Cookbook challenge, week 8, day 6 - Vegan Vittles

I'm just doing a short post today. Mike's watching a movie (on my computer), and I promised I'd be quick.

Today I made the Muffins That Taste Like Donuts


I have to say, these just don't taste like donuts. At all. They're good (and Mike said they look nice), but not 'taste like donuts' good. Even if I filled them with jam or cream, they still wouldn't even vaguely resemble donuts. Mike and I both liked them enough, though he thinks they're too cinnamon-y, and I don't think they have enough cinnamon. Next time, if I want donut-y flavour in a non-donut, I'll make the Jelly Donut Cupcakes in V'con. And if I want cinnamon muffins, I'll make my own recipe, which I actually prefer.

To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed with this book. The best recipe so far was a soup, and an easy one at that, something I probably could've come up with myself. I'm gonna try out the calzone dough tomorrow (I don't like the look of the filling in the book, so I'm gonna do VB Italian Feast sausages and spinach), and maybe I'll have another look through to see if there's anything else I might want to make, but I don't really see myself going back to this one all that often. I hate saying that about a vegan cookbook, especially one by a respected member of the community (she's been vegan a hell of a lot longer than I have), but I have so many cookbooks that have so many more excellent recipes (like one of her other ones, The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook).

Mike's sighing audibly and head-butting me (like Stampy from that one episode of the Simpsons), so I'll leave it at that for now, but I might come back and revise my thoughts on this.

Cookbook challenge, week 8, day 4 - Vegan Vittles

I missed out on my oatmeal this morning because I needed a quick breakfast, so I had my warm weather standard, generic Weetabix in soy yogurt. And then I ended up not getting ready in time to do what I had intended to do (go get passport-type photos done so I could send in my leave to remain paperwork), so I actually could've had my oatmeal. Oh well.

Anyway, I made another recipe from Vegan Vittles today. Tonight's dinner was Pot Roast with roasted potatoes and broccoli.


First of all, I should say that it didn't really taste anything like 'real' pot roast. Then again, I was never actually a fan of 'real' pot roast. Meh. This was alright. I mean, it was tasty enough. But given the amount of work and time that went into it (start to finish, it took about 2 hours, give or take a few minutes), it didn't really cut it for me. I prefer the flavour and texture of other varieties of seitan. Mike liked it, though, so that's good. I think I might change up some stuff to try to make it more 'beefy', but I'll probably stick to Joanna's Chicken-Style Seitan (which has been my favourite seitan since I started making it, even though it takes forever to make).

Cookbook challenge, week 8, day 3 - Vegan Vittles

Today seemed like a particularly unproductive day. I had breakfast, then suddenly it was lunch time, and I hadn't done anything. Then, just as suddenly, it was 4.30 and I hadn't even showered. I kinda feel like crap about that. But I still managed to squeeze out two recipes from Vegan Vittles.

Before I get to those, today's oatmeal was Maple-Brown Sugar-Cinnamon. It was lovely. I hope to make apple pie oatmeal tomorrow. And when I bust in to my exorbitantly overpriced jar of pumpkin puree, I'll try to make pumpkin pie oatmeal. NOM! Now, on to the challenge.

Dinner was Creamy Kale and Potato Soup


This was really nice. I didn't really measure the veg, but it seemed to work out. I liked the simplicity of it - you basically just bung most of the ingredients in a pot and let it cook for 30 minutes, making it easy even for soup. It had a good flavour, kinda like liquidised colcannon (a dish of mashed potatoes and cabbage or kale). I'll keep this in reserve next time I buy kale and forget about it and need to use it up in a hurry.

I also made Grandmother's Spice Cake (frosted with maple frosting from VCTOTW)

(Sorry about the shadow - I'm trying to work on my food porn skills.)

This was alright. I have to say, though, I prefer the YRR spice cake. This one uses half a cup of maple syrup, making it pretty damn pricey. Also, it's a bit dry for my tastes. I like the hint of chocolate in it. I think I'll stick to Joanna's recipe and maybe throw some chocolate in the mix. The other thing I should mention - I hate to say it, but I don't think I'm all that keen on the maple frosting. It may have been my fault, but I'm sure I followed the directions, and it just tasted like maple-y butter. Admittedly, I didn't have any maple extract, so I doubled the vanilla, but that shouldn't have made that much difference. If anyone else has made this and had better results, let me know and help me figure out what I did wrong.

Cookbook challenge, week 8, day 2 - Vegan Vittles

This week's cookbook challenge is Vegan Vittles by Jo Stepaniak. I've got several recipes bookmarked for later in the week, but I only did one today. I have to say, though, that I'm still not quite sure about this book. I had to look through this one several times to find more than a handful of recipes I thought we might like. There's also a pretty big reliance on nuts (especially cashews and walnuts), which, when seen, puts me right off a recipe.

Anyway, tonight's dinner was Cauliflower Paprikash. It's not particularly photogenic.


First off, I should mention that I left out the mushrooms because Mike's a hater, and I did rice instead of noodles. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly, using the low end of the paprika called for. Mike didn't like it, but he couldn't really put his finger on why. I thought it was alright, but a bit bland. We probably won't have it again. Oh well.

Hopefully other stuff I make this week will be better. I hate buying a cookbook and not using it.