Vegan MoFo - Cookbook Challenge: 500 Vegan Recipes (pt 4)

Tonight I tried to make the Kahlua ice cream from 500 Vegan Recipes.  Here's how it failed:

First, I didn't have quite enough Kahlua.  I solved that with throwing in some vanilla, which also made up for the fact that I can't get vanilla soy creamer in the UK.  But that shouldn't have made much difference.

Then, when it was simmering, I stirred in the arrowroot slurry.  It cooked, and I stirred.  It cooked, and I stirred.  And it never. got. thick.  This may have been the fault of my arrowroot powder, though I didn't have a problem when I used it a couple of weeks ago.  So, I made a bit more slurry, this time with some Bird's Custard Powder (which I just bought recently).  It didn't quite dissolve, so when I poured it in, it left some chunks.  But at least the mixture got slightly thicker.

I poured it into my container, let it cool on the counter, and then put it in the fridge to cool for several hours.  When I thought it was sufficiently cool, I set up my ice cream maker and poured it in.  About 1/4 of it went on the counter.  But that was kinda OK because there was too much for my ice cream maker anyway.

I went back to check on it after about 20 minutes, and it was still completely liquid.  So I left it in for another 20 minutes or so.  Still mostly liquid, though it seemed to be forming some crystals.  After over an hour of churning, it still only had some crystals, but it wasn't anywhere near ice cream.  (Bear in mind, I've used this machine before with great success.)

I ended up just bunging the mixture back into the container and putting it in the freezer.  I refuse to give up when alcohol is involved.  We'll see if it comes anywhere near ice cream.

Overall, I have to say I've been pretty disappointed with this book.  I've only made one recipe from it that I loved and made multiple times (the yeasted pumpkin bread).  Everything else has been mediocre at best.  I won't give up on it entirely because I've barely cracked it (even if I made 50 recipes from it, I'd only be 1/10th of the way through), but I don't ever see it being in heavy rotation.  At the same time, I won't warn people away from it entirely because there are obviously loads of people who love it.

Next week's cookbook challenge book is The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet, also by Joni Marie Newman.  I've dog-eared a lot of pages, and I have to start testing, so I'll be busy next week!

Vegan MoFo - Cookbook Challenge: 500 Vegan Recipes (pt 3)

I was thisclose to not bothering again today, but then I decided that I had to do something better than review more convenience foods.  I decided to make another recipe from 500 Vegan Recipes for the Cookbook Challenge.

I made the Cast Iron Skillet Frittata, a combination of the Lorraine and Mexican variations.  I could've used my bac'n bits to do the Lorraine straight up, but I'm not sure if I can get any more, so I didn't want to take the chance (since I plan on using them for something else later).  So I used some chorizo that I made during testing for Alicia's next book, Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food (which, btw, will be amazing, I promise).  I served it with Mac & Trees Peas from Appetite for Reduction.

I have to be honest - I didn't love this.  The texture was weird to me - I'm used to frittatas just being mashed up tofu pressed into the pan, so the blending of the ingredients here made for a texture that was disappointing.  It also wasn't terribly flavourful, despite the amount of garlic and onion powders chucked into it.  And despite containing soy creamer and 1/4 c of oil, it was mouth-parchingly dry.  So, needless to say, I won't be making this again.  It pales in comparison to the Papa Chorizo Frittata in Q&E Vegan Celebrations, which is my absolute favourite frittata recipe of all time.

Speaking of testing, I got an email yesterday telling me that I get to be in the tester pool for Terry's next book!  I'm super excited, but also a little bit anxious because she already has so many recipes up.  It's a little different from what I'm used to.  I'm looking forward to starting soon (just need to go through everything and figure out what I'm doing!).

Don't forget, for those of you in the UK, you can still win a bottle of Hollow's Alcoholic Ginger Beer.  Just leave a comment about your favourite ginger and/or beer recipe in the giveaway post before 12pm Sunday!

Vegan MoFo - Cookbook Challenge: 500 Vegan Recipes (pt 2)

Seems like yesterday's ailment was just run-of-the-mill allergies.  Back on form today, but I still ate convenience food, but here's why:

We found out that the flat we want is being offered to us at 75% of the original list price.  That is freaking amazing.

Anyway, I came home from work and shopping to this news, then waited for Mike to get home to share with him.  By the time we finished talking about it with each other, talking to his dad about it, and looking at furniture on the IKEA website, it was nearly 8pm.  And I just so happened to buy a bunch of new frozen convenience foods, so I decided to cook that instead of fresh food.

Mmm...beige.

We have here another plate of nothing but convenience foods.  The small things are in Sainsbury's newly revamped frozen free-from line called Love Soya - mini sausage rolls (btw, the whole range is on sale, but check the ingredients - not everything is vegan).  The large one just behind those is a Linda McCartney sausage roll (I had 2 left and wanted to get rid of them).  The pile of beige to the right is noochy Smash, and the veg is frozen broccoli and cauliflower.

I'll be honest - I prefer the Linda McCartney sausage rolls.  But maybe if I'd cooked the Sainsbury's ones a little less, I'd like them more.  As always, noochy Smash is a winner, but the veg was kinda meh.  I think I'll stick with the steam bags (which I love).

But I still managed to do something for the Cookbook Challenge.  I made the Chocolate Breakfast Cake from 500 Vegan Recipes.

Oh dear lord, you must eat this with something on it.  To give you an idea of how not sweet this is, it has more cocoa than sugar.  Right out of the pan, it's dry and kinda icky (though I have to admit, the banana flavour isn't very strong at all).  However, spread with a bit of raspberry jam, it's actually pretty good.  Since I had to make a point of buying a banana, I don't think I'd make this again, but it was nice to try something different.


In other fabulous news, it looks like another American import shop is opening up in the 'burgh.  It's in the same shopping centre as my preferred Sainsbury's, which is slightly more convenient than Lupe Pinto's.  Unfortunately, it looks like it's mostly candy and junk food (most of which I'm sure I can't eat).  However, I saw 12-packs of Mug root beer and Wild Cherry Pepsi.  Hell. Yes.  Hopefully since it looks like they're more exclusively American, they'll be importing more of everything and therefore have it available for less than LP's (which would be awesome - £1.10 for a can of A&W is a bit ridiculous).

Vegan MoFo - Cookbook Challenge: 500 Vegan Recipes (pt 1)

We're now into the third week of Vegan MoFo!  Time is flying!  We're also in week 5 of the Cookbook Challenge, and this week is 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni-Marie Newman.

This morning afternoon I made the Peanut Butter Pancakes (with Freenut Butter, of course).  I made the first half of the batch as per the recipe and the second half with chocolate chips.

Apologies for the pic - I forgot to take one before I started eating.

As suggested, I ate these with some raspberry jam.  The plain ones were a bit meh, but the chocolate chip ones were really good.  Mike quite liked both, though he had the plain with chocolate spread.  But he usually doesn't like PB stuff, so they must have been good.  That said, I find that a lot of stuff that has cooked PB (apart from cookies) almost seems like the PB flavour is baked out (like when you cook with alcohol).  Things that have a strong PB flavour tend to be uncooked (ice cream, buttercream, etc.) - I'm not quite sure why that is - which is why it kinda annoys me when I make something with a cup of PB and don't taste any PB, especially since the stuff I use isn't cheap.  But what can you do?

Oh, I should also say that the batter for these was crazy thick.  I could've made waffles with it.  Those up there didn't just fluff up - that's how thick the batter was.  They also took a while to cook, so these took me over an hour all told.  They also created a bit of a mess with mixing in the PB.  I don't know that I'd make these again just for us because they're a bit of a time-consuming hassle.  But they were tasty.  Oh, and as Mike pointed out, they turned green on the inside.

I made the Chili and Cornbread Pie for dinner (sorry, too lazy/tired to take a pic).  Let me start off by saying this - the instructions are wrong.  There's no way in hell all those ingredients can fit in an 8" square pan.  The chili alone came up to the top of my 10" cast iron skillet (which is the proper vessel in which to cook cornbread).  I ended up putting everything in my cast iron Dutch oven.

The chili was a bit odd - despite all the spices, it still felt a little bland, though that could be sorted with a bit of salt.  It also wasn't as saucy as I'm used to.  The cornbread was some kind of Yankee concoction - more flour than cornmeal, which felt a little wrong (as did the suggestion that it would be cooked in a glass pan - honestly).  Other than that, it was pretty good.  I'd make it again, but I'd change it a bit (like more liquid in the chili and more cornmeal in the cornbread).

We're going out for dinner tomorrow, so it'll be another restaurant review, but I might also make something else from 500VR.

Vegan MoFo - Me and Sammiches

I was gonna write about ice cream, pancakes for dinner, and things of that nature today, but a friend was in a pickle (pun intended) about sammiches, so I offered to help.

Ruth, who blogs at dorkymum, posted about Perfect Sandwiches (caution: not vegan!) a few months ago.  Today, a reader commented that she doesn't eat sandwiches because she's dairy-free and (presumably) can't find a dairy-free spread.  Rather than simply comment about dairy-free spreads, I offered to write up a little something for her to pass along.



I wrote a whole bunch of superfluous stuff, and then I wrote what follows, which frankly is enough on its own.  So let's just go with this - a few ideas for spreads and sandwiches that will get you back in the sammich-making game.  FYI - most of this is aimed at the UK reader (e.g., the bits about where to buy), but there are a couple of things that will be helpful to anyone. 

Margarine - Pure do a variety of non-dairy spreads, made from soya, olive oil, and sunflower oil.  These can be found at the vast majority of big box stores.  Some of the big boxes also carry Vitalite, which is my personal favourite.  It's more spreadable and just has a nicer flavour.  You might also be able to find Suma spreads at health food shops like Holland & Barrett, Real Foods (Edinburgh), Roots and Fruits (Glasgow), and Whole Foods (London). 

Mayo - Mayo shouldn't actually have any dairy in it - its creaminess comes from an emulsion of egg and oil.  Regardless, there are a few good vegan mayos.  You can get Tiger Tiger plain or garlic mayo at larger Sainsbury's stores.  There's another brand found at most big box stores whose name escapes me.  Some health food shops will also carry Plamil mayo, which comes in a variety of flavours (garlic, chili, tarragon and chive, etc.).  My current favourite, which I bought at Real Foods in Edinburgh but which should also be available in Brighton and probably London, is Infinity Foods' organic vegan smoked garlic mayo.  I want to eat it with everything!  OK, everything savoury.  It's much thicker than standard mayo, but it's crazy good. 

Mustard - I admit that I rarely eat mustard without something else, but it can be good on wholemeal bread encasing a plain old (homemade) seitan cutlet.  You can make them beefy or chickeny (or even hammy), but they'll all be good with a swirl of mustard.  In fact, mustard is pretty much the only thing Mike will eat on his sammiches. 

Dressings - Some salad dressings would make a great sandwich spread, especially if you can make them yourself and cut out some of the liquid to make them more spreadable.  For a few ideas, click on the look inside thing on the Amazon page for Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  The salad section usually comes up first, so you could try a few of those out before you buy the book (which I would recommend because it's amazing). 

Sandwich ideas - Check out the (small) selection of sandwiches in the PPK Recipe section.  This is another place where Amazon's look inside feature is helpful - you can preview The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni Newman (FYI - if you log in, you can see more).  And if you can wait a while, Tamisin Noyes, author of American Vegan Kitchen (which, incidentally, has a section on sandwiches, though unfortunately has no look inside option) and Celine Stein (co-author of 500 Vegan Recipes and a couple others) are writing a cookbook all about sandwiches!  Tami has 43 sandwich-related posts on her blog!

I hope Ruth and her reader(s) find this helpful.  Or maybe you're new to veganism and didn't realise just how little you actually have to give up in the sammich department!  Either way, hopefully this wasn't just an exercise in remembering where I've bought or seen certain products.

What's your favourite sandwich or sandwich spread?

Fauxsage Pizza

I wanted to accomplish a few things with tonight's dinner:
1) Use up some stuff in the fridge.
2) Use a recipe from my new cookbook (500 Vegan Reicpes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman).
3) Make something that will get eaten in its entirety tonight - no leftovers.
4) Experiment with trying to recreate Pizza Hut Pan Pizza.

And I accomplished all four with Fauxsage Pizza. I used the recipe from 5VR for Cast-Iron Deep Dish Pizza Dough and Bread Bowls for the crust, which I cooked in my cast-iron pan (a la the pan pizza). I used the Basic Seitan Crumbles recipe from 5VR as a template and combined it with a vague replica of the spice combination for Tempeh Sausage Crumbles in Vegan with a Vengeance to make seitan sausage crumbles, which used up the rest of my ketchup (catsup?). I topped it with Cheezly mozzarella left over from the lasagna I made earlier in the week. And it was small enough (and delicious enough) for us to eat the whole thing in one go.

So, I know that baking in the cast-iron is part of the way to getting Pizza Hut Pan Pizza crust, because they used to serve the personal pan pizzas still in the little cast iron pans. But it didn't quite work out. I think part of it might be to bake the crust a bit on its own, and also oil the hell out of the pan before putting the crust in. Because that shit is greasy. And I think I might need to go with a higher oven temp, because it definitely didn't get as crusty as the Pizza Hut stuff.

Also, I'll attempt to recreate the fauxsage crumbles below. I need to tweak the recipe a bit - I didn't use enough fennel, and I used too much ketchup (catsup?) (following the guidelines in the recipe). It was good, but not perfect.

Seitan Fauxsage Crumbles

1/2 c vital wheat gluten
1/4 c nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground fennel seed
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp water

Place dry ingredients in a bowl and stir to thoroughly combine. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. When all of the dry bits are incorporated, break into crumbles with your hands. Fry for about 8-10 minutes in a large skillet or saucepan.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the deliciousness. We were hungry. And, you know, it just looked like pizza. But it was kickass good vegan pizza. And Mike is finally getting over his aversion to cooked fake cheese. Yay!