Cookbook Challenge Week 5 - Cookin Crunk

This week I have been cooking from Cookin Crunk from Bianca Phillips

The first recipe that I tried was the Chicken Seitan, this was tasty and had a great texture, I will be making this again and may use the recipe to make a seitan roast at Easter:

 

 The second recipe that I tried (which I have made before) was Tofu Chicken and it was delicious! I don't like tofu most of the time but I really enjoyed this recipe, the only adaptation I made was to cook the tofu in the marinade rather than throwing it away:

Creamy Tofu Chicken Pasta Bake - again this was lovely and the only 2 adaptations I made were to bake the Tofu as above and to add some of the marinade into the sauce. I will be making this again:

Cream of Mushroom Soup - this was creamy and a delight to eat! Its the first really good mushroom soup that I have had since becoming Vegan:

Country Vegetable Soup - this soup tasted great and was really filling. With the fake bacon  it reminded me of Quiche Lorraine soup:

BBQ "Pulled" Tempeh & Carrot Sandwich - I liked this sandwich but I think in future I will add more BBQ sauce as even with cooking the Tempeh it still tasted bitter (I like that normally but it doesn't go too well with BBQ):

Hoppin John with Sausage and Brown Rice - this was a pure delight. A layer of brown rice with black-eyed beans, cabbage, sausage & facon (my own addition) in a tomato sauce topped with hot sauce:

Cheesy Tempeh Bacon Grits - Finally another delight, I had to use polenta so it was a little grainy but it was cheesy, oniony, bacon deliciousness!

This is a great Vegan cookbook and has become one of my favourites, the recipes are delicious and filling although a few are quite time consuming (to make the Pasta bake I first had to make the mushroom soup & tofu chicken) but they are well worth it 

Cookbook challenge week 4 - Appetite for reduction

This week I have been cooking from Appetite for Reduction, I have used this book in the past and have always been a fan of the Veggie Pot Pie Stew Recipe - one of my favourite staples. I have also made hottie black eyes peas & greens and several other recipes, but this week I decided to try 3 completely new recipes:

Sure fire seitan - This was bloody awful, it looked and tasted like wet soggy brains (it also contained 16 grams of salt in the entire recipe). I threw most of this away and will never be making it again.

BBQ Mango Beans - Much better, I tasted this while I was making it and it wasn't great, but as soon as I put the sweetener (sweet freedom instead of agave) and liquid smoke in, it transformed into something delicious:

Bistro Broccoli Chowder - This was really good; filling, tasty and just lovely!

Overall I really like this book, most of the recipes I have made have turned out well but if its a lower calorie vegan cook book that you're after I would recommend the Happy Herbivore books instead

Haven & Pancake Sundays

My favourite TV program is Haven and for Christmas my lovely big sister bought me series 1 and 2 on DVD, so I am now spending my Sunday afternoons watching episodes of Haven while eating a stack of pancakes (pancake being the preferred food of one of the Haven main characters).

For the last 2 weeks I have been using the recipe in Happy Herbivore with some additional ingredients:

Week 1 - Gingerbread pancakes (made using Starbucks gingerbread syrup) and Chocolate chip pancakes:

Week 2 - Double chocolate pancakes (I used chocolate oat milk instead of plain soya and I added cocoa powder) served with Summer Fruit pie filling:

Both tuned out well, but I am going to try a different recipe next week as they were a little lacklustre & doughy.

Cookbook challenge week 3 - Low calorie vegan comfort food

This week I have been cooking from Low calorie vegan comfort food by Alicia Simpson.

The first recipe that I tried was the Roasted Tofu - I really didn't like this, it just bored me and I didn't want to finish it. I served it with mushroom risotto:

The next recipe I tried was Chickpea Cacciatore - This was excellent, full of flavour and I really enjoyed it:

 

The final recipe was the split pea soup - This was the best of the three, really tasty and filling. I will definitely be making this again (the only substitution that I made was instead of celery salt I used a commercial seasoning because I couldn't get celery salt in the supermarket). I served it with baked potato & Vegusto:

I have also made (during the last 6 months) the basic seitan and Cincinnati chilli, the seitan was a great seitan recipe but the chilli was not so great (cinnamon in chilli just does not work for me). 

Overall I think this is a great cookbook but some of the recipes I just didn't like.

This week I have also made the Tofu Omelet from Cozy Inside - this was tasty with a great texture but could have done with a little more flavouring (more nutritional yeast or onion/garlic):

  

Cookbook Challenge Week 2 - Another dinner is possible

This week I have been cooking from Another dinner is possible, the first recipe that I made (which is a regular) was Goulash but I substituted the soya chunks for Chestnuts:

The next thing that I made was Borlotti bean stew - this was really good but I also added some potato & a Redwood rasher wrapped sausage:

The last recipe was the Mushroom, lentil & nut burger - this was also really good and I will definitely be making them again:

Cookbook challenge 2013 - Happy Herbivore Abroad

2013 Cookbook Challenge

This year I am trying to cook from a different cookbook each week (at least 2 recipes), this week I have been using Happy Herbivore Abroad. When this book arrived some of the recipes didn't look that appealing but they were deceptively nice:

German lentil soup:
This looked great in the book, but when I was cooking it it tasted awful. However once cooked it was transformed into a wonderful, delicious & filling soup:

Creamy Mushroom Barley:

This is my favourite recipe and I will definitely be making this regularly in future - its absolutely delicious, however I made it without spinach as I hate it (sorry about the awful photo): 

German sandwich spread:

This was good but could have done with some extra taste (garlic or olive oil maybe) but it was quick, easy and fairly tasty (wont be making it again though):

Migas:

I quite enjoyed this but found the tortillas in it to be a bit soggy and I probably wont be making this again:

I also made vegetable korma (forgot to take photo), which was nice but I found it a bit weak. I am not a fan of currys that burn your mouth off, but this could have done with a bit more spice. The only other criticism about this recipe was that it stated "vegetable broth", no specific amount so I probably used too much which could account for it being a bit weak tasting.

Overall I really liked this book, I will be using it in future and I will definitely be making the creamy mushroom barley again (very very soon). 

Just a few lovely food items from the last few weeks:

Christmas Dinner: (Tofurky, roast potatoes & parsnips, sprouts, Redwood Sausage wrapped in Facon, carrots & swede & home made bread sauce)

Boxing Day Sandwich (Christmas Dinner Sandwich)

Boxing Day Buffet

Tofurky Pasta & Vegusto

Speculoos Porride made with Lotus Biscuit Spread

Kirsty's Moroccan Veg & Quinoa with veg & beer

Tofurky Pot Pie with Chips on top

New Years Day Dinner (same as Christmas Dinner)