Cookbook Challenge Week 30 - Authentic Chinese Cuisine

This week I have been cooking from Authentic Chinese Cuisine (all Vegan recipes) by Bryanna Clark Grogan, I bought this book from Viva several years ago and have been looking forward to using it since. But haven't. Mostly due to my inexperience in the kitchen, but over the last year or two that has changed so I decided to try this book out. I made 7 of the recipes with mixed results:

Shao Bing (Northern Chinese Sesame Buns) - I was really looking forward to these and the taste was great, the texture however was awful. Just like old cardboard (I know my father works in a cardboard factory). I threw most of these away:

Chinese Style Beef Seitan - again this was another disappointing recipe, the taste was good but the texture was awful - like chewing Chinese flavour glue. I would definitely add some soya or chickpea flour in future to soften this:  

 

Scramble or Authentic Foo Yung - I have had Foo Yung several times before I was Vegan but I've only had homemade since, usually containing more "egg" than other ingredients which is how it was when I went to Chinese takeaways, this however was the other way around, less "egg" and more filling and it was just lovely. Full of flavour and very enjoyable, served with Tilda rice (very lazy but there you go): 

Basic Fried Rice - Again this is something that I had quite a lot of before turning Vegan and haven't really had it since. This recipe was really good, tofu in place of egg and soya chiken instead of actual chicken. I really enjoyed this and served it with Uncle Bens Brown Rice (again lazy but again there you go):

Chow Mein - I have never had this before so I didn't know what to expect. What I got was plateful of tofu with a lovely spicy (but not too spicy sauce), I served mine with rice noodles:

Oyster sauce - I don't have any pictures of this as it was a base ingredient in 2 recipes (chow mein & beef in oyster sauce) but it was great, I have never had real oyster sauce but this was full of flavour so is just as good.

Beef & Broccoli in Oyster Sauce - This recipe used both the sauce from above and the Chinese beef seitan (which worked well in this recipe when cut up small) and it made a delicious dinner which left my plate rather quickly, I served mine with rice noodles:

Overall I did like this book, some of the recipes are a bit hit & miss but what I really liked was that the recipes felt more authentic than the premade shite that you buy in supermarkets. Some of the recipes I will certainly be making again and I will be testing some of the others as well.

Cookbook Challenge Week 29 - Vegan Brunch

This week I have been cooking from Vegan Brunch  by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, this book has always had a special place in my heart as the first time I made seitan I used a recipe from this book (Italian Feast Sausages) and they were wonderful so I had high expectations for the rest of the recipes that I tried....


Red Hash Flannel Hash, Italian Feast Sausages & Tofu Scramble - I made and ate these 3 together, the hash was my least favourite of the recipes, it was nice but I'm just not a huge fan of beets and found this a bit lacklustre, however the tofu scramble was delicious.
I have never been a big fan of tofu scramble but Isa's recipe is really good, it doesn't call for pressing the tofu to get the water out, that happens during the cooking with the flavourings being added in the last few minutes. It was full of flavour and I will definitely be using this recipe again, along with the Italian Feast recipe - the sausages turned out spicy (but not too spicy) and full of flavour with a firm but not chewy texture:

Tomato Rosemary Scones - I though I did something wrong with these as they were rather more pale than those in the book, however they taste delicious and I have been eating them every day this week:

Banana Rabanada (Brazillian French Toast) - this was basically French toast with banana blended into the mix, was it good?  Damn right it was, crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle it was a lovely sweet Sunday brunch treat:

East Coast Coffee Cake - this is the one recipe that I have been wanting to make for years but have just got round to and I am so glad that I did, it was bloody gorgeous - a white cake base with blueberry jam swirls topped with a spiced crumble topping. What more could you want from a cake?

Overall I think this book is brilliant, almost all the recipes have turned out wonderfully and it remains one of my favourite cookbooks.

Cookbook Challenge Week 28 - The Vegan Boulangerie

This week I have been cooking from The Vegan Boulangerie by Marianne & Jean-Michel.
I have been wanting to cook from this book for ages (I once made the profiteroles which were excellent), but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed in some of the recipes that I tried:

Tomato & Herb Roule -
I was exited to try this recipe as I love tomato breads but I was disappointed, the herbs were too powerful and the texture was very doughy:

Sandwich Jardinier - this was actually quite nice, it was carrot, mushrooms, tomato, sunflower seeds, celery, soy sauce, mustard & chives.  It wasn't the best or tastiest sandwich in the world, but it filled a hole.

Sandwich Parisien - Gherkins, vegan ham, lettuce, marg & salt. Bit of a disappointment really, I expected something a bit better and found this very lacklustre:

Quiche Lorraine  - I was really looking forward to this and again was disappointed. It tasted overwhelmingly of French Mustard & nutmeg. However it didn't look much like the black and white photo in the book so I decided to try it again the next day. The recipe states you should layer the onions & fake bacon in the case, then put the quiche filling on top and bake, which led to the quiche having a big layer of egg style filling with a base of onion & facon. When I made it a second time, I mixed the onion & facon into the filling, placed it in the case, baked it and let it cool first. The result was far far better. Much more like quiche Lorraine.

Onion Tart - this was one of the recipes that I did like, it was a layer of pastry covered with a creamy tomato sauce, topped with fried onions and baked. It was delicious, very plain and simple but sometimes the best things are:

Croque Monsieur - this was my favourite recipe, I have made this sandwich before using my own recipe which I prefer, but this was still really good - fake ham, vegan cheese & pasta sauce between layers of "buttered" bread toasted:

Overall as I said before I found most of the recipes a bit disappointing, maybe thats because I had such high expectations for the book?  I won't be making any of these recipes again (with the possible exception of the last one) but I will be trying some of the other recipes  - some of the cakes look and sound divine, fingers crossed they turn out better.

Cookbook Challenge 27 - A Vegan Taste of France

This week I have been cooking from A vegan taste of France by Linda Majzlik.
At first look this book is very lacklustre, boring and uninspiring - there are no photographs whatsoever. However after making 4 of the recipes I have completely changed my mind, all of them worked out well and tasted great.

Mushroom, walnut and lentil pate - this was really good, full of flavour and very filling (while it was cooking I couldn't believe how good it smelled). What surprised me was how far it went, I made half the recipe which is supposed to feed 3 but it made enough for 5 decent portions:

Red onion, tomato & tarragon tart - I made 2 of these, the first I ate warm and was not impressed with at all. It tasted far too sweet and I really didn't like it, however when left overnight in the fridge it was wonderful, tasty, not too sweet and as it had a wholewheat crust it tasted hearty & healthy. Definitely one that I will make again:

Vichyssoise - this was another excellent dish, primarily consisting of potato & leeks the only change I made was to use Vegan chicken bouillon instead of veg stock as I think Vichyssoise usually has chicken stock in. It was a really great tasting soup, I served it hot but it was supposed to be served cold. I might try it that way next time:

Chocolate & Hazelnut Ramekin  - finally another tasty recipe! This was really simple to make (cornflour, cocoa, soy milk etc) and tasted divine:

I have to say that this book completely proved me wrong, I thought I was going to have a week of boring food but it ended up the complete opposite. If these books could just be improved with some photo's they would be far better.

Cookbook Challenge Week 26 - Vegan Lunch Box Around the World

This week I have been cooking from Vegan lunch box around the world, this is the second in the series of Vegan lunch box books from Jennifer McCann and I have to say I far prefer this book to the first.

Chik'n Pot Pie - this was really rather good, I didn't use the recommended recipe for the pastry (instead using a lower fat potato pastry) and underneath was a layer of veg & soya chicken in a creamy chicken flavoured sauce. Definitely a recipe I will be making again:

Chik'n Paprikas - this was my least favourite recipe - mostly due to the fact it was a bit watery, other than that it was quite tasty but could have done with a thicker sauce:

Martie's Gumbo - I have never tried Gumbo before so I didn't know quite what to expect but this was very good - tomatoes, veg & vegan sausage (I used Vegandeli Italian Gourmet Mortadella) in a spicy sauce. I thought it would be too hot but cooking it for several hours removes a lot of the heat leaving a wonderfully tasty meal:

Jollof Rice - this was my favourite of the recipes,. its rice cooked in a chicken style broth served with veg & soya chicken in a tasty sauce:

Overall I though this book was far better than the previous book I look forward to trying some of the other recipes soon/

Cookbook Challenge Weeks 24 & 25

Hello

This week I have cooked from 2 cookbook - the reason being that even though I want to cook from a different cookbook each week there will be weeks when I don't want to cook from any (such as the last 2 weeks in December when I eat every type of mass produced Vegan junk food on the planet) so I am going to get a few weeks a head so I can still complete my challenge and relax when I need to.

Vegan Lunch Box 

The first book that I have been cooking from is Vegan Lunch Box by Jennifer McCann, I've had this book for several years and have never got round to cooking anything from it, so I decided to make the Golden Chestnut Soup, Ranch Dip & Easy Potato Salad.

Ranch Dip - This really wasn't great, a bit lacklustre and flavourless (even with the addition of extra garlic & nutritional yeast). I am going to try this again tomorrow with lot of nutritional yeast, onion powder & garlic powder. Hopefully this will improve the taste:

Easy Potato Salad - I have not had potato salad in 5 years (mostly through laziness) so I couldn't wait to try this and I wasn't disappointed, it was thick, creamy, tasty and easy to make. Definitely something I will be making again through the summer - I served it with veg & 5 spice seitan:

Golden Chestnut Soup - as per usual saved the best for last, this was delicious. Warm and sweet, probably better for the winter months but an excellent recipe all the same and something I will be making again in future:

Overall I found this book a little disappointing, there are some recipes that I still want to try such as pretzels but when reading through it I found it a little  difficult to find things that I wanted to make, the second book in the series (which I am cooking from next week - Vegan Lunch Box around the World) however is far more promising...

The Conscious Cook

The second book is the conscious cook by Tal Ronnen, I found this book in Waterstones a few years ago, I went back to buy it the next day and had to hunt through the shop to find it (it had been taken off the shelf to be sent back as it was not selling), but eventually found it on a trolley with a lot of other unloved and forlorn looking books. I am so glad I went back as this book has been wonderful!! At first it can be a bit intimidating as some of the recipes are complex or need unusual ingredients (E.G there is a recipe for fresh Vegan pasta - like egg pasta but without the chicken period) but if you give the recipes a try they are definitely worthwhile.

Creole Tempeh - Tempeh is probably my favourite fake meat (not as boring as tofu, not as chewy as seitan) and this recipe really made it special. Its spicy, warm and full of flavour:

Split Pea Soup - this is supposed be served with tempeh bacon but I ration my tempeh as its kinda hard to get hold of, instead I used homemade fake bacon bits. The soup however was one of the best that I have ever tasted. It was flavourful, warming and extremely filling. This will be another firm favourite in my house from now on;

California Gardein Chicken Salad -  I had to substitute Asda chiken style pieces for the Gardein as we don't get it in the UK, that notwithstanding this recipe was for lack of a better word perfect.

The recipe is made up of fake chiken, grapes, celery, vegan mayo (among other ingredients) but what really made it special was the toasted walnuts which gave it a chicken flavour that I have not experienced since turning vegan. This has now become one of my favourite sandwich fillings* and will be made again very soon:

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cake - Gorgeous and brilliant, one of the nicest things that I have eaten all year:

Overall the only way I can describe this book (and please forgive my language) is f*****k brilliant, it probably helps that Tal Ronnen is a chef, but this book really shows how great Vegan food can be.

This is one of the best books that I have cooked from so far this year.

*The others being "The Fat Ass" from the Sexy Vegan, Dark Chocolate Dreams (Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter, Cherry Jam and Coconut - inspired by the Peanut Butter Co), my own 5 spice seitan with spicy pickle mayo & Vegusto and my Vegan Croque Monsieur 

Cookbook Challenge Week 23 - Superfood Kitchen

This week I have been cooking from Superfood Kitchen by Julie Morris. I bought this book just before Christmas and although some of the food looks good, I was put off some of the recipes by the ingredients (sacha inchi, acai etc) but I decided to give the book a try. I picked what I wanted to make and then put in a rather expensive order for the ingredients needed.

I ended up making the following:

Hot Quinoa Bowl - I hated this. Great texture and it would have been really good apart from the taste of quinoa. I stopped eating quinoa years ago and now remember why. I mixed in some coconut sugar which made it passable but I will not be making this again (I would like to point out that this is in no fault due to the recipe or the book, but purely through my complete revulsion of quinoa):

Banana Seed Bread - This took a little while to make and used most of the unusual ingredients (Mesquite powder, lucuma, hemp seeds, coconut sugar, coconut oil), but was well worth the effort. Its the first banana bread that I have ever made that is actually like bread (most end up delicious but a bit too moist) and really does taste good. I may use the base recipe again (dry ingredients to wet) but I will probably not make this again due to the difficulty getting some of the ingredients:

Kale and Black Eyed Pea Stew - this was quite good, tasty and filling but a bit too watery for me. I prefer thicker soups/stews but compared to some shop bought soups this is far better:

Chipolte Chilli - this was my second favourite recipe, far thicker than the stew it was full of flavour and very filling - brimming with black beans & sweet potato. I would definitely make this again (I didn't make the avocado sour cream that is supposed to go with it as I don't like avocados):

Tofu Broccoli Quiche with Quinoa Crust - this was my favourite recipe. I have never made a broccoli quiche before and I was very dubious about this as the recipe didn't seem to have much flavouring in it, but I decided to give it a whirl and I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was. I did not make the quinoa crust as stated before I hate quinoa, instead using my usual quiche crust - a wrap.

I will definitely make this again:

Overall I like this book a lot, it has made cooking with so called superfoods far easier for me and less daunting, but what I really loved was how quick and easy these recipes were, apart from the banana bread they were all done and cooking away in about 20 minutes. Its an excellent addition to my cookbook collection I will certainly be trying other recipes from it in future.