Friday, September 12, 2008

Holy Kitchen Woman, Batman!

I can't believe how much food I made this week! I was writing in my recipe journal and realized that I had made seven new recipes this week! Let's get right down the vegan vittles, shall we?
First, these Peanut Butter Bombs from My Sweet Vegan TOTALLY redeemed the book for me (after the past few not-so-great results). They ROCKED! Sweet and soft and like eating a peanut butter cup cookie! Four stars! **** My only complaint was that the recipe didn't make as many as it said it would. Soooo... I had to make these next cookies as well (I was baking for teens that I work with).

Isa's Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies were hardly a thumbs up. At least, the way the recipe was written. When I got ready to "press the dough flat with my palms," it was still a gooey, liquidy concoction! I had to double the flour to get a good dough. At least they turned out OK. I guess I'm just not a big chocolate fan! I used blueberry preserves for the jam middle. Yum! Three stars, I guess ***


On Wednesday night, my husband helped me make the next dish (which he also chose), from The Everyday Vegan. These were Mexican Tofu Tacos. I've had plenty of vegan tacos in my lifetime. Tempeh ones, TVP ones, but I wasn't so sure how the mushy tofu would turn out. Well, with all the great veggies involved (minced carrot, bell pepper, celery and tomato) and all the great spices (not to mention the fresh avocado - yum!!!) these turned out GREAT! My husband and I gave them four stars **** A pleasant, spicy surprise. He put regular cheese on them, of course, but I didn't have any vegan kind on hand. They would have been better with some veg-cheese and lettuce.
Another night, I cooked these Mushroom Cashew Patties from Veg News for myself. They were wicked easy to make and used up some mushrooms and bread heels I had kicking around. Amazing flavor! Very soft and kind of crumbly, but I loved them just the same. Four stars! ****






Yet another four star **** recipe for the week... The Bliss of Krishna Tropical Rice Pudding (otherwise known as rice pudding), from the Vegan Fusion World Cuisine cookbook. Only the second thing I've made from this book (I've had it since this summer!) but awesome just the same. It used up some coconut milk I had (from the Chocolate Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting from last week!) so all the better. An amazing treat for dessert or perhaps even breakfast? Basmati rice and raisins and macadamia nuts....mmmmmm.....
Of course, my husband's favorite meal was another savory, hot meal from the oven. This time, these Roasted Red Pepper and Mushroom Baked Wraps from Vegan Dad's blog. We used some lavash bread I had in the fridge, instead of tortillas, and double the portobella mushrooms, with baby bellas instead of the chanterelle. They also contain roasted red pepper (I made these myself - so easy!), lots of spices and some garlic hummus spread. I roasted the head of garlic in the oven as Isa suggests in Vw/aV, and added it to my favorite hummus recipe. So mellow and yum! Not vampirey at all....The lavash bread got nice and crisp.
I quickly steamed some farmer's market green beans and we had a meal!











Here's my wrap after I bit into it - so creamy and good! My only suggestion would be to add vegan cheese (the recipe called for some but I didn't have any) and we also thought that some different veggies would be great in here - maybe some red onion, too. It would make a great stromboli!! Four stars ****
The last recipe, I do not have a shot of, because I whipped it up for my Sierra Club Open House. It was the Chipotle Lime Hummus from Dreena's ED&BV. It was very, very good, too! Nice and spicy and different from all the other hummus recipes (included kidney beans). I think there are only two more hummus (hummuses? what's the correct plural?) I need to make from that book and then I will have tried them all! This one tops the bunch, along with the olive one, the white bean and thyme (I used rosemary) one and her Cannellini Yam one from The Everyday Vegan. What an incredible week! I'm exhausted just typing all this! Or maybe it's just the wine.... Happy Friday!

3 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

You are SO inspiring, with all the cooking and baking you do - love it!

Anonymous said...

Wow--you really did cook up a storm this week! It all looks and sounds fabulous--those tofu tacos sound great! I need to get some of Dreena's cookbooks...

Courtney

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Ooh, I want one of those wraps! Yum! I suppose I'd take a few cookies as well, hehe.