus I don't like wasting food when experiments go awry, so I'm definitely a recipe gal.

Some pics:

All American Barbeque Pizza

Broccoli Cheddar Pizza

Cowboy Pizza (my fave of the bunch)

Peanut Barbeque Pizza (recipe here)

And up this week is Thai Peanut Pizza.  And while the pizza recipes have all been good, there are some gems in the ingredients, as well.  The sweet and smoky soy curls are delicious, and the cheddar cashew cheese sauce is fantastic!  I have used it in several other recipes and am not ashamed to admit that I would eat this by the spoonful as soup.  There are also recipes for burger, taco, and pizza crumbles that I haven't gotten to just yet but that look promising.

I got this book from the library, as I try to do with any cookbook before making the purchase plunge, and with this one I decided to copy the recipes of interest and pass on the purchase.  No particular reason, other than I'm trying to be judicious about cookbook purchases and while this one is solid, it did not bowl me over.  That's not to say the recipes aren't great and that I haven't enjoyed the pizzas, it's just that I didn't see myself referencing this book over and over like I have with others.  Still, it's definitely worthy of a look, so check it out if you get the chance.

Pizza, how I love thee.

Mmm, cookies

So I am WAY behind in posting stuff, but just to get something out there, today I made German's Chocolate Cookies from Bake and Destroy.

(Slightly modified) recipe here.

If you like German Chocolate Cake, you will like these.  Or maybe I should say, if you like chocolate, coconut and pecans, you will love these cookies!  These are definitely different than the usual cookie--it ain't no chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin kinda cookie.  I knew these were going to be delicious when I tasted the batter and the baked cookie is better than the batter.  I'm so glad I avoided the tried and true and tried something a little different this time.  My taste buds are very happy today.

Cincinnati Skyline Chili

This is one of the dishes I turn to when I want an easy, cheap, filling dinner.  I have a couple of go-to recipes for this, and tonight I went with Happy Herbivore's version from The Happy Herbivore Cookbook.  I never had the "authentic," meat-based version of Cincinnati Chili, but there's something about the sweetness combined with the spicy that I find really appealing.  I make this dish every couple of months year-round and it's a definite favorite that never fails to satisfy.

I can't find an online version of the recipe but here's a variant.

I also tried a new sour cream recipe and found it to be delicious.  It has a cashew base rather than a tofu base, which I much prefer.  I wish I could remember where I got this one, but alas, I cannot.  So here you go:

Vegan Sour Cream

1 cup raw cashews, soaked and rinsed well

¼ cup water

¼ tsp salt

1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar

½ -1 lemon juiced

Drain and rinse your cashew really, really well! Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Slowly add more lemon juice to taste, and water until desired consistency is reached.

The best part of the Super Bowl

The queso dip, of course.  Such a painful game to watch.

I can't remember the last time (pre or post-vegan) that I had a bowl of queso dip.  Creamy, soupy, gloppy queso dip.  This one is quite excellent.  Recipe from The Little Foxes.  Get it here.

Been cookin' but not writin'

I've continued to cook my way through Isa Does It, although I have been remiss in writing about it.  And sometimes in taking pictures of it.

First up, Bhindi Masala:

Okra and black eyed peas!  And, I found the recipe to be...eh.  I topped with with plain yogurt, which was a mistake.  Is there a such thing as unsweetened plain yogurt?  It added a sweetness to the dish that I definitely did not care for.  I should have made a batch of sour cream and it would have been much better.  It did make for nice, filling leftovers but honestly I probably won't make this again.

Next up, Banana Berry Scones:

Fantastic!

Another Isa recipe, but this time from Vegan Brunch.  Lemon Poppyseed Muffins:

Again, wonderful.  Recipe here.

And, last but not least from Isa, is Pesto Cauliflower Pasta with Breaded Tofu:

Ah, pesto, how I love thee.  I did make one modification to this recipe, in that I used the pesto I had in the freezer rather than the one used from the book in this recipe.  But it still counts, as it's my fave pesto recipe off all time, and it just happens to be Isa's recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance.  Plus it made the recipe come together much faster.  The breaded tofu, while not perfect in appearance, was easy and not nearly as messy as I thought it would be.  Really quite wonderful.  It's only 10:20 in the morning and I'm already craving it for lunch.

And, just for fun, a non-Isa creation just to shake things up!  Chai  Berry Muffins from Bake and Destroy!

Obviously I'm on a muffin/breakfast pastry streak.  But really, how can you go wrong?  These muffins are most tasty, although not quite as spicy as I anticipated.  This could be due to the fact that I have a cold and my taste buds are muted.  And, word to the wise, if you make these, use a frozen berry mix that does NOT include strawberries.  The strawberry will get all mushy and will fall out of the muffin, causing a huge crater in it.  No one wants that.  So learn from my trial and error and use smaller berries.  Otherwise, yeah, I'll be making these babies again.  Recipe here.

I have made a few more recipes that I didn't get in pictures for one reason or another.  I've made the Roasty Soba Bowl with Miso-Tahini Dressing (wonderful), the Spinach and Black Bean Burrito Bowl (good, not great), Roasted Red Pepper Mac and Cheese (delish and tastes pizza-y, recipe and video here) and Nacho Night (duh, of course it was good).  My fascination with Isa Does It continues, although it is starting to slow.  Hard to believe, I know.  Now is when I start going back and making recipes for the 2nd time.

Good times in the kitchen.

Cozy Hummus Bowl

Another winner from Isa Does It!

The marinated and baked tofu is fantastic and will have many other applications.  And the hummus, oh the hummus!  Maybe it was the kalamata olives in it, but I've not had much success in making my own hummus and was pleasantly surprised with this recipe.  Will be making this again SOON.

Isa's Banana Nut Muffins

All I can say is...wow.  Make these today.