Vegan Cook-a-Long

Beer Bread

2009-04-23T11:08:00.002-04:00

I went to a vegan potluck a couple of weeks ago and a friend brought homemade bread made with beer. I'd heard about this recipe before and the idea of making bread (with no kneading!) with beer for the yeast is appealing to me. We saw this friend again earlier this week and had some variation on the recipe and I'm convinced I need to try making my own. I figured it might be fun to have a few other people come along for the ride. What say you all?

Sadly, this recipe excludes anyone gluten-free, but I hope you retaliate by posting an awesome new recipe suggestion next.

I'm sure you could also use dealcoholized beer as well...

Beer bread
2 cups of some kind of flour (multigrain, rye, whatever)
1 cup of all-purpose flour (unbleached preferably)
1 can of beer (of the standard 355 ml variety)
¼ cup water
1 tbsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. sugar (I’ve mostly been using brown)
1 tsp. salt

Mix it together, throw it in bread pan and a 375°F oven for 55 minutes or so and you’re done. The fun part comes when you start playing around with the theme: adding figs and walnuts, raisins and ground cloves, y’know, experimenting. Before you know it, you’ll be saying “I’m quite happy with that maple glaze, but it might go well with some sprinkled oats”.

Soft Pretzels

2009-04-05T21:43:00.001-04:00

I made these this weekend and thought I'd share. They were amazing!

Almond pancakes - a flop

2009-03-16T02:40:00.003-04:00

I was very excited to try these this morning. I've been baking with almond meal for several years now, adding it to existing recipes in place of some of the regular flour. I love the flavor and I like the combination of nuts and lemon, so this seemed perfect. Plus I have a former student who is on the Ketogenic diet to prevent seizures and was hopeful of finding a good recipe to recommend.

I used Trader Joe's almond meal, Bob's Red Mill Garbanzo flour, and some plain almond milk instead of soy.

It was easy to mix up the batter, although it was quite a small amount. I heated up my cast iron pan and used a high heat safflower spray.

The first batch almost burned on the first side while waiting for the bubbles and fell apart when I tried to flip them.

The second batch fared better on a lower heat and looked great when I was done although they were very flat.

Unfortunately, although they were cooked perfectly on the outside, they were completely uncooked on the inside. I even put a lid over them while I cooked the second side.

After another 15 minutes in the pan with the lid on and the heat off, the inside cooked. But they were really not pancakes any more. More like slightly soft crackers. The flavor was good but the texture was just all wrong.

I thought that perhaps they needed more time to rise before cooking, as I usually wait a bit longer before cooking my regular pancakes but the time between the two batches was long enough and it only made a small difference.

Something tells me this recipe should have eggs instead of flaxseeds and that it would fare much better in a non-vegan version.

Pancakes....

2009-03-15T23:05:00.008-04:00

Grain-Free Lemony Almond Pancakes...
They sounded like a great idea, didn't they? I'm so sorry if y'all had misadventures, I know I did.

No pics by the way--can't find the camera-downloader cable...but my process looked mostly like mishka's. Actually, the whole process was a lot like mishka's -- we must be pancake twins!

I followed the recipe closely, except instead of grinding whole almonds, I used about 1/2 C+ of almond meal left over from making raw almond milk--this was the whole reason for me wanting to try this recipe, actually. I ground up the flax seeds in my spice grinder and learned to my surprise that 1/4 C whole flax seeds makes more than 1/4 C of ground flax seeds, which is counterintuitive to me, but oh well. I was a little surprised at how little batter the recipe made, so after I ladled out the first two pancakes I thinned out the batter (just like mishka did!). The first two pancakes turned out really thick, like the picture from Jacki's blog, but maybe a little uncooked in the center--the batter was so thick that I wasn't able to see any bubbling. The last six pancakes were variable -- I had a couple that didn't want to flip at all and wound up all crinkly on my spatula, even though they were dry around the edges and bubbly. I hate when that happens!

I had decided to use my non-stick electric griddle because it lets me set a fixed temperature -- I set it at 350F, so I don't think the variability is due to pan temperature. The electric griddle works great for regular flour pancakes.

But all these trials and tribulations could be forgiven if the end product were fabulous, but we found them to be gummy and though we enjoyed the first bite and enjoyed the lemoni-ness, we couldn't really taste the nuttiness very much. We ate two each and didn't feel like eating any more. We wound up composting the rest.

I think that there was way too much flax meal for the recipe. In my experience, flax is used as an egg replacer in a lot of vegan baking, so using 1/4 C in this recipe is like using 6 eggs (or something) for 8 pancakes!

Long live the cook-a-long! On to the next one!

Adventures in pancakes

2009-03-15T18:42:00.004-04:00

Pancakes. I love them. And I suck at cooking them. Each time I suggest having pancakes, the boy gets an excited look in his eye, always expecting the tasty, light, fluffy kind of pancakes that people who know what they're doing make. One day he'll learn.

I think the problem is with my cast iron pan. Or, more correctly, my handling of the cast iron pan, which I usually heat too high too quickly, then end up burning the batter. As a result, I've become a little shy of making pancakes. But, hoping to overcome my short-comings this afternoon, we turned up the Boney M and forged ahead.

Substitutions I made: homemade almond milk instead of soy and maple syrup instead of agave.

Lemon zest and juice approval

I accidentally messed up the second step in the mixing process, and didn't let the first mixture sit for 2 minutes before adding the rest of the stuff. Instead, I just threw all the ingredients in after blending the nuts and seeds.

The first pancake is always a flop.

The last pancake is always perfect. Ish.

We ate them with veggie bacon strips.

I made the mistake of trying the uncooked batter, forgetting that besan tastes awful raw. It's amazing how much tastier it gets after being cooked.

About 2 ladlesful in, I noticed how thick the batter had become, so I added more milk to thin it out. Maybe the flax seeds were to blame? I also kept these fairly small, but I really don't know how the author was able to get 8-10 pancakes. We got 5. I quite enjoyed the lemony flavour and I ate mine without syrup (partly because they were good without, and partly because we'd run out). The texture was a bit grainy – I probably should have blended the nuts a bit more – but they were delicious. I would like to give these another shot and they'll be added to my Pancake Perfection experiment.

Grain-Free Lemony Almond Pancakes

2009-03-10T17:32:00.006-04:00

OK everyone, I thought these looked really good when I saw them on Ricki's blog, Diet, Dessert and Dogs. I make my own almond milk and my first thought was that this would be a great way to use up the almond meal that is left over afterwards, so that is what I'm going to try. Also, I have a good friend who is gluten-free, so I kind of want to learn to make some good things so I can spoil her when she comes to visit.

Pancakes are usually breakfast food, but I know at least one person who eats 'em for dinner, so don't feel temporally constrained by the recipe type. Also, don't feel constrained by traditional cooking utensils, either -- I myself can't decide whether these merit breaking out the electric guaranteed non-stick griddle or whether I should go with the wonderful Le Creuset 'Cruiser' skillet. Another decision to make: big, medium, or small??

The recipe is here: Grain Free Lemony Almond Pancakes

I plan on making these babies over the weekend and will post an update!

Vegan Cook-a-long 2009?

2009-03-08T13:47:00.001-04:00

Is anyone interested in getting this started back up again?

Rhubarb Crisp

2008-09-24T10:26:00.000-04:00

We made the yummy Rhubarb Crisp last night - it was so good that we then had it for breakfast this morning.

Ellie's right - you will need to add some sugar to the fruit - we made the full recipe and added about 1/3 cup.

Here's the recipe from my old Betty Crocker book...

I was surprised that Rhubarb is not listed with the other options at the bottom of the recipe...

Rhubarb Crisp

2008-09-08T19:00:00.005-04:00

I picked up 2 stalks of rhubarb at the grocery store this weekend planning to make a rhubarb tart. I was on the phone with my mom this afternoon and wound up with this amazing rhubarb crisp. (I didn't feel like bothering with a pie crust...) This is the apple crisp recipe from Betty Crocker cut in half plus some sugar since I didn't think rhubarb without sugar was a good idea. It was even more delicious than it looks.

Muffins or scones

2008-06-03T20:49:00.001-04:00

I made these anyway, but anyone want to play along?

Banana-wheat germ muffins:

and banana-date scones both from Veganomicon.

Everything seems to have turned out well. I'll have to give a full report later in the week since the soup is for lunches and the scones and muffins are for breakfasts. I can tell you I think the scone batter was runnier than it should have been and the scones turned out more muffin-y than scone-y IMO, but I also know there are multiple definitions of what a scone should be like. My favorite is more biscuit-y.

Dilly Bread

2008-06-03T10:59:00.002-04:00

Sorry, I said I was going to post the recipe for the Dill-y Bread - here it is finally...

This is really good - and I let the bread machine do the kneading and first rising - then I put it into a small loaf pan for the final rise and baking...

3/4 cup warm soymilk
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 Tablespoons turbinado sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dill weed
1 Tablespoon vegan margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 Tablespoon vital wheat gluten

Put all ingredients into your bread machine in the order called for. Select the dough setting - or if you want the bread machine to bake it just use whatever setting you normally use for a basic bread.

This bread is perfect for springtime sandwiches of Tofutti cream cheese and cucumber...

so good...

Constant Comment Cookies

2008-04-30T10:27:00.001-04:00

I did make some cookies - but I made up the recipe...

If you're from down South like me then you're familiar with 'Constant Comment' tea. Y'all know that I love my tea! (not my photo) This is their description of the tea:

"Created by Ruth Bigelow in her kitchen over 60 years ago "Constant Comment"® is today America's most popular specialty tea. This original blend of the finest mountain-grown tea is deliciously flavored with rind of oranges and sweet spice. There's no other tea in the world quite like it."

Y'all probably also know that I love creating things in the kitchen - so - I was having a tea for some people from the local Concert Association and I needed something to serve with my cucumber and tofutti cream cheese sandwiches - made with homemade dill bread - these were so yummy - I didn't even mention the tofutti cream cheese and I don't think anyone noticed at all...

Soooo, I needed some cookies and I thought 'What would go with my "Constant Comment"® tea???' "Constant Comment Cookies" of course...

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine and stir with a whisk.

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance - or vegan margarine of your choice

Beat until light and fluffy.
Then add egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg - I used Red Mill.
Add 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of orange extract and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

Then gradually add your flour mixture beating it in about 1/3 at a time.
Beat just until a soft dough forms - then form it into a log and wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (you could probably do this a day ahead - and maybe even freeze it but I don't know as I didn't try it).

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut log into 4 equal portions - then working with one portion at a time (and keeping the others refrigerated - this is a soft dough) divide dough into 10 equal portions - roll into little balls and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Mix together on a small plate:

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Then dip the bottom of a flat glass first in water and then in the sugar mixture and flatten each little ball. Repeat with the other 3 portions of dough - Yield 40 cookies.

These were so good with tea - not too sweet and delicately flavored.

Oatmeal cookies take 2

2008-04-28T21:32:00.005-04:00

Here's my second batch - this time I followed my Betty Crocker cookbook and just subbed egg replacer for eggs. I also added walnuts and chocolate chips and left out the raisins.

I really want a stand mixer, but I'm not really sure why because I know I will always mix my cookies by hand. I love it!

I also love this cookie scooper, best kitchen utensil ever.

Waiting to go in the oven (the real oven! not the toaster oven, we finally got it fixed!)

And cooling:

The verdict? Much better! The dough last time was much tastier than this dough, but the end cookie was better fresh out of the oven, and over time. And Shawn likes them! I did think the walnuts wound up with a slight burnt taste, so I might try pecans next time.

Cookies!

2008-04-21T19:57:00.006-04:00

I thought I'd propose cookies for the next item - since I just made some. I used the oatmeal raisin cookie recipe from Veganomicon.

I didn't have everything it called for, so I subbed agave nectar for the brown rice syrup, golden raisins for regular, and dark brown sugar for light (despite the lying picture).

The dough was SUPER delicious!

The cookies were good fresh out of the oven, but I was not in love with them later on.

I think for my next batch I'm just going to use my standard Toll House or Quaker recipe with egg replacer. And add chocolate chips. And nuts. And leave out the raisins. :)

Alfredo!

2008-04-21T19:44:00.008-04:00

Honestly, I have no idea if this tastes like Alfredo sauce I haven't had it in so long. I have a feeling it would not fool my dad, but I thought it was pretty tasty. B helped me get the ingredients together.

I didn't have powdered onion (swore I did!) so I crushed some onion flakes and since I had the mortar and pestle out anyway I went ahead and crushed some dried garlic from my uncle's farm even though I did have garlic powder.

Ready to be blended: Yum?

On the stove:

I was cooking today for lunches for the week rather than dinner tonight so I don't have as nice a final shot as everyone else, but I had to have a little taste of course:

Then I threw in some peas.

Vegan Alfredo

2008-04-15T10:23:00.003-04:00

We did finally get around to making the Vegan Alfredo and we loved it. The Man-Cub said that it looked just the 'restaurant alfredo' - and he was right - more importantly - it tasted just like the restaurant stuff. Next time, I'll use the lower end amounts of salt and garlic, but it was very rich and tasty.

I did leave out the nutritional yeast as the Man hates it - I can't figure out why - next time he's away on a trip I'll make this for the Man-Cub and myself and we'll try it that way too - hehe. And I used homemade soymilk without any sugar (I usually add sugar to my soymilk so I made some special for this recipe).

fettucine alfredo, vegan style!

2008-04-14T14:33:00.007-04:00

Doodleyboo posted this recipe so I gave it a whirl on the weekend. I love the tangy taste of nutritional yeast in a sauce, it was pretty good. Only problem with mine is that I couldn't get the tofu to puree enough, so there were little tiny tofu bumps in it. I probably need a better blender.

I served it with fake parmasean and nappa salad:

Givin' Alfredo alla Scrofa a run for his pasta

2008-04-07T15:17:00.004-04:00

Alrighty! Time to get the ball rolling again on Vegan Cook-a-Long. For those of you longing for a really delicious Alfredo sauce that is the closest thing you'll get in flavour and taste to the milk-based pasta sauce, your search is at an end. And even if you weren't looking for such a recipe, try it anyway. Thanks to the culinary bravada of Lachesis of the PPK Forums, she posted this fantabulous recipe for vegan Alfredo. Below is my version with a few tweaks. I really recommend adding the nutritional yeast, even if you're NY hater (are there really any of you out there?). Once you taste the sauce without it, you'll know NY adds that little somethin' that makes the sauce outstanding. I am uber confident it'll fool almost anyone into thinking it's not vegan.

Vegan Alfredo Sauce

1/2c Earth Balance
2 cups unsweetened soymilk, with 3 tbsp set aside for the arrowroot powder
1 package Mori-Nu extra firm silken tofu
1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar (because I never have wine in the house...)
2 tbsp onion powder
2-3 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp sea salt
1-2 tsp black pepper (to taste)
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup Red Star nutritional yeast
2 tbsp arrowroot or cornstarch powder, dissolved in the 3 tbsp reserved soy milk

Combine all of the ingredients, except for the dissolved arrowroot powder, in a blender and mix on high until throughly combined. Transfer to a saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium heat. Whisk in arrowroot mixture and reduce heat to medium-low, whisking constantly to ensure no lumps form. Serve warm.

Note: If you have any leftover sauce, you may need to thin it with a little soy milk when reheating it.

Still a week (at least) behind - Cauliflower Soup

2008-02-08T11:31:00.000-05:00

YUM! This was so good - it's been really cold here and a nice warm soup was just what we needed for lunch. My only substitutions were - I had to use Red Potatoes - we actually grew some Yukon Gold in our garden - but they are long gone - and of course they are not sold here in TinyTown - along with Garam Masala - so I made my own - I mixed some cinnamon, cumin, caraway seeds, cloves, and nutmeg in the mortar and pestle - I didn't have any cardamom either - And Coconut Milk is not readily available here either so I made a substitute that I found at http://www.fatfree.com/archive/2001/jan/msg00099.html (what did we ever do without Google) and even with a couple of substitutions the soup was still great...

This is the Coconut Milk substitute (doubled):

a teaspoon of artificial coconut flavor to a half cup of plain soy milk or rice milk, a tiny bit of sweetener and a little thickener (arrowroot or cornstarch). If you use vanillia or sweet soy/rice milk, omit the sweetener. Posted to fatfree digest V99# 080

This soup is pretty spicy - in fact next time - I'll probably halve the cayenne...

Here it is bubbling away - it actually got a lot thicker and more colorful after about 45 minutes simmering...

It was so smooth and rich - you can see how the folds hold their shape in the bowl...

A week behind

2008-02-01T10:42:00.000-05:00

I'm going to the grocery store this afternoon so I'll be able to get the fixin's for the soup too but I finally made Bryanna's Marinated Tofu - I used frozen tofu for the extra chewy texture. Here it is marinating and this smelled really yummy!

Sorry for the lousy photo, but this was really nice - crunchy and chewy - and nicely seasoned - I'll definitely be making this again soon...

Curried Cauliflower Soup

2008-01-29T16:43:00.000-05:00

Our son Arthur's has a wonderful Nana with a most excellent winter garden. Last week she brought over a mountain full of cauliflower. I made up this recipe and it was delicious. It makes alot and can go in the freezer for later. Enjoy!

Curried Cauliflower Soup

2 tbs olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbs curry powder
6 cups vegetable broth (no salt)
1 cup lite coconut milk
1 large cauliflower, cut into big chunks (you can use the whole cauliflower, it is completely edible) 2 carrots, sliced
2 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced

Saute garlic and onion in olive oil until soft. Stir in spices until mixture is coated. Add vegetable broth and coconut milk. Stir. Add veggies. Bring to a full boil. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until veggies are soft. Stirring occasionally. Let soup cool slightly. Transfer to a blender. Puree. Be careful when blending hot foods, the lid will shoot off of the blender. Once soup is blended. Transfer back to pot. Stir. Ladle into bowls. Serve with a crusty bread. As with any soup, it is much tastier the next day, once it has set over night.

Hope you enjoy it. We did!

peas and love....
Krys

Breast of tofu

2008-01-29T13:12:00.000-05:00

Hi guys!

I've finally taken the time to upload pictures to my computer. So I marinated one block of tofu and managed to make 3 dinners (for two) with it. Unfortunately I only took pictures of the first dinner but I can tell it was delicious (and that's coming from a person who's not particularly fond of tofu). On the first occasion, I just fried the tofu in a non-stick pan and had it with coconut rice and topped the whole thing with sweet chili sauce. Here are the a couple of pictures:

The marinated tofu block...not too appetizing as such;)

Breast of tofu, coconut rice and sweet chili sauce

On the second occasion I made it; I fried the tofu with chopped garlic, the zest and juice of a lime, a chopped chili and some grated ginger. Really nice too:)

On the third occasion, I was totally tired and just wanted something NOW and didn't think it would turn out good but actually it did:) I fried the tofu and put it in a bun with avocado, pickles, tomatoes and had it with French fries. My non-vegetarian boyfriend loved it too.

This is definitely going to be a staple in my kitchen, I've already bought another package to marinate:)

Classic Rye Bread

2008-01-24T17:23:00.000-05:00

Sarah asked me to post my Rye Bread recipe. This is easy and it can be made in a bread machine. My favorite way to make it is in a round (that's the easiest way to make it as well).

1 cup + 1 T Soy Milk - at about 90 - 100 degrees F
2 cups Bread Flour
1 cup Rye Flour
2 T Turbinado Sugar or Molasses
1 t salt
2 t yeast

If you're using a bread machine add the ingredients in the order called for by your machine. Otherwise mix the two flours and the salt. I put the yeast and the sugar or molasses in the soy milk and stir it up good. Then make a well in the flour and begin kneading the liquid into the flour mixture. Knead for about 10 minutes. Coat with flour cover with a cloth and let rise about 1 hour or until doubled. Punch down, sprinkle with a little more flour and knead lightly again. Shape into a ball, coat with flour and plop it on the middle of a pizza stone - or cookie sheet - I don't use one, but I don't think you will need to grease the cookie sheet as the dusting of flour should keep it from sticking. Let it rise again until doubled about 1/2 hour. At this point you could brush the top lightly with some soy milk and sprinkle with caraway seeds if you like - but the flour makes a pretty bread too. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes until it sounds hollow when you tap it and the crust is nice and brown.

Lunch Today

2008-01-23T16:01:00.000-05:00

We got another dusting of snow last night - so everything was pretty and white again but it was 17 below this morning so I decided it would be a perfect day to try the cheesy soup.

I used
1 cup soymilk - I make my own with a Soy Quick soy milk maker - this version was unsalted and unsweetened.
1 can (~15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 vegetable boullion cube - I used Rapunzel No Salt Added Vegan Bouillion
2 bay leaves
3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
3 Tablespoons oat flour - I didn't have any oat bran - this was my only substitution
a couple celery stalks, chopped
5 green onions (green & white parts), chopped
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt - my boullion was unsalted if yours is salted you'll need less salt here
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Everything bubbling away - I tasted it at this point and it was so good and pretty that I almost didn't go on with the blending or adding the oat flour...

I didn't have any oat bran - so I put a 1/4 cup of Whole Oats in the food processor and made a sort of flour...

...I served it with homemade rye bread and apple slices - it was wonderful...

Breast of Tofu

2008-01-22T21:23:00.000-05:00

Ta da! I actually made the recipe AND took photos AND I'm posting! It's cold out so I decided to have a heavy supper to heat me up. I'd started marinating the tofu yesterday and had some for lunch with pasta, and breaded it for supper to eat cutlets with mashed potatoes and carrots. Have you tried this gravy? I get it at Whole Foods once in a while, and put it on everything for a few days. The only thing I did different from the recipe was that I put garlic chunks in the marinade. Easy, and it hit the spot.

Now go watch jPod!

How bout some soup?

2008-01-21T14:07:00.000-05:00

Maybe I'm a wimp, but the weather here is so nippy I just want to curl up with a book and sip--or spoon, I guess--something piping hot..so how bout some creamy tomato soup? This isn't especially vegan (or innovative), not an altered classic or meat substitute or anything. But it's quick and simple; I've made it a few times now and am really enjoying it. Maybe you will too! :)
"Measurements" are approximate; I tend to just toss things in until it tastes right. The amounts I'm giving make enough for about 3-4 bowls, I'd say. SO, gather up:

1 cup "milk"
1 can (~15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 vegetable bullion cube
a couple bay leaves
a few spoonfuls nutritional yeast flakes
a few spoonfuls oat bran
a couple celery stalks, chopped
a few green onions (green & white parts), chopped
garlic powder
salt & pepper

Bring the "milk" to a boil; make sure it doesn't scald or boil over. Toss in the bullion cube, reduce the heat. Add everything else except the oat bran. Let it all bubble and simmer for a while, about 30 minutes. Pick out the bay leaves and stick it in a blender. As it's pureeing, add in the oat bran a spoonful at a time until you get a good consistency. And that's it! I recommend eating it up with some "cheese" shredded on top and rye bread & baby carrots on the side. In fact, that's what I'm doing right now. :)

Long time...no cooking?

2008-01-20T14:45:00.000-05:00

Hi guys!
It's been such a long time since I posted here:( What with moving abroad and starting a new job and trying to find a car and a place to live; I haven't had much time to stop by and actually haven't cooked very much at all. I'm starting to feel the effects of my poor nutrition and really want to start cooking properly again. I wish I could have my own kitchen (and not have to cook and live at my boyfriend's parents' place.....but I'm not in a position to choose;).
Anyways, I've had some tofu stored in the freezer and I thought I should find a recipe for it. I find tofu and other meat substitutes to be ok but, to be honest, I don't eat any of these very much. I tend to get my proteins from beans instead as I find it easier to incorporate into my menu (not that I've had anything like a planned menu lately).
I really want to start to want to have tofu, not just make it and feel like it was only "ok". Anyways; here is a recipe that looks extremely simple, I have all the ingredients for it and it just might be nice;)
http://www.everydaydish.tv/Recipe%20Pages/Breast_of_Tofu_Recipe.html
Just got my tofu out of the freezer and shall start marinating it tomorrow. As soon as I've had any of it and taken a pic, I'll post my results.
Bon appetit!

Happy Holidays

2007-12-24T07:51:00.000-05:00

Oh me oh my! I have neglected you, Vegan Cook-a-long, for such a long time! (In my defense though, I've been either unwell or overwhelmed by my studies for the past few months.) But I'm back now baby, and although I have no holiday recipe to share, it is one of my two resolutions to post/comment/participate regularly here from now on. It's such a neat idea, and there are so many neat people contributing.

For now, Happy Holidays to all! I hope this season and the new year are filled for you with joy, love, and lots of yummy food! Blessings and peace, yo. ;)

Irish Stew

2007-11-29T15:25:00.000-05:00

We've got some snow on the ground now and the highs have been about 10 above and Thanksgiving is over so it was time to make some Irish Stew.

A steaming bowl of this with a rye/wheat roll and some Irish Breakfast Tea sure hit the spot...

My only substitution was to use button mushrooms - portobellos are not readily available here in the middle of nowhere...

Irish Seitan Stew

2007-11-17T16:35:00.000-05:00

My first post on the Vegan Cook-a-Long! How exciting!

I'm in serious fall cooking mode, drooling over root vegetables and digging myself in like a hermit for cozy evenings out of the rain. Recently, I scanned a bunch of stew recipes for ideas and modifications and came up with this seitan stew. It's been years and years and years since I had proper Irish stew (i.e., carnivorous) but this tastes very close to the flavours I remember. It's pretty darn close to the recipe found on fatfree.com.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups seitan -- chunked
1.5 cups carrots -- washed and chopped
1.5 cups portobello mushroom, wiped and chopped
1 cup onion -- chopped
1.5 cups potatoes -- washed and chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp garlic -- minced
1 tsp dried basil
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups water
4 tsp tamari soy sauce
1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce (vegan)
1/4 cup celery -- chopped
4 Tbsp water -- cold
3 Tbsp cornstarch

Directions
1. Saute seitan in oil over medium heat in a large pot until seitan crisps up a bit.
2. Put veggies (except celery), herbs and spices into the pot. Saute in a little water or veggie broth at medium heat for about 8 minutes, stirring to prevent burning.
3. Add tomato paste, water, Worchestershire and tamari and bring to a simmer. Cook about 10 more minutes or until veggies are soft. [I used pretty big chunks of veggies so cooked it quite a bit longer in this stage]
4. Add celery (added at the end to help retain color and texture).
5. Mix the 4 T cold water with the cornstarch in a small bowl. Turn off heat under stew. Vigorously stir in cornstarch solution. Turn heat back on under stew and stir until thickened.

Number of Servings: 4 - 6 but it feels like it feeds an army!
Serve with mashed spuds and a winter ale. Lovely!

Sorry, at the time I didn't think to take progressive photos. Here is the end result steaming away in the stew pot.

Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers

2007-11-12T15:41:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd try out the stuffed pepper recipe before I served it for Thanksgiving Dinner. I baked them in little custard dishes because I thought it would be cute...

I put a couple of tablespoons of water in the bottom of each dish and wrapped it in aluminum foil...

Served here with turnip greens, baked sweet potatoes, cornbread and homemade applesauce - the menu for Thanksgiving will be more traditional...

A closeup - I should have moved the potato - so you could see the pepper better...

The custard cup thing didn't really work out for serving - as we wanted to cut the pepper up with the stuffing.

My substitutions were Brown Rice - millet is not readily available here - but I think I'll order some before Thanksgiving as we liked the flavour of the stuffing and I'm sure it will be even better with millet. And I had to use all dried herbs as fresh herbs are not readily available here either. It was a very tasty and pretty dish.

Millet-Stuffed Peppers

2007-11-09T20:28:00.000-05:00

I just made these tonight and devoured them! If you feel like being a bit creative but still using roughly the same amount of time to make dinner, this recipe is worth it. I talked about it in my personal blog here.

Stroganoff Friday

2007-10-10T07:48:00.000-04:00

I actually did make this over the weekend but didn't get the pictures off the camera until today - busy-busy-busy...

We all loved this - it was very rich and satisfying. I wish I had taken more pictures in progress but we were hungry - so instead of modeling food - I hurried and got dinner on the table...

This was the first time I had made the boiled version of seitan - I've always made baked seitan - so I thought this looked rather un-appetizing...

...but it sure did fry up tasty...

I found these vegan noodles at the regular grocery store - yay!

While it was cooking the sauce looked very dark to me - all that red wine and paprika I guess...

Finally on the table...

My only substitution was not to add the peas - I served them on the side - but I think we all mixed them in anyway - it was very good that way - so next time I'll probably add them in...

Seitan and Mushroom Stroganoff

2007-09-30T22:27:00.000-04:00

I hosted my parents for dinner recently and wanted to make something they are familiar with, but with a vegan flair. So, after a bit of searching through my various cookbooks and on-line, i found the perfect recipe - PPK's Seitan and Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff!

I haven't had the meat version since i was a girl and my parents have never had seitan before, but judging by their compliments, this recipe gives the meat version a run for its money. On a cool Fall night, this is a perfect dish to warm and fill you up. I followed the recipe to a T for once, with my mother watching me for most of it. No pressure!

It calls for fresh thyme and Burgundy cooking wine, and it's definitely worth it to use them. The fresh herb really enhances the flavour, and brings it all together, and the wine is just what's in the meat one so my mom was happy at the 'authenticity' of the dish.

Unfortunately, i only got a couple of photos, so here's one. I served the sour cream on the side. This dish makes a lot - so perfect for dinner parties. If you're not planning such a feast, i'd even quarter it.

Roasted Veg

2007-09-03T10:52:00.000-04:00

This is one of those recipes that makes you really glad you have a garden. The Man-Cub and I went out and dug new red potatoes - beets - carrots - and red onions.

...Cut everything up and sprinkled with olive oil...

Then we mixed everything up and put it in a pretty roaster...

...was this ever a yummy side dish for Sunday Dinner...

Saturday Morning = Pancakes

2007-09-01T11:07:00.000-04:00

We normally have waffles on Saturday Morning and then save the leftovers for school morning breakfasts - so this week's Oatmeal Pancake recipe was perfect. My only substitution was to leave half of the oats whole for a bit more chewy texture - these were excellent.

I didn't have any pecans - so here served with black walnuts, maple syrup and a few slices of banana.

The Man-Cub loved them - he could do without the walnuts 'though - he said...

Roasted vegetables and oat pancakes

2007-08-31T07:34:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone:)

My name is Christina and I'm new to the vegan cook-a-long though I'm "only" vegetarian but frequently cook vegan meals so I thought I would fit right in here;) I currently live in Scotland but will be moving to Norway in about a month's time.

First off; my own recipe for roasted vegetables. I had to use up some of the produce we get in our weekly organic fruit and veggie box; apparently, I don't think we eat much potatoes or carrots because we always end up with lots of them left by the time we get the new box.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (I think it's about 390 degrees Fahrenheit)

Ingredients:

10 small carrots
12 chestnut mushrooms
6 medium potatoes
1 apple, cored
6 shallots (or very small onions), peeled
1/2 head of garlic, divided into single cloves but not peeled
1 small zucchini
5 cm (about 2 inches) fresh ginger, peeled
3 tablespoons vegan ghee or olive oil
seasoning: salt + pepper and herbs/spices to taste

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Wash and/or peel your produce. I had to peel my carrots as I swear they had half a tonne of dirt on them that didn't come off after vigorous scrubbing. Otherwise I prefer my veggies "au natural" ;) This is what you should have:
picture:
Cut all vegetables into similarly sized chunks (about 1 inch cubes) EXCEPT the potatoes which should be sliced fairly thinly. I didn't bother chopping the mushrooms as they are best left whole (also prevents them burning/cooking faster than the other ingredients). Sprinkle your seasoning/herbs/spices and 3 tablespoons of vegan ghee (it's the only "fat" I have at home as I'm trying to empty our cupboards before we move) on the veggies. Using your (clean) hands, distribute the oil and seasoning evenly between the ingredients. I try to "hide" the ingredients that may cook faster (like garlic cloves, mushroom and shallots) under the ones that take longer (i.e. potatoes, carrots). Here's what it looks like before it goes in the oven:
pictures
Now bake in the oven for between one, and one and a half hour. Check your veggies every so often (every 30 minutes?) and have a stir around with a spatula. You know they are done when the potatoes taste cooked. Here's what it should look like by the end:
picture
Now enjoy! We had about half this baking tray for dinner with bread and hummus, nam! (And froze the rest for a lazy rainy day;) Depending on the seasoning; this can be a very versatile dish. Here are some suggestions:

Asian: replace salt with soy sauce and add some pickled ginger after the veggies are cooked and maybe some sweet chilli sauce?
Indian: sprinkle curry powder and some seasoning such as garam masala before you roast the veggies.
Italian: mix dried herbs such as basil/sage/oregano with the oil before roasting (nb: dried herbs may "burn" in the oven if not properly mixed with oil)
Mexican: sprinkle with chili powder, cumin and coriander spices before roasting.

hum:) the variations are endless! Serve on top of rice, with pasta, with bread, in a wrap, etc... Hope you will enjoy this recipe.
........................................................................................................................................................................

Thought I should also include a sweet recipe and one that is not my own so I thought of an oatmeal banana pancake recipe. Here's the link: http://www.ivu.org/recipes/northam/oatmeal.html

I didn't do any alterations to the recipe. I thought I could at the very least include pictures of the steps and my "recommendations" ;)

Easy, peasy: just blended the ingredients. I was surprised there was no baking powder involved....

Cooked my pancakes in a pan oiled with sunflower oil, waited until the first side showed signs of bubbles on the surface then turned them over. I tried to handle them as little as possible as I know this easily could make them "heavy" and since there was no baking powder in the recipe that worried me a bit.

Served them with vegetable spread, maple syrup and pecan nuts......heaven!

Ok, here are my thoughts: the pancakes are not very "fluffy" but still tasted nice. I think you could vary the taste by using a more or less mature banana. I was surprised I had to cook them on higher heat then what I'm used to (heat 5 on my hob, 6 is the highest) otherwise they seemed like they would be a bit "raw". Actually, because of the banana, I guess, they do taste a bit "undercooked" but maybe that's just me... The recipe yielded 10 medium pancakes. I had 4 for lunch that day and toasted 4 the morning after (fitted well in my toaster and didn't disintegrate). I think they are easily adaptable as you could put a pinch cinnamon in them or maybe a pinch of cardamom? This is a keeper in my books as they feel quite virtuous and I guess if they're served with fresh fruit they would be quite healthy....definitely beats porridge in terms of "wickedness" but ingredient-wise they're not that different.

..........................................................................................................................................................................

Ok, hope someone tries one of the recipes and sorry for the long rambling post (apologies for any grammatical/orthographic errors; English is not my first language). If anyone has suggestions for how to use up chickpea (gram) flour, buckwheat flour, oats, soy flour and cornmeal flour; PLEASE share! We're moving in a month's time and I would hate to have to throw away any food. Cheers:)

All the best,
Christina

Curry Dish - Close to the Real Recipe

2007-08-28T20:48:00.000-04:00

[something's amiss with the photo thing on Blogger, so i will post my photos later. If you do want to see them now, click here or here]

Last night, i had a taste for curry, so i looked up the recipe again and saw that while i didn't have all the ingredients it asked for, i did have the staples. I do admit i was creative with the recipe, but got the heart of it. That's why i love making curries - i can improvise easily and still have a good dish. Plus, i can use up some veggies that might otherwise go bad!

So, instead of chickpeas (i ran out), i used tofu that i treated like paneer. And, since i had a bit of zucchini and rapini left, i used that as well. I did add the apple, which was a new thing for me. I quite liked it, though. It added a nice flavour and texture to the dish. I didn't use coconut or raisins but the tomatoes and apple, i thought, provided the sweet and more gentler flavours than the curry spices.

All in all, a good and simple comfort food dish for me. I usually like my curry dishes more heated, but this hit the spot for the mood i was in. I have to admit that i used more than the 'curry powder' the recipe called for - i also added ground cumin, ginger, ground coriander, tarragon, fenugreek and a dash of chili powder.

I made enough for leftovers for lunch, which always is a nice treat. The curry saturates nicely into itself and the rice, and it's so much better than a boring salad or sandwich!

apples, tomatoes and desiccated coconut

2007-08-24T09:59:00.000-04:00

I made this week's recipe just in time. I used curry paste instead of powder, skipped the chickpeas, green peas and raisins, but otherwise followed the recipe. The apple and tomato balance each other out nicely.

Curry

2007-08-21T11:35:00.000-04:00

This wound up being the perfect 'just home from vacation' dinner - as we had everything either in the cupboard, garden or freezer...

cook the onions and apples in a little olive oil...
add a few green peppers...
add the curry powder...
...then the tomatos
then the chickpeas...
and finally some green peas...
I had a banana from the hotel breakfast on the go - tomatos and cucumbers from the garden and sunflower seeds and raisins in the pantry... My favorite topping was the cucumber - but we tried the banana and it wasn't bad...
serve it over rice...

Vegan Curry

2007-08-20T13:14:00.000-04:00

I'll be making this for dinner tonight and thought y'all might like to try it too...

http://www.vegan-food.net/recipe/1459/Chick-Pea-Curry/

I'll post some pics of my version soon.

Presto Pesto!

2007-08-12T19:25:00.000-04:00

You know I can't stand suspense - I almost always read the last chapter first and even watch the end of a movie first if I think it will be the least bit stressful for me to watch it - I know this drives some (most) people crazy - but I'm a very calm person and I don't like to upset the equilibrium...

So, as soon as anyone posts a recipe - I can't wait to try it - even if I don't have the exact ingredients - I just can't wait until I make a trip to the store...

So - I made the yummy Pesto Potato Salad with a few (minor) changes:

I didn't have fresh basil - so I used dried - I googled it first as I'd never heard of making pesto with dried basil and found this http://www.masterstech-home.com/The_Kitchen/Recipes/Spice_Herb_&_Sauce_Recipes/PestoSauce.html - so I went ahead with the dried basil. I used red potatoes and red onions because that's what I had in the cupboard - I also didn't have white balsamic vinegar - so I used regular balsamic vinegar...

And with all those changes I had a very nice Sunday dinner side dish...

Pesto Potato Salad with Green Beans

2007-08-10T12:54:00.000-04:00

Good things gro-o-ow, in On-tar-i-o! Good things grow in other places, too! Someone brought me this lovely bush from the farmer's market near work yesterday:

Basil smells so good. People kept commenting on the delicious scent. It's trying to chat with the lucky bamboo on the other side of the cubicle.(My actual desk is much messier than that!)

So I made Pesto Potato Salad with Green Beans. Doesn't that sound great!? It is! There are lots of pesto recipes, this one from PPK is kinda neat because on top of the usual ingredients, it calls for walnuts and nutritional yeast.

Bon appetit!

CCSCW cookies!

2007-07-13T14:16:00.001-04:00

Alas! I made a half batch awhile ago, and another half-batch last night. I followed the recipe except I added walnuts and shredded coconut. The coconut keeps them nice and chewy! The walnuts have protein so it makes them seem sort of healthy. The taste of the flax is stronger in some bites than others, maybe I didn't puree them long enough.

Best enjoyed with a cuppa Yogi tea from a Blythe mug:

2007-07-09T08:14:00.000-04:00

CCC Cookies

We got back from vacation and it took a little while to get settled back in. I finally made the CCC Cookies - no substitutions...
I measured everything out first... The pretty antique bowls belonged to the Man's great-grandmother...

My homemade chocolate chips - The how to is here http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2007/03/youre-not-going-to-believe-this-i-made.html(vegan chocolate chips are not available within 90 miles of my home) - here as chocolate chunks - actually easier because I just poured out the molten chocolate and let it set - then cut into chunks...

The flax seeds and soy milk...

The sifted dry ingredients...

Sugar, oil, vanilla, flax seeds, and soy milk...

Adding the dry ingredients - this is really stiff - you'll need a strong spoon...

Adding the chocolate chunks...

The finished product... YUM!

CCCC Cookies

2007-06-29T08:16:00.000-04:00

I made these last week and have just about finished eating them - there's one left and i'm planning to take it to lunch with me. The recipe really does make approximately 3 dozen, so if you don't want that many, you may want to half it. Having said that, who would WANT to half it because they are just about the best cookies i've ever had. Like Mishka said, they're a bit crispy on the outside and oh so soft in the middle. Very yummy.

I also altered it a bit. I added 1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts but the same quantity of chips (1 cup) but i mixed carob chips in with dark chocolate ones. The hazelnuts and carob added a nice touch. Otherwise, the recipe is perfect as is and it really does stay soft over time. Now that the heat wave's over here, i may be baking again soon!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-06-28T21:53:00.000-04:00

I was supposed to go out tonight to hear a friend's boyfriend's band – but it was a bad day at work so I decided instead to stay home and make cookies!

The only modification was to use chocolate soymilk to mix with the flax seed.

I am not organised in life, nor the in kitchen. This is how my counter looks when I start making anything...

Mmm... creamed oil and sugar...

dirty hands

My high school drama teacher used to have us do a relaxation exercise before each class, and she used to tell us to envision ourselves as cookies melting on a cookie sheet. I still use relaxation technique whenever I get around to taking a yoga class. Luckily I don't often crave cookies, or I'd be in trouble!

The cookies are boy approved. And mishka approved! They're a little crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Just like a cookie should be.

A Book to Cook By

2007-06-27T10:55:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to share with everyone this cookbook that I've really been enjoying lately. The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook. You may all be familiar with it, but if you aren't, it's definitely work checking out. A couple of my favorite recipes are the Tofu Pot Pie and the Tofu Manicotti. There are also recipes for making your own soymilk, tofu, tempeh, and so forth. Another neat feature is the inclusion of health tips regarding vitamins, nutritional yeast, prenatal care, feeding young children, etc. I know you can get a lot of that stuff from other sources, but it's nice to have it all in one place.
There are a couple of yogurt recipes, but I'd say 99.9% of the book is vegan.

How About Some Simple Cookies?

2007-06-21T11:40:00.000-04:00

Since a recipe is long overdue, i wanted to post one i just made for a work pot luck. It's a lovely 'chewy chocolate chocolate chip cookie' from ppk. Nothing beats a dual dose of chocolate! Yummy. I will share with you my version of it, with pictures, on the weekend, but if anyone is interested in some baking, try it out! It's worth the bit of heat in your kitchen. Here's the recipe.

Hi everyone!

2007-06-08T16:21:00.000-04:00

I just joined. Can't wait to start trying some new recipes.

Strawberry/Banana Pie

2007-05-25T10:50:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie, I don't know the rules - do we have to follow the recipe exactly (I often go with what I have and adapt). But, I was inspired by the Raw Strawberry Banana Pie recipe and I had most of the ingredients.

First of all - the crust - I was all out of almonds and walnuts, but I did have some pecans, and some graham crackers (http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2007/03/makin-grahams-man-cub-and-i-tried-our.html)- so there you go. I put the graham crackers, pecans, dates (btw - my food processor did not like the whole dates - I'll chop them up next time) I got about 1 1/2 cups of crust and it was nice and moist and held together. I'll definitely use the dates again.

Then the filling - I had all of the ingredients, but my strawberries were frozen. So I decided to include them in the filling, instead of putting them on top - Oh, and I only had three bananas - so that made up for the rest of the liquid in the filling. It tasted yummy before it went into the pie shell.

And it tasted really yummy as dessert a couple of hours later.

Idea for New Recipe

2007-05-10T17:16:00.001-04:00

Came across this last night. Thought it was a good mix of my interest in raw foods & my need for something sweet: Raw Strawberry Banana Pie. Raw pie?! .. http://www.veganchef.com/rawstraw.htm

newness

2007-05-08T21:41:00.000-04:00

Hello to everyone--I'm Sarah. I just joined a couple of days ago, and I'm excited about messing around with some new recipes. I am intrigued by the whole raw food thing, but I must admit I am more interested in baking up something sweet at the moment. Something adventurous..

Anyway, I look forward to cooking with all of you!

Carrot Asparagus Soup and Broccoli Soup

2007-05-03T19:42:00.000-04:00

OH MY GAWD!!!!! Of all the soups... this is the best so far. It is such a basic recipe.. but YUMMY!!!!!

At first I thought this was the best one (the Broccoli).. but no... the carrot asparagus!

carrot juice soup

2007-04-30T21:44:00.000-04:00

I bought fresh carrot juice at the Kensington Natural Bakery for far too much money, but I figured that for this recipe, fresh was definitely prefered to non-fresh. I forgot about the green onion, but I did add some fresh ginger, and I used a lime instead of 1/2 a lemon.

Before adding the carrot juice, it just looks and tastes like basil-y guacamole.

The soup was sort of more like a vegetable smoothie, but it was tasty. I did add the cumin, but I didn't find it to be very strong. I should have added more.

Raw Soup Recipes

2007-04-27T20:13:00.000-04:00

Yeah!!!! I am posting 3 recipes. One I've already made and damn it was yummy and two I am making this weekend :)

Everyone give it a try and let me know how yours come out!

Creamy Carrot Soup
3 cups carrot juice (I've am not sure what happens if you just blend it)
I large avocado
1 green onion
1 cup fresh basil
1 tomato
1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp cumin

Juice the carrots in a juicer, add it to a blender with all the other ingredients. Blend till smooth. What ever you do don’t omit the cumin. It makes the soup extra yummy!

These are the two I have not, but will be trying tomorrow

Broccoli Soup
3 Cups water
1 cup almonds
1 tsp agave
2 cups broccoli chopped
1 clove garlic
1 TBPS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp black pepper

Carrot Asparagus Soup
1 cup cut up asparagus
1 cup carrot juice
2 heaping TBSP's tahini
1 tsp cut-up onion
pinch of sea salt

in a blender, blend all ingredients till smooth. Garnish, serve!

Hello everyone!

2007-04-26T22:17:00.000-04:00

I joined last week. Sorry I am only introducing myself now! I'm carolina. Am a huge cooking blog addict!!! And am about to go 100% raw for the month of May. Will still have cooked food once in a while as am also addicted to trying out new vegan recipes.

I am obessed with Raw Soups. Is any one up for trying more and maybe inventing a few smoothies :)

xo c

Raw pomegranate, walnut and tomato soup; green peppers with raw pepita, walnut and mango pate.

2007-04-19T20:25:00.000-04:00

2 good sized tomatoes.
2/3 cup pomegranate juice.
1/3 cup walnuts.
1 tablespoon evoo.
1 teaspoon garlic.
1 tablespoon red onion.
Sea salt and black pepper to taste.
Minced basil and red onion for garnish.

Core the tomatoes and puree the ingredients.

1/2 cup walnuts.
1/2 cup pepitas.
1 peeled and diced mango (yellow will be riper and sweeter, while green will be sharper).
1/3 cup red onion.
1 teaspoon of garlic.
1/3 - 1/2 nutritional yeast (add more to absorb liquid from the mango if you need to).
sea salt and black pepper to taste.
Puree ingredients.
Let the puree chillax in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight if you can.

Slice one large green pepper to remove seeds and pith.
Spoon pate onto the slices.

"So, the soup's not cooked?"

2007-04-18T20:20:00.000-04:00

That was the question one of my co-workers asked me when I told her about my dinner plans. I have to give her a full report tomorrow!

Before I left work today I printed out a list of a few different raw soup recipes - the ones not requiring avocado since there was no chance in heck of finding a decently ripe one - and I took my list to the NFS to see what I could get. The decision was made to create my own based on the recipes I'd read, and this is what I used:

4 roma tomatoes
3 baby cucumbers
a good handful of curly parsley
1/2 inch of ginger
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 beet
2 kale leaves
1 carrot
sunflower sprouts
a few squirts of Bragg
a squirt of lemon juice
water for consistency

I blended all the chopped ingredients except for the water and sprouts in my food processor, adding the water just to thin the soup out. In the large mug I placed some sunflower sprouts, the soup, then more sprouts. I had originally hoped to add some garlic but I was out and I thought the soup might be bland and tasteless. I was wrong! It had a very nice flavour and chunky texture. The garlic would be great for next time, but I'm so pleased with how this turned out. It made a whole lot, and I'm glad because I'm still kinda hungry.

raw spaghetti

2007-04-16T22:38:00.000-04:00

I made the "raw spaghetti" from the website.

I didn't get celery, but the rest of the ingredients are in there.

I just used a cheese grater for the zucchini noodles, and it worked out pretty well.

Final product was pretty tasty. I had my doubts, but I guess with basil, garlic, and tomatoes, this recipe is just like bruschetta.

I am woman, feed me raw!

2007-04-16T16:44:00.000-04:00

Hey hey, I made two salads from the website Mishka suggested. I didn't use the exact ingredients. The only challenge was assembling the ingredients, produce is wilty this time of year. Neither of these have much protein in them but I could have changed that by adding nuts.

The Zucchini Zalad ingredients:

I didn't eat the little space bunny, she just wanted to have her picture taken!

Then I made T.C.'s Super Salad. The leaf lettuce was the only green that looked okay when I went food shopping, so that's what I went with. The combination of the grapefruit juice and the avocado made up for having no dressing.

UNcookalong + a cute little button

2007-04-15T18:27:00.000-04:00

Hey gang! I ordered a button from MoonArts, it's so cute! I didn't make any design requests at all, and look at what she came up with, a pot of hearts. Nothin' but love in our kitchens! You can save this little box and make a link to here on your own blog.

So we're doing raw this week? From the website Mishka mentioned, I started with the Energizing Smoothie. Dropped mango, pineapple and strawberries in blender and whirred:

I forgot the banana and ice cubes. It turned out thick, more of a pulpie than a smoothie (nod to Vincent), so I slurped it with a spoon:

taquitos at last

2007-04-11T08:23:00.000-04:00

Taquitos at last! I got store-bought tortillas so this was easy, and hit the spot. I used a potato-sweet potato combination, with the cumin, garlic and cilantro the recipe calls for.

I didn't really see the need for toothpicks. When I folded the tortilla over and fried it, it split, but that was okay. I put a bit of salsa on top and served it with steamed rapini and red pepper:

Raw, raw, raw!

2007-04-10T19:54:00.000-04:00

It's not Friday, so I'm either late for a suggestion this week or early for a suggestion next week.

First, I was wondering what people's thoughts were on the timing of our recipes. Sometimes a recipe a week seems daunting and we end up missing a week or a recipe doesn't get tried out. So what do you think about a recipe every 2 weeks? Discuss!

And now for the suggestion. I thought it might be fun to try something raw. There is a great website filled with a lot of recipes and not all require appliances like juicers or dehydrators. This time around, why don't we go through the list of recipes and try the one that appeals to each of us?

taquitos

2007-04-09T22:03:00.000-04:00

This was a little blander than I would have liked. I later made these with beans, and like Vincent, only folding them in half. They were delicious.
Also, gotta say, you really need to wet both sides of the tortillas (at least the store-bought corn ones) with the hot oil, so that they can roll up nicely. Otherwise they crack and split and just don't make taquitos.

Potato taquitos

2007-04-08T08:58:00.000-04:00

I tried twice to make a corn tortilla from scratch without a little wheat flour, and I couldn't get the job done. I hang my head in shame! But I did find some reasonable gluten-free tortillas made from rice flour (depicted).

I'm not coordinated enough to take photos while I cook, but basically, I roasted the potatoes until done (this varies depending on the size and age of your potatoes, but anticipate at least 30 minutes), while I prepared what amounted to a pepita cream on the stop top. When the potatoes were done, I chopped them, tossed them in with the cream and then blended everything with my immersion blender. I stuffed the tortilla with the filling, folded, and the fried the tortilla a little on each side just to heat through.

The pepita cream was the only thing that really would have required a recipe, so:

1/2 cup of pepitas
1 cups of water
2 tablespoons (or more!) of nutritional yeast
1/2 cup of vegan white wine
1 teaspoon of chipotle (or whatever you have spicy),
1 tablespoon of garlic
cumin, black pepper, and sea salt to taste.

Bring the water to a boil, toss everything in, blend with an immersion blender and then cook to reduce by at least half. You'll probably want to reblend once it's reduced. You could thicken with corn starch if you want to make a gravy instead of a cream. I'm sure a raw version of this would be possible (but you'd probably want to leave out the wine and reduce the amount of water or pick up some pepita butter and add the spices).

Belated.

2007-04-07T19:09:00.000-04:00

I actually made these with the rest of you, but my friend just forwarded me the pictures last night. I went with the breakfast bars and I used cashew butter, dried cherries, coconut, and chocolate drops.

Already delicious!

I actually ended up eating 2 each morning for breakfast. With the size I cut them, one just didn't seem like enough food. I will definitely be making these again. They were super easy and way better tasting than store bought.

Pupusas!

2007-04-01T21:09:00.000-04:00

I had the advantage of reading all your trials and tribulations, so I went straight for the Maseca. I also saw that it made 12 pupusas, so I cut the recipe in half.

But that only gave me 5, and small ones at that.

I have a problem when it comes to stuffing things...

I always overstuff. And this was no exception.

I'm thinking I'll roll the dough thinner next time.

I'll also add salt.

Overall this was great though! I've never had pupusas, so I don't know if mine turned out authentic, but they sure did turn out tasty!

potato taquitos?

2007-04-01T19:24:00.000-04:00

Sort of continuing the theme of last week, how about potato taquitos? It will give people a way of using up some of the remaining masa if they choose to make their own corn tortillas...

http://www.pakupaku.info/potato_taquitos.shtml

gringa getting better at pupusas

2007-03-30T08:36:00.000-04:00

One more time, with feeling! I love pupuasas so much I was determined to keep on trying the dough. I went to Emporium Latino in Kensington Market last night and asked the nice woman which flour I should use, and she said "instant corn masa mix."

While I was there I got pupusas with curtido, done the right way:

Went home and tried myself again. I definitely had dud flour before, because this stuff came together much better! I made a concave ball of dough and put refried beans in the hole:

Then smushed the dough around to cover the beans:

Flattened the ball and fried the patty:

Let it cool and put it in my lunch box with some sour supreme, vegan cheeze and salsa. Much better!

Pupusa Time

2007-03-28T21:07:00.000-04:00

What a great word, i think i'll call my next pet Pupusa! I too failed with the corn flour, Carla. I'm a bit relieved that someone else did too because i thought i was experiencing bad corn flour or something. It did feel neat to play with, and i wondered if i could make grits with it. In the end, i just used 1/2 cup of corn flour to 1 1/2 cups of unbleached flour with 1 cup water. I also didn't really like the recipe that we had because the writer was never clear on just how much water to add, even after someone asked her to help them out.
I have not perfected rolling things into rounds, and i've been working on this for years now. But the filling part was yummy. I added different fillings for the 3 i made: one with refried black beans (RBB) and olives, one with the RBB, onions, and cheese, and one with RBB and cilantro. The cabbage salad was great too - i just bought pre-made cole slaw mix that came with the added touches of red cabbage and carrots, and the dressing was superb.

My avocado was not ripe enough but i had a great salsa and a party for one - J was out of town when i made this. I will try this again when he's around and we have ready-for-guacamole-avocadoes!

gringa fails at pupusas

2007-03-27T08:14:00.000-04:00

2nd night to attempt pupusas, and still not what I want them to turn out like. The corn flour feels like sand and it's fun to play with, like being at the beach! but I couldn't get it to look or taste like a good dough. I looked at other recipes, and they all only called for corn flour and water for the dough, so it must be possible. I tried mixing wheat flour in with corn flour, still not great. I filled them with refried beans. The curtido turned out fine.

If you had more success, pretty please LMK. In the meantime I'm going back to Emporio Latino for pro pupusa goodness!

pupusas!

2007-03-23T10:53:00.000-04:00

Do we feel like making pupusas this week? I've never made them myself, but I've watched the women in Kensington Market make them often enough, it doesn't look too complicated. There's one odd ingredient, corn flour, but hopefully it's not too hard for everyone to find. The places I order pupusas always serve them with a side of "cole slaw" called curtido. What do you think?

Yum Yum Tempeh Patties

2007-03-22T22:03:00.000-04:00

I made these for dinner tonight and it was all worth the wait. These patties were fantastic! I loved the combination of the herbs and Braggs, as well as the texture of the tempeh. I typically use Henry's Tempeh (old family friend of my partner's) and for this recipe, i used his basil option.

I should have read the instructions better because between steaming, mixing, refridgerating, and frying, it all took a bit too long, and i like to eat dinner before Ugly Betty is on. At first i was like, 'what, STEAM tempeh - that's sacriligious' but then it all made sense when i needed to mash it up. I also don't have fennel in the house, but i used tarragon as a substitute. It may have been a bit too salty and i could have let the patty saturate better (they were a bit too fragile) but i loved these and will definitely make them again.
We had a side of sweet potato fries (baked) and a green leafy salad to go with it. Yum. Good thing i followed the recipe and made 10 (ten!!) patties - i'll be eating tempeh patties all weekend and already made a scrumptious sandwich for tomorrow's lunch. If you don't need so many, just half the recipe and and use 1 block of tempeh.

I am unsure why they're called 'sausages' and not just patties...i can't help but picture Oktoberfest sausages when i refer to this recipe - and i know that's wrong on so many levels!

Breakfast for dinner

2007-03-22T21:11:00.000-04:00

I had this block of tempeh in the freezer for a couple of months, and I was glad to have a recipe to use it up! I used an italian herb mix for all the green herbs in the recipe, and white flour instead of whole wheat. Also, inspired by Carla's post, a few shakes of liquid smoke.

soy red pepper tempeh

mixy mushiness

patties - I added some diced onion instead of onion powder. Somehow I missed the part of letting them refrigerate for an hour. No matter - they still worked!

We ate them with some tofu scramble. Mmm... breakfast for dinner!

I liked these a lot. They reminded me of Gimme Lean sausages, which I heard is not going to be sold in Canada anymore. I may just have to stock up on tempeh!

heart-shaped multi-ethnic sausages

2007-03-21T09:27:00.000-04:00

Hi gang! I made the Italian Tempeh Sausages recipe, with a few modifications. I steamed some tempeh:

Crumbled it and added some of the spices the recipe called for. I didn't have all of them to make the "Italian" flavour strong enough, so I sprinkled some liqiud hickory smoke:

Packed the mixture into my heart-shaped moulds. Baked them a bit, then pan fried them:

Put 2 patties in my lunch box with some mashed potatoes-peas-pesto:

Italian Tempeh Sausage

2007-03-18T13:02:00.000-04:00

Italian tempeh sausage anyone?

There is a recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance which I hear is great, and I found this one on the internet. The recipes sound so versatile and can be made for breakfast or for dinner, with gravy, another saucy topping or without. I'm not as well versed in tempeh as others seem to be, and I've been wanting to try this for a while so I thought I'd throw it in as this week's suggestion!

cookies for breakfast!

2007-03-18T11:10:00.000-04:00

I finally got to the breakfast snack...I made Chickpea Coco-Oat Cookies. SO GOOD! I absolutely love the taste of coconut, and I love the smell of toasting shredded coconut. The cookies are moist and tasty and wholesome, just perfect with a cuppa tea. I used maple syrup instead of molasses.

Last weekend someone who has a Herbivore subscription showed me the reference to this blog in the online edition. I knew it was going to be in, they emailed me about it awhile ago. They quoted the pb cookie recipe Brenda veganized awhile ago. I think all of us should break out our credit cards and subscribe, because they're putting the f.u. in tofu. They're doing more online updates and fewer print editions for now.

Good Morning!

2007-03-16T14:35:00.000-04:00

I've been away from this blog for awhile, resisting google and its attempt to dominate the world, but I just had to transfer to the new blogger in order to access my own blog (!!!) so there it is. But it turns out you've all been making the sunny corn muffins, and I just ate those for breakfast! So twas meant to be . . .

I've been making these for a while now (in fact, I'm the Michelle who left a comment in August 2004!), and I think I've gotten over my desire for them to be more savory (though I still always decrease the sugar). This time I was missing a bunch of ingredients, namely, soymilk, soy yogurt, and flour! I used mostly barley flour and brown rice flour, applesauce, and now I'm forgetting what else, and while they were a little dense tasting and did not rise, I still liked them!

Breakfast Baking Galore!

2007-03-16T10:29:00.000-04:00

This week, we had a baking date for the breakfast themed cookalong. We made two things: the corn muffins that Carla suggested as well as Choco-Banana Loaf.

We made the loaf first because we wanted it for dessert that nice. Our neighbours told us that she loves it when we're cooking because the smells are so yummy, and this night was extra special. And, J said he loves the smell and baking banana bread the best.
We followed a recipe from The Everyday Vegan, it was a Maple Banana Bread, but we added the much-needed chocolate chips, walnuts, and cinnamon in. Heavenly - soft and moist, flavourful, and perfect when warm with some Earth Balance on it!Then, we made the corn muffins. Here, we added some dried cranberries for colour and a nice zap of something else. The finished muffins tasted even more delich than the dough i sampled, which wasn't too bad (but what a weird texture with uncooked cornmeal!). I liked adding the cranberries because they broke up the flavour, and they added some lovely colour. The muffins didn't rise too much and were dense, but we freezed some for another time when we're too sluggish to eat a good breakfast.

Chewy Granola Bars

2007-03-14T19:15:00.000-04:00

I made Chewy Granola Bars on Monday night, but haven't gotten around to posting until now. I used this link that Carla posted but, as usual, made some adjustments:

1 cup agave syrup
2/3 cup smooth almond butter
2 2/3 cups rolled oats
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t nutmeg
1/3 cup wheat germ
2 cups mix-ins: raw almonds, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, walnut halves and pepitas

we have a great bulk store up the street. Whenever I go there I always get a Vege Hut vegetable patty and eat it on the way home. It's my ritual :)

Baked for about 15 minutes.

In hindsight, adding ground flax would have been a great idea! I don't have a shot of the cut bars, but they did turn out a bit crumbly even after adding some water to the mix. I'll definitely play with this recipe - it's way cheaper, healthier and tastier than those store bought ones! Next time I won't be afraid to add more agave syrup or nut butter.

They are wonderful with good, strong coffee!

Sunshine, lollypops, and muffins

2007-03-11T22:16:00.000-04:00

I decided to make the "sunny" corn muffins, as they seemed pretty easy, and I always think that I'd like to be eating vegan muffins with my coffee at work.
I also decided that I'd like to add blueberries to the recipe. While I was getting my ingredients ready, I looked in the PPK cookbook to see if it had the recipe (so I didn't need to keep going back into my room to look at the internet) and saw that the version in the book actually had blueberries in it. It also reduced the sugar a bit; instead of the 1/2 cup plus two T spoons, it just called for 1/3 of a cup.
After I finished folding the wet and the dry ingredients together, I dug out my camera to find that it wouldn't turn on. I guessed that the batteries were dead, so I charged them a bit while the muffins baked. I only have pics of the finished product (and not great ones; small muffins don't get great focus), but they did taste pretty good. I'm looking forward to enjoying one with a coffee tomorrow morning.

breakfast on the go! (daylight savings rescue)

2007-03-08T20:44:00.001-05:00

Daylight Savings is this weekend...eeeeep!! How do you feel about doing a "breakfast on the go" theme for this week? Muffins or bars or cookies to grab on a sleepy morning after the clocks go back...

I've made Sunny Corn Muffins a few times, they're nice. How about these breakfast cookies, which look so good and moist in this blog!? Or Chewy Granola Breakfast Bars?! We've done multi-recipe cookalongs before and it's been fun to see variety! What do you think?

ETA: or any other recipe you want to try on the "breakfast on the go theme"

cute little dumplings!!

2007-03-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

Happy International Women's Day!

Terribly late! I've literally been subsisting on crackers, cereal and chocolate soy milk. Finally I took time out to bundle and fry some delicious dumplings.

Here are the wrappers I got in Chinatown:

I sauteed cabbage, basil, carrots and green onions:

I like the scooping, stuffing and pinching process. Then I friend them up. Ooops, I didn't use enough oil so some got stuck and broken. Still tasted good though!

Gobbled with basic tamari dipping sauce.

Other good things I've filled dumplings with: veggie ground round, glass noodles, sweet potato, sesame seeds.

Does it seem that most cultures have a dish that is rolled up carb with tasty filling? Pierogies, calzones, ravioli, spring rolls...

Friday Night Dumplings

2007-03-05T22:32:00.000-05:00

I made these are Friday night but am only getting around to posting now. I think dumplings make a great quick dinner/empty out your veggie drawer kind of meal. I made them using store-bought wonton wrappers, and added my own filling. Inside was:
- scrambled hard tofu
- carrots
- asian eggplant
- olive and sesame oils
- 5-spice mix
- chili powder, salt and pepper
- fresh garlic, cilantro and gingerWe fried them, of course, but it was a big too oily. Between the fry mix and frying the dumplings, at some points, when we bit into the dumpling, oily juice oozed out. Good thing we steamed some fresh bok choy to go with it!
Also, i'm grateful for the tip to mix water with some cornstarch because it was hard to seal the wrappers well enough to stay closed. I just folded them in half, but i would have loved to play with the shapes more.
I think that i'll make these again, with some minor changes, but i'm very happy to have finally made my very own dumplings aka pot stickers!

Better late than never dumplings

2007-03-04T21:51:00.001-05:00

I was really busy, like I'm sure everybody else. Anyway, for the filling, I used green onions, silken tofu, ginger, carrot, chili peppers, mushrooms, and chili sauce. It looks gross, but was pretty tasty.

I made the wrapping using the recipe, except that when I actually did the cooking of the dumplings, I boiled them first, because I'm pretty sure that dumplings get boiled.

Next time, I would suck it up and actually find wrappers in the store. I had a much harder time stuffing them than I did the pierogies from a while back, even though the concept is pretty similar. They tasted pretty good (I had no sauce to dip them in though), but looked ugly as sin.

Vegan Dumplings

2007-02-26T11:20:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not posting a recipe sooner. So, as suggested and discussed in our comments, i recommended doing a dumpling recipe to celebrate Asian New Year. I have some won ton wrappers i just bought so tried to find a recipe with pre-made wrappers.

Here it is: http://foodmaidens.wordpress.com/2007/01/09/tofu-dumplings/

Or this one.

Since there are so many things to put in dumplings, feel free to add what fancies you. If you want to make the wrappers from scratch, here is a site for you. And, make sure to post what you put in the dumplings!

besan, faster than a silver bullet

2007-02-24T22:55:00.000-05:00

So I actually hate big corporate beer, but not enough to NOT drink it if it's magically around. Which it was. And I know that Michelob isn't the Silver Bullet, but I don't care enough to be clever. And the main point is, I made a few changes and had Besan Omlettes faster than I could drink a cheap watery beer. Essentially, rather than all that yummy onion, tomato, garlic, and cilantro I used fresh salsa. I had some fresh salsa laying around, and I only wanted to make 1/4 of the recipe, and wanted to save all my fresh veggies for when I could use them in one swoop, but I wanted to try this really bad, and in the end, it was kinda genius. Hard to recreate, since I used 1/2 cup of the flour and then the salsa in the tub and some water till it looked alright, and then some Balti seasoning, and then some more flour since it looked to watery (but probably wasn't since these, though delicious were a bit too dense). But anyway, great, and I will go out on a limb and say this would be perfect with a slightly drier pico de gallo. And since the whole thing is certainly one of the best things I've made in under 10 minutes, I will probably find out. I gave monsieur a taste of it, and he thought it was super too and I am thinking of using the leftovers for a sandwich tomorrow, since I really wanted to make it more than I could eat too much tonight. In the end, I really wanted a little salad too, so I put it all together. And now I've eaten my food and drank what passed for my beer, and I'm happy. And now in no particular order my pictures.

Besan Omelette

2007-02-21T20:59:00.000-05:00

I decided to take the basic recipe and jazz it up a bit more. I added way more cilantro and garlic, used garlic-chili sauce instead of fresh chilis, plus I thought green peppers would make a nice addition. Just before cooking, I also added a splash of lemon juice and some cumin.

stuff.

in the bowl.

in the pan.

And this is how the cooked version looked.

I made the full recipe and ended up with a few "omelettes". The first one was too thick (apparently I forgot the consistency of yogurt) so I watered down the batter before cooking the rest. I think, in total, I used almost 2 cups of water.

I think this is a great recipe to play with. Next time, I'd love to add different spices and vegetables to create different flavours and textures. And there will be a next time. The boy's comment when asked if he'd eat it again: "Sh*t, yeah."

Besan "Omlette"

2007-02-20T23:03:00.000-05:00

I halved the recipe, and used jalapeno peppers instead of Thai.

Here is everything except the water together.
I think I added about 5/6ths of a cup of water.

I served the "omlette" (seemed more like a pancake to me) with smoked chipotle Tabasco. It was tasty, but I think it would be best served as a side dish to an Indian curry. I think I will try this in the future.

Yum!

2007-02-17T21:03:00.000-05:00

I picked out three different recipes and selected my favorite veggies out of each of them, as well as the general order of adding things. First, I got all my ingredients together. I already had paella rice from another time it had grabbed my eye at the store. I also picked hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, and peas.

I soaked the saffron while I sauteed the onion and garlic:

I was worried that it was too much onion, but it seemed to shrink reasonably with cooking.

Then I added the tomatoes and various hearts and spices.

Here is the delicious simmering shot with the soaked saffron and veggie stock.

I decided to cook the veggie sausage separate to keep it crispy. The recipe that called for sausage said to add it at the beginning, but the recipe that called for the faux seafood had it cooked separate, and that made more sense to me.

The end result:

This was so so so much better than I had even dared to hope. I'm glad because it's going to be five more meals. :)

Besan (Chick Pea Flour) Omelette

2007-02-17T14:07:00.000-05:00

I'm going to jump right in with a suggestion for a recipe I found last week: Besan Omelette.

I used to enjoy omelettes and this one sounds so interesting. When the Cook-a-long recipe was pakoras, it was my first time using chickpea flour and I can really see how it would work as an omelette!

Interested?

Popping Paella

2007-02-13T21:54:00.000-05:00

Well, here are two firsts for me: 1/ posting to this blog (hello!) and 2/ cooking paella. This was originally something I had intended to attempt tomorrow, but after a lousy day, I was in need of some cooking therapy.

I started a couple days ago researching different recipes. I actually found two on Epicurious that were both vegan, and I liked different elements of both, so I combined them to make my own.

Now, the first rank:

I also had read that most paella recipes call for the saffron to steep in the liquid for several minutes, so this is after a ten minute swim in the veg. stock pool:

I had a good thing going here, until I realized that my pretty paella-in-the-works would soon overtake the skillet I was using. So, paella purists, cover your eyes, because I went to a large soup pot (I had a toooon of veggies to put in, so this was the only way my kitchen could stay clean).

I was a little worried going into the last 15-minute cooking period. I have never had paella so I had nothing to compare these results to. However, after the last covered bit, I uncovered this beautiful, yellowy, very tasty goodness:

After I uncovered the dish (and after the obligatory taste test, natch), I cranked up the heat for a couple of minutes for the socarrat. I was hesitant (again, my paella knowledge is nil), but I have to say, this was my favorite part of the whole night. After turning up the gas, the rice soon started crackling and this very nutty, sweet, toasted smell arose from the pan. It sounds silly, but it was a nice "zen" moment to a very crazy day.

Rice Pudding, Choco style

2007-02-12T19:08:00.000-05:00

I was not much of a rice pudding fan as a child, but I also didn't like a few things that I like now. I figured rice pudding would be one of those things.

I decided to use sticky rice, mostly because it was the only white rice we have in the apartment. I also decided to do it up with chocolate soy milk, half the sugar and cocoa powder. Since the recipe didn't measurements for cocoa, I just threw stuff in until it looked good. As for spices, I added cinnamon and a pinch of ground cardamom... mmmm...

sticky rice is awesome. whatever didn't get put in the pot went straight into mah belly.

added cocoa - about 1/2 a cup I think.

nice choco brown thick pudding.

I was eager to try it, and was punished by getting my mouth burned. It was really tasty and I think I'd make it again. Though I'd like to try it as a vanilla pudding with lots of raisins like vania did! I'm also interested in trying a chai-spice version with more cardamom, some pepper, and other spices.

Mmmm...Rice Pudding

2007-02-12T14:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the late entry, but i made the rice pudding recipe yesterday and i wanted to share my verdict with you: it was fabulous. J said it was the best rice pudding he's ever had - and we both grew up eating it.Of course, i had to do some substitutions, and i'm glad i read everyone else's posts first. I halved the recipe - i love left over rice pudding for breakfast. But i didn't add as much liquid as it suggested; instead of 4 cups of soy milk, i did 2 cups of soy milk and one cup of coconut milk. It was heavenly - not too soupy as i think it would have been had i truly followed the recipe.
The other thing for me is that rice pudding is not complete without raisins and cinnamon. So, i added 3/4 cup raisins and 1 full tsp of cinnamon. I think that was the other changes i did and it really was good - nice and sweet, soft, fluffy, and warming.

Paella!

2007-02-11T16:28:00.001-05:00

That rice pudding (and the fact that I made it once for my Spanish class) has got me on a Spanish kick, so this week, how about paella? There are 3 different recipes over here - http://www.vegcooking.com/searchrecipes.asp - but if you find others, go ahead and share. There are tons that you can find from a quick search on vegan paella. I plan to look at a few and pick the veggies I like best. :)

Lessons learned...

2007-02-09T17:52:00.000-05:00

I distinctly remember making rice pudding for my Spanish class in high school and loving it, so I was really excited to make it again. But in my mind it's not rice pudding if it's not baked. (I thought this was a Spanish thing, but apparently it's a Pennsylvania Dutch thing.) In fact, it needed a lot of alterations. Where was the cinnamon? The raisins? The nutmeg? So I went hunting for other recipes. I compared a few and combined and winged.

Some of the recipes called for 1/2 cup rice to 4 cups milk, and some only called for 1/4 cup. So I split the difference and used 1/3 cup. I used vanilla soymilk, but also used the 1/2 cup sugar and the teaspoon of vanilla that my recipes called for. Definitely a mistake. It sure did smell good though.

In my insistence that rice pudding must be baked I managed to forget that we don't have an oven...

I cooked it for the 3 1/2 hours that it called for, but had to get to sleep before it was done. I left a note for Shawn to give it another half hour if it still looked runny, then to cover it and stick it in the fridge. He later told me he gave it another hour and gave up. In the morning it has solidified though. And don't be grossed out by the skin. It's supposed to have that from the spices.

My biggest mistake was not taking in to account the vanilla soymilk's sweetness. It pretty much ruined it. If I were going to make this recipe again I would use a plain rice milk and regular raisins, added towards the end of baking. But I don't think I will. I might try the actual posted recipe though, with coconut milk. And quartered. I just don't need this much rice pudding.

newbie double rice pudding

2007-02-09T17:20:00.000-05:00

I thought rice pudding would be a perfect first recipe for me to say hi with, but in fact it's impossible to take a picture of! I quartered the recipe and used rice milk instead of soy milk cause I had it and was overeager, and in fact it came out incredibly tasty, but I stirred it for about 15 minutes and it looked like soup and then all of a sudden it was pudding, but none of the pictures came out. But then I put it in a bowl, and chopped up banana and poured on the cinnamon and finally took a picture that came out. And then I ate it, and then I was very very very happy. The banana and cinnamon were definitely good calls. Hi, help me write better entries!

gabba gabba rice pudding

2007-02-05T20:02:00.000-05:00

I quartered the recipe, and instead of vanilla soy milk, I just added more vanilla to the recipe. Oh, and I used jasmine rice.
I wasn't sure how long it was supposed to be boiling for, so I just stirred it for a few minutes while it was boiling, and then let it sit covered for 20 minutes away from heat.
In terms of the variations, I added some crushed pineapple, just because I happened to have half a can of crushed pineapple in the fridge.
The verdict? Well, I haven't had rice pudding in forever, and I don't remember being a fan, but this was pretty tasty. I had it while it was still a little warm. Tomorrow I'll bring some to work and see what it's like when it's cooled down a little.
I wonder what making it with coconut milk would be like? Probably very tasty!

rice pudding

2007-02-04T16:30:00.000-05:00

just for clarity's sake, here's the recipe selected by Marta:

http://foodgeeks.com/recipes/recipe/18409,vegan_rice_pudding.phtml