Vegan MoFo VI, Day 1 - Mike Makes Monday Meals

It's MoFo time again!

Yeah, I've been pretty crap at updating, in that I've posted once this year before today.  But I moved house, and I kinda hate my kitchen (I'll probably use a weekend post to explain why), so I haven't been terribly motivated to cook.  But I'm sucking it up for MoFo.

So, a brief overview of some of my plans - I don't have a particular theme for every day, only because I won't always be able to do the stuff the same day of every week.  But here's what I'm thinking:

Sunday Baking - I checked out Have Your Cake and Vegan Too from the library, so I'm using Sundays to try out the stuff I like the look of.  I'll make it on a Sunday and take it in to work the next day so Mike and I don't have to get through a cake every week.

Mike Makes Monday Meals - I'm going away on holiday for 3 weeks in November, which means Mike will have to fend for himself.  So he'll be making dinner every Monday to learn how to cook a few simple things so that he doesn't eat nothing but biscuits and hummus every day for 3 weeks.

British Food Fridays - There are a few classic British dishes that I'd like to try my hand at, so I'll post about these on a Friday (though I may make them the Thursday night).  So far, the only definite things I'm making are treacle tart and bakewell tart.  My co-workers are gonna get so fat.

Because of how Mike's schedule works, I can't be definite with any other days, partially because one of the things I'm doing is restaurant reviews.  I'll also be doing the Cookbook Challenge that's happening on the PPK.

This post encompasses two of my themes.  Tonight, Mike made the Quick and Hearty Chili from Vegan Diner, which is the current Cookbook Challenge book.

This was a great recipe to start with.  Mike said that he didn't feel like there were any complicated directions and that it was easy to make.  It was also incredibly delicious.

The only subs we made were to double the TVP, add an extra can of beans (so one each of red kidney, pinto, and black beans), leave out the cocoa powder (we didn't have any), and add a couple drops of hickory liquid smoke.  OK, maybe that sounds like a lot of changes, but it wasn't too drastic.  Anyway, it came together really quickly.  We ate it with rice - I had mine bowl-style with some mixed baby leaf salad on the bottom.  It was so, so good.  I would definitely recommend it.

I'm looking forward to making more from this book, and I'm looking forward to the rest of MoFo!